《I Killed the Player of the Academy》 Chapter 1: Kill the Player (1) ? Kill the yer (1) ? I killed the yer. He was one hell of a fucker. *** 3 years ago, I woke up as a game character, As a side character at that. ¡ºHeroic Legends of Arhan¡» As expected of a game, it had an enormous setting filled with all sorts of crises and events, including even the destruction of the entire world, but it was fine! Because the protagonist would solve it all! There was nowhere to run, and it¡¯s not like I could avoid things from happening by leaving this continent, so let¡¯s watch the story unfold from the side~ was what I thought. At least let¡¯s have a look at the face of our dear protagonist, Park Sihu, who was now destined to have both wealth and fame but¡ª¡ª ¡°¡­ Slow development¡­ hate¡­ fast plot¡­ I¡¯ll live for myself¡­ efficiency¡­¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Wait, you too? **** Park Sihu was a ¡®possessor¡¯ like me. The difference between him and I was that Sihu was the protagonist, the yer, and had ess to the ¡®status screen¡¯, the privilege of the yable character. It was unfortunate that Sihu had never yed this game before, but that was something I could handle. Because I had yed this game quite a lot. As a previous yer and a diehard fan of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, I knew the game story by heart and had gotten most of the hidden pieces. I had also seen most of the various endings and this informational advantage was an extremely significant merit. However, most of the items were unobtainable without the yer¡¯s status screen and the system, so Sihu just had to use the information I gave him to beat this game. In this world¡¯s plot, countless people will die without the protagonist and the world will also fall to ruin. If I perish alongside the end of this world, will I be able to return to Earth? What if instead of a ¡®game over¡¯ screen, it straight away led to my life being over? With that doubt in mind, I helped Sihu with all my heart and strength. The kinship of being from the same hometown, and both of us having fallen into a game from Earth, made us the bestest of friends. We soon realized that I was older than him back on Earth, so it felt like I had a younger brother who would call me ¡®bro¡¯ every time, so that wasn¡¯t that bad either. And although my limit as a side character was obvious, a portion of the items we got using my knowledge was also given to me to supplement mycking abilities. The two of us made a good duo. The only unfortunate part, I guess, would be that we couldn¡¯t get closer to any of the heroines of the game. There were all sorts of male and female characters in this game, but the romance simtion of the yable character interacting with characters of the opposite gender was also an attractive element of the game. Of course, the girls would show interest in Park Sihu, the yer, so I only wanted to watch from the side as a fan but¡­ Park Sihu ¨C this guy did not interact with any of the heroines and only added them into the party only when they were necessary. By the time I realized it, the party was filled with male humans and our party ended up being a sweaty group of men, including Park Sihu and me. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I should have noticed something was off. When one of the main heroines, the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Alicia Arden, did not show up at the entrance ceremony; When the final boss of the 1st arc, Marie, had gone missing; When the mysterious missing incidents caused the story to flow in a direction unbeknownst to me, instead of optimistically saying, ¡®You¡¯re doing great, Sihu!¡¯ I should have taken a deeper look into it. The mind and the personality of the human called Park Sihu, and the oddly unnatural flow of events¡­ I should have doubted them. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± It was a familiar staff. If I recall correctly¡­ it was the equipment used by the final boss girl of the 1st arc. ¡°Wait wait wait¡­¡± Why was this here? A gear of the character who should have been the boss of the 1st arc ording to the original plot. Sihu and I had waited for a long time to stop the tragedy, but in the end could not stop it from happening. Back then, I reprimanded myself forcking the power to change the original plot but¡­ why was this here? That wasn¡¯t the end. This secretive underground basement not only had the staff but also countless other items put on disy like trophies. The mace of the typical bully character, Jaeger, who picked a fight with the yer at the start of the semester. The spellbook of Lark, who got expelled after stealing the mid-sem test papers. Don¡¯t tell me¡­ I realised somethingmon. These were all items of the ones who had gone ¡®missing¡¯. And they were items that belonged to those that¡­ were somehow rted to Park Sihu. Jaeger went missing in a prac after picking a fight with Park Sihu at the start of the semester, whereas Lark was expelled after trying to put the me on Park Sihu, who excelled in everything he did, out of jealousy. Besides, every other item also belonged to those that were rted to Park Sihu in some shape or form and most importantly¡­ This building was Park Sihu¡¯s private property. It was one of the houses that the yer could buy in the game, that could be used to store items as an extra storage¡­ I could not have imagined that tailing him who suddenly woke up at night would lead to such a result, but there was something else that shocked me the most. ¡°W, why is this here?¡± A unique single-edged sword was on disy like a trophy. The demon-ying sword that belonged¡­ to the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Alicia Arden, an important heroine, who died before the entrance ceremony. There was only one way to obtain this hidden piece in the game ¨C and that was to cause the death event of Alicia Arden in whatever method possible. ¡°¡­¡­ Ah.¡± It gave me goosebumps. The biggest premise thus far shattered ¨C the premise that Park Sihu had never yed this game before. ¡°Ah, fuck.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± That voice belonged to someone else. ¡°S, Sihu¡­!¡± ¡°¡­ Why are you here bro?¡± The owner of this horrendous scene, Sihu, was oddly calm. He only appeared slightly annoyed by this whole thing. ¡°You¡­¡± I wanted to ask for an exnation questioning what all of this was about, but I could not bring myself to open my mouth in fear of what I would hear in response¡­ ¡°Bro, calm down.¡± ¡°Calm down my ass!!¡± How could I possibly calm down in a situation like this? How can I be calm in the face of something this horrible? I pointed at the water-coloured girl that was on ¡®disy¡¯ in a horrifying state. Unlike the sword of Alicia Arden that was stored like a trophy, she¡­ Marie Dunareff was¡­ ¡°You¡­ You¡­ You lied to me when you said you couldn¡¯t catch her back then¡­!¡± Understanding my point, Sihu tried to persuade me and justify himself. ¡°It¡¯s a demon anyway. You know? It¡¯s an enemy. And I was just using that as efficiently as possible.¡± ¡°¡­ Using?¡± He smiled and bbered as if bragging about his achievement. ¡°She even sucked her own friend. And yet she was hiding in the forest crying by herself. Do you know how hard it was? Who knew that stubborn bitch would dig a hole in the forest and stay there for a whole month?¡± ¨C Shouldn¡¯t she pay for her sins at least? ¡°But ¡®using¡¯? What do you mean by using!?¡± ¡°¡­ She¡¯s a high-vampire. A one-year old that just awakened is at the same level as an elder. Don¡¯t you know what happens when you refine a vampire elder¡¯s blood? You had it a lot too, bro.¡± His words suddenly made me remember the potions he gave me. Those potions, iparable tomon potions, that rivalled low-grade elixirs¡ª ¡°U, uweeekk!!¡± ¡°Ayish¡­ Bro, are you okay? Wait a sec. Let me clean this up.¡± Despite babbling about such awful and horrifying deeds, his attitude towards me remained the same and that was the most horrifying of all. ¡°But wh, why would you¡­¡± ¡°Of course it¡¯s to progress the story as efficiently as possible.¡± ¡°The story?¡± ¡°If I do as you tell me, bro, it¡¯s too slow. We have to suffer losses trying to save people and can¡¯t even kill retards like Jaeger and Lark.¡± All Jaeger did was pick a fight. He was just a random bully that was blinded by his own power. As for Lark? He tried to me Park Sihu, but all he did was steal test papers. Of course, Park Sihu might have been expelled if things went south but even then¡­ ¡°It¡¯s the same for the other bitches. They¡¯re useless unless you build rapport with them, you can¡¯t take their items and they just party up by themselves. This is the most efficient way to make use of them.¡± ¡°You¡­ How many have you¡­¡± His eyes went to the corner in response to my words. He opened the yer¡¯s system window and replied nonchntly with a smile. ¡°Who knows? I don¡¯t think the kill log was over 100k¡­ Ah, three more and I¡¯ll hit 100k.¡± ¡°You fucking animal!¡± I grabbed him by the cor. I could no longer listen to the words of an animal. ¡°You, you¡­! How could you do that to people¡­!¡± ¡°Bro, wake up. How are these guys people? They¡¯re NPCs. They¡¯re game characters.¡± ¡°You¡­!¡± ¡°And haven¡¯t you been killing people as well? There¡¯s nothing new here.¡± ¡°Those were guys that tried to destroy the world!¡± The people I killed were evil ones that were beyond saving. Main enemies of the story ¨C characters that were designated by the plot as viins. How was Park Sihu any different from them? This guy did not view people as people. It was true that ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? was a game, and the game had NPCs in them. However, are people in this world also NPCs? Can they be killed just because they are game characters? What makes you say that for sure? Who says this is a game or a reality? How can you be so certain? Fuck that. ¡°Trust me. I¡¯m telling you my way is the most efficient gamey. I¡¯m a veteran yer at this game.¡± Sorry for not telling you, bro, I couldn¡¯t trust you before. That was what he said. It was so dumbfounding that I couldn¡¯t say anything. Park Sihu was so sure of himself, and in a way, he wasn¡¯t wrong. He had the status screen and could make use of the system however he wanted. If he had an informational advantage on top of that, like me, of course he would have used that as efficiently as possible. He had monopolized all the hidden pieces that belonged to the heroines and profited as much as possible from the events. Even when the school building copsed, Even when the terrorists came to attack, Even when a Unique Grade monster attacked the school, This guy profited in whatever method possible. He excessively monopolized everything. He probably had indeed been ¡®ying this game¡¯ as efficiently as possible. Over the 3 years I had spent following him, he had indeed solved many cases and problems with ease, including cases that I could not solve due to the limitations of a side character. Although it was a world within a game, Park Sihu stood firmly as a hero just like the intended story. However, the Park Sihu in front of my eyes was no hero. He was a devil. He had a psychotic gaze that I had never even seen from any of the past viins. Hundred thousand¡­ I reflected on the events that had been oddly ¡®efficient¡¯ among the countless incidents and the ¡®victims¡¯ that I had overlooked. There must also be countless massacres that happened outside of my sight. I realized that all the events which made me think the real world would naturally be different from a game plot were all affected by him. Ah I see¡­ so this guy had never considered this world a reality. All the people were only programmed organisms in his eyes. This world that I had epted and adapted to for 3 years was nothing but a virtual world to him. ¡°You¡­ just chose the easy way out.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Efficiency? Plot? Bullshit. If you really loved efficiency, why would you take Alicia Arden¡¯s demon-ying sword? Why would you take a hidden piece that¡¯s for knights with your mage build!¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Fuck! No wonder. It¡¯s because her sister Lunia Arden was so stubbornly chasing after the sword that you couldn¡¯t take it out! You fucking retard. Of course you can¡¯t handle it all because you try to monopolize things that you can¡¯t even swallow!¡± Stupid and sloppy idiot! Selfish and greedy little pig! Was I really hailing this guy as a hero? This fucking idiot? ¡°Elixir? You fucker. You could have substituted that with other ingredients using your crafting window anytime!¡± All he had to do was tap the screen a few times so what was the point of this horrendous farm? Why was he doing such an inefficient thing? ¡°Efficiency? Don¡¯t fuck with me. You just needed a sandbag to quench your psychotic thirst. What kind of bitch that loves efficiency exhibits such psychotic proof in a ce like this!!?¡± ¡°Ah damn it. For fuck¡¯s sake!¡± Park Sihu struck my face with a seriously irritated look on his face, that was vastly different from his previous persuasive attitude. ¡°You¡¯re really driving me crazy bro. You¡¯re driving me insane!¡± ¡°What¡­ ugh!¡± He grabbed onto my hair and pulled it back. ¡°You can¡¯t do this to me bro. Even if everyone in the world talks shit to me, you can¡¯t do this to me!¡± ¡°Huh, huh¡­?¡± Oi, what¡¯s wrong with your sentence? Be careful with your choice of words! ¡°Do you not know why I¡¯m like this, bro? Do you really have no idea how you¡¯re driving me crazy!?¡± ¡°S, Sihu?¡± ¡°You put your nose into other¡¯s business as a weak-ass and get bashed up. And smirk in front of those sluts¡­¡± He red at me with passion that I had never seen before. It was an extremely burdensome gaze. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not gonna hold back anymore.¡± ¡°Ehng?¡± It was then. He suddenly pushed his head forward as if doing a headbutt on my face. ¡°Hikk?!¡± I instinctively dodged that disgusting mouth. I managed to protect my chastity by turning my head, but I could not escape from his burning gaze. ¡°I see¡­ so you had no ns of epting me huh?¡± ¡°Uhh, oi dude. What¡¯s wrong with you all of a sudden? Huh? You weren¡¯t like this before. You and I were going through the story till like Episode 199. What¡¯s with this sudden drift in Episode 200?!¡± ¡°You are mine bro. Both your body, and heart. Do you think I¡¯ll let those foxes steal you from me?¡± ¡°F, fuck! I haven¡¯t even dated anyone before, so what¡¯s this shit about!¡± It gave me goosebumps in a different sense than before. To the point that I needed the physical treatment of mother Russia. ¡°D, don¡¯t tell me the party is full of men because¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯re just there for looks and they¡¯re not the real one. My only real one¡­ is you bro.¡± ¡°Uaakk¡­!¡± I desperately tried to escape, but something suddenly popped out of my shadow and grabbed onto my ankle and made me fall t on the ground. It was his spell. ¡°Bro, you¡­ can¡¯t run away. I will lock you up. Forever.¡± ¨C Hiiiiik¡­ It was terrifying. It wasn¡¯t even this terrifying when I first discovered this ce, nor was it this horrifying even when he confessed he was a psychotic lover of fast plot development. What¡¯s going to happen to me now? By seeing the victims like Marie, Lark and Jaeger, it was not difficult to predict my future. Being alive not in the true sense of the word, and a repetition of pain and curation. ¡°You! You¡­! What about my consent! You fucker, what about my consent?! I¡¯m a heterosexual! An unwavering heterosexual!¡± In response to my words, Park Sihu grinned and replied with a butter-like voice. ¡°Your consent is not important bro. You are mine. My only real one in this fake world.¡± ¡°You¡¯re fucking giving me goosebumps! You crazy fucker!¡± ¨C Chaaakk! The shadow spread its mouth wide open. Right as I was about to lose my consciousness from his spell, I saw him float a crooked smile. ¡°It¡¯s all almost over now. After this fight is over, I will have you for myself, bro.¡± ¡°Have me?! Have me for what you bastard!¡± That was the end of my consciousness. I only woke upter thanks to a certain voice that reached my ears. ¡ºThe Last Stage has been opened. The final fight with the Last Boss will now begin.¡» Ahh, so it has begun. It seemed that Park Sihu had started the decisive battle with the Last Boss while I was unconscious. Since he loved monopolizing everything for himself, he would probably win against the Last Boss as well¡­ If he really does defeat the final boss¡­ what would happen to me then? I could easily imagine the horrifying future waiting ahead of me. ¡ºThe yer has been killed. You have failed the attempt.¡» ¡­¡­¡­This fucker lost? **** With that, I finished looking back on my past life. I returned to the past; to 3 years ago. And I must kill him. I must kill the yer. Chapter 2: Kill the Player (2) (T/N notes are added as footnotes.) ? Kill the yer (2) ? ¡°Hah¡­¡± A shabby nket, a cheap mattress so hard it could crush your back and a dirty floor¡­ Everything was the same as the first time I opened my eyes in this world. ¡°Huu¡­¡± Walking into the bathroom, I found a reflection of my face on therge mirror. Looking back at me was a fairly ferocious set of facial features and wild ck hair. It was quite a decent countenance, even for a game where all the characters looked attractive in general except for the third-rate viins. If I remember correctly, the character designer was famous for not being able to draw ugly characters. Korin Lork. A side character who appears in an episode where the protagonist and his party venture off to save their ssmates who are in danger soon after entering the guardian academy. He was a disposable NPC there to help the protagonist shine, and at the same time, that was my name. ¡°Was that a dream?¡± Hah, yeah. That must have been a dream. Otherwise, how could a human do such a¡­ Even a psychopath wouldn¡¯t kill people for annoying them. Right? A human should have standards. Unless they have cider1*Cider = Cider (Sprite in Korea) represents a fast and satisfactory development whereas sweet potatoes represent an unsatisfactory and suffocating plot development. Comes from how Koreans drink sprite with sweet potatoes to alleviate the stuffiness of a sweet potato. instead of blood flowing in their veins, how could someone do such a thing? Haha. Although Park Sihu is a little dark and has an icy gaze, he¡¯s not that bad of a¡­ That was when multiple events shed through my mind. One of them was the flood at Roteon River, when the dam broke identally during the eradication of river monsters which wiped a whole vige. What did he murmur to himself again when looking at the horrendous scene with over a thousand dead monsters and thousands of human casualties? ¡ºHuhu. Jackpot!¡» ¡°¡­¡± Looking back, it was such a wicked smile that it gave me chills. It was disturbingly well-timed for it to be a coincidence, and there were no other usible exnations for it. ¡®That demon. What did he gain by killing so many people?¡¯ In this game, you do earn exp points by killing lives, but killing normal civilians wouldn¡¯t give that much¡­ Ah. But if that reached thousands¡­ and considering all the monsters that were killed by his other colleagues¡­ ¡°H¡­ Hah.¡± Maybe he was a Satan back on Earth? No, even that would be an understatement. ¡°Huu¡­¡± For now, I had to confirm the current state. This room looked the same as the cheap inn I stayed in before entering Merkarva Academy. I walked over to the window and opened it with a creak. Outsidey the bustling scene of a city with arge train noisily rushing down the railway, and crowds of people walking across. It was the scene of another world that appeared to be a mix of things from the 16th to the 20th Century. How would I ever forget such a vivid and intriguing sight? ¡®The clock tower¡­ is still there.¡¯ The pride of the city, the clock tower, was destroyed during a fight against a unique grade enemy. I knew because I was the one who defeated it. There was no way they would have repaired it already. Looking at the calendar of the motel, I realized today¡¯s date was Year 999, February 27; which should have been 3 years ago. Did I¡­reallye back? ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± That was what I initially thought, but the calendar was not lying and the puzzle pieces that fit together were telling me this was reality. How much had I suffered following Park Sihu? To think all that hard work was in vain¡­ Wait a second. What about Park Sihu? Did Park Sihu also return to the past like me? ¡°¡­¡± He would probably stay the same. While singing chants of efficiency, he would nonchntly murder people. He would say something like, ¡®It¡¯s fine because this world is a game¡¯. And yes, I do understand that mindset to some extent, considering how we entered the game we were ying, which still had a status screen and an ongoing scenario. If there was some type of a reward like, ¡®You can go back to the real world upon clearing the game¡¯, I can understand him trying to clear it without paying any heed to the process or the method. But that¡¯s¡­ way too cruel is it not? There was a line in this world that shouldn¡¯t be crossed. Even in a game, you would be called a psychopath for decapitating an NPC and cing the head in your house like a trophy, and yet this guy did things that were far worse. He had casually killed a hundred thousand people. If he was someone withmon sense and even a sliver of a rightful mindset¡­ he wouldn¡¯t have carried out so many unnecessary massacres. Besides, there was a limit to how much experience points you could gain due to the level cap, and there were only so many items you needed depending on your skill tree. After hitting Level 99, farming was no longer impactful, and you did not need ¡®hidden pieces¡¯ for a knight when you were going down the skill tree of a mage. However, he had unnecessarily killed a lot of people. Was that really for efficiency? No. That guy was just enjoying it. He was simply relishing the pain and suffering of people he had put on disy. Park Sihu, that son of a bitch, had absolutely zero respect. Efficiency was just the excuse he came up with to mask his insanity. If he really did love efficiency, he would have shared all the countless hidden items which he couldn¡¯t even use to his other party members rather than keeping them for himself. Because that was how you were meant to y this game ¨C by strengthening your party members. The fact that he devoured all that for himself, meant he was just a greedy damn pig. ¡°If it¡¯s now¡­ I can stop him.¡± Park Sihu wasn¡¯t monstrously strong yet. ¡®Do I have to kill him? Park Sihu? The yer?¡¯ Though I might not be someone with an especially strong sense of justice, I still prided myself for having enough of a moral standard. ¡ºWho knows? I don¡¯t think the kill log was over 100k¡­ Ah, three more and I¡¯ll hit 100k¡» I clenched my fist. The overflowing amount of money and treasures in that underground treasury. Although some of them were ownerless items located throughout the school, there were some which he had stolen from their original owners. The demon-ying sword which belonged to the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, as well as the elixir ingredient that was constantly sucked out of ¡®her¡¯. Those were all things he had stolen and snatched from others. Even apart from that, his unbelievable growth in power must have been made possible only thanks to the sacrifice of many others. ¡°Park Sihu¡­¡± I used to think of him as a hero. Although he had a bit of chuunibyou, I thought he was a true hero who epted his fate as the yer of the game and tried to save the world. I thought his personality was just slightly wed. But I was wrong. He was a psychopath and a ciderpath2 *Ciderpath = A web novel reader who is obsessed with ¡®cider¡¯ development. who did not love this world in the slightest. Even though he was a homosexual who filled the party with handsome male characters, he did not love them. Was that why he was ruthlessly killing people? He took everything for himself, stole and harmed people to exploit the weak ones that could not even fight back at him. But even so, was it correct to kill the yer? It was true he was an evil person, but at the same time he was the one destined to save an innumerable number of people. He was the protagonist who despite killing a hundred thousand people would soon save the world¡­ Wait, this guy lost, didn¡¯t he? Looking back, he lost at the final boss fight. So he wasn¡¯t even the one destined to save the world? Why was this guy even singing chants of ¡®efficiency¡¯the whole time then? It was annoying the more I thought about it. This fucker was a mage, so why the heck did he gather so many damn swords in the first ce? Look at the demon-ying sword as an example. It¡¯s not even usable unless you reach the very end of a knight¡¯s skill tree, so why the heck did he even get it? He wasn¡¯t an efficiency-lover; he was just a greedy monopoliser! If he won at least, I would have epted it but¡­ he lost! **** ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? had various hidden items and ways that allowed one to strengthen both the protagonist and the party members. The most symbolic of them all were the ¡®hidden pieces¡¯ located all across Merkarva Academy. Those included the demonic spirit sealed in the library; The seed gained through infinite rerolls; And the God of Lake, who duplicates items. Those were some of the things that came off the top of my head ¨C they were the ones I told Park Sihu about, which he probably knew about himself. Even apart from that, meditating in front of the wobbly rock of the emerald forest inside the campus can double the effect, And there were the grimoires hidden in the library which allowed one to gain an ability by simply reading them. All these had one thing inmon. It was that they all had to be found after entering Merkarva Academy. In other words, it meant Park Sihu would get stronger in full swing after entering the academy. The entrance ceremony in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? was the day after the anniversary of the ¡®Continental War of Liberation¡¯, March 2nd. Currently, it was the 27th of February, and Park Sihu would most definitely be at the level of ¡ºGrade 5¡» right now. Why was I so certain of it, you may ask? It¡¯s because, considering his smartass personality, he would have unted his skills in one way or another during the admission test. He would have be the best freshman of history, or would have broken the high score to leave a record. Why? Because that gloomy bloke had to show off his smart ass. But during the admission test, he barely made it through, which meant he was aplete newbie on my level at this current point in time. It was hard to imagine how much stronger he would be immediately after entering the school grounds. In fact, he might even get stronger on the day of the admission. But right now. it was a different story. Although I was just a random ¡ºGrade 5¡» knight for now, that was the same for Park Sihu as well. Our abilities would exponentially grow further apart, which means¡ª ¡°I have to do it now.¡± Now was the only chance to kill the yer. Then going back to the main question at hand; where was Park Sihu? I had no idea. However, he had to be near this city right now, because he must be nning on killing the Sword Emperor¡¯s granddaughter, Alicia Arden, to steal her sword. It was one of the first big events that stirred up the academy alongside the vampire event. The granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Garrand, famous for being an unfathomably powerful ¡ºUnique Grade¡» knight, did not show up in the entrance ceremony. Naturally, it created an uproar as city guards were all dispatched to search for her. It was only 3 dayster that they discovered her corpse. Her death was due to a monster. It seemed that being left alone with a sharp stab to her rib had been the biggest cause of her death. ording to the state of the corpse, she was estimated to have died around 5~7 days prior. She was discovered on March 5th. The estimated time of her death is from February 26th to 28th. Which means¡­ ¡®She might be killed today!!¡¯ In fact, she might have been killed already! Now was not the time for this. I quickly changed my clothes and left the inn. Alicia Arden¡¯s estimated time of death was from yesterday to tomorrow. The reason I clearly remembered the estimated time of her death and the forest she was discovered in was because I looked into it from how strange it was for the story to deviate from the main plot. Back then I couldn¡¯t find out anything else and had to get over it despite how unsettling it was, but now I knew exactly what happened. It was Park Sihu who killed Alicia Arden. And¡­ In turn, that meant saving Alicia Arden would also coincide with an opportunity to kill Park Sihu. How was Park Sihu able toe across Alicia Arden? Why would a strong character like Alicia Arden, who could easily reach ¡ºGrade 2¡» already be involved with a ¡ºGrade 5¡» like Park Sihu? ¡°¡­¡­Tutorial quest.¡± The first quest given to a yer ying the game in order to let them grasp the initialbat system. That was the only time that Park Sihu could have been involved with Alicia before admission. I knew the location of the tutorial quest. It was a ce I naturally started to remember since I have yed it multiple times. ¡°I have to break into the tutorial.¡± It won¡¯t go the way you want this time. Footnotes: Chapter 3: Kill the Player (3) ? Kill the yer (3) ? The tutorial of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? was not made to be cleared. It was a linearly designed story meant to teach the basicbat method and the game system, while also including an encounter with one of the named characters. The tutorial quest consisted of an outbreak of monsters attacking a magic carriage heading to Merkarva City. There were 2 allies in the tutorial: a Grade 3 knight, Leon, and a Grade 4 knight, Laura, who were hired as guards of the carriage. Part 1 of the tutorial was to protect the people with these two while waiting for the carriage to finish repairing. It was literally a tutorial to teach the game¡¯s system instead of focusing on the difficulty of the fight. ¡°Huu~ That¡¯s all of them. That wasn¡¯t bad, kid.¡± ¡°Haha¡­ Thank you.¡± ¡°Mister Leon! Miss Laura! We¡¯re done repairing the carriage!¡± The people inside the carriage were heaving out sighs of relief while the driver reignited the crystal that allowed the cart to move in preparation to resume their journey. ¡°Good. Shall we go back inside?¡± ¡°Ah, I wanna hurry up and take a re¡ª?!¡± Now. It was Part 2. ¨C Guwaaaaaaahhh!! A deafening howl shook the forest, as suffocatingly heavy air descended upon the ground. ¡°Laura!¡± ¡°I know!¡± The two knights raised their weapons and stayed vignt. There was something inside the woods. Each passing minute seemed like an hour when something suddenly popped out of the woods. It didn¡¯t take long for them to realize it was an uprooted tree. ¡®So far it has been the same.¡¯ ¡°Dodge!¡± The tree was pulled down by gravity towards the knights. ¨C Kuung! They stumbled on the ground while dodging the falling tree and that was when a monster immediately jumped out of the woods. An ivory-coloured face, long arms and an outstretched body ¨C it was the Grade 2 monster with sharp ws, Beowulf. ¡°Kuwaaahhh!!¡± ¡°Dodge!¡± The beowulf plunged at the guy who was on the ground but was blocked by Laura who jumped in with her body. ¨C Kaang! ¡°Kuhk?!¡± However, Laura was not strong enough to withstand the might of a beowulf. ¡°Hukk!?¡± While still pushing down on the spear that was blocking its ws, the beowulf used its other hand to strike Laura. A light swing of its arm created a not-so-light impact on her ribs. ¡°Kuhuk¡­!¡± Her body rolled across the ground. Seeing hisrade copse in one hit, Leon would hurry the yer and¡­ ¡°Get on the carriage! Run away to the city! I¡¯ll buy some time!¡± Here, the yer would share a few words and suggest fighting alongside Leon, but that was a meaningless waste of text. Without any hesitation, ¡®he¡¯ rushed to the carriage and told the driver to depart for the city, because there had to be no witnesses. ¡®Now, let¡¯s go back.¡¯ Going back, he saw the horrid ws of the beowulf sticking deeper into Leon¡¯s aura with each strike. It looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie, to the point he would have run away immediately if he didn¡¯t know it was a game. ¡°Uhk¡­ Kid. R, run away¡­!¡± ¡®Shut up, ugly. I wouldn¡¯t havee here if not for the scenario.¡¯ Inwardly sneering at the devoted Leon, he pointed his sword. The monster would probably start facing him soon. ¡°I can¡¯t leave you behind and run away!¡± It was when he was decorating himself with a few words, that the sharp ws of the beowulf pierced deeply into Leon¡¯s neck. Then the monster¡¯s violent gaze turned around, looking for the next prey. Big. The monster that was taller than 2 meters gave off an insane amount of pressure by just walking closer. ¡®So damn big!¡¯ At the start, he was thinking of fighting stylishly with a sword but he scrapped that bullshit immediately. He was most definitely going to change to a mage and carry around a staff. ¡°Kuwaaahhh!¡± The beowulf charged at him with a loud roar. Random sword strikes won¡¯t be able to create any wounds on its body. But like mentioned before, this tutorial was not made to be cleared. It was a linearly designed story meant to teach the basicbat method and the game system, while also including an encounter with one of the named characters. ¡®All I need to do is buy time. And if after buying time that ¡®NPC¡¯ really does show up¡­ then I¡¯ll admit this is a game.¡¯ It was then. ¡°Please bend your back!¡± A streak of light shing from the forest struck the beowulf but the beast reacted in time. ¡°Kururu¡­!¡± ¨C Kang! The sharp ws collided with the sword as sparks flickered from their strike. Seeing the superhuman reaction speed of the wild beast, the owner of the sword strike was flustered. ¡°It, it got blocked?!¡± ¡®Luina¡­. No, Alicia Arden.¡¯ Her brown hair gently touched the shoulders exposed by her revealing martial arts uniform. Her meek appearance left a gentle impression unlike her sister, and she was the sce saving the protagonist. This NPC designed as the yer¡¯s ssmate had a sword as ssy as her beauty. ¡®One of the six royal swords. Demon-ying sword.¡¯ It was the hidden piece that could be gained with the activation of her death event. And if Alicia Arden died¡­ It would be possible to add Sword Master Luina Arden, a stronger character all throughout except for the hidden skill, into the party. Sent as the saving grace, the named NPC was strong. Since this was to show off a reliable party member for the future, she would easily be able to deal with a same-graded monster. But there was something in this tutorial you could do to change the plot. It was a type of easter egg, or a bug depending on how you considered it. ¡°You can step back! I will deal with the¡ª?!¡± ¨C Stab! ¡°Huh?¡± Alicia Arden felt a dagger stabbing into her shoulder. She couldn¡¯t help but allow the attack because it waspletely against her expectations. ¡°Kuhk¡­ Why!¡± Blocking the ws of the beowulf that tried to attack her regardless, Alicia staggered a step back. It wasn¡¯t a detrimental injury. She thought it would be fine to deal with the wound after defeating the beowulf. ¡°Ugh?!¡± But she suddenly turned dizzy as her vision wavered. ¡®Poison? How? Was he waiting for me toe?!¡¯ It was by pure coincidence that she saw people getting attacked by a monster. She was walking towards Merkarva Academy for the admission and coincidentally came across them. How did he know? Without knowing the future or something how¡­ ¡°There¡¯s the mutual death event. Nice.¡± One of the strategies used by the veterans of this game, which allowed friendly fire, was to kill the named NPC with a death event as soon as possible to take the hidden piece and their post-death scenario. However, yers were weak in the tutorial stage. They would simply die after attacking a named NPC during the tutorial from their retaliation. ¡®Thank goodness there¡¯s the system window.¡¯ After using the inventory to craft an immediate debuff poison that slowly dropped HP, he had applied it to the dagger beforehand. It was easy to neutralize it with a first-aid skill, but that would be impossible during a fight against a Grade 2 monster. ¨C nk! The shing sound of ws and the de echoed through the forest. Even though she was weakened from the poison, there was no way she would lose that easily because named NPCs all had a card up their sleeves. ¨C Kaang! Upon perhaps realizing that wasting time was the worst option, Alicia Arden threw her body behind and sheathed her sword again. ¡°Calm down. Focus. Focus. Focus.¡± It wasing ¨C Alicia Arden¡¯s unpolished secret move. As a character publicly acknowledged for being strong in the early game, her skill was definitely powerful enough to kill the monster in one sh. Even though it might be limited to trash mobs, it was still a very strong skill. ¡°Kuwaaahh¡­!¡± The beowulf ran in with a roar thundering across the forest. ¡®Stupid trash mob. Running into its own grave.¡¯ Alicia Arden was in the perfect posture for her battojutsu, to unsheathe her sword in one sh. At this rate, she would easily defeat the monster and try to deal with the guy who stabbed a poisoned dagger from behind. ¡®That won¡¯t do.¡¯ He threw a dagger at Alicia who was posturing herself for the sh, because one small interruption tended to ruin her skill even in the game. ¨C Kangg! ¡°Uht?!¡± She parried the flying dagger with her superhuman reaction speed but that was exactly what he had wanted, because the battojutsu that was supposed to be facing the beowulf ended up cutting something else. ¡°Kuraaaahhh!¡± Without even the time to fix her posture, Alicia hurriedly swung her sword at the plunging beowulf. ¨C Stabb¨C! The demon-ying sword pierced through the beowulf¡¯s neck. It died on the spot. ¡°Uhhk¡­¡± Alicia wasn¡¯t unscathed either, evident from the blood gushing out from the side of her belly. ¨C Flop! She trembled from the poison and the excessive bleeding before soon falling on the ground. Although she was still conscious, her body refused to move. ¡®No¡­ I have to get up¡­¡¯ She was dizzy. Her body refused to move no matter how much she struggled. It wasn¡¯t a deadly poison and was more of a debuff and paralysis, but she would probably die from bleeding too much if left like this. ¡°She¡¯s not dying immediately. Is it slightly different from the game?¡± ¡°Why¡­¡± There was no value in answering the question of an NPC. Taking out the demon-ying sword from the beowulf¡¯s neck, he was dazzled by the gleaming de. ¡°Huhu. Jackpot!¡± It was an extremely strong hidden piece even inside the game. Although you would need a special pair of eyes and skills to make the most out of it, that was to worry aboutter. It might not even be bad to gather all the hidden pieces to aim for 100% achievement. ¡®Ah. You get exp for killing a named NPC, don¡¯t you?¡¯ He approached Alicia who was on the ground bleeding from her mouth. Killing this foolish little bitch would probably be even easier than killing a stupid vige kid. But the amount of exp you gain would be in a whole different league. ¨C Thud! ¡°Uhk! What was that?¡± He touched his nape that was hit by something and found orange powders on his fingers. ¡°W, who¡¯s there¡­!¡± There was nothing like this in the game though?! Did someone get out of the carriage? Was there someone alive out of the ones attacked by the beowulf? It might be poison ¨C thinking that, he immediately took an antidote out of his inventory and drank it. The antidote detoxified anything as long as they weren¡¯t a lethal poison, so there should be nothing to worry about. He stepped back with a gulp. ¡®Hurry up ande out if you¡¯re there,¡¯ he shouted but instead of a reply¡­ ¨C Squeak! ¨C Squeak! Squeak! What came back was the noise of approaching monsters. *** I knew where the tutorial took ce. It wasn¡¯t too far from the main gates of the city, and was a ce I had been to multiple times after the event that happened there. Although I dide here, I had to admit I didn¡¯t prepare anything. I had yet to craft a weapon at the academy and the only thing in my possession was a utility knife. But if there was none, all I had to do was make one. There were two things I had to do. It was stopping Park Sihu from killing Alicia Arden, and killing him instead. ¡®Wait that¡¯s¡­¡¯ I was speeding through the messy woods when an orange mushroom entered my sight. It was a mushroom which was quitemon in this forest. ¨C Swoosh! In the middle of the sprint, I plucked it out and continued running. Taking out a coin purse from my pocket, I emptied it and threw the mushroom inside. What I had to do after that was simple. I pressed on the mushroom inside the purse to mash it into a powder, and then picked up a pebble from the walkway to make it easier to throw. All I needed now was a weapon. Although I could use a utility knife, the range and power of this tool was far too insufficient. If I had time, I would have made a wooden spear or a bow, but time was not on my side. ¨C sh! Clink! Hearing the sound that was clearly from a battle, I hid my presence and approached to find a group of adventurers fighting a beast. ¡°Guwaaa¡­!¡± Beowulf ¨C it was the tutorial boss, and at the same time a boss that was not meant to be defeated. It was the boss of Part 2 of the tutorial that was there for the named NPC toe in and help with. The boss patterns were quite limited and a veteran would be able to do a punching challenge but a game was different from reality. Even I was trembling when I was first killing a monster. ¡°Damn it¡­ so it¡¯s today.¡± If it was tomorrow or the day after that, I would have been able to have enough preparations but all I had as a weapon was a utility knife. And if it wasn¡¯t today, I would have been able to save those people as well but¡­ ¡°Uhk¡­ Kid. R, run away¡­!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t leave you behind and run away!¡± You are here. Park Sihu. The only yable character of this game and the protagonist. Myrade and friend who I fought alongside with, for 3 years¡­ Even though I had it wrong the whole time. After that, things proceeded ording to the scenario. There was a person who came to save Park Sihu who was single-handedly facing the beowulf. The granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Alicia Arden, was here to save Park Sihu from the beowulf. Now, this was the turning point. Are you the yer Park Sihu I know of? Or are you just a righteous protagonist of this world? I might be wrong, and I might have to watch for the time being¡­ In fact, maybe what I went through was nothing but a dream. ¨C Stab! ¡°Huh?¡± That expectation was broken alongside Alicia¡¯s stunned voice. ¡°There¡¯s the mutual death event. Nice.¡± I see. So it is you. Sihu. ¨C Flop! In the end, Alicia copsed seemingly in a mutual death event with the beowulf after a consistent interruption from Park Sihu. ¡®It¡¯s alright¡­ Alicia Arden isn¡¯t dead yet.¡¯ If I had a weapon, I would have ambushed Park Sihu and gotten rid of him already, but all I had was a utility knife which wouldn¡¯t be able to pierce through the beowulf¡¯s skin. ¡°She¡¯s not dying immediately. Is it slightly different from the game?¡± A nonchnt voice flowed out of his mouth. It was his unique manner of speech which showed zero respect to human beings. ¡ºWho knows? I don¡¯t think the kill log was over 100k¡­ Ah, three more and I¡¯ll hit 100k.¡» I still remembered vividly how he showed off his kill record. Was Alicia Arden your first victim? Or have you been aposed killer the whole time? There was no way I could tell that, but what was certain was that he would continue killing numerous people as if there was nothing wrong with it. He wouldn¡¯t stop tragedies despite knowing they would happen, and would instead instigate them for efficiency or his own benefits. In fact, he might even create tragedies himself. I couldn¡¯t let him do that. I will not let him do such a thing. Picking up the purse of mushroom powder, I threw it at him. He let out a flustered voice before taking out an antidote from the thin air and drinking it. He might think it was poison, but he was wrong because it wasn¡¯t. ¨C Squeak! ¨C Squeak! Squeak! Dashing in were beasts as big as humans with a horn on their forehead ¨C they were the Grade 5 monsters, horned rats. They wereing after sensing the smell of mushroom powders that were covering Park Sihu¡¯s body. ¡°F, fuck!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but click my tongue while hearing his rough gasp. There were a lot less monsters than I imagined ¨C three horned rats were a lot less than what I had hoped for. With just three Grade 5 monsters, it would be impossible to kill Park Sihu because he was still a yer regardless of his rotten personality. ¡°These damn trash mobs!¡± ¨C Squeak! The horned rats were bisected from the sloppy swings of his sword. Because of the demon-ying sword taken from Alicia, the fight was not difficult for him in the slightest. However, it did seed at grabbing his attention. After carefully sneaking up, I checked Alicia¡¯s state before going up to the beowulf who was dead with its tongue out. Alicia was still breathing although with much difficulty, whereas the beowulf waspletely dead. I took out one of its fangs using the utility knife when a rugged voice was heard from behind. ¡°Fuck¡­ Who are you?¡± ¡°Being overgeared is pretty overpowered indeed.¡± Even though they were Grade 5 monsters, a newbie killing three of them in 1 minute was definitely not an easy feat. Carrying the beowulf¡¯s fang in a reverse grip, I turned around and found Park Sihu ring at me with a ferocious look on his face. Soon, his eyes widened into circles. ¡°Korin Lork? Why are you here?¡± Even among the countless attempts of veterans, there had never been any tutorial with Korin Lork, because he was a side character who couldn¡¯t even enter the party. To be frank, it was quite amazing that he even knew my name. ¡°Oi.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how you hold a sword.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± While he was dumbfoundedly standing in ce, I kicked the dirt up. It was a feint to block his sight. Seeing how he instinctively swung the demon-ying sword, it was evident that he was aplete newbie at fighting. ¡°You bastard!¡± However, the random movements of his sword were still able to block my approach. He was fast ¨C his physical stats were definitely better than mine. ¡°Die!¡± ¨C Swoosh! ¨C Swoosh! There was practically zero swordsmanship in his swings, but the sword being supported by his superior stats could still be detrimental to me. Deciding to sacrifice the flesh for a bone, I stepped closer in as Park Sihu excessively retreated back. ¡°¡­¡± He was being cautious. His gaze was on my right hand. Even though a beowulf¡¯s fang was indeed quite sharp, it was funny how someone carrying a longsword was so scared of it. However, that was what saved his life. ¡°Good.¡± Therefore, I deliberately unted the fang by pushing it forward as he gulped in response. He must be thinking of how he would die if this were to pierce his neck. Good. Stay on guard. Focus on this fang as much as you want. Right as his wariness was about to reach the peak¡ª ¡°Wahk!¡± ¡°¡­!¡± I shouted and he instinctively stepped back. The fang was as long as a dagger and wouldn¡¯t be able to reach him in time before he recovered his posture, but¡ª ¨C Sheeeek! That was a big enough gap for me to throw something. ¡°Uaak¡­!¡± The utility knife I threw aiming for his chest dug into his right arm in the middle of his staggering struggle. I threw my body towards him in the midst of his confusion. ¨C Bam! Park Sihu and I rolled across the ground as one cluster. In the end, it was I who took the mounted position and after recovering my bnce I unhesitatingly struck the fang down. ¡°Uaaahk¡­!¡± Thanks to his insane reaction speed, he somehow managed to grab my arm in spite of the situation and we were ced in a stalemate. ¡°Kuuh, kuuuhh¡­!¡± His eyes quivered seeing the horrendous fang in front of his eyes. I was also desperate in my own way so I tried to push the fang down but he was stronger than me. ¡°Kuhk, kuuuuhhk¡­!¡± Slowly, his hands were starting to push my arms away. It was a matter of time for me to lose in this bout of strength, so I held my ground by adding my weight onto my arm. ¡°Hupp¡­!¡± Lifting my left arm, I struck my right arm down like a hammer. ¨C Bam! ¡°¡­!¡± It went slightly off center but it nheless dug into his body. The fang that went in and out of his traps was soaked in blood. ¨C Bam! ¡°Kuhk?!¡± ¨C Bam! Bam! Bam! ¨C Stabb! After being stabbed multiple times in his chest and his neck, blood seeped out of his mouth. ¡°¡­!¡± His hands could no longer even grip onto my arms, and Park Sihu began thrashing his arms around as if he was in a deep ocean. He swam in the ground in order to escape from the grasp of death but he started to give up soon after sensing his impending doom. Behind the tears in his eyes were emotions full of rage and the questions, ¡®why¡¯ and ¡®how¡¯. But there was no room for sympathy for the human called Park Sihu. ¡°Thanks. I was able to be stronger thanks to you.¡± I had no regrets. That day, I killed a young beast who wouldter grow to be a monster. *** ¡ºSystem Error. yer¡¯s Death.¡» ¡ºCalcting the likelihood of thepletion of the Main Scenario.¡» ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡ºReviewing the remaining enemy forces.¡» ¨C All the main scenario bosses: alive ¨C yer dead at Level 1. ¡º1st attempt at finding the best option.¡» ¨C Use the remaining energy to load the backup world. ¡ºVariable, Korin Lork.¡» ¨C Examining possibility. ¨C Examining ideology. ¨C Examining suitability. ¨C Reviewing the y log. ¡ºRe-establishment of Korin Lork¡¯s identity.¡» ¨C Normal Side Character. -> Named Hero ¡ºNamed Character, ?Insignificant Sessor? Korin Lork.¡» ¨C AAA ss Knight. ¨C Lifted the growth limit of Korin Lork (Normal) by 4.8 times. Final Level: 87. ¨C Re-calcting the likelihood of thepletion of the Main Scenario. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¨C Possible. ¡º2nd attempt at finding the best option.¡» ¨C Seeding the yer¡¯s exp system to Korin Lork (Hero). ¨C Minimum backup in the case of an iplete scenario. A bare minimum will be applied to the session. ¡ºSub-yer, Korin Lork, will thus begin seeding the role of the yer.¡» Chapter 4: Precept (1) ? Precept (1) ? I killed Park Sihu. I killed the yer. Next to the corpse of the one who shared the same homnd as me, who had been with me through the ups and downs of my life, I deeply pondered to myself. There will be a void created due to the yer¡¯s death. The story of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? of defeating the final boss and saving the world had ended before it could even begin. ¡ºHuhu, jackpot!¡» ¡°Well done. Nice job killing him.¡± But thinking of what he had done, Imended myself. It would have made me a little guilty if he had seeded in defeating thest boss, and I might have even hesitated while killing him. cing the lives of a hundred thousand people he will be killingter on and the world on each side of a scale, I might have contemted my path. More importantly, what mattered the most now was the message that appeared when killing Park Sihu¡­ ¡ºSub-yer, Korin Lork¡» It wasn¡¯t my first time seeing a status screen, because I did see it when I was swallowed by Park Sihu¡¯s shadow and was locked inside. ¨C Thump thump. My heartbeat increased. I knew better than anyone else how much Park Sihu had gained by using the system window. ¡°¡­Status Screen.¡± ?Korin Lork (Hero)? Ohhh, ohhhh¡­! Finally, I have the godly status screen myself!! ss ¨C {Restricted} Personality ¨C {Restricted} Talents ¨C {Restricted} Aura ¨C {Restricted} Mana ¨C {Restricted} Specialties ¨C {Nothing} ?Character Skills ¨C 4? Details ¨C Restricted ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­¡­.¡­.. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡°Crafting Window?¡± ¡ºess denied due to insufficient qualification¡» ¡°Inventory!¡± ¡ºess denied due to insufficient qualification¡» ¡°Skills Tab!¡± ¡ºess denied due to insufficient qualification¡» Aish, god damn it! Uninstall this damn game! Is this what ¡®bare minimum¡¯ meant? This is just too much¡­! Other people shout ¡®Status Screen!¡¯ to allocate skill points, craft legendary weapons and speed through quests, so why is this only happening to me! And did you have to say ¡®Nothing¡¯ for something I didn¡¯t have? Oh my, how nice of you! ¨C Cough¡­! ¡°Haa¡­¡± Leaving aside the discouraging turn of events, I had to save her. ¡°Alicia Arden? Are you alright?¡± ¡°Auuh¡­ Noo¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ Looks like it.¡± She seemed alright for the time being judging from how she could still speak. ¡°Uugh¡­ Eyes, my eyes. I can¡¯t seee.¡± ¡°Do you feel dizzy, and is it hard to smell? Are your ears also fuzzy?¡± ¡°H,how did ye know?¡± ¡°Your tongue¡¯s also twisted.¡± Blurry vision, dizziness and slurred words. There was only one possibility for that. ¡°It seems like the poison of a duke frog.¡± It was fairlymon in the east. There was even a quest to find a duke frog from a well in the yer¡¯s starting vige, and he must have used that using the crafting system of the system window to separate the poison. His crafting level must have been low so it shouldn¡¯t be lethal, but it will continue sucking her HP dry if left unattended. I had to feed her a simple antidote at least. 5 seconds would have been enough if I had the crafting window but¡­ It was annoying the more I thought about it. Anyway, carrying her all the way to Merkarva City would take at least a few hours, so the best option would be to stop her bleeding and remove her poison here. Since it wasn¡¯t a lethal poison, she should be fine after a few days of suffering as long as she wasn¡¯t bleeding. ¡°Huhuk¡­ Am I going to diee?¡± Ignoring her, I tightened a belt around her wound. ¡°Kuaaakk?!¡± A pitiful scream reverberated across the forest, but a hemostasis was supposed to hurt. Although it might be deathly painful, it had to be done in order to avoid death. ¡°¡ª¡ª¡ª!!!!¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. I¡¯m a master at stopping blood.¡± To be fair, I had never been the one to use a system window. I had to live in my own way without it. ¡ª¡ª¡ª!! Wow, look at her scream. Her voice was thunderous like the cry of a baby born to be a general. I had no idea if she even heard what I was saying. ¨C Gush! Blood spurted out through the gaping hole created by the beowulf. ¡°Huu¡­ B, benefactorr¡­¡± ¡°Nn?¡± ¡°Let me leave, myst words¡­¡± ¡°Last words my ass. Bite onto this.¡± ¡°¡­?¡± I ced Park Sihu¡¯s wrist inside Alicia¡¯s mouth. It would be very painful so I wanted her to hold on to herself by biting on it. ¡°It¡¯s okay to bite down as hard as you want.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Alicia looked teary as if she was in a great amount of pain. I continued with the hemostasis and she bit down hard from the severe sense of pain as her teeth dug into Park Sihu¡¯s wrist. Well, it wasn¡¯t my hand so it was none of my business. I was somewhat done with sealing the wound below her rib. What I had to do next was detoxify the poison and¡­ I had been in this world for 3 years already, and knew how to make a basic antidote without the likes of a system window. Fortunately, the ingredients were nearby so all I needed was some water and a tin to store the medicine and¡­ ¡°Found it.¡± As expected, there was a bag discarded on the floor. It was probably Alicia¡¯s bag that she threw away before jumping in to save Park Sihu. ¡°Ohh, there¡¯s a tin pot as well.¡± Pouring water into the pot, I mixed in a few ingredients. Starting a fire wasn¡¯t that difficult thanks to my abundant camping experience. ¡°I¡¯m making the antidote now. Hold on a bit more.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± She sniffed without saying anything, which was probably due to the poison still encroaching her body. From how she was talking about st words¡¯ and stuff, she might be thinking she¡¯s dying but¡­ ¡®People don¡¯t die that easily.¡¯ While boiling the antidote, I threw Park Sihu¡¯s corpse away. Alicia had been biting on the wrist so hard that I could see the bone inside the wound. I was in the middle of adding the key ingredients to make the antidote when Alicia sniffed and twitched her nose. The guts of a horned rat had a pretty nasty smell indeed. ¡°Uhhm¡­ Benefactoor¡­¡± Arduously opening her mouth, she called me her ¡®benefactor¡¯. ¡°Y, your name¡­ Please, tell me your namee¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to know. Don¡¯t bother asking.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry and take a good rest. I will wake you up when the antidote is done.¡± ¡°Okayy¡­¡± It might have been to make her shoulder a mental debt towards me, but what I was going to do now had to be kept a secret. The antidote would be finished in about 30 minutes so until then, I ced a piece of cloth wetted with medicine over her eyes. Now, let¡¯s analyze the situation. The current point in time was the tutorial quest and the time before the admission into the academy. I had regressed to 3 years before my death. Astonishing events would be uring with the academy at the center, and many stories will be affected. ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? was quite literally the game of the legendary records of a hero. The yer was the hero tasked with saving the world and defeating countless viins as well as the final boss. And yet that yer had been killed by me, so who would be the one that had to act in his stead? ¡®I have to do it.¡¯ It was something I had prepared myself from the moment I decided to kill Park Sihu. He and I shared a few conversations about what would happen after clearing the main scenario of the game¡­ The reason he had been diligently clearing the game regardless of his evil trait was because the world would be destroyed without defeating the final boss. Ever since we entered this world, we had no other choice but to risk our lives in saving this world. That was why¡­ I could understand him a bit; on why he had been killing people for the sake of his efficiency. But he shouldn¡¯t have done that. He shouldn¡¯t have be a viin just because he wanted to beat this world. ¡°Huu¡­¡± At the very least, it was fortunate that I would be receiving some level of support thanks to that sub-yer or whatever but¡­ ¡ºess denied due to insufficient qualification¡» I wish they had done it properly if they were going to do it. It seemed that I shouldn¡¯t expect anything from the system window and think of it as nonexistent. Whatever the case, I had to take the yer¡¯s ce, but the problem was that I had none of the convenient devices of a yer. The skills tab which allowed the yer to choose skills; The inventory that allowed one to take out things from anywhere; And the item crafting window which was essential for some of the quests were all gone. But most importantly¡­ ¡®Park Sihu lost with all of that in his possession.¡¯ He knew more about the game ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? than I did. Even after monopolizing all the hidden pieces and experience points using his overflowing amount of information, he still lost to the final boss. Relying on questionable support and information about the future was not enough. I needed power outside of the system. What was fortunate was that I wasn¡¯t a normal ¡®possessor¡¯ either. 3 years. While advancing the story, I was tempered throughout the vicious fights and struggles. I was desperate in my own way for survival, and I didn¡¯t skip any of the training events that were simply ways to gather skill points for Park Sihu. Judging from how I was graded as a ¡®Hero¡¯ which was the highest rank a named character could get, one could say it was a huge growth for a random side character. However, that was still far from enough, and there were also plenty of hidden pieces that I couldn¡¯t use as a non-yer. That was why I had to use something outside of the system, for example¡­ ¨C Jiik I wrote a letter on the ground with my finger. The symbol engraved with theyer of dirt as the canvas and my finger as the pen was the ancient letter meaning ¡®Wind¡¯. ¨C Hwaruk! The fire boiling the medicine wavered faintly from the breeze. It worked. What I used just then was rune magic. These were the ancient letters where the letters themselves functioned like magic. It was the only magic that I learned in the previous iteration, and was the only thing I could use as a dumb non-magic user. It was a deadnguage that you would now only be able to find at the corner of Merkarva Academy¡¯s great library. What I was going to do now was arrange these rune letters which contained power on its own to engrave sentences into my body. A Precept. Duty, a vow that had to be kept. Restriction, a limit ced upon oneself. Pledge, the ambition that one had to be aspiring for. These three were tied together as a Precept, and was one of the strongest ¡®rules¡¯ of this world, that either acted as the source of superhuman power or the agent of ruin. This was different from the skills and stats of a yer. It was just one of the hidden settings added to exin the power of the boss characters. Why did I not use such an amazing thing in the previous iteration, you may ask, and it¡¯s because the risk was too high. As one would be able to tell from the word ¡®Precept¡¯, these three acted as the source of tremendous power, but it was possible to work around them after reading the sentences engraved on the body. The enemy might be able to use my Precept like I did, to create a trap leading to ruination. There was no reason to bother risking it in the previous iteration where the yer was growing without a problem, but things were now different. Biting off the skin on my fingertip to let it bleed, I then started carving rune letters into my body. Duty. It was the vow that always had to be kept, and was one that would grant me power when followed. The trick to engraving Duty was by writing down something that could be ¡®repeatedly activated¡¯. Let¡¯s say it was running 50 meters everyday. In that case, my stats would increase every time I aplished running 50 meters everyday. A safer duty would be for example, ¡®I will not eat birds for the rest of my life¡¯ which is done ¡®cumtively¡¯, but it was okay to increase the risk here because I knew a lot of things about the future. Besides, the amount of incremented power also increased depending on the weight of the vow itself. In this world, there was something called ¡®Karma¡¯ ¨C which was the same as experience points, except that was what it was called in this world ¨C and the Karma you gain by defeating a Grade 5 monster was nowhere near the one you gained by killing a Grade 1 monster. Simrly, this Duty had to be shouldering a heavy enough Karma in the perception of this world to give an equal amount in return. ?I will not disregard the misfortune of the good.? ¨C Chiiiik! ¡°Kuuk¡­!¡± Rune letters were carved onto my body asplete sentences. This might be how it feels to have a scorching hot piece of metal engraving a letter on my body as I unconsciously uttered deep groans. ¡°Huu¡­ huu¡­¡± My body felt heavy ¨C that was how heavy the ¡®Duty¡¯ engraved in my body was. The regtions of Precept were only applied within the user¡¯s range of cognition. Even if it was about a future or an event which had yet to ur, it woulde to me as my Karma as long as I was conscious of it. The keywords here were ¡®the good¡¯ and ¡®misfortune¡¯. In this game, the good and evil of a character¡¯s personality were specified in the character screen, and good-natured characters oveing their misfortune would be helpful for me as well, because they were the ones that would be fighting against this world¡¯s crisis. Put in another way, this meant the ¡®Precept of Duty¡¯ would be repeatedly applied to me as I continued solving the quests of this game, and would result in a suitable return to my power. However, there was no need to save every good person in the world, because a Precept was activated in the range of my cognition. Even if the unfortunate person walking down the street was a good person, my Duty would not be activated as long as I wasn¡¯t aware of it. Next up was Restriction. ¡®Restriction¡¯ was a consistently activated rule that intentionally ced an unfavorable condition to oneself to permanently increase the stats. It was by nature high risk ¨C high return. Because it was the most vulnerable out of the three Precepts, it might be taken advantage of as a weakness, and perhaps was the most important one of the three. Making a weakness on their own. A normal ¡®Restriction¡¯ could be a detrimental one binding me like shackles, but¡ª ?I do not perceive spirits.? ¨C Chiiiik! ¡°Kuugh¡­!¡± Spirits. It literally meant astral bodies, like ghosts and elemental spirits that did not have a physical body. Like demonic beasts, the enemy of humanity that hunters had to defeat were called demonic spirits in this world. Well, although they were called demonic spirits, it didn¡¯t mean anything. Every astral body that was hostile to humanity were all referred to as demonic spirits. Elemental spirits that did not like humans, and defensive astral bodies of ancient ruins were all called demonic spirits as long as they attacked humans. And in this world, there was one rule for spirits. Spirits interfered with one another upon mutual cognition. An example was how spirits were unable to enter the mind of an unconscious person. In this world, every human had even a tiny bit of spiritual perception no matter how ungifted they were. There might be 1 or 2, but there was never 0. What I did just then through Restriction was reducing that number to 0. In other words, I would not be able to perceive spirits. I will be exempt from the rule of mutual cognition and spirits will not be able to deal with me, just like how I can¡¯t deal with them. The only way for them to touch me, would probably be with the help of an elementalist materializing and giving bodies to those spirits. I knew how strong this Restriction was more than anyone else, because this was the very ¡®Restriction¡¯ of the world¡¯s strongest rune mage, and the boss character, Valtazar. Its effect was 0% uracy to spirits, at the return of 50% increase in power against physical existences. Anything else apart from the one used to y around Valtazar¡¯s Restriction would not be able to destroy mine either. Finally, what remained was the ¡®Pledge.¡¯ This was the grand ambition that warriors had to be aspiring for, and the weight of that aspiration acted as a support. It was literally pledging to yourself that you would always aspire for that grand ambition. There was no need to even hesitate for this one. ?I will save the world.? Chapter 5: Precept (2) ? Precept (2) ? ¡ºThe Precept has beenpleted. It will now be applied to the sub-yer.¡» Duty ¨C ?I will not disregard the misfortune of the good.? : Quests will be given within the proximity of the sub-yer¡¯s cognition. When cleared, the status will increase appropriately based on the Karma. ¡ù Failure to follow the Duty will result in a decrease in stats that is 10 times greater than the increase. Restriction ¨C ?I do not perceive spirits.? : The sub-yer will be unable to perceive astral bodies, and astral bodies cannot touch the sub-yer. The sub-yer will gain 50% additional advantage against every physical opponent. ¡ù Viting the Restriction will result in taking 600% additional damage from every opponent. Pledge ¨C ?I will save the world.? : The sub-yer must save the world at any cost. Additional support will be given to the sub-yer when entering a fight that is in corrtion to the world¡¯s doom. ¡ù You will definitely die upon failing to keep the Pledge. ¡ºess denied for the sub-yer, Korin Lork, due to insufficient qualification.¡» There were a bunch of messages, but I couldn¡¯t read any of them. What¡¯s going on? Somebody please tell me! **** For Alicia, today was a day of misfortune with a strand of good luck. Who would have guessed that a person saved from the ws of a demonic beast would stab her with a poisoned dagger from behind? Her nanny used to scare her off by saying there was a thing in the city called ¡®thrill killing¡¯, and she was actually right! Alicia thought she would be helplessly murdered by that ungrateful lunatic, but she was helped by someone who defeated that murderer. And he even treated her wound! Although it was very painful when he was stopping the bleeding, there was no first-aid kit around so that was understandable. ¡°It seems like the poison of a duke frog.¡± Plus, he was also so well-informed that he knew what poison it was just by looking at the symptoms! ¡®He must be an amazing person with remarkable experiences!¡¯ She imagined the appearance of her benefactor on her own ord. His low voice sounded cold but an undisguisable hint of kindness lingered within. Is this the so-called ¡®cold city guy¡¯ who despite looking cold on the outside is actually very gentle to his girl? ¡°Ms. Alicia. Bite on this.¡± ¡°Kuhee? Dis?¡± Alicia, who was in tremendous pain from the process of stopping the blood, flinched upon feeling the flesh that was inside her mouth. It was true that people would often bite on a piece of cloth to withstand an unbearable amount of pain. A person¡¯s teeth was actually a very lethal weapon. To think he would unhesitatingly give his hand for that! How could he be so gentle and sweet? ¨C Gush! ¨C Kuhiiiiiiiitt! It hurts! It was unfathomably painful, but Alicia held it in. The wound had been created by the thick ws of a beowulf, and it was very fortunate that her organs were rtively safe from the attack. ¡®Oh no! I was biting too hard!¡¯ She had identally added an excessive amount of power to her jaws. There was even a deep wound on the flesh inside her mouth. Even though it should be painful¡­ and extremely agonizing¡­ ¡°¡­¡± Her benefactor did not let out a single groan. Alicia marveled at his self-restraint. She had been trained by her grandfather, the Sword Emperor, but what was painful was still painful. Because of herck of resilience, she had often been smacked on her head with the wooden sword. ¡ºBut¡­ it hurts though. How am I supposed to hold it in?¡» ¡ºYou can. Look at your older sister.¡» ¡º¡­¡» But her sister Luina was a genius; why was heparing her with someone like herself? She also couldn¡¯t understand why her grandfather suddenly named her a sessor candidate and was making herpete against her sister. ¡®If I receive grandpa¡¯s sword because I¡¯m now a sessor candidate, then¡­ how much will this sell for? Should I ask after going into the city?¡¯ Oops¡­ Her thoughts identally strayed off topic. ¡°Y, your name¡­ Please, tell me your namee¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to know. Don¡¯t bother asking.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Her benefactor did not tell her his name until the end. Why was that? Judging from how he knew her name, he must also be aware of who her grandfather was, as well as the influence of the Arden family. Alicia herself might be admonished for being ambushed like a fool, but there would be plenty of benefit for him, and yet her benefactor did not introduce himself. Why was that? [A true warrior does not worry about materialistic possessions.] That was what her grandfather used to tell her. ¡®Ahh, I see. He saved me not because I¡¯m an Arden, but because there was someone in front of him that needed help. That must be why he¡¯s saying he doesn¡¯t need anypensation¡­¡¯ She thought to herself. Her impression of him was soaring up endlessly when the sound of skin being seared reached her ears along with a groan. ¨C Chiiik! ¡°Kuuk¡­!¡± ¡®A groan?¡¯ That wasn¡¯t from her ¨C her blood had stopped flowing already, and she was now waiting for the antidote to finish boiling. ¡®Was he hurt? Was he injured while saving me?¡¯ Her lips twitched from the sense of guilt. She wanted to ask if he was okay, but could not dare open her mouth. She felt embarrassed. There was a person who was hurt because of her, who was forced to close his wounds using a method as extreme as searing his wounds and yet she, the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, had been screaming ¡®Kyaaa¡¯ from something that paled a lot inparison. In addition to that was his righteous mind that was not blinded by wealth, and that tremendously increased her impression of the man whose face she had yet to see. ¡°Huu¡­ huu¡­¡± He collected his breath only after searing himself a few more times, and that made her respect him even more. ¡°It¡¯s finished boiling. Ms. Alicia Arden. It¡¯s time for your medicine.¡± ¡°Yeshh¡­¡± He must be a very talented man, judging from how he could create an antidote in the middle of woods like this. ¨C Bubble bubble. Her sense of hearing was the only one that still functioned properly, so Alicia lent a close ear to the boiling sound of the medicine. Soon, after a jingle, she heard the sound of the antidote being poured into a cup. ¡°You might burn your tongue if you drink it like this.¡± Then, he started blowing, ¡®Huu, huu,¡¯ on the cup. She was touched by his consideration. ¨C Huu~! Huu~! After the liquid was cooled down for quite some time, arge hand touched her back and made her sit up straight. ¡°It¡¯ll be quite bitter. Can you open your mouth?¡± ¡°Yess¡­¡± ¨C Huu~! Huu~! He cooled it down one more time before carefully letting her lips touch the antidote inside the cup. A bitter vor immediately filled her mouth. It was too bitter¡­ Alicia wanted to have something sweet. Apparently in the city, there was something called honey tea¡­And she wanted a honey bomb candy. Alicia was trying to ignore the bitter vor by continuing her trail of thoughts in whatever direction possible when a low voice whispered into her ears. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You can slow down.¡± It was a gentle voice that treated her like a kid. He then continued while tapping her back. ¡°Do you have anything sweet? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s quite bitter. Do you want me to take something out of your bag for you?¡± ¡°It, it¡¯s okayy¡­¡± ¡°Really? Then let¡¯s get up when you¡¯re done.¡± He then helped her finish the leftover antidote. ¨C Gulp gulp! ¡°That¡¯s right~. That¡¯s how you do it~. Well done.¡± As if she was a very young sibling of his, he fed her the antidote along with hispliments. Even though she was a little embarrassed, her mind was more focused on the bitter taste of the antidote and the return of her senses from the detoxification. Her wariness dissipated and Alicia soon sluggishly fell asleep. ¡­¡­¡­. ¡°Uhuk¡­! Kuhahkk?!¡± Aftering to her senses, Alicia immediately tried to raise her body in a hurry but ended up groaning from the stabbing pain of her wound. It was unclear whether she heard her shout or the groans, but a nurse came in from the echoey corridor outside. ¡°Aht! You woke up! We heard you were under the effect of a duke frog¡¯s poison. How do you feel? Can you see me?¡± Thedy in a nurse uniform checked her state and asked her questions before recording them down. Alicia bewilderedly responded to a few questions but after waking uppletely, she asked the nurse. ¡°Where is the person that carried me here? He must have been greatly hurt as well!¡± ¡°Sorry? Ah¡­ if you¡¯re talking about him, he left straight away¡­¡± Alicia noticed she was in the emergency hospital of Merkarva City, and that her benefactor had carried her all the way here from the forest outside the city. ¡°Right. The soldiers that were on patrol retrieved your items and the corpses of the guardians. This is yours, yes, Ms Alicia Arden?¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­¡­ Huh?¡± The nurse was pointing at therge bag ced in a corner of the room, but there was one thing that didn¡¯t belong to her. There was a belt with a remaining hint of blood which was made of a coarse material that was too rugged to be used by women. ¡°This is¡­¡± It was the belt used to close her wound. It was a crude and mass-manufactured belt with no particr design on it. Alicia tightly gripped onto the belt while vowing to find its owner. ¡°Ms. Nurse.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± The nurse seemed quite overwhelmed by the serious gaze in her eyes, and took a step back. ¡°Do they sell honey bomb candies nearby?¡± ¡°¡­You must only have porridge for the time being.¡± ¡°Uwek¡­¡± **** The third day after the end of the tutorial quest was the day of Merkarva Academy¡¯s entrance ceremony. Living 27 years on Earth, I¡¯ve only been registering for courses that started at around noon in college but after living here for 3 years, I became used to waking up early. That was still the same even after the regression of my body, and my eyes automatically opened at 6 am, ready for the first day of school. Heading to the bathroom, I took a warm shower and wiped the steam off the mirror as it revealed the reflection of Korin Lork¡¯s bare face. The unattended ck hair was long enough to reach below the shoulders but I tied it to a ponytail as always. Leaving behind the mirror that quickly turned back to being foggy, I changed into the same clothes I wore three days ago. Even though it used to be bloodstained, the washing skills of this world were remarkable. This jumbled-up world based on things from the 16th ~ 20th Century had things like magic artifacts and crystal technology to replicate modern products. There was no particr uniform in this academy, so I was wearing the same rtively-tough pants and a white shirt like I used to even before the regression. All I needed was the student ID card received beforehand to enter the campus. ¨C Flop! I opened the wallet to check the ID card inside and found a piece of paper fluttering down to the floor. To my proud son, Korin Lork, There are no words to express how proud your father is to have you to enter the guardian academy. Be a great man that can protect those around you, as well as the whole world like countless other guardians. It¡¯s your mum. Don¡¯t skip your meals and don¡¯t push yourself to be a hero. I¡¯ll be happy as long as you¡¯re healthy. Oppa! Send me 10 jars of honey bomb candies when you get there! ¡®Korin Lork¡¯ was an average ungifted student like one of those yers in an amateur baseball team who always stayed in the waiting room. Although he was pretty much a non-existent side character in the story, even he had a family. He had a father who was proud of him; a mother who wished for her son¡¯s well-being, and a growling and annoying younger sister. In the previous iteration, I felt very awkward around these people. Because they were the family of Korin Lork, and not me. I even felt guilty for taking Korin Lork away from them, and it took a long time for me to ept Korin Lork¡¯s memories which I gained bying into this world as my own. But now, it was different. Forging bonds with a lot of people over the past 3 years, I started to love them and I began to love this world. I acknowledged that this world was real. That was probably the difference between Park Sihu and me. The difference in our perspectives would not let us understand each other until the very end. ¡°First off, let¡¯s buy some honey bomb candies and send them home.¡± 10 jars my ass. Be d that I am willing to send 1 jar. **** The ce where the freshmen had to gather was the Liberty Hall located north-east of the Academy. Because of how enormous the campus was, it would have taken years to go there on foot, but fortunately, there were carriages doing rounds across the campus. The automated magic carriages were traveling on top of the rails of the campus like trams, while stopping at each of the stations. As expected of one of the 4 guardian academies of the entire continent, they were loaded with money. In fact, academies in this world were even more influential than countries so the amount of donations flooding in was on the level of the national budget of a kingdom. ¡°Wow¡­ There are so many carriages.¡± ¡°So this¡­ is Merkarva Academy.¡± In rural cities, there would only be 1 or 2 magic carriages going around and yet there was an abundance of them in this ce, so the students that came from the countryside dropped their chins and watched in awe. It was quite rare and in fact, some of them might have gotten on a carriage for the first time in their lives after getting the admission offer. Therefore, they were bound to mindlessly wander off due to not knowing the stations and directions of the automated carriages going around the Academy. That was something the school was also aware of, and there were always people allocated at the entrance of the Academy each year. I also did it in the past before the regression. ¡°This way~. Everyone~! All the freshmen juniors, gather up!!¡± There was a girl at the southern entrance of the Academy, who was gathering freshmen in front of one of the stations. Her long turquoise-color hair was spread all the way down to her waist, and her hair that was braided across the side was decorated with white potato flowers. She was wearing white clothes with a hint of blue throughout. The beret which artists would wear, her skirt, boots and the protective coat which was worn by every mage were all coloured in white. Judging from how there were close to thirty students of the academy that were presumably freshmen lining up in front of her, that girl appeared to be in charge of the guidance this year. ¡°The carriage will being soon! It will depart after around 2 minutes? So let¡¯s move fast! But not too fast so that we don¡¯t get hurt, and let¡¯s go in one by one and go all the way to the back!¡± The girl with turquoise hair color gave instructions to the freshmen with a bright smile on her face. Her refreshing smile which was the same as the one before the regression flushed the faces of some of the freshmen. ¡°Are you also a freshman? Come here and sit down. Wow~ You¡¯re very tall! I¡¯m sure you need to eat a lot as well!¡± There was no-one who could ever hate this girl who was kind and bright to everyone. However, I couldn¡¯t return a carefree smile as one who knew about the future waiting ahead of her. ¡°Do you want some potatoes? It¡¯s from my family, and I baked a lot of them to give to our juniors today.¡± She took out a potato covered by a handkerchief from the basket and gave it to me. There appeared to be a preservation spell cast on it, and the potato was steaming hot. ¡°Oh right. I¡¯m Marie. Marie Dunareff.¡± Marie Dunareff. A genius at using magic, and a 2nd year student of Merkarva Academy. The unfortunate girl blessed by everyone who would have easily be a Grade 1 mage, that however crumbled in an instant. ¡°I¡¯m Korin Lork. Do you have sugar?¡± ¡°Ahtt! I don¡¯t have sugar! But I did bake them with salt!¡± Is that okay? She looked up at me with an amicable smile on her face. Chapter 6: Grading Test (1) ? Grading Test (1) ? It might be the same for Earth, but this world had misfortune and unfortunate tragedies decided by the scenario. People full of pride and honor might unexpectedly fall into the pit of helplessness, and a citizen leading a normal life could also be caught up in a natural catastrophe. For Marie Dunareff, her future was destined for despair. The unfortunate event was both unstoppable and unavoidable. The timed bomb instilled inside the final boss of the 1st arc, Marie Dunareff, would definitely go off, and what was important was the timing of the explosion as well as the aftermath. Depending on how the aftermath was dealt with, it could lead to the future attack of the fundamentalists, but could also reduce the triggers of the great copse. ¡°Everyone. Shout out loud~! Ba~ baba! Baba! Ba~ baba! Baba!¡± ¡°Yeeeyy~!¡± ¡°Wooohh!¡± Like a tourist bus of teenagers, therge magic carriage was filled with people singing a song and ying music. It would take over 30 minutes to get to the Liberty Hall from this ce on a carriage, and it was always up to the sunbae in charge of guiding the students to enliven up the mood. ¡°Thanks for pping along, everyone! That was great! Here are some potatoes!¡± ¡°Thank you, Senior Marie!¡± Marie, who was in charge of guiding the freshmen, used her characteristic ability of creating friends to shorten the gap between herself and her juniors in just 3 minutes. She was a beauty with an easygoing personality¡­ and besides, she charmed others with her overwhelming amount of food so there was no way the freshmen wouldn¡¯t like her. People that gave away food were nice people most of the time. ¡°We are almost there. Right! You see that olddy next to the window? Thatdy with an afro hair makes potato croquettes and they¡¯re very delicious! You should try them when you have time! And juustt over there, there is the Creation Hall, where students learning magic gather for research. They make a lot of strange things. And over there is the stamina training room! We call it the training room! You can borrow a lot of interesting weapons so I rmend you go there at least once! But I was restricted from going there this holiday¡­ I was using nunchucks and I identally broke a window¡­¡± ¨C Hahahaha! Marie was as friendly as a capybara and immediately grasped the hearts of her juniors. Soon, the carriage arrived at the hall. ¡°You have to get off in the span of 2 minutes! But don¡¯t run, and get off slow! You have plenty of time!¡± She kindly guided the students after getting off the carriage first. ¡°The professors are inside, so you can go in one by one and line up! Then, good luck everyone!¡± Good luck? The other freshmen were curious about her sudden encouragement, but I knew what was waiting ahead. I was worried something might happen because of the Precept but fortunately, nothing happened. That was when Marie stopped everyone in their tracks. ¡°Oh, right. Everyone! Here are some steamed and sweet potatoes for you!¡± How many steamed potatoes and sweet potatoes were there inside that basket? I¡¯m sure there have at least been 50 potatoes so far. ¡°See you againter!¡± Leaving behind Marie who was energetically waving her arm until the end, we walked into the Liberty Hall as our sight immediately turned dark. It seemed that we were thest batch. ¡°W, what?¡± ¡°Can anyone see anything?¡± The crowd buzzed from the sudden darkness in front of them. It was natural for them to be anxious considering how their peers suddenly disappeared from their sight, while being unable to touch anything. Spatial Expansion. It was the unique spell of Senior Professor, Lady Josephine ra. ¡°Do not be flustered, rookies!!¡± ¡°Uhk?!¡± The shout echoing one¡¯s eardrums¡­ was the voice of Old Man Haman the professor of martial art studies. I could still vividly remember how he used to shout that he was still in the prime of his life even though he was only 2 years short of his retirement age. ¡°How could the new cadets of our academy be flustered by something like this! I can only imagine how hard it would be to raise you ipetent fools into warriors!¡± This old man was always the same. Huu, he brought my mind back to the marine camp I went to back in my school days. Those were some crazy days back then. ¡°Stand up straight! You over there! You bony-looking one! I am looking at you!¡± ¡°Huek!¡± Students were the only ones that couldn¡¯t see what was ahead, and the professors standing on the tform were able to see everything. Academy; school; education. It was easy for people to misunderstand, but this Merkarva Academy was a superhuman training facility that was centered around training instead of education. The history of this world¡¯s humanity was that of a constant strife against the demons. The most effective weapon against those monsters were the superhumans who had control over aura and mana. And because a guardian academy was a ce that nurtured those superhumans, it was unavoidable for it to resemble a training facility more than a school. ¡°It¡¯s my first time seeing people like you in my 20 years of life as an instructor! Quite shocking!¡± Every military was the same ¨C they all began by breaking the spirits of the new recruits before anything. Marine camps which tried to replicate that military also had a simr trend. ¨C Kung! At the end of Old Man Haman¡¯s noisy discouragement, a spotlight appeared in that space of darkness. ¡°Ah~ Hello. I am Professor Fermack Daman, in charge of this year¡¯s freshmen weing ceremony. Professor is too stiff so you can call me sir.¡± Standing in the middle of the stage weing the freshmen was a man who looked like a good-for-nothingpared to Old Man Haman. His outfit and attitude were unbelievably casualpared to other professors, but the muscles being shown underneath his short-sleeved shirt was bulky enough to overwhelm the freshmen. ¡®Been a while since I saw that bastard.¡¯ All the professors next to him as well as Fermack Daman were all staring into the darkness. On the left side was the obstinate Old Man Haman Welsch, and on the right hand side was Professor Lra Mars from Alchemy. They were practically divided into 2 groups: professors from the Knight Department and those from the Magic Department. Even though it was called a freshmen weing ceremony, the professors were all gathered here because today¡¯s event was a very important one for students. They would soon be conducting the student grading test. It was a fairly important test, because the grades of the missions and the support funds would all be decided by this one until the next test. ¡°Well, you are all here to either be a knight or a mage, and you already got a qualification the moment you came here but¡­¡± His gaze that was so sharp it would pierce through his sunsses prated through the students. ¡°I would hate to see random weaklings acting tough, so let¡¯s have a look at everyone¡¯s abilities.¡± ¨C Gulp! I could hear nervous gasps from here and there. Even though he was wearing a light costume, Fermack Daman was a Grade 1 knight who was even introduced in the monthly guardian magazine. That vigor was not something freshmen newbies could handle. ¨C p! Lady Josephine swung her horse whip once. The area turned dark again, as a short text appeared in the eyes of every student. ¡ºKorin Lork¡» Aura Rank: Low (680) Mana Rank: Very Low (120) Specialties: Nothing (0) Overall Grade: Grade 6 It was nothing new but my stats were really trash. Considering how named characters began at ¡®Medium Low¡¯ in general, with the numbers starting from 5,000, as well as how the yer¡¯s initial stats began from 3,000, my stats were horrendously low. ¡®The ranks are the biggest problem. Do they go up with the Precept as well?¡¯ The capacity of aura itself could be increased by having potions or through increasing stats but the ranks were a different issue altogether. A higher rank meant an increase in the amount of aura you could release at once, and in turn meant an increase in power. Even if the total capacity of aura was to be either 10,000 or 100,000, as long as the rank stayed at ¡®Low¡¯, the maximum output at a given moment would always stay at 100. Whether you had a water tank or were living by ake, you had to use water through a faucet. That was what it pretty much meant. ¡®For now, I can only believe in myself.¡¯ ¡°Ah. So in front of you, there should be your name and your overall grade. Let¡¯s all go to the number you received, from¡­ let¡¯s see, here to all the way there.¡± The spotlights appeared again. Even though the students were a bit fussy, they nheless moved to the prepared signboards. In front of the sign for Grade 6, there were only three timid-looking ones apart from me. There should be about 400 new students in total this year, and yet there was only 1% of them in front of this Grade 6 signboard. ¡°Those numbers are the grades given after calcting your mana capacity, so you could say it is your Mana Rank. From now on, you will be taking tests starting from a grade lower than the one you received.¡± The crowd buzzed again, but Fermack made them shut up by trampling on the ground once. ¡°Well, don¡¯t be disappointed by it. My aura rank is also at Medium High but I¡¯m still a Grade 1 knight. The key is that the way you fight is more important.¡± That was true. The amount of energy was nothing but a number, and making the most out of it in a real fight also required talent. Of course, at grades 5 and 6, it would be nigh impossible to ovee that gap. ¡°Let us begin now! I wish you all the best. Well, you won¡¯t die anyway, so if you really don¡¯t feel like doing this, you can just dash in and kill yourself.¡± Along with the ominous words of Fermack, light covered my sight. **** Half of the darkness enveloping the Liberty Hall was lifted as the professors gathered in one ce. ¡°There are a lot of gems this year.¡± Professor Lra of Alchemy said while looking at the students half-encroached by the darkness. The signboards of Grade 2 and¡­ Grade 1. The freshmen that had been standing in front of those signboards were next to them without being isted in the ¡®testing ground¡¯ which had been infinitely expanded by Lady Josephine. ¡°One Grade 1 and four Grade 2s, huh.¡± The young-looking blonde-haired beauty, Lady Josephine, looked at the remaining students of this ce while lifting her monocle. Granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Alicia Arden. Druid of Avelorn, Yuel. Mercenary of Flying Swords, Dorron Warsky. Golem Mage, Kranel Luden. They were geniuses who had been famous even before the admission. Considering how most of the professors of the guardian academy were Grade 2 with only a few of them being at Grade 1, it was possible to say that these students were as strong as a professor in terms of their ability. Of course, their ability to fight in an actual battle was apletely different matter, but it was clear that their talents were at the level of a genius already. However, this was one of the only four academies worldwide. Here, geniuses were overshadowed by even greater geniuses. Josephine turned towards the Grade 1 signboard. ¡°¡­¡± There was a mysterious girl with a sharp gaze who was standing straight as if she had been straightened up by a right-angled ruler. Her nun clothes tightly tied by chains and her short hair were exactly the same as what Lady Josephine had seen in the past. She appeared like a temperamental cat from a distance, but Josephine was with the chairman of the academy, Eriu Casarr, when first inviting her, so she knew her true identity. ¡®What is the chairman thinking?¡¯ If not for the dozens of yellow talismans stuck on the entangled chains, even Lady Josephine would have been greatly against inviting this girl. Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran. ¡®Knight¡¯ was not a suitable description for that girl. A ghastly aura that couldn¡¯t be concealed by the indifferent look on her face was devouring the nearby air. ¡°¡­I suppose there would be no need to gauge your abilities. Please wait until everyone else is done with their test.¡± Leaving behind the cream of the crop, Josephine and the remaining professors gazed into the dimension where the students had gone into. ¡°By the way, is there even a need to bother about these kids?¡± One of the professors, Professor Ronan said while looking at the students through one of the crystals. Most of the students were in Grade 5, so he was evaluating them along with 3 other professors, but he was also in charge of the four Grade 6 students. ¡°Honestly, wouldn¡¯t it be better to expel these ungifted students¡­¡± Grade 5 was already quite useless, and Grade 6 pretty much meant they werepletely ungifted. They could only barely perceive even the most basic of astral bodies so it was hard to make use of them. They were like pebbles who just happened to be awakened. Professor Ronan used his cold gaze to stare at the under-achieving students whom he would not even consider as his disciples. He had also been hailed as a genius when he was young, and thus could not understand the minds of ungifted and normal students. Considering how education was meant to cultivate the wide range of students instead of focusing on the small number of geniuses, Professor Ronan was by no means a good educator. Lady Josephine heaved a sigh at the professors that were too much of an elitist and changed the atmosphere by pping the air with her whip. ¡°It is the chairman who wants every student to walk down the path of education. Are you dissatisfied with anything?¡± Anyints? Professor Ronan closed his mouth. Just like other elitists, he became humble in front of someone who was more of an elite than him. ¡°¡­¡± But even Lady Josephine was unable to refute the words of Professor Ronan while looking at the boy with a pony-tail stuck in the dimension she made. Grade 6. These ungifted students which were as rare as the few geniuses were usually unable to withstand the burden of a guardian. It would be great if they could even defeat Grade 5 monsters. Chapter 7: Grading Test (2) ? Grading Test (2) ? ¡ºMonsters wille out in 30 seconds. Deal with them as you wish.¡» Professor Ronan¡¯s indifferent voice reached my ears. All of a sudden, we were thrown into a white dimension with nothing but a case full of weapons to abruptly conduct a test. Most Grade 5 and Grade 6 students would probably pick up a random weapon without even thinking twice, but it was highly likely for that weapon to be a sword. That was the same even for me inst iteration¡¯s grading test, and approximately 70% (?) of the students in the Knight Department tended to choose a sword. After all, swords were cool right? ¡°Let¡¯s see, let¡¯s see~¡± I, however, unhesitatingly picked up a spear this time, because that was the weapon I used the most in the previous iteration. Actually, the reason I chose the spear before was quite simple. They say 100 days to master a spear, 1,000 days to master a de, and 10,000 days to master a sword right? I remembered reading from a wuxia novel how 100 days was enough to be proficient at using a spear whereas a sword required 10,000 days. It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t try using a sword, but it was actually quite difficult to use. ¡º5¡­ 4¡­ 3¡­¡» When I took a spear out of the weapon case, a new spear appeared inside. This was an element that wasn¡¯t included in the game, but it was Lady Josephine being considerate in case a weapon was to break. ¡º2¡­ 1¡­!¡» After a brief pause, monsters began appearing in the distance like a hologram. Showing up were three Grade 5 demonic beasts that appeared like small hunting dogs withrge fangs. Even though I thought three Grade 5 monsters was a bit too much against a novice, a guardian was at least expected to defeat a monster that was right above their designated grade. For example, a Grade 5 knight should be able to defeat one Grade 4 demonic beast, and should also be able to deal with three monsters of the same grade even if they were to take some time. My evaluated rank was Grade 6 so ording tomon sense, it would be great if I could even defeat one of those Grade 5 Short Hounds let alone three but¡­ ¡°Krrrrh¡­!¡± I¡¯ve killed those guys way too many times already. ¡°Around 40 meters away? How nice.¡± After calcting the distance between me and the short hounds, I gently tossed a spear. ¨C Tuung! Drawing a parab behind its path, the spear urately pierced through the head of one of the monsters. Thanks to the thousands and tens of thousands of experiences, the javelin precisely pierced through its target. ¡°Krrng?¡± The short hound killed by the sudden spear was vanishing into a mist, and the startled monster next to that guy was the next one to die. ¡°Krrr¡­!¡± The remaining beast kicked off the ground and dashed forward. As a proficient master of spears, I immediately calcted our distance, its path and timing. ¡°15 meters.¡± It would be okay to deal with it with a javelin but I wanted to try out rune magic instead. Gathering mana to my fingertip, I wrote a letter in the air. ???- Kenaz The rune letter meaning ¡®fire¡¯ was engraved in the air, and was followed by a scorching ze. ¨C Hwaruk! ¡°Krrng?!¡± The short hound threw its body to the side and avoided the approaching mes as the fire ended up burning nothing but the poor ground. ¡°Damn¡­¡± Was there not enough mana? Speed was also a problem. It was a long-time problem but rune magic was not a good magic to use by itself. Well, things might be different if my mana rank went up though. ¡°Woof¡­!¡± After running up, the short hound pounced to tear my throat but its movement was way too linear. Calcting the trajectory, I straightened up the spear at where it wouldnd. ¡°Woof?¡± The low scream in the middle of its jump was way toote. ¨C Squash! Leaving behind the short hound who jumped to the tip of the spear for its own death, I calcted how long it took. It took me about 12 seconds to deal with the Grade 5 demonic beasts. Even though it was only possible thanks to the spears constantly popping up, it was still rtively fast. ¡®How far can I go this time?¡¯ Although I failed in thest iteration because I couldn¡¯t kill the short hounds, this time it was different. The grading test should have demonic beasts and demonic spirits showing up in the ascending order of their grades, and there should be up to Grade 3 prepared. I was waiting for the next wave to hurry up and appear but for some reason, it was taking a very long time, even though it used to be very quick in the game. ¡°¡­Is it broken?¡± Even after waiting for a few minutes, the Grade 4 monsters didn¡¯t show up. Instead¡ª ¡°Krrng!¡± ¡°Krrrrrnnng¡­.!¡± ¡°Woof woof!¡± Grade 5 monsters appeared again. Was this seriously broken? **** Professor Ronan didn¡¯t have high expectations of his allocated portion of students. He absent-mindedly followed Lady Josephine¡¯s settings to summon monsters and let them fight. While looking at the students struggling against the monsters, he clicked his tongue. ¡°Tch tch. What can they do if they can¡¯t even kill that?¡± Seeing those kids that couldn¡¯t even readily deal with three Grade 5 monsters made him heave a deep sigh. ¡®Back in my~~ days¡­¡¯ he reminisced in his memories of how he had dealt with those Grade 5 monsters in just 1 minute and 22 seconds. Even though he was a Grade 3 mage back then, this batch of students was still just horrendous. ¡ºKuaakk¡­!¡» ¡ºHelp me¡­!¡» Although some of the students should be easily able to deal with Grade 5 monsters, they were still failing to do so time after time. Even the ones that could fight them were taking their sweet time to defeat all three of them. ¡®Grade 5s are like that, so there¡¯s no need to even look at Grade 6.¡¯ While thinking that, Professor Ronan turned to the Grade 6 students that were at the very end of the crystal balls. Judging from how all the screens were off, it seemed that they had all been defeated already. ¡°Pathetic¡­ Nn?¡± That was when he saw a student sitting on a weapon case in a white room. ¡ºKorin Lork: Grade 6¡» An ungifted pebble which would not even be able to serve as a stepping stone for the gems of the academy was yawning while leaning on a spear. ¡°What? How¡¯s he not dead yet?¡± Let alone the other Grade 6 students, 30% of the Grade 5 students had already been defeated by the short hounds. Why did that one student look so normal? Did he get rid of all three short hounds already? ¡°There¡¯s no way.¡± Even the Grade 5 students weren¡¯t able to deal with it so how would a Grade 6 student have defeated those monsters already? More than anything, it was way too fastpared to the Grade 5 students. ¡°Must be an error.¡± Thinking that there must have been a problem with summoning the monsters, he assumed it was because of a bug. After summoning the Grade 5 demonic beasts in his room, Professor Ronan turned to the screens of other students. He mindlessly nced across the crystals and finally came across one person who seeded at defeating the monsters. ¡°7 minutes and 20 seconds huh¡­¡± It was a pathetic record. Even though all the students he was in charge of were Grade 5 and Grade 6, 7 minutes was still quite horrible. Looking at Professor Fermack who was in charge of Grade 3 students next to him, they all appeared to be defeating the monsters in 2~3 minutes. Slowly but surely¡­ a few of them were sessfully dealing with the Grade 5 monsters but that was when Professor Ronan turned to the side and doubted his eyes again. ¡°Nnnn?¡± Inside the screen, Korin was still sitting on the weapon case. There were a few spears taken out of the case that were rolling on the floor but that was it. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Professor Haman Welsch walked closer with his typical obstinate voice. He was sometimes called Instructor rather than Professor and was respected by other professors so even Professor Ronan had to be careful in front of him. ¡°It, it¡¯s nothing much but¡­ This seems broken.¡± ¡°Broken? That can¡¯t be. Lady¡¯s Josephine¡¯s testing magic has never created an error in thest 20 years.¡± ¡°You see, the demonic beasts aren¡¯t being summoned into this one specific room.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­¡± Old Man Haman observed the crystals. After immediately scanning across the screen with his refined vision, he found Korin in the corner of the screen who was nonchntly sitting down by himself. ¡°Rank 6 in mana. Korin Lork. Surprised he¡¯s not out yet.¡± ¡°Right? This guy who should have dropped out already is still sitting here. I¡¯m sure the demonic beasts aren¡¯t being summoned.¡± ¡°Did you see it?¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°Did you see the monsters not being summoned, Professor?¡± ¡°No, but¡­ There¡¯s no need to, is there¡­¡± He was Grade 6. Grade 6 in mana would probably have a hard time to even be employed as a city guard. It didn¡¯t even make sense for a student like that to deal with Grade 5 demonic beasts, and besides, defeating them in around ten seconds while Professor Ronan was looking elsewhere was impossible. ¡°¡­¡± But that meant he didn¡¯t see it. Old Man Haman immediately red at him with a sharp gaze so Professor Ronan quickly took a step back. ¡°A, alright. I¡¯ll have a clear look at it this time. It must be a bug so I¡¯ll summon it again¡­¡± Like that, Korin had to do a third test against a group of short hounds. ¡º¡­¡­What is this? Is this on purpose?¡» Korin muttered inside the screen before raising three spears and tossing them one by one to pierce through each of the short hounds. 7.3 seconds. Professor Ronan doubted his eyes. ¡°¡­¡± In a fluster, he walked up to Professor Fermack who was next to him checking his own batch of twenty Grade 3 students. ¡°H, hey. Professor Fermack.¡± ¡°Wassup? Anything wrong?¡± ¡°Your students¡­ are already at Grade 3 demonic beasts.¡± ¡°Well, pretty much.¡± Professor Ronan asked him after slight hesitation. ¡°Who was the fastest in your group of students?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I didn¡¯t count but this student here called Jaeger took around 3 and a half minutes.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I, I see.¡± ¡°Why did you ask that?¡± ¡°N, nothing much.¡± Professor Ronan nkly went back to observing his crystals. ¡®W, what am I doing. I need to summon the Grade 4 demonic beast.¡¯ Korin Lork appeared to be decent at javelin. He disregarded it by thinking that he must be from a family of hunters or something but he nheless concentrated on Korin Lork¡¯s screen. The next demonic beast was a Mat Boar. It was an annoying beast to deal with, that curled its body and rolled around at max speed. This time, only one monster was summoned unlike the Grade 5 monsters, and that in turn showed how exponentially dangerous this monster was. ¨C Quakk! 3.7 seconds. Ronan rubbed his eyes multiple times. He even used the spell, Return of Memories, to recall how Korin Lork killed the mat boar in an instant. He had avoided the mat boar, which was rolling at full speed, like a bullfighter and tripped it by pointing out the spear at a timely manner to fling the boar into the air. And as soon as the boar¡¯s body straightened up in mid-air, it received a spear to its stomach and crashed into the ground. It was a remarkable hunt done with only technique and a little bit of power. Although Professor Ronan tended to look down on those who fought with their own bodies, even he couldn¡¯t help but admire how exquisitely that was done. ¡ºUaaaahk!¡» ¡ºThis is unfair!¡» He also couldn¡¯t help butpare that to the other students who couldn¡¯t ovee the tough monster. So far, there were only 4 students who had passed the Grade 4 demonic beast test. Next up was the Grade 3 monster, Owlbear. It was a medium-ranked demonic beast who was widely considered a big threat because of itsrge body and a tough grip. It won¡¯t be easy this time. Owlbears had a thick skin that was hard to prate, and getting hit by its thick ws would fling off knights regardless of their barrier of aura. ¡ºKiyaa¡­!¡» ¡ºKuaak¡­!¡» In fact, one of the students had already been insta-killed by the owlbear. He tried to block the attack with his shield but the shield ended up breaking, and the impact that was carried over was so strong that he was deemed unable to continue. However, Korin was different. ¡ºKuwaah!¡» Without trying to parry the frontal paw swing of the bear, he lowered his head to dodge the attack and stabbed his spear into the armpit. And without getting greedy for more, Korin immediately started to retreat and swung the spear out wide to strike the head of the owlbear while immediately falling back. ???- Kenaz His fingers left a trace behind in the air. The letter created with mana rapidly turned into a ball of ether that pounced at the owlbear. ¡°R, rune magic?!¡± ¡°???¡± Professor Ronan¡¯s shout gathered the eyes of the surrounding professors and Professor Fermack showed an especially bigger reaction by sharply glistening his eyes. Rune magic was one that had a clear limit and weakness. It was such an ancient system of magic which only schrs would take a look at while bing a professor so it was understandable for Professor Ronan to be surprised. Ignoring its own body that was caught in mes, the owlbear jumped at its prey. Due to the dreadfully low amount of mana, the magic that was cast in an instant was unable to show an astonishing oue. However, the smoke created by its zing fur was enough to cover its sight. In the end, the owlbear couldn¡¯t differentiate between the ck smoke and the spearhead that wasing in like a small dot and¡­ ¨C Kwaakk! That was what decided the victor. Korin was the only survivor of the Grade 3 test among Professor Ronan¡¯s students. ¡°¡­¡± At this point, he couldn¡¯t help but admit that this student was definitely not someone who should stay at the likes of Grade 6. ¡®Unlucky there¡¯s only up to Grade 3 for the demonic beast test.¡¯ Would he be able to defeat a Grade 2 demonic beast as well? Even though Professor Ronan was skeptical, he couldn¡¯t disregard the possibility. ¡®As long as he doesn¡¯t make any big mistakes in the demonic spirit test, he would easily go up to Grade 4.¡¯ In the start of the semester grading test, the lowest record was used as the estimated rank. If he couldn¡¯t defeat a Grade 4 demonic spirit, then he would be estimated to be a Grade 4 even if he defeated a Grade 3 demonic beast, Wondering how proficient this student called Korin would be in a fight against a demonic spirit, Ronan summoned a Grade 5 demonic spirit. That rune magic alone should be enough to easily defeat a Grade 5 demonic spirit. He assumed it would be easy for him to reach Grade 4 at least and focused on Korin¡¯s screen but¡­ ¡°???¡± Korin Lork didn¡¯t do anything. And after a little while¡­ ¡ºI give up.¡» ¡°?????¡± ¡ºThe grading test has ended. The estimation of ranks and the organization of data has beenpleted. The records will now be put together.¡» [] ¡­¡­¡­. ¡ºStudent Number 7. Roco Roco¡» ¡­¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­. ¡ºStudent Number 14. Verdic Rumlow¡» ¡­¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­. ¡ºStudent Number 19. Korin Lork¡» Aura Rank: Low (680) Mana Rank: Very Low (120) Specialties: Nothing (0) Overall Grade: Grade 6 ¡ºDemonic Spirit Test¡» Grade 5 Demonic Spirit, Ghost: Forfeit Grade 4 Demonic Spirit, Hex Wraith: Disqualified Grade 3 Demonic Spirit, Banshee: Disqualified ¡ºDemonic Beast Test¡» Grade 5 Demonic Beast, Short Hound: 7.3 seconds (New Record) Grade 4 Demonic Beast, Mat Boar: 3.7 seconds (New Record) Grade 3 Demonic Beast, Owlbear: 11 seconds (New Record) ¡ºFinal Overall Grade: Grade 5 Knight ¨C Submission Complete¡» ¡ºThe test records will now be scrapped for privacy and information protection.¡» Chapter 8: Grading Test (3) ? Grading Test (3) ? It might sound like I¡¯m bragging when I say this, but I¡¯ve been using a spear for quite some time in the previous iteration. Stabbing at the weak points of a monster was nothing difficult. What was important was that it was a lot easier to move my bodypared to the previous iteration. My power, stamina and vision were all iparably higher than what I had at the start of the previous iteration. It was thanks to the second aspect of the Precept ¨C ?I do not perceive spirits.?which amplified my strength against physical opponents. ¡®Next up are demonic spirits, huh.¡¯ It was the same as the Restriction that man had in the previous iteration. I had to check if it was working properly. ¡ºGrade 5 demonic spirit test will now begin.¡» Something must have been summoned immediately after the impassive voice of Professor Ronan, but I could neither see nor hear anything. ¡®It¡¯s going as expected so far.¡¯ I was miserable at seeing astral bodies in the first ce. No matter how much I raised my stats while following Park Sihu around, my ability to see astral bodies just did not get any better. I could only faintly sense their presence. In that popr game1 Referring to Starcraft everyone ys in Korea, the terrain gets blurry whenever there are invisible units walking by, right? That was exactly what it felt like to me. However, I couldn¡¯t even see that afterimage anymore. Anyone would generally feel a chill or feel spooked when nearby an astral body, but I couldn¡¯t feel anything. Next up was the battle. Sitting still, I defenselessly waited for the demonic spirit to approach me. 1 minute. Although I wasn¡¯t sure how fast the demonic spirit was, a minute would have been enough for it to approach me. And it probably would have done something to me. It might have used Life Drain that demonic spirits loved the most or something like Soul Crusher¡­ Well, a low grade demonic spirit might not have such skills, but the point was that something should have long happened by now. ¡®It¡¯s working.¡¯ Because of the rule of mutual cognition, the demonic spirit could not interfere with me because I couldn¡¯t perceive it in the first ce. That made me certain. Demonic spirits would not be able to touch me no matter how strong they were¡­ even a Unique Grade spirit would be powerless. The ¡®Restriction¡¯ of the Precept was working like a charm. ¡°Good.¡± I checked everything that needed to be checked so it was time to hurry up and leave this test. There was no reason to let Professor Ronan know that I could not perceive demonic spirits, let alone how they could not even touch me. Of course, Professor Ronan would not even dare imagine that it could be impossible to perceive demonic spirits but others might be different. ¡°I give up.¡± After a while, I was able to see a crumpled look on Professor Ronan¡¯s face. **** Old Man Haman had been watching the crystals with Professor Ronan ever since he had a question. ¡®This guy¡¯s a gem!¡¯ That was his impression of Korin. His expert skills at hunting the short hounds; his posture and the precise uracy of his javelins were all remarkable, with zero room for negative feedback. That wasn¡¯t the end ¨C his ability to insta-kill the mat boar and the owlbear was astonishing. Even from the higher graded knights, it was hard to find knights that were able to show such skill in an actual fight. ¡®Strange that he forfeited against the demonic spirits but¡­ Was there something he had in mind?¡¯ Even Haman could not imagine a guardian who could not perceive spirits, but his guess was somewhat correct. In the end, Korin was given the title of a Grade 5 knight, but that wasn¡¯t anything to be stressed about. A powerhouse at his level was bound to aplish many things, and with those he would inevitably go towards the top. ¡®Hoho¡­ looks like myst few years are going to be exciting.¡¯ How high up would he go? Old Man Haman let out a heartyughter at unexpectedlying across a hidden rising star. **** ¡°Uuh¡­¡± Alicia felt as if she was suffocating to death as she waited for her peers toplete their tests. ¡ºAlicia Arden¡» Aura Rank: Upper Medium (6,800) Mana Rank: Lower Medium (1,300) Specialties: Eyes of the Boundary Overall Grade: Grade 2 Final Grade: Grade 2 Knight Her stats were definitely in the upper spectrum among knights, and she was a blessed and gifted child ever since her birth. However, the peers standing next to her were at a simr level if not higher than her. None of them were ordinary. ¡®Ughh¡­ Why is no-one saying anything? I can¡¯t even hear them breathe.¡¯ Everyone else was doing their test so they were the only people except for the professors and yet not a single one of them was interested in other people. This was at least triple the awkwardness that existed at the start of the year in the normal academies she had gone to. There was a druid girl maintaining a bizarre gymnastic posture in meditation; A gloomy boy wearing a ck robe caressing a muddy doll; And a former mercenary hanging five gleaming des in the air while breathing like a beast. ¡®Scary! Why is everyone so bizarre? Are they really the same age as me?!¡¯ Alicia used to go to a normal academy until middle school. If her grandfather didn¡¯t suddenly drop a senilement like, ¡®Let¡¯s make Alicia a sessor candidate as well,¡¯ she definitely wouldn¡¯t havee to such a sinister academy. ¡®Cherry, Nobu, Tofre¡­ I miss you guys.¡¯ The scariest of all was the girl who was literally doing nothing in this suffocatingly heavy atmosphere. Unlike her appearance that suggested she was from the East, she was wearing the clothes of a nun with chains restricting her on top of that. The chains weren¡¯t sealing her joints and it seemed that they weren¡¯t there to restrict her movements. There was more. Dozens of yellow talismans were coiled around those chains. She looked extremely ominous if anything. The hair color of the chained nun girl was also strange. The outside was jet ck and yet the inside was tainted in deep red. ¡®Did she dye her hair?¡¯ It looked way too natural for it to be dyed hair and Alicia was curiously staring at it when the sharp red eyes suddenly turned towards her. ¡°Ehk¡­¡± Meeting those deep eyes that seemed like they would lead to the endless abyss, Alicia felt a chill running down her spine. This is dangerous! We have a carnivore in a cage of herbivores! There is a scary predator¡­! ¡®Benefactor! Are you there?! Please save me one more time!!¡¯ While touching the belt tied around her martial art uniform, Alicia prayed to someone who would be too far to hear her. **** In the end, I was given the title of a Grade 5 Knight by Professor Ronan. He gave a deep scowl when he saw me, who had forfeited at Grade 5 demonic spirit test after defeating a Grade 3 demonic beast, but there was nothing I could do about it. Professor Ronan constantly red at me as if he was discontent by me forfeiting at the Grade 5 demonic spirit test, but nheless, the highest grade I could get after not defeating a Grade 5 demonic spirit, was Grade 5. I was leaving after getting my student ID cards updated to Grade 5 Knight and found students chatting to each other. ¨C Oi, what grade did you get? ¨C Grade 4. I fucked up. What about you? ¨C Huhu. Grade 3. ¨C Wow¡­ So you killed both an owlbear and a banshee? ¨C Look at them. They¡¯re Grade 5. ¨C Ehew, how do you even get Grade 5? After Lady Josephine¡¯s grading test, we received our grades from the professors in charge and lined back up ording to our given grades. There were only 30 students standing in front of the Grade 5 signboard where I was. In front of the Grade 3 board were around 20 people, which meant there were approximately 350 students who got Grade 4. ¡°Huhut¡­!¡± Most of the Grade 3 students couldn¡¯t hide their arrogant gazes. The one who stood out the most was a delinquent-looking student with very short hair and an impressive tattoo on the back of his neck. Ohh~ it was someone I knew. Jaeger Hinzpeter. He was a Grade 3, and his specialty was something like umted destruction, where you build energy inside bynding attacks and explode it in one go. It was a specialty we didn¡¯t even get to see in the game because of him quickly bing irrelevant but now that this was the real world, it should be possible to have a look at his abilities since we will be training in the same ss. His role in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? was picking a fight with the yer at the start of the story, only to be smashed in an instant. He preferred a heavy armor and a mace, and had a tattoo on his neck. Also, his mother is a tattooist. How did I know that, you may ask? It was because 3 years ago, his parents and his younger sister hade to the Academy when he went missing in the 1st semester. They used their own money to try to find Jaeger and that scene had left quite a big impression on me back then. ¡®He was one of the people Park Sihu killed for annoying him.¡¯ That fucking cidery psychopath¡­ Although Jaeger had a bit of an attitude, he was definitely not a big enough sinner who deserved to die. He was a typical delinquent and a demi-human racist, but he was not a massive bully and he was just in the rough and unstoppable moments of his youth. He was just a young and immature kidpared to the actually terrible delinquents whose lives were a series of sexual assaults and robberies. He had some skill and was a Grade 3 Knight. Looking down on peers who had a lower Grade and feeling superior was quitemon in his age. Those are the days, you know. ¨C Look. They are Grade 5. ¨C Wow, how do you get that? ¨C So some people do lose to short hounds and ghosts, huh. Jaeger wasn¡¯t the only one with such an attitude and most of the students were the same. There was always at the very bottom. Grade 4 students, which was the majority of students, sent condescending gazes at the Grade 5 students, whereas the Grade 5 students who were at the very bottom dropped their heads in embarrassment and frustration. They would at least hit Grade 4 before graduation and that was already considered quite good outside. Even though they might be treated like trash here, they were still superhumans outside. None of them would be starving to death no matter what they did anyway, but as expected of kids who had yet to suffer from the unemployment crisis, their perception of their future was very optimistic. But well¡­ that¡¯s what kids should be like. It would be great if their embarrassment and frustration would act as a positive catalyst for their growth but¡­ ¡®Lark¡¯s also here.¡¯ Typical nerd sses and freckles¡­ up to there it was normal, but the skull spellbook in his hands was definitely a tell-tale sign that he was a severe chuunibyou patient. The reason he died was because he framed me and Sihu after giving in to his inferiorityplex. I was wondering whether I should kindly let him participate in the enlightening method of ¡®Soviet Russia¡¯ when the mic started to go off at the stage. ¨C Kuhum! There was a man testing the mic and the voice amplification magic. ¡°Good morning, freshmen. I am the chairman, Eriu Casarr. Let me make this brief.¡± There was no sign of him showing off his authority in hisposed voice and the expressionless look on his face. He was respectful and dignified. He looked young but there was an underlyingyer ofposure which made it difficult to discern his age. Chairman of Merkarva Academy, Eriu Casarr. The strongest helper and bystander of the main quest. It had truly been a very long time. ¡°In this academy, you will be learning the most intense and the most dangerous techniques of the world. Some of you might already be strong, and some of you might not be as strong. I cannot guarantee you that everyone will achieve their goals.¡± The students created a fuss in response to the chairman¡¯s words. ¡°However, I do wish that everyone here may discover the correct direction of their lives. Our job is to help you take that first step. Starting from the second step, it will be up to you. That¡¯s it from me. Hope you have a wonderful day.¡± With that, the chairman left the stage. There was a short break after the chairman¡¯s speech, which the freshmen used to get to know each other. ¡°I am a Grade 3 Knight, Jaeger Hinzpeter! You see¡ª¡± Among the freshmen was a guy who showed off his Grade and bragged about himself¡­ ¡°¡­¡± As well as a gloomy nerd flipping the pages of a spell book in the corner. In the previous iteration, I had close to zero friends because of that damned Park, because I was forced to stay next to him the whole day. Gosh¡­ Thinking of how there was a hidden desire concealed behind all that gave me goosebumps. I was ncing around to check whether the kids that died to Park were doing okay or not, and saw Jaeger striking up a conversation with Lark. ¡°Oi, what Grade are you?¡± ¡°Hu, huh?¡± Lark was flustered from the sudden chat and slowly closed the spell book. Thinking back, I remembered how Jaeger picked a fight with Grade 5 students on the first day. ¡°G, Grade 5.¡± ¡°Grade 5? So you¡¯re a weakling.¡± Jaeger condescendingly gave a remark while Lark was shivering in front of the tattooed delinquent. Ohh¡­ It felt like I was back to being a teenager. Such immaturity¡­ was refreshing. ¡°Did you fail at killing the ghost? I suppose you could have been scared because some of them do look like a Grade 3. I wasn¡¯t though.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± ¡°Huh? Wait, did you die to the short hounds and not the ghost? For real? Uhahaha!¡± I was watching with an intrigued expression but Lark tightened his fist and looked fairly upset. He wasn¡¯t the only one. The small group of students that received Grade 5 in the test were embarrassed about their ranks which were easier counted from the bottom. ¡°You know what, I killed those weak-ass short hounds in like 3 minutes¡­¡± ¡°Hello, friends!¡± I suddenly wrapped my arms around them. Neither of them noticed me until I touched them. ¡°Uht?¡± ¡°W, what?¡± The two of them rolled their eyes in surprise from my sudden approach. What was I supposed to do with these young teenage boys? ¡°Y, you, who are you?¡± Lark took a step back after seeing my face. It wasn¡¯t clear whether he was surprised by my jump-scare or my appearance. ¡°That tattoo looks pretty sick.¡± ¡°Hu, huh?¡± ¡°Looks neat. The one who did it must be very good at it.¡± ¡°Huh? Yeah? R, right?¡± I praised the tattoo and gave apliment to the one who did it, which was highly likely to be his mother. He wouldn¡¯t have expected me to know about the tattooist, so it must have sounded like a genuinepliment to him. Plus, his tattoo was not just there for show. ¡°That thing on the back of your neck is the symbol for your blood type right? To get a blood transfusion as quickly as possible when you get hurt, yeah? Damn, you¡¯re prepared.¡± ¡°Yeah, right!¡± The reason I knew this was because I had talked to Jaeger¡¯s parents before. Because Park and I were thest ones to see Jaeger, we were summoned a few times. Jaeger¡¯s tattoo was proof of his parent¡¯s concern for their son who was entering the guardian academy. Park Sihu that fucking psychopath¡­ Acting like nothing happened in front of Jaeger¡¯s parents¡­ ¡°Actually, this is what my mom did for me. She¡¯s more of a line work specialist, but she did it old school for me.¡± ¡°That looks excellent. Do you have more?¡± ¡°Yeah. I did one on my arm. It¡¯s the symbol of Merkarva Academy, and has a chariot flying through the sky.¡± Pulling his sleeves, Jaeger bragged about his tattoo. As he said, there was a chariot and a sky behind it, which was the symbol of Merkarva Academy, imprinted on his right arm. After that, I just listened to Jaeger excitedly talk about himself. Although I didn¡¯t really know the technical terms like ¡®line work¡¯ and ¡®old school¡¯, what I knew was that you only needed to give energetic nods to be a great listener. ¡°I¡¯m Korin Lork.¡± ¡°Jaeger Hinzpeter.¡± He found out what my Grade was during the conversation, but unlike what he did with Lark, he didn¡¯t even mention it. People generally did not bother bad-mouthing someone who they had a good impression of. Because of that, he didn¡¯t continue picking a fight against Lark, who was in the same Grade as me. That should have left a positive first impression. This guy ¨C Lark; if I remember correctly¡­ His specialty was Memorize. He would be of great help. He¡­ was the way for me to ess the grimoire, the free skill book. **** Alicia had a low self-esteem and was bad at expressing her opinion. That was why despite her strength, she became timid in front of her impressive peers and couldn¡¯t speak up to them. She had been worn out and harassed by the people of her household that supported her older sister. ¡ª How can someone like you be at the same position as Lady Lunia? Due to being the illegitimate child of the current head of the family, Gerard Arden, and the child of a concubine, she had been faint-hearted from a young age. She was alwayspared to her smart sibling, harassed and mocked. She was the ¡®youngdy¡¯ of the household, but there was no weight behind that title. ¡°Grade 5? So you¡¯re a weakling.¡± Ahh, he looks like a delinquent. He even has a tattoo¡­ Feeling like her PTSD wasing back up, Alicia forced herself to turn her head away from him. It was because there used to be a lot of people in the household who had tattoos. She thought there would be no-one saving that poor boy, like what happened to her. ¡°That tattoo looks pretty sick.¡± ¡°Hu, huh?¡± That was when another boy showed up. The peer called Korin Lork, who was assigned as a mere Grade 5 Knight, approached the delinquent-looking Jaeger without any hesitation. Heplimented his tattoos, gave deep nods and skilfully led the conversation with Jaeger. Everyone watching knew that Korin had stepped in to help his peer from being harassed. ¡®¡­Incredible.¡¯ He didn¡¯t rely on strength nor did he try to talk down or criticize the opponent. The boy had gotten rid of the seed of harassment in a very adept manner. Even though he was also a Grade 5 himself, and even though he should¡¯ve known that he could have be the next target, he still stepped up for his peers. Today must have been the first day they met. He had never even talked to Lark before. Although he would be getting nothing in return, he took a step forward nheless. That boy called Korin even gave off a sense of dignity and experience. ¡®What a nice person.¡¯ Showing non-calctive kindness that gives a good impression¡­ Was it just a coincidence that he reminded her of the benefactor she met in the forest? Footnotes: Chapter 9: Korin Lork (1) ? Korin Lork(1) ? Most of the facilities of Merkarva Academy were avable for free. The student cafeteria was cheaper than the fast food restaurants outside, and although there were different tiers for the dormitory, they did not charge any money. Since the students were sometimes dispatched to dangerous missions under the name of work experience, the Academy gave utmost support for everything else. The ¡®training rooms¡¯ was one of them. In this academy where students were given a lot of free time, the training room which was open for all the students was the most rmended facility out of the entire campus. ¡°Is there a room?¡± ¡°Yes, there¡­ Freshman?¡± The staff at the reception tilted his head after seeing my student ID card. It was understandable for him to be confused because it would have been rare to see a freshmane to the training room on the first day of the admission. After all, it was strange for freshmen to even know about the training room. ¡°What size¡­ would you like?¡± ¡°Please make it XL.¡± ¡°Is there a weapon that you would like to borrow?¡± ¡°Do you have a spear? It¡¯d be great if it was around 2 meters.¡± ¡°So the normal one. There are all sorts of weapons in the weapon container, so please feel free to take them as you wish.¡± ¡°Do you have an elemental body as well?¡± ¡°An elemental body? Uhh¡­ we do but¡­¡± The staff tilted his head. He seemed curious about how I got to know about that, but there was another thought mixed into his gaze; It was the thought that it would be meaningless even if I were to take it. After changing into a morefortable outfit, I picked up a spear and went inside, and was weed by a gym that was bigger than most stadiums. ¨C Kaang! Kang! ¨C Hwaruk! ¨C Kuwaang! Waiting for me inside were all sorts of savage noises which were made by the students training themselves. The training rooms looked like a tennis court where every student could train in their own rooms. It was wide open and was only divided by ss panes. Of course, there weren¡¯t enough rooms for all the students of the academy to use so you had to be quick on busy hours like the weekend. In other words, considering how rowdy the academy was due to the recent addition of freshmen, right now was the only chance to use such a luxurious room by myself. I tried swinging the training spear which was rtively sharp. In the previous iteration, I used to swing around a spear everyday. It seemed that I was unexpectedly quite talented at using spears. ¡ºYou started toote, and you must train harder to make up for it.¡» I only got to learn spearmanship after getting an official master introduced to me by Park, but that was already veryte. ¡°Wake up. Time to get to work.¡± cing the small egg I received from the front reception on the ground, I tapped it a few times. This was an object that was possessed by an elemental. In this world, elementals could manifest themselves in 2 ways. The first was by materializing their bodies by receiving mana from an elementalist after an official contract. In this case, they would add flesh to their astral bodies and allow me to see them as well. The second was by possessing objects like the one in front of me. In this guardian academy which encouraged students to pursue an intense training session, they provided various elemental bodies that were okay to be broken after a contract with the Spirit Realm. ¨C Hehe! Hehe! Along with the sound which resembled the chuckling voice of a child, wings began to appear behind it. ¨C Vuiiing! The elemental body floated up with an intimidating set of noises. The elemental possessing this egg was amon low-grade wind elemental. But due to the physical body, it was as fast as a mid-grade elemental despite having no way of fighting back. ¡°Oi, look at that.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a freshman training with an elemental body.¡± I could feel the gazes of the senior students of the academy that were using the training room. The emotion concealed behind their voices was not surprise but mockery at the bravado of a junior. ¡°Don¡¯t you start that at like the 2nd semester?¡± ¡°He probably heard it from somewhere.¡± As they said, freshmen generally started training with an elemental body starting from the 2nd semester, and the reason for that was quite simple. It was because it would be meaningless to make students try something impossible. ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± The elemental body easily dodged my thrusted spear. It wasn¡¯t just a dodge either ¨C after reading the trajectory of my spear, it shifted its body at thest second to dodge the spear with a gap of 0.1 centimeters to make fun of me. ¡°See that.¡± ¡°There are plenty of 2nd year students who find it hard against wind elementals. What does that freshman think he is?¡± That was why elemental bodies were only used starting from the second semester ¨C the superior cognitive ability and the overwhelming dodging abilityplemented by the physical body itself were ridiculous. Telling a 1st year student to catch that was the same asmanding a newborn baby to race against a bicycle. It might be possible for famous geniuses but it was so difficult that most average students would not even be able to reach it after bing a 2nd year student. ¨C Sheeek! I swung my spear again but both the timing and the speed fell short. The elemental body easily dodged it to a corner and instead drove its body into my forehead. It was clearly ying around with me. ¡°Kuht¡­!¡± It had no offensive ability and thus didn¡¯t hurt very much but the dejection left behind by the sense of defeat was not small. However, I wasn¡¯t discouraged because this was just a test for me to retrieve the senses I had in my previous iteration. ¡®If I was going to be discouraged by something like this, I wouldn¡¯t have pledged to save the world.¡¯ I at least wanted to improve my spearmanship back up to the basic level. Thinking that, I was preparing myself to thrust the spear one more time when a bright voice echoed from the entrance and reached my ears. ¡°Hi, everyone! You are working hard as always!¡± ¡°Huh? Marie?¡± ¡°You are quite early today. Are you here for training?¡± ¡°Nn nn! There was something I¡¯ve been doing during the holiday! Oh right, do you want some snacks?¡± Marie unhesitatingly opened her basket of snacks. Endlesslying out of the basket were steamed potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes and seasonal vegetables. ¡°You must have been working hard. Here you go. A wet towel!¡± ¡°Uh, uhh¡­ Thank you.¡± A 2nd year student of the Knight Department blushed while receiving the wet towel from Marie, who soon also walked up to me. ¡°Junior. I remember you. We saw each other in the morning, right?¡± ¡°Yes. Senior Dunaref.¡± ¡°It¡¯s my first time seeing a freshmane to the training room on the first day!¡± ¡®Back in my days, we were busy ying!¡¯ She said with a bright smile and naturally created a positive atmosphere in the blink of an eye. ¡°Do you want some steamed potatoes? I have sugar as well.¡± ¡®I have it this time,¡¯ she added with a wide smile. Even though I was a year below her and today was our first day seeing each other, she blew away the awkwardness in a single second like it was nothing. ¡°Thanks for the food.¡± As soon as I took the steamed potato from her hands, her white fingers gently sprinkled sugar on top of the potato. White sprinkles of snow fell on top of the yellow flesh of the hot and steamy potato. A sugared potato was a delightful dish. I was munching through it when Marie handed over a cup with water in a timely manner. ¡°You need water right? Slow down.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± That was when Marie spotted the elemental body and tilted her head. ¡°Huh? That¡¯s¡­?¡± Seeing an elemental body which everyone was bound to know after going through the 1st year curriculum, Marie tilted her head. ¡°Are you practicing with that?¡± ¡°Yes. Is there a problem?¡± ¡°N, no? It seems you are trying very hard!¡± She shook her head in a fluster, seemingly worried about giving an impression that she was looking down on me. Turning away from the entrance of my room¡­ to be exact, after turning away from the crowd who was here to talk to Marie, I picked the spear back up when a new voice echoed from behind. ¡°Hooh.¡± It was too dignified for it to be a student¡¯s voice, and there was an undisguisable sign of stubbornness in his old voice. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Huh? Instructor Haman?¡± Professor Haman who had disheartened the freshmen at the entrance ceremony was ring at me. ¡°Korin Lork. Freshman, aren¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, Sir Instructor.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Old Man Haman twitched his lips after being unexpectedly called an instructor rather than a professor. Even though the academy was divided into the sectors: Knight Department and the Magic Department, everyone teaching the students were called professors. Professor Haman was also a professor himself but he did not like that title because of how ink-stained that seemed. ¡°Why are you practicing with an elemental body? Korin Lork.¡± ¡°I¡¯m practicing spearmanship. I need to hit that.¡± ¡°Pfft¡­!¡± The sunbaes behind Old Man Haman in the background bursted into sneers. They appeared to be thinking of it as the bravado of an ignorant newbie. ¡°Nnn¡­ Guys, stop¡­ It¡¯s normal for him to not know how hard it is¡­¡± Marie tried to stop the senior students in concern that it might hurt my feelings, but she was also under the impression that I was doing something meaningless. ¡°Have you learned spearmanship before? What sect are you from?¡± ¡°Just some Bagua back in my vige¡­¡± Bagua, the 8 Trigrams, was one of thebined martial arts you could learn as a 2nd year student. Truth be told, that was what I learned as the foundation and the spearmanship I actually mastered was Six Integrated Spears and the Void, but that wasn¡¯t something I could mention in front of Old Man Haman. I could not reveal myself yet in front of Old Man Haman and the two old-timers of the academy. They might identally think of me as the underling of ¡®that guy¡¯. ¡°Are you confident that you can pull it off?¡± ¡°Whether I¡¯m confident or not is not of importance. I¡¯ll have to do it.¡± I came here because I needed to do it. Old Man Haman seemed satisfied by my response and grinned. ¡°Hahal, that¡¯s what I like to hear. I like that attitude! I¡¯ll give you 10 meal tickets!¡± He took out a bunch of meal tickets from his coarse leather purse. It seemed¡­ that I had left a good impression on him. ¡°Come look for me if you seed! I shall give you a reward!¡± Old Man Haman showed his goodwill through food. It was evident from how he liked taking his favorite students to restaurants. Even though having a meal with a stubborn old man would normally be a toil, he was surprisingly the type of person who did not interrupt during meals. Besides, he was a gourmet who only ate expensive food. If I told him of my sess, he would probably give me a voucher for a fabulous restaurant outside the campus. Even in the game, he used to give the voucher for a famous restaurant in Merkarva City as a reward for building rapport. Old Man Haman left to take care of the training room while I stayed behind and stared at the elemental body. The seniors were still scoffing at me while guaranteeing that I would fail and¡­ ¡°Good luck¡­! I hope you seed!¡± Marie, the only one who wished me good luck, went into her own room after leaving those words behind. *** Elemental bodies had no eyes. Their world functioned under a different principlepared to the human world. They used mana to perceive the world unlike the five senses of a human. This was the same even after possessing an elemental body. An elemental body possessed by a wind elemental reacted to attacks by feeling the vibrations of the wind to discern the ripples of the air. Because of that, it was a lot more agile and sustainable than the likes of the sense of sight. It did not fall to feints and there was no need for it to move excessively, which was why it couldst longer with the same amount of stamina. And thus, the elemental body of a wind elemental was the best practice target for knights and mages. No matter how strong an attack was, it would be meaningless if it didn¡¯tnd on the target. Hitting the elemental body of a wind elemental which excelled in avoiding attacks was proof of the uracy. But that in turn meant it was extremely difficult, because one would need techniques, hard work and a capable body for uracy. ¨C Vuinng! The elemental body dodged the spear with an intimidating noise from its wings. Every time, it dodged a little bit to the side as if mocking the attacker and proved the nasty personalities of elementals. ¡®I have the technique, but I don¡¯t have the body to pull it off¡­¡± The body was the problem. The body of Korin Lork was way too weak. Both the Aura Rank and the Mana Rank were at the very bottom. Because of theck of aura, I couldn¡¯t reinforce my body, and I also couldn¡¯t use any skills that required mana because of theck of mana. With my stats which were below average, I had no choice but to embed everything into each of my strikes, and every failure added more frustration and fatigue to my body and made it heavier. ¡°Look at him. He¡¯s still doing it.¡± ¡°He hasn¡¯t even scraped it yet. Can he even touch one of the wings?¡± ¡°Why is he still doing that though?¡± ¡°Probably too embarrassed to quit now.¡± Ignoring the derisive remarks, I thrusted my spear but it pierced through the thin air. Facing the elemental body that didn¡¯t even seem sincere in its escape anymore, I used the rotational power of my shoulders and my waist for an elerated side sweep. ¨C Swish! It sliced through the air. I averted my gaze looking for the vanished elemental body and turned back after feeling some weight on the tip of my spear. ¨C Tumble tumble. The elemental body rolled down from the tip of my spear and crashed into my face. ¡°Knng¡­!¡± Greater than the pain was the humiliation. It waspletely looking down on me. If I was strong enough to be at the same level as how I was in my 2nd year before the regression, I wouldn¡¯t have been humiliated to this level. ¡®I miss the times when I used to consume all sorts of stuff.¡¯ I used to have all sorts of miraculous medicine and potions while following Park Sihu around. My hands looked for a towel to wipe the rainfall of tears when a wet towel was ced on top of my hand. It was Marie. ¡°Are you tired?¡± The girl with turquoise hair said after crouching next to me as Iid down with my limbs out wide on the ground. ¡°Is it very hard?¡± ¡°Huu¡­ Yes, it is.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright to take some rest. You¡¯ve been working hard enough already.¡± Marie floated a bitter smile while handing over a cup of water that was created through magic. ¡°Huu¡­ Huu¡­¡­ No.¡± ¡°¡­Why?¡± She appeared to be pitying me for receiving the flood of scoffs and sneers from the seniors. Marie was the only one here who wasn¡¯t sneering at me. ¡°Are you heading off for your meal? I hope you enjoy your meal. I¡¯ll leave after trying a bit more.¡± ¡°¡­Is it because you¡¯re embarrassed? It¡¯s fine. No-one¡¯s going to say anything. You¡¯ve been working hard. You will make it next time.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± There was a look of increasing doubt and puzzlement on her face. ¡°You¡¯re quite tired, aren¡¯t you? It¡¯s just not working out for you right now, junior. You¡¯ll be able to do it next time. You can just give it another shotter.¡± She wasn¡¯t wrong. And it was also true that I was being stubborn. My body was heavy like it was a metal piece. My arms carrying the spear wobbled and there was blood flowing out of my ripped palms. I thought back on what I was like 3 years ago. 3 years ago, when I first possessed this body, I would have floundered my arms around while barely chasing after the elemental body. Compared to that, my current self was probably a lot better off because I could at least show some signs of spearmanship. But back then, it was alright. 3 years ago, there was Park Sihu. We had a yer, and a system window. There were also potions from the crafting window as well as the skills tab. But not anymore. There was no Park Sihu ¨C I killed him. Now, I had to do everything by myself. I couldn¡¯t stop from something like this. ¡°It¡¯s notte to give up after you¡¯ve tried until the very end, right?¡± There was hope. I was fairly used to it now and¡­ there were 4 hours left until the curfew. Analyze. Analyze and attack. Both now and before, that was the only thing I was good at. Chapter 10: Korin Lork (2) ? Korin Lork(2) ? When I first came into this world, I was very desperate. A body that was barely at the level of a knight and a weak mind ¨C without anypensations, I learned how to fight in order to protect myself. The reason I chose a spear was because it was the easiest to learn. I had nothing to believe in except for Park Sihu, the yer, and the things I knew about the future¡­ But when I had to confront all the monsters and geniuses of the main scenario, I was frightened. So what if the protagonist was next to me? So what if I knew about the future? Those werepletely meaningless. To survive through the main story where spells and swords came flying at my face at every waking moment, the things I had were nowhere near enough. My three years were seriously one hell of a hard time. Even though my master tried to teach me using wise words like ¡®Look at the forest, and not the trees,¡¯ but following that wasn¡¯t easy when my life was constantly on the line. The tricks I learned to survive became a habit, and that habit became permanent over time. Master¡¯s consistent philosophical advice sounded like nothing but empty words but I had a rough gist now. ¡º Strength and the nature of an ability is not what we need to reach the heart of dao. Your talents are not that simple. It is greatly different and¡ª ¡» I didn¡¯t have a strong body, nor did I have an enormous amount of mana or aura. I had no unprecedented specialty either. Ipetent and weak. An ungifted man who could not seek a simple increment in power through numbers. ¡°Huu¡­¡± The spear in my two hands was warm. After being swung a few times, it was heated up from the friction and dripping beads of sweat. I had seen countless geniuses, and was now the enemy of astounding powerhouses. In order to ovee it without the overpowered traits of a yer, the only option left was for me to be stronger as the only one who knew about the future. ¨C Vuuinng! The elemental body was not something I could keep up with for now. My fastest stab was slower than its movement, and therefore, what was needed was an analysis instead of my strength. Analyze. Analyze myself and analyze the enemy. Do not overly rely on the body. Remember the distance and calcte the trajectory. Contemte every method possible to make it reach the enemy. Rather than speed, the reason why elemental bodies were difficult to hit was because of its ability to identify the vibrations in the air and its flying skills that let it avoid attacks in the best way possible. Attack from the right and it will dodge to the left. Although it might sound obvious, an elemental body could make that happen 100% of the time and was therefore impossible to hit unless one is way faster than it. That was why being able to destroy an elemental body meant one had the strength to overpower an elemental body. However, was that really the only method to defeat an elemental body? A spear was a simple weapon. Stab, swing, retaliate, spin, throw. Ominous Snake Tiger¡¯s Gust Trap and Stab Spinning Heaven Crumbling Mountain Those were the five basic ways of the spear. Out of the dozens of derivative attacks, I looked for the most suitable one. One that could allow me to ignore theck of my stats; Secrets of Ominous Snake ¨C Distorted March **** Leaving behind the boy who stayed stubborn until the end, Marie headed to the academy cafeteria with her colleagues. ¡°Did you see him? The guy that was floundering his arms trying to keep up to the elemental body?¡± ¡°Ahh~. You mean the freshman, right?¡± ¡°How long did it take for you? It took less than an hour for me.¡± ¡°Me? I did it in 2 hours!¡± ¡°Bullshit. Didn¡¯t it take more than 6 hours or something?¡± ¡°No?!¡± The freshman at the training room was eye-catching in both good and bad ways to the seniors. He became a bad-mouthing topic for them on their way to the cafeteria. ¡°Pretty sure Marie did it in an instantst year, right? ¡°Nn? N, nn.¡± ¡°Dude, you can¡¯t evenpare that to Marie. She got hers in less than a minute.¡± ¡°I once saw Marie dropping 10 in an instant in the training room.¡± ¡°A genius is just in a whole different league, I guess.¡± Marie Dunareff. She was the strongest mage among the 2nd year students, and was one of the few Grade 1 students of the Academy. Her status was iparable to that of other students. ¡°But that boy called Korin was trying really hard!¡± ¡°He was.¡± Marie gave a bright smile hearing the acknowledgement of his effort from her peer. She was about to exin Korin¡¯s incredible tenacity but¡­ ¡°It¡¯s just bravado though.¡± ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s just trying to be cool.¡± ¡°Probably because everyone was hailing him for being a knight from his youth.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°There is no way a Grade 5 can even hit that. He probably won¡¯tnd a hit until his graduation.¡± ¡°He¡¯s Grade 5. At best, he would be at Grade 4 by his graduation.¡± They all said the same thing, that he was just stubbornly attempting the impossible. ¡°But¡­ isn¡¯t it amazing? He might really seed with all his hard work.¡± ¡°Marie. You¡¯re saying that because you¡¯re a genius. It¡¯s normal for average people to be unable to do that. People need to know how to be modest and give up.¡± ¡°What if you break your own body by pushing yourself like that? It¡¯s best to not even try doing the impossible.¡± They sounded cold-hearted but Marie could tell where they wereing from. Unable toe up with words to refute their arguments, Marie pouted and pursed her lips. ¡°If he began at Grade 5, there¡¯s pretty much zero hope for him. Instead of having false hope, he should instead look for a workce for post-graduation.¡± Was that really the case? She deeply pondered to herself while walking after her friends. Marie was a so-called genius. Her inborn sensitivity to mana was amplified after entering Merkarva Academy ¨C she passed a Grade Promotion Test in just one semester. In her bright and sunny world, there had been no despair and frustration. Hard work? The girl was already a hard worker. As a daughter of an agricultural family, and as the oldest child out of 3 sons and 4 daughters, Marie was definitely not azy girl. She was gifted and also had hard work. Without being content with Grade 1, she was urged by her desire for improvement and various experiences to seek perfection. That was why the girl, who was praised as a genius, thought to herself. ¡®If I failed as much as that boy¡­¡¯ Would I be able to stay diligent without falling to despair? Even if she were to sweat like a storm and be unable to deal with a mere elemental body, would she still be able to stand back up on her shivering legs? It was a future that was difficult to imagine for the girl who had always been distant from the word ¡®desperation¡¯. **** ¡°Good night, Marie!¡± ¡°Marie. We have an orientation tomorrow, right? See you then!¡± ¡°The lime juice you gave mest time was amazing!¡± After the meal, Marie fully enjoyed the rxed air of the start of semester and energetically waved her hands to bid farewell. She had to separate from her friends because her dormitory was in the central streets. She was walking down the central streets which had all sorts of restaurants, stores and entertainment facilities when she suddenly thought of the training room boy. ¡°I wonder if he¡¯s still doing it.¡± The sky was already turning dark and it was about time for magic carriages to stop doing rounds around the city. Soon, it would be the curfew so he should have gone back already. Marie was unconsciously under the impression that there was no way Korin would have seeded and packed up already, because hitting an elemental body was too challenging a task for a Grade 5 freshman. ¡®He didn¡¯t look like he would give up though¡­¡¯ It was on the way to the dormitory so¡­ she decided to drop by. ¡°Ms. Marie?¡± ¡°Ah, umm¡­ I lost something.¡± ¡°Really? Lost property is over there¡­¡± ¡°No no no! It was in a corner so you probably didn¡¯t see it!¡± While pretending to head to the training room she used, Marie stole a nce at the room Korin was in. ¨C Paang! The sound clearly reverberating across the corridor made Marie doubt her ears. ¡®Is he still doing it?¡¯ It had already been a few hours since she had left with her friends¡­ How was he still doing it? Marie walked towards his room and immediately saw the elemental body racing towards the boy. ¨C Shiiiik! He threw a sharp stab intending on piercing through the elemental body. Seeing how it was a lot faster than before, Marie doubted her eyes. Defeating an elemental body was possible for most people as long as they had enough tenacity and hard work. What was necessary was a moment of concentration, and a fundamental level of analysis for the movement and speed of the elemental body. ¨C Shsheeet! ¨C Shiiiieeek! However, that was something which was only applied to the ¡®average¡¯ people. There were actually quite a lot of people that were below average. Even some of the Grade 4s were below average let alone a Grade 5¡­ And Korin Lork who had initially received Grade 6 was a lot below average. ¨C Swish! The elemental body easily dodged the second stab. Even though he should be tired, Korin delivered the third stab. ¨C Shieeekk!!! Due to having no eyes, the elemental body relied on the air, vibrations and the ripples to avoid the iing attacks with a little margin. Because of that, there was something the elemental body couldn¡¯t tell, which Marie could. ¡°Huh?¡± Marie doubted her eyes. Those three stabs ¨C because she had a dynamic vision which was even better than most knights, she noticed the intention behind them. ?Secrets of Ominous Snake ¨C Distorted March? She realized that the three stabs at the elemental body were in fact not trying to pierce through it in the first ce. ¡®A prison of spears?¡¯ The ripples formed by those three stabs which the elemental body dodged with a tiny margin became a prison that blocked the escape paths of the elemental body. The aftermath and the rippling air remained even after the retrieval of the spear and stopped the elemental body from escaping to those ces. It literally was a prison of spears. The three stabs which looked like a miss were in fact thoroughly nned attacks that tried to push the elemental body into a corner. A prison that the elemental body could not escape from due to being an existence that relied on the ripples of the air instead of its vision. ¡®A fourth stab? No, it¡¯s toote!¡¯ Three stabs appeared to be his limit. He waste at withdrawing the spear, and by the time he tried to stab again, the elemental body slightly shifted itself away from the trajectory of the spear. But this time, it wasn¡¯t a stab. The spear curved as he swung it horizontally. By using the rotational force of his shoulders and his waist, he elerated the spear and added slight footwork into the mix to create an exceptionally rapid attack. Without letting it escape, he tried to sh the wings off but¡­ Thanks to her superhuman sight, Marie saw the elemental body folding its wings right beforeing into contact with the spearhead. ¡®It folded its wings! That¡¯s unfair!¡¯ The spearhead shed through the thin air as the elemental body reopened its wings, seemingly in contempt. It appeared to be condescendingly sending him the message, ¡®Good try, but not quite¡­¡¯ Unlike the derisive elemental body, Marie was in awe at the improvement of her junior as she tightened her fists. She wanted to cheer for him. Her perception was that diligent people deserved joy and apuse. Like how she unknowingly cheered for the turtle in a race against a hare which she saw back when she was young¡­ Marie cheered for Korin. ¡°You can do it!¡± The elemental body fluttered its wings thousands of times in a split second and tried to escape, which meant it would soon be out of Korin¡¯s range. ¡°Ah¡­¡± A sigh left her mouth. She did not see a future where he couldnd a hit on the elemental body after it resumed its flight. It was toote. The spear that was swung for the umpteenth time was still toote. Korin was evidently using everything in his arsenal. He had used every bit of power left in his body to imprison the elemental body. He must have been confident that his horizontal swing would seal the deal. His feelings caused by that confidence backfiring on him due to a failure was not something she, as an unfailing genius, could imagine. Was she supposed to console him? Maybe she should have brought some potatoes? Let¡¯s go tell him it was great; tell him he was awesome. Let¡¯s praise him for his hard work, and encourage him that it will work out next time. It was right when she was thinking that. ¨C ??! In an instant, the spear bounced up at an unbelievable speed. The explosive jump of the spear was like a jumping grasshopper ¨C it was a trick caused by his foot kicking on the shaft of the spear. That traveled slightly faster than the elemental body which was just about to pick up speed. ¨C m! The body was shattered as its fragments came raining down, and Marie then saw a dumbfounded wind elemental vacantly staring at its shattered body. ¡°¡­¡± She was speechless and after a while, a wide smile appeared on her lips. ¡°That¡¯s great. He actually did it.¡± Like what she did on the day she saw the turtle beating the hare, Marie gazed at the diligent turtle with a bright smile. One of themon senses in her mind had been cracked. Words like strong and remarkable¡­ were toomonce to suit him. An honest impression that could be expressed in one word left her mouth. ¡°Awesome.¡± The boy would not need any constion or consideration. Without a word, Marie turned around and headed to her dormitory. **** ¡°Distorted March, Tiger¡¯s Gust, Spinning Heaven.¡± I picked up the shattered fragments of the elemental body. Following the contract, the elemental inside this egg would have already returned to the empty Spirit Realm. ¡®Wasn¡¯t expecting to pull off a skill that I couldn¡¯t even use in the previous iteration¡­¡¯ Even though it wasn¡¯t the true Void, I caught a glimpse into the ¡®Domain¡¯. ¡®Can I reach it this time? The heart of dao?¡¯ The spearmanship granted by my master in the previous iteration ¨C even though I wasn¡¯t able to fully master it back then, it might be possible this time. ¡®I could go immediately but¡­ that would be too suspicious.¡¯ In fact, the only reason I was able to meet her was because of Park Sihu¡¯s introduction. Right now, I had nothing with me that could pull the attention of my master. Looking back, I remembered that she used to give a fairly harsh evaluation for Park Sihu. ¡ºThat guy is no good. He has zero guts. My regret is that I was toote in taking you in.¡» Her eyes for people were urate thanks to all the years she lived but¡­ that was something I didn¡¯t pay attention to back then. This must be why you should always listen to your elders. ¨C Crack¡­! I was heading to the front desk to return the spear, but the shaft suddenly crumbled and fell on the floor. This damn practice spear had terrible durability. I had used just a tiny bit of aura in fear that my body wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it and yet the spear ended up breaking. ¡®I guess what I need first and foremost to fight properly is a good physique.¡¯ There was only one thing I could rely on to increase my physical strength without relying on the elixirs of Park. Precept. The use that I will not disregard the misfortune of the good. While heading to the dormitory, I gazed at the Merkarva Great Library which stayed bright through the darkness of the night. **** Next morning, freshmen were actually granted free time. The first day was designed to break the spirits of the new students and leave a strong impression of this ce, whereas the second day was for students to be guided throughout the systems of the academy and the nearby facilities by the professors and senior students. ¡°Helloo~ Junior!¡± Marie was energetic today as well and weed the freshmen including me without showing any signs of exhaustion. For some reason, I felt like she wasn¡¯t here in the freshmen orientationst time, but that might be just due to my bad memories. It was already 3 years ago, and it was natural for her to have a lot of free time as a senior high-achieving student with plenty of free credits. It wasn¡¯t strange for one of the top high-achievers of the 2nd year students, Marie, to help out with the neers. After a short orientation in the morning, the afternoon was a full-on free time. The freshmen formed groups and were given the time to get to know each other. Some bravely looked for people to have lunch with, while some made friends from the same Grade under a sense of kinship. Jaeger, a Grade 3 Knight, grouped up with people simr to him as expected while the Grade 5 Mage Lark¡­ was left out as I thought. ¡°¡­¡± Unable to socialize with others, he headed to the cafeteria by himself. Actually, it was the same for most of the other Grade 5 students. Scorn and contempt for the under-achieving students who had been assigned Grade 5 in the first grading test was already prevalent across the freshmen. ¡°Lark¡­ Lark Buhgman.¡± I knew of his inferiorityplex. Seeing Park Sihu who started off as Grade 5 just like himself growing at an exponential speed, he had been engulfed by his inferiorityplex and had even done things he shouldn¡¯t have done. Chasing after him, I threw my arm around his drooping shoulders. ¡°Hello friend.¡± ¡°Uh?¡± Lark was startled by my sudden approach and rolled his eyes around. ¡°Do you have some time?¡± ¡°Uh? Huh? No¡­ I¡¯m going to the dormitory¡­¡± ¡°Your specialty is ¡®Memorize¡¯ right?¡± ¡°¡­?!¡± He became cautious of me in a fluster. There was nothing to gain for me by instigating his wariness. ¡°I heard Professor Ronan talking to himself. That spell book ¨C I heard you stored a lot of spells inside.¡± ¡°¡­Ah.¡± I felt his vignce drop by a little, but he soon became dejected. ¡®Memorize¡¯ was a specialty that was quitemonly seen across the Magic Department. It was an auxiliary system that saved the diagrams of a spell to skip past theplicated procedures and allow a fast enchantment of spells. Easier put, it was a cheat sheet. It was a specialty you could buy in the game at a Grade 3 store. Lark had saved all sorts of spells into his spell book. That was something I knew because I saw the densely written list of spells in his spell book in Park Sihu¡¯s trophy storehouse. He was a hard worker ¨C an intellectual nerd. ¡°Looks like you couldn¡¯t properly use it in the grading test.¡± But saving all sorts of spells and using them was a whole different issue. As a substandard mage with a low Mana Rank, it was hard to make something amazing happen no matter how proficient you were in theory. ¡°¡­¡­What do you want?¡± It looked like Lark also knew that himself, and he furiously growled in response but he was just a puppy in front of a beast. I whispered into his ears in a soft voice so that no-one else could hear it. ¡°Buddy. Shall we have a meal together? And talk about a ¡®Grimoire¡¯ while we are at it.¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± The word ¡®Grimoire¡¯ made him widen his eyes in shock. ¡®This hyung will feed you something good. But in return¡­¡¯ Please let a spirit possess you for me. And let¡¯s help a Unique Grade demonic spirit go to heaven while we are at it. Chapter 11: Grimoire of the Great Library (1) ? Grimoire of the Great Library (1) ? There was a student-only cafeteria in Merkarva Academy. Normal student cafeterias were for student welfare so they usually had okay taste and the same menus with the only good side being their cheap prices, but the one in this Academy was on a whole new level. First off, the ingredients were great. I had no idea where they wereing from but every ingredient including the potatoes, corn, rice, flour and meat were all of exceptional standard. In the past iteration, the quality of the ingredients did have a sudden drop as if they changed to a different supplier in the middle but the academy used great ingredients in general. What I liked the most were the types of cuisine of this world. ¡°This is it¡­ Tonkatsu is the best.¡± Although I wasn¡¯t sure why there was tonkatsu 1Japanese Pork Cutlet in a fantasy game world, there was even kimchi which was apparently from the eastern continent, so tonkatsu wasn¡¯t anything new. And, you know, the isekai novels of the country on the other side of the ocean had katana and kimono popping up every time, and this must be something simr to that. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you eating? Do you not like it?¡± I was munching through the crunchy crust and the thick piece of meat, but young man Lark had a confused look on his face and did not even bother lifting the fork. ¡°Can we first talk about the grimoire¡­¡± ¡°Shh! What if someone hears it? Keep your voice down.¡± ¡°S, sorry¡­¡± Lark timidly shrunk back. I waited for him to pick up the tonkatsu with his fork before opening my mouth. ¡°This is something I heard from my uncle who used to be a student here¡­¡± ¨C Crunch. He meekly bit on the outer crust. It was evident that he was very nervous. ¡°He used toe to this Merkarva Academy. And you know the library, right? Library 1?¡± ¨C Nod nod ¡°Apparently there¡¯s a hidden ce there which has a grimoire inside.¡± ¡°G, grimoire¡­ Is that the same one as what I¡¯m thinking of?¡± Grimoire ¨C easier put, it was a skill book; a phenomenal and rare artifact that allowed one to learn spells or specialties just by reading a book. It was something like an excuse to allow the yer to learn all sorts of skills and enchantments of different nature. Anyone could gain abilities by reading a grimoire but it would lose its effect in return, which was why it was exchanged at an expensive price. Even a house was nothing inparison. ¡°C, can we get it? Where is it? I, if I can read that¡­!¡± It was natural for Lark to go crazy for it, because he was unable to use spells despite having saved the ¡®enchantments¡¯ until now. This was linked to the intuition of a mage ¨C even if they knew about the theory behind a spell, they still had to feel and understand it. Imagining a spell and weaving it into an actual form with mana was pretty much in the realm of instincts. However, a grimoire had the power to force that intuition andprehension. Even a normal citizen without mana could instinctively remember the enchantment as well as its principles upon reading a grimoire, even though they won¡¯t be able to manifest it due to having no mana. ¡°Yes. I know the secret room of the library and where the grimoire is.¡± ¡°And w, why are you telling me this?¡± Oh, he was finally rational enough to throw a normal question. Right, it was obvious that I had to exin the reason behind such a story that was too good to be true. ¡°Do you know I¡¯m a knight?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ You look like one.¡± ¡°There are 2 grimoires ording to what uncle told me. One is about an enchantment and the other has a specialty.¡± ¡°R, really?¡± ¡°Yeah. But my Mana Rank is low and it would be useless for me even if I learned an enchantment. In other words, one of them is worthless for me.¡± ¡°C, can¡¯t you still sell it though?¡± ¡°How? How can a normal student like me contact ces like the ck market? What if they ask me how I got it? They might just steal it from me if I can¡¯t answer them properly.¡± Walking in the backstreets with a piece of jewelry that is too much to handle would obviously lead to death and robbery. More importantly, I definitely needed the help of another one to send the Unique Grade demonic spirit stuck next to the grimoire all the way to heaven. ¡°One book for you, one book for me. I think this sounds like a fair deal.¡± ¡°¡­I don¡¯t understand. What do you want from me?¡± As expected of a hard worker who was good at theory, he was fairly quick-witted. ¡°I have 2 conditions. One is for you to be possessed by a demonic spirit for me. That¡¯s what we need to do in order to eliminate it.¡± ¡°B, but anyone can¡­¡± I cut him off and told him about the second condition. ¡°Secondly, I want a ¡®Contract of Pledge¡¯.¡± ¡°¡­Then you need a mage then.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Contract of Pledge was a vicious short-term contract which only mages could do, that immediately made them lose all their mana upon not keeping the contract. ¡°But¡­ There are other students and professors of the Magic Department. Why me?¡± ¡°Striking a deal with a professor is a stupid thing to do. Both their power and authority are in a whole different league. What if they knock me down and force me to tell them the location?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Then what about other students?¡± ¡°It¡¯s highly likely that they haven¡¯t learned the contract spell yet.¡± Even though the contracting spell was not hard, there was no reason for students to learn such a vicious spell so it was hard to find anyone who learned it. But¨C ¡°It¡¯s different for someone like you who has Memorize.¡± ¡°¡­Because we can learn the contracting spell with Memorize and use it immediately, right?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± That was the advantage of Memorize. After saving a spell in the spell book through Memorize, it was possible to use it immediately. It might be difficult for high-tier spells but an easy one like the contracting spell would not take much time to understand. ¡°First off, we have to start with the contracting spell but¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s okay. I¡¯ve saved it already a long time ago. I used to work part-time as a contractor.¡± ¡°Hoh~. That will make this nice and easy then.¡± ¡°Tell me the conditions of the contract.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not make this hard for the two of us and go simple.¡± **** Lark and I headed to the library located at the center of the campus. The library of Merkarva Academy was as big as the scale of this massive academy. Rather than a library, it was constructed in a fancy way that reminded people of the ancient temples. In fact, it was also sometimes used as a temple. As for the size of the building, it was probably as big as 4 high schools of Koreabined into one. ¡°It, it¡¯s massive¡­¡± Lark was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the Great Library and gulped. ¡°How many books even are there?¡± ¡°I heard there¡¯s around 8 million including the ones in the basement.¡± ¡°E, eight million¡­¡± It was so much bigger than what he thought that Lark couldn¡¯t even continue his sentence. ¡°Why did they build such arge library in the middle of the campus? No-one can enter the academy apart from students and professors, right?¡± Lark asked. ¡°There¡¯s probably about 3 reasons.¡± ¡°3 reasons?¡± ¡°The first is the provided reason for building the Merkarva Great Library. It is to preserve knowledge and convey it to the future descendents.¡± ¡°¡­That one¡¯s a bit too obvious.¡± ¡°Secondly, it¡¯s because that is more beneficial for the academy. It¡¯s probably to keep the professors stuck in the academy right? Because this would be the best environment to gather data for research.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Teaching students was less than half of the entire job of a professor. Their real jobs were rted to research and thesis, and because of that, Merkarva Academy was the most attractive environment for those professors. ¡°And what¡¯s the third reason?¡± ¡°Concealment.¡± ¡°Concealment?¡± ¡°It¡¯s to hide the grimoires, banned and sealed books using the overwhelming number of books.¡± Hide a tree in the forest. It was a simple and standard rule, which was also why it was difficult to fight against. How could anyone find the book you want out of eight million books? Normal people wouldn¡¯t be able to but that was a different story for me. I even knew the secrets that the Grade 1 librarians didn¡¯t know of thanks to my prior knowledge through the game and the previous iteration. I walked into Library 1 along with Lark. ¡°Wee. Which book are you after?¡± One of the librarians at the front entrance weed us. ¡°We are looking for books rted to the specialties of Merkarva Academy. Those¡­ what were they called again? Merchelin stars or something?¡± ¡°Ah~. If you¡¯re talking about that book, then let¡¯s see¡­¡± The librarian senior browsed through the list on the parchment which was created from a documenting spell and found what I talked about. ¡°If you head to 3rd Floor, L32, you will see it in the 2nd row. Thedders are located next to each of the stairs so feel free to use them.¡± Following the words of the librarian, we climbed up the stairs of the wide Merkarva Great Library. I recalled how I used toe to this ce quite often to gather bits of information with Park Sihu, who was also from the Magic Department like Lark. This was also where I had read stuff about rune magic. As we soon entered a ce that had no signs of other people, I whispered to Lark who was walking behind me. ¡°This way.¡± ¡°N, nn¡­¡± I will be giving a grimoire to Lark and Lark was unable to mention this deal to anyone. It was a simple contract. After arriving at the secret room, I told Lark to stay still and rummaged through the bookshelves. ¡®Time to fulfill my Duty.¡¯ I had plenty of information. Although this side quest had requirements that you couldn¡¯t meet without leveling up a lot, I should be able to beat the quest right now. Opening the secret room was something that was impossible without gaining clues from the previous quests of the quest line, and was something that required a rtively hardcore password. The ¡®code¡¯ itself used quite an old-fashioned method. It was to ce the books in the designated areas while pulling some of them out. It worked with a few clicks in the game but it used to be quite difficult to clear this in the previous iteration. ¨C Rattle¡­! Even though I didn¡¯t even touch the bookshelves, they slid open and revealed the door to the secret room. ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± ¡°Huh? O, okay!¡± Lark and I quickly dashed into the room before anyone could see us. **** ¡°Uhh, it¡¯s cold in here¡­¡± The inside was empty and barren with not a single breeze, and unlike Lark, I did not feel cold in the slightest. That in turn meant that the chill Lark was feeling was because of the demonic spirit in this ce. ¡°Lark.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± ¡°It¡¯s time for you to fulfill your promise.¡± ¡°Huh? Umm¡­ it¡¯s about defeating that demonic spirit right? How¡ª Kuhk?!¡± ¨C m! I threw a wonderful fist towards his jaws. His eyes rolled around in circles as he soon copsed on the ground. After making him faint, I dragged him deeper into the secret room. As I had seen in the previous iteration, this secret room had a bookshelf with two books inside, and those books were the rewards of this side quest. In truth, you needed a well-trained party member and a sufficiently high level toplete this quest. Otherwise, it would be impossible to even hold off against the initial attacks of the Unique Grade demonic spirit sealed in this ce. ¡­ Even though it had been over 2 minutes since we came into this secret room, Lark and I did not suffer from any attacks. Astral bodies could only interrupt upon mutual cognition. Lark was unconscious so his cognitive ability was naturally at 0, and I couldn¡¯t perceive astral bodies because of the Restriction of my Precept. In other words, all I had to do now was have a one-sided conversation. ¡°Violence is no good!¡± The demonic spirit must have paused its action. I think¡­ I mean, what else can he even do? Footnotes: Chapter 12: Grimoire of the Great Library (2) ? Grimoire of the Great Library (2) ? Like how I couldn¡¯t touch astral bodies, astral bodies likewise couldn¡¯t touch me. As someone who can¡¯t perceive the spirit itself due to my Precept, I was pretty much invincible against astral bodies. ¡®Energy Drain, Soul Crusher and Overflowing Honey of Nightmare¡­ was it?¡¯ Those were the skills which would be poured out by the Unique Grade demonic spirit sealed in the secret room in Phase 1. One party member would immediately be stunlocked unless their Magic Resistance was above a certain level all the way till the end of a fight. And in Phase 2, the demonic spirit possesses one of the party members. It would possess a party member that is not stunlocked and in turn remove two people from the fight in an instant. It was well-known for being ridiculously difficult. In the first ce, it wasn¡¯t made to be cleared. The true quest begins after being neutralized once, and it is an episode that truly shows how absurdly powerful ¡®Unique Grades¡¯ are. However, I was not getting attacked by anything even though I was in the same ce as a demonic spirit. The spirit was probably in a fluster, not knowing why its attacks weren¡¯t going through. ¡°Sebancia Duke.¡± ¡ª¡ª! I couldn¡¯t hear the response, but I could imagine it flinching after hearing my words, wondering how I knew his name. But this was only the beginning. ¡°800 years ago, you were the grand general lording over the southern continent ¨C the Hero of the old kingdom. Even though you are a historical and renowned figure¡­ there is a back story that most are not aware of.¡± I recited the personal history of the demonic spirit which I got to know from the quest. Would he be angry? I honestly wasn¡¯t sure. In the game, the dialogue wasn¡¯t that long and I was the one possessed in the previous iteration. Because of that, I didn¡¯t know about the details and all I knew was what I heard from Park Sihu and the other party members while advancing through the quest line. ¡°Your story is still quite famous in the south. There is even a book called the Truth of Castle Zapre.¡± ¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡°You were an ¡®awakened¡¯ vampire.¡± In this world, there were things called ¡®demonic molecules¡¯, which caused a normal person to morph into a demi-human. They would change the elements of the body. Turning into a beast on a full moon, growing horns, or being attracted to blood. Even though they could somewhat control themselves, their violent instincts, brutality and their inhuman appearances had made them longtime victims of ostracization as ¡®humans that weren¡¯t fully humans¡¯. ¡°You awakened as a vampire. Then, you felt the unstoppable urge to suck blood and your servant became your first victim. You knew it yourself that no-one would be able to stop you if you left your castle.¡± After the first victim, Sebancia sucked the blood of dogs and pigs to control his urge, sent everyone apart from his wife and his daughter out of the castle and locked himself in his room to avoid any temptation. ¡°You tried everything but couldn¡¯t find a way to control your urge to suck blood. In the end, your frightened wife and your daughter also became potential prey.¡± He was frightened of himself turning more and more impulsive. He was scared he might devour his own family. ¡°You made your family run away and closed Castle Zapre, and sealed yourself with your magic into that book over there.¡± That was the identity of the grimoires of this secret room. To be exact, it was just the one that I was aiming for. ¡­¡­¡­¡­ It was about time for him to take the bait. Even though I couldn¡¯t perceive his presence, I could still feel him carefully listening to my words. Even though the Unique Grade demonic spirit of this ce always attacked first, his nature in the system was still that of ¡®Good¡¯, and he spared our lives even in the previous iteration when we lost in a fight against him. The original start of this quest was by getting neutralized and listening to his story. ¡°Ruina Duke, Cecilia Duke.¡± ¡­!! ¡®How do you know those names?¡¯ was probably the question he was dying to ask, and it was most likely as surprising as hearing his own name. ¡°How about we have a little chat now? I can¡¯t see astral bodies, you see.¡± After saying that, I walked up to the unconscious Lark and gave him a p. Just enough to wake him up. ¡°Uuugghhh¡­?!!¡± His sleepy eyes suddenly widened into circles and he changed in just a few seconds. ¡°Brat¡­¡± ¡°Sebancia Duke.¡± The one inside Lark was Sebancia Duke ¨C the Unique Grade demonic spirit sealed inside the grimoire. ¡°How¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the important part. You¡¯re curious, aren¡¯t you? About what happened to the two of them.¡± His wife, Ruina Duke, and daughter, Cecilia Duke. The side quest that was supposed to be given by the Unique Grade demonic spirit of the library was to gather information about the two people. Thanks to that, I had to go to the south for a business trip which was quite the hard work. ¡°Can you tell me¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t tell him fabricated stories because this vampire of the ancient times had the power to detect lies. No matter how skilled a yer was at conversational skills, it was impossible to deceive the demonic spirit, Sebancia Duke. ¡°Ruina Duke escaped with Cecilia Duke, but the world was too harsh for the sheltered nobledy.¡± This was something we discovered ourselves in the south from the diary left behind by his daughter, Cecilia Duke. ¡°Ruina Duke was scammed. She worked desperately to pay the debt for the sake of her daughter, but she couldn¡¯t live for long and died from overwork.¡± Sebancia¡¯s expression conveyed through Lark¡¯s face crumpled in grief. Although he had given arge sum of jewelry to his wife and his daughter, they didn¡¯t have enough power to protect their belongings. ¡°What happened¡­ to my daughter, Cecil.¡± ¡°Fortunately, it¡¯s a happy ending for her. Her childhood was arduous butter she managed to be a mage and the greatest adventurer of the time.¡± ¡°Can I¡­ take your word for it?¡± ¡°I read her diary. Besides, you can tell whether I¡¯m lying or not can¡¯t you?¡± ¡°¡­Who in the world are you? How do you know me and my abilities?¡± ¡°I just¡­ have a bit more experience than others.¡± I couldn¡¯t tell him that it was from a game plot, so I glossed over it. ¡°What do you want? Do you want that book?¡± Sebancia asked while pointing at the red grimoire out of the two books, which was sealing his soul. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely be taking those¡­ but I want your residues.¡± ¡°My residues?¡± ¡°There are some dangerous fights ahead of me so I need your Soul Dust to create a spear for myself. So it¡¯d be great if you can go to heaven just like this.¡± Soul Dust was the powder left behind with the disappearance of a demonic spirit. This ¡®dust¡¯ was a good ingredient for making weapons and gears, and the drops from strong demonic spirits were naturally more valuable. The highest level of Soul Dust was a must when creating an item that was beyond the Legendary level. ¡°¡­So you also knew about my grievance, huh.¡± The final goal of this quest was to satisfy the powerful vampire, Sebancia Duke, and let him disappear in peace. However, there was one more condition that had to be fulfilled aside from relieving his grievance. ¡°But you are way too weak. Your body, aura and mana ¨C there is nothing good about you. Someone as weak as you won¡¯t be able to handle this power.¡± ¡°Ouhh damn¡­¡± Please stop hurling facts at me; it hurts. Was this happening because of the level requirements of the quest? This was something I didn¡¯t know about because Park Sihu was the one epting the questst time. ¡°I will be stronger.¡± ¡°Anyone can make ims with their tongues.¡± As people say, a picture paints a thousand words. I took off my shirt and revealed the Precept engraved on my body. ¡°You can read this, right? Pretty sure it used to be amonnguage 800 years ago.¡± Rune was a type of magic that fell behind in efficiency over time in the rapidly advancing world of magic. But things weren¡¯t as systematic 800 years ago, so it should have been quitemon back in the days. Sebancia read the rune letters carved on my body before staring into my eyes with a serious look on his face. ¡°¡­¡­A Precept. The power that was widely used by the great warriors of the Shadow Paradise, huh. To think you would engrave such ridiculous sentences into your body¡­ You. Seriously, what in the world are you?¡± ¡°Can you trust me now?¡± ¡°What an unsuitably enormous ambition for an ordinary man. Is the world going to be in danger soon?¡± ¡°Definitely.¡± ¡°That means you will definitely be stronger then. This is that type of contract ¨C one that lets you receive support from the world itself as long as it is rted to the destiny of this world¡­ Can you handle it?¡± ¡°Everyone will die if I can¡¯t. There is no other choice but to go all-in.¡± Sebancia appeared content with my response and smiled before pointing at the grimoire. ¡°Read it. That will be a small help to your ambition.¡± I unhesitatingly walked forward and read the grimoire sealing Sebancia. After touching the untitled cover made of luxurious leather, I turned the page. This wasn¡¯t my first time reading a grimoire, because Park Sihu used to give me a few books afterpleting quests. The elegant letters which were most likely written by Sebancia quickly pulled my mind into it. The abilities of this worldmonly ssified into the categories of specialty and magic are further divided into innate and postnatal. The readability of the book was quite good. Some grimoires were hard to read because of their terrible handwriting and legibility, but it seemed that Sebancia had been a good writer back in his days. I saw a warrior taking hisst breath. He was barely standing in the midst of a bloody battlefield thanks to his intestines tied around a rock I asked him, ¡°O warrior, shall I end it for you.¡± He replied, ¡°It would be much appreciated if you give me water to satiate my throat.¡± Respecting the tenacious warrior, I went to the nearbyke and scooped up water with my two hands to relieve his thirst. That was when something miraculous began to happen. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ Why the heck was this so gory? What? Standing with his intestines tied on a rock? He¡¯s even more upright than a right angle triangle. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­As such, I have written down an imitation of his secret move. A change urred to my body after reading the entire book. I could feel my organs shifting and it felt very odd. ¡°Done.¡± The specialty earned by reading this grimoire was the ?Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior?. ¡°Like how that warrior did not lose his fighting spirit, as long as you maintain your honorable spirit¡­ your body will regenerate in the end.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t give an ambiguous exnation, and please make it clear. Do you mean I won¡¯t regenerate if I faint?¡± ¡°¡­As long as your vitality is there, the regeneration will be maintained. Your vitality will also be greater than others.¡± ¡°Ohh.¡± It was Park Sihu who acquired ?Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior? in thest iteration but he had never suffered from a severe injury, so this was my first time learning about its effect first-hand. I got the permission of Sebancia so I should be able to make use of this ability quite well. ¡°Huu~. Thanks for that.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Are you not going to read that? I didn¡¯t write it myself but I¡¯m sure there won¡¯t be any downside to reading it.¡± Sebancia said while pointing at the other grimoire. That grimoire would have the enchantment of a spirit-type skill called something like ?Soul Warriors?. It was what Park Sihu used quite often to create tankers. ¡°I have no talent in magic.¡± Plus, it was a spirit-type skill so I wouldn¡¯t even be able to sense my own minions. I had already given up on the path of magic in this life. I was not good at magic forme calctions, and also had no talent in understanding magic. It was a different story for things like rune magic where letters themselves acted like spells, but I couldn¡¯t use normal magic in the slightest. Back when I asked Park Sihu about it, he said you had to be good at Mathematics to use magic. Thest time I studied for Maths was when I was a high school freshman, and people called me the CD case, because out of A, B, C and D, there were only Cs and Ds in my report. ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯m sure grimoires are still expensive though. Selling it should be quite helpful.¡± ¡°That¡¯s for my friend who you are possessing right now. I promised to give it to him.¡± ¡°Is it because of the Contract of Pledge cast on this brat?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± As expected of someone who used to be called a hero in the past, he noticed the contracting spell binding Lark and me. ¡°Right. Sir Sebancia. There is something to ask you.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°A vampire¡¯s urge to suck blood ¨C is that thing controble? For example, sticking to the blood of animals and stuff¡­¡± ¡°No. It is impossible. That impulse¡­ Although I do not even want to think back to it, I felt like I would be a different person. It truly was entric.¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± ¡°A vampire sucking blood is not simply to satiate their hunger through blood. That in itself is rted to magic, because the powers of blood and the familiar of blood are both awakened by sucking in the fresh blood of a human.¡± Sebancia paused and pondered to himself before raising a possibility. ¡°If there is someone who can pull it off, then that person must be one with extraordinary talents.¡± ¡°I see. And a few more things¡­¡± After asking a few more questions to Sebancia Duke, we finished our questioning session. I thought it was done but that was when Sebancia also threw me a question. ¡°¡­Is my castle still there in the south?¡± ¡°Hnn? It is.¡± ¡°If you happen to go there, have a look at my office. It might still be there.¡± ¡°Huh? Is there something there?¡± We didn¡¯t find anything in the previous iteration though? ¡°That is for you to see, Rune Mage. I wish you harbor the same caliber of courage as that warrior.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to support my body with intestines though¡­¡± ¡°There will be nothing you can¡¯t do with that level of courage. Well¡­ it looks like you already have it though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an overstatement.¡± ¡°It is a rightful evaluation. As an ordinary man who is neither the hero nor the sage, pledging to save the world is not easy.¡± ¡°¡­¡­There was no other choice.¡± The world was going to be destroyed without me, so what else could I do? ¡°No. There was always the option of running away but you did not choose to escape. You have my respect.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Andstly, thank you for telling me news about my wife and my daughter.¡± With that, Lark¡¯s body began to copse to the ground. He was falling face-first and looked like his nose would be crushed at this rate so I supported his body, as golden powders piled up neatly on the floor of the secret room. It was an Epic Rank Soul Dust, which one might even mistake for gold dust. Afterying Lark down on the ground, I collected the dust and ced it into a cloth purse. It might seem difficult to gather because it was powder, but Soul Dust of the same attribute gravitated to each other so all I had to do was pick up a few and have the rest follow in one piece. An exceptional ingredient which could only be gained at around Level 50 was already in my hands. ¡°Uuhhh¡­¡± ¡°Did you wake up?¡± ¡°My head¡­ hurts¡± ¡°You were possessed by a demonic spirit until just then.¡± ¡°Why does my jaw hurt as well though?¡± ¡°Who knows.¡± I quickly handed the grimoire over to Lark, who was touching his swollen jaw. ¡°I, is this the grimoire?¡± ¡°Yeah. Hurry up and read it. We have to leave soon.¡± Lark received the grimoire with shivering hands. ¡°Can I¡­ really read it?¡± ¡°What do you mean? That was the contract.¡± ¡°T, that¡¯s true but¡­¡± Wasn¡¯t the contract too favorable for me in the first ce¡­? That appeared to be the question in his mind. ¡°It¡¯s okay for things to be sometimes given to those who don¡¯t try.¡± ¡°¡­¡± After a while, we walked out of the secret room. Lark seemed touched by the fact that he had obtained a medium-ranked spell despite not doing much himself. ¡°T, thank you! I won¡¯t forget what happened today! Thank you so much! Seriously!¡± ¡°Alright.¡± It wasn¡¯t my fault that he had a miserable end in the previous iteration¡­Yet I still felt a strange sense of guilt dissolving away. I fed him the first spoon, and after that it was up to him. I could only hope that the boy wouldn¡¯t fall into despair and that he wouldn¡¯t hate himself in this life. ¨C Buzz! Buzzz! ¡°Mhmm¡­!¡± It was then. The sentences of Precept engraved on my body turned zing hot. Ugh¡­ It felt as if I was being scorched with fire. ¡°That¡¯s a sess.¡± It seemed that the Duty of the Precept, the one that I wouldn¡¯t disregard the misfortune of the good, had been sessfully fulfilled. I looked at the system message which I hadn¡¯t seen for a while. ¡ºDuty Fulfilled ¨C Sebancia Duke¡» ¡ù Difficulty: B ¡ù Reward: Even distribution of 80 points Something did pop up, but what was ¡®Even distribution of 80 points¡¯ supposed to even mean? Can¡¯t you be a bit more nice? ¡°¡­Status Window.¡± ¡ºess denied due to insufficient qualification.¡» Geez, for fuck¡¯s sake! ¡°Huu¡­¡± Although I wasn¡¯t sure because of my practically useless system window, those points were probably talking about the status points of a character. A yer¡¯s status in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? were divided into Strength, Agility, Aura, Mana and Dexterity. Themon rule of thumb was to go 3, 1, 1 depending on the skill tree you were after. ¡®Can I not even pick the stats I want¡­?¡¯ It was a shame because using all the 5 stat points given per level up into the necessary stats were the most efficient way to grow a character¡­ Hold up. 5 points? ¡°Wait, I got 80 points?¡± 80 stat points was something you could only get through 16 level ups in the game. I didn¡¯t get any level up announcement, so that meant the reward of the quest itself was 80 stats. Even though Sebancia Duke¡¯s quest had a difficulty rank of B, it wasn¡¯t a quest that gave an enormous amount of experience points that equaled 16 level ups. ¨C Gulp! Although there was the penalty of everything being an equal distribution¡­ Maybe there was no cap for my stats then? Was this a synergy created from the system and the effects of the Precept? As a reward for doing something good, I got an Epic Rank Soul Dust, a specialty, and¡­ a tremendous increase in stats. ¡°Huhu¡­ Jackpo¡­ Huuk?!¡± W, what was I trying to say just then? I almost copied the habit of that disgusting dude! ¡®How horrendous.¡¯ I¡¯m different from that psychopath. It felt terrible so I decided to avoid copying his habit at all cost. Chapter 13: Mission Board (1) ? Mission Board (1) ? It was another normal day. ¡°There are demonic races in our world that go under the names of demonic beasts, demonic spirits, and demi-humans. They suffer persecution¨C¡± The courses at Merkarva Academy had units of credit. Excluding the mandatory courses, it was fairly rxed. ¡°Now,stly, is there anyone who can tell me about the incident that served as the turning point of demi-human persecution¨C¡± ¡°Huaaaahm¡­ Ah. Is the lesson over?¡± During a boring history lesson, Jaeger opened his eyes and wiped off the drool on his face. ¡°You could¡¯ve saved your own life if you slept for 5 more minutes.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Oh dear. It seems that my lesson has been very boring for you, Mr. Jaeger.¡± Jaeger turned his head like an old, creaking robot. At the end of his gaze was the professor of historical studies, Ronalick, giving the brightest smile in the world. ¡°Ugek¡­ S, sorry.¡± ¡°Jaeger Hinzpeter. Come early for next week¡¯s lesson and clean the room for everyone.¡± ¡°Yes sir¡­¡± Saying that, Jager lowered his head while grumbling about having to do something so tedious. I opened my mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will¡­¡± ¡°Korin, you¡­? Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± ¡°I will be your supervisor.¡± ¡°¡­Go to hell.¡± After the lesson, Jaeger said while closing his nk and empty book. ¡°Oi. Let¡¯s have lunch.¡± ¡°What are you having?¡± ¡°Hmm~. The kimchi udon I had yesterday was alright. Is there, like, something else that¡¯s nice and spicy?¡± Nice and spicy? ¡°I know the best ce for that.¡± Challenge epted. You have a painful death ahead of you. ¡°Oi, nerd. What are you up to now?¡± ¡°Nn? I¡¯m going to go to the library and study¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s have some lunch first.¡± ¡°Uhht¡­ W, wait¡­!¡± There was a scorching chicken feet restaurant in the central streets of the Academy that dropped your HP by 20% or something, wasn¡¯t there? ¡°GUUUEEEEK!¡± ¡°I¡¯m dying¡­ w, water¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s more spicy if you drink water. Drink milk.¡± ¡°Uhhkk¡­ I think there¡¯s a hole in my stomach.¡± ¡°I should have had a kimchi udon¡­¡± Do you see this, Sir Kim Gu? This is the power of ¡®Culture¡¯ that you wanted the most. **** As soon as the afternoon sses ended, I headed to the training room. It had been 4 days since myst visit. The past 3 to 4 days had been an introduction to the basic curriculum and an extension of the orientation. ¡®Ah~. It¡¯s already Friday.¡¯ Let¡¯s apply for a leave on the way to the dormitory today, and go outside tomorrow. ¡°Training clothes, training spear and an elemental body please.¡± In order to test the increase of my stats from the Precept, I went to the front desk, received a elemental body and woke it up. ¨C Vuiinng! ¡°Ohh~. He¡¯s doing it again.¡± ¡°Is he not tired of it yet?¡± ¡°He is tenacious, but that¡¯s just being stubborn.¡± The sound of the elemental body fluttering its wings gathered the eyes of the senior students once again. Those blokes were all quite diligent as well. People that used their free times to train were those with a promising future. I raised my spear against the elemental body without paying them any attention when a 2nd year student from the Knight Department called me. ¡°Oi, freshman.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I saw you swinging your spear around to catch that elemental body. How about you just do something else?¡± ¡°¡­¡± I didn¡¯t say anything in response, as the 2nd year student from the Knight Department continued with a condescending look on his face. ¡°You¡¯re just a Grade 5.¡± ¡°Hohh¡­¡± I see. So this is that thing. People used to pick a fight with Park Sihu quite a lot, because he started off as a Grade 5. Was I pulling the aggro now that Park Sihu wasn¡¯t here? ¡°Yes, well. I¡¯m just trying to push myself.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s never gonna work alright? Don¡¯t waste your time and just quietly practice by yourself with your spear.¡± Like, what was wrong with this guy? He seemed to be the type of person to go to a funeral andin about the menu. It was dumbfounding, but I wasn¡¯t having any murderous intent or anything which was natural as a human, because whimsically killing people like Park Sihu was something animals would do. ¡°Do you think you¡¯re something great because Marie is looking after you?¡± ¡°What?¡± Why was he talking about her all of a sudden? ¡°You must be excited because of her small bit of attention but¡­¡± ¡°Hohhh~~¡± ¡°W, what?¡± ¡°Ayyee~~¡± ¡°What are you doing all of a sudden!¡± He gave an irritated shout as I whispered in a soft voice which only he could hear. ¡°Do you like Senior Marie?¡± ¡°H, huh?!¡± His face flushed in the blink of an eye, and it was super clear at this point. Kyah~! Those are the good times. That¡¯s youth for ya. Let¡¯s see, how was mine? Boys Middle School, Boys High School, Physical Education College, Military¡­ What? Where did my youth go? And in the previous iteration, I had no time to meet anyone due to following Park Sihu around the whole time. Park Sihu was also deliberately stopping me as well¡­ I see! So the reason there were no cherry blossoms in my life is all because of Park!! Right? It¡¯s because of that stupid Park, right? That had to be the case. ¡°N, no?¡± ¡°It¡¯s clearly not a no.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°So do you like Senior Marie?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t!¡± ¡°Do you hate Senior Marie?¡± ¡°Yes! I hate¡­?!¡± ¡°Kane you idiot¡­¡± Another female student in her 2nd year said while poking him with her elbow. Kane turned around from that and found someone staring at him ¨C it was Marie. Damn, where is my popcorn? ¡°U, uh¡­ Marie?¡± ¡°Hmm~. I see. Kane hates me, huh.¡± ¡°N, no. That¡¯s not¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s normal for people to hate some people, right? Guys, do you want some potatoes?¡± ¡°I want some.¡± ¡°Me too.¡± ¡°Ehew, Kane you retard.¡± Marie had steamed potatoes again as always, and she generously gave them away to everyone around her except for Kane. ¡°Junior. Do you want some steamed potatoes? I have sugar.¡± ¡°Of course. I will gratefully ept those potatoes as someone who likes Senior Marie.¡± ¡°Right, right? And it will be bad manners to give it to someone who hates me, right?¡± Judging from her manner of speech, it seemed that she was somewhat aware of his feelings as well. Kane the innocent boy was the only one with a teary look on his face. ¡°Are you going to train with an elemental body again?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you will be able to pull it off!¡± She had a very amiable smile on her face unlike the time when she was consoling me to aim for the next chance. ¡°Marie. I know you¡¯re bad at saying harsh things, but this isn¡¯t right.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a freshman. And he¡¯s a Grade 5.¡± I had no idea why there was such a big crowd in front of a freshman student that was just trying to do his best, as well as why they were each saying something bad. Seemingly encouraged by the crowd behind him, the boy, Kane, also chimed in. ¡°Yes! It took me a week as well! It¡¯s not something a Grade 5 freshman can do!¡± ¡°Reallyy?¡± Marie walked up to me and whispered into my ears with a ticklish voice. ¡°Junior. Do you want to earn some money together?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Why was she trusting me this much? Did she see me seed or something? ¡°7:3?¡± ¡°You mean 3:7 and 7 for me.¡± ¡°I have the money though?¡± ¡°Then 4:6.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do 5:5.¡± Deal. Nod nod. After getting my consent, she asked Kane with a confident look on her face. ¡°Shall we have a bet then?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bet 2 gold coins on Junior¡¯s sess!¡± Two gold coins¡­ was arge sum of money which was enough to buy 400 noodles in the city, and was roughly about 2,000 dors. Was she loaded because she was a Grade 1 Mage? ¡°Marie¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to go that far just to encourage a junior¡­¡± All the senior students gave simr responses in general, believing that Marie was doing this due to being considerate of me. However, she didn¡¯t cower in the slightest and instead¡­ ¡°Why? Are you scared?¡± She used an AOE taunt skill. ¡°I¡¯m betting 70 silver coins that the freshman will fail!¡± ¡°One gold coin from me!¡± ¡°30 silver coins.¡± ¡°Do you take items?¡± It turned into a gambling den in an instant. ¡°Good luck, Junior! My two gold coins are on you!¡± We had 7.4 odds for my sess. Excluding the small group of students who stood on my side and went with the high odds to aim for a huge turnaround, most students betted that I wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat the elemental body. ¡°7 gold coins if I win, huh.¡± My entire fortune right now was 40 silver coins, and the amount of support fund a Grade 5 Knight gets is 1 gold coin a month. Even though there was a lot of leeway thanks to little fees for amodation and meals, it was always better to have more money. ¡°Time to get to work.¡± I tapped the elemental body and made it open its wings. Likest time it began to float into the air. Even though defeating it shouldn¡¯t be a problem, what was important was the time taken, because this bet onlysted 30 minutes. Considering the status points I gained by sending Sebania Duke away in peace, I should be able to pull off the basic moves of my spearmanship. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Settling my breath, I grabbed onto my spear. I pulled the aura through the dantian and made it explode in one breath. ?Six Ways of the Spear? ?First Style, Ominous Snake.? The spearhead slithered like a snake as it deceived the elemental body and pierced through in the blink of an eye. It was one of the basic moves that dazzled the enemy with a shy set of moves before continuing into a fierce stab. All I had to do was apply a little bit of feint and connect this to Tiger¡¯s Gust or a Spinning Heaven¡ª ¨C Kwajik! ¡°Uhh¡­¡± The bisected elemental body rolled on the ground. This was definitely outside my expectations¡­ ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Everyone was speechless in front of the unexpected turn of events, and even Marie seemed stunned. ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± ¡°What happened just then?¡± And naturally, others were even more bbergasted. ¡°Hell yeeaaah the high odds!!¡± ¡°That¡¯s how you do ittt!!¡± ¡°Wait! Wait!¡± ¡°Hold on! There has to be something wrong!¡± ¡°Of course. Of course.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why we gamble! Why would you gamble if you¡¯re going to go safe the whole time?¡± ¡°Kuaaakk!¡± The small group of students that betted on the high odds mocked the students who went for the safe bet, and the training room turned into a pandemonium. Tch tch. That¡¯s why you shouldn¡¯t gamble. As they were slowlying back to themselves, Marie walked up and handed me 8 gold coins. ¡°This is for you, Junior.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this more than 5:5? ¡°I rounded it up.¡± Rounding up 60 silver coins¡­ As expected, it seemed that money was not a problem for a Grade 1 Mage like herself. ¡°You did it in one go! Honestly, I was quite surprised.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not that hard once you get used to it.¡± ¡°Hnn~. Butst time you stabbed three times to create ripples around it, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°¡­¡± So she did see it. She must havee back to pick up something but there was something even more stunning. ¡°How did you even see that?¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± She saw through the Secrets of Ominous Snake? Wasn¡¯t she a mage? What kind of ridiculous dynamic vision did she have? **** After the ruckus, I tested a few more skills at the training room. In the previous iteration, I used to train while pushing myself to the brink of death. It was unavoidable because as an ungifted student like Korin Lork, I had no choice but to master tricks to survive through a story filled with Unique Grades. The reason I was able to beat those numerous Grade 1s and Unique Grade enemies was all thanks to the technique that I polished with my life on the line. By learning the Eight Trigram1a Chinese religious motif incorporating the eight trigrams of the I Ching, arranged octagonally around a symbol denoting the bnce of yin and yang, or around a mirror. of fists, swords, spears and staffs, I learned the eight trigram martial arts and spearmanship by myself. That foundation alone, however, was not enough to solve all the problems and the spearmanship that I thus learned from my master was the Six Ways of the Spear and the Final Move of the Sixth Style, Void. ¨C Kwaduk! The dummy half-crumbled as I ended up dropping my spear. My palms ached as sweat drenched my body. ¡°Huu¡­ I can barely pull off the Fifth Style for now, huh.¡± The foundations were there but the Sixth Style¡­ was still too much. From the First Style of the Ominous Snake to the Fifth Style of the Crumbling Mountain were the basic ways of a spear, but the Sixth Style was one that would kill me if I didn¡¯t have a strong enough body to support the attack. In the previous iteration, I was only barely able to pull it off by consuming a capsule of energy ¨C which I got after boiling the white silver seed of theke ¨C immediately before attacking. But even so, the risk was still quite high. ¡®My body needs to be at the level of a Grade 1 Knight to do this without any risk.¡¯ Sixth Style of the spear was still impossible, but this was well within my expectations and the disappointment was thus very small. The real problem was with Rune magic. ???- Hagz ¡ºMore mana required¡» My mana depleted rapidly like that of a premature ejactor and I couldn¡¯t even use Rune magic for long. Thanks to the fulfillment of the Precept and the increase of my stat points, it did go up from 3 a day to about 10 a day but Rune magic didn¡¯t have a good efficiency in the first ce and I couldn¡¯t do much with my current mana. ¡®It is definitely a merit that I can use it immediately without any enchantments but¡­¡¯ There was a reason why it was now a deadnguage which was only used as support skills by a small number of people. ¡®Most of those bastards also used it as support. An exception would be¡­¡¯ The Primal Rune ¨C the very first rune letter and the most primal one that was used in the era of Gods. It would only appear towards the end of the Final Boss of the 2nd arc, when the King of Iron Mountain breaks out of its seal at the Academy. The enemy would appear during the absence of the chairman, Eriu, who gets busy after the incident with Marie, and during then, we would have to defeat the King of Iron Mountain, get the Primal Rune and deal with the traitor as well. Primal Rune was not a very efficient way to use magic either, and in the end, my chronically horrible amount of mana will be the problem once again. ¡°I have to focus on increasing my stats for the time being.¡± Regardless of all the techniques and skills under my belt, I still had to have a strong enough body. The ordeals I had to go through because of that in the previous iteration were countless. Of course, there was a method. There were the hidden pieces I would be obtaining from now on as well as the quests that were rted to the Precept. I should be able to clear 4~5 of them this weekend alone. On the way out of the training room to dinner, I came across an unexpected person. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± There was a girl with bob-hair wearing nun clothes who would attract the gazes of everyone within the distance of 100 meters. The girl reading a thick hardcover book appeared like an image that came straight out of a painting. There was no way I wouldn¡¯t know about her. Despite being a freshman, she was different from other characters who could enter the party from the start. She was the truly overpowered character who was only avable near the end of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. Park Sihu did not seek her help in the previous iteration, but wasn¡¯t able to kill her either. She was the living Jiangshi2A ji¨¡ngsh¨©, also known as a Chinese hopping vampire, is a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and folklore. with an Unbreakable Vajra Body. ¡°¡­¡± Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran. The strongest tanker of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. At the same time, she was the worst time bomb of Merkarva Academy. Footnotes: Chapter 14: Mission Board (2) ? Mission Board (2) ? There were the so-called demi-humans in this world. The ones affected by the molecules of demons were referred to as demonic beasts, demonic spirits and demi-humans depending on who they originally were. An example was the demonic spirit, Sebancia Duke. He was someone who awakened as a ¡®demi-human¡¯ after bing a vampire. After that, he lost his physical body, then sealed himself and became a demonic spirit. Did that mean he was an enemy of humanity? Was he a vengeful spirit that endlessly scattered killing intent? That was the same for demi-humans. Although people might awaken as demi-humans, some still maintained their nature as a human while some lost their rationality. And the Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran¡­ was a time bomb that could go either way. ¡°¡­¡± Her cynical expression and gaze appeared brutal with not a hint of tenderness. The inside of her hair had turned crimson red like the symbolic color of demons, and the nun clothes covering her body were more like restraints than religious clothing. ¡°Hi I¡¯m Korin Lork. We saw each other during the entrance ceremony, didn¡¯t we?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She didn¡¯t say anything in response and instead silently gazed at me with the eyes of a beast. In fact, her showing some type of reaction was a positive sign, because that meant the ¡®seal¡¯ was still working properly. ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°Nn?¡± ¡°You merged into one.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Did she see through me? A living corpse with two souls: the soul of a human and the soul of a demon. That paradoxical existence was what Hua Ran was as a living Jiangshi. Those in the perilous middle grounds of the boundaries of life and death had the power to see the color of souls. It wasn¡¯t strange for her to perceive the abnormality of ¡®Korin Lork¡¯ and thebination of my two souls. ¡°How does it feel to crush and swallow the original soul?¡± Well, I wasn¡¯t expecting to get condemned like this but to be fair, this was something only Hua Ran would ask. ¡°No idea!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You probably know better than I do, but this is not something we can solve with ease. It just naturally happens over time.¡± ¡°¡­Naturally?¡± ¡°What can we even do? We just have to focus on the present.¡± I used to contemte this topic quite a lot in the previous iteration. Were ¡®Korin Lork¡¯ and ¡®I¡¯ different people? What if the memories of Korin Lork were my actual memories? But if so, then who was the person that went through a Boys Middle School, a Boys High School, a Physical Education College and the Military on Earth? But in the end, it was all meaningless. The previous souls of both myself and Park Sihu did not appear till the very end, even until my death. However, it was a different issue for Hua Ran, because the ¡®true original soul¡¯ was actually still inside her body. She opened her mouth with a scowl. ¡°You are not the owner of your body. You¡¯re just a thief and a robber. You have no right to im that body.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Who was she saying those words to? Even though it sounded like a vicious criticism, I knew the agony and trouble this 3-year-old child was going through. Her answer to that agony would be what decides the turning point. ¡°Back in my hometown, we had someone who turned into a green giant when he got angry.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What are you talking about?¡± ¡°He¡¯s called Mr. Bruce. Normally he is a smart person but when he turns into an angry green giant, he breaks everything around him. They hated each other.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that bad?¡± ¡°No, that was good instead. The two of them excelled at different things. So I was disappointed when he became a smart green manter on. He was neither this nor that.¡± Why did you have to do that, Russo Brothers! ¡°Anyway, what I noticed from that person¡¯s story is that it¡¯s not important who the original one is. The two souls are different after being formed, and they each have their individual personality.¡± This was the example I wanted her to follow. ¡°Like Mr. Bruce and the green boss, I think it¡¯s possible for two souls to coexist in one body. Because being born is never a sin.¡± ¡°¡­There are things in this world that shouldn¡¯t have been born.¡± Leaving those words behind, Hua Ran flicked her head and turned away from me which was unfortunate, because that wasn¡¯t the reaction I wanted to get from her. In the previous iteration, I didn¡¯t have many interactions with Hua Ran. It was mostly Park Sihu who talked to her. Although Hua Ran was supposed to show interest in the yer, Hua Ran was mysteriously unconcerned about him. It might have been because of that but Park Sihu desperately wanted to kill her but¡­ he failed. It was because he had already killed Alicia Arden ¨C Hua Ran¡¯s greatest counter. Things would get extremely easy after pulling her into the party. Her ¡®Unbreakable Vajra Body¡¯ and her ability to use demonic aura easily ced her among the top strongest characters of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. One thing to be concerned about was her chains and the talismans being removed and her seal being broken. At this current point in time, it was impossible to physically stop her if she were to go into that state. It was a bad call to get greedy for an uncontroble bomb. ¡°See youter.¡± I walked away after giving her a normal farewell, not knowing that her eyes were still fixed on my back. **** The next day, I left the dormitory before the birds even marked the start of a weekend with their songs. I walked towards the Mission Board located at the southern regions of the Academy. In the early stages of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, there were two things which the yer had to do to progress the main story line. The first was lessons, and the second was the Mission Board. A variety of missions existed on the board in the form of papers, which students of the guardian academy were able to undertake at any time. It ranged from small missions like those requested by citizens of the city torge ones like the official missions given by the Guardian Alliance. The yer had to receive missions from here to gain EXP points and reputation to meet the level requirements of the main quest. But of course, there was no need to do these in the previous iteration because it was no longer a game. ¡°Hmm?¡± Even though it was still very early, I saw another student looking at the Mission Board. She was wearing a specially designed martial uniform and the de hanging on her waist was a hidden piece that was iparably more valuable than my mass-manufactured spear. ¡°Alicia Arden?¡± ¡°Uht? H, hello. Nice to meet you.¡± She greeted me with a deep bow. ¡°We¡¯re in the same year so you can be more casual.¡± ¡°No no. No thanks. I prefer this.¡± Was she always such a polite character? I didn¡¯t get to see her in the previous iteration because that damned Park killed her in the blink of an eye, and my memories about the game were vague considering how it was already 3 years ago. ¡°Are you taking a mission already? It¡¯s the first weekend though. You¡¯re in Grade 2 so you don¡¯t need money or merits, do you?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ I, I need money.¡± ¡°Ehng?¡± What was this about? ¡°There is actually a non-interference principle in our household. We have to earn living expenses for ourselves at least¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you get support funds from the Academy?¡± Alicia Arden was someone who hit Grade 2 straight away without even having to go through the grading test. Considering how the living support funds increased exponentially depending on the Grades, the amount she received per month should be around the same as the amount I received per year. ¡°I don¡¯t get any funds¡­¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Why?¡± ¡°My parents are in the top 10 percentile of wealth¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡­Ah.¡± The support funds were formed by the donations of nearby kingdoms and the Kingdom of El Rath, which provided Merkarva Academy with thend. They were giving out living funds without even taking in any tuition fees, so they did not give any financial support to the wealthy households. It was simr to how rich people didn¡¯t get any national schrships in Korea. ¡°If you¡¯re looking for some immediate cash¡­ I rmend this patrol mission. All you have to do is go around the outskirts of the city. You don¡¯t have to do much but the pay is good because of the risk, and if youe across a monster, you get an extra bonus.¡± ¡°Wow~ 20 silver coins a day! My month¡¯s worth of allowance!¡± Alicia took off the mission paper from the board with a bright look on her face. A daughter of a rich family getting 20 silver coins a month¡­ ¡°It seems they take up to 3 people! Would you like to join?¡± ¡°No. I have something else to do.¡± It was a precious weekend. I had toplete as many of the necessary missions as possible to increase my stats. I scanned across the Mission Board and found the one I wanted. ¡°Uhh¡­ ¡®Please find Navi¡¯?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about finding a missing cat.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ the reward is 40 silver coins, but isn¡¯t it too unpredictable?¡± It was a mission with a difficult rank of Grade 5 that was about finding a missing cat. There were 40 silver coins on the line which was higher than Alicia¡¯s, but there was no way finding a cat who had been missing for 3 days would be an easy task. ¡°It¡¯s alright. I¡¯m very good at finding missing animals.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ You gave me an amazing piece of information so I would love to help, but I¡¯m really short of money so¡­¡± ¡°Ah~ You don¡¯t need to worry about it.¡± Leaving Alicia behind, I walked past the main entrance of the Academy as the security guard, Mr. Will spoke to me. ¡°A mission already? What a diligent young man.¡± ¡°Thank you, Mr. Will.¡± ¡°Nn? How did you know my¡­¡± ¡°You have a name badge right there.¡± ¡°Aha I see~. Good luck on your mission, Student Korin.¡± Walking past Mr. Will, I headed to the client¡¯s house. ¡°Knight Uncle. Please find Navi! Please!¡± ¡°¡­It¡¯s oppa ¨C oppa. Ms. Anna? You can call me Knight-oppa.¡± ¡°Knight Uncle! Good luck!!¡± ¡°Hey Anna! I¡¯m sorry Mr. Knight, and thank you. Please have this as a snack.¡± ¡°A sandwich~! Thank you very much.¡± Although I heard a few things about Navi from the client, Anna, including Navi¡¯s favorite streets, that was just an act of formality. I already knew where Navi was. The reason I picked this mission was because of my Precept. The result of this quest leads Anna to misfortune. It was a seemingly trivial misfortunepared to the ones of the main scenario, but it would be a shocking event for a child that was depressing enough to make her cry for 3 days and 3 nights straight. This was the chance to find out how exactly my Precept worked. ¡°Navi~¡± The sewers which were barely ever visited by the maintainers of the city were filled with a disgusting odor and a dirty stream of water. ¡°Navi~ Here¡¯s some sausage for you~¡± The side quest, ?Please find Navi? was a simple mission given to rookie knights and mages. It appeared in the game as well, and was one with a fair bit of story. ¡®It is possible to find the cat, but the problem is that it will already be dead by then.¡¯ ording to the original story, 2 days after asking around the favorite streets of Navi, the yer would finally discover that Navi had entered the sewers. ¡°Navi~ Hurry up ande outside!¡± The only things you could find in the game were cat bones with everything else digested and a name badge¡­ It was quite a horrible story. Why the hell was the quest so brutal even though the client was such a cute child? It was like a savage fairy tale. In any case, in the game, it was a quest that only left the yer feeling ufortable due to the phrase that the dung including the bones were still warm, which meant that the cat was eaten recently but¡­ ¡°Meeooow~!¡± ¡°Good.¡± It seemed that the cat really did adore the smell of vienna sausages. It was remarkable how it managed to smell this in this damn sewer. ¡°Navi. Come here~¡± Even though it was too dark to see properly, I could see the dirty furs of the cat as well as a ne and a name badge¡­ It was perfect. ¡°Navi. I won¡¯t hurt you. Come on~. Here is your favorite sausage~¡± I didn¡¯t know how to deal with cats, because I used to have a cat allergy back on Earth. ¡°Nya!¡± ¡°Uht!?¡± Did it sense my killing intent? Navi turned away from the sausage and dashed into the sewers. ¡°Where are you running! You damn little cat!!¡± I knew it! I quickly dashed after it. However, it was too dark to see what was a meter ahead in the sewers and the only things I could feel were the disgusting odor of the water and a cold gust of wind. It was hard for human eyes to get used to the darkness like that of beasts, but there was a way around it . ???- Dagaz In an instant, I etched the rune letter onto my skin. It led to a momentary improvement of vision ¨C to be exact, it was something that slightly helped with night vision. ¡°Come here!¡± ¡°Nyah!¡± But that was more than enough to let me catch a running cat in the sewers. ¡°You are nothing but a damn beast.¡± I was still a superhuman even though I was at the bottom. Catching Navi was nothing difficult. ¡°Nyahh?!¡± ¡°Got ya!¡± I snatched Navi into my arms. It gave a somewhat menacing growl but soon turned calm after having sausage. ¡°There will be no misfortune for Little Anna now.¡± It was an easy sess ¨C that was what I was thinking but the cat was in a strange state. Navi was shivering, but coldness didn¡¯t seem to be the reason. ¨C Shhrkk¡­! The water rippled. It was rather strange for it to be considered a current, and my hands quickly reacted. ¨C Kwajik! ¨C Bam! I pierced the spear into the water all the way to the ground with one arm, and felt something twitch before turning loose. Raising the spear, I found a mysterious humanoid figure with a hole in the head. There was an immensely ill-tempered look on the face of the humanoid monster, and it was thin yet had a big bulge in its stomach. ¡°Water demon.¡± It wasn¡¯t too big of a surprise because water demons tended to be found quite often in sewers. Armed guards cleaned up the sewers regrly and they were not that big of a threat. ¡®The issue is that they travel together to make up for their weakness.¡¯ They were probably the ones that had eaten Navi the cat. Looking back at how things transpired when it was a game, there were also water demons in the fields near the city, so it wasn¡¯t strange for them to be here. ¡°Gweeekkk!¡± ¡°Gyaa! Gyaaa!¡± Two more water demons crawled out of the water. They were actually quite clever in the real world. ¡°Making sound on purpose to let another one attack, huh.¡± After getting rid of the water demon that was stuck on the spear, I thrusted the spear behind my back towards the ceiling. ¨C Pukangg! ¡°G, gugeek¡­¡± There was no need to even turn around because the water demon that was crawling up the walls of the sewers for an ambush from behind had died immediately after a stab to the heart. ¡°I mastered how to fight you guys at the Roteon River already.¡± Even though that damned Park broke the dam and wiped out most of the monsters alongside the vigers, it was still true that I had fought them a lot. ¡°G, gyaaa!¡± I could see the water demon was trying to use its brain, but it was just a low graded monster and it was obvious what its best n could be. ¨C m! Kicking the water demon that was trying to crawl up, I stabbed at the head of the other one that tried to grab onto my ankle. The fallen water demon tried to stand back up but I thrusted the spear into its mouth and stabbed it deeper into the water. ¨C Uhpupu! Uhpp! ¡°Funny how water demons can¡¯t even breathe underwater.¡± Their skins turned dry unless they were in humid and wet areas, and that was the only reason they lived near sources of water. The remaining water demon struggled but soon turned silent. ¡°N, nyaa¡­¡± Navi seemed frightened after seeing how powerless the water demons were even though they were the predators in its eyes. ¡°I saved you from bing dung, you know that.¡± After safely sending Navi back to Miss Anna, a message soon appeared on the system window. ¡ºDuty Fulfilled ¨C Anna McMn¡» ¡ù Difficulty: E ¡ù Reward: Even distribution of 5 points ¡°¡­That¡¯s tiny.¡± ¡°Knight Uncle! Thank you for finding Navi!¡± ¡°Girl, it¡¯s oppa. Korin-oppa. Can you call me Korin-oppa?¡± My mind was soon to be 30 but my body was that of a teenager, so I wasn¡¯t asking for much was I? ¡°Korin Uncle, would you like to have a meal with us? Mom¡¯s an amazing cook!¡± ¡°¡­¡± It seemed that the smile of a wretched girl who would most certainly grow up to be a beauty was about 5 points. **** ¡°This is not it!¡± Mr. Yoon, who was running a small fried chicken store in Merkarva City, was spending another day enthusiasticallying up with a new menu. The store was smaller than 10 square meters. Even though most of his sales were at night, the reason why Mr. Yoon was here so early in the morning was because he had been searching for the right sauce to go with fried chicken for over 6 months. ¡°This is not it either!¡± The sauce with over ten ingredients including garlic, carrot and chili peppers that he brought from his hometown were astonishingly good by itself, but when he actually fried it together with deep-fried chicken, it made the crust soggy in an instant. ¡°Ugh¡­ what¡¯s the problem?¡± His goal was to make chicken that was delicious even when it turned cold. That became his stubborn ambition which he had been delving into for the past 6 months. Mr. Yoon changed the ratio one more time, and was just about ready to cook it again with chili powder and crushed garlic. ¨C Creak! ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± A boy appeared after pushing the door wide open. ¡°Corn syrup. Put corn syrup in.¡± He was like a passing schr. Chapter 15: Mission Board (3) ? Mission Board (3) ? ¡°Corn syrup. Put corn syrup in.¡± Herees the Hero. ¡°Well then.¡± And there he goes. ¡°????¡± Seeing the young man leave after telling him to put corn syrup in, it was natural for Mr. Yoon to be bbergasted. ¡°¡­¡­Is he sick in the head?¡± He wanted to ignore the words of a mental patient, but his words telling him to put corn syrup in were echoing around his ears. ¡°Should I try it?¡± Listening to the words of the young man, he made a new sauce by adding corn syrup. The seasoning that was now thick due to the addition of corn syrup looked nice and sweet, and when he stered it over the fried chicken¡­ ¡°What! T, this vor?!¡± The crust of the fried chicken went beautifully with the thick sauce and had a soft yet glutinous and chewy texture. The sweetness of corn syrup mixed into the spiciness of chili powder and garlic¡­! ¡°Spicy, sweet and salty¡­ SSS!¡± Was this the perfect form of chicken? ¡°W, who in the world is that young man?¡± Was he like an apostle sent by the Chicken God or something? Reflecting on the words left behind by the young passerby, Mr. Yoon quickly started adjusting the recipe. **** ¡ºDuty Fulfilled ¨C Yoon Gyejo¡» ¡ù Difficulty: E ¡ù Reward: Even distribution of 5 points ¡°Ohh~. This actually worked.¡± Mr. Yoon was the owner of the fried chicken store who was the protagonist of the Side Quest: Finding the Origin. He would seed in finding the correct recipe for spicy and sweet chicken by himself, but starts awsuit against Mr. Yang who was in the same industry as him, due to the betrayal of his staff and Mr. Yang¡¯s im that he was the original owner of the recipe. It was a realistic yet messy story. The spicy and sweet fried chicken had been introduced 1 year earlier than the original plot, and the staff traitor wasn¡¯t even hired yet. ¡°Of course there¡¯s going to be fried chicken in a Korean game.¡± In any case with this, the holy and lofty marinated chicken will be introduced to this world. Both Park and I were people who couldn¡¯t give up on fried chicken so this side quest was one of the ones we prioritized over everything. ¡®About 25 points from yesterday and today, huh.¡¯ Afterpleting the quest to find Navi the cat, I ran around the city and resolved a few more incidents. Those quests ranged from finding the lost ring of a widow to guiding a son who fell to the wrong path back to the correct one ¨C they were all from citizens who the systembeled as ¡®Good¡¯. ¡®That chicken quest confirms it. ¡®Neutral¡¯ is also okay.¡¯ Thest quest I cleared about Finding the Origin, was a form of test. In the game, Mr. Yoon¡¯s character was sitting at Neutral. However, I personally considered him a nice person because he forgave the traitor and often distributed chicken for free. Was the game status an absolute indication? Or was my perception more important? My Duty was activated even with thepletion of the quest of Mr. Yoon, who was at a Neutral status in the game. ¡®So that means my perception is more important than the system.¡¯ That was actually a very good sign because around the 3rd Arc, there would be systemically ¡®Good¡¯ characters who were a bit hard to consider as nice people. The fundamentalists of the Old Faith ¨C they had a clear standpoint which was inplete contrast to the priests of the New Faith who had put on the talismans and the seals on Hua Ran. ¡®Those damn fundamentalists. You can¡¯t speak logic to them but they¡¯re technically not bad people.¡¯ Fortunately,pleting this mission proved that I did not have to prioritize them, and that would give me a fair amount of freedom. Is this what they call selective justice? It was great that the system was somewhat flexible. More importantly, the biggest return from this mission was that I could pretty much infinitely earn stats! Hahaha! There is a dope bug on my stats!! ¡°Huhihihi¡­!!¡± **** There was a girl standing on top of the clock tower, a ce where people weren¡¯t supposed to reach. Standing on the roof of the best ce to gaze down at the whole city, the girl with red eyes looked down on the ground. ¡°Strange person.¡± For the past two days, she had been observing the man called Korin Lork. He was a unique type of person just like herself, who had two souls existing in one body. But unlike her, those souls ended up merging into one¡­ He was like her senior, and she thus couldn¡¯t help but feel intrigued. It was the first weekend of the semester. She was wondering where he was running off to so early in the morning, and most of them were about helping people. Finding a missing cat, taking the boy who was with a group of delinquents back home and finding a lost ring. Although he was getting a few silver coins as reward, Hua Ran now had some idea of the currency system in this continent, as well as how meaningless that small amount of money was to superhumans. ¡ºHuhihihi¡­!!¡» Seeing him give a bright smile at the end despite getting such worthless things in return made her frown. Why was he working so hard? Was he just born as a nice person? ¡®There¡¯s no way a person like that would exist.¡¯ On top of the clock tower with her sleeves fluttering in the wind, the girl closed her eyes. The image floating in her mind which was in a striking contrast to the quiet and peaceful scenery of this city was that of an apocalypse; a world swallowed by mes and the hideous side of humans. It was an old memory of her original body. ¡ºOh, my. Ran? Did youe out with your dad?¡» The housewife who was greeting with a baby in her arms; ¡ºAre you shopping for your parents? Take this with you¡» The tofu seller who greeted her with a smile; ¡ºAre you shopping for your parents? Take this with you¡» And even the officials who were there asking master for help¨C Every one of them changed their attitudes in the blink of an eye. They cursed the girl and nonchntly encouraged her demise. ¡ºDie! You monster¡» ¡ºPlease die. We¡¯re begging you¡» ¡ºWe have shredded the limbs of your father to death. We will now subjugate you in the name of the Royal Pce.¡» Goodwill was something that was as easy to flip as a piece of paper. Depending on the necessity andfort of oneself, people easily changed their minds and killed others. That was what humans were. From the start to the end, all of them were in the gray zone. Some were jet ck but none of them were pure white. That was why she couldn¡¯t hide her confusion upon seeing Korin Lork with her astral eyes. Grade 5. The very bottom of the Academy. He was probably the weakest out of everyone in this academy which she was dragged into. He was so weak that he might snap from her single grip. So¡­ why was he so diligent at helping other people? What was it that was making that boy smile? The faint smile he showed to the child after finding the missing cat, and the bright smile on his face after helping others¡­ The boy was dazzling. It was a naively happy smile. He wasn¡¯t forcing himself to smile nor was he trying to deceive other people. And most importantly¡­ ¡ºLike Mr. Bruce and the green boss, I think it¡¯s possible for two souls to coexist in one body.¡» She flinched after hearing that. His words appeared to be about her. That violent green giant sounded like a representation of herself. ¡°Shut up. Stop mumbling.¡± Was the guy called Bruce the same as the weak life inside me? No. That¡¯s not it. I¡¯m different from them. This guy was begging for life and wanted to live forever. This is that price ¨C I have the right to ept it. That must have been the same for Korin Lork. A stronger soul must have swallowed the weaker soul that was inside his body. Were his current actions for atonement? Was he helping other people to be self-righteous? Can¡¯t I do the same thing then? I can just get rid of this weak little girl inside me and be a knight or a guardian in her stead. Guardians are heroes that save and protect people. If I listen to lectures and be a hero, would everyone look at me in a different light? ¨C Jiing! ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± The sound of a dimensional contortion woke her up as a blonde-haired woman walked out from a fissure in the air. Josephine ra. She was the witch who brought her here with Chairman Eriu from the east. ¡°I¡¯ve been leaving you alone because you weren¡¯t leaving the city, but please ask for permission to leave if you want to leave the campus.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Seeing the silent and unresponsive Hua Ran, Josephine heaved a sigh before opening a new dimension. Hua Ran stood up without retaliating or replying to her. ¡ºBecause being born is never a sin.¡» ¡ºSomeone like you shouldn¡¯t have been born!!¡» Who is right? Her sharp eyes looked akin to the vignt gaze of a wounded beast. **** The next day, Around 400 freshmen were standing at the entrance of the hunting grounds located at the north of the Academy. As its name would suggest, it was a broad and extensive forest that was also sometimes referred to as the Emerald Forest. This ce was often opened for the realistic fighting experiences of the students and was a ce I had visited quite often myself. With the expansive woods in the background, Chairman Eriu and Senior Professor Josephine were ncing across the students. ¡°Good morning everyone. I will make it quick.¡± Chairman Eriu¡¯s voice managed to reach the entire group of 400 students without fail. ¡°Today¡¯s lesson is very simple. It will be a real life practice and experience for everyone.¡± It was still early in the morning so there were a few students that were dozing off. Normally, the words of the Chairman were meant to be heard in a sleepy state but this was the Merkarva Academy. Chairman Eriu suddenly stopped his words as Lady Josephine struck the whip in the air. ¨C pp! I had no idea why it made such a loud pping noise even though she was swinging it in the air, but in any case, one of the students suddenly rose to the air. ¡°U, uaahh¡­!¡± ¡°Student Jaeger Hinzpeter. Sleeping during the lesson. Minus 1 point.¡± She soon retrieved her gaze that seemed like a ray ofser beaming through her monocle, and Jaeger fell back on the ground as Chairman Eriu continued his words. ¡°Today, your survival skills will each be evaluated at the hunting grounds. Your job is to head to the northern end of the forest.¡± ¡°Do we just have to head to the end of the forest?¡± ¡°Yes. If you arrive at the shed located at the north, you will ¡®pass¡¯ the test. But it won¡¯t be easy. Senior Professor?¡± In response to Chairman Eriu¡¯s summon, Lady Josephine struck the air with her whip as arge basket dropped in front of the students. The basket was divided into four, with different-colored armbands inside them. ¡°Please wear the armband that corresponds to your Grade.¡± The students walked up and wore their respective armbands. ¡°Blue for Grade 2, huh.¡± ¡°That looks fancy as well.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s also eye-catching.¡± It was definitely eye-catching considering how there were only four Grade 2 students. Alicia seemed clueless about how dangerous that would be for her and was grinning to herself after seeing the pretty piece of cloth. ¡®Hua Ran¡­ is probably not going to participate.¡¯ There was one girl who stood out the most among the students, who was quietly holding her breath like a beast. As the one and only Grade 1 Knight among the freshmen, there wasn¡¯t even any armband for her, and even in the previous iteration, Hua Ran had shown an uncooperative attitude to most of the lessons including practical lessons. She was too overpowered. Although she was weakened because of the seal, most of the other Grade 1s would still be unable to create a single wound on her body. Even the strongest 2nd year student, Marie, would not be Hua Ran¡¯s match unless she was in her final boss form. ¡°How does that look? It looks great right?¡± ¡°This doesn¡¯te off that easily. It¡¯s probably not going toe off unless we pull it as hard as we can.¡± ¡°What is this even for though?¡± After wearing the armbands, the students bragged about it and showed off. Most of those boasting students were in Grade 3, and the Grade 5 students wearing ck armbands were still crest-fallen. Even Lark¡­ ¡°Hoh~¡± There was actually apetitive spirit in Lark¡¯s eyes. It was apletely different expressionpared to how he looked on his first day at the Academy. It seemed that learning a medium-ranked spell with the grimoire had definitely been a big help for him. ¡®He might even pull off a big one here.¡± Well, that was up to him though. Let¡¯s wish him good luck considering how close we were now. ¡°Now, attention. Those armbands are the same as your lives. When that armbandes off, you will be disqualified on the spot.¡± Hearing that, the students double-checked their armbands to make sure it was nice and tight. ¡°You will now move to the hunting grounds. Defeat everything you see on the way, because otherwise, you might be the one that ends up dying.¡± ¨C Gulp! The students tensed up upon hearing those scary words, but unlike what his words suggested, there were actually professors in the forest that ensured students would not die an unfortunate death. Besides, the biggest enemies of this practical lesson weren¡¯t the demonic beasts but students: the senior students who would be waiting in the woods. ¡°How do we use the armband?¡± It was a sharp question and was perhaps the most important of all. ¡°You can return the armbands that you¡¯ve acquired to the shed at the end of the forest. You will receive points depending on your armbands and the time of your arrival, and those points can be substituted for items.¡± This event was an important one that hardcore yers would retry time after time because obtaining 100 points, which was an extremely difficult feat, would directly lead to the acquirement of a hidden piece. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The students created a buzz. Quite a lot of them appeared to have noticed that the armbands would each have different points. Seeing those freshmen students re at other students like predators while licking their lips, I was once again in awe of how bright the future was for this Academy. In any case, the reason why the practical lesson at the hunting grounds was so famous for being a tough challenge was because gaining 100 points was absurdly difficult. You had to at least defeat one or two Grade 2 named characters and obtain their armbands. Considering my current level, that was obviously imposs¡­ hold on. ¡°Wow! What¡¯s going to be the first prize? Is it food?¡± Alicia muttered in excitement with her eyes sparkling like stars. She was the prime example of all brawn and no brain, and currently, she was incapable of properly using both the Eyes of the Boundary and the Domain Severance. Unlike other named characters whose special abilities were monstrous, she was a purely physical character¡­ It might actually be possible! Even though my current physique wasn¡¯t even in the realms of a Grade 3 Knight¡­ it should be possible to defeat all the Grade 2 students except for Yuel and Dorron as long as I yed around their weaknesses. Ay, whatever! Either go big or go home! ¡°Alicia. Did youplete your mission?¡± ¡°Mr. Korin! Thank you for your help on the weekend! Thanks to that, I have enough money for the time being.¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s awesome. Oh, right, do you want some candies? It¡¯s way too sweet for me.¡± ¡°Hukk¡­! This is¡­!¡± The packaging which had the drawing of a child-like bee was that of the renowned honey bomb candies which all the girls loved these days including my younger sister. I was carrying a few of them around in case I needed some sugar and wasn¡¯t expecting them toe in handy like this. ¡°Thanks for the food.¡± Alicia didn¡¯t turn them down which was as expected considering how there was a text on the profile back when it was a game that Arden sisters liked honey bomb candies. ¨C Munch munch. ¡°Wow, it actually explodes like a bomb inside the mouth and has honeying out from inside.¡± ¡°I bought them for my younger sister, but they¡¯re too sweet. Do you want some more?¡± ¡°¡­I will not turn your kind offer down.¡± What she didn¡¯t know was that there was a tiny tracking rune letter engraved on the candy she ate just then. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving now.¡± When it was time, Lady Josephine struck the air with the whip. ¨C p! It gave off the same sound as usual but the result waspletely different. The afterimage left behind by the whip turned into a cluster of mana that sucked in everything nearby like a ck hole. ¡°Uh, uhhh¡­?¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m getting pulled in!¡± ¡°Kyaaaahh¡­!¡± After being pulled into the ck hole, I opened my eyes and found myself in the middle of an expansive forest. Chapter 16: Hunting Grounds (1) ? Hunting Grounds (1) ? ¡°As expected of the Great Witch.¡± I was long aware of how strong she was, but I still couldn¡¯t help but marvel at how absurd it was. Lady Josephine was probably the only mage that could use such arge-scale dimensional movement spell. It was one of the highest-ranked spells, ?Unique Grade: Crowd Teleportation?. This time around, it was a random teleportation but when the Academy was in danger, I saw her teleport hundreds of students to one ce. Except for the Chairman who was sick all the time, she would probably be the strongest person out of the entire Academy. That was also why she was in charge of someone as unique as Hua Ran. Now, the quest at the hunting grounds was finally underway. My goal was to defeat one Grade 2 named character at least. In this practical lesson, the surrounding students would gang up on the named characters, which was obvious because their armbands would equal more points. In turn, it was actually a disadvantage to have a higher Grade in this activity ¨C it was like a bnce patch put in ce to make the high-achievers eat shit. ¡®I guess the Academy wants weaker students to build experience at forming parties and the stronger students to experience fighting multiple enemies at the same time but¡­¡¯ That might have been fine if that was all there was, but there were in fact 2nd year students as well in this forest. Their job was to be an obstacle and thoroughly stop the freshmen in the stead of Grade 1 and Grade 2 demonic beasts, which obviously did not exist in the forest for safety purposes. ¨C nk! Chank! ¨C Y, you bastard! ¨C Hahahat! Be a sacrifice for my marks! ¨C Die! Die! A group of students that were quick to understand the rules were swinging their swords around already. Well, none of them would be too hurt though, because all the weapons that came into this forest had a spell cast on them that made them non-lethal. ¡®About time I started looking for Alicia.¡¯ I raised my senses to pick up the location of the rune in Alicia¡¯s belly. Although it didn¡¯t let me clearly see her location, it gave off a peculiar aura that guided me forward. ¡°That way.¡± The mana inside the rune was closer than expected. Chasing after its trace, I traveled through the forest as a bunch of boisterous shouts reached my ears. ¨C nk! Chang! ¨C Kuhak?! ¨C Go in! The students of this damn Academy were all brawns as well. Even though their brains were good, their minds were very simple and straightforward. It might be because of the mental relief they got from how the des of the weapons were sealed, but they attacked each other without turning back. Most of the students in the forest were like aggressive mobs that attacked first in an RPG. I ran for a long time while avoiding unnecessary fights and soon arrived at an open plot ofnd which already had signs of a battle. ¡°Ughh¡­ A, are you aiming for my armband as well!¡± Wearing the same unique martial uniform that revealed her shoulders, Alicia with her lustrous brown hair was gazing at me in the middle of seven fainted students. ¡°Give me your armband.¡± ¡°I trusted you, Mr. Korin! You gave me candy so I thought you were a good person!¡± She said while pointing her sword at me. ¡°N, now that it hase to this! We cannot get along anymore! Die if you wish to survive! Survive if you wish to die!¡± ¡°I understand what you¡¯re trying to say, but that¡¯s not how you use that expression¡­¡± Alicia was a purely physical-type fighter and a Grade 2 Knight and her specialty, Eyes of the Boundary, was still something she couldn¡¯t use to its full potential. Judging based on her ability to fight as an individual, she was probably average among Grade 2 students¡­ ¡®It¡¯s doable.¡¯ The blue armband on her left arm was very appealing.. **** At the entrance of the forest after the disappearance of the students were Chairman Eriu, Senior Professor Josephine and Hua Ran, who was crouching down with a bored gaze. ¡°Let me now head off to the forest as well, Chairman.¡± Although there were several professors located across the forest, it would be even safer for her to enter the fray just in case. ¡°Sure. Then I will be watching over from here. If by any chance¡­¡± ¡°I will make sure you don¡¯t have to take action.¡± The professors in the forest were all proven veterans. There were also senior students inside, but their strengths had been restricted so there should be no-one suffering from big injuries. After opening the dimensions, Josephine was about to walk into the forest when a soft whisper stopped her in her tracks. ¡°Me too¡­¡± It was Hua Ran. ¡°¡­Sorry?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I want to do it too.¡± Chairman Eriu appeared slightly surprised by her sudden remark but Lady Josephine raised an objection before the Chairman could even say something. ¡°You cannot. You can¡¯t restrain your abilities and this activity is meaningless for you at first¡­¡± Her words were put to a stop by the carefully risen hand of the Chairman. The Chairman slowly walked up to Hua Ran, kneeled on one of his knees and met his eyes with hers. ¡°You seem to have had a change of mind.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran looked straight back into his eyes. ¡°I see. If you don¡¯t want to talk about it, that¡¯s fine as well. You can do as you wish.¡± ¡°Chairman!¡± ¡°I know, ra. I know this lesson is not suitable for Student Hua Ran and I also know that this child has ess to quite the dangerous amount of power.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Hua Ran. Can you promise me one thing?¡± Hua Ran didn¡¯t reply, but she didn¡¯t turn her head away and that was a sign of approval, which was already better than before. ¡°Try your hardest to not cross the bottom line. It is always going to be you who decides the color of your soul.¡± ¡°¡­I will try.¡± This was something Korin wouldn¡¯t have expected. He wouldn¡¯t have expected the big tempest caused by the butterfly effect; and the result of him pping his wings. But unfortunately, half of that was what he brought upon himself. **** Alicia Arden was in a panic when she got viciously attacked by her peers immediately after the teleportation. ¡®Why is everyone attacking each other? How mean! Why can¡¯t everyone be as kind-hearted as Mr. Benefactor?!¡¯ She had already been mercilessly betrayed right before entering Merkarva Academy, so her response wasn¡¯t thatte. Seven of her peers attacked her but Alicia managed to defeat all of them with ease. She was conscious of it herself, that she was in the realm of ¡®geniuses¡¯ thanks to her astounding talents. Of course, it might be nothingpared to her older sister who was the true genius, but she did not deny the fact that she was a powerhouse in the top 1 percentile. In the end, she was a genius who didn¡¯t feel the drive to work hard and had no passion. ¡°Huu¡­¡± That was why she wasn¡¯t that cautious even after seeing Korin, a Grade 5 Knight. He was a nice person and was a kind person who invited goodwill, but that had nothing to do with his strength. He was just a Grade 5 student. She had easily defeated the union of Grade 3 and Grade 4 students, so she thought it would only take her 10 seconds to neutralize a Grade 5 Knight. ¡®What is this person?¡¯ That was what she had been thinking 30 seconds ago. ¨C Chakk! Changg! ¡®He¡¯s extremely strong!!¡¯ The Grade 5 Knight snuggled in with the spear in hand. While misleading the eyes with his slithering spear, he would suddenly stab forward at a terrifying speed. She tried a variety of attacks ¨C sword dance at a close distance, and attacking from outside of his range. But the opponent saw through her sloppy attempts every time and constantly pressured her by attacking back. There was no room for retaliation. Logic told her that she should be able to see a gap after closing the distance, but the retrieval and stab of his spear were so quick that she could not exploit it. He was just using a little bit of snap in his wrist and footwork to make this possible, and he was as seasoned as a veteran soldier. ¡®But it¡¯s not like he doesn¡¯t have any gaps! His breath before his stabs and his swings are a bit different! If I make use of that data¡­!¡¯ ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Alicia¡¯s sharp eyes perceived Korin¡¯s brief exhale which was the prelude of a ferocious stab. Although she had no passion for martial arts despite being one of the sessor candidates of a renowned martial household, her innate gifts were iparable to average people. She did not miss that gap and instinctively knew this was the opportunity to sh at him. ?Six Ways of the Spear.? ?Second Style. Horizontal Gust of a Tiger.? The shaft of the spear was swung at Alicia, who dared to shorten the gap between them. Right ¨C although she had been pressured by his relentless stabs, the wide-range swing of a spear was the scariest attack of its kind. It was impossible to dodge it with ease and attacking wasn¡¯t a viable option either because the spear would be the onending first. In the face of the mighty power that forced others to give up on attack and focus on defense, Alicia had to stop her offense and block the spear. ¨C Pang! ¡°Uh¡­?!¡± His attack carried the fierce impact through the de of the sword, and it felt as if the air had exploded next to her. Alicia was too light to hold her ground against the attack and ended up bouncing off to the side. ¡®Condensed aura?!¡¯ It was an attack made by supplementing the aura with an outburst which could only be done through the amalgamation of the body, mind and technique. It was very efficient as long as it was used properly, but it wasn¡¯t something that was easy to learn¡­ ¡®How is this a Grade 5 Knight?¡¯ Korin continued swinging the spear in a dazzling manner that tried to trick her eyes. His movement and his highly experienced skills that always let him find the right attack regardless of his posture had definitely exceeded the limits of a Grade 5 Knight. ¡®It¡¯s not like he¡¯s physically strong but¡­! All of his skills are no joke!¡¯ First off, she decided to flick the spear away. By pressing down on the spear, she would restrict its movement and dash in for the final sh! ¨C Chank! However, Alicia¡¯s ambitious goal was stopped by his first response. Her attempt to fling the spear away instead resulted in a fancy return of the spear that deflected her sword off instead. Outer Trap ¨C swinging the spear outward to deviate the attack. After pushing the sword off to the side using the outer trap, he pressed on the de again with the shaft of his spear. In the blink of an eye, Alicia¡¯s sword was all the way down next to Korin¡¯s thigh. This was the Inner Trap ¨C swinging the spear inward to restrain the enemy¡¯s weapon. ¡°Huh?¡± Alicia became startled after realizing that her sword was suddenly facing the bottom, and what she saw next was the spearhead stabbing towards her. Stab ¨C a forward thrust. Thebination of those three fundamental skills was what made up the most basic yet most profound counter skill of the spear ¨C the pinnacle of spearmanship. ?Six Ways of the Spear.? ?Third Style. Trap and Stab.? ¡°Kuhuk?!¡± The tip of the spearnded on her sr plexus. She blocked the attack with her aura but the power behind the stab pierced through and made her gasp for breath. ¡°Uht¡­!¡± Without even giving her the time to restabilize herself, the spear struck her sword once again. Their weapons were flung off and those weapons were each about to return to their original ces when the spearman kicked her ribs with his leg. ¡°Kkuuk¡­!¡± ¡°Lack of practice from over-reliance on talent.¡± ¡°Eekk!¡± She retrieved her sword. It was faster than that of the spear due to being a shorter weapon, but what came instead was a palm that was even faster than her sword. ¡°Looks like you only relied on the sword and didn¡¯t learn anything else.¡± The aura-embedded palm strikended a clear attack on her chest. ¨C Pang! ¡°Hhuuk¡­?!¡± Along with the same burst of air that echoed across when she was hit by the Horizontal Gust of a Tiger, Alicia flew in the air for 10 meters beforending on the ground. Consecutive attacks to the sr plexus was enough to drive normal people unconscious but Alicia immediately stood back up after rolling on the ground. ¡°Kuhu¡­¡± It was painful. That palm strike just then made the half-digested food inside her belly climb back up her throat, but it was in perilous situations like this that Alicia became the most rational. ¡®I knew it. She¡¯s the type of person that shows her true colors when provoked.¡¯ While Korin was once again realizing how much of a genius she was, Alicia was also serious now that she had be ever so rational. ¡®He¡¯s strong. I have to use my strongest attack!¡¯ He wasn¡¯t an opponent she could look down on just because he was in Grade 5. His skills andbat senses had been trained to the extreme and was definitely above her own. Without closing the gap, Alicia sheathed the demon-ying sword back into its scabbard and postured herself. It was the posture for battojutsu1the craft of drawing out the sword Batt¨­jutsu (’iµ¶Ðg, batt¨­-jutsu) (¡°the craft of drawing out the sword¡±) is an old term for iaijutsu (¾ÓºÏÐg). Batt¨­jutsu is often used interchangeably with the terms iaijutsu and batt¨­ (’iµ¶). which was unique to Alicia¡¯s fighting style. ?Arden First Sword Style. Domain Severance? It was still an unpolished move, but it was one that allowed her to definitely slice anything that was next to her. ¡°¡­¡± Korin Lork observed her while holding the spear while Alicia was eager to end this fight with this one strike. ¡®I will hit you with my strongest counter-skill if youe near me!¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± The spearman deeply stared at her. For some reason, he stayed still without moving an inch for several seconds. Instead of running up, he rxed his arms and lowered his guard. ¡°Eh?¡± This is not good¡­ The fact that she let that fluster show on the outside was a clear proof of her inexperience. While looking at the nk-minded Alicia, Korin picked up a few pebbles and grinned. ¨C Fling! The pebble came flying at her. ¡®Did he notice just by seeing that it was a counter-skill against his approach?¡¯ It was clear what these pebbles were for. He must be nning on dashing towards her as soon as she unsheathed her sword to parry the pebbles. ¡®It won¡¯t go the way you want!¡¯ Empowering her entire body with aura, she blocked the iing pebbles. Fortunately, she was in a vastly superior advantage when it came to the total amount of aura. It should be a piece of cake to hold off against his pebbles! ¨C Bam! m! ¡®Hmph! This is nothing! As if I would¡­¡¯ Her superhuman eyes saw a letter engraved on the pebble. Immediately, it red up in red. ???- Kenaz. ¡°H, huh? Magic?!¡± ¨C Hwaruk! Seeing the scorching piece of rock, she unconsciously unsheathed her sword and parried it away. Little sparksnded on her clothes but she judged that her aura would be enough to defend them. ¡°Having and not having long-ranged attacks is a big factor.¡± Several more pebbles came flying at her with the words, Hagz, Sowilo and Berkana engraved on them. The runes of the harsh tempest, scorching sun and birch twigs were like oil to the mes of Kenaz. ¡°Ahh, that¡¯s hott¡­!¡± She could no longer hold off against that vigorous rush of mes. Although rune magic was only as strong as an elementary-grade spell, the power created by thebination of several rune letters was on the level of a medium-grade spell. At this rate, she would be burned to death. Alicia was in a panic but still managed to react in time to the sound of something cutting through the air. ¨C Crush! Korin got in front of her while her vision was being blocked by the mes and the downward swing of his spear was as brutal as always. ¡°Kuuk¡­?!¡± Because of her fluster due to his sudden use of magic, she waste in responding to the attack and had to kneel on one of her knees. ¡®W, what should I do? M, my clothes are being scorched! What if my hair gets burned as well? Ah, I forgot my sunscreen!!¡¯ ¨C Chaak! ¡°Huh?¡± It was the sound of something being ripped off in a very clear and refreshing manner. ¡°Uhh?¡± Sitting in Korin¡¯s hand was Alicia¡¯s blue armband. ¡°Are you an idiot? How can you think about something else during a fight?¡± ¡°Ehk? Ehk? P, please have mercy¡­¡± ¡°No. Go back.¡± Tears welled up in her eyes. Footnotes: Chapter 17: Hunting Grounds (2) ? Hunting Grounds (2) ? After taking down Alicia Arden, I put the blue armband into my pocket. ¡®About this much against Grade 2, huh.¡¯ Honestly, I was only able to win because it was Alicia. The others were a bit hard for me to face because of their unique abilities. ¡®Both the Druid and the Golem User are annoying but¡­¡¯ The most difficult one to fight against among the named characters of the 1st year students was the Mercenary of Flying Swords, Dorron Warsky. Even with the 50% backup of the second line of my Precept, I would probably only have around 30% chance of winning. ¡°Hah¡­¡± But more than anything, Alicia Arden was in more of a terrible state than I expected. The greatest strengths of Alicia Ardeny in her specialty, Eyes of the Boundary, and her base stats. Eyes of the Boundary was something that would let her see through the gap in the dimension, which immediately made the user enter the ¡®Domain¡¯. Back when it was a game, the thing expressed as a ¡®Domain¡¯ was just a killing move that was described as the person attacking in a suspended world, but it was something that actually existed now that this was the real world. The Arden First Sword Style, ¡®Domain Severance¡¯, and the ¡®Void¡¯ of Six Ways of the Spear were all aiming for that same thing. In the previous iteration, I wasn¡¯t even able to reach the very depth of the Void. This was unrted to a person¡¯s physique and their strength. It was something that could only be activated in an unimaginably transcendent realm of concentration. Aside from that, Alicia¡¯s basic skills were also very insufficient. Even though I had 3 years of extreme experiences under my belt, that still shouldn¡¯t have been enough to overwhelm her in terms of technique. That made me concerned about the boss fight against Marie, which was now less than a month away. ¡°Well¡­ Her stats are still there so she should be helpful.¡± ording to the original plot, the ?Murderer of the City of Fog, John Doe?, who was also rted to the first missions of the 2nd Arc, would soon be showing himself. At the end of the 1st Arc, Marie would fight against him, who infiltrated into the city, and show signs of awakening. ¡®Should I get close to Alicia and make her train for the time being?¡¯ I still hadn¡¯t fully recovered my skills from thest iteration, but I still knew what Aliciacked. Luina Arden would soon visit the Merkarva City in search of the ?Murderer of the City of Fog?, and after meeting her and having a catalyst, that should be enough for Alicia for the time being. ¡®She¡¯s probably going to have to stay at the hospital for some time, but I guess I should help her out when she¡¯s better.¡¯ Considering how she took a eight trigram palm strike with a considerable amount of aura inside, she would probably have to stay in bed for a week. I really wasn¡¯t expecting to be that weak though. Honestly, I might have even beat her with a sword. ¡°There¡¯s a Grade 3!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t let him go!¡± ¡°Y, you bastards¡­!¡± The hunting grounds were very noisy. Students were starting to understand the rules and the clever ones began to hunt in groups. Whether it be against demonic beasts or other students, a numbers game was always an effective strategy and the students were starting to understand that as intended by the Academy. It was natural that low-Graded students would unite and cooperate against their higher-Graded peers, and the group that I came across was of a simr kind. ¡°Huh? Wait. He¡¯s just Grade 5.¡± ¡°Should we get rid of him?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bother. What are you gonna do with his armband? Oi, Grade 5. Do you want to go around with us?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°He can at least be a bait for us right? Oi, if you join us, I¡¯ll give you 10% of what we gain.¡± ¡°In your dreams.¡± I quickly moved the spear before they could react and hooked off their armbands. ¡°U, uht?¡± ¡°What?¡± They were flustered upon seeing their armbands hanging on the tip of my spear, but I ignored them and continued running across the forest. Two white bands from those two Grade 4 students¡­ Adding that to Alicia Arden¡¯s blue armband should equal quite a high number of points. My goal was to hit 100 points in this lesson; obtain the ¡®seed¡¯ and aim for the hidden piece. I would definitely be able to reach 100 points if I took the armband of another Grade 2 student but that was nothing easy and it was questionable if I could evene across them in the first ce. In the game, you could save and load to get 100 points but that wasn¡¯t an option in the real world. My job now was to steal all the armbands of my peers! ¨C Clink! nk! I was heading North with a bunch of thoughts filling my head when a bursting thud echoed across the forest. ¨C aaaank! ¨C ng! ¨C This is unfair! The sound of clinking metal and screams filled the forest as the heat of the battle came closer and closer. ¡®Wait, why are theying towards me?¡¯ ¨C Screeeeach! That was when something came flying in. ¡°Huhp¡­?!¡± Something was falling above my head while giving off a heavy load of pressure. This pressure¡­ I instinctively thrusted my spear! ¨C ng! Swathing the spear with my aura, I let it collide against the falling sword as the two des fell in a stalemate. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± It was heavy, as expected of the magic sword created with heavy iron which was 4 times denser than steel. Although there weren¡¯t any special traits in this sword, it definitely had a simple merit which was weight. Normally it was a magic sword used againstrge-type boss monsters but the fact that this sword came flying at me¡­ could only mean one thing! ¨C ng! ¡°Hoh, you flicked the heavy iron sword away? You¡¯re quite skilled aren¡¯t you?¡± The Mercenary of Flying Swords walked closer while retrieving the magic sword. After seeing me, the man couldn¡¯t hide the slight speck of doubt that appeared in his eyes. ¡°Grade 5?¡± ¡°Damn it¡­¡± The atrocities of a battle were in full disy behind the man¡¯s back. Dozens of peers were lying unconscious on the floor. Not only were there students but there were also the corpses of demonic beasts and bits of Soul Dust that were left behind by demonic spirits. All of this was something done by that one man ¨C that former mercenary who looked a lot older than his actual age. ¡°Dorron Warsky¡­¡± ¡°Being famous is sometimes quite tedious. There are too many people attacking me all the time.¡± ¨C I want to avoid unpaid fights though. Even though he had shown an overwhelming victory against dozens of students, the Mercenary of Flying Swords did not have a single wound on his body. ¡°How about you just pretend like you didn¡¯t see me?¡± ¡°Why bother?¡± His five magic swords threatened me. He was saying there was no reason why a predator should bother letting a rabbit run away. ¡°¡­This is not going ording to n.¡± Let¡¯s run away. ¨C Screeeaach! The magic swords rushed towards me through the woods. *** Alicia powerlessly walked out of the hunting grounds. ¡°Uhh¡­ To think Mr. Korin was that strong¡­¡± Was he even a Grade 5? She wondered, but what was filling her head more than that doubt was the harshment he gave about her that seeped through her bones. ¡ºLack of practice from over-reliance on talent.¡» Lack of practice¡­ That was the same criticism as the one she received very often back home. ¡°I don¡¯t even n on going down the path of swords though.¡± Even though she was gifted, Alicia had no serious ns on bing her grandpa¡¯s sessor. She had been doing it because it was cool and was a good exercise. And more than anything, it¡¯s because she wanted to be praised by her older sister from a different mother¡­ ¡ºWe can¡¯t stop the blood!¡» ¡ºThe weapons were made non-lethal. How is that even possible!!¡» That day was when everything changed for her. The day of her first spar had changed everything in her life. And that was also when she grabbed the attention of her grandfather and became a sessor candidate. ¡ºLooks like you only relied on the sword and didn¡¯t learn anything else.¡» However, she still felt pain after receiving such criticism. ¡°¡­I must have looked pathetic.¡± Would her benefactor have criticized her the same way? Thinking about it like that made her lethargic. ¡°He was strong,¡± Alicia murmured to herself while thinking about Korin Lork. She had never seen such a sharp spear before. How much sweat and blood must have gone into it to perfect his skills to that level? From the fundamental skills of a spear to his experience that let him ovee the weakness of a spear and his perfect skills¡­ He reminded her of her older sister. She found herselfughable for being self-conceited for being called a genius and not working hard. ¡°Should I¡­ try a little harder?¡± Alicia decided to practice her sword more after going back instead of being satisfied by others calling her a genius. ¡°He gave me pieces of information, candies¡­ and also gave advice¡­¡± His face was quite wild and his muscles¡­ She recalled Korin¡¯s appearance one by one, and that was when something caught her attention. ¡°Uhh, that belt¡­¡± Wasn¡¯t it the same one as the one her benefactor was wearing? ¡°Student Alicia Arden!¡± The voice of an old professor helped her leave her world of imaginations. ¡°Ah, yes¡­!¡± ¡°Ms. Arden. You¡¯re going the wrong way.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the habitat of Grade 3 demonic beasts.¡± ¡°What? Really?¡± ¡°The entrance is on the other side. Go that way. And don¡¯t lose the way this time.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Yes¡­¡± Hiding the blush in her cheeks, Alicia dashed through the forest. She was buried in embarrassment and soonpletely dismissed the thoughts about belts. **** Mercenary of Flying Swords, Dorron Warsky was a veteran mercenary. He had been a part of a group of mercenaries ever since a young age, and was a veteran who defeated countless demonic beasts and spirits. The official acquisition of a Grade 2 guardian certificate which he got even before the admission was the proof of his incredible experiences. ¡°How fascinating.¡± Dorron muttered while observing the crushed trees and the new vacant plot ofnd that reced the previous lush forest. Old and tough trees that had been growing for centuries were torn apart like pieces of paper, and the magic swords of me and lightning had left behind traces of a catastrophe. But this was far from what Dorron was capable of. ¡®He dealt with the swords before I could even use them properly.¡¯ The core of the me sword had been prated before its output could be raised to the maximum, and the lightning spiritual sword was buried so deep underground that Dorron couldn¡¯t take it out even with his specialty, telekinesis. Plus, the maic iron sword which worked well with magic circles of eleration had their weak point exploited, and the form had been broken. ¡°Who is he? It was as if he knew about the abilities of all my swords and my specialty.¡± More than anything, he was very experienced. Putting outside how he knew about his abilities, he was proficient at efficiently dealing with the problem. Dorron was startled by him targeting the swords but from what he felt during their collision, his physical strength itself wasn¡¯t that great. He was barely on the level of a Grade 3 Knight, and would probably have to be considered a Grade 4 Knight. But that alone proved that the grading test had given a terribly wrong result of a Grade 5 Knight to Korin. Dorron also couldn¡¯t guess how such a powerhouse had stayed under the radar for so long. ¡®That¡¯s a lot of money gone. I have to give up on this practical lesson.¡¯ Three of his five magic swords were broken. He would be able to repair them quickly as long as he had the materials but it would also take a whole load of his precious time for those materials to arrive. **** ¡°That almost killed me!¡± I was quite fortunate to avoid being disqualified in the fight against Dorron. The helping factor was that I remembered all the traits of his magic swords and those magic forme in the previous iteration and the game. ¡®If I didn¡¯t sessfully neutralize the tedious me sword and the lightning spiritual sword at the start of the battle, it would have been over.¡¯ Dorron Warsky was one of the core party members alongside Alicia Arden for the yer at the start of the game. He was very versatile unlike the Druid who depended on terrain and the Golem User who had a clear limit when it came to interpersonal fights before being trained at it. Besides, his various elemental-attributed magic swords were excellent at dishing out a lot of elemental damage so he was the strongest ally character that could be used until the end. The only downside was that he cost a lot of money because of his character¡¯s personality traits, ?Miser? and ?Employee?, but he was even better than Alicia in terms of strength. ¡°Kuhg¡­¡± Maic iron sword¡­ The wound created by his super eleration sword which was elerated by his proud magic form was still screaming in pain. Even though it definitely had be a non-lethal weapon thanks to magic, my shoulder was ripped out just bying into contact with it. But it was okay because the wound was already starting to close. ¡®?Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior?. It¡¯s working nicely.¡¯ It was the specialty that greatly increased the regeneration ability when the HP went below a certain threshold during a fight. Instead of something as simple as regeneration, it was simr to a regression and a perfect restoration of the body. ¡°Huhu. That¡¯s what you get for taking my shoulder!¡± Three of his magic swords were broken. We were still at the start of the main story line, so those swords were made using Grade 3 demonic stones and were rtively cheap. Because they weren¡¯t specially-crafted swords by a proper Grade 1 cksmith, the joints and the fusion of the form and the sword were still quite weak. It will cost quite a lot of money to repair that. ¨C Ruuuumble!! That was when the forest quaked. Water droplets dispersed in all directions and even managed to reach me, which was ridiculous considering how far I was. There was only one person in this Merkarva Academy who would use such a high level water-attributed spell in the forest. ¡°Marie?¡± It was northeast of where I was, and was probably near the final destination of this practical lesson, the shed. The only person capable of pushing Marie to this level could only be one of the named freshmen characters; either Yuel the Druid or the Golem User, Kranel Luden. Kranel would probablyst about a minute and Yuel the Druid¡­ might actually be able to fight back a fair bit considering the overwhelming advantage of being in a forest. ¡°Maybe she wouldst about 3 minutes?¡± But even with the environment in consideration, the fight wasn¡¯t a favorable one for her. Her opponent was none other than the strongest student of the 2nd year students; a genius that rivaled Lady Josephine, the strongest mage out of the named characters of Merkarva Academy. ¨C Rumble! Ruuumble! Ruuuumble!! The exploding noises of amplification spells and alchemic form made the forest let out a shrieking yell. Knights who had been quarreling with des until now would be dumbfounded at the sight of something so supernatural, and the ones that were going down the same path of magic might despair at the face of an overwhelming talent. ¡®Scrap that. It would be great if she couldst 2 minutes.¡¯ That was Marie Dunareff ¨C the child beloved by magic who fell from grace due to an unwanted awakening. She was the final boss of the 1st Arc who I had to beat after a month¡¯s time. ¡°Ugh¡­ Let¡¯s not even go near that ce.¡± I decided to go the long way around. Being disqualified due to being caught up in that fight would be the most disheartening thing to experience. Chapter 18: Hunting Grounds (3) ? Hunting Grounds (3) ? Marie hopped across the dense forest as if she was out on a walk. Her feet that were as energetic as a freshman of the Academy led her forward to a ce that had actual freshmen students lying down on the ground. ¡°Ughh¡­¡± ¡°M, my back¡­¡± ¡°Are you alright? Are your wounds serious?¡± She was just asking as a matter of formality and received a response that was in the scope of her imagination. ¡°I¡¯m alright¡­¡± The student sounded discouraged more than anything. It seemed that she hadn¡¯t been expecting the gap between themselves to be so big. The genius mage, Marie Dunareff ¨C the official rank of Grade 1 that she received wasn¡¯t for show. ¡°I¡¯ll let you off this time so good luck!¡± ¡°Uhk¡­ Alright.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good! I also had to push myself like you guysst year! You¡¯ll be able to do better next time!¡± Without taking the armband of the disheartened freshman, she caressed her head and turned around. ¡°How is this possible with only low-grade spells¡­¡± Lying down next to the astonished freshman were 10 of her peers. ¡°Hmm~. I like how all the freshmen are brave! But¡­¡± There¡¯s no-one like him yet. Marie cheeks flushed while thinking about the impressive freshman boy. If it was him, he probably would have continued fighting without giving up. ¡°That would be troublesome~. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be easy to stop him.¡± Would she be able toe across that boy in this practical lesson? The odds weren¡¯t that high but if she did manage to see him¡­ The imagination alone made her heart palpitate. ¨C Rustle! That was when tree branches shot out of the ground and wrapped themselves around Marie¡¯s wrists and ankles. ¡°You let your guard down!¡± The owner of the voice was a girl with refreshing green hair. She pointed an antique staff, that appeared like the entanglement of tree branches, at Marie. ¡°O spirits of the forest. Lend me your aid!¡± Small fragments of light emerged following her request. They were the natural-born spirits that existed in the vast woods of the hunting grounds. Seeing them appear voluntarily without any contract, Marie gave a smile. ¡°So you are that druid freshman, right?¡± She was able to stealthily move tree branches outside of Marie¡¯s perception and a single request from her immediately called the lofty spirits of the forest. A druid had the blessings of the forest. It was definitely not an overstatement to say that this was a part of her territory. ¡°You should surrender. You can¡¯t beat me in the forest.¡± Marie understood where her confidence wasing from seeing the dozens of spirits that were surrounding her. Druids were born with natural affinity to spirits. It was because their hearts weren¡¯t tainted by worldly matters and were instead tinged by nature. She was a strong spiritual elementalist who could easily receive the help of the elementals and spirits in the forest without even forging a contract. Besides, the overwhelming vitality of the forest was also a source of power for druids. ¡°I¡¯m Marie. Marie Dunareff. What is your name, hoobae-nim?¡± ¡°¡­ Yuel. I am Yuel of the Avelorn Forest.¡± ¡°Nn. Unfortunately, Yuel, I have my pride as a senior and can¡¯t surrender.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t sound persuasive with your limbs restricted.¡± ¡°You mean this?¡± Seeing the branches tightened around her wrists and ankles, Marie floated a rxed smile before flexing her limbs. ¨C Crack! Crackk! ¡°I¡¯m sorry, tree.¡± As soon as Marie used her power, the branches were ripped apart like paper. Yuel blinked her eyes on repeat in a fluster, seeing how easy it was for her to break out of the restraint. ¡°H, how could that be!¡± ¡°Nn~. You see, I¡¯m the oldest daughter of a family of farmers! I¡¯m confident in my strength!¡± ¨C I even received a bull after winning in an arm wrestle tournament! ¡°That¡¯s clearly not at the level of a normal farmer!¡± Although Yuel had been mobilizing only a small number of branches to hide from her sight, a mage breaking out of it with her sheer power¡­ was dumbfounding, but Yuel still believed that she was in the advantage. ¡°You know about the attributes of forest spirits, right? They are on a definite advantage against you, sunbae-nim, who uses water-attributed spells.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see~ if that really is the case.¡± ¨C Pababang! Balls of water immediately came flying at Yuel. They were low-grade spells and weren¡¯t lethal but they were enough to physically neutralize other people. ¡°O spirits.¡± Yuelmunicated with the spirits by using nothing but her voice and asked for their help. The forest spirits immediately moved the ancient trees, which were like their bodies, and formed a wall of tree branches that blocked the balls of water. ¡°Hmm~.¡± The drenched branches soon returned to earth. In retaliation against Marie¡¯s sudden attack, Yuel processed her evergreen mana. ¡°Bloom, o life.¡± Arge flower bud appeared from the ground, but when it blossomed, what appeared weren¡¯t beautiful petals but the hideous forms of carnivorous nts. ¡°Uehk¡­¡± Marie marveled at how unsightly it was but did not turn her eyes away from it. ¡®It¡¯s not a nt of this forest. That means it¡¯s not an actual nt that she grew with mana.¡¯ They were pure magic forms of life that were created from magic. It was when she came to that conclusion ¨C those carnivorous nts that were born to devour something shot their heads towards her. ¨C Hiss hiss! ¨C Hiss hiss! The carnivorous nts opened and closed their horrifying teeth while threatening to swallow the air alongside her. Marie raised her spear in response and used Water Bullets to shoot them down. ¨C Hiss hiss! It resulted in a frontal collision between the Water Bullets and the carnivorous nts. The physical power of Water Bullets should be more than enough to easily deal with those nts ¨C that was what Marie thought, but things went in the opposite direction. ¨C Ssh! ¡°Nn?¡± Even after being hit by the bullets, the carnivorous nts did not sway a single step and instead turned bigger. ¡®Ahah~. So they eat mana huh?¡¯ ¨C Click! Marie clicked her fingers in the air as a water bubble appeared out of the air before rapidly turning bigger. It was roughly about as big as a Water Bullet but the amount of mana inside it was on a whole different league. ¡°Water Bomb.¡± ¨C Boom! The Water Bomb exploded in the air. It swallowed the approaching carnivorous nts with its aftershock and flung them away. ¡°Tch¡­!¡± She was clever and had quick judgment. It was as expected of a Grade 1 mage. It was a required skill of a battle mage to analyze the opponents¡¯ actions and decipher the enemy¡¯s magic form to retaliate in time. And Marie was someone who received Grade 1 as a battle mage. ¡®But I¡¯m still at an advantage in the forest. There is no way I can lose in this ce!¡¯ Yuel tapped the ground with her staff and linked herself with the earth below. Now, the trees of the forest that were on her side as well as the ground beneath would move ording to her will. ¡°It¡¯spletely drenched, isn¡¯t it? All the way underground?¡± ¡°Sorry¡­?¡± It was then. ?Combination Spell: Frost? ¨C Chaaaakk! In an instant, flowers of snow bloomed all across with Marie at the center. The carnivorous nts which had been pushed away with the Water Bomb werepletely frozen. Everything which had been sttered with water was covered in ice. In other words¡­ ¨C Ruuumble! Suddenly, the earth soared up as specks of dirt bounced off and juddered as if everything expanded out of nowhere. ¡°Huh?¡± The tree branches underground did not heed to Yuel¡¯s link. It was the first time this had happened and she was thus greatly flustered. ¡°The branches underneath were wet, right? I froze them.¡± ¡°H, how is this¡­¡± ¡°You can¡¯t limit a mage¡¯s ability to their main attribute. Remember there arebination spells in elemental magic.¡± Marie Dunareff¡¯s specialty in magic was everything including the water attribute. Freezing the molecules of water that appeared from her spell was one of thebination spells she had. The tree branches that had been wetted with the Water Bomb had gone back down, and that was why they froze underground. ¡°Not yet¡­! I still have spirits with me!¡± As Yuel said, the spirits of the forest were still in a normal state. They seemed infuriated by the disrespectful one who suddenly froze the ground. ¡°Sorry. But I think I¡¯ll have to say sorry one more time. You see, I¡¯m going to explode a Water Bomb.¡± ¡°A Water Bomb? Something at that level won¡¯t¡­¡± In the middle of her words, Yuel unconsciously turned to Marie¡¯s staff. She realized that the amount of mana embedded inside was extraordinary, upon noticing that it was heading to the air and turned her gaze to the sky. ¡°Ah¡­¡± A great blob of water was being boiled on top. Water Bomb. It was a low-grade spell that exploded a blob of water with the heat of magic to scatter into the surroundings. It was as strong as a shock wave at best, and breaking a small tree would be considered a remarkable feat. Even though it shouldn¡¯t be anything great as a low-grade spell¡­ ¡°Water Bomb.¡± ¨C Kwaaaaannngg!! What fell from the sky was arge bomb of water. It was ridiculously enormous and it became arge bomb that covered the entire region. ¡°S, spirits!¡± Heeding the desperate call of the druid, the spirits began to move. They also turned deathly pale as they moved the ancient trees of the forest to protect Yuel, but¡­ ¡°Booom~¡± ¨C Ruuuuumble!! It was nothing but a futile resistance to an overwhelming natural disaster. **** The forest looked as if had been bombarded by bombers. Therge Water Bomb that destroyed a part of the hunting grounds was the sign that marked Marie¡¯s one-sided victory. Even though the seniors of this prac lesson weren¡¯t allowed to use medium-grade spells excluding barriers for self-defense, her spell was still overwhelming and that was thanks to her specialty. ?Mana Amplification? This overpowered specialty that allowed its user to increase the output of a spell, which was supposed to have a clear limit depending on the form, was an ability that was definitely fitting of a boss character. She was a Unique Grade boss who was meant to be defeated as a whole party. There was probably only one person among the freshmen students who could have a frontal fight against Marie Dunareff. ¡°A, ahht¡­! A, are you alright? Sorry! Yuel, you were too strong so I unknowingly put too much power into my attack¡­! Are you alright?¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Yuel gave a dejected sigh while looking at her restless Senior. This girl with water-color hair was amiable to everyone with an easy-going and a warm smile. She was a docile girl who loved peace with no animosity against other people. However, hidden behind her face was the horrifying ability of a Grade 1 battle mage. This girl was probably an innately adorable and gentle person, and a kind-hearted girl who was always nice and generous to everyone. Even in the small society of a druid¡¯s tribe, there were those that were able to form thicker bonds with other people. These people were nice and formed great rtionships with others, but were ruthless when it came to doing the necessary actions. ¡°Uhhk¡­¡± ¡°A, are your bones alright? Do you want me to put some saliva on?¡± ¡°How would that¡­ even help?¡± ¡°K, kuhum¡­ But you know, guardians are meant to get injured as they grow! I also fell down when I was watering the nts on a wyvern and broke my legs¡ª-¡± Was this mysterious toughness an environmental buff that was applied to the children of farmers? Yuel had no clue. This world was full of suffering and both the city and the farm were too difficult for her. Until she was taken outside by the rescue team that was here to escort the injured students, Yuel had to receive the extreme words of concern and encouragement from Marie. ¡°Hmm¡­ Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have amplified? But she wasn¡¯t an opponent I could beat with only low-grade spells and no amplification¡­¡± Marie turned her gaze in concern towards another student who had been staring at her for a long time. ¡°Hello? I¡¯m Marie. What is your name?¡± Her golden eyes shed with a crimson gaze. **** Right in front of the shed which was the final destination, standing there to stop any intruders was arge golem. ¡°¡­Sorry but the 1st ce goes to me.¡± Named character of freshmen, Golem User Kranel Luden. He was one of the starting party members that were avable aside from Hua Ran. He was standing in front of the shed, stopping every iing student. ¡°Haa¡­ Is today like a special day or something? Why am I seeing all the Grade 2s?¡± ¡®Judging from how fast he came here, did he make like a golem horse to rush all the way here? To steal from other students in front of the shed?¡¯ Although defeating Alicia was part of my n, it definitely wasn¡¯t my goal to meet Kranel after Dorron. I was facing 3 out of the 4 named characters in just one day. This scenario which would be hard to see in the game even with an infinite number of saves and loads was happening in front of my eyes. ¡°You have a lot of armbands don¡¯t you? I¡¯ll be first if I take all that¡­¡± ¡°In your dreams, buddy. You¡¯re the easiest after Alicia from Grade 2, alright? Watch me break your favorite golem.¡± ¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ Golem. It was a form for siege warfare that had been inherited down from the ancient times. Using the form of the user with the golem core at the center, one could create therge siege weapon. As long as there was enough material and mana, it would always be strong enough to break through castle walls so humans had been using golems for a very long time. The fact that they were ssified as siege weapons proved their strength, but that also implied a critical downside. Due to being huge, they were really, really slow. ¨C Bang! ¡°Kuahk¡­!¡± Unable to retain its form, the golem crumbled down as Kranel fell with it. Walking past the remains of the destroyed golem, I pointed the spear at his neck. ¡°Golems are nothing but big targets for small and strong weapons like people. If I were you, I would have looked for a friend to protect me.¡± ¡°¡­I have none.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I have¡­ no friends.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ that¡¯s¡­ sorry.¡± ¡°Kuhk¡­¡± Kranel let out an agonized groan as if his shoulder was dislocated when falling down from the crumbled golem. ¡°Stay still.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¨C Creak! ¡°Kuhik¡­?!¡± I relocated his shoulder as a scream left his mouth. The intelligent mages weren¡¯t used to pain as much, so it was something that couldn¡¯t be helped. ¡°With this, I will be the overwhelming victor.¡± ¡°You¡­!¡± While relocating his shoulder, I also took his armband as well as a bunch of green and white armbands. ¡°Huhu. By the way, the armbands that you¡¯ve earned until now will still be your points, so I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to buy a few potions and stuff.¡± ¡°Uhhg¡­¡± Including Kranel¡¯s armband, I had 117 points in total! It was an absurdlyrge amount of points! It was the first time I had acquired such arge number of points even when I was repeating this lesson in the game. Was the goddess of fortune smiling on me today or something? Leaving behind Kranel, I headed to the shed. It was time to receive my due rewards. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. ¡ºResults of the Hunting Grounds¡» Grade 2 Knight, Alicia Arden, injured. Grade 2 Knight, Dorron Warsky, weakened. Grade 2 Mage, Yuel the Druid, injured. Grade 2 Mage, Kranel Luden, golem core lost. 2 out of the 4 named freshmen characters were unable to fight due to their injuries, and the remaining two were heavily weakened. Aside from that was the crash between boss characters which shouldn¡¯t have happened in the original scenario. No-one knew what oue this would lead to. But¡ª ¡°Lucky me!¡± There was no doubt that the things henceforth were due to Korin¡¯s own faults. Chapter 19: Hunting Grounds (4) ? Hunting Grounds (4) ? A virtuous-looking old man weed me inside the shed. ¡°Ohh~. I was wondering why it was so boisterous outside but it seems like we have a guest already.¡± The keeper of the forest maintaining this ce, Mr. Harris walked up while stroking his lumpy beard. ¡°I¡¯m Korin Lork, sir.¡± ¡°Student Korin Lork. Hmm. Two blue armbands! That is¡­ quite impressive.¡± ¡°I was just lucky.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see. Your score is¡­ 117 points! Astounding! It¡¯s my first time seeing such a number.¡± That was a natural result considering how I defeated two of the Grade 2 students who gave the most points in the forest, and thoroughly ran away from the 2nd year seniors. ¡°Can I choose my rewards now?¡± ¡°Of course. You can choose anything as long as you have enough points.¡± ¡°Huhaha¡­¡± Mr. Harris guided me to the items that were hanging on the wall of the shed. There were items like the fang knife of a Mat Boar and a Grade 3 leather protective coat, but the real deal here was the Shark Bear¡¯s bile1Bile is a fluid that is made and released by the liver and stored in the galldder. ?Ursa!? Even though you had to use 50 points for it, it increased strength by 20 points and gave you a skill called the Leather of a Shark Bear which made your skin more tenacious. But that wasn¡¯t what I was after. ¡°Hohh?¡± Mr. Harris was impressed by my choice ¨C the small inconspicuous seed that was at the very corner of the disyed items. ¡°You have great eyes, don¡¯t you? Definitely wasn¡¯t thinking you would go straight for the Seed of a Mandrake.¡± This seed was the reason why old-timers of the game aimed for 100 points no matter what. ?Seed of a Mandrake? Mandrake was a powerful elixir that could significantly empower the low-leveled yer in the beginning. But that wasn¡¯t the end. Without cultivating this immediately, I could go to the ke¡¯ at the outskirts of the hunting grounds and obtain a unique hidden piece. ¡®There are a lot of people today so let¡¯s sneak into this forest tomorrow.¡¯ ¡°17 points left¡­ Hmm. Please give me this and this one here.¡± I said while pointing at a nt nutrient that was worth 6 points and an earplug which cost 10 points. The nutrient was for the growth of the Mandrake and if I were to dump this on the flowerpot along with the seed, it could notably reduce the time it takes to fully grow from 1 year. The earplug was made with the fur of the Northern Silver Fox and could pacify the intensity of the scream of the Mandrake, which was strong enough to kill a person. With this, I had pretty much achieved my overall goal of this prac lesson. In the previous iteration, we had relied on all sorts of magic barriers and tools, but it was something I had to do alone, now that Park Sihu wasn¡¯t here. ¡®That is one heck of a shopping trip.¡¯ I left the shed and found Kranel Luden looking for the broken core amidst the remains of the golem. ¡°Do you want me to help you?¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯m good.¡± ¡°You should just say, ¡®Thank you,¡¯ in times like this, buddy.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The wood golem that was created by absorbing the dirt and trees of the forest was insanely big so finding the core was quite a daunting task. But the core had to be found to repair it or something, so we couldn¡¯t leave it behind either. We were searching through the remains for a long time and barely discovered it when more students arrived from a distance. ¡°Uah¡­! We¡¯re finally here!¡± ¡°Huuk¡­ Huuk¡­!¡± Unexpected people came in 2nd and 3rd ce. There was Jaeger carrying arge mace, and Lark, who was panting while carrying a heavy hardcover spell book. ¡°Wait¡­ Korin. Howe you¡¯re here already?¡± ¡°Are we,te¡­? Huuk¡­ The seniors are just too cruel¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m 1st ce. You guys are 2nd and 3rd.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The two of them turned to each other, before hurriedly dashing towards the shed without sharing another word. Naturally, Jaeger was a lot faster than Lark as a knight. ¡°Wahaha! 19 points!¡± Jaeger left the shed with a stretch. He seemed to have defeated quite a lot of Grade 3s and Grade 4s. ¡°What about Lark?¡± ¡°15 points.¡± ¡°Were you two working together?¡± ¡°Yeah. He summoned a ghost knight or something, and was good at controlling it. By the way, how did you reach here so quickly?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? Anyway, you wanna go to the training rooms today?¡± ¡°Sure. What about you, Kranel?¡± I shifted the conversation to Kranel. ¡°¡­¡­Huh? Me?¡± ¡°This must be fate in its own way. It would be nice for us to have some food together and go sweating afterwards.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Sure.¡± In the previous iteration, I used to cooperate with Kranel Luden quite often. Even though I called him weak, that was only when it came to interpersonal fights. Against big demonic beasts, his golem was the best tanker / damage dealer with no room for doubt. ¡°Let¡¯s have kimchi udon today and not¡­¡± ¨C Ruuumble! That was when the forest jolted. ¡°Damn¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s fancy¡­ Is it the other Grade 2s?¡± ¡°¡­¡­That can¡¯t be.¡± Unlike Jaeger and the other freshmen, I denied that possibility. Three out of the named freshmen characters were unable to fight because of me. Alicia Arden, Dorron Warsky and Kranel Luden were all incapable of fighting anymore so the only one left behind should be Yuel, but she should have lost to Marie a long time ago. There was no way that the current Yuel couldst more than 3 minutes against Marie. ¡®Marie isn¡¯t the type to waste her power against students lower than Grade 3 though¡­¡¯ Were there dozens running in at once or something? But if it was that, she could have just amplified the strength of her low-grade spells a little bit¡­ It was then. An enormous wall of ice soared into the air while destroying a part of the forest. It was Marie¡¯s Combination Spell, Frost¡­ that was at the level of a high-grade. ¡°The demonic beasts are running away¡­¡± ¡®What?¡¯ Demonic beasts had no fear. Strength wasn¡¯t the thing that was important when inducing anything simr to fear ¨C one had to have a simr demonic nature to them. No matter how strong a human was, they would recklessly run in. ¡°¡­¡± Marie was forced to use the high-grade spell ?Frost Combination ¨C Multi-Shield? and the demonic beasts were running away. For something like this to ur¡­ ¡°D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± A tremendous amount of force was roaring in the skies. The outburst of evil aura and signs of destruction were disying their significance. **** Marie Dunareff was a genius. Born as the first child of a family of farmers, she walked the path of magic and was praised as a genius by everyone around her. This innocent and lively girl of the countryside had been walking up an easy slope that was far from the likes of frustration, failure and despair. This did not change even after she entered the guardian academy. She was innately gifted at interpreting forme, and was blessed with mana. After learning 1 thing, her mind couldprehend 10 things of a simr kind and she was referred to as the sessor of the history¡¯s greatest mage, Senior Professor Josephine. That was why the thing in front of her eyes was ¡®fear¡¯ that denied everything about her from the core. ¡°Huuk¡­ huuk¡­!¡± The tear next to her neck was scorching in pain and an unreal amount of pain was stopping her brain from functioning properly. ¡®I¡­ I have to analyze¡­¡¯ But¡­ What could she even do after an analysis? She saw it with her eyes and felt it with her skin, but her brain refused to admit it. Thin and slender fingers of the opponent were like the poisonous ws of a god-yer that ripped through her dimension. The red lips and white teeth of the opponent were cracked open like that of a rabid dog, and her blood-stained gaze was scarlet like it was drenched in the blood of her heart. And the white skin that appeared as soft as finely-ground flour was ridiculously thick enough to ignore an explosion of mana. She wasn¡¯t using aura to protect her body nor were her ws sharpened thanks to a specialty. It was just an overwhelmingly strong physique that was in a whole different league. It was a disaster created by thebination of an Unbreakable Vajra Body and an abundance of demonic aura that was so dense that it could rip through adamantium. ¡°No. L, low-grade spells won¡¯t work¡­!¡± To the point that she had to ignore the warning words of the Senior Professor that she couldn¡¯t use offensive spells above medium-grade¡­ Marie was pushed into a corner. She had already broken the rules by using multiple high-grade defensive spells¡­ but that still didn¡¯t allow her to stop the devil. ¨C Kwang! ¡°Kyaa¡­!¡± The fragments of the shattered barrier struck her small body along with a shockwave. ¨C Kung! Her body crashed into arge tree. It was unknown whether it was a nosebleed or from the wound on her neck, but warm blood was dripping from her head. She was scared. Her eyes were dizzy and everything felt vacant as if the world hade to a stop. The noise that had been ringing her cochlea was no longer there, and the chaotic scene of the forest around her failed to even enter her sight. ¨C Grrr¡­! The beast approached her. ¡°D, don¡¯te¡­¡± It was neither a knight nor a mage, but a personification of ¡®violence¡¯. It was a natural disaster suppressed into the shape of a human and Marie soon came to the judgment that defensive spells won¡¯t be enough to save her. ¡°Don¡¯te here¡­!¡± ?Frost Combination ¨C Snow¡ª? ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± In that pressing moment, what stopped the two of them was the sharp voice of the Senior Professor. ¡°Stop there. Hua Ran.¡± Ah, I¡¯m alive. I didn¡¯t die. Immediately after realizing that, Marie felt relieved as her consciousness quickly faded away. **** The practical lesson at the hunting grounds produced a very unexpected result. First of all was that a Grade 5 student like me hade 1st ce with the most number of points, and the other notable event was the fight between the strongest freshman Hua Ran, and the strongest 2nd year student, Marie Dunareff. A battle between two Grade 1s. Everyone inside the hunting grounds had seen the aftermath of their battle, but would anyone even guess that they hadn¡¯t been using their full strength? Would they even possibly dare imagine that those two people, who were currently considered Grade 1, would eventually be lofty existences of the Unique Grade? ¡®For now, it¡¯s Hua Ran¡¯s victory I guess.¡¯ Hua Ran, with her abilities sealed due to the restrictions, was an oppressed beast. Even though her original form was currently sleeping, her innate nature was that of a demonic beast, and stimting her too much would end up awakening a Unique Grade monster. That was why the fight between Marie and Hua Ran was not a good sign. It was something that ignited the fuse of the time bomb called Heavenly Yaksha. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°A freshman?¡± In the corridor in front of the sick bay, I was stopped by a few of the senior students that were restlessly walking around. ¡°I¡¯m a freshman, Korin Lork. I came to visit Senior Marie.¡± Seeing the candies and the bouquet of flowers in my hands, Marie¡¯s peers took a step back. Soon, a girl with brown bob-hair, who if I recall correctly was Marie¡¯s friend and the first victim¡­ Isabelle received the bouquet of flowers. ¡°Sigh¡­ She needs to rest for now. Apparently it¡¯s only the doctor and the Senior Professor that can go inside. I will hold onto it for you so don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°Thank you. Please say hello to Senior Marie for me.¡± Leaving behind Isabelle and the 2nd year students, I walked out of the building. The catalyst for Marie to awaken into being a Unique Grade was the encounter with the Murderer of the City of Fog, John Doe, which would be happening in a month. I wasn¡¯t sure how the demonic molecules were working inside Marie¡¯s body, but there was still a lot of time. As long as I increased my stats through the weekend missions and received the help of the freshmends, it should definitely be possible. There was no need to hit thest Phase 4, and as long as we could go up to the 3rd phase, my current arrangements should be enough. ¡®It will be manageable as long as we go ording to the main scenario. I can solve it even without the yer.¡¯ The reason I bothered showing off my power to the Grade 2 named characters was also partially because of this, because there was no way they would help if a Grade 5 weakling suddenly came up to them and proposed a cooperation. Their first show of interest in the yer is when the yer disys their innate talents and strength. Thus, this practical lesson was like my self-introduction telling the Grade 2 students that I wasn¡¯t someone to be ignored. ¡®One more week and the named characters should be back to themselves. That¡¯s when I¡¯ll make an offer about forming a party.¡¯ The final boss of the 1st Arc of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, ¡®Unique Grade Vampire, Marie Dunareff¡¯. While hoping that her story would not end in misfortune this time, I walked across the paved roads of the Academy. **** Owls were crying at dusk when Marie opened her eyes. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Beneath the familiar ceiling, Marie raised her body in the dark sick bay. ¡°Nnn¡­ Marie?¡± Isabelle, who was leaning on the bed in sleep, woke up with a rustle. When she realized that her friend had woken up, she immediately raised her voice. ¡°Marie! Are you okay? Is your neck alright?¡± Without paying any attention to her disheveled hair, Isabelle observed Marie¡¯s condition. Although most of the blood had been wiped off of her hair, there were still powders of dried blood slowly falling down, and the bandage around her shoulders still had signs of seeping blood. ¡°That freshman¡­ This is clearly too much! Even though you could only use low-grade spells¡­!¡± The infuriated girl badmouthed the freshman student who had been isted by Senior Professor Josephine. While saying that they weren¡¯t under a fair condition, Isabelle told Marie that there was no reason for her to feel discouraged. However, without listening to any of her words, Marie slowly turned her vacant gaze to the side. Moonlight was shining through the window. The neck of her friend that was gleaming under that dreamy shed of light¨C ¡°¡­Thirsty.¡± Seemed as appealing as a ripe fruit. ¡ºFinal Boss of the 1st Arc ¨C Marie Dunareff¡» Aura Rank: Upper Medium (9,400) Mana Rank: Upper Unique (66,700) Specialty: Mana Amplification, Blood Law, Summon Familiar, Blood Realm Overall Grade: Unique Grade ¡ºMain Quest: Marie Dunareff¡» ¡ù Difficulty: S ¡ù Time Limit: Failure upon Marie Dunareff¡¯s Death ¡ù Reward: ????? Footnotes: Chapter 20: Marie Dunareff (1) ? Marie Dunareff (1) ? The boss characters of each of the arcs in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? were tough foes that brought the yer deeper into the immersive world. The boss of the 1st Arc, ¡®Marie Dunareff the Vampire¡¯ was a tragic character that suddenly threw one of the key aspects of this world at the yer. Her sudden appearance as a boss of the final tier, Unique Grade, allowed the yer to feel just how immensely strong they were, while showing off the heroic nature of the yer that allowed them to ovee the problem in the end. At the same time, it disyed the fall of Marie Dunareff, who had resiliently held onto her human nature even at the face of such a tragic incident. The life at the Academy, which felt like it would be all fun and games at the start of the story suddenly turned bleak and grim in an instant, and it was through this episode that the developers showed their ¡®true colors¡¯ That was the tragedy I had to challenge myself to, now that the yer wasn¡¯t here. My job was to save the girl who had faced a great misfortune and a terrible end. It was fate which even the protagonist of this world was unable to change, and that was why Park Sihu had tried to make use of this tragedy as efficiently as possible. But was this seriously an unstoppable tragedy? To be frank, that wasn¡¯t really the case. With enough preparations. And with enough faith. As long as we topped all that with good enough members, the unfortunate story of that one girl was actually one that could lead to salvation with rtive ease. That was why I did not want this story to follow the original plot. I did not want her story to end in misfortune like the sequences of fate which went by the name of ¡®scenario¡¯, Like how I resisted against the yer who had insisted on efficiency, monopolization and jackpot, I want a happy ending for her story. So what if I am being a little inefficient? And so what if I can¡¯t swallow everything for myself? And also, how is it a problem even if I can¡¯t hit a jackpot and have fewer benefits? Everything is fine as long as we have fewer deaths. Do we even need a reason to save people? This evening¡¯s lesson was supposed to be carried out by Lady Josephine in preparation for an external mission. It was a mandatory course of the 1st semester, where we would hear theory on practical things like camping outside and managing food, and carry out an actual external mission as a test. ¡°Dude. Did you hear that?¡± I was opening my book and preparing myself for the lesson when Jaeger came up and whispered at me. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°You know Hua Ran. That demonic bitch.¡± ¡°¡­¡± It was very concerning to see Jaeger say that even though Hua Ran could fold him to death using two of her fingers. However, that was the impression which was shared by everyone inside the ss. Although she was wearing nun clothes of the church, anyone could tell that the chains wrapped around in talismans were there to restrict her. Why would a student be wearing restrictive clothing? That naturally made them see her as a demon. ¡°I heard she was locked in istion.¡± ¡°Istion, huh.¡± ¡°Yeah. Apparently there¡¯s actually a special facility in this Academy that locks dangerous demons inside¡­¡± Jaeger then continued narrating several conspiracy theories, but he wasn¡¯tpletely off the mark. There really was a special facility in this Academy that was dedicated to demons. To be fair, it was more of a rectifying facility that tried to help demi-humans control their overflowing mana and violence. Aside from the fact that there was a barrier that somewhat suppressed their powers, it was just a fancy personal amodation. Hua Ran had used more power than necessary to hurt Marie so it was natural for her to receive some level of repercussion. What I didn¡¯t understand was why Hua Ran had started moving already. ¡®She should have been quietly listening to lectures¡­¡¯ That was the same in the previous iteration and the game. She incited fear from the surroundings due to being a demon, but she didn¡¯t do anything in particr and quickly went under the radar. ¡°That¡¯s why that monster¡­¡± ¡°Calling her a monster is a bit¡­¡± ¡°Oi, aren¡¯t demi-humans practically just demons? Do you have any demons around you, Lark? Just think about how many humans they killed¡­¡± Lark chimed in and the conversation was about to turn long when a female professor wearing a loose robe walked in after opening the door. ¡°Hello everyone. I am Professor Lra Mars from Alchemy~. Deputy Principal Josephine has other things to attend today, so I will be carrying out the lecture instead~.¡± Lady Josephine was known for not changing the schedule unless it was a serious problem. Why would someone like her skip a lesson? ¡®Is it because of Hua Ran?¡¯ Considering how Hua Ran created a big ruckus during the practical lesson, it was understandable for a special measure to be taken ce. Without thinking too much of it, I glossed over the small event. **** ?Six Ways of the Spear? Fifth Style¡ª ¨C aaank! The deafening thud resonating across the training rooms probably gathered the eyes of other students. They would have crowded in if not for the privacy curtain. It had already been 3 days since the end of the practical lesson at the hunting grounds. For the past three days, I came straight to the training rooms after the lessons and spent all my time here. Mybat strength that I tested at the hunting grounds was quite satisfactory. Even though they were still very inexperienced, I still managed to defeat Alicia Arden, a strong character, and the Golem User Kranel Luden. However, this was still far from enough. I probably had better fighting senses than Park but my stats were weaker inparison to how he was at this point in time. ¡°Huu¡­¡± Leaving aside the level I had achieved with my spearmanship, the problem was that my body couldn¡¯t handle condensed aura. My ripped palms and the vividly protruding veins was proof. What was fortunate, at the very least, was that the wounds left behind by the recoil from the skill was already being recovered thanks to the ?Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior?. ¡®I might actually be able to recover even if my intestines were to fall out.¡¯ Judging by the speed of the regeneration, it was probably at the level of a Grade 2 skill. But I didn¡¯t get to test it as much ¨C maybe I had to get injured on purpose just to test this out. Condensed aura that worked in alignment with Six Ways of the Spear was a skill with way too big of a risk, but the regenerative ability came in for the clutch and offsetted the risk by a lot. But still, the best choice was to obtain a body that could withstand the skill so here I was today, diligently training myself again. ¨C She still hasn¡¯t left the hospital? ¨C Yeah. Looks like she¡¯s still very sick. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The 2nd year students were looking quite strange these days. The main topic of their discussion was Marie who hasn¡¯t shown herself for 3 days ever since the incident at the hunting grounds. It was understandable on the first day, but ever since the second day, her roommate Isabelle was also unable to be spotted and no-one was allowed to visit Marie either. Naturally, it would have been hard to leave unscathed after a sh with Hua Ran but¡­ Marie was the final boss of the 1st Arc. Not being able to see the first Unique Grade boss of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? made me quite anxious. ¡®Should I try visiting the hospital?¡¯ I was walking down the Academy campus with that thought in mind when I came across an unexpected person. ¡°Hugek¡­!¡± ¡°Nn?¡± Alicia Arden was wrapped in bandages while eating a potato croquette, and was greatly startled upon seeing my face. ¡°Why are you so surprised?¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­! Gulp! N, no? I am not surprised!¡± ¡°Have your injuries gotten better?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Yes.¡± I didn¡¯t feel sorry or anything about causing injuries. Themon courtesy in the Academy was to refrain from ming others about wounds that were caused during lessons and practices. ¡°Are your bones fractured?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s just a few cracks. I just need to rest for a few more days.¡± ¡°Rather than blocking condensed aura with aura, the best option is to offset it using the same resonance. There is no reason to bother blocking a dense amount of power from the front.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Her eyes had a strange glint to them as she gazed at me. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Mr. Korin. Are you¡­ really a Grade 5 Knight?¡± ¡°Oh, that?¡± I showed her my student ID card and the sign that said Grade 5 Knight. ¡°See. I am a Grade 5 Knight.¡± ¡°W, what kind of Grade 5 Knight beats a Grade 2 Knight!? Are you perhaps disguising yourself?¡± ¡°No, I am definitely weaker than you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± ¡°I¡¯m serious. Here¡­!¡± I threw a sudden fist at the unbelieving Alicia. It was the fastest jab I could throw, but Alicia quickly stopped my fist with the potato croquette still in her hands. ¡°Nnn¡­?¡± ¡°See that? It was meant to be an ambush but it was easy for you to stop, right?¡± No matter how much power I put into my fist, I couldn¡¯t take it out and all I could do was sway it back and forth a few times. It was an overwhelming difference in power and even Alicia seemed surprised by it. Her eyes appeared to be saying that she hadn¡¯t expected me to be this weak. ¡°The difference between a Grade 2 Knight and a Grade 5 Knight is like that of heaven and the earth. You are stronger than me but¡­¡± I added a slight trick to my fist. As soon as an outburst of dense aura grazed past her palm, Alicia hurriedly retrieved her hand in a fluster. It was toote when she btedly raised her arms back up for a guard, and my finger was already poking into her cheek. ¡°I will always be the oneing out on top.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­ Please remove your hand.¡± There was a rare sign of zing frustration in her expression, which was something you wouldn¡¯t see often from someone as docile as her. That was to be expected, because she was a sessor candidate of a renowned household of swordsmanship. No matter how low of a self-esteem she had, she would still be discontent with the gibberish from a random Grade 5 nobody. ¡°I once saw Lunia Arden fighting.¡± Lunia Arden. She was Alicia Arden¡¯s older sister from another mother, and apetitor who was aiming for the position of a sessor. Alicia turned visibly gloomy the moment I mentioned her name. Yes, I know about the inferiorityplex you have for Lunia Arden, and your fear. The target of your admiration and terror. The rtionship of these sisters was a lot moreplicated than expected. ¡°Are you¡­ my elder sister¡¯s acquaintance?¡± ¡°No. I told you I just saw her fighting from a distance.¡± We actually fought together in the same party quite often but, well¡­ that wasn¡¯t the case in this iteration so I wasn¡¯t lying. ¡°She was strong. Probably the strongest out of all the swordsmen I know.¡± It might be funny how a Grade 5 random person was giving out evaluations about a possible Unique Grade swordsman, but Alicia was quite serious when listening to me. There were many things Alicia had been hearing the whole time ¨C ¡®You are worse off than your sister¡¯, ¡®Your sister would have done it differently¡¯, ¡®Your sister used to do this when she was your age¡¯. The reason Alicia Arden gave up on having any hopes for her swordsmanship also stemmed from the difference in their ability and the constantparison. But more than anything, there was probably also the vignce and contempt she received as an illegitimate child. ¡°But talent-wise, you¡¯re better.¡± ¡°¡­¡­U, uun?¡± Alicia asked back while endearingly tilting her head. She then repeatedly blinked her eyes as if those words werepletely outside of her expectations. ¡°I can guarantee it. Your talent in sword is superior than your sister.¡± ¡°T, that¡¯s impossible! There¡¯s¡­ there is no way I am better than elder sister!¡± ¡°It¡¯s up to you to believe it or not, but since you are at the Academy anyway, you might as well try it seriously.¡± ¡°A, are you really a Grade 5 Knight?¡± ¡°I just have a tad bit of more experience than others.¡± For 3 years, I fought against countless monsters while clearing the scenario. None of them were weaker than me and I had never been the strong one in a fight, but¡­ None of those mountain loads of powerhouses managed to beat me. **** I was about to sneak into the hunting grounds after a quick dinner, but noticed how rowdy the campus was. ¨C Have you found¡­ ¨C Nope, I¡¯ll head to the outskirts. ¡®Seriously¡­¡¯ I was very unsettled. The two people that walked by just then were Professor Deina from the Magic Department and Professor Fermack Daman from the Knight Department. They were the symbolic guardians of Merkarva Academy. Aside from them, there were also a few security guards running around and the campus was overall in a very disordered state. ¡°Did one of the experiment subjects escape or something?¡± Considering how Professor Deina, who carried out live experiments on dangerous beasts, was also here, it might be because of an escape of a demonic beast or a demonic spirit of theboratory. It was quite rare yet frequent in Merkarva Academy. Even in the game, Marie¡¯s boss fight had taken ce at theboratory. She would move the demonic beasts of that ce around as her familiars and defeating them was the 1st phase of the fight. Well, there was still a month to go though. Away from the eyes of other students and professors, I arrived at a certainke located at the corner of the hunting grounds. Because of how far it was from the center, it wasn¡¯t managed properly and there were plenty of tall weeds nearby. I was here to meet the being that was living in this ce. But first off, I had to force some water out of my eyes. ¡°U, uhhh?¡± While giving a noisy shout, I wobbled my body. My staggering hands were carrying the Seed of a Mandrake and¡­ ¡°Oh noo! I¡¯m falling!!¡± I fell down in an exaggerated manner and dropped the seed into theke. ¡°This can¡¯t be! What should I do? Noooo! What am I supposed to do!! NOOOO!!¡± I continued screaming while sneaking a glimpse. Hitting the ground, I acted as if I was aiming for the Academy Award of Best Actor. It was definitely an amazing act but it seemed that it wasn¡¯t spicy enough yet. ¡°Nooo! The one and only seed left behind by my mother¡­! NUUOOOOOOOO¡­!¡± ¨C Bubble bubble! It¡¯s here! I forced out a few more tears when the center of theke started to bubble as an old man appeared from inside. ¡°Hohoh. Why is it that you are weeping so much?¡± The old man appeared after being moved by my awesome act, gazed down at me with a benevolent smile. A hidden piece that could only be used once in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? which had the narrative written by the scenario team of a Koreanpany¡­ It was the God of Lake. **** The Honest Woodcutter. It was a famous fairy tale in Korea and the original was from Aesop¡¯s Fables or something. It was a very famous story where the God asks, ¡®Was this what you had lost?¡¯ to the woodcutter who dropped an iron ax into theke while showing him golden and silver axes. This God of Lake also existed in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, and while walking by thiske, there would be a prompt asking, ¡®Will you drop any items inside?¡¯ so it was quitemon for yers to chuck several items inside theke. Because the original was about golden and silver axes, most of the yers threw weapons that were below the Unique Grade but¡­ it didn¡¯t lead to any result no matter how many weapons people threw inside. But old-timers of a game weren¡¯t someone to be looked down on. They were people that did all sorts of wacky stuff that others would not even try! ¡ºI tried dropping 500 trash items into the Lake today LOL¡» There was the so-called ¡®Trashing Challenge¡¯ that began by one of the yers, and among the yers were brave heroes who even dropped precious items inside. And I was one of those brave heroes. ¡°Is this golden seed yours?¡± ¡°No. That golden seed isn¡¯t mine.¡± Those nerd developers must have been giggling to themselves while wondering if anyone would ever find this hidden piece. ¡°Is this silver seed yours?¡± ¡°No. That silver seed isn¡¯t mine.¡± What kind of mental retard would drop the Seed of a Mandrake which you had to exchange for strenuously hard-earned 100 points? Well, that was me! ¡°Hohoh. Then this seed must be yours.¡± ¡°Yes. That¡¯s correct! That definitely is my seed.¡± ¡°I see that you are an honest man who does not get greedy from seeing gold and silver. In honor of your honesty, I shall give you all 3 seeds.¡± ¡°Oh my! Thank you very much!¡± The God of Lake disappeared after giving me the three seeds. Even if you dropped more items inside, this God of Lake would not show up anymore. It was a hidden piece which could only be used once. After double-checking that the God of Lake wasn¡¯t here, I turned to the beautiful seeds on my hands. ?Yellow Golden Seed of a Mandrake? ?White Silver Seed of a Mandrake? ?Seed of a Mandrake? ¡°Huhuhu! Now this is a dupe bug!¡± Honesty is overpowered. Mandrakes forever! Chapter 21: Marie Dunareff (2) ? Marie Dunareff (2) ? The Mandrake seeds that I got from the God of the Lake were sparkling like gems. The normal Seed of a Mandrake already had the effect of greatly increasing a person¡¯s mana capacity, but these yellow gold and white silver seeds had very special uses for them. That was natural considering how they were precious easter eggs which could only be obtained through this method in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. In the previous iteration, Park Sihu had the yellow gold one so I only took the white silver one for myself but that alone had already given me great benefits. This time, the yellow gold, white silver and the normal Mandrakes were all mine. The normal Mandrake could be shared with two or three other people after being boiled with water, but the yellow gold and the white silver were best eaten raw, and that would thus make a big difference. The only problem was that they would immediately let out a tremendously ridiculous scream when reaped but that wasn¡¯t a big deal. I headed to the dormitory with a bright smile on my face. There was roughly 3 weeks left until the D-Day of Marie awakening into a vampire. Until then, my job was to train Alicia, hire Dorron the Mercenary of Flying Swords, coax the Druid of the Avelorn Forest and befriend the Golem User, Kranel. ¡°Mhmm. Perfect!¡± It was such a perfect n that there was no reason to add anything else! **** Four days after the practical lesson at the hunting grounds, I was walking down the corridor after a morning lesson and saw 2nd year students who had just finished their lesson. ¨C Have you seen Isabelle these days? ¨C No. Wasn¡¯t she with Marie? ¨C Apparently she¡¯s sick. Professor Josephine said there was an ident during the prac lesson. ¨C I couldn¡¯t even visit themst time I checked. ¨C Both Marie and Isabelle? Did something happen to the two of them? Their topic this time wasn¡¯t Marie, but a 2nd year student called Isabelle. I normally would have ignored their chatter but the unexpected name that reached my ears was ¡®Isabelle¡¯ out of every name possible. Isabelle Kirmin. Marie¡¯s roommate at the dormitory and the first victim of the vampire incident. She was a side character whose name wasn¡¯t even shared in the game but I knew her name thanks to my experience from the previous iteration. The girl who was discovered unconscious after having her blood sucked ¨C that same girl just happened to be at the sick bay and no visitors were allowed¡­ Was this just a coincidence? That¡¯s what my brain was telling me, but my uneasy instincts said otherwise. There wasn¡¯t enough proof. Breaking through the sick bay was thest method to rely on, and there was a ce I had to go before everything. **** In a mansion located at the north of the Academy was an amodation reserved for special students. It was officially recorded as the personal residences of the highest-achieving students of each year but currently, it was in fact dedicated for only one person. Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran. A Unique Grade demi-human thatpletely devastated the Moonlight Castle of the eastern continent. After inviting her in as a student, the Chairman had prepared this ce for Hua Ran to live in by herself. It might have been an attempt to respect her style of life, but the western format of the building had also been modified to that of the east as much as possible. ¡ºPlease do not leave for the time being. As for your study, I will make the arrangements for you myselfter on.¡» It had already been 4 days since the strict witch said that to Hua Ran. The witch, who told her that there would be special personalized lessons everyday, was still not showing herself. Maybe she was extremely busy doing something. With not a single visitoring to the house, the exaggerated noise of the turning pages of the book was the only source of sound resonating across the house inhabited by one girl. ¡°¡­Boring.¡± The story inside the book had a happy ending, but the face of the girl reading it was filled with dissatisfaction as she closed the book. Reading several books in just one day, she once again realized that she was put in a situation where she wasn¡¯t allowed to do anything. Her semi-imprisonment was because of her participation in the practical lesson. It was something that she whimsically asked for due to a simple desire of watching and observing the weak boy who had to survive in the midst of fighting students. Unfortunately, she couldn¡¯t even do that either. Gazing outside the window of the second floor, she nkly stared at the tree in the garden as a rebellious spirit rose inside her. Should I climb over the fence? Even though that noisy woman asserted that she shouldn¡¯t do so, there was no reason for Hua Ran to obey hermand. But at the same time, there was no reason to disobey that, so she was gazing at the fence hidden by the budding tree while hesitantly pondering by herself when¡­ ¡°Geez, there we go. Ohh, I knew it. You are here.¡± A boy that would have been mistaken as a caveman if not for his clothesnded on top of the branch. ¡°Hua Ran? We met already, didn¡¯t we? I¡¯m Korin Lork. It might be a bit sudden but I brought something because I didn¡¯t want toe empty-handed.¡± Korin Lork grinned while taking out a box of cake which was sold at the dessert store inside the Academy. Hua Ran did not have themon sense to tell whether that was a respectful action or something that warranted him being scolded as an illegal trespasser. ¡°Can you open the window for me?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She was vacantly staring at him when the boy scratched his cheeks and muttered, ¡®Maybe she can¡¯t hear me,¡¯ before ncing at the window. He thenid his foot on the windowsill and opened the window. ¡°Ah¡­¡± The boy looked like he would immediately jump into the room but suddenly changed his mind and slowly dropped the cake before returning to his branch. ¡°Entering facilities without permission is going against the rules, you see.¡± ¡°¡­I think you¡¯re already breaking them.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just standing on the branch of a random tree right now.¡± While telling her that the way the action is described is more important than the action itself, Korin broadened her horizons on the ways of a delinquent. ¡°I have a question.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Hua Ran deemed that it was fine to answer his question. Due to being bored for the past four days, she had be a bit more benevolent. ¡°Has Lady Josephine evere back in thest 4 days?¡± ¡°¡­¡± In order to ask a question like that and analyze the answer that woulde back in response¡­ How many things did Korin Lork have to know about? Although young and instinctive, the clever brain of the girl formed an evaluation of Korin Lork from that one question. Asking about his objective, however, would be quite meaningless. Information was something that could have all sorts of values depending on the perspective and the context so there was no reason for Hua Ran to bother thinking about what he would infer after an enquiry about Lady Josephine¡¯s location. ¡°No. Not a single time.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± It seemed that he had collected all the necessary pieces of information. The boy turned around but soon, he turned back to her as if he remembered something and looked into her eyes. The red eyes of a ghost that people of the East hadbeled as scary and ominous¡­ In front of him was a beast that was in an absolutely iparable realm to him, but Korin¡¯s eyes stayed firm nheless. ¡°I¡¯ll buy you a meal next time.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Korin Lork left behind a ¡®vow¡¯ for the price of that piece of information before disappearing again into the world beyond the fence. **** Lady Josephine was nowhere to be seen and had left Hua Ran, someone who had to be monitored the most in Merkarva Academy, to her own devices. It was understandable for Chairman Eriu to be unable to supervise her all the time because of his unique circumstances, but one of the biggest powerhouses of the Academy, Lady Josephine, leaving Hua Ran alone was an unimaginable thing to do. I wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but things were going differently from the original plot. ¡®That is enough to form a doubt. But I need proof.¡¯ It was already half-certain at this point¡­ but I continued looking for proof and got one at the sick bay. ¡°Sorry. You can¡¯t visit Ms. Marie right now. And it¡¯s the same for Ms. Isabelle. Senior Professor Josephine has made it very clear that both of them need a great deal of rest.¡± At the front desk of the sick bay, I inquired if I could visit Marie and was met with a clear-cut rejection. ¡°Hmm¡­ Am I not even allowed to see her face? There is something urgent that I need to tell her.¡± ¡°My apologies. There¡¯s nothing we can do until they somewhat recover their strength. But if there is something you would like to tell them or something to give them, you can give it to us and we will make sure they get it.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I see. Please give her my regards. I will just see herter when she¡¯s back to being healthy.¡± The visit request was denied, which usually never happened unless they were critically injured. Besides, the two of them were in the same room, and that was very suspicious for it to be a coincidence. ¡°Young man. This ce is out of bounds.¡± Mr. Crone from Security Team 3 was guarding the door of the room. It was possible to force my way inside, but that would antagonize the entire Academy in an instant. ¡°Ah. You¡¯re Mr. Crone from Security Team 3 right? Senior Professor Josephine sent me here.¡± ¡°Huh? Lady Josephine did? What for?¡± He wasn¡¯t particrly puzzled by me telling him that I was here under Lady Josephine¡¯smand. As expected, it seemed that Lady Josephine was the one who allocated a security guard to this ce. ¡°She told me to bring you some food and a drink that you can have in the middle of your post.¡± ¡°Hoho, did she? Lady Josephine is such a great superior to have, isn¡¯t she?¡± I gave him a meat sandwich and a strawberry milk which I prepared after being turned down at the front desk. By the way, engraved on the sandwich was the rune ???- Inguz. It was a rune that wished for good fertility for a pregnantdy but a normal person eating food with this rune would have diarrhea. ¡°Kuhaak¡­!¡± I¡¯m sorry Mr. Crone. But don¡¯t you have constipation anyway? This is your chance to let everything out and be free. I waited around the corner and checked Mr. Crone dash to the bathroom before entering Marie¡¯s room. On top of the only bed of the room was someone quietly breathing in her sleep with the nket cast over her face. While hoping that I was just over-reacting to things, I quietly walked up to lower the nket and saw¡­ ¡°¡­¡± Isabelle Kirmin. Marie was nowhere to be seen and there was only Isabelle lying down on the bed. No. This can¡¯t be. There still should have been a month left. Isn¡¯t this way too early? I slowly lowered the gown to see her neck. There were two dotted marks on her neck that were gradually closing. That wound which appeared to have been made by sharp fangs had blood clots on top of them. **** I quickly left the room and thought to myself for a very long time. Why? How? The wound on Isabelle¡¯s neck was most definitely something left behind after having her blood sucked out. That was the ce that vampires instinctively bit on when sucking blood out of humans. In turn, that meant Marie Dunareff had awakened as a vampire. I had no idea why the demonic molecules in Marie¡¯s body were aroused, because there were all sorts of potential reasons behind that in this world. Looking straight at the full moon could be a reason, and they could also be awakened from either being possessed by a demonic spirit or being artificially woken up. In this world, there was arge portion of people that had dormant demonic molecules in their bodies, and the detonation was very random. There was nothing to gain by lingering on what caused the problem. The scenario had already shifted away from the original plot, which was probably due to a butterfly effect caused by my own actions. Even though I had not a single clue on what that was! In any case, it had already happened. Nothing had been prepared so far but I still had to do something.
  1. Lady Josephine was missing.
  1. Professors and the securities were searching everywhere.
Judging from those two facts that were still ongoing, it was safe to assume that Marie hadn¡¯t been discovered yet. She appeared to have run away somewhere like the previous iteration. ¡®Unlike the original plot, it¡¯s probably not theb.¡¯ If that was the case, she would have been discovered already. ?She even sucked the blood of her own friend. And yet she was hiding in the forest crying by herself. Do you know how hard it was? Who knew that stubborn bitch would dig a hole in the forest and stay there for a whole month?? I remembered the memories of the past that were still very spooky. In the previous iteration, Park Sihu captured Marie because the blood of a high-vampire was one of the ingredients of elixir¡­ that bastard. He said Marie persisted in the forest for a whole month. Forest. In Merkarva Academy, there was only one forest. ¡°The Hunting Grounds.¡± The depths that were out of bounds for normal students ¨C that must be where Marie was. If she was hiding there, it would take some time for the other professors to find her. I had to reach her before them, do the raid and subjugate her. ¡®It¡¯s fine. As long as¡­ there is enough manpower, we can progress to the 3rd phase and it¡¯ll be fine even if we don¡¯t defeat her.¡¯ The final boss of the 1st Arc, Marie, had 4 phases in total. To achieve my goal¡­ and if my hypothesis was correct, then we wouldn¡¯t even have to get to the end of Phase 4 in order toplete the raid. What was necessary was to finish Phase 2 where Marie would join the fight and start Phase 3. Everything would be okay as long as we reached that point. Although she was a powerful boss who was perceived as a Unique Grade after her awakening as a vampire, a 5-man party with enough strength was enough to suppress her. In the first ce, the method to beat the boss fight of the 1st Arc was to aim for the gap that was created whenever Marie was desperately retaliating against the instincts of a vampire. Without something like that, it would be simply impossible for the early-game yer party to beat a Unique Grade demi-human who was pretty much unrivaled in terms of strength. In other words, the key question was whether the party could hold on until reaching thest phase of the boss fight. And ording to my n, there was no need to even reach the end of the fight. Phase 1 ¨C Get rid of the horde of monsters, Phase 2 ¨C Withstand the bombardment of magic and inflict some damage for advantage, And in Phase 3, we had to fight against the blood familiar that would run berserk inside the Blood Realm. After beating the familiar in Phase 3, that would go over to the final mechanic which leads to the Final Phase, and that final mechanic was the key of this fight. Even without the yer, reaching the 3rd phase was nothing difficult as long as we had¡­ the 1st year named characters, but¡­???? Hold on. Alicia Arden, injured. By me. Dorron Warsky, weapons destroyed. That was also me! Kranel Luden, golem core destroyed. By me again? ¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­ The named freshmen characters were all disarmed. What the heck? ¡°¡­¡­Fuck.¡± I was doomed. Chapter 22: Marie Dunareff (3) ? Marie Dunareff (3) ? ording to the original plot, after meeting John Doe, the ?Murderer of the City of Fog? ¨C an important character who appeared at thetter stages of the 1st Arc, Marie would attack her roommate and go berserk. In the previous iteration, we had been waiting underneath Marie and Isabelle¡¯s dormitory immediately after the event so we were able to respond in time, but Park Sihu had intentionally let go of her. The members of the previous iteration were Park Sihu, Yuel the Druid, Dorron the Mercenary, the Golem User Kranel and me. It was a 5-man party. Thanks to having hidden pieces and the game knowledge, Park Sihu and I were fully prepared and could defeat Marie even without the help of Alicia, who was a strong early-game character. But what about now? All the freshmen members were pretty much unable to fight. And the saddest part was that I was the one who caused everything. But honestly, who could have guessed that an event that was supposed to start 3 weekster would be happening this early? There wasn¡¯t much time. I had to gather people as soon as possible. Alicia wasn¡¯t an option. Her bones were crushed because of my eight trigram palm strike, so she would have trouble even running. The Golem User Kranel was also practically non-existent because the most important golem core had been broken. The only ones that could somewhat move were Yuel the Druid and the mercenary, Dorron Warsky. I did think about Hua Ran for a second, but leaving aside whether it was even possible to persuade her or not, I wasn¡¯t confident in predicting how things would turn out if she was to join the party. If Hua Ran¡¯s restrictions were to be broken during the fight against the awakened Marie, then that would immediately lead to ¡®Game Over¡¯. Power too big to control would only be a hindrance. ¡°Hello.¡± Dorron, who was training by himself at the very corner of the training rooms, threw me a nce before minding his own business again. ¨C Shhiiik¡­! Booboom! With one nce, he manipted the swords as they fiercely shredded the target apart. I turned to the flying swords and noticed that the three magic swords that I had destroyed were nowhere to be seen. ¡°What is it? Korin Lork.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I don¡¯t remember telling you my name though.¡± ¡°It is normal to remember the names of every capable person of the Academy.¡± The fight at the hunting grounds appeared to have left quite an impression. It seemed that Dorron had looked up my name in his own time. ¡°I want to hire you as a mercenary.¡± ¡°50% down payment. I can take an item as a mortgage if you don¡¯t have money.¡± That was what I was waiting for. I immediately took out the Soul Dust that I got by letting Sebancia Duke ascend in peace at the library. ¡°This¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s for the mortgage. Unique Grade Soul Dust. Not a single speck of the soul lost due to a fight. A 100% pure and perfect item.¡± ¡°May I ask what you are after, Boss?¡± Dorron changed his attitude in an instant, which was a plus considering how easy it was to talk to him. ¡°We will be looking for one person. Me, you and the other party members will have to subjugate that person without killing her.¡± ¡°And how difficult would it be?¡± ¡°Unique Grade.¡± ¡°Crazy.¡± He clicked his tongue as if that was absurd, but he didn¡¯t turn the offer down straight away. ¡°The rule for mercenaries is to not bother with hopeless battles.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re scared, you can use only the flying swords at a safe distance.¡± ¡°You see, I only have two swords left. You should know that better than anyone else.¡± Yes. I did, because I was the one who broke them. The only remaining magic swords were a normal magic sword that had no special abilities and the heavy iron sword which could only strike down from above. ¡°All you have to do is asionally draw the eyes of the enemy and act as a sub-dps. I¡¯m not expecting anything more than that from a mercenary.¡± It was easy to form a party with Dorron Warsky. All we had to do was give him money. However, he was a mercenary. Trying to use him more than the ¡®money¡¯s worth¡¯ would always lead to a bacsh. A firm line had to be drawn to make use of him. ¡°Good. The price would be 20 gold coins. If you can¡¯t pay the money¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll sell the mortgage if I have to so don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°What a nice employer to have.¡± Dorron didn¡¯t ask anything else. He didn¡¯t ask who the Unique Grade was, nor raise any doubt on where I obtained that information. He was someone who considered following the givenmands without bothering about anything else. The code of mercenaries. After deciding to meet at the entrance of the hunting grounds in 2 hours time, I looked for the next target. **** Most of the locations of the NPCs in the game were fixed. It was to make sure yers didn¡¯t have to go around everywhere when looking for specific NPCs, but there was a particr reason behind them in this real world. An example was the Druid of the Avelorn Forest, Yuel. She spent most of her time at the library. ¡®Papers are disgusting! Nature is the best!¡¯ Even though that was what the druids screamed out all the time, there was a reason why Yuel was always at the library filled with papers. ¡°You mean you want me to cooperate?¡± ¡°Please.¡± ¡°¡­Why should I?¡± The girl with a light green shade of hair asked an obvious question with a discontent look on her face. As someone who could read the aura of nature, she must have realized how pathetic my aura and my mana was. She must have found itughable for someone as weak as me to suddenly ask for cooperation on defeating a Unique Grade demi-human. ¡°Ogham Alphabet.¡± ¡°!!!¡± ¡°That¡¯s your traditional alphabet, right? The letters that were lost when Avelorn was burned down by demonic beasts.¡± ¡°You¡­ How did you¡­?!¡± ¡°I heard of the great fire at the Avelorn Forest a year ago, and why else would a druid from that forest suddenlye to Merkarva Academy?¡± I told her the rest was easy to deduce, and Yuel was convinced despite the ufortable look in her eyes. She was from the ancient tribe that detested papers for being made by cutting wood, with only one person from the generation allowed to know about the traditional alphabets. During the attack of the demonic beasts, the previous druid in charge had been killed and the alphabets that were carved on the walls were also all lost due to the fire. The reason Yuel, the Druid of the Avelorn Forest, hade to Merkarva Academy was in hopes that its Great Library with so many pieces of information would have some clues about the Ogham letters. ¡°I¡¯ve read something rted to that. I can¡¯t really remember the title of that book but¡­¡± I grinned while tapping on my head. ¡°It¡¯s all in my head.¡± ¡°What a shrewd person¡­¡± Yuel frowned after understanding my words. ¡°? (Onn). I think that¡¯s enough for the proof. Right?¡± I said while writing down an Ogham letter as Yuel quickly wrote that down on her notepad with a pale face. Just by looking at how she was using a paper notepad as a druid who befriended nature, it was extremely clear how desperate she was. By the way, the book I read was called ?Exploring the Wild by the Adventurer, Vorahlmer?which was written 80 years ago. Due to introducing the culture of pagans, the Old Faith banned it as a taboo and this Great Library was thus the only ce that possessed a copy of that book. In the game, it was something that was found by progressing the rapport event with Yuel, so it would take a long time for her to find it by herself. ¡°More¡­¡± Her face that was eager for more letters gave off her desperation. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be in a hurry. I¡¯ll tell you everything once this is over.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ a promise.¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m not asking for much either. I¡¯ll do all the dangerous stuff myself so just support me from the back.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I left the library after making a promise with Yuel. The sub-dps and the support were all in ce. The only things that now had to be done was fill up the numbers ¨C so we could stand our ground during the 1st phase. ¡°Can you say that one more time?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ I think I¡¯m hearing things.¡± The two people who loved going to the training rooms these days ¨C those owls who were slowly enticing Kranel Luden into their grasp were shocked after hearing my words. Grade 3 Knight, Jaeger Hinzpeter. Grade 5 Mage, Lark Buhgman. These guys that I knew from way back were just side characters and single-time viins whose roles were preassigned by the main scenario back when it was a game, but now they were different. ¡°I¡¯m looking for a party. It¡¯s difficult, low reward, extremely dangerous and we might even die against a strong Unique Grade demon, but we can gain tremendous honor and recognition if we seed.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The boy wearing sses with unkempt hair and the typical delinquent-looking guy with short hair turned to each other. People that loved efficiency were like this ¨C they would use a calctor to calcte their chance of victory and the efficiency, to see what would be the most beneficial for them. However, the true alpha men were different. ¡°That sounds super retarded but¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡± Because alphas never care. That was why humanity was able to conquer the South Pole. **** When we arrived at the forest in time, the sun had already set over the horizon, and the woods with not a single presence of students was as dark and unfathomable as the abyss. ¡°Is she really in this forest?¡± ¡°Senior Marie, right?¡± Jaeger, Lark, Dorron and Yuel had each prepared themselves for the uing fight. ¡°Boss. I know what the goal is, but how are we going to find her?¡± It would take years for us to search through this whole forest with just the five of us. That obviously wasn¡¯t my n. ¡°We don¡¯t need to look for her ourselves. We can just ask. Right?¡± ¡°¡­Seriously. How do you know so much?¡± This was our second conversation. With a puzzled look on her face that showed her befuddlement, the druid lowered the antique staff onto the ground and closed her eyes. ¡°O spirits.¡± Even though the druids were known to use the power of the forest for themselves, this was nothing like magic where they had to spend their own mana. They were the protectors of the forest that grew up together with nature. A single sincere request from them was able to move the forest. In the dead of the night, the forest greatly fluctuated. Judging based on the cheerful reactions of Lark and Jaeger, it seemed that many spirits of the forest were responding to Yuel¡¯s call. ¡°Yes. I beg you. Please find her. Please lead us to her.¡± Although this wasn¡¯t a part of the game, we had greatly relied on her in the previous iteration. Most of the spirits of the forest were low-grade elementals. They were useless in battles but when it came to searches, their overwhelming numbers were incredibly overpowered. As long as we were in the forest, druids were pretty much almighty. This was why I had taken in Yuel as the support. No-one was able to run away from the eyes of a druid in the forest. ¡°I found her. At the depths of the forest¡­ where the demonic beasts are. That¡¯s where she is.¡± Where the demonic beasts are, huh¡­ I had a rough idea of why she would be there, but Marie¡¯s instincts should be telling her that their blood wasn¡¯t enough. I trusted myself. There was enough evidence to support my hypothesis, and that was why I was shoving my head into such a dangerous matter. ¨C Kiieeeekk¡ª! A chilly howl echoed across the woods. The demonic beasts of the hunting grounds were creating a ruckus even though it was ratherte at night. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Dude. This¡­¡± Jaeger seemed to have noticed it as well and nced at everyone while inquiring with his gaze whether his prediction was correct or not. ¡°¡­¡­The spirits are frightened.¡± ¡°It is not any different for the demonic beasts.¡± ¡°Have you seen anything like this, Dorron?¡± ¡°A few times. There is only one reason why predators would be terrified.¡± ¨C The appearance of an even bigger predator. The demonic beasts at the top of the food chain in the forest were so horrified by the appearance of the powerful being that they were wailing in fear. It was natural for them to be scared and terrified. That wasn¡¯t something as simple as powerlessness and fear towards a stronger being. The demonic aura exuding out of Unique Grade demons ¨C those unfathomable monsters ¨C had something like the fear-inducing aura of the dragon race. ¨C Clomp clomp! ¨C Clomp clomp! Those shrieks of the beasts subsided more as we approached the center of the forest. From fear to powerlessness, and from powerlessness to obedience. Such was the way of the ecosystem. At one point, the only source of sound became the rustling leaves beneath our feet, and that was when our eyes spotted something different. ¨C Krrghk! Kurrgk! In an open plot ofnd with dozens of demonic beasts stood a girl that appeared extremely out of ce. Her water-coloured hair that used to be both neat and tidy was tainted with blood and her evesting smile was reced by stiff clots of blood. ¨C Kuruk, kurrugk¡­! An owlbear had its neck bitten by the girl who was less than a quarter of its size, but was staying still without even dreaming of fighting back. The fangs that were digging in through the thick leather around the neck formed a pathway for a one-sided blood transfusion. Despite being aware that it will be sucked dry till death, the owlbear and the demonic beasts surrounding them were unable to dare fight back. Those beasts had their brutality repressed by the demonic aura of a Unique Grade, and retaliation wasn¡¯t even an option for them. A scene that waspletely outside of his expectation made Lark take a few steps back in horror. ¡°Hiik¡­¡± ¡°Kurrh¡­!¡± His unconscious gasp made the vampire turn its head in a flick. The golden eyes that used to be as bright as the sun were now vertically slit like the pupils of a reptile. Vampire. The King of demons. One of the most powerful demi-humans. ¡°Get ready. Yuel and Lark ¨C go to the rear. Dorron and Jaeger ¨C take a step back and focus on support. I¡¯ll take the lead.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I felt mana fluctuating behind me. It was probably the spirits and Lark¡¯s ghost knight being summoned. It was none of my business considering my inability to perceive spirits due to the Restriction ¨C the 2nd line of my Precept. However, what was important was¡ª ¡º3rd Precept¡» Marie Dunareff: Rtion ¨C C Backup: 50% Increase in Stats Aura: { Low (1,480 + 740) } Mana: { Very Low (920 + 460) } Strength: 26 + 13 Agility: 26 + 13 Vitality: 26 + 13 Aura: 26 + 13 Mana: 26 + 13 ?Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior? When your HP falls below a certain level during a fight, your HP Regeneration speed will increase tremendously. + 50% Regeneration ?I will save the world? ¨C Either kill or save Marie Dunareff and take the first step in saving the world. ?There is a conflict with the 1st Precept, ?I will not disregard the misfortune of the good.?? ?Save Marie Dunareff. Wish you all the best, Hero Korin Lork.? Marie¡¯s fate and the effect she will have on this world. The backup I received was after a calction of the ¡®effect this would have on the worldter on¡¯, instead of considering this as a one-time event of the 1st Arc. Besides, considering my 50% additional damage to physical existences, my current physique at this moment was pretty much at the level of a Grade 2 Knight. ¡°Kuwoooo¡ª!!¡± ¡°Kweeekkkkk¡ª!!¡± The demonic beasts sprinted forward while roaring out loud. Starting from owlbears to mat boars and horned rabbits, those monsters began flooding us with their brutal natures which had been suppressed by Marie¡¯s demonic aura. ¡°Right. A beast is a beast. Easy for them to know who the weaker one is, I guess.¡± A Unique Grade demon behind them and Grade 2 randoms in front. There was no need to even think at that point on who they should attack. The 1st phase of the boss fight with Vampire Marie Dunareff was the battle against demonic beasts and spirits that were under her control. We had toe out victorious in this little skirmish and pass through the 2nd phase. ¡ºMain Quest: Marie Dunareff¡» ¡ù Difficulty: S Our current party was about half of what we were in the previous iteration. But even so¡ª ¡°Everyone. Get ready.¡± We will win. We will ovee every adversity and hardship to achieve victory. Chapter 23: Marie Dunareff (4) ? Marie Dunareff (4) ? The Warsky Mercenaries earned money by hunting demonic beasts and ghosts, and Dorron was one of the top powerhouses of the group. Even though there were guardians assigned to the task of dealing with demons, they were few and far between. In the distant barbards that were too far for guardians to reach, Dorron had spent his life decapitating demons. He was one of the so-called geniuses. Using his innate telekic ability, he floated his swords and supported them with eleration spells that were simple yet powerful. He was only 13 years old when he became the right-hand man of the captain of the mercenary group. No-one in the Warsky group was stronger than Dorron as an individual, but there was a reason why he didn¡¯t bother aiming for the position of a captain. Fights weren¡¯t simply decided by one¡¯s strength. He understood through his experiences that there were more factors apart from strength. ¡°An owlbear approaching from the side. Use a fireball. Yuel, hold it back with tree roots. 1 second is enough.¡± Using the low-grade spells of the support, he kept the beast in check. In just a matter of second with the owlbear stuck in ce in a fluster, a spear urately pierced through its neck. ¡°Kieeek!¡± Without getting greedy to end the life of the demonic beast, the man unhesitatingly retreated to his original position to protect his teammates. There was an overwhelming number of demonic beasts. Even though none of them was over Grade 2, the sheer number of those monsters was enough to make Dorron nervous despite his experience. Besides, he could only use two magic swords right now. His experience as a mercenary told him that this party would definitely crumble in less than 30 seconds but¡­ ¡®It¡¯s not crumbling.¡¯ ¡°Jaeger, don¡¯t go too far! You¡¯ll be surrounded!¡± ¡°Y, yeah!¡± It was him. The Grade 5 nobody who gave him trouble at the forest ¨C a strange guy whose intention was hard to see through. In this chaotic battlefield, he was the only one that remained calm. Without being repressed by the demonic aura of a Unique Grade demi-human and as if the roars of the bellowing demonic beasts were nothing, he stayed firm like a boulder. ¡®He¡¯s just like the Captain.¡¯ That Grade 5 Knight was the one keeping this party alive. Like the veteran captain of the mercenary group, he was controlling both this party and the battlefield. Fighting, tactics and support¡­ there was not a single thing he couldn¡¯t do. Not only was he strong as an individual, but he was also like a veteran leader and a strategist. How was that even a Grade 5 Knight? There must be something terribly wrong with this Academy¡¯s grading test. ¡°Huuk¡­! Huuk¡­!¡± ¡°Jaeger. Take 3 steps to the back.¡± ¡°Huh? I, I¡¯m still fine!¡± ¡°There is no need to hurry. We can slowly reduce their numbers.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Jaeger turned his gaze over to the other side of the wave of monsters. He gasped for breath as his eyes disyed the fear he had for that fallen demon. Everyone in this ce knew, that the fight would be in the favor of the enemy as soon as that unmoving demon moved itself. That was why they were in a hurry. Their trepidation was forcing them to move their bodies, with their brains telling them that they had to get rid of as many demonic beasts before that as possible. But the leader of the party, Korin Lork, was not swept away by it. Don¡¯t hurry. Calm down. Step back. Although an attitude like that was something that every party leader needed to have, there were a bunch of them who couldn¡¯t do anything simr to that. Despite the disadvantageous shift in the battle, he did not pant a single time nor was he devoured by the surrounding atmosphere. ¡°Yuel. Don¡¯t do anything for the next 15 seconds. Otherwise, you¡¯ll pull the aggro. The spirits can just cloud the vision of the demonic beasts.¡± ¡°Lark. Fire three magic missiles to the front. Target the small ones that are trying to sneak in.¡± ¡°Jaeger. Hold that big guy for as long as possible. Dorron. Strike that same guy on its head with the heavy iron sword while Jaeger is holding it back.¡± He was the only one that wasn¡¯t showing any regard for the Unique Grade monster. It was as if he was certain that she wouldn¡¯t ever attack them. Hisposure and that unknown confidence was what allowed him to lead the party forward. Both Dorron and Yuel were strong yet unique people, and yet he was skilfully controlling them as if he had fought with them multiple times already. ¡®Even though I only have 2 swords now.¡¯ The three swords that served as his main weapons were already broken. Even though Dorron was a user of flying swords, right now, he only had a normal Grade 4 magic sword and the heavy iron sword which could only be used for something simple like striking down from above. Despite that handicap, Korin was giving him appropriate orders at the right timing. Besides, he himself wasn¡¯t weak either. ¨C Kuwaaa! ?Six Ways of the Spear? ?Third Style, Trap and Stab? By flexibly blocking the iing attacks of the demonic beasts, he pierced through their weak points in an instant. All the monsters attacking Korin Lork were done in by that same pattern. That simple technique had been mastered under his hands and the beasts couldn¡¯t do anything against him. The intricate techniques of a martial art were there to make others powerless if they didn¡¯t know how to deal with them, and Korin was doing a wonderful job. On top of that, his spear was incredibly fast and heavy for a Grade 5 Knight and all the demonic beasts were oppressed under his spearmanship. There was an enormous horde of demonic beasts under Grade 3, but it was nothing in front of a well-bnced party that was led by an experienced leader. ¡°That¡¯s thest one!!¡± ¡°As I¡¯ve said, don¡¯t kill it!¡± ¡°I know!¡± ¡°Kuwoooo¡­!¡± Jaeger dashed into the roaring owlbear and struck down with his heavy mace. He aimed it at the knee. After having its knee crushed in the blink of an eye, the owlbear copsed, only to have its other leg also broken very soon. ¡°Huhu. Is this enough, Korin?¡± ¡°You idiot. Come back.¡± Dorron rebuked him, who appeared to be under the impression that everything was over already. Everyone apart from Jaeger knew that this was only the beginning. ¡°Agh, ahh¡­ Ughhh¡­¡­¡± A beastly groan echoed across the woods. They were all familiar with the senior who used to give them baked potatoes with a bright smile. ¡°¡­¡­She¡¯s crying.¡± Yuel said while gazing at Marie who appeared to be weeping in the midst of all the blood. However, Dorron was unmoved. ¡°That doesn¡¯t change anything. We will subjugate the demon.¡± Dorron¡¯s telekinesis and the eleration spell were activated in the blink of an eye. The heavy iron sword that had been floating in the air fell towards Marie¡¯s head with the help of the eleration and the gravitational force. ¡°Uah¡­?¡± The unfocused mage instinctively turned towards the sky, but it was toote. ¨C Kwaang! Backed up with enough gravity and eleration, the heavy iron sword was both simple yet powerful at the same time. Although it was made with cheap ingredients, the magic sword had a tremendous weight that made up for it. A clear strike with the sword was enough to drive Grade 1 demonic beasts unconscious but it was blocked by something. ¡°What?¡± It was blocked by something that scattered blood into the surroundings as if protecting Marie. ¡°A f, familiar?¡± The well-informed Lark was the first one to recognize it. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°A familiar formed from the blood of a vampire! How could a newly awakened vampire already have a familiar¡­?!¡± Familiar. They were the strongest level of summonings that were formed through the blood and mana of vampires. Even the weakest of them were at the level of a medium-grade elemental. The familiars of old vampire elders were like the materialized forms of disaster. Considering how the creator was a Unique Grade vampire like Marie Dunareff, it was unthinkable what kind of ability that familiar would have. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be scared. It¡¯s a baby that was just born with not enough blood and mana. Without the blood supply from its mother, the best it can do is probably block.¡± ¡°That would offset the biggest weakness of a mage though? That is definitely quite scary.¡± Dorron gave a realisticment but Korin replied with a nonchntmand. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Anyway, there will be arge AOE spelling soon. Yuel, take out the thing we prepared.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± ¨C Ughhh¡­ A groan reverberated across as everyone turned towards Marie. The girl drenched in blood screamed in agony while wrapping her arms around her body, before suddenly emitting an explosive burst of mana. ¡°¡­away.¡± The mana was so heavy that it was suppressing the entire area. An unprecedented amount that should have been too enormous for an individual entity to have made the dimension wobble with its might. ¡°Go awayy¡­!!¡± ?Blood Bomb? Dozens of blood drops budded in the air. It was nothing but a low-grade spell, but the sheer amount of it was enough to terrify its recipient. ¡°Yuel.¡± ¡°I, I, I know.¡± As someone who had already experienced being bombarded by Marie, Yuel gulped while requesting aid from the trees of the forest. Her mana grew the trees in the blink of an eye that formed a defensive fortress in an instant. Added with the blessings of the forest spirits, it became tougher than the thick walls of a castle. It was only possible because it was Yuel in the forest. ¨C Kwaaang! Bombs of blood were poured out on the roots that were covering the party members. Those bombs that tainted its surroundings in blood struck the old trees, with each of them resulting in thunderous thuds that echoed through the entire world. ¡°U, uahhk¡­! A, are you sure this is not going to break?¡± ¡°D, don¡¯t jinx it, Jaeger!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Jaeger and Lark, as well as Yuel the Druid herself were all very uneasy, but Dorron silently stared at Korin. ¡°Huu¡­¡± He was calming his breath. Like a beast ready to pounce at its prey. ¡°Yuel.¡± ¡°Huuk¡­ huuk¡­ What is it?¡± ¡°You¡¯re about to reach your limit, right?¡± Even though she had only been using a small amount of mana until now while focusing on support, that defensive move just then had cost more than half of her entire mana pool. Her chest, where the mana heart was located, was aching in pain. The injuries that she had gotten at the practical lesson were starting to ache again due to the excessive movement of her mana. As a mage that needed to focus on theory and intuition, pain was a detrimental element that interfered with their casting process. ¡°¡­¡­And?¡± However, she still held her ground. Yuel also knew that she had to stand her ground here as much as possible. More than anything, this boy¡­ ¡°Everything¡¯s going ording to n. The flow of the battle will be in our hands in less than 5 moves. So just hang in there for me.¡± This boy had made a ridiculous promise. ¡°Is that really possible?¡± ¡°It is. Against the current Marie, that is. Dorron, Lark, Jaeger.¡± The party members gathered together. In front of their eyes was someone who seemed unbelievably peaceful despite being in the middle of cracking roots. **** The boss fight against Marie Dunareff the Vampire was divided into four phases. Phase 1 consisted of the surrounding demonic beasts attacking the yer party. After defeating all the demonic beasts, Marie would step up which marked the start of Phase 2. We had to reach Phase 4 all the way from Phase 2 in order to reach the final mechanic of the boss. Marie would never be on the full offense until the final phase, and would not even attack a single time in Phase 1. This was the same in both the game and the previous iteration. ¡°She¡¯sing. Lark. Fall back.¡± ¡°I, I can still fight!¡± ¡°You can only use one or two more low-grade spells, right?¡± ¡°How did you know that?¡± Because I¡¯ve been calcting it. ¡°You¡¯ve been great. Yuel will join you in a while. Distance yourself as much as possible until then.¡± ¡°¡­Alright.¡± Lark separated himself from the fortress of trees and fell back as the Blood Bombs constantly raged at the defensive tree wall. ¨C Rumble! ¨C Crash! The Blood Bombs were noisy but they weren¡¯t anything serious. The real threats were thebination spells. ¡°It¡¯sing.¡± ?Combination Spell ¨C Frost? ¨C Crack! All the moisture within theyer of blood expanded and became fangs of a venomous snake that pierced through the wall. Like how waterdrops broke through a boulder after decades and centuries of repetition, the blood that seeped into the nook and cranny of those intertwined tree roots expanded all at the same time and destroyed the wall. Needles of ice came raining at us like a rain of blood as soon as the wall was destroyed. The sheer number of them was absurd. It was an overwhelming difference in power that made resistance seem futile and the downfall of ice rain would drown us before we could even retaliate in any way. However, we didn¡¯t let that happen. ¡°Earth, the mother of crops and trees. A heap of ashes feeding the gods, bugs and the world.¡± The green-haired girl prayed. She prayed for thew of nature that stemmed from the cirction of life and death. ? (Sail) ? (Ifin) ? (Ur) ? (Uath) ? (Straif) The Ogham alphabets responded to the Druid¡¯s prayer. Although I was the one that engraved them, only the pure-blooded druids were able to make them function as a miracle. That ancient alphabet, which was simr yet different from rune letters, morphed under Yuel¡¯s prayer. It was the strongest move of Yuel, the Druid of Avelorn, who wouldter be the next Sage of the forest, and was only obtainable towards the end of her storyline. I was making use of that knowledge to make her use it ahead of time. ¨C Ruuumble!! The ground quaked. Lands shifted themselves up and down as thick veins appeared on top. The willows that had been growing for centuries gathered into a coarse cluster before turning into arge giant. ¡°What the¡­¡± Even the teammates were both flustered and confused. This enormous willow giant was none other than the Wicker Man ¨C a thousand-year long secret move of the Sages of the forest, the spokesmen of nature and the race beloved by the forest. ¡°It, it actually appeared¡­¡± Even the summoner herself was perturbed by the unbelievable miracle. After swallowing the surrounding cluster of dirt and trees, the monster raised its 14-meter tall body. ¡°Jaeger¡­!¡± ¡°Y, yeah!¡± As we had nned beforehand, Jaeger grabbed on the captured owlbear with handicapped legs. Using the superior physique of a Knight, Jaeger held on the unmoving legs of the beast and rotated himself in circles before throwing it at the Wicker Man. ¨C Kuwooooo¡­!!! The owlbearnded inside the Wicker Man alongside a scream. It soon became the living sacrifice supporting the Wicker Man and was scorched by the mes surging inside the giant. Wicker Man ¨C arge tree golem weaved from branches. It was a magic golem that could move forever until the sacrifice inside its wooden prison waspletelybusted into ashes. ¡°Go. Wicker Man!¡± Along with the agonizing screams of the demonic beast, the Wicker Man turned aze as it advanced onward. A falling squall of blood rain was pouncing at the Wicker Man but breaking a real boulder was not an easy feat for mere drops of blood. ¨C Hwaruk! Besides, the me burning inside the golem was setting both the Wicker Man and the rainfall aze. ?Blood Bomb? ?Combination Spell¡ª? ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ All the attacks that attempted to stop the giant were in vain. Therge giant ignored those insignificant attacks so this time, gigantic walls popped up while trying to stop the giant in its tracks. In response, the Wicker Man raised one of its arms and struck down with its burning fist. ¨C Craaack! The ice walls were shattered into fragments. Those walls could do nothing but buy a little bit of time against the colossal giant. ¡°Gaasp¡­ Haah¡­!¡± But at the same time, Yuel, who was controlling the burning willow giant, had to gasp and groan in pain. There was nothing that could be done though. The Wicker Man was supposed to be the final secret move of Yuel after she became the ¡®Sage of the Forest¡¯ near the end of her personal storyline. The difference between a normal druid and the Sage of the forest was like that of heaven and the earth. Considering her current abilities, it was doubtful if she could maintain the Wicker Man for over a minute. ¡°Yuel! Don¡¯t stop! We¡¯ll all die if you stop now!¡± ¡°I, I know that!¡± The Wicker Man advanced forward. After perhaps feeling threatened by that intimidating approach, Marie started focusing her mana. Answering her call, the air quivered around her. No-one was able to keep their mouths closed after seeing the water droplets rising all across the forest. ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­¡± It was an extremely beautiful and marvelous show of power. It was as if she was the ruler of the entire forest. ¡°How¡­¡± They couldn¡¯tprehend the scene in front of their eyes in time, and I was the only one who did, thanks to having more knowledge than others. All the moisture in the air was heeding to her call. ?Combination Spell ¨C Blood Ice? Bloodstained shards of ice formed with her amplified mana red across the air and covered the ground, before speeding at the Wicker Man through the dense trees. ¨C Crackkk! The fragments changed into one crimson spear of ice and pierced through the Wicker Man. However, the Wicker Man was a structure and not an organism, and thus did not falter despite the hole in its body. ¨C Guuuwoooooo¡ª!! Evenrger mes soared out of the Wicker Man along with the piercing scream of the sacrificed beast, as it attempted to melt the ice that was restricting its movement. It was a battle between the blood-coloured ice and a scorching ze. Even though the victor should be obvious, the ridiculous amount of mana forced a turn of events that deviated frommon sense. ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Bucket-loads of water poured out from the spear of ice that was melting due to the parching me. Normally, the destruction of the spear of ice should have decided the victor, but Marie¡¯s spear was still being supplied with both mana and moisture. ¨C Chiiiiikk! Atst, the bucket-loads of water that was gushing out of the melting spear extinguished the mes of the Wicker Man. Common sense was of no use. This was the power of a Unique Grade demon. This was Marie Dunareff. ¡°Kuuk¡­!¡± After consuming a colossal amount of mana, Yuel copsed in pain while gripping onto her chest. ¡°Yuel. Fall back.¡± ¡°Uhk¡­ but¡­!¡± ¡°It¡¯s an order as the party leader. Don¡¯t get injured and just go back.¡± ¡°¡­Can you win?¡± ¡°Your presence won¡¯t affect the result.¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± Without even the power to utter another word, Yuel limped her way back. There was no need to overstrain a party member who was about to faint. After Lark, it was Yuel, and the only remaining members were Jaeger, Dorron¡­ and me. ¡°Uhh, dude¡­ can we really do it by ourselves?¡± Jaeger¡¯s shivering voice was a lot softer than usual, but that was nothing strange considering how even the enormous Wicker Man crumbled under one spell. ¡°She used all of her AOE skills just then. Do you know what that means?¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°It¡¯s DPS time.¡± ¨C Charge. Ever since the previous iteration, I had always been the one at the lead. Following me from behind were Jaeger and Dorron. ?Blood Spear? Dozens of spells spread out, as sharp spears of ice rushed towards us. ¨C Kang! ¨C Kagang! Dorron and I were able to parry all of the dangerous spears but Jaeger wasn¡¯t as experienced as us. ¡°Uuht?!¡± Although he managed to parry one spear that had been flying towards him, his swing was too wide ¨C he wasn¡¯t in the right posture to parry the next spear of blood ice. Without any hesitation, I smashed the spear that was flying at Jaeger. ¨C Kagang! ¨C Bam! Because of that, however, the spears that had been flying at me dug through my thigh and my stomach. ¡°K, Korin?!¡± Jaeger called my name in a fluster but I rebuked him. ¡°Look at the front! Focus on what¡¯s ahead when we¡¯re fighting!!¡± ¡°Eeek¡­!¡± Leaving behind myself, who was slowed down by the attack, Jaeger gritted his teeth and pushed forth. In response, a spell was created in the air while trying to stop our approach. It was a Blood Bomb. ¡°No you don¡¯t.¡± In the middle of his sprint, Dorron controlled his magic swords and sliced through the Blood Bomb that was just about to expand, and dispelled it in an instant. ¡°I¡¯m going first, slowpoke!¡± Dorron jumped at the unguarded Marie but what fell before he did was the heavy iron sword. ¨C ng! Marie¡¯s familiar blocked the descent of the heavy iron sword. Its protection remained firm but Dorron picked up the heavy iron sword immediately afternding on the ground. ¡°Direct eleration.¡± The heavy iron sword in his hand was rapidly elerated as it drove an enormous amount of impact at the barrier formed by the familiar. ¨C Crack! Atst, the heavy iron sword managed to slice through the barrier and traveled deeper in, but stopped right in front of Marie¡¯s nose. ¡°So damn tough!¡± Dorron was ced in a rough spot where he couldn¡¯t even protect himself due to his sword being stuck in the middle of the barrier, but it was then. ¡°Urryaaaaaahh¡­!¡± Jaeger shouted out loud while swinging his mace. The barrier, however, was still standing firm. ¡°Eat this!!¡± His specialty was ?umted Destruction?, and was a burst skill that let him immediately explode all the power that had been umted through his repetitive attacks. ¨C Kuung! Dorron¡¯s direct eleration of his heavy iron sword and Jaeger¡¯s umted Destruction ¨C the Familiar of Blood couldn¡¯t hold off against thebination of those two attacks and couldn¡¯t maintain its barrier. ¡°Haha. We broke through¡­!¡± ¡°Idiot, don¡¯t let your guard down!¡± ¨C Grip! ¡°Uht?¡± Marie grabbed onto his wrist while Jaeger was just about to scream in joy. He wasn¡¯t expecting a mage to grab him like this. ¡°H, how is she so strong?!¡± Despite his attempt to break free from her grip, Jaeger¡¯s armguard was almost crushed and he was soon flung off like a pebble. ¡°Uaaahkkk?!¡± ¨C Kwang! Kwang! Kwagwang! Jaeger crashed into several trees in the middle of his flight, but without even sparing him a nce, Dorron directly held onto his two magic swords. After crossing them into an ¡®X¡¯ shape, he shed his swords down with all his might. ?Dual eleration? He tried to cut her by using his fastest move but¡­ ¡°Hmm¡­?!¡± He saw something grabbing onto his two swords before he could sh them down. A bead of sweat traveled down his cheek. ¡°Grrr¡­¡± The Familiar of Blood growled like a beast. Immediately after that, an explosive amount of mana and blood was sent from Marie and¡ª ?Blood Realm? ¨C Kwaaaah!! We were now in the 3rd phase. ¨C Kwang! The two magic swords shattered and left behind nothing but pieces of iron, and Dorron was flung off from the aftershock. Therge-scale barrier that had been activated alongside the realm had broken his swords with just the physical impact of its activation. ¡°Huu¡­¡± With Jaeger and Dorron gone, I took a step forward with my now-recovered leg. I was stuck in the Blood Realm. I was now locked inside the barrier that was activated as soon as the defensive spell of the Familiar of Blood had crumbled into pieces. It was filled with a ridiculous amount of pressure inside. The Familiar had forcibly sucked her blood and mana to materialize itself to fight in the stead of Marie who was only focusing on protecting herself. This was the 3rd phase of the final boss fight of the 1st Arc. ¡°Are you upset because your mother was about to get hurt? What a good boy.¡± A blood-coloured dog was growling within therge barrier of blood. Its body that was 2 meters tall was standing on its two legs, and it looked more like a werewolf instead of a dog. ¡°Am I the only one left now?¡± Yuel and Lark had to retreat due tock of mana, while Jaeger and Dorron were incapable of fighting anymore. The usual goal would have been to keep at least 3 members until the 3rd phase, but right now, I was all alone by myself. ¡°Not bad.¡± However, this was not a game and it was the real world. As long as this was the real world, anything was possible regardless of the degree of possibility. Chapter 24: Marie Dunareff (5) ? Marie Dunareff (5) ? It was cold and chilly. Her skin was shivering from the cold but there was a scorching thirst in her throat. She had done something wrong. She almost killed her own friend. Without any guilt, as if she was eating a domestic animal for food. Marie¡¯s moral standards ¨C in fact, the moral standards of everyone born as a human were supposed to differentiate ¡®domestic animals¡¯ from ¡®humans¡¯. It was a different matter from cracking eggs all day, decapitating chicken and ughtering pigs. She was someone who closed her eyes even when ughtering an animal that was squirming to stay alive, and yet she had almost killed someone. ¡®I was starving though,¡¯ she thought to herself. ¡®I was thirsty.¡¯ ¡®I almost killed my friend; a person but¡­¡¯ ¡®What was their name again?¡¯ Like how people did not bother remembering the names of domestic animals, she could not remember the name of her friend. What she felt after waking up was a current of air that was different from before. The chill running all the way from the tip of her feet to the spine was inplete contrast to the scorching thirst in her throat. The neck in front of her eyes of someone whose name she did not know of was way too appealing. That was why she bit it. The long fangs that appeared to have been with her from birth pierced through the skin and reached the veins. ¨C Gulp gulp! The livestock in front of her shivered. Whether it was from the fear of being ughtered or due to frustration was not very important. Marie did not even feel the need to close her eyes. ¨C Uhk. Uguk¡­! The groan full of pain was as pleasant as the melodious notes of the piano. When the hot stream of blood satiated her throat and spread across her body to warm up her cold skin¡­ ¡°Ah.¡± Her veins expanded as her blood began to move again. Isabelle¡¯s gasp and the creaking noise of the bed were unable to reach her ears. The only thing Marie could feel was the thumping pulse of her heart and the sweet scent of blood that felt suffocatingly disgusting. Her body that had been supplied with energy suddenly felt like crumbling to nothing. She finally remembered that humans were different from livestock. After noticing that what she had done was the same as treating a human as a domestic animal¡­ the girl ran away. Until a certain boy came looking for her, she ran away and hid herself. All the while resisting starvation. **** Inside the crimson realm, the blood-coloured dog gazed down at the small and feeble human. Instead of his mother who was refusing to fight properly, he nned on using her mana and blood to wipe them off. Those evil humans were harassing his mother, and among them, that guy was the most annoying of them all. Even though he was weak and powerless, he was the calmest of them all. Even the beasts are afraid of my presence, so how could a mere livestock dare show such an attitude? How dare you try to hurt my mother in front of my eyes? However, what the blood hound hated above everything else was¡­ ¨C Please. Stop. It was how that human had an unignorable amount of significance inside his mother¡¯s heart. His mother wasn¡¯t even looking after him nor taking care of him, and yet was concerned that a mere human might get hurt. That must be why she still couldn¡¯t kill them. That must be why she was still floundering in pain and thirst. Just wait for me mom. I¡¯ll bring some fresh blood for you. As a familiar that had just been recently born, the dog was unconditionally faithful to his mother. The loyal dog who moved only for the sake of Marie let out a thunderous roar. ¨C Roooaaar!! The realm quaked as the forest echoed after him. Everything with a sign of life shivered from fear and yet the man in front was still calm, which was an extremely irritating sight for the dog. ¡°A doggy is not supposed to bite people.¡± Despite being ignorant of the world, the blood hound could still tell that it was an insult. The realm echoed with a loud roar as the blood hound disyed his killing intent. Despite having the same goal of trying to save the same person, the two of them knew that their paths would not coincide. A magic was formed in the air, but instead of a well-calcted equation of spell, it was just a sharp form made by a dense cluster of pure mana. Unlike the clean and elegant magic equations of his mother, it was a violent and oppressive use of mana. The missiles of mana were met with a spear. ?Six Ways of the Spear? ?Fourth Style, Spinning Heaven? The spear turned. The centrifugal force and the footwork added power to the spear as it elegantly iled across. The Fourth Style was one that scattered kic energy with the shift of bnce and an endless eleration to the spin. The spear advanced as it rotated and parried only the clusters of mana that were heading towards his body. ¨C Kwack! ¨C Kagack! ¨C Kajik! ¡°¡­!¡± Seeing that inexplicable phenomenon, the blood hound widened his eyes. The organism born from blood which naturally had a different way of taking in the world noticed the mysterious mass of power hanging on the spearhead. Using the bare minimum amount of aura, the man parried the attacks. Korin was able to serenely advance through the bombardment that was loud enough to quake the entire world. Something like this couldn¡¯t stop him. ¨C Grrrh¡­! The blood hound used his sharp ws to dig out a piece of his body. It scattered the flesh to the ground as two four-legged dogs appeared from within. ¨C Kuraa! Kill him. Crunch through that human¡¯s neck and devour his guts. ¨C Pabak! The four-legged beasts dashed forward at a speed that was too fast for people to see. The two-legged beast that was made to face the rapid advance of those four-legged animals pulled his right hand to the back and bent his upper body like a bow. ?Six Ways of the Spear? ?Fifth Style, Crumbling Mountain? To crumble a mountain. Staying faithful to that seemingly exaggerated name, the spear created an aftershock as it pierced through a sprinting clone. ¨C Pagack! After throwing his weapon, the spearman charged in with empty hands. When the remaining animal pounced at the man to bite through his neck, the dog had to confront a letter that was newly engraved in front of its eyes. Kenaz. The rune letter meaning ¡®fire¡¯ created slow rising mes but the four-legged demonic dog did not stop its charge and followed through with its attack. The demonic dog was enveloped in magic mes, but little damage was done to it. The mes were so weak that they were at the level of a spark. Something meager like the unprocessed cluster of ether was not enough to scorch a demonic dog. Hagz, Sowilo, Berkana. But soon, new rune letters were added to the mix. The consecutive use of magic made the small spark turn intorge mes, and thebined power of runes was definitely more than enough to sear the demonic dog of blood to ashes. After quickly dealing with the two small four-legged dogs, Korin picked up the spear that was stuck in the ground. The blood hound stared at him with a growl. For the dog, that man appeared very insolent ¨C how rude of him to act like he won after dealing with two weak clones? It decided to trample on him with an even more oppressive show of violence. As soon as the blood hound growled, the realm responded to his call as countless bullets of mana budded in the air. The blood hound was invincible inside this realm. He was one with the world. How could a lowly human contend against the entire world? Bullets of mana rained on the ground like bombs. Those small balls of mana were like the foot of a giant when together as they trampled on the ground. Korin Lork took a step forward. Beneath the rain of bombs, he strolled on. Even though bullets grazed past his shoulders, dug through his thighs and scraped past his ears, he was still unconcerned and patient. As if he knew the pattern of their fall, he slithered through the interval of the bombardment like an acrobat, while being so rxed as if anything other than a fatal wound did not matter even if his body was to end up in tatters. ¡°Roooaaarrr¡­!!!!¡± That leisurely attitude infuriated the blood hound. Rumble! The ground quaked ¨C the four legs of the beast simultaneously kicked off the ground as the blood hound vanished into the thin air. The concentration of blood and a colossal amount of mana tremendously elerated his body. Like a storm, he destroyed everything while leaving behind an afterimage. The body of the blood hound was like the strongest spear; while at the same time being an invincible armor. Crashing into it would destroy one¡¯s body. On top of that, the blood hound went over the top as his ferocious ws started cleaving through the dimension. It was clearly an overkill, as the light in Korin¡¯s eyes immediately shifted upon seeing that dash. Korin moved to meet the storm. What was needed was just one step. Compared to the blood hound that marched through hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye, Korin¡¯s one step appeared very insignificant. However, that one step was enough to turn the situation on its toe. ¡°¡­?!¡± The blood hound was flustered by the sudden step forward. He btedly swung his ws but the spearhead was already striking on his wrist. ?Trap and Stab: Demonic Arts¨C? nk! The blood hound was dumbfounded from the unexpectedly weak response from the attack. However, the condensed aura emanating out of the spearhead and the small impact was enough to deviate the course of his ws. At the same time, the feeble body of the man dashed across his side. ¨C ng! The vicious ws of the dognded on the ground. Unable to stop the forward momentum, the blood hound¡¯s body was leaning forward when the man repostured himself behind his back. ?¡ª Scavenging the Grass for the Snake? ¨C Kwaduk! Unlike the front side of his body that was being protected by the condensation of blood, his back was helplessly weaker and ended up allowing the spear to stab through. However, that wasn¡¯t enough. The magic organism with no sense of pain immediately reacted by swinging his right arm behind after demolishing the ground in front. Without even looking at the right arm that was flying towards him, Korin took two steps forward and the right arm ended up barely missing him as it cut through the air. The spear in his hands rotated. After failing two big attacks, the blood hound was in a defenseless state if anything. ?Spinning Heaven: Second Move ¨C Rotating Demon Spear.? The shaft of the spear rotated as it shed through the blood hound¡¯s thighs. Due to the right arm cutting through nothing and the shed thighs, it couldn¡¯t control his body and ended up leaning to the side. However, it only needed 2 seconds for a full regeneration. 2 seconds was enough. Using the abundant mana of his mother, 2 seconds should be more than enough to recover his wounds. However, that same amount of 2 seconds was also more than enough time for the spearman. ¡°¡­?!!¡± Their gazes collided in the air as the blood hound realized something. Korin¡¯s eyes weren¡¯t even on him ¨C in the midst of his superhuman level of concentration, Korin was gazing ¡®beyond¡¯ into the domain which only a handful of fortunate individuals were able to catch a glimpse of. A world of silence and suspended dimension. The only ones that could move inside the ¡®Domain¡¯, where time flew extremely slowly, were very few in numbers. It was literally a suspended world. No-one was able to take a step forward inside such a ce because of thew of time reigning supreme like always. However, Korin took a step forward regardless. He stepped into the Domain of Heroes. ?Ominous Snake: Extreme Arts? ?Soaring Snake, Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon? The tip of the spear pierced through the center of the blood hound. ¨C ??? Unable to even utter a single sound, the body of the blood hound crumpled down in an instant. In that split second, the blood hound gazed at the spearman with his blood-stained eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve seen that same move before. Of course it¡¯s not going to work.¡± The man proimed. Even though the blood hound couldn¡¯t really understand the logic behind that sentence, there was something he still understood. I can¡¯t beat this man. One who had reached the level of a ¡®Semi-Unique Grade¡¯ with the sole power of a human after starting as a normal side character. Named Hero. AAA-ss Knight. A ¡®legendary¡¯ existence which the world had chosen as the sessor of the main yer. In front of the Hero who had reenacted the legendary spearmanship, a mere animal, who wascking experience was far inferior. Despite having no knowledge of his history; that mythological story and the legends, the newborn demonic animal was still able to understand something. He was in an inexplicable domain. This man was someone who far exceeded his cognitive capability. ¡°Cough¡­ cough!¡± The blood hound was sucking in both blood and mana to regenerate his body but instinctively turned around after hearing the cough from behind. ¡°Auhk¡­ Haahk¡­!¡± Marie was struggling after vomiting out an enormous amount of blood. Mom! The blood hound immediately canceled the mana and blood that had been channeling towards him and dispelled the realm on top. While scattering his body that had been formed with blood, thest thing the blood hound heard was the despicable voice of Korin. ¡°Just watch me save your mother for you.¡± **** The Blood Realm was the power of the Familiar of Blood that was formed through Marie¡¯s mana and blood. For Marie to activate the realm without having sufficiently taken in enough blood, she had to consume her own blood. Marie didn¡¯t even suck all the blood of a single person when she awakened into a vampire, so it was natural for her to have insufficient blood after keeping the realm up for so long. ¡°T, thirsty¡­¡± The girl who turned into a beast gasped. This was the signal. This was thest mechanic of the 3rd phase ¨C the bloodsucking mechanic which rendered one of the party members unconscious. I walked towards Marie, who was gasping for breath in pain without even putting up a guard. ¡°Kuuh, kyaahk¡­!¡± In order to replenish all the blood she used, Marie instinctively looked for something to prey on. It was inevitable for her tond her hands on my defenseless body. ¨C Biiite! Without any retaliation, I let her bite into my neck and held her on the spot. Phase 3 ¨C Blood-sucking mechanic. It was a move that allowed the boss to regain both HP and mana before heading to the final phase. Originally, the other party members were supposed to jump in and push Marie away to save the one that had been chosen as the prey but¡­ there was no-one here to save me. In apletely defenseless state, I wrapped my arms around the pitiful girl. ¨C Gulp! Gulp! I could feel blood leaving my body through the fangs protruding into my neck. So this was how it felt to have your life taken away. The rapid disappearance of blood made the body colder as my heart pulsed faster in desperation. However, it was fine. It was bearable. This was what the regenerative ability was for. It was enough for me tost until she sucked enough blood to regain her rationality. I was an adult. Something like this was bearable, and it was through this that we would gain a happy ending. ?You¡¯re thirsty right? Slow down.? That was what the kind girl used to say to everyone while sharing potatoes with her tiny hands. Letting her rest in my arms, I returned the goodwill she had shown already. ¡°It¡¯s fine. You can slow down.¡± I felt the girl pause for a moment after hearing that. Soon, the impulse that was beyond controble made her carefully push her fangs back in as she gently licked the wound on my neck with her soft tongue. ¡°¡­Nn.¡± When Sebancia Duke awakened as a vampire, he sucked the blood of his own servant to death. While saying that he couldn¡¯t control the impulse that surged during his awakening, he killed his innocent servant. This was where a doubt came to mind. In both the game and the previous iteration, Marie did not kill anyone. ¡®That alone was a hint.¡¯ Another possibility hidden by the scenario. By defeating the thirst and impulse that rose up during the moment of her awakening, Marie was able to separate her fangs from the dying Isabelle. Sebancia Duke¡¯s case was more than enough proof of how insanely proficient she was at controlling herself. After that, she ran away to the forest as Park Sihu said. She endured for a whole month by living off of the blood of demonic beasts. The act of sucking the blood of a human was both a survival instinct and a magic process for a vampire. Would drinking sea water satiate your thirst no matter how thirsty you were? It would only lead to a greater thirst. Despite that, she was able to endure the impulse for a month all the way until she was subjugated and captured by Park Sihu¡­ It was thanks to her superhuman mentality that she was able to ovee the impulse and the starvation. All of that was proof that there was another possibility aside from the bad end of Marie Dunareff¡¯s boss fight. That possibility was what I had trusted and betted on. ¡°Ju¡­nior.¡± A teary voice reached my ears. After satiating the intense starvation, she was finally starting to regain her rationality. ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s fine.¡± While patting her on the back, I drove her head deeper into my neck. I pacified her by saying I was fine. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± Marie mumbled with a voice that was hard to understand as she buried her body deeper into my chest. ¡°I can handle it. Even though I look like this, I have a regeneration ability, you see.¡± By etching that fact into her mind, I helped her calm down. She was finally starting to regain her rationality, and I couldn¡¯t stop here and risk making her impulsive again. A vampire was only able to be rational afterpletely devouring a person¡¯s worth of blood. Marie had to satiate her thirst with my blood. This was what the regenerative ability was for. This was why I had learned ?Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior?. As long as I did not give up, and as long as I had the fighting spirit left inside me¡­ I would stay alive and regenerate even if my intestines were to fall down, and even if my entire body was to be seared or frozen. My vitality would be recovered endlessly. A tenacious vitality that came to y when driven to a corner ¨C the conviction of a warrior that let them continue the battle without giving up. It was a specialty which I had gained all for this moment. ¡°Haa¡­¡± With a deep and heated breath, Marie distanced her lips. After finally being able to control her own actions, she started crying while looking at me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry.¡± I looked at the young 18-year-old girl who had burst into tears as if there was a broken dam in her eyes. It didn¡¯t matter even if she was a Grade 1 Mage who had crossed through many vicissitudes of life. Her being a vampire was also a trivial matter. Adults had the obligation to protect children. That fact which I wouldn¡¯t have known if I stayed on Earth, was something I learned after meeting my benefactor in this world. ¡ºChild, I am an adult. As long as I am an adult, I have the duty to prioritize your safety as a child.¡» I met my Master. A real adult. She was someone I had been looking down on as an NPC of a game. I used to secretly look down on this world for being a game, and yet I was protected by that NPC for being a child. There was an adult who showed me her back to face the great evil. As the sessor who watched herst moments, and as the disciple who received her guidance; ¡°Not bad.¡± It should be fine for me to act a little bit like an adult. ¡ºMain Quest: Marie Dunareff¡» ¡ù Difficulty: S ¡ù Reward: Even distribution of 100 points ¨C Aura Rank Increase {Low} -> {Upper Low} ¨C Mana Rank Increase {Very Low} -> {Low} ¨C You have obtained Pain Tolerance Watch me, Park Sihu. My path will be different from yours. Chapter 25: Marie Dunareff (6) ? Marie Dunareff (6) ? ording to the original storyline, Marie Dunareff would be subjugated by the yer party. Unable to regain her rationality until the very end, the renowned mage prodigy would fall from grace and be confined at the bottom of the Academy. That was how demi-humans that craved blood and sucked life away were treated, even more so if they didn¡¯t understand words. Like that, Marie would be eliminated from the scenario. Seeing that girl who fell down the abyss in the blink of an eye, the yer would mumble to themselves that they would save her next time but in both the game and the previous iteration, Marie was never able to have a happy ending for herself. Marie was a good person. She was a nice girl with an uncannilyrge number of potatoes, who always baked more potatoes than necessary in the morning and carried them over in baskets to share with her friends. It was fine for a good kid like her to have a better ending for herself. Efficiency? Monopolization? I honestly couldn¡¯t understand Park Sihu¡¯s values. Life was not a math equation. Even if there was no reason to, Even if there was nothing in it for you, And even though another person¡¯s death might make it better for you¡­ Although you might need plenty of reasons to kill another person¡­ you didn¡¯t need a reason to save them. **** ¡°Wow~ Where am I?¡± I uttered the most appropriate line in a semi-conscious state as a cough echoed from the side. ¡°Ugek¡­ I can¡¯t breathe¡­¡± Next to me were a short-haired boy and a boy wearing sses with an unkempt hair. They were clumsily dropping biscuit crumbs on the bed. Jaeger opened his mouth after seeing me. ¡°Ohh, you¡¯re awake. You¡­¡± ¡°Wait.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± A memory of the past came back. It was back when I did something simr to this. ¡ºDon¡¯t do something like this ever again! Those bitches are nothing! Don¡¯t risk your life for them!! Unless you want to see me go crazy!!¡» My cors that were grabbed back then felt like they were about to be grabbed again. ¡°Please don¡¯t grab on my cors and say, ¡®Don¡¯t do this ever again! Unless you want to see me go crazy!!¡¯ to me.¡± ¡°¡­What is wrong with you? That¡¯s a bit creepy.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ Are you into that type of stuff?¡± Right? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m super prejudiced or anything right? He was the one with a terrible choice of words right? ¡°Dude¡­¡± Jaeger said while looking straight into my eyes with a serious gaze. I met his solemn gaze and gulped. Don¡¯t tell me he¡­ ¡°We were freaking cool as heck, weren¡¯t we? Kekeke¡­!¡± ¡°Uhhm¡­ yeah. Huhu¡­ we defeated a Unique Grade. Huhuhu¡­¡± ¡°Damn right we did.¡± Theughter of the boys filled the hospital room. ¡°Ah¡­ this feels great.¡± This was awesome. Now this was true friendship. ¡°Oh right. The doctor told us to let him know if you wake up.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll leave the biscuits behind for you. You can¡­ wait, can you even eat them? Shouldn¡¯t you have porridge and stuff?¡± ¡°Just eat it and pretend like you didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Uh, wait.¡± Jaeger and Lark quickly left the room before I could even stop them. ¡°Those heartless bastards¡­¡± Guys, please. At least tell me how long it has been¡­ Fluids were connected to my right arm, and the needle mighte out if I raised my body so I obediently stayed down on the bed. The injuries that had been rather fatal were already nowhere to be seen thanks to my awesome specialty. I scratched my neck as dried clots of blood fell down like powder. Apart from those remaining clots of blood, there was no other sign of Marie having bitten on my neck. It seemed that my gamble had been a sess. I was nkly lying down on the bed when someone entered the room. ¡°Student Korin.¡± Thinking that it was either the nurse or the doctor, I turned to the side and found two unexpected guests. ¡°Mr. Chairman and Senior Professor?¡± I bowed as Chairman Eriu and Lady Josephine walked up to my side. ¨C Tap! Tap! Tap! Chairman Eriu sat next to me after walking over with the help of a cane. ¡°I believe this is my first time talking to you, Student Korin Lork.¡± The chairman might not remember me, but this wasn¡¯t my first time seeing him. I had learned many things from the chairman. Of course, there was no way Chairman Eriu would have memories of the previous iteration so this was indeed officially our first time meeting each other. ¡°How do you feel? From what I heard, it seemed that you had a specialty rted to regeneration or recovery.¡± ¡°I¡¯m alright. I feel a lot better.¡± ¡°Is that so? It¡¯s unclear why that wasn¡¯t shown during the grading test¡­ and there are many questions I have for you but, firstly¡­¡± He stood up by supporting himself with the cane, before giving me a deep bow. ¡°Thank you. It is thanks to your courage that another student¡¯s future has been saved. I am sincerely grateful for your dedication.¡± Following Chairman Eriu, Senior Professor Josephine also lowered her head and showed me her gratitude. ¡°The students were in danger because of our inexperience and ignorance. We ended up making you guys shoulder the things that were supposed to be done by adults. Let me apologize regarding this matter.¡± His self-deprecating tone of voice and his lowered back showed no signs of going back up. Eriu Casarr ¨C the one in charge of one of the world¡¯s 4 biggest academies ¨C lowered his head. ¡°Words alone won¡¯t be enough for an apology. You are our benefactor, and if there is anything you wish for, then we will try our best to give you the rightfulpensation.¡± The room turned silent after his words. In fact, there were a lot of things Eriu Casarr could say as an excuse. This was not something he had been intending on doing, and was outside everyone¡¯s expectations. So let¡¯s just move on. He didn¡¯t say anything like that. This person was someone who always acknowledged his own ws and tried to shoulder more responsibilities than necessary. ¡º I have made many mistakes, but you are definitely not one of them.¡» I remembered the words that the Chairman had said to me in the previous iteration, and I believed in his goodwill. There were many things I could gain from Eriu Casarr. He should know it better than anyone else on how impactful each and every one of his words were. He must be aware that he had given a nk cheque to a single student who could make all sorts of requests. The biggest and the most valuable thing I could gain from the chairman were his ¡®lessons¡¯ but¡­ now wasn¡¯t the time. Not yet. ¡°Please give me a magic stone.¡± ¡°¡­Mhmm?¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to make a spear, but it¡¯s hard to look for the right materials. It would be even better if you could help with the payment on top of that.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Actually, I could probably ask for aplete spear and immediately get one. However, I wasn¡¯t looking for an expensive spear that was just a little bit better than other spears. It was because I was hoping for a spear that was best suited for myself that I had requested for materials instead of a legendary equipment. ¡°Alright. You can choose the best materials out there. And we will also provide anything else that you need.¡± This was a jackpo¡­ I mean, a really good reward. What should I make? And which cksmith should I go to~? ¡°Ah. And please don¡¯t bow like that. I feel a bit ufortable.¡± I couldn¡¯t make him bow the whole time so I told him to sit down before asking him a question. ¡°What happened to Senior Marie?¡± ¡°That student will be isted and put in quarantine for a while. She has awakened into a demi-human, so we need to inspect her danger level for the time being.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°We did hear most of it from the other students but¡­ I think it will be better to hear the details from you, Student Korin. It¡¯s okay to skip through some parts, so can you please exin it to us?¡± Chairman Eriu appeared to have guessed that there was something I was hiding from them, but was implying to me that he wasn¡¯t intending on delving deeper into the topic. How did I know Marie had awakened as a vampire? How did I gather a party of freshmen so quickly as if I knew it wasing? The chairman was practically saying that he won¡¯t delve into those important details. ¡°So you see.¡± I told them only the things that were alright to share. Although I wasn¡¯t sure how much of my words they would believe in, I did send them the general message that Marie was fine, and that she wasn¡¯t a monster. After listening to my story, Chairman Eriu opened his mouth. ¡°Lastly, there is a request I¡¯d like to make of you.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°We have no choice but to officially announce about Student Marie¡¯s Awakening. It is possible for us to reveal everything that happened but that won¡¯t be any good to Student Marie.¡± In this world, demons were humanity¡¯s greatest enemy. Most of the demi-humans were just normal humans that suddenly turned into one because of their dormant demonic molecules being awakened against their will, but that did not change how they immediately turned into humanity¡¯s enemy and a target of ostracization. Vampires, werewolves, Jiangshi¡­ the broad title of demi-human that all of them werebeled as had been bringing them to the scaffold and the stake for a long period of time. In this world, it had only been a century since people had been burned at the stake in a witch hunt. These days, the Old Faith declined and the appearance of another religion reduced the segregation by a bit, but a demi-human that attacked her roommate and other students immediately after awakening into one¡­ was a concerning matter that could gather too much attention from the fundamentalists of the Old Faith, who were keen on removing demi-humans, or those that believed in the supremacy of demi-humans, let alone the increased anxiety of the students. Whatever it was, it was nothing good for Marie. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say this to you, Student Korin, but we are nning on modifying the story to be in Student Marie¡¯s favor without mentioning what happened at the forest. Will that be alright for you?¡± I unhesitatingly nodded to Chairman Eriu¡¯s request. It was a topic which I would have brought up, if the Chairman didn¡¯t bring it up himself. It seemed that they had talked about it with Isabelle ¨C Marie¡¯s roommate ¨C already so there should be no problems there. ¡°As for your recovery¡­ Even though you do look fine, you can talk about that with Professor Josephine. I believe things will be quite busy for me from now on.¡± After saying that, Chairman Eriu got up from the chair. ording to what I heard at the previous iteration, it seemed that bringing Hua Ran into the school had also been quite the task. Now that Marie had also awakened as a vampire, he probably needed to talk about it with the El Rath Kingdom, which the Academy was affiliated to, and other rted facilities. The Chairman would inevitably end up staying outside the Academy for a long time. He had been roaming around for a simr reason in the previous iteration, so this was probably about time. ¡°Student¡­ rin.¡± ¡®That guy will start moving once Chairman Eriu leaves the Academy. I need to get prepared for that then.¡¯ Even though that guy wasn¡¯t the final boss of the 2nd Arc, he would reappearter as an annoying mid-boss, which was why I had to stop him from running away at all cost. ¡°Stu¡­ Ko¡­¡± ¡®He might have run awayst time, but not in this iteration.¡¯ ¨C p! ¡°Uahk¡­¡± I immediately came to myself from the sound of a whip pping at the air. It was seriously a mystery how she could make such a sound with a whip. Considering how strict Lady Josephine was, I thought she would be ring at me but what I saw instead waspletely different. ¡°Are you still feeling unwell? If you are, then we can provide you with the best medical service.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ no. I¡¯m fine. I could probably even leave the hospital right now.¡± ¡°I see. Well then¡­ we can leave right now.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Taking out the needle that was poking into my arm, I tidied up the room with the help of Lady Josephine. ¡°Student Korin.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Would you mind going somewhere together?¡± ¡°¡­Sure.¡± I had a rough idea of where she wanted me to go. Soon, she used her interdimensional spell and began walking off into the dark abyss without any hesitation. The cliche in novels was to feel sick after a teleportation, but there was no such thing. It felt like we were just walking to a different room but the background changed in an instant and I saw Marie eating steamed potatoes with her bare hands behind rigid iron bars. ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡°Good morning.¡± ¡°U, uhh. Hello¡­ Junior¡­ Cough! Kehk! Kehek!¡± Marie coughed as if something got stuck in her throat. ¡°Can you please open this door?¡± ¡°¡­Are you sure you going to be alright?¡± ¡°I believe it will be fine.¡± These iron bars were the safety device set against the demi-human Marie Dunareff who had awakened as a vampire. Lady Josephine harboring such a doubt was nothing out of the ordinary but I had zero hesitation. I walked into the door that Lady Josephine opened for me, and handed Marie a bottle of water. ¡°Hurry up and drink this. You might die at this rate.¡± ¡°Kuhuk¡­ kehk! T, thank you¡­!¡± ¡°Like, who is it that gave you steamed potatoes without any water?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Kuhum!¡± Lady Josephine let out an empty cough from the other side of the iron bars. Ah¡­ it seemed the culprit was that olddy who didn¡¯t know anything about a proper life. ¡°Cough! Cough! Kuhaa¡­!¡± After finally relieving the physical lump in her throat, Marie tapped her chest to swallow the food down. Soon, she felt my gaze and gave an awkward smile by going, ¡®Ehehe.¡¯ ¡°I thought your eating habits would change though. It¡¯s surprising that you¡¯re still eating potatoes. Are they even tasty?¡± ¡°P, potatoes are always delicious! No matter how you consume them, they are always a tasty and magnificent famine-relieving crop!¡± ¡°That¡¯s good then.¡± I thought she couldn¡¯t have anything else apart from blood after bing a vampire. That was something I didn¡¯t get to ask Sebancia Duke about. ¡°What about the bloodsucking impulse? Is that a bit different from hunger? I wonder how frequent it is.¡± ¡°N, nn¡­ I¡¯ll be receiving blood packs so it¡¯s fine¡­¡± From what I could see, Marie wasn¡¯t in a good state. She was wearing new and clean clothes but there were dried clots of blood all over her body. Even though she was provided with food and clothing, it seemed that she wasn¡¯t free enough to take a shower. ¡°You look like you¡¯re in a horrible state. Why don¡¯t you ask Lady¡­ I mean, Senior Professor for some favor?¡± ¡°N, no it¡¯s fine! I¡¯ve been causing too much trouble already! I¡¯ll stay here until Mr. Chairman and Senior Professor tell me it¡¯s fi¡­ Ahhht!!¡± After seemingly remembering something, Marie pped her two arms and covered my eyes. ¡°G, go over there! I stink!¡± ¡°¡­ Look, it¡¯s a bitte for that. You know when you were biting my neck, I didn¡¯t even wash myself back then.¡± ¡°Ahhk! Please don¡¯t¡­!¡± In order to run away from Marie who was hitting me with her pping arms, I moved to a corner and the girl finally calmed herself back down. ¡°¡­I was scared.¡± Wrapping her arms around her knees, the girl started confessing about her feelings. ¡°That girl called Hua Ran¡­ she was very scary. I thought I was going to die. It was very scary but¡­ I couldn¡¯t be like you, Junior.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I could slightly understand what she was trying to say. When faced with power that was too enormous to fight against, and when facing the dark shadows of death for the first time¡­ anyone was bound to be frightened. Scary, cold and mind-numbing. The brain doesn¡¯t work properly, and reality strikes at you without any consideration for your feelings. Like how a soldier at the battlefield feels ever so tiny at the face of a tempest that terrifies the heaven and the earth, Marie would have felt the same way. Even I was the same. Everyone would have to experience it at least once. Marie was a genius. She was a prodigy loved by mana. Because of that, the desperation for life and the fear of death must have been an extremely distant rtive of hers until now. It¡¯s not that she wasn¡¯t a hard worker, and it¡¯s not like shecked experience. It was just that most of the things in existence were just unable to stimte the genius called Marie Dunareff. It was only recently that the girl faced reality and a true sense of fear. The thing that everyone had to experience had recentlye to her. Marie was stimted by the danger and fear, which must have been the cause of her awakening into a vampire. ¡°Haa¡­¡± The wings of a butterfly causing a storm, huh¡­ Because I had been overly focused on the incident with the Murderer of the City of Fog, there was something I had missed. In the end, the cause of Marie awakening into a demi-human was danger and fear that was great enough to stimte this genius. After meeting Hua Ran, I aroused something inside her and it was because of that change that Hua Ran participated in the practical lesson at the hunting grounds. During her participation in the practical lesson, Hua Ran must have coincidentallye across Marie, and had probably used her true powers to contend against the Grade 1 genius. And that was what stimted the vampiric moleculesying dormant inside Marie¡¯s body. I could only sigh upon realizing the malicious quirk of fate and thebined result of multiple coincidences. Actually, things like this used to happen quite often in the previous iteration. The bacsh of the death of Alicia Arden, and Park Sihu¡¯s failed attempt at killing Hua Ran resulting in awakening the Yaksha inside her were such examples. No matter how insignificant something was at a nce, they had the power to change the current. Because we were living in a real world instead of a game, and because the people that we had been disregarding as NPCs were in fact breathing organisms, they naturally reacted in different ways to the different circumstances. ¡°Junior¡­ how are you able to stand back up? Howe you don¡¯t give up? Even back when you were fighting against the elemental body, I thought you would never be able to seed. Everyone was mocking you but in the end, you pulled it off.¡± ¡ª It was so cool. The girl¡¯s confession and question about how I was able to stand back up flushed my cheeks a little. ¡°Umm¡­¡­ It¡¯s nothing that amazing or anything but¡­¡± It was a bit embarrassing. Despite the grandiose oaths I made, talking about them was still quite embarrassing. ¡°You see, I like happy endings.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± ¡°Good people being rewarded, and bad people being punished. You know, I like that kind of didactic story.¡± Hard-workers should be rewarded, but as for the selfish ones¡­ Well, I didn¡¯t feel like cheering for them. ¡°Senior Marie. You¡¯re a nice person. You¡¯re kind, and you¡¯re pretty¡­ Anyway, what I¡¯m trying to say is that I want a happy ending for you if anything. So¡­ I want Marie Dunareff to be happy.¡± My cheeks twitched by themselves. Damn it. It was super embarrassing to voice this out loud. You know, men were supposed to stay quiet and do what was needed to be done in silence! That was the coolest thing to do! ¡°¡­Oh my.¡± Lady Josephine murmured from outside. Rolling my eyes, I threw a nce to the side and found Lady Josephine wearing a look of awe while covering her mouth with her palm. Huh? What¡¯s wrong with her? ¡°Uhh.¡± Meanwhile, Marie continued opening and closing her mouth. ¡°Uh, uhh¡­ Umm¡­¡­¡± I looked into her eyes and realized that her pupils were shivering profusely. Her white skin turned crimson red and she even started trembling. What was going on? Was she having a withdrawal symptom already? ¡°Would you like¡­ some blood?¡± ¡°U, uuhkk? Auh, auh¡­ Aahht?!¡± Please speak in a humannguage at least. ¡°Auhk¡­ auhh! No¡­ I swear I didn¡¯t think of anything weird¡­!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± What was with this reaction that seemed like it woulde out in a fully-optimized game on a 4k monitor? Her entire body was flushed in red like a graphic card expressing that it will soon reach all the way to heaven, and Marie hurriedly escaped to a corner before gasping for breath to settle herself back down. ¡°A, anyway¡­ did it hurt a lot?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re talking about my neck, well, it was just a little sting.¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to be sorry.¡± ¡°No no no! I¡¯m really¡­ sorry! I just couldn¡¯t hold myself back. That impulse was¡­ Wait, no. That would just be an excuse¡­¡± Without caring about her disheveled hair and her neck that had dry clots of blood, Marie deeply lowered her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I am sincerely quite sorry.¡± Walking up, the girl held onto my hands and sincerely asked for an apology. There were tears budding beneath her golden eyes. ¡°Thank you for saving me and for not giving up on me. Thank you for your help. I¡¯ll be forever in your debt.¡± ¡ª Sniff! Without even letting go of my hands, the girl wiped her tears that were about to drop down her cheeks. ¡°Nn¡­ Thank you so much.¡± Marie released my hands and took a step back before turning her back to me. ¡°Junior! Umm¡­ I want to wash myself now! And I need to finish my potatoes!¡± ¡°Sure. Senior Marie.¡± It was probably best to leave her alone for now. ¡°Senior Professor?¡± In response to my call, Lady Josephine opened a dimensional spell in front of me. I took a step into the abyss that would lead me back to the hospital room when Marie¡¯s voice echoed from behind. ¡°Bye, Korin! See youter!¡± ¡°See youter.¡± The girl that was sobbing bid me farewell with a smile. I was back at the silent hospital room but soon, I could hear the clicking noise of Lady Josephine¡¯s heels. ¡°Oh dear¡­ Student Korin. That wasn¡¯t so bad.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Ah~¡± Looking like a senior in life who had gone through countless vicissitudes of life, Lady Josephine shook her head. ¡°I shall discuss everything rted to her with you from now on, Student Korin.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ sure.¡± After showing a faint smile at the end, Lady Josephine walked out of the room. While scratching my cheeks, I opened the window of the room as the dazzling afternoon sun glimmered through the window. With this, the 1st Arc hade to an end. It was a happy ending for everyone which used to be impossible to achieve in the previous iteration and the game. There were a few things that were unexpected, and not a single thing had gone ording to the original plot of the game but¡­ that was what made it even better. Even without the yer, the world was still working in one piece. Even without following the original storyline, we could still achieve a better ending. I was seeing the new beginning of a worldposed of things which we hadn¡¯t been able to achieve even back when it was a game, and even back when we had a yer. It was a nice feeling. Chapter 26: Everyday Life (1) ? Everyday Life (1)? She was all alone in the shivering cold forest. Actually, she wasn¡¯t literally by herself. There were animals. The predators of the forest were trembling in fear next to her and thus, it might be possible to say that she was not alone since she was with the beasts. The demonic beasts that used to be the target of fear were now frightened because of her. For some unknown reason or because of some shift in values, that inexplicable fear made her feel rather content. Her scorching thirst and the shivering cold encouraged her to drink their blood but the thirst never went away and her heart was still cold. I see¡­ My heart, and my veins do not pulse anymore¡­ That was when the boy came looking for her. With a whole crew, he was probably here to subjugate her. Right¡­ It was a natural turn of events. The tiny sliver of rationality left in her mind allowed her to predict the oue of her life as an animal. ¡°It¡¯s fine. You can slow down.¡± The hand tapping on her back was soft; and the touching skins conveyed warmth to her body. Her rationality which had been floating adrift settled back down to her body from the torrent of emotions. ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s fine.¡± Atst when she managed to remove the bestial instincts and regained her humanity¡ª ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡¯m¡­ sorry.¡± The only words that she could force out of her mouth was that of an apology. Ah. Ahh¡­ Do I even have the right to ask for forgiveness? Was Isabelle okay? What about junior? As a girl who loved people more than anything else, her conscience and the sense of guilt gnawed at her mind with each passing day. Without retaliating against the restrictive spell of Lady Josephine, Marie locked herself on the other side of iron bars. When the boy visited her at the prison, she was in fact psychologically impoverished even though she didn¡¯t show it on the outside. What if I went crazy again? There¡¯ll be no turning back if I end up killing people¡­ Marie could still remember her own self when she had been driven by her instincts into constantly craving blood. The memories of her rationality being chased out and the separation of her mind and the body still gave her goosebumps. She was a beast ¨C a monster; and a demon. She was the enemy of humanity who might suddenly start coveting blood. Was someone like her allowed to act like a normal person? ¡ºSenior Marie. You¡¯re a nice person. You¡¯re kind, and you¡¯re pretty¡­ Anyway, what I¡¯m trying to say is that I want a happy ending for you if anything. So¡­ I want Marie Dunareff to be happy.¡» She regained her usual state of mind in the blink of an eye. His words immediately sent all of her concerns flying out the window. The words that he said while shyly scratching his twitching cheeks felt more sincere and earnest than anything else she had heard in her entire life. And because she remembered the boy¡¯s devotion of putting his body on the line to save her who had turned into a monster¡­ Marie knew that those memories would forever be etched in her mind until the end of her life. How would she ever forget it? How would she possibly forget that intense and heated moment, and the sincere goodwill and dedication of the boy? He was the one who warmed up her cold veins and allowed her tranquil heart to start beating again. ¡ºSenior Marie. You¡¯re a nice person. You¡¯re kind, and you¡¯re pretty¡­¡» ¡°Ahht¡­¡± ¡ºIt¡¯s okay. You can slow down.¡» ¡°Aahhht¡­¡± In a fit, she kicked the nket off of her body. The cold dews of the night weren¡¯t enough to cool down the heat pervading her body in the dead of the night. **** Overall, there weren¡¯t that many lessons at Merkarva Academy. However, there wereparatively a lot more freshmen sses, which was probably because there were a lot of fundamental and essential skills like bookkeeping, camping and map-reading lectures, which were given out during the first year. ¡°Hey. Look at this.¡± We were in the middle of a domestic lesson ¨C after learning how to sew ripped clothes in the previous lesson, we were now working on creating rations to have during a mission. ¡°What do you¡­ Puhup!¡± ¡°Jaeger. You¡­ kukuk!¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Hoh, damn. That¡¯s crazy.¡± ¡°Uwek¡­ that¡¯s disgusting. Boys are seriously just¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯te here. It¡¯s not funny.¡± At the center of the mixed reactions from male and female audiences, Jaeger seemed proud of his creation. In the middle of two balls of minced meat that you could swallow at once was arge mushroom which was easy to find in the mountains ¨C that was Jaeger¡¯s take on ration. ¡°How does it look, Korin! Don¡¯t you feel like eating it?¡± ¡°Looks like something that freaking Park would love.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Just some stupid guy out there. Anyway, you should do that when you can~. When you¡¯re old, you can¡¯t even make jokes like that even if you want to.¡± Because you could get ostracized in an instant. Well, leaving aside whether Jaeger was going to be ostracized or not, it seemed that his love life at the Academy had just been rendered impossible. ¡°Seriously. Just boy¡¯s stuff¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not talk to him.¡± ¡°¡­Yeah.¡± Even Jaeger seemed flustered after sensing the reactions of the female students who ounted to roughly half of both the Knight and the Magic Department, but it was already far toote. ¡°K, Korin¡­¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Please don¡¯te here. We are not that close, are we? Uhh, Mielle! Is that a pound cake? It does have a lot of calories, so I think it¡¯s a great choice.¡± ¡°Korrriiiinn¡­! You traitor¡­!¡± What was he even talking about? Of course you had to go with the girls in domestic lectures for good marks. ¡°Looks great. Can I have a bite?¡± ¡°Ehew~. Must be rough having a friend like that. Here you go.¡± ¡°Ohh, that¡¯s refreshing. It will be even more amazing with tea.¡± ¡°Tea? Don¡¯t you think it¡¯ll be tedious to boil tea all the time when we¡¯re outside?¡± ¡°Not necessarily. Tea bags are small and light, and it¡¯s hard to have ess to fresh water outside so boiling the water into a tea is a good way to filter the water.¡± ¡°Wow~. Thanks for telling me that. Do you want another bite?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be d to. Ohh, this is seriously amazing. Mielle, I think you could even run a bakery.¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s definitely an overstatement.¡± ¨C Haha ¨C Hoho I returned to my seat after chattering with some of the girls and trying out their stuff when Lark came over to me. Lark was making smoked salmon and was thus taking a fair bit of time. ¡°Korin. What are you even making? Why are you making the potatoes so thin?¡± ¡°Huhu. This is what I call the cutting-edge technology of rations. A revolution!¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I pressed down on boiled potato chunks with a hot rolling pin and made them as thin as paper. There were already 20 sheets of them. With a little bit of water and a bit of stirring, these sheets of thin potato could turn into mashed potatoes, and could also be like hash browns after frying them with some oil. You could pretty much carry an infinite amount of potatoes if you continued pressing down on them, which was why it was a popr ration during World War II. It would be a proper dish with a luxurious ingredient like cream or milk, but the prime goal of this thing was to fill up your stomach which was why it needed apromise. I used to carry a lot of these when we were going outside on a long mission. ¡°Hmm. I definitely wasn¡¯t expecting you to use potatoes like this. Was that why you heated up the rolling pin?¡± Professor Lra of Alchemic studies, who was in charge of this lesson, looked into my product with an intrigued look on her face. ¡°To think you would make a preservative food like this without even using magic¡­ I¡¯m sure the Knight Department would love this idea. Student Korin. I¡¯ll give you merit points for that, well done.¡± ¡°Wow. Thank you.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re alright with it, I would even want to check with the department and see if there is a possibility of this being used in the practical world.¡± ¡°Ohh. Then please call it Korin Potatoter on.¡± By the way, it was called Park Sihu Potato in the previous iteration. That son of a bitch ¨C it was my idea and yet by the time I realized it, there was something called ¡®Park Sihu Potato¡¯ added in the midst of the standard rations of the military and the guardians. ¡°And Student Jaeger? You get demerit points for misconduct.¡± ¡°Huek¡­! Sorry¡­¡± With that, Jaeger now had 3 demerit points. Starting from minus 5, he would have to start cleaning the campus and stuff, and he was quite close to it now. ¨C Dude. Did you hear that? ¨C What is it? ¨C You know Senior Marie, the highest achiever from 2nd year¡¯s Magic Department, right? ¨C Ohh~. You mean that Senior Potato? ¨C I heard this from a senior in the 2nd year, but apparently they¡¯re done with her inspection! ¨C Really? Is she actually safe? ¨C Who knows? ording to the chairman, she is. It had already been a week since Marie¡¯s incident. The news of Marie awakening into a demi-human had been publicized shortly after that, and everything was literally in utter chaos. Actually, awakening into a demi-human wasn¡¯t rare in this world, because the demonic molecules could be aroused by anything in existence. There were quite a lot of them, and there were even residential areas dedicated for demi-humans. The problem, however, was that it concerned the prodigy of the 2nd year¡¯s Magic Department, Marie, and another noteworthy fact was that the genius had awakened into one of the more dangerous demi-humans, vampires. On the first day, there were mixed responses from the students. Shouldn¡¯t we chase her out? It¡¯s scary. How can we even go to the same Academy as a demi-human? However, their arguments were rejected in an instant because of the existence of Hua Ran, a demi-human freshman. Leaving aside the potential risk of Hua Ran, she was currentlymuting to the Academy without creating any problems so the threat of demi-humans wasn¡¯t something that felt as realistic. A week after the announcement that Marie had awakened into a vampire ¨C after all sorts ofints and queries from the Kingdom, the Tower of Mages, the Old Faith, the New Faith, the Guardian Alliance and other ces, and after innumerable professors from the Magic Department checked up with her while basing off of countless books that told of the traits of a vampire, Marie was finally deemed to be safe. As of yesterday, Marie was announced to bepletely safe, and it was also announced that she would enter a special dormitory under the personal supervision of Senior Professor Josephine. Because of that, Marie had naturally been at the center of every conversation in the campus for the past few days, and that was no different for one of the rted personnel, Jaeger. ¡°Oi. That demon senior¡­ I mean, Senior Marie ising out today right?¡± ¡°I think so? And don¡¯t even think about calling her a ¡®demon¡¯ and whatever in front of the 2nd year seniors. You¡¯ll be actually bashed to death.¡± ¡°H, hmm¡­¡± Jaeger didn¡¯t seem confident in containing his chattery mouth. ¡°All done.¡± ¡°Ohh~ Korin. You¡¯re pretty good at cooking aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°That mashed potato looks nice. Looks like you have a lot, so do you mind me trying a little?¡± ¡°Just wait. Let me pack some of it up first.¡± The mashed potato that was made with the remainder from the potato sheets was quite decent. After packing some of it up, I ate the rest with the other guys which marked a sessful end to the domestic lesson. **** ¡°Sorry, Isabelle. I¡­ I¡¯m so sorry¡­¡± ¡°No! I, I¡¯m telling you it¡¯s okay.¡± At the back door of the central lecture building, Isabelle was starting to feel tired from the constant over-the-top apology of her friend. On the first day of Marie awakening into a vampire, Isabelle had been attacked and had been unconscious for a long time. Having her blood sucked out was by no means a good experience, but Isabelle had her own share ofbat experience as a 2nd year student of the Magic Department. She was rather used to being exposed to fights and blood losses. Marie was more important than that. When Isabelle ran to her after hearing the news and called her name while gasping for breath, what she had gotten in response was Marie taking a step back in fear. ¡®Marie was crying back then, wasn¡¯t she?¡¯ How scary would it have been for her? How confusing would everything have been? Isabelle was as empathetic as a person could be when it came to things rted to Marie, who had been her roommate ever since their 1st year at the Academy. She heard how vampires would usually be swept away by their intense impulse to suck blood when first awakening into one. Isabelle was very proud of how Marie had been able to stop herself in the middle ande to her senses. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I thought about how I should apologize but there¡¯s nothing I can do¡­ this is the only thing I can do to ask for your apology¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay! It¡¯s normal for things like this to sometimes happen in life!¡± As expected of Marie¡¯s friend, she had a bright and optimistic perspective. That was why she had readily epted the offer of Chairman Eriu and Lady Josephine who requested her to refrain from mentioning the fact that her blood had been sucked by Marie for Marie¡¯s sake. Even though they promised to give her a significant present aspensation, Isabelle adamantly turned them down. Her belief was thatpensation was unnecessary when protecting a friend. Now that Marie had regained her sense of self and had more than enough verifications from the professors of the Magic Department, there should be no need to mention this topic again. ¡°You¡¯ll be going into the special dormitory soon, right?¡± ¡°N, nn¡­ Just in case.¡± ¡°Marie. Everyone will still be your friends, and that¡¯s the same with me. Do you still consider me your friend?¡± ¡°Of course. But¡­¡± Isabelle patted Marie who was immersed in her sense of guilt. ¡°Thank you, Isabelle.¡± Marie leaned her small and adorable body on Isabelle¡¯s chest. In Isabelle¡¯s eyes, Marie still looked adorable and cute even when she was gloomy from guilt. Feeling like the characters of a youth drama, Isabelle was very content with the satisfying turn of events. She was open-minded enough to disregard the experience of her blood being sucked out. ¡°Oh, there you are.¡± It was when she was savoring Marie¡¯s hug that a seemingly insolent and arrogant¡­ yet cheerful voice echoed across. ¡°Korin?¡± Marie¡¯s voice was directed beyond her shoulders. When Isabelle stiffly turned her gaze to the back, she saw a boy who gave off a wild impression. She had seen him before. He was the freshman student who that stupid Kane picked a fight with for no reason ¨C he was a subject of caution who Marie had been greatly interested in these days. ¡°W, why are you here?!¡± Marie asked as her golden pupils glistened and blinked cheerfully, in contrast with the gloomy look from before. During her question, she jumped out of Isabelle¡¯s hug and hopped her way towards him. Uhh¡­ The only thing Isabelle could do was watch the girl run forward in a hurry. ¡°You¡¯re looking healthy.¡± ¡°Nn! It¡¯s been a while!¡± ¡°Has it? We saw each other two days ago, didn¡¯t we?¡± What? What was going on? Why was Marie talking cheerfully with that freshman who she met two days ago, instead of me, her friend whom she hadn¡¯t met for a week? More importantly, were normal students even allowed to visit her two days ago? They seemed quite close as well, didn¡¯t they? Why was that freshman talking casually to Marie, whom every 2nd year student was dying to talk to? ¡°Here. Congrats on your discharge.¡± ¡°Wow! Mashed potatoes! It¡¯s my favorite!¡± ¡°Have that when you¡¯re hungry, and this one here is also for you.¡± ¡°Tofu?¡± ¡°It¡¯s given to people thate out of prison in hopes they live a pure life from now on1TLN: When people get discharged from prison, their friends or family would bring tofu. It¡¯s white and it symbolizes purity. Themon rule is to eat it raw without any condiments or sauces, because adding spices or other ingredients ruins the symbolic meaning of having a white tofu.. Well, it¡¯s just an Eastern culture.¡± ¡°Wow~. Korin you¡¯re so smart!¡± Marie unhesitatingly dug into the white and unseasoned tofu. Then, she gave a bright smile with bulging cheeks without even swallowing the tofu inside her mouth. Gazing down at her with a facial expression that wasn¡¯t too different from Isabelle¡¯s was the freshman boy. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take your time? Slow down.¡± ¡°Uht, uuhht! Mhmm! Ahht?!¡± As if those words ovepped with something from the past, Marie reacted like a broken doll. Her cheeks were deeply flushed in red as she took several steps back and immediately hid herself behind Isabelle¡¯s back. ¡°Nn?¡± ¡°I, it¡¯s¡­ nothin¡­ I mean, thanks for the tofu! It¡¯s great! Ah, actually, I need to go somewhere with Isabelle!¡± Marie bbered gibberish while making up things that they hadn¡¯t even decided on. It was good that Marie had returned to her, but Isabelle couldn¡¯t help but notice the meaning behind Marie¡¯s gaze. ¡®See youter, thank you. I¡¯m a bit busy!¡¯ saying that, Marie looked keen on sending Korin away and yet was constantly sneaking a nce at his face. ¡°Are you busy? Well, that¡¯s unfortunate. Take care of yourself and see you next time.¡± ¡°Aht. Nn? Umm¡­ okay¡­¡± Isabelle did not miss the look of regret that shed past her eyes. This can¡¯t be! Isabelle¡¯s instincts warned her that this was that thing. She had no idea how that freshman was able to deceive this lovely and adorable highest-achieving student of the 2nd year Magic Department, but the animosity that rose inside her from the sense of betrayal that she received from Marie was instead pointed at the man. He looked like a wolf and a bad guy who would have made countless girls sad. In her eyes, his wild appearance suddenly appeared to be that of a delinquent; his muscr body looked like that of a savage bully of the Knight Department; and his easy-going and considerate actions as that of a fully-experienced yboy. Isabelle pitifully gazed at her friend but without understanding the message implied by her gaze, Marie simplymented in regret. ¡°S, see youter¡­¡± There were so many things Isabelle wanted to say after seeing Marie shyly force out her words of farewell after the boy was pretty much gone, but swallowed most of them back. ¡°Marie.¡± ¡°N, nn? Why?¡± ¡°Men¡­ are all wolves. Be careful.¡± ¡°Umm? Is Korin also a wolf then?¡± Geez. Is that who you immediately thought of? Are you not even going to try to hide it? ¡°Wolf¡­ wolf¡­ Nn. That¡¯s a cool animal.¡± The advice that Isabelle gave in fear that this innocent and unaware girl might make a mistake ended up bringing about a reaction that waspletely different from her intention. **** I heard that the special dormitory where Marie would be going into would be a building that had a mixed appearance of the western and the eastern continents. It was probably going to be the same dormitory as the one Hua Ran was in. I could only hope that Marie would be fine at the special dormitory away from her friends, and be on good terms with the one and only other person that would be living there with her. ¡°Hmm~¡± My stats had an explosive increase after resolving Marie¡¯s incident. 100 points¡­ that was the same as leveling up 20 times. I also earned 15 points through several missions on the weekend, and that summed up to 115 points. Besides, both the Aura Rank and the Mana Rank went up by one level. Even though the equal distribution of stats meant that my stats wouldn¡¯t be distributed efficiently, the sheer amount of stat gain was enough to make my body iparably different from before. Now with this, my physique was at an okay level. As long as I raised my Aura Rank and consumed the Mandrakes that were growing up nicely¡­ I should be able to use the Sixth Style before the final boss fight of the 2nd Arc. Considering how I could only use the Sixth Style near the end of the previous iteration, it was a ridiculous growth speed. In the uing 2nd Arc, my individual strength would also be extremely important, so I had to reach the sufficient level as soon as possible. ¡®Huhu. I have Mandrakes.¡¯ Just thinking of the three Mandrake brothers that should be growing nicely at the dormitory made my heart race! ¡®That much should be enough. The concerns are the Murderer of the City of Fog and the King of Iron Mountain¡­ as well as dealing with that traitor.¡¯ The Murderer, John Doe, was a key that would link me to Lunia Arden. It will be through this event that Alicia will grow into the True Alicia mode. Alicia Arden was the key character of the 2nd Arc¡¯s storyline. She needed to learn Domain Severance and defeat the final boss of the 2nd Arc, ¡®King of Iron Mountain¡¯ with the help of Sword Master Lunia Arden. And because I had to deal with that bothersome guy by myself, I had to save my strength as much as possible during the fight against the King of Iron Mountain. Well, there was still some time until this would happen. The ¡®Murderer of the City of Fog¡¯ incident which had acted as the catalyst that awakened Marie in the original storyline hadn¡¯t even urred yet. However, there was the chance that the events would happen earlier than scheduled like what happened recently, so I had to prepare as much as possible ahead of time. ¡°What is Alicia even doing these days?¡± She used toe to the training rooms a few times on the first few days but I couldn¡¯t even see her shadow these days. That talented yet weak-minded and untraining genius ¨C when exactly would she start wielding her sword properly? Because I knew of her talents and her circumstances, I simply waited for the time being. Footnotes: Chapter 27: Everyday Life (2) ? Everyday Life (2)? It was April ¨C about a month had gone by after the admission into Merkarva Academy. Alicia Arden was having the time of her life. Although the freshmen lessons were a bitplex in Merkarva Academy, that was nothing inparison to the training schedules of Arden, the renowned swordsmanship household. Here, she didn¡¯t have to swing her sword ten thousand times a day, get her swordy constantly checked by others, or have to duel with fierce and sweaty brothers and sisters of the dojo. Most importantly, she didn¡¯t have to meet her older sister who asionally returned home! All she had to do was listen to a few of the mandatory subjects, eat and have a light exercise to keep her weight in check, and have fun with her new friends! As a direct descendent of the renowned Arden household, she was at the top of the campus hierarchy and was a target of admiration. It was extremely easy for her to make friends. Right. Alicia Arden was by naturezy,cked the desire for improvement and did not have any deep concerns about swordsmanship. Her talents as a swordsman were unprecedented, but her mindset was that of an infinitely under-achieving student. That was who Alicia Arden was. ¡°Tomorrow¡¯s a weekend so let¡¯s do a few missions and go on a walk around the city~.¡± ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°Hugeek¡­!¡± Alicia was startled by the voice that suddenly echoed from behind. ¡°Mr¡­.K, Korin.¡± ¡°You¡¯re noting to the training rooms these days, are you?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s¡­ because I have too many things to do these days. There are assignments and¡­ I also have to take missions.¡± ¡°Hmm~.¡± Seeing the unimpressed look on his face, Alicia felt rather guilty for no reason. After unconsciously looking down on him for being a Grade 5 Knight and realizing that he wasn¡¯t someone to mess around with, Korin became a difficult person to deal with for Alicia. When she was in front of him, she felt like herziness,ck of practice and over-dependence on her talents were being exposed. The granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Alicia Arden ¨C the true face of the genius who acquired a Grade 2 Knight Guardian Licence at a young age was on full disy whenever she was with him. She did consider his ability to overwhelm her talents to be amazing and she also did go with him a few times when he asked if she wanted to train together at the training rooms but¡­ ¡®He¡¯s a maniac! His training methods are way too inhumane!¡¯ Korin Lork put great emphasis on training the fundamentals. Stab, sh and block. Unlike the other knights of his age who were immersed in killing moves, he was someone who ced a great amount of importance on the stability of the fundamental skills. His point was that you had to train the basics before anything else. Hearing that from someone who was physically a lot weaker than herself was slightly odd, but seeing him increasingly bing stronger in the span of just a few days made her realize all the more howzy she was. But even so, it was way too bothersome. There was no way it would be fun to be stuck in the training rooms immediately after the lessons were over. Even his friends like Jaeger and Lark didn¡¯t look like they were able to keep up with his insanely maniac routine. Sometimes, even the other peers like the scary former-mercenary, the druid with a mysterious atmosphere and the golem user, who looked a bit too gloomy to strike a conversation with, joined in Korin¡¯s training routine. What was it about this person that was attracting so many other people? ¡°Well, I have no ns on dragging an unwilling person into it. You¡¯re going to take a mission on the weekend right?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ yes. There is a patrol mission and a bodyguard mission so¡­¡± They were both simple missions with little danger. It was to be expected of Alicia who wanted to avoid tedious and exhausting missions. ¡°Are you still short on money?¡± ¡°Sorry? Umm¡­ Actually, I recently bought some clothes¡­¡± Now that she was able to adorn herself with worldly clothes that she couldn¡¯t have even dreamed of back when she was at her home, she had gone slightly over the top and her purse was running low on money. These days, she only had the option of having food at the academy cafeteria. ¡°I know a mission that pays quite well. Do you want to form a party?¡± ¡°Hutt¡­! How much?¡± ¡°2 gold coins per head. The difficulty is around Grade 2.¡± ¡°I will go!¡± The reason she couldn¡¯t just run away from this boy, who was a bit difficult to deal with, was because he tended to give great pieces of information like this. If not for his maniac training routine, Alicia would have been d to see this boy every time. ¡°We¡¯ll depart some time next week, so save some money this weekend. Buying food and borrowing things like tents are all going to cost money.¡± ¡°Yes. Mr. Korin!¡± While feeling slightly d that the boy wasn¡¯t even asking her to go to the training rooms together anymore, Alicia bid him farewell. **** My daily routine was rather simple and deste. It was lesson, lunch, lesson, training rooms, dinner and training rooms. Even though we were in a guardian academy, I do admit the fact that my schedule was more challenging than average. However, I had to get stronger. Although I did manage to save Marie, that was only the tip of the iceberg. The scenario would continue throwing challenging trials at me. Gathering peers to stand up against those trials was very important but, one of the key members of the group ¨C Alicia Arden ¨C waszier and more of a¡­ normal girl than I expected. It was understandable though because she had just been a normal student until recently let alone a sessor candidate. Alicia wasn¡¯t the type of person to follow through just because I stimted or pushed it onto her. There was only one person in the world who could prompt her ¨C her older sister, who Alicia both feared and admired. Only with the prompt of her sister would Alicia admit her true nature and her talents. ¡®It¡¯s about time for her to arrive in this city.¡¯ The fastest way to see Lunia Arden without triggering the death event of Alicia Arden was in an emergency quest that popped up in the middle of a patrol mission. There was still some time left until that point, so I had to do what I could do until then. A normal yer would use the system window to make several things and be introduced to how crafting worked in this time frame. Park would have gone around the whole city looking for hidden pieces. But as for me, I couldn¡¯t craft because I didn¡¯t have the system window and obtaining the hidden pieces was also quite iffy. Most of them were quite useless for the time being and I had no use for them. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± The Six Ways of the Spear was apanied by the befitting levels of enlightenment as one proceeded down the derivative skills. Compared to the simple styles, they were moreplicated and difficult. They were hard to learn so I wasn¡¯t even able to master half of them in the previous iteration. Back in the game, those abilities, attacks and spells were usable by just pressing Q, W, E and R¡­ and the yer could just read the names of the abilities to use them, but that didn¡¯t apply to me. In order to master the techniques of this world that I hadn¡¯t even bothered to remember back when I was busy ying the game, I had to focus and imagine tremendously. They weren¡¯t simple skills that I could learn by hitting the level requirements and allocating skill points. Because I wasn¡¯t the yer, I couldn¡¯t use a wide range of martial arts and magic, and there was only one thing I could do. Imagine, focus and enact. Ominous Snake. A dazzling stab ¨C a foreboding snake that slithered and deceived the eyes of the enemy. Ominous Snake: Secret Arts ¨C Distorted March. A stab that blocked the paths of the enemy with the help of aura ¨C the remains of aura left behind the traces of the stab would disturb the vision of the enemy and take control of the area. ¡ª¡ª Inplete darkness, the only thing I could perceive was what was on the other side of the veil of darkness ¨C the halted space that could even be considered the gap between dimensions. I fixed my posture and stabbed forward with the spear. It was the fastest stab and the strongest hidden move of the Ominous Snake. ?Ominous Snake: Extreme Arts? ?Soaring Snake, Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon? ¡ª Kwang! A short yet heavy thud filled the training room. Was that a sess? ¡°Wahh¡­!¡± ¡ª p p p! There was a chair inside the training room, on which was a bright girl pping in admiration. She was the mage with water-coloured hair who often came for a visit. ¡°That¡¯s amazing, Korin!¡± ¡°¡­Did you see that?¡± ¡°Nn! It was super fast!¡± ¡°So it was a failure.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± Marie tilted her head with a puzzled look on her face. The fact that she was able to see the fastest stab meant that it was a fail. Because the true Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon wasn¡¯t simply in the realms of being ¡®fast¡¯. ¡°You elerated twice in the middle, right?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ You saw that as well?¡± Although I failed at using the skill inside the Domain, it did still reach the boundaries of the Domain. It should have caused an illusion of the dimension of time being contorted, so how the heck did she see that? She did awaken as a vampire but that was still very impressive. ¡°Senior Marie. Do you really have no ns on learning swords or spears?¡± My eyes told me that Marie would also have great sess as a knight. It was to be expected of a girl with the physical abilities of a boss character. ¡°Nnn¡­ I can use hoes and sickles, but not swords. You see, I actually tried going to a dojo when I was young.¡± Was she the type who had no talent at understanding ¡®martial arts¡¯ despite having impressive physical abilities? ¡°But that¡¯s when you were young, right? If you try consistently then¡­ no. Forget it. It¡¯s probably best to focus on one thing instead.¡± That stupid Park was the prime example. He learned all sorts of spells and secret arts but had too many skills to make proper use of them. No matter how gluttonous one was, there was a limit to how much they could digest. Instead of doing a sloppy job at learning everything, it was generally better to focus on one thing instead. ¡°How¡¯s your magic practice going these days?¡± ¡°Nn¡­ I¡¯m learning from Professor Josephine.¡± A one-on-one lesson from the Dimensional Witch, Lady Josephine¡­ Marie had gotten herself a great teacher so she should be able to learn how to control her abilities very soon. Once again, I realized that something that we couldn¡¯t even try in the previous iteration due to her being unable to retrieve her rationality until the end had been changed due to my decisions. ¡°Do you want potatoes?¡± Marie took out sandwiches and meat pies as well as steamed potatoes which must have taken her a long time to prepare. ¡°It¡¯s not a lot, but there you go!¡± How was this not a lot? In any case, I started having the extravagant meal as Marie started stealing a nce at the bandage around my right hand. My palm had been ripped while I was practicing the move. Even though it should recover very soon, I had to wrap it with a bandage in order to have the meal. ¡°Are your¡­ wounds not being healed?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not good to have blood everywhere while having the meal right? I have to absorb the blood back anyway.¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s a pity.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Eh?¡± After unknowingly letting out ament, her circr eyes started to tremble as if there was an earthquake in her eyes. ¡°N, no!¡± ¡°What is¡­¡± ¡°No! Just no! That is not what I was trying to say!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Ever since that incident, her atmosphere often tended to change in the blink of an eye. I wasn¡¯t sure about the reason but it seemed that I was somehow affecting this girl. ¡°Anyway, you¡¯re still having blood, right?¡± ¡°Nn¡­ This thing.¡± She started carrying around packs of blood ever since she awakened into a vampire. The packs were designed to be able to suck after opening the lid. ¡°Is there a lot of difference between fresh blood and blood packs?¡± ¡°There is¡­ a bit. The freshness? Or maybe the vor. Your blood was especially more delici¡­ Wait, that¡¯s making me sound like a strange person!¡± ¡°It¡¯s normal for eating habits to change over time. Let¡¯s just say that.¡± ¡°Uhk¡­¡± ¡°Is it like the difference between normal vegetables with pesticides and organic vegetables?¡± Marie showed her whole-hearted agreement to my words. ¡°Nn nn! That¡¯s it! And it¡¯s simr to frozen meat and fresh meat that was butchered just recently!¡± That was very easy to understand. The difference between fresh meat and frozen meat was indeed quite big. The cafeteria in Merkarva Academy received meat at once using magic freezers so it was rare to have raw meat. We did sometimes get raw meat, but that was only because we were getting actual livestock. It was seriously questionable which supplier it was that was supplying the Academy with live animals¡­ regrly at that. The transportation and infrastructure of this world weren¡¯t even at the level of the one in modern Earth. Supplying live animals would be extremely difficult unless they were an extremely bigpany¡­ Wait, did that mean Marie had to eat frozen meat her entire life? ¡­ Thinking about it like that made her seem even more pitiful. How could someone live the rest of their life while only having frozen meat? ¡°Senior Marie.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine to have mine sometimes.¡± ¡°W, what are you talking about?¡± ¡°I can recover anyways so feel free toe to me when you¡¯re fed up with the blood packs. I can let you have my blood at least.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Her chin dropped in an instant and didn¡¯t show any signs of closing back up. Her white skin turned deep red as she clenched onto her sleeves. ¡°D, don¡¯t say things like that even as a joke.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have to turn your offer down! Because I don¡¯t want to cause any trouble!¡± She sounded resolute but her face was burning with passion. I could hear the coarse pants leaving from the gap between her clenched teeth. ¡°More importantly, Korin!¡± Marie immediately changed the topic and took out a pretty jar of ss from her basket. It was a ss bottle with a pinkish liquid inside. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Korin, are you bad with any food? Like beef tartare, sashimi or pig intestines¡­¡± ¡°I can have everything. Talking about pig intestines reminds me of blood sausage soup. A warm meal with the soup just heals your soul, does it not?¡± Back when I was in Korea, I loved having blood sausages. In fact, I would have had even more if only there were more ces that sold them. Being a Korean game, Korean cuisine was quitemonce in so there were quite a lot of traditional Korean restaurants in the city. ¡°Reeally? Umm. T, this¡­¡± ¡°Is this perhaps blood?¡± ¡°Nnn? Y, yeah¡­ it¡¯s not 100% blood though and¡­ I added the powders of white lizard tail and a few other ingredients¡­ into my blood¡­¡± Her voice shrunk over time. She must be aware of it herself that the ingredients sounded fairly iffy despite her goodwill. ¡°It might be a bit¡­ disgusting but it¡¯s good for your body. The blood of a vampire is one of the best ingredients out there¡­¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this, like, priceless? Is this really for me?¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, Korin¡­¡± ¡°Ehew. Of course not. Thank you very much.¡± What Marie made was a potion created with her own blood and a bunch of other ingredients. In this world, potions were usually for the recovery of vitality, mana and aura but there were more. ¡°Thanks for the treat.¡± ¨C Gulp gulp! ¡ºYou have consumed a Grade 2 Potion of Vitality¡» ¡ù It has been made with special ingredients. ¨C Your Aura Rank has increased by 1 rank. ¨C Your Aura Capacity increases by 500. ¨C 10 points will be equally distributed. Holy¡­ I was finally seeing the unfriendly system window again, and most importantly, my Aura Rank had gone up. In Heroic Legends of Arhan, increasing the total capacity of aura and mana was rtively easy but raising the ¡®Quality¡¯ was extremely difficult. Considering how the final Aura Rank I had in the previous iteration was Lower Medium, it was evident that what just happened was exceptionally remarkable. My Aura Rank and Mana Rank had barely gone up by 1 after Marie¡¯s incident where Ipleted a Precept with the difficulty rank of S and yet¡­ it went up yet again from just a potion. ¡°That¡¯s amazing.¡± ¡°Was it tasty?¡± ¡°Tasty? It¡¯s not for the taste is it?¡± ¡°R, right! I¡¯ll try to make it better next time!¡± ¡°Next time?¡± Was she going to make another potion for me in the future? Well, a repeated use of the same elixir did drop the effect by a lot but there was nothing bad for me if she was going to make another one. Besides, even if the core ingredient was the same, the effect would change depending on how she brewed it, and what sorts of other ingredients she added inside. ¡°Oh right, Senior Marie. Do you know any cksmiths?¡± ¡°A cksmith? Are you trying to make a weapon?¡± ¡°Yes. The chairman said he will provide the funds no matter how expensive it is.¡± ¡°I heard that too! I¡¯ll introduce you to the one that made my staff!¡± Marie said while showing me her staff with a blue gem inside. Looking back, Marie¡¯s staff was an extremely amazing weapon which was even stored personally by that crazy Park. It must have been tremendously expensive so the cksmith that made the weapon couldn¡¯t have been a nobody. ¡°What is the cksmith¡¯s name?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Ferghus! Ferghus the Weapon Breaker!¡± ¡°No thanks.¡± ¡°Uuun?¡± Her eyes blinked like that of a baby. ¡ºKorin Lork¡¯s current status¡» Aura Rank: Lower Medium (4,530) ¨C 500 Mana Rank: Low (2,470) ¨C 200 ¡ºMana and Aura Rank¡» Very Low -> Low -> Upper Low 100 -> 200 -> 300 Lower Medium -> Medium -> Upper Medium 500 -> 1,000 -> 1,500 Lower High -> High -> Very High 2,000 -> 3,000 -> 4,000 Lower Unique -> Unique -> Upper Unique 5,000 -> 7,500 -> Above 10,000 ¡º3rd Precept¡» Strength: 59 Agility: 58 Vitality: 60 Aura: 56 Mana: 56 ¡ºRegeneration of the Tenacious Warrior¡» ¨C When your HP falls below a certain level during a fight, your HP Regeneration speed will increase tremendously. + 50% Regeneration ¡ºPain Tolerance¡» ¨C Gain tolerance against attacks deemed lower than [Grade 4]. Significantly lowers the chance of having a stat debuff from poison or contamination. ¨C Gain increased tolerance against the same attacks. Chapter 28: Everyday Life (3) ? Everyday Life (3)? Ferghus the Weapon Breaker. He was one of the representative cksmith NPCs of Merkarva City, and was the owner of a smithy who crafted weapons. By the way, Weapon Breaker was the title he was given because the weapons crafted by him were so strong that they could easily crush other weapons. However, he was notorious in the game for something else. ¡ºOopsies! My hands slipped!¡» He was a literal weapon breaker ¨C a cksmith who broke weapons. It was a very paradoxical phrase, but back in the game, there was always the chance to fail whenever repairing and crafting weapons (except for some weapons). Even when all the necessary materials were in ce, he would waste all those materials or break the weapon when repairing one with a low durability. That was in spite of the sess chance being higher than 90%. His insanely high chance of failure and his infamous line, ¡®Oopsies! My hands slipped!¡¯ made him so notorious among the yer base that they used to search ¡®How to kill Ferghus¡¯. Along with his increasing poprity, the publishingpany updated a DLC which added a new quest line for Ferghus. ¡°Hmm hmm. Beard is the dream~, dream~, dream~ of men~.¡± A man with a face that seemingly proved the adversities of his life, a ck and not-so-long beard and an impressive tanned skin hummed in a low and thick voice. ¡°Hello.¡± I greeted the middle-aged man after walking across the scorching smithy. ¡°Mhmm, Mr. Korin. Is this really the ce Senior Marie told you about?¡± ¡°It is. Apparently it¡¯s the best smithy in Merkarva City.¡± Alicia followed from behind and nced around in curiosity. She appeared to be quite unfamiliar with shabby ces like this due to being used to the specialized smithies in her dojo. ¡°You said you¡¯re looking for a ce to repair your weapon right? Do you not know how to sharpen your own de?¡± ¡°T, the cksmiths of my family had been taking care of everything¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re quite the sheltereddy aren¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± She appeared frustrated for being unable to refute my words. ¡°Wee to my workshop.¡± Ferghus solemnly greeted us with an intentionally stern voice. ¡°We¡¯re here to repair her weapon.¡± ¡°H, here you go.¡± ¡°Haht!¡± Ferghus widened his eyes into circles after seeing the weapon in her hands. The de gave off a chilly re while the handle had a perfect grip. He must be thinking that it was a good weapon despite looking average. The demon-ying sword appeared just like a normal single-edged sword on the outside. It showed its true form only when the user was able to reach the ¡®Domain¡¯, and that was why it was normal for Ferghus to mistake Alicia¡¯s sword as a normal yet decent sword. ¡°Is it for a repair?¡± ¡°Yes. I didn¡¯t have time to take care of it these days.¡± ¡°Hmm. That¡¯ll be 30 silver coins.¡± ¡°Kuhk¡­¡± After receiving the payment from Alicia, Ferghus ced the demon-ying sword on top of the anvil and raised his heavy iron hammer. Veins protruded out of his thick and muscr arms that had been tempered throughout his 30 years of working as a cksmith¡­ His eyes glistened in gold and sunlight gathered at the end of his hammer when¡­ ¡°Oopsies!! My hands slippedddd!!!!!!!¡± ¨C Kachang!! The hammer that Ferghus swung with the force of a mountain destroyed Alicia¡¯s beautiful single-edged sword in one strike. ¡°GYAAAAAAAAAKKK?!¡± Alicia let out a bizarre scream. ¡°Hohoh. Today¡¯s not a good day, it seems. This wasn¡¯t my intention but I ended up failing the repair. My apologies.¡± Ferghus scratched his head with an awkward look on his face. It was very rare for weapons to break in the hammering process but it did happen sometimes. ¡°Can you¡­ repair the sword?¡± ¡°Not if it¡¯s in shatters like this.¡± ¡°E, even with glue?¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°How can you say that after breaking my sword! Y, you have to take responsibility!¡± She raised a reasonableint but Ferghus scratched his ear while pointing at the wall with his other hand. ¡ºWill not take responsibility for weapons broken mid-repair¡» ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡°Well, things like this just happen at times. I will refund the repair cost for you.¡± ¡°Gihyaaaaa¡­¡± Alicia shrieked while pulling her hair out. She looked pitiful trying to bring the shattered pieces back together with her lips mumbling like a goldfish. Her hard work was obviously in vain. It was possible for weapons to break during the repairing process, but the important thing here was that Ferghus had broken the ¡®hidden piece¡¯ ¨C demon-ying sword. ¡°Oi. Ferghus.¡± ¡°Hmm? What a rude bloke. Do I know you?¡± I quietly picked up a knife that was rolling around the smithy. ¡°How dare you y tricks from the get go!¡± ¡°Hueeek!¡± ¨C Kwajik! ¡°Mr. Korin!?¡± The knife in my hand dug right in between the gaps of Ferghus¡¯s fingers. His face turned pale upon seeing how close he was to losing his fingers. ¡°I bet all my money and my hand that there¡¯s a sword underneath that anvil. What are you gonna bet?¡± ¡°W, what are you doing¡­!¡± ¡°Buddy, this is why you¡¯re losing money.¡± ¡°Ehhng?¡± Ignoring Alicia, I kicked Ferghus¡¯s anvil to the side and sitting there was the demon-ying sword in a perfect shape. ¡°W, what is going on?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an optical illusion spell. This guy is an unregistered mage. Low Grade, but still.¡± That¡¯s right. After the update, Ferghus the Weapon Breaker, who was the Number 1 most detested character in the game due to all theints of the gamers, obtained a quest line and a backstory. ¡ºThe Truth behind the Weapon Breaker¡» It was a quest where the yer started to doubt the fact that only the good weapons were being destroyed during Ferghus¡¯s repair and started diving into the truth of the matter. After several investigations, the yer receives clues from a book called ¡®How to fail at repairs and still earn money¡¯, marches into Ferghus¡¯s secret storeroom and finds enough evidence to sue him. That allowed the world to discover the horrendous fact that uponing across a well-made weapon, Ferghus would pretend to break the weapon using illusionary spells while hiding the real weapon underneath for himself. That was only the beginning, and would mark the start of a quest chain that allowed the yer to sue the evil deeds of all the cksmiths across the continent including Ladybug Kiri* and Hollgrehenn the Broken*. Right ¨C unless they were scamming us like that, there was no way these freaking cksmiths could break so many of those damn weapons! Only then would everything make sense. ¡°Alicia!¡± ¡°Yes?!¡± ¡°Bring me a hammer.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Uhak?¡± ¡°The only ones who can scam are those who are prepared to lose their hands. Do you not know that?¡± ¡°Aigo! Please don¡¯t kill me! Please spare my life!¡± ¡°Huhihihi. After you, it¡¯ll be Kiri.¡± ¡°P, please show me mercy! Please forgive me just once!¡± ¨C Kuaaaaaahkkk! **** ¡°Uahh¡­ I thought you were really going to break his hand.¡± ¡°Of course not¡­ I¡¯m not that crazy.¡± That crazy Park did break his hands but¡­ well, actually, that wouldn¡¯t have been so bad either. Anyway, Ferghus¡¯s fate had been decided already. Even without me, he would naturally be expelled from the scenario when the timees. ¡°How did you know that Mr. Ferghus was a mage and that he used an illusion spell?¡± I couldn¡¯t tell her that it was from the DLC of a game so I made up a random answer. It was actually not that hard to find something odd about this incident. ¡°The demon-ying sword was made with the Unbreakable Stone, right? I figured the de might go blunt but the center wouldn¡¯t break. ¡°Ah¡­¡± In this era, it was rare to craft magic weapons with one material. Even back on Earth, we did not use pure iron to make weapons and usually used alloys. Even steel was an alloy made with thebination of iron and carbon, instead of being pure iron. In this world, swords were made by mixing iron with magic stones. The one that was used in the demon-ying sword was the Unbreakable Stone, which was ssified as a Unique Grade item. It was literally unbreakable, and was a legendary material that was said to be only bendable with the addition of fire mages heating up a concentrated furnace and cksmiths wearing heat-proof clothing. How would such a weapon break from one hammer strike of a cksmith? That was simply impossible. ¡°But considering how you were threatening him about crushing his arm, it ended rather peacefully right?¡± ¡°C¡¯mon¡­ I¡¯m not a violent person, okay.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Alicia sent me a skeptical gaze in response to my words. If it was someone else instead of me, things would¡¯ve looked a lot rougher for Ferghus. ¡°So is he doing the blueprint and weapon crafting for free?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not for ¡®free¡¯. I told him to charge the Academy, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Ah~¡± I told him to request the necessary materials from the Academy and made him give me all the money that would be given as a payment. The entire payment of 30 gold coins would go through him into my hands. ¡°Isn¡¯t this¡­ embezzlement?¡± ¡°We need some bribes to keep the game going, don¡¯t we?¡± ¡°That¡¯s true too.¡± Alicia was quite simr to me in this regard. Actually, we made him craft Alicia¡¯s ornaments and necessary tools for free while we were at it, so she wasn¡¯t losing anything either. Even though she was a pure girl, she wasn¡¯t a naive person who would forgive a person for trying to scam her without getting any reimbursement. ¡°Mr. Korin. It¡¯s about time we go on patrol.¡± ¡°I know. It¡¯s 2 o¡¯clock, right?¡± It was a short mission that gave 20 silver coins, and I chose the same time and date as her on purpose. I wasn¡¯t 100% sure, but if I remembered correctly, today was probably the day. **** Alicia was very content with the patrol missions she could get from the mission board. All she had to do was go around the predetermined routes around the city to check if there were any problems. A guardian personally going on patrol was enough to give peace of mind to the citizens and she could just kill any demonic beasts along the road. The ones near the city were mostly just Grade 4 and Grade 5. There was a verrryyy~ rare chance ofing across a medium-ranked demonic beast but that was as unlikely as being hit by a lightning on a sunny day. In other words, it was little-to-no work with decent returns. Alicia liked how burdenless it was, and more than anything¡­ ¡°Miss Knight! We are done with things on our end.¡± ¡°That is amazing, Ms. Knight! There were 10 demonic beasts but they were gone in the blink of an eye!¡± ¡°Hmm hmm~¡± Her ears were fixed on thepliments of the patrolling officers around her. Demonic beasts that they would have had to risk their lives for were being killed with ease so it was natural for them to show admiration and praise. ¡®Huhihi¡­! Everyone in the household said I was bad, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m that bad!¡¯ As an illegitimate child that was hidden in the shadows cast by the brilliant light of her older sister, Alicia had been constantly disregarded at home but here, she was a genius and a hero. It felt amazing to receive praises from other people. ¡°Alicia. There was an owlbear on your end, right?¡± ¡°I took care of it with ease!¡± Alicia replied while kicking on the owlbear that was lying down under her feet. ¡°Leader~. Please take out the leather and wster when you have time!¡± ¡°Of course Miss!¡± ¡°That was remarkable!¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing~. It wasn¡¯t much.¡± ¡°Ohh. So even an owlbear is nothing much to you. As expected of a swordsman from the renowned Arden household!¡± Alicia enjoyed the looks of admiration and praise that she wasn¡¯t able to get at home. ¡ºTch tch. You¡¯re still at the entry level of that skill, huh. Your sister mastered it when she was your age.¡» ¡ºOur Arden household finally has a sessor for the Sword Emperor! Miss Lunia Arden is by far the greatest genius of the contemporary times¡» ¡ºCompared to her, her sister is¡­¡» ¡ºShh. She¡¯s an illegitimate child. She¡¯s humble from birth.¡» The fact that she was a Grade 2 Knight despite being 17 years old proved her talent, but she had always been living under theparative gazes of the surroundings. Geniuses were always kept in check by greater geniuses. Alicia¡¯s older sister, Lunia Arden, was like the perfect personification of a swordsman, and Alicia had never been the target of attention due to being hidden in her shadows. ¡°Nice. It¡¯s about time for our job to end. At this rate¡­¡± Today would be another peaceful day with nothing much happening, unless something was to happen all of a sudden. ¨C Shiiiieee~ ¨C Booom! That was when a re gun was shot from the woods. It wasn¡¯t loud nor visible to the naked eye but its special design that allowed only the unique goggles of the security guards to spot it meant that everyone present was able to see it. ¡°Aht! That¡¯s a signal from the other group! A nest of a demonic beast above Grade 2!¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± If there was nothing going on, the patrol mission could end without the guardians defeating a single demonic beast but in emergency situations like this, they were obligated to participate in the fight. ¡°We have the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor on our side!¡± ¡°A nest of a Grade 2 demonic beast is nothing!¡± ¡°Wait¡­¡± ¡°Hoh. This is perfect.¡± Korin¡¯s quiet mutter at the end was too soft to reach the ears of the dejected Alicia. **** The Grade 2 demonic beast¡¯s nest that the other patrol group discovered was a den of wolves with a beowulf in the lead. ¡®I can easily deal with a beowulf by myself!¡¯ That was what Alicia thought, but her inexperienced judgment resulted in a critical oue. ¨C Grrrh¡­ A beastly howl echoed from the top of the head of therge horse. The four thick and long legs of the horse left behind heavy thuds but its stomach was rotten like a drowned animal so much so that it looked like it would tear open at any given moment. Sitting on the horse was a headless human carrying a spear. The humanoid monster without a head was so thin that its flesh was almost touching its bones. The strange-looking horseman urged the horse and marched towards Alicia while shing at the air with its long thick nails. ¨C Tap! Tap! As if it had be one with the wind, the demonic beast raced across the ground with soft steps unlike before. ¡®It¡¯sing!¡¯ It iled during its march that made it look more like a mollusk than a vertebrate. It couldn¡¯t even fight against the gust created by its own march as it wobbled its way towards her. ?First Sword Style of Arden. Domain Severance? The unpolished battojutsu, which was still the strongest move Alicia could pull off, was swung at the approaching demonic beast. ¨C Huiik! However, the beast¡¯s movements were far beyond her level of imagination. Like a giant squid, it suddenly sted its body forward and dodged her attack before trying to wrap itself around her body like a snake. ¡°Kuhuk¡­!?¡± It was both fast and experienced. It was at least a Grade 1 demonic beast! She got caught off guard because it was immediately after she dealt with the beowulf, and it wasn¡¯t her fault in her opinion, because no-one would have expected such a monster to be in the forest! ¡°M, Mr. Korin! Please help! Require assistance!¡± Alicia asked for help as soon as she started being pushed back by a little. She was a normal girl who was very distant from the pride of a knight¡­ in a lot of ways. ¡°K, Knight Korin is currently in the middle of fighting other demonic beasts!¡± But what she heard in response was not Korin¡¯s voice but the voice of the security guards who were fighting against other demonic beasts. ¡°Kiiiiiik¡­!¡± In that desperate situation, as the monster¡¯s nails approached her neck and Alicia closed her eyes shut¡­ ¨C Kajik! Something sttered with a thud. A hot stream of blood flowed down her cheeks. ¡°U, uhh?¡± ¨C Kieeeeeh¡­! A resentful voice tickled her ears. Alicia reopened her eyes and saw a gleaming de that was right next to her face. ¡°This sword¡­¡± Her gaze traveled up the de and looked at the beholder. The swordsman with long and jet-ck hair had the same cold and intellectual look on her face as always. ¡°As weak,zy and cocky as ever.¡± Lunia Arden. She was the oldest daughter of the renowned Arden family, and was the most likely candidate to be the next sessor. The contemporary Sword Master who was believed to be the seconding of the Sword Emperor. ¡°S, sister.¡± She was Lunia Arden; Alicia¡¯s older sister. Ferghus from Mabinogi Lady Kiri from Dungeon and Fighter Hollgrehenn from Ragnarok Those three are the infamous gear upgraders of the three famous RPG games of Korea, which are of course famous for RNG upgrade systems. Chapter 29: Lunia Arden (1) ? Lunia Arden (1)? She stood tall and proud with her tough and imposing physique. Her back was so straight that it looked like she was being supported with a thick stick and her long ck hair reached all the way down to her waist. The buttons of her jet-ck suit were all undone except for the few around her chest, which thus revealed her voluptuous lines, but she gave off a dignified aura that overshadowed it. A heroine. It was as if that word had been made solely for her sake. ¨C Flop! The monster slowly crumbled to the ground after the sword pierced through the head of the horse all the way to its rider. The Grade 1 demonic beast, ¡®Duhan¡¯, that had been pushing Alicia to her limits died in the blink of an eye. Even though it was a surprise attack, only someone like Lunia who was at the level of a semi-Unique Grade Knight would be able to defeat such a sensitive monster in one strike. ¡°U, unni¡­¡± She was the contemporary heroine, Lunia Arden. Her bluish brown eyes, elegant set of facial features as well as her physical characteristics all the way up from her legs ¨C even from a nce, it was easy to spot the simrities between these two sisters. However, they gave off a totally different atmosphere. It was as different as a tiger and a rodent. Unlike the innocent and warm look on Alicia¡¯s face, Lunia looked so sharp and cold that the chilliness seemed to affect the surrounding air. Lunia opened her mouth without even hiding her animosity against her younger sister, Alicia. ¡°That was pathetic. Why did you not fall back after seeing the Duhan? Why didn¡¯t you scout the enemy beforehand? And most importantly, what was with that miserable attack?¡± She coerced Alicia with her voice. The coldness of her expression and the contempt in her gaze were so intense that no-one would be able to forget it after receiving it even once. ¡°S, sorry¡­¡± ¡°Stop. The result of your actions are all a part of your responsibility. A few words of apology are not going to be enough. Be aware that your carelessness was what endangered the soldiers who had followed you out of trust.¡± ¡°Yess¡­¡± Alicia shrunk and instinctively lowered her shoulders when the back of Lunia¡¯s sword struck her arm like a whip. ¡°Ugh¡­!¡± ¡°A swordsman of Arden must stand tall at all times.¡± ¡°Y, yes¡­!¡± They seemed more like a higher-up and a subordinate of the military instead of sisters. In truth, that indeed was the base culture of the Arden household. Well, they were actually more like a group of gangsters than the military. ¡°But still¡­ to think there¡¯s someone unwilling to help theirrade in distress.¡± Lunia turned her sharp re towards me. She might have noticed that I was watching Alicia while pretending to have my hands full. However, she soon turned away from me as if she didn¡¯t want to bother quibbling about it. After a while, several female swordsmen wearing suits neatly lined up in front of her. ¡°Captain. We have finished dealing with the nearby demonic beasts.¡± ¡°Shall we chase the ones that are running away?¡± Those swordsmen that followed Lunia Arden around looked like armed gangsters wielding weapons but they were the elites of the Arden dojo. Jennie the Rapid Sword, Sirin the Duel Wielder, Lena of the Rippling Sword, Mei the Sword of True Darkness, and Milia of the Illusionary Sword. They were the Five Swords of the Arden family who were each at the level of a Grade 2 Knight. Each and every one of them were either stronger or as strong as Alicia. ¡°There is no need to chase after them. We¡¯re going back.¡± ¡°By your will, Captain.¡± The five swordsmen lowered their heads without raising any questions about Lunia¡¯smand. Then, they gave aparatively warmer greeting to the intimidated Alicia. ¡°It has been a while, young miss.¡± ¡°H, hello. Sisters¡­¡± ¨C Tap! That was when Lunia tapped on the ground with her scabbard as if she wasn¡¯t content with something, as they immediately re-addressed her using a different title. ¡°Do you have any injuries, Junior Sister?¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m fine. Senior Sister Jennie.¡± After making sure they were calling each other using the right title, Lunia turned around. While the security guards were almost done inspecting the nest of the demonic beasts, Alicia fidgeted with her hands before carefully walking up to her. ¡°W, what brought you here?¡± ¡°That is ssified information.¡± ¡°T, then how long do you n on staying¡­¡± ¡°That is ssified information.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Their conversation was followed with a heavy silence. This was how their conversation always went. ¡°Of course, I didn¡¯te to see such a pathetic side of my kindred. It¡¯s a shame I do not have any other choice.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­¡± This time, Alicia didn¡¯t shrink her shoulders because she knew she would receive a fierce strike with the back of the sword. After turning her back to Alicia, Lunia clomped her way towards me along with a ferocious vigor. ¡°I am the head disciple of the Divine Arden Swordsmanship, the First Captain, Lunia Arden.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hmm. Because of her formal exnation of herself, I had to do a matching introduction of myself. ¡°I am the worldly disciple of Eight Trigrams Spearmanship, Korin Lork.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Lunia stared directly into my eyes. Yes, I know. I knew what she wanted to say but I couldn¡¯t tell her the real identity of my spearmanship. In the current era, there were only two people apart from me that were using this specific spearmanship. There were only a few people that could notice its true identity just by seeing it, but there might be problems in the future if I talked about the name myself. ¡°Don¡¯t worry if you don¡¯t want to talk about it. What is your rtionship with our fool?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I¡¯m her friend.¡± ¡°A friend? ¡­¡­ Take this.¡± After slight hesitation, Lunia took something out of her pocket and handed it over to me. The outer packaging had the unique decoration of a bee. I knew what it was since I had been sending a few of them back home because of the letters of my sister. Honey bomb candies. Its characteristic was the explosive bomb of sugar that showed the extreme limits of sweetness and numbed your tongue. ¡°¡­¡± As expected of sisters, their tastes were exactly the same. ¡°Let us return.¡± Lunia Ardenmanded the security guards as if it was the most natural thing in the world. **** ¡°It seems that young miss¡­ I mean Junior Sister has been healthy.¡± ¡°It looked like she even gained some weight.¡± The Five Swords casually talked about Alicia while following behind Lunia. The reason they were so carefree despite the conversation concerning the one and onlypetitor of the sessor candidate they were loyal to was partially because they knew how upright Lunia Arden was, but there was another reason. Someone like Alicia Arden would never be able to contend against Lunia Arden. Even though the Sword Emperor personally chose Alicia as a sessor candidate and gave her the demon-ying sword on top of that, Alicia had been unable to disy herself as a suitable future sessor of the Arden household. Ever since ¡®that incident¡¯, Alicia Arden grabbed the attention of many people, but at the same time, that caused her to break. The weak-minded girl was not suited for the path of a killing sword. ¡°Hmph.¡± Lunia Arden scoffed at her junior sisters that were following from behind. She didn¡¯t feel the need to correct their thoughts because of how pathetic her foolish sister had been. ¡°In any case, do any of you know about that boy?¡± ¡°Do you mean that boy called Korin, Captain?¡± Jennie and the other swordsmen of the Five Swords showed doubtful looks on their faces after hearing her question. ¡°That boy was just a Grade 5 Knight though, was he not?¡± ¡°Grade 5?¡± Jennie replied as the only one who bothered to ask questions about Korin¡¯s identity, but Lunia frowned in response. ¡°That can¡¯t be. Were the grading tests of Merkarva Academy that unreliable?¡± ¡°???¡± Lunia knew how that boy had been rxed despite fighting against a horde of monsters. It looked like he was barely holding on with the rest of the monsters while leaving the Grade 1 demonic beast, Duhan, to Alicia, but Lunia Arden knew how that couldn¡¯t be any further from the truth. Korin¡¯s gaze had been on Alicia from the start to the end, and the group of monsters around him weren¡¯t even able to attract 20% of his attention. He wasn¡¯t just a little bit more experienced than others, and that wasn¡¯t something that was achievable through training. Korin had the sensitiveness and apulsive behavior that could only be polished through actual battles. The habits that were formed from extreme situations where it was either ¡®kill or be killed¡¯ weren¡¯t easy to remove. Even if someone was to throw a rock at him in the middle of his sleep, he would probably use the same move. ¡®And that spearmanship.¡¯ It looked simple at a nce but Lunia had practically mastered the Arden swordsmanship and could thus see the destination of that spear. Those spear moves were like the preheating process that was there to let him reach and aplish something in a higher ne. In that sense, it was simr to the Arden Style¡¯s Domain Severance. ¡®Is he looking into the domain?¡¯ If he was, then that would mark the appearance of the first Spear Saint in 80 years. There was the request she had gotten from the Academy, so Lunia decided to observe him whenever she had time. It was a short encounter. Her younger sister was still disappointing, but her friend was quite decent. If that boy continued staying next to her sister¡­ A rare smile faintly appeared on Lunia¡¯s lips. It was out of expectation that she might be able to see it again this time. **** My friend circle has increased massively to the previous iteration. I usually listened to lectures with Jaeger and Lark but the lunch was random. Sometimes I ate at the cafeteria, and sometimes I ate at the kitchen which was open to the students. That was usually only when Marie brought some fresh ingredients for lunch but quite surprisingly, Yuel also sometimes brought precious mushrooms from the forest. On days where I had lunch with Yuel, we would go to the library immediately after the meal to start the lecture on the Ogham alphabet. She remembered all the letters but still wasn¡¯t sure with the meaning, interpretations and applications, which was because the woods had been burnt down before she could hear anything proper about them. ¡°I have a mission. With good pay.¡± Another surprising fact was that Dorron would alsoe from time to time. Was it from friendship and a sense of camaraderie that was created during the time we fought together? It would be great if that was the case, but it obviously wasn¡¯t for this money worshiper. In his eyes, it seemed that I was a decent teammate of the same industry. He would sometimes offer doing a mission together whenever there was a difficult mission that paid well. After recovering all of his swords, Dorron was back to being one of the top damage dealers among freshmen. He was experienced and saw many things in the world, so working with him was always veryfortable. To be honest, he was very helpful in thest iteration as well. In any case, I realized once again that my rtionships had broadened by a lotpared to how tiny it was due to Park Sihu¡¯s disruption. ¡°Korin. You know, for your mandatory course, they were looking for a helper from the 2nd year students. I attended as the assistant thanks to Professor Josephine¡¯s help, and you know what? That druid girl¡ª¡± Especially because of how people like Marie, who had been impossible to see in the previous iteration, often came to me. I constantly felt pride for saving a girl from the temperamental acts of that stupid Park. ¡°Oh right. This is a potato pie. I put mincedmb inside and baked it together. Have some when you¡¯re feeling hungry.¡± As expected of someone who was known as the potato-sunbae by the freshmen, Marie always brought a bunch of stuff whenever she came for a visit. Like how grandmas living in the countryside prepared tons of stuff for their grandchildren, Marie always prepared arge amount of food which was enough to feed 3~4 people. ¡°It¡¯s too much though¡­¡± ¡°Reaally? Umm, should we eat it together then?¡± I would always say it was too much to eat by myself and Marie would stay back to help me finish the food. These days, I would pretty much always eat dinner with her and thanks to that, I didn¡¯t have to go to the cafeteria at night. ¡°Wait. Thismb. Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± ¡°Can you tell? It¡¯s a freshmb that was butchered just today!¡± ¡°Ohh¡­¡± I heard there were less than 20 livestock except for chicken that were being sent to the Academy. Even though Merkarva Academy always gave away food for little to no return, they were still quite eager to reduce the cost by reducing the menus and stuff. Considering that, having fresh meat instead of a frozen one was remarkable, but for some reason, it was actuallymon for Marie to bring fresh meat. ¡°Actually, Professor Josephine told me to help with butchering the livestock. I¡¯m helping out so that I can practice controlling their blood and drawing them out clean.¡± ¡°Ohhh¡­¡± A terrifying scene of Marie snapping the neck of amb and extracting its blood appeared in my mind. But in any case, it was true that the best way to learn something was through consistent practices. ¡°I¡¯ll bring beef next time! They said they¡¯ll be sending threeter! Do you like braised ox-tails?¡± Grip! I immediately held onto her hands. Senior Marie looked a bit surprised but she didn¡¯t shake my hands off. ¡°Senior.¡± ¡°N¡­ nn?¡± ¡°Please call me anytime. I¡¯ll go wherever you tell me to.¡± Braised ox-tails! ¡°Y, your hands¡­¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°I, I will bring them so can you please¡­ let go for now?¡± Marie lowered her head and used her other hand to lower the visor of her cap. Her tiny hand twitched inside my hands but I could feel the faint and stern grip. Didn¡¯t she just ask me to let go of her hand? ¡°H, hmm¡­ Your hands are big, aren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°I am a guy after all.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­! They¡¯re very rough, and there are a lot of scratches¡­ I can feel your hard work.¡± Despite telling me to let go of her hand, she was observing mine while touching every part of it. Since she was a clever mage herself, she seemed quite intrigued with the hands of a knight. ¡°They¡¯re just like my dad¡¯s hands!¡± ¡°Your dad¡¯s?¡± ¡°Nn. They¡¯re like the hands of an adult.¡± I was indeed an adult. Marie was sometimes very sharp and on point. ¡°Very cool¡­ and mature¡­¡± That was when the voice of a 2nd year student reached our ears. ¡°Marie?¡± As soon as Marie heard Isabelle¡¯s voice, she let go of my hands in fright and hopped her way to Isabelle before she could say anything. ¡°H, hello Isabelle! Have you had dinner?¡± ¡°Uhh, yeah¡­ by the way¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything!¡± ¡°I mean¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t. Do. Anything!¡± ¡°¡­Umm, okay.¡± ¡°Bye Korin! See youter!¡± Hmm. I didn¡¯t know much about kids these days. Like, it had been a long time since Ist yed with girls. Because of the disruptive actions of Park in thest iteration, I didn¡¯t have any girlfriend in the past 3 years. There were some suggestive atmospheres and rtionships but¡­ it¡¯s all because of that stupid Park that I didn¡¯t get to make any girlfriends. I¡¯m serious. That had to be the case¡­ Anyway, Marie would probably reappear out of nowhere tomorrow like always. The next day, I was heading to the cafeteria to have lunch with my friends when an unexpected person stopped me in my tracks. ¡°Huuik!¡± ¡°U, uaah¡­¡± Jaeger and Lark shivered like herbivores in front of a carnivore. Their instinct as an organism was telling them to lower themselves before the predator in front of their eyes. ¡°Hua Ran?¡± Hua Ran with the same chained nun clothes came to me. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Your promise.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± ¡°Meal.¡± ¡°¡­Ah.¡± It was about a month ago that we made that promise. Back when I was suspicious about Marie¡¯s awakening, I had gone looking for Hua Ran at the special dormitory to ask about Lady Josephine¡¯s whereabouts. I told her I would buy her a meal as a show of gratitude but I hadpletely forgotten about it. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I actually didn¡¯t mean it when I said that though¡­ ¡°Guess I can¡¯t have lunch with you guys today.¡± ¡°Y, yeah.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Actually, I think I forgot to do my homework.¡± ¡°I can help you!¡± The two of them ran away in the blink of an eye. They didn¡¯t do anything wrong to Hua Ran but their fear was justified because her aura alone was already in an overwhelmingly different league. ¡°Rice.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ what do you want?¡± ¡°Rice.¡± ¡°Do you want some spicy chicken feet¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hmm, judging from her reaction, it seemed that I would probably be one with the spicy chicken feet if I tried to feed her that. Let¡¯s see. Hua Ran looked like a sharp cat¡­ and cats like fish so¡­ ¡°Do you want some mackerels?¡± ¨C Nod. Good. It seemed that Hua Ran was fine with fish. In the central streets of the Academy, there were plenty of other restaurants apart from the academy cafeteria. Although most of them were high-ss restaurants that were iparably more expensive than the cafeteria, there were still some normal ones. ¡°Aunty! A mackerel set and a roe soup for us please!¡± Soon came roe soup in a ck stone pot and a set meal with grilled mackerel. In addition, there were also 2-people¡¯s-worth of side dishes. ¡°It¡¯s Eastern style, but it¡¯s a bit different from your ce, right? Even apart from the penins-style cuisine, there are some oversea-style cuisines here.¡± ¡°Oversea-style?¡± ¡°You know, ces that sell raw fish on rice.¡± ¡°¡­Are they tasty?¡± ¡°They¡¯re not cost-efficient but they are tasty.¡± ¡°¡­I want to go.¡± Did I have to take her there next time? I guess I had to talk about it with Lady Josephine. Hua Ran put aside the steaming bowl of white rice and was about to pick up the mackerel with her bare hands. ¡°Wait.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Are you going to eat that with your bare hands?¡± ¡°???¡± She appeared to be asking why not. ¡°The bones are going to be stuck in your throat.¡± ¡°I can eat the bones as well.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She probably could, considering how she had the Unbreakable Vajra Body but still, that was not how this dish was supposed to be consumed. ¡°Let me take the bones out. Wait a bit.¡± I used toe to this restaurant quite a lot in thest iteration because both Park and I kept ourselves from feeling homesick with the help of Korean cuisine. By separating the flesh of the fish into two, I separated them into chunks and skilfully removed the back bone. When I was done removing the small and fine bones of the fish and separated the flesh into nice and edible pieces, I saw Hua Ran gulping in front of me. ¡°Let¡¯s dive in.¡± Hua Ran began eating the mackerel set meal. The grilled mackerel was moist on the inside while the skin had a golden crust and was more than sufficient for a nice meal. Besides, it was grilled quite nicely and didn¡¯t smell too much like fish. But that didn¡¯t mean you didn¡¯t have to brush your teeth after eating it! In any case, watching her eating all the pieces of deboned mackerel was a very pleasing sight. She was only three years old now so I was worried that she might be picky with some food but that must have been my prejudice¡­ ¡°Hua Ran.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± ¡°Why do I have double the pickles from before?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She directly stared at me as if she did nothing wrong. After that, she raised her bowl of shredded radish sd and nonchntly poured it into my bowl. What? Why? She replied to my gaze. ¡°I don¡¯t like this.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat this.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I can eat this.¡± Lastly, she picked up my bowl of stir-fried fish cakes. She seemed rather proud with that ¡®We¡¯re even now right?¡¯ look on her face. Anyway, that was how I spent my life everyday. On the weekdays, I would listen to lectures and go to the training rooms, and Ipleted missions to clear the 1st Precept on the weekends. The weapon that I had requested from Ferghus was about to be done as well, and it was about time to deal with the Murderer of the City of Fog. It was a bit early, but it was the start of the 2nd Arc. Chapter 30: Lunia Arden (2) ? Lunia Arden (2)? The so-called swordsmen loved moving around in groups. Groups of gangsters holding swords would follow their captain while calling themselves the pursuers of the path of sword before suddenly naming themselves as a sect. 60 years ago, Garrand the Sword Emperor opened the new era of swords and thanks to the current family head whole-heartedly spreading their family¡¯s swordsmen across the continents, the Arden family became the most-renowned swordsmanship sect of the world. But at the core of the Arden family, there were still remains of the hierarchy system of gangsters which had been in ce ever since they started off as a group of mercenaries. ¡°Light this up.¡± ¡°Yes! Captain!¡± One sentence from Lunia was enough for the instructor of Merkarva¡¯s Arden dojo to dash up in a fluster and light her cigar on fire. The position of a head disciple of the main family was not something that could bepared to the likes of a mere instructor. Besides, the instructor was just here to teach the swordsmanship of Arden to normal citizens unlike the main family which focused on fostering guardians. It was natural for them to be leagues apart. ¡®W, what is going on?¡¯ The trainees of the dojo were bbergasted and flustered from the sudden appearance of celebrities. The head disciple of the main family and the captain of the 1st Sword Squad, ¡®Sword Master Lunia Arden¡¯ and the Five Swords had visited the Arden dojo in Merkarva City. It was a sudden visit but it was the best opportunity for people that were aspiring to be swordsmen. They shed tears of joy after having personal spars and receiving guidance but the problem was the day after that. That day, Lunia was sitting on a shabby wooden chair of the dojo but her presence made people think of that as a dignified throne. Prostrating in front of her was someone who should not be on her knees like that despite the floor being cleaned everyday. ¡°G, Grade 2 sword disciple of the Arden main family, Alicia Arden, greets the 1st Squad Captain.¡± Alicia Arden. She was a disciple of the main family herself, and was also the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Garrand. She was a direct disciple just like Lunia Arden, so seeing her kneeling on the wooden floor without daring to move a single inch made the onlookers feel uneasy. ¡®Ughh¡­ I need to do missions though¡­¡¯ On the other hand, Alicia was finding this time to be wasteful because it was a precious weekend where she had to run missions and earn money, but she was too scared of her older sister to voice anyints. Plus, Lunia even told her to bring the records of all the missions she hadpleted thus far¡­ ¡°Patrol mission, merchant escort, Grade 4 demonic beast subjugation¡­ How pathetic. What¡¯s with this cafe helper mission?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ it¡¯s about wearing a uniform and giving out¡­ promotional fliers.¡± ¡°¡­Were you helping your acquaintance?¡± ¡°T, the uniform was pretty so¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Lunia showed a rare reaction of closing her eyes and letting out a groan. Of course, there was nothing wrong with these simple missions that were primarily given out to the students of the Academy. They were an extension of their prac lessons for the students to polish their skills before undertaking their jobs as a real guardian. The problem was that Alicia was already an official Grade 2 guardian. ¡°That is utterly disappointing. Alicia Arden. The guardian license that you received thanks to the help of the main family is not there to be used for things like this. Are you trying to disgrace the Arden household?¡± ¡°S, sorry¡­¡± ¡°Every one of these missions are against low-grade demonic beasts are they not? Were you intending on pretending to be a hero just from killing these pathetic beasts?¡± Lunia Arden gazed down at Alicia with a cold look in her eyes. Her gaze that seemed to be reminding her to not forget the true essence of a sword was so heavy that Alicia ended up lowering her head. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Alicia powerlessly got on a magic carriage to go back to Merkarva Academy. Going down the rail, the girl took in the entire view of the city. This city, which was praised to be the safest and the most beautiful city in the entire world, was the ce she had been dreaming of. For a long time, Alicia had been eagerly looking forward to escaping from her family. A little bit of degradation and disappointment. Even though she didn¡¯t receive the due treatment of a sessor candidate, she was still treated as the young miss of the family and had been living without any concern for food. It was possible for her to live in contentment with what she was given without working hard for anything else. But how about now? Without receiving a single cent as a support fund, she had to earn a living for herself. Because she was by no means good at saving money or nning a budget, she pretty much used up all the money she earned in food, drinks and clothes. However, she was still rtively satisfied with her life. Here, she wasn¡¯t a Junior Sister nor a young miss, and she was ¡®Alicia¡¯. Although it wasn¡¯t the normal life that she had been dreaming of, she could still spend her life like a rtively normal female student. Demons were the only ones that needed to be cut. There was no need for her to practice killing people in the pretext of a ¡®spar¡¯. Her life at the household might have been luxurious, but she had constantly been forced into bloody and vicious fights, so Alicia was very satisfied with enjoying the rxed campus life at this Academy. That was why seeing people that were endlessly serious at learning martial arts was both awe-inspiring yet repulsive. Her older sister was an example. Alicia was ufortable with those who unhesitatingly stepped forward into ¡®that ce¡¯. She was afraid of that ck ocean which looked like it would drag her into the depths of the abyss and drown her to death. She didn¡¯t like practicing with swords. She didn¡¯t like those calluses that would be formed in her hands. Safe missions against weaker demons were more than enough. That was enough to earn her a living. She did not like the bloody world of sweaty warriors. She wanted to spend her youth in the luxurious resorts next to the beach. Alicia Arden was an extremely normal girl in her teens. ¡ºDo not forget it, Alicia. You will never be able to escape from your true nature.¡» ¡°¡­That senile old man.¡± While uttering a mutter that was savage unlike her normal word choice, Alicia rested her chin on her hand and waited for the carriage to arrive at the Academy. Her face was heavily gloomy and dark like that of a sinner heading to the scaffold. **** It was the interim test period. People might expect guardian academies to have fights and massive duels for the evaluation of the students, but surprisingly enough, this academy was quite serious about the academic assessment of its students. ¡°Ahh¡­ I didn¡¯t study at all for the tests though¡­¡± 10 minutes before going into the test, Jaeger wiped his face in remorse. ¡°That¡¯s why I said we should study at the library¡­¡± ¡°No! You¡¯re not supposed to procrastinate for a test! Tests are there to assess your abilities, not your procrastination skill!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Lark shook his head a few times while looking at Jaeger before turning his gaze over to me. ¡°Did you study for the tests?¡± ¡°Huhu¡­¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± I¡¯m sorry, Lark, but you have no idea about my true capabilities. ¡°Huhuhu¡­ Huhahahaha!¡± ¡°What the heck is wrong with you¡­¡± ¡°O you pitiful humans. Youmbs of this generation ¨C overly immersed in pathetic things like studying for tests!¡± ¡°What is this guy even talking about?¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably the same retardism kicking in.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a nice guy but¡­¡± ¡°Huhahahahaha¡­!¡± They could say anything they wanted to say, but there was a fact that these guys weren¡¯t aware of. This wasn¡¯t my first time taking this test. I had already sat through this test in thest iteration. As long as I went back through my sea of memories, getting high marks was a piece of cake! ¡°I am Professor Lra. We will now begin with the elementary Alchemy interim exam. Write your names and your ID numbers on the papers in front of you and¡ª¡± Huhu. It would be eye-catching to get super high marks, so maybe I should be content with getting 90% correct! ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ I have no idea. I seriously had no clue. Why? I had seen these questions already, so why were they so unfamiliar like it was my first time seeing them? Didn¡¯t I solve these in thest iteration¡­ ¡°Ah.¡± I didn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t know the answers in the first ce because I didn¡¯t check the wrong answers after getting the test papers back. Why? Well, they were wrong anyway so why would I bother looking at the answers? Whether I solved them in the previous iteration or not, I had no idea what these were. It¡¯s like how someone who had been sleeping through differentiation and integration lessons would not be able to solve them even after regressing to their high school days. ¡°Crap.¡± Yes, I do know what potion the bile of an owlbear is used for, but who the hell remembers the number of drops that goes into it? Just buy it for 5 silver coins. Why bother making it yourself? Knights only needed to know about practical information like first-aid potions¡­ We don¡¯t need academic knowledge¡­ ¡°I¡¯m Professor Fermack from Aura management. You can copy if you dare but let¡¯s not get caught, okay.¡± ¡ºIf Z is 85 and the inertia of Motion X is Y, what value should Y be?¡» Umm¡­ enough to put half the soles of your shoes into a dry ground of dirt? As for the exact number¡­ umm¡­ I had no idea. It should be done automatically though ¨C why and how would you calcte that every single time? ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Haaaahm~. Is that it for the tests?¡± ¡°¡­I knew you¡¯d sleep through it, Jaeger. What about you Korin?¡± ¡°I¡¯m dead.¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°I am¡­ dead inside.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I said we should go to the library together¡­¡± ¡°Hahaha! That¡¯s my buddy!¡± ¡°Idiot. At least Korin was training in the training rooms instead of studying unlike you.¡± ¡°Listen! The only thing a knight needs to know is how to write their name!¡± ¡°You stupid knights¡­¡± Hmm. My tests were doomed. Oh well, knights only needed to know how to write their names. Things like this were useless after graduation. You think high school math is going to be relevant in society? Do you think the major you studied at university will be your career?! There are plenty ofedians that graduated from political studies! It¡¯s all meaningless! **** I was 90% sure that my marks for the written exams were below average but I could still make up for them in the practical exams. Even though Merkarva Academy was unexpectedly quite serious in the academic side of things, they still did not forget their origin as a guardian academy so most of the marks still came from prac exams. At the center of the campus was the so-called festival hall. This enormous building that resembled arge baseball stadium was used for various events like the athletics carnival, musical performances and festivals, but it was also used as an arena for the practical assessments of the interim exams. It was what would mark the true climax of the interim exams. This practical assessment was also a yable event back in the game, and was the perfect opportunity for me to make up for the marks that I lost in the written exams. The interim exams would be handled by the professors of the Knight Department or temporary instructors that were invited from outside. By showing the instructors what they were capable of, the students would receive marks from their respective professors. ¡®Since I¡¯m officially a Grade 5 Knight, the instructor shouldn¡¯t be that strong. Plus their expectations will also be low. Getting high marks will be a piece of cake!¡¯ If I remember correctly, there were extra marks for defeating the instructor, right? It was the best chance to raise my average marks which had gone down the drain already. Tightly gripping on the test ID slip that I received which had the words ¡®Team B¡¯ written on it, I was walking to the center of the stadium when roaring cheers echoed from the audience seat. ¡°Good luck, freshmen!¡± ¡°My monthly expenses are on you! Good luck!¡± In the audience seats were 2nd year and 3rd year students¡­ in addition to several 4th year students who had alreadypleted their exams. I could understand up to 3rd year students but¡­ wasn¡¯t it time for the 4th year students to start looking for jobs? Anyway, it was true that watching people fight was the most exciting thing in the world. Ah, in the crowd, there was also a named character from the 3rd year students ¨C Nene of the ck Market. That was someone who often appeared in events like this and encouraged gambling to earn money. ¡°Korriiiiinnnnn~!¡± I turned towards that faint source of sound and found Marie enthusiastically waving her hand. Naturally, she was waving her hand at me. ¡°Good luck! I¡¯ll be cheering for youu¡­!¡± Next to her were the 2nd year students who often roamed around with Marie. I unknowingly grinned after seeing how she was doing fine with everyone in her surroundings even after the vampire incident. ¡°W, what the hell. You¡­¡± ¡°Are you friends with Senior Marie?¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± Jaeger and Lark sent me gazes of astonishment. ¡°Iiiikkk¡­!¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­ I thought you were the same as us!¡± Leaving behind the young brats that were letting out tears of blood, I waited for the practical assessment of Team A which would be held before ours. Since it was just an interim exam, the fancy functions of the stadium weren¡¯t used but therge stage was already enough to overwhelm the students. ¡°Team A. Dorron Warsky! Alicia Arden! And¡ª¡± 15 students from Team A walked up to the stage. The students took their tests in groups like this because it would take too much time otherwise. ¨C WAAAAHHHH!! The crowd gave a thunderous roar. That was to be expected because even aside from their strength, both Dorron and Alicia were famous celebrities among the freshmen students. Dorron Warsky. As the vice captain of the Warsky Mercenaries, he was a specialist who was proficient at hunting demons in the outskirts. Most of the senior students would have heard of his name at the very least. He was a powerhouse who was believed to soon be the next captain of the Warsky Mercenaries. On the other hand, Alicia was more known for her background rather than her individual strength. The strongest Unique-Grade Knight who overpowered the entire era with no equal ¨C Sword Emperor Garrand. Even aside from how she was his granddaughter, the name value of the Arden family itself was already ridiculously massive. They were aggressively expanding their forces and every big city had a dojo built by the Ardens. Besides, they also regrly dispatched instructors to the military to teach anti-demon swordsmanship and strategies. It was said that the El Rath Kingdom paid the Arden family tens of thousands of gold coins every year for the training fees alone, and that was proof of how enormous their name value was. There was even the Sword Master Lunia Arden following the tracks of the Sword Emperor and thus the Ardens were currently at the height of their fame. Even within the Knight Department of Merkarva Academy, there were probably quite a few knights that were learning the Arden swordsmanship. And because Alicia Arden was the direct granddaughter in line of that renowned household, she was bound to be at the center of attention whether she wanted it or not. ¡°We have special guests for the instructors of this exam. They are the elites of the family renowned for their swordy ¨C the Ardens! Please wee the Five Swords of the 1st Sword Squad!¡± Five swordsmen walked up the stage to stand off against the 15 students of Team A. Jennie, Sirin, Lena, Milia and Mei. They were the swordsmen that were directly under Lunia Arden that followed Lunia around everywhere. The reason Lunia Arden visited Merkarva City was because she would soon take office as one of the official instructors of the academy. In this event, Alicia would be totally demolished by Lunia and she would focus whole-heartedly on swordsmanship out of frustration¡­ huh? ¡°Where is Lunia?¡± ¡°Mate, call her Lady Lunia. She¡¯s not your friend, is she?¡± I couldn¡¯t see her. The only instructors that were on the stage were the Five Swords. What was going on? ¨C Ding! The prac exam began while I was looking for Lunia Arden. ¡°Attack!¡± Although the Five Swords were all at the level of a Grade 2 Knight, the students also had two Grade 2 Knights among them and they also tripled their enemy in numbers. It wasn¡¯t a wrong approach and the students of Team A simultaneously rushed towards the Five Swords. ¡°Do we need to hold back?¡± ¡°They¡¯re students so yes.¡± ¡°Be careful of the one with flying swords. He is strong.¡± The five female swordsmen formed a formation while pulling out their aura. It was the group formation that could only be used by the swordsmen of the Arden family. ?Arden Sword Formation. Condensed Aura of Five Swords? The five swordsmen scattered the aura within their swords towards the ground at the same time. The aura strike of five swordsmen that shared the same swordsmanship gathered together to form an enormous sword aura. It was like a jab on their end, but it came like a natural disaster to the students. ¨C Kwaang! Fortunately, their sword strike wasn¡¯t targeted at the students. Afternding on the ground, the aura quaked the ground and created a massiveyer of dust. ¡°Uahk!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t see anything!¡± When outnumbered, block the sight of the enemy. Their well-seasoned response was something that was possible not because of their individual strength but because of their umted experience. ¡°Kuahkk!¡± ¡°W, what?!¡± The students couldn¡¯t respond in time, not because they were weak but because they were inexperienced. If I were them, I would have made everyone retreat to the back of the stage and reorganize the formation or look for ways to remove the dust. ¡°Tch.¡± Unable to watch them any longer, Dorron manipted his magic swords. Backed up with his telekinesis, the swords rotated at a fearsome speed. Like the propellers of a helicopter, they created a gale that raised the dust. That was when¡­ someone jumped towards him through theyer of dust. ¡°Hmm?!¡± It was one of the Five Swords ¨C Milia of the Illusionary Sword. She had jumped in immediately after seeing that Dorron had moved his magic swords away from his body. ¨C Kaang! Milia¡¯s two scimitars collided against Dorron¡¯s spare sword. Dorron was a veteran himself and wouldn¡¯t be defeated that easily but he would be at a disadvantage until his magic swords returned to him. ¡°Mr. Dorron!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be your opponent, young miss.¡± ¡°Uhht?!¡± Another one broke through theyer of dust. She was the Rapid Sword, Jennie, who used her lengthy de to press down on Alicia¡¯s demon-ying sword. ¡°Ugh, a, are you marking me?¡± ¡°Well¡­ 3 of us will be enough to deal with 10 students.¡± ¨C Besides, we also need to properly evaluate you, young miss. Alicia tried pushing Jennie away after seemingly being put in a bad mood from her words but it was in vain. She was instead deceived by Jennie¡¯s feint and soon ended up on the ground after being tripped. ¡°Your posture is too easy to crumble, young miss.¡± ¡°Uhk!¡± ¨C Kajik! Alicia dodged the downward attack of the scabbard by rolling on the ground as Jennie then waited for her to re-posture herself. ¨C Ohh~ ¨C As expected of the Five Swords. They live up to their name. ¨C Look. They¡¯re all falling like reeds except for Alicia Arden and Dorron Warsky. ¨C Tch tch. One of them really should step up and do a counter-attack even if they end up allowing a strike! The eyes of the audience naturally shifted to Alicia and Dorron. They were the pride of freshmen students. Their swordy against knights of the same Grade was so fancy that anything simr to it would be difficult to see in fights between students. ¡°¡­¡± ¨C Uahkk! ¨C She¡¯s too fast! ¨C Do something about it! On the other hand, the 13 students were beingpletely devastated by the 3 female swordsmen. Even though the Arden elites were holding back for the watching professors to have time to give marks, the students were still very feeble and looked like they¡¯d be crushed in a matter of minutes. ¡®Dorron¡­ looks like he¡¯ll win.¡¯ ¡°Come. Fire spirit sword. Heavy iron sword.¡± ¡°Uht¡­!¡± He recalled the magic swords after removing the cloud of dust around him. Milia had been suppressing Dorron with her two scimitars but was now being suppressed instead after Dorron regained his five magic swords. At this rate, she would inevitably end up losing, because Dorron also had as much experience as the Five Swords. ¨C Kang! ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Meanwhile, Alicia was on her knees with cold beads of sweat traveling down her cheeks. She and Jennie were right in front of each other¡¯s noses with Jennie¡¯s sword being right underneath her jaws. ¡®I told you you need to practice, you idiot.¡¯ As I expected, Jennie was able to neutralize Alicia with ease through closebat. The question was now whether Alicia could fling off the opponent¡¯s sword that was right next to her with only a 10-centimeter gap between them but¡­ Aliciacked both understanding and theoretical knowledge on how toe out on top from such a close-quarter fight. ¡°You need to practice more, young miss. At this rate, you won¡¯t even be able to reach the feet of Sir Garrand or Lady Lunia.¡± ¡°Uuhhk¡­!¡± ¨C Kaang! Kagang! Even though anti-lethal spells had been cast on the des of their swords, their swords still let out a vicious noise with every sh. That was a telltale sign of how their strikes were bing increasingly more fierce. ¡°Are you calling yourself a sessor of the Sword Emperor with skills like this?¡± ¡°I, I¡­!¡± Jennie the Rapid Sword was pretty much harassing her at this point. Even though Jennie should be able to neutralize Alicia with ease, she was using up more time than necessary. ¡®Was she told to do that?¡¯ That was something Lunia should be doing ording to the original storyline but Jennie was the one doing it now. Did Lunia tell her to do that or something? ¡°You probably don¡¯t even need to graduate at this point. You might as well quit the academy and return home and train yourself!¡± ¡°N, no¡­!¡± It happened in an instant but I did not miss Alicia¡¯s pupils turning into a diamond-shape. Was she going to see it? The Domain? Her Eyes of the Boundaries cracked open and right as she was about to see through the gap between the dimensions ¨C as she was about to gaze into that world of suspended time¡­ her body turned frozen stiff as if she was frightened. ¨C m! After being struck by Jennie¡¯s sword, Alicia rolled across the ground a few times. Despite the anti-lethal spell, the sword had been swung by a Grade 2 Knight and that caused Alicia to stay on the ground for a long time with no signs of standing back up. ¡°¡­Not yet, huh.¡± Even with her eyes open, Alicia did not gaze into the Domain. In conclusion, the instructor team had an overwhelming victory in Team A¡¯s practical lesson. Even though Dorron had a splendid achievement of defeating Milia, he forfeited immediately after seeing the four remaining swordsmen. After that, it was time for Team B where I had been allocated to. The only ones I knew of in this team were Jaeger and Lark. The instructor that 15 members of Team B had to fight against was¡­ ¡°Hold up¡­¡± ¡°Have you been well, Korin Lork?¡± Lunia Arden. She walked up the stage by herself. Hello? But like¡­ why? Chapter 31: Lunia Arden (3) ? Lunia Arden (3)? The ¡®Arden¡¯ name held considerable value in this world. They nurtured countless guardians, and their group sword formations and strategies were so articte and systematic that even the militaries of several nations would invite them to be their instructor. The one reigning over that household with his absolute charisma was Garrand Arden, but his sessor had yet to be decided. It was because he hadn¡¯t acknowledged anyone in his son¡¯s generation. Even though he had left all the matters of the household to the current family head, his true ¡®sessor¡¯ hadn¡¯t been decided for over 30 years. And in this current generation, the Sword Emperor had finally acknowledged someone as his true sessor ¨C two of them at that. Lunia Arden. Alicia Arden. That stubborn Sword Emperor had finally chosen his sessors but the Arden household was nheless in an uproar. Even a group of beasts needed a clear hierarchy and a boss so it was obvious that a family of humans ¨C especially one that pursued martial arts ¨C would need a clear leader. There could not be two sessors of the enormous family of Ardens. Whether it be the main family or the branch families, it was great to have many arms and legs but there had to be no more than one head. The Sword Emperor who had an absolute position in the household had chosen two people as his sessor candidates so a strife was inevitable. At that point, it wouldn¡¯t just be apetition of which side was stronger ¨C it was bound to lead to internal divisions in the family due to personal profits and wants. However, There was no such strife in the Arden household. Who the next family head will be wasn¡¯t even a topic for discussion. It was simple. Even if the head of a group of beasts was to choose two candidates to be the next leader, it was impossible for there to be a conflict if one of them was overwhelmingly stronger than the other. Anyone could tell just by seeing how one of the most representative elites of the Arden family ¨C the Five Swords of the 1st Sword Squad ¨C were following Lunia without a sliver of doubt. No-one in the family and those with authority were skeptical about Lunia being the next in line. Even thepetitor Alicia Arden wasn¡¯t an exception. That was how powerful Lunia Arden was. ¡°Think of this as a fight against a Unique-Grade.¡± It took about 3 seconds for the students of Team B to process Lunia Arden¡¯s words. Why was she talking about a Unique-Grade all of a sudden? What exactly were Unique-Grades? Simply put, they were those whose strength was immeasurable. Unlike Grade 1, there was no clear standard that could be used to measure those beings so all of them were just referred to as Unique-Grade. Marie Dunareff after awakening into a vampire and the unsealed Heavenly Yaksha Hua Ran were such examples. They were like natural disasters that could stand toe to toe against an entire legion and dozens of guardians might not even be able to defeat them together. Unique Grades were true monsters that most guardians would note across in their entire life. And Lunia Arden was a monster among monsters that couldpete against those monsters. ¨C Kwaang! ¨C Kwaaaakk! Explosions constantly echoed from all sides. The t grounds of the stadium were destroyed and were turned upside down as the screams of my peers asionally reached all the way from the other side of the debris that had been created from Lunia¡¯s attacks. Ahh¡­ I swear the original stadium was a neat square carved from stone but not a trace of its previous appearance remained on the shattered grounds. ¡°I, I wasn¡¯t expecting to have two Unique-Grade fights in my life. This is hard to get used to¡­¡± I whole-heartedly agreed with Jaeger¡¯s words. Even though I had experienced it several times, everyone that had ¡®Unique¡¯ in their name were all monsters that I just couldn¡¯t get used to. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡¯ ¡°Huh? Of course it¡¯s Lark¡­ who the heck is this?¡± Hearing my question, Jaeger turned to his right hand at the one he was carrying. He was the peer Jaeger had grabbed by the cor to bring all the way here before the iing disaster, thinking that it was Lark. ¡°Where¡¯s Lark¡­ Oh.¡± Lark had foams in his mouth and was lying unconscious at the center of the broken stadium. Ahh¡­ What an unlucky guy. ¡°Isn¡¯t Senior Lunia being too mean? Why is she so serious against students¡­¡± ¡°She is holding back. If she was serious, half of us would have evaporated in less than 10 seconds.¡± Turning my head from the stone ground that was poking up like a strange statue, I looked at the center of the thunderous roars. At the epicenter was the personification of violence that was indiscriminately sending students of Team B off into the air. ¡°You¡¯re too tense. If you¡¯re not certain, always be prepared to change your path.¡± ¡°Do not shout the name of your skill. Are you trying to exin your skill to your enemy?¡± ¡°Practice working together before trying a pincer attack. That is why you are running into each other on repeat.¡± As expected of a swordsmanship instructor, she was a proficient teacher. She was instructing the students on what they should improve on during those short bouts. Unlike Alicia who couldn¡¯t even take care of herself, Lunia was aplete veteran swordsman. She was a finished genius who did not need to be trained unlike the other named characters that could enter the party. ¡®How close am I to her now?¡¯ In thest iteration, I had the chance to fight together with Lunia who had joined the party after Alicia¡¯s death. She even taught me and helped me train. My master was the one who taught me the spear, but it wasn¡¯t an overstatement to say that Lunia was the one who taught me how to fight. Until the very end of thest iteration, I had been unable to reach her toes. If not for that damn Mr. Park¡¯s preference for males, she probably would have taken my position in the party. ¨C Kwaang! At this rate, it would take around 30 seconds for Team B to be annihted. Honestly, I had been waiting for her to show a gap in her defense but then¡­ ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Our eyes met. Her eyes that were as deep as the abyss had been staring at only me ever since the start of the test. I waspletely being marked. She wasn¡¯t even giving me the chance to use other guys as bait. ¡°Jaeger.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a sword aura flying our way. Bend your back.¡± ¡°What do you¡­ Kuheeek!¡± ¨C Kwaangg! Despite my warning, Jaeger was toote to react. He was hit by the small ball of sword aura that came through the obstacle and flew all the way out of the arena. ¡°I would have loved to give a bit of guidance but that is way below the mark.¡± Atst, my greatest fear hade to reality. It was a 1 on 1 fight against Lunia Arden. 14 knights and mages were unable to hold off against the generous lectures of Lunia and were all one-shotted. Against monsters like Lunia, it was pointless to have a crowd of guys that had a little bit of skill. Evey powerhouse that had the word ¡®unique¡¯ next to their name were beings that could control the flow of a battle by themselves. ¡°Can I surrender?¡± ¡°You may if you want to get the lowest mark.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°But you won¡¯t, will you? I doubt you are willing to let go of such an opportunity either.¡± Right. It was as she said. As someone without any special eyes or abilities, the goal I had to aspire for was ¡®Lunia Arden¡¯. Fighting her 1 on 1 was a lesson in itself which was why I didn¡¯t even bother creating a party on the spot. If I was going to rece the yer, I would eventually have to ovee her with my own strength at one point. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± We silently gazed at each other. Now, there was only Lunia and me on the stage. **** The appearance of big-shots like Lunia Arden and the Five Swords made the crowd go fanatic. Lunia Arden was pretty much the next head of the renowned Arden family. She was the Sword Master; a heroine that was built different ¨C she was the representative icon of this era that was admired by everyone who aspired to be a guardian. The might she disyed against the students of Team B was one-sided and impressive. It made the students realize that it was possible for a human to be that strong. ¡°There¡¯s only one guy left. Who is that guy?¡± ¡°I saw him at the training rooms. He¡¯s a Grade 5.¡± ¡°It¡¯s gonna be over in an instant. I bet he¡¯llst 3 seconds.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up and move on to the next team!¡± ¡°Is it going to be Ms. Lunia again?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m seeing her fight with my own eyes¡­¡± ¡°It would¡¯ve been better if thest one was either Dorron or Alicia though.¡± The muffled mutters of the crowd reached the partially destroyed arena but the two knights on the stage did not move a single inch. It was as if the torrent of words that were being sent by the hundreds of audience were unable to create any ripples on their tranquil hearts. ¨C Kajik! Lunia¡¯s sword shed through the ground. The stone floors were destroyed and ayer of dust rose up that concealed her feet and her posture. Was she going to dash in? Or was she going to sh down? They were about 15 meters apart. How would that be any meaningful¨C ¨C Kangg! Lunia kicked with her foot. The broken fragments of stone were shot out like bullets and at the same time, her body vanished in the air. Soon, her body reappeared in front of Korin Lork who had calmly received the stone bullets. It was an ambush without any signals. It was normal for there to be no starting signals in a real battle, but it was evidently clear that Lunia was showing apletely different attitude to the one she showed against other students. ¨C Kang! Kakang! Their weapons intertwined and clinked. Without stopping with a block, Korin retaliated with his spear. Their weapons shed 3 times in that short instant. Taking half a step back, Lunia took a high-level posture and shed her sword down. Furious Tiger, Golden Pheasant, Horizontal sh, Pure Light. It was beautiful. Her sword flowed elegantly and naturally like that of flowing water. Each of her stances continued in a perfect sequence that made her elegantly pressure the opponent. ¡ª-! The spear rose up in a counterattack. Allowing the attack that was aiming at her neck to graze past it, she fought back against her enemy who was trying to sneak into her territory. It was a picturesque example of how not to over-dodge the opponent¡¯s attack and retaliate at the same time. She was in full control of their distance with a precise awareness of space without allowing even a single millimeter of miscalction. By reading the opponent¡¯s movement, she avoided in the best and shortest manner possible and shed at the speed of sound. She was iparably more skilled than most first-rate knights. It was to be expected of the Sword Master. They could understand it by considering her form as the pinnacle of knights, but that was why it was all the more difficult for them to believe what they were seeing with their own eyes. ¡°¡­ How is that a freshman?¡± Instant sh, Advancing Fang, Reverse Kill, Soaring Heavens, Lightning. Trap and Stab, Ominous Snake: Secret Arts, Breaking Heavens, Reversed Heaven, Tiger¡¯s Gust. Lunia¡¯s consecutive attacks that had been constantly raging from the start were being offset by simr attacks. ¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­ The crowd was deathly silent. They could understand Lunia because she was a semi-Unique Grade Knight. She was the pride of the Arden family and was the captain of the 1st Sword Squad. But Korin Lork wasn¡¯t. He was a freshman, and he was a Grade 5 Knight. How could such a person fight on equal grounds with Lunia Arden? How was that even possible? ¨C Kagak! After a surprising sh of consecutive attacks, they came to a little stalemate as the swordsman and the spear-bearer stopped on top of the stage. ¡°Huu¡­¡± ¡°Out of stamina, huh. What a shame.¡± Korin Lork was the first to get tired from the fierce battle that made its onlookers turn breathless. ¨C Clink! Lunia sheathed her sword. It wasn¡¯t a show of praise that he had done well for a freshman student. The Arden¡¯s sword draw art wasn¡¯t just used for ambush. It was a killing move that was perfected with the aura within the scabbard elerating the de to show the might of sword draw art. ?Domain Severance? Sheathing the sword was a warning sign of the Sword Emperor Garrand, that he will be using the strongest killing move of the Arden family. ¡°Try defending this. Show me a response that befits your spearmanship.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Her voice reached only him and not the audience as Korin immediately lowered his body like a leopard. ¡°What? What is she trying to do?¡± A flustered gasp left from the crowd. ¨C Whiiish! A flood of aura was being emanated into the air with Lunia at the center. Some of the students and professors that were more sensitive to auras felt like they were being surrounded by sharp swords all around. It wasing. The unstoppable wave of death wasing. ¡°Wait! Are you trying to kill the student!?¡± ¡°Stop the test right now!¡± The professors shot out of their seats with the first being Old Man Haman. As soon as he was about to rush into the arena¡­ The world came to a stop. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª It was a suspended world that the audience could not perceive. Fatigue was no longer relevant and the physical abilities of both parties were also meaningless. She took half a step forward. Lunia Arden ced a step onto the suspended world. ?Arden First Sword Style: False Domain Severance.? **** The world stopped. A short-term battle without any ns on prolonging the fight. After forcing out everything I could, my body was now perfectly warmed up. False Domain Severance. Inside the suspended world, the de moved slowly like a video in slow motion. I thrusted my fastest spear at her sword. ?Ominous Snake: Extreme Arts? ?Soaring Snake, Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon? ¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Damn it. My spear did not move. I could clearly tell this time because I couldpare it with a move that was in the same Domain. I could not move in the suspended world. I could only perceive it. Was it a coincidence when I thought I did it against Marie? Was I still unable to make use of the Domain? It was just one step that I needed but I couldn¡¯t take that step forward. ording to the setting, that should be the same for Lunia. And¡­ that meant that even her current attack¡­ was just a ¡®fake¡¯ version of the real Domain Severance. The time it took for the de to slowly approach me wasn¡¯t even as long as the time it would take for me to blink my eyes. My hypersensitive senses were perceiving every millimeter of the approaching de. I could see it but my body ¡ª¡ª ¨C Kiiingg¡­! In the suspended world, I heard an echo that shouldn¡¯t even be audible¡­ it was the screeching sound of metal. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Lunia widened her eyes. Surprise and fluster¡­ I could see her expression going through a massive change in the blink of an eye. I¡­ managed to move the spear by a tiny bit. It wasn¡¯t a mastered technique nor the original Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon but a normal stab. Right when the spearhead collided with Lunia¡¯s sword, ¨C Jiiiiik! Her sword shed through my spear like a bamboo stick and barely stopped right in front of my nose. ¡°Looks like there is a long way to go for both you and myself.¡± ¡°Haak¡­ haak¡­!¡± I felt stifled like I was hyperventting. It was only for a split second but my arm was sore as if I had been stabbing the spear tens of thousands of times. There was a time when I had a simr feeling to this ¨C it was during the fight against Marie¡­ I was also suddenly fatigued like this when I wasnding thest strike on her. At the same time, a sense of omnipotence filled my body. It felt like the surrounding aura was connected to my skin; as if they were a part of my body like my arms and my legs¡­ ¡°Congrattions. You have reached the level of being able to intervene into the Domain. Can you feel it?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°This is the Domain. It¡¯s something you understand with your instincts not your brain. A sense of omnipotence as if you are the center of the world.¡± ¡°What is next?¡± Even this was nothing but a ¡®False¡¯ Domain Severance to Lunia¡­ What was she aiming for that she was looking down on herself so much? In the game, the martial arts of this world had only been expressed with killing moves and powerful abilities with cool names, but how far can they go in this real world? I was feeling this omnipotent from just barely interfering with the Domain. ¡°I do not know.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°There definitely is something beyond this. That senile old man proved it with his life, but I could not reach it myself.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The realm beyond. In the previous generation, only the Sword Emperor and my master were able to reach that realm. If so, then what about Alicia who thepany had officially announced as someone that could do so? ¡°More importantly, you need a better spear. Your weapon is too weakpared to your abilities.¡± ¡°¡­¡± That wasn¡¯t something Lunia should say. Even though my spear waspletely broken, Lunia¡¯s sword also had a crack from that collision despite being an expensive sword. Just a slight intervention into the Domain had caused our weapons to be like this, and that was enough to exin why special swords like the demon-ying sword were a must. I sneaked a nce at Alicia. Her eyes were wide-open and were contracted into a diamond-shape and her dropped chin showed no signs of closing back up. I guess I had achieved the intended goal. ¡°Seems that you knew about Alicia¡¯s talents as well.¡± The reason Lunia pretty much pin-pointed me was because she wanted to show this to Alicia. And likewise for me, this was about¡­ half of my intended objective. Both Lunia and I knew about Alicia¡¯s trauma¡­ or rather, her uniqueness. ¡°I will be staying in this city for a while. There is a business to take care of but in the meantime¡­¡± ¨C I will crush Alicia Arden. She dered to me with a cold smile. ¡°Aren¡¯t you her sister?¡± ¡°Yes. Because I am her older sister, I have the right to trample on Alicia. It is a rightful power given to me, her sister.¡± What a gruesome fight between siblings. It wasn¡¯t a good turn of events for me. Even if Alicia¡¯s heart was to be crushed because of Lunia, Lunia wouldn¡¯t join as a party member. She would only join if Alicia died. If Lunia came out on top of the fight between siblings, both Alicia and Lunia would be eliminated from the main scenario with zero benefits. In other words, what I had to do was¡­ ¡®I have toplete Alicia¡¯s Domain Severance.¡¯ I had to trigger the trauma and her true nature that Alicia was in denial of, and awaken the True Alicia mode. Naturally, there was no need to be in a hurry. In fact, it was a bad call to be in a hurry. As soon as Alicia Ardenpletely acquired Domain Severance, that would lead to the concluding scenario between Alicia and Lunia. Lunia would immediately issue a fight between herself and Alicia using her power as the squad captain. A fight with the Five Swords and a boss fight against Lunia Arden. There was no way the current untrained Alicia without enough practice time would ever be able to defeat such illogically tough opponents. It used to be a forced event back in the game, but there probably had to be a trigger now that this was the real world. I coulde up with two conditions.
  1. Alicia learning Domain Severance.
  1. Lunia hearing the news about Alicia sessfully using Domain Severance.
Acquiring the killing move of Arden¡¯s symbol of absolute power, Sword Emperor Garrand, would signify that Alicia had be a full-fledged sessor candidate that could threaten Lunia¡¯s position. ¡°Korin Lork. Full marks. You will also get some extra marks.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I walked out of the arena. On the way, I found Alicia who was still drooling with her mouth still open. Her concentration was at an absurdly unimaginable level. She looked as if she was possessed by a ghost. **** ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The professors of the Knight Department as well as the instructors that were invited from the outside were all dumbfounded from the scene before their eyes. Even though Lunia Arden had gone up the stage as the instructor, they weren¡¯t thinking of this as a chance to look at her real skills, because the students were far below where she was. However, what they saw wentpletely against their expectations. The entire arena was in tatters. There was not a single ce to stand on and there were craters everywhere. They were awed by the half-demolished arena before their eyes. As expected of the contemporary Sword Master that was said to be the next Sword Emperor in line; as expected of the ¡®heroine¡¯, her skills were far above the norm. But what was more surprising was that her true skills had been forced out by a random Grade 5 student. Theirst attack was a horrifying scene for everyone that was walking down the path of martial arts. It was something they could barely perceive, and upon seeing it, everyone realized that it was in a realm that they would never be able to reach even if they were to spend their entire life training. They despaired at the face of overwhelming talent. Although they were dumbstruck after seeing that outrageous battle, one of the knights soon came to himself and raised a doubt. ¡°Professor Fermack. Is that student really a Grade 5 Knight?¡± ¡°How is that possible! He fought on equal grounds with Lunia Arden!¡± They were in a panic. Usually, the strength of a knight was determined by their Aura Rank and their aura capacity. A Grade 5 Knight should be below average on both aspects but if so, then what in the world was the thing that just happened in front of their very own eyes? ¡°¡­¡± Unlike the professors and the invited instructors that were still in a panic, Old Man Haman quietly gazed at Korin who was walking down the stage. ¡®He¡¯s that student that was trying to touch the elemental body¡­¡¯ Old Man Haman could still remember the reckless student who challenged what he couldn¡¯t achieve. He was fond of that relentless spirit and had even given him meal tickets. He never looked for him so Old Man Haman was under the impression that he had failed and definitely wasn¡¯t expecting him to demonstrate something like this today. That was already beyond the level of students. How many students in Merkarva Academy would be able to bepared to the Grade 5 Knight, Korin Lork? The names Beazeker and Marie Dunareff appeared in his mind but Old Man Haman shook his head. Unlike them, Korin Lork and his talents were rather¡­ different. He felt like he had caught a glimpse into an extraordinary talent that couldn¡¯t be exined with the likes of strength or aura. His talents were in the fathomable realm of the unknown. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°¡­That¡¯s impossible.¡± Professor Fermack red daggers at Korin Lork behind his sunsses. The afro-haired professor who was always carefree was flustered unlike his usual self. If not for his sunsses, someone would have already noticed that something was wrong with him. ¡°How¡­ is he using that person¡¯s skills?¡± His words failed to reach anyone¡¯s ears and were buried under the deafening cheers of the crowd. Chapter 32: Alicia Arden (1) ? Alicia Arden (1)? The death of a human was different from that of a beast. It was something obvious that she knew with her head from all the ethics lessons, but that realization only dawned on her when she cut someone for the first time. ¡°We can¡¯t stop the blood!¡± ¡°But the non-lethal spell was there! How is this possible!¡± She remembered the first time she went to an actual fight. She remembered how she frowned after seeing the intestines and blood that were flowing out of the body of a Grade 5 demonic beast. It felt unpleasant but that was it. She had ended its life while detesting the sight of the beast that had bloody foams on its mouth during its death. However, the smell of human blood was unpleasant in a different sense. ¡°G, grkk¡­¡± The air felt different. The smell was clinging on. It was her first time but she immediately noticed that this heavy stench was something that apanied the disappearance of a life. ¡°N, no¡­ I¡­¡± She couldn¡¯t directly look at her opponent who probably had blood foams on their mouth. No matter how she tried, she couldn¡¯t look at them. Forcing herself to turn away from the horrifying and terrible scenery, she looked away and what entered her eyes then was a de gleaming in darkness. The silver de of the sword was giving off a ck luster. The beauty of that sword ended up stealing her attention. ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡°Ah¡­¡± Her parched throat let out a dry groan. The sunlight shining through the window slowly awakened Alicia¡¯s senses. ¡°Ugh¡­ so sweaty¡­¡± The desire to sleep 5 more minutes and the desire to wash her drenched body ¨C the one that came out on top in the internal contest was thetter. Putting her feet into the slippers on the floor, she slowly opened her hazy eyes and saw the bunk bed on the other side. It seemed that her roommates were outside somewhere. ¡°Oh right. I need to¡­ work.¡± It had already been 3 days since the end of the interim exams, and she had to clear missions to earn a living. After slowly getting ready, Alicia went to the mission board and looked for a decent job. ?Patrol Mission?¨C 6 hours ¨C 20 silver coins ?Subjugation of a horned-rat nest?¨C Approximately 4 hours ¨C 15 silver coins ?Patrol in the Sewers?¨C Approximately 5 hours ¨C 25 silver coins ?Looking for short-term bodyguard?¨C 2 days ¨C A Knight above Grade 3 ¨C 50 silver coins. Amodation and food will be provided. ?Academic Research: Capturing a Beowulf?¨C 70 silver coins. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The missions Alicia was looking for were all easy and convenient ones with less risk. Although it was normal for knights to look for risky missions that were half a level higher than their abilities, Alicia did not pay any attention to them. ?Urgent: Looking for the Murderer of the City of Fog?¨C Permission from the Department and a consultation from a professor required. ¡°Ugh¡­ That looks super dangerous.¡± John Doe ¨C the murderer from the City of Fog, Haze. It was said that he had infiltrated Merkarva City recently and everyone was in an uproar. There had even been an official announcement from the El Rath Kingdom and it seemed that elite students and the professors were employed to the search mission. There were talks about elite parties being formed around the representatives of each year, Vampire Marie Dunareff and Beazeker the Berserker. Whatever the case, it had nothing to do with her. Living quietly without being swept intorge events ¨C that was the only thing Alicia wanted. ¡°Beowulf¡­¡± She had been in danger on the way to the city because of the interference of someone that had been trying to kill her, but it was a demonic beast that she could easily defeat with her skills. Seeing the name, ¡®Beowulf¡¯, reminded her of the past. ¡°I wonder where the benefactor is now.¡± Thinking of the person who saved her, Alicia touched the belt on her waist. **** ¡°¡­ This is the finished spear.¡± ¡°Ohh~¡± On the weekend, I visited Ferghus¡¯s smithy after hearing that the spear was finished and unveiled the cloth that was wrapped around the spear. ¡°Is this exactly as I ordered?¡± ¡°Yes. How did you even know about the secret techniques of our family¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to know.¡± One of the quests of the Truth behind the cksmiths ¨C the Truth behind the Weapon Breaker had two choices. One of them was to enact justice by telling the world about his wrongdoings while the other was threatening Ferghus to take the hidden blueprint of his family. The justice route would lead to a forever farewell with this blueprint so I chose thetter. ording to the original storyline, Ferghus would be arrested after a while. I taught him a lesson this time around so if he didn¡¯t rectify his own actions, then what happened in the future would be totally up to him. ¡°Anyway. Who exactly are you¡­ sir?¡± ¡°Nn? Where¡¯s this from?¡± ¡°None of the magic stones that went into the spear are normal materials and yet the Academy gave them without any hesitation.¡± ¡°You mean that~¡± All the materials that went into the production of the spear were all precious. Including the Unique-Grade Soul Dust that I got, there were also Grade 2 Rune Stones and Grade 1 Refined Silver. Silver Spear. Its full name was Spear of the Silver Knights of the Kingdom of Shadows. It was a Legendary ranked weapon which was one level below Epic. Refined Silver was one of the magic stones alongside the Unbreakable Stone (that was used for Alicia¡¯s demon-ying sword) that could withstand the risk of the ¡®Domain¡¯. Besides, it was a good conductor of aura and was thus one of the best materials for a weapon. Unlike the immensely expensive Unbreakable Stone which could barely be obtained towards the end of the story, Refined Silver was a lot more applicable for mass production. It would cost hundreds of gold coins to make weapons like this using such expensive materials. But of course, none of the yers would break through with money for all the materials, and the standard path was to use the materials that were umted throughout the quests to craft weapons. However, I had the full support of the chairman behind me. Even though there were no Unique-Grade materials, the Academy did have more than enough Grade 1 and Grade 2 materials so they should have been more than willing to give them. ¡°You don¡¯t need to know about it. Where¡¯s the money?¡± ¡°¡­Here.¡± As he had promised, Ferghus gave me all the cash that he received from the Academy. The purse of 30 gold coins was very heavy. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about pulling tricks like that, and live an honest life. Otherwise, you¡¯ll see me again, alright?¡± ¡°Huiik¡­!¡± Leaving behind the frightened Ferghus, I went to the client for the scheduled mission. **** ¡°Grade 5 Knight? You can just be the porter then.¡± When I arrived at the meet-up location, the Grade 3 mage, Mr. Charlie said with a sigh after seeing my grade. Even though there were no grade limitations, he probably wasn¡¯t expecting a Grade-5-nobody toe. It was a 3-man partyposed of the party leader, Charlie, a Grade 3 and a Grade 4. The party wasplete with the addition of 2 students. The three of them were official guardians that had been dispatched from the Guardian Alliance, and the reason they had been looking for students as their party members was simple. ¡°Damn it. Am I not too old to look after kids?¡± ¡°What can we do? It¡¯s just the Alliance policy.¡± Guardian academies had matching interests with the Guardian Alliance. The Guardian Alliance¡¯s job was to assist in the fostering of young guardian aspirants, which included adding students to delegations like this. Although we did get paid less than the official guardians of the party, it was true that they had to shoulder more burden. ¡°I wish those damn higher-ups would think about our circumstances as well.¡± Therefore, it was natural for them to have such attitudes. ¡°Umm¡­¡± ¡°Ah, of course we weren¡¯t saying that to you. You are the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor after all.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Was it a coincidence? ¡­Or was this another butterfly effect? It wasn¡¯t just me that took this mission and Alicia was also here. ¡°What a coincidence.¡± ¡°Ah, Mr. Korin¡­ Hello.¡± I definitely wasn¡¯t expecting our first re-encounter after the interim exam to be during this mission. ?Academic Research: Capturing a Beowulf?¨C 70 silver coins. Seeing this mission on the mission board which gave about 700 US dors as reward, I finally realized that it was time. It was about mid-April. Time-wise, it was right before thest event of the 1st Arc in the original storyline, but the early conclusion to Marie¡¯s incident and the encounter event with Lunia Arden meant that the 2nd Arc had already begun. The first main event of the early portions of the 2nd Arc was the ¡®subjugation of the Murderer of the City of Fog¡¯. The original scenario was about the yer party chasing after the crazy serial killer that Marie couldn¡¯t catch at the end of the 1st Arc. The infamous knight-killer, John Doe, of Haze the City of Fog was brought back to the surface through the beowulf capturing mission. On the week of that said mission, if the yer did not choose the beowulf capturing mission and went with a different one, they would hear news of how the other party that had been trying to capture the beowulf had been annihted. On the other hand, if they went with the beowulf mission, they woulde across the murderer, John Doe in the process, and enter a fight before sessfully chasing him out. Whatever the case, the yer would receive the official document from the El Rath Kingdom and enter the investigation party. At a nce, the guardians of the beowulf mission were just there to be killed for the advancement of the main scenario, but there was also a chain quest and a backstory. The Grade 3 party leader Mr. Charlie had a daughter. Her name was Ms. Sheryl the florist, and she would give a quest about finding Charlie¡¯s ne for a keepsake. Ms. Sheryl the florist was a nice person. She was someone who volunteered at medical stations for orphans in the streets and I also had a connection with her in thest iteration. ¡ºYou look very sad. Would you like a flower? It¡¯s a leftover so don¡¯t worry about the price.¡» Fighting against dangerous enemies with my life constantly on the line, there were times when I sometimes felt very depressed. A single flower given by a nameless stranger was sometimes enough to ring your heart. ¡®I¡¯ll just think of this as repayment for that flower.¡¯ Besides, this incident was also rted to the future scenario as well as the ¡®Precept.¡¯ Ms. Sheryl was a nice person in both the game and thest iteration. I had to prevent the misfortune of her losing her father and also do some prep work on John Doe. Due to the special traits of John Doe, it was impossible for me to catch him alone. It wasn¡¯t a matter of strength, and it was because his specialty was being exceptional at ¡®Stealth¡¯. I could kill him in a matter of 10 seconds if he was in front of my eyes, but he won¡¯t ever show himself. The key was someone who could see through his specialty, ¡®Thin Mist¡¯, and prate through his stealth. ¡°Alicia.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°How¡¯s your eyes?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡®Why was he asking that question?¡¯ That was the question in her gaze. There was a reason why Alicia still couldn¡¯t ¨C or rather ¡®didn¡¯t ¨C use her eyes. It was predictable considering Alicia¡¯s character but it was something that wasn¡¯t clear at this stage in time back when it was a game. I could voice it out loud and talk to her about it but¡­ she would probably just deny it. ¡°Uhh¡­ What do you mean? My eyes are perfectly normal.¡± ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I¡¯m asking.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Did you hear from my sister?¡± ¡°By chance.¡± Of course, Lunia didn¡¯t say anything to me but that wasn¡¯t important. ¡°You have to hurry. Your sister is serious. She will seriously try to crush you so that you can¡¯t hold your sword ever again.¡± The fight for hierarchy between beasts was very brutal. It wouldn¡¯t end until one side was down and that was the same for the Ardens because the Arden household was a family of such beasts. ¡°¡­I can just stop using the sword then.¡± ¡°As if.¡± In response to my mutter, Alicia stared at me with a frown. She appeared to be asking what was so funny, but I still remembered the unkempt and clumsy look on her face. As well as the bewitched look in her eyes. ¡°You can¡¯t abandon your sword. Ever.¡± That was just the way of the scenario of this world and her nature as a human. Oftentimes, humans had a characteristic that they couldn¡¯t ever run away from. Alicia was someone with talents that befitted her surname, Arden, more than anyone else in the world. **** Inside the beowulf nest were two beowulfs and around 20 short hounds. The party skilfully dealt with the short hounds and one of the beowulfs but things started going strange. ¡°What the hell! Why are there so many of them!¡± ¡°Where are they evening from!¡± A sudden fog started enshrouding them and a horde of demonic beasts began endlessly swarming out of the fog. ¡°Hanson! Where¡¯s that Grade 5 kid!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know! Now is not the time for that! Thedy from Arden is holding on quite well but¡­!¡± Alicia was doing an excellent job against the demonic beasts. Using her innate physical talents and her phenomenal swordsmanship, she was killing at least one monster with each of her strikes. Although her sword was ridiculously sharp, her skills themselves were also iparably greater than that of other guardians. ¡®Where are they alling from? It¡¯s not just demonic beasts; there are also spirits! This ce shouldn¡¯t have so many demonic spirits though!¡¯ Demonic spirits were mostly the souls of dead people that remained behind in the mortal world that eventually became demonified. Although it was possible for the souls of dead animals to be one, most of them were humans because they needed to have a strong resentment to stay behind and be a demonic spirit. Thus, it was rare to see a lot of demonic spirits in an inhabited area. This felt intentional. Alicia was thinking that when she sensed someone approaching from the other side of the fog. ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± Thinking that it was herrade that she lost track of during the chaos of the fight, Alicia weed the iing person. She wasn¡¯t that concerned in the first ce because he was stronger than herself, but checking his safety still made her relieved. ¡°Guwoooo¡­!¡± ¡°Uht?¡± However, what she saw after turning around was a person in full te armor. Korin preferred light armor so it was probably not him, and the shivering aura it was giving off was as if it was¡­ ¡°A demonic spirit?¡± ¨C Kaang! In the blink of an eye, the full-ted man swung the ax down as Alicia blocked it with her demon-ying sword. ¡®This weight! It¡¯s not a demonic spirit! It¡¯s a knight!¡¯ ¡°Why are you attacking us!¡± A person ¨C a guardian ¨C was attacking them. Why? Doubt appeared in her mind but Alicia didn¡¯t linger on the topic. ¡°Move!¡± She kicked the armor as the knight fell back. The knight¡¯s body was wobbling more than she expected and did not even have a clear sense of bnce. ¡°Step aside! I will cut you next time!¡± Despite her warning, the armored knight did not fall back. While threatening her with the ax, the knight attempted to kill her. ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± The knight was stronger than she expected and was as tough as a monster. Seeing how both the aura and the equipment weren¡¯t that good, the man should be a Grade 4 Knight at best so how was he so strong? However, that didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t overpower him. She was about to hold herself back a little and attack but that was when arge mace came flying in from the side. ¡°Kiieeeeeeeh!¡± ¡°Uhht?!¡± ¨C m! ¡°??!¡± She used her aura to block the attack but she couldn¡¯tpletely absorb the impact. By the time she hurriedly stood back up after rolling across the floor, the knight carrying an ax was already swinging it towards her. ¡°N, no¡­!¡± It was toote to dodge and she was toote to respond. Drawing near was an unavoidable sense of dea¡ª ¨C sh! A head popped up into the air. After a while, it followed thew of gravity and fell on the ground. Thick drops of blood sttered onto her face as Alicia widened her eyes into circles. In that instant, the sword that she instinctively swung had easily shed through the neck of the armored knight. ¨C Chiiiik! Like iron dropped in magma, the scorching de was tainted and gleamed in ck instead of silver. ¡°Haak¡­ haak¡­!¡± N, no. I, I killed a person¡­ ¡°Kuwaaaa!¡± The knight who had swung the mace at Alicia thumped its way towards her. As soon as the mace soared into the air and was about to strike down at the defenseless girl¡­ ¨C Kwaduk! A white spearhead pierced through the visor of the knight¡¯s helmet and came out the other side. Blood was dripping from the tip of the spear. Soon, the spear retreated out of the hole after killing the knight in one blow. ¡°M, Mr. K, Korin¡­¡± ¡°Why are you staying still?¡± ¡°I, I¡­ killed a¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hold back. These things are not people.¡± ¡°They¡¯re¡­ not people?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an undead raised up with ck magic.¡± It was true. Taking off the helmet of the deceased knight, she found a rotten and dposed face. ¡°Ah¡­¡± A sigh of relief left her mouth. Her heart was starting to beat again. ¡°You stupid brat! I told you to stay with us! There are undeads as well! Where the hell were you¡­¡± That was when the mage, Charlie, came running out of the fog and shouted before shutting his mouth mid-way. ¡°M, Mr. Charlie. I, I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°U, uhh¡­¡± After seeing Alicia, Charlie gulped and took a step back. ¡ª Alicia was smiling. Her crooked lips were forming a terrifying smile. Dripping from the corners of her lips was a spooky sense of remorse as if it was a pity that the opponent wasn¡¯t a human. ¡°I told you¡­ You can¡¯t abandon your sword.¡± It was neither the Eyes of the Boundary nor her swordsmanship. The talent of a human-killing ghost: That was the true talent of the girl called Alicia Arden. Chapter 33: Alicia Arden (2) ? Alicia Arden (2) ? John Doe the Murderer of the City of Fog was a ck mage. He was a wicked necromancer who made use of corpses. The reason he was called the Killer of Knights was because he murdered knights and controlled their bodies just for the sake of getting stronger ves. The way to defeat summoners like a golem mage, a necromancer and a spiritualist was simple. All that had to be done was defeat the mage who was the fundamental core of the spell. By either killing or making them faint, you could stop their consciousness from givingmands to their subordinates. However, the problem was that this method was close to impossible against John Doe. ¡°Stick together. We need to put our backs together and watch out for all the angles.¡± ¡°Who do you¡­¡± Mr. Hanson, who was about to say, ¡®Who do you think you are?¡¯ immediately shut his mouth after seeing the heads of undead knights that were skewered on my spear. ¡°What if they fire a spell at us after we stick together? It¡¯ll be a wipe out then.¡± On the other hand, Mr. Charlie, the leader of the party, raised a rational question. ¡°No. The enemy can only control the corpses of knights. He¡¯s not that difficult to fight against as long we get into formation and retaliate together.¡± ¡°Do you know something about the enemy?¡± ¡°He¡¯s a hot topic these days, isn¡¯t he? The Murderer of the City of Fog.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± ¡°You mean that Grade 1 wanted criminal!?¡± John Doe¡¯s specialty, ¡®Thin Mist¡¯ allowed him to hide himself behind a fog. Rather than simply concealing himself behind it, he would practically be one with the fog. By melting his body into the boundaries of dimensions, he could hide himself perfectly. That was why it was difficult to defeat him. If need be, he could move the fog and escape with ease. How would anyone even dream of chasing after gas? The downside was that he couldn¡¯t use any other spell apart from controlling corpses while keeping this fog up. There was no way corpses would be able to use spells in his stead when they required such a high level calction every time. Thus, even though there were undead mages within the fog, they couldn¡¯t use any spells and were there for misdirection. One more thing to note was that they contained the spell ¡®Crimson Haze¡¯ in their bodies that would detonate upon death. ¨C Click! nk! By the time everyone came to themselves, armored knights and demonic beasts were surrounding us as Mr. Charlie soon raised his staff. ¡°Here it goes!¡± With a shout, he faced the group of undeads and rapidly casted a fireball with the assistance of Memorize. ¨C Kwaang! Several undead knights were flown away without even bothering to dodge the fireball but there were more corpses running in from behind. ¡°Come at me, you dogs!¡± Armors and weapons collided as flesh were cut off. Because the undeads couldn¡¯t use either aura or mana, we had a betterbat potential than the enemy despite being outnumbered. ¡°Alicia. Can you use your ¡®eyes¡¯?¡± ¡°¡­S, sorry.¡± Her crookedly lifted lips were already back down again, and she had returned to the usual sullen Alicia. ¡°Let¡¯s protect everyone from those guys. There¡¯s no need to hesitate. They¡¯re not human.¡± ¡°Y, yes¡­!¡± As long as Alicia could properly use her ¡®Eyes of the Boundary¡¯, someone like John Doe would not evenst a second, but that would be difficult for the time being. Activating Eyes of the Boundary would mean she was looking at the Domain and that was where her traumaid. It was thus impossible to use without progressing her character scenario and reducing her traumatic burden. Well, even without that, Alicia was already strong enough. ¡°Guwooooo¡­!¡± An armored knight ran in with a spooky scream but his swordsmanship was too sloppy for a swordsman. ¨C Chaak! A mere undead was no match for Alicia. Even without her Eyes of the Boundary, she already had a good pair of eyes. ?Arden First Sword Style, Advancing Fang? The undead crumbled before it could even finish swinging its weapon. The weakest part of its neck had been precisely cut off. ¡°Guwooo!¡± Another undead knight dashed towards Alicia but he had way too many ws in his stance due to the inability to think. Alicia pulled her sword back after finishing her sh and supported the back of the de with her left hand in a stabbing position. ?Arden First Sword Style, Crushing Steel? ¨C Paang! The fierce stab of the sword made the knight¡¯s flesh explode like shells of a grenade. ¡°Wow¡­¡± Mr. Charlie and his party were in awe after seeing her attack. Although she had been hidden in the shadows of Lunia Arden, Alicia was also a genius herself. Mere undeads with no brain and swordsmanship stood no chance against her physique and swordsmanship. More than anything else¡ª ¡°Haak¡­ haak¡­!¡± Her lips contorted with every pant. In the end, killing was also something that relied on talent. The veils masking her innate nature were starting to be unraveled, thus revealing her true nature. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Even our allies became speechless after sensing the change on her face. ¡°Let¡¯s focus on dealing with them one by one without breaking our ranks. The guy will run away if it bes slightly disadvantageous for him.¡± Our group dealt with the undeads one by one. As expected, it was a slow process. Now, how long would it take for the enemy to respond ande all the way here? The heads of the undead warriors were skewered on the Silver Spear like a delicious shish kebab. It was partially to show off, but was mainly to stop the guy from retrieving these corpses. A surprising fact was that it was hard for undeads to move without their heads. ?Hooh. So you are the ones that were messing around with myboratory? A gloomy voice of an old man echoed from the mist. He was here. ¡°What? Where was that from?¡± ¡°Find him! The mage is somewhere nearby!¡± That would be in vain, because the voice was echoing all across the mist rather thaning from one direction. ?That is useless, you ignorant peasants. I am the seeker of the truth. Your¡ª? ¡°Skip skip.¡± The rune letter engraved on the Silver Spear ¨C Sowilo ¨C was activated. In an instant, the spear emanated a violent surge of heat. I widely swung the spear as a simr gush of heat and light urred from all around. ¡°What!?¡± ¡°What is happening? Is John Doe using some kind of magic?¡± The reaction of our party members was natural because John Doe was the only mage in this fog but even John Doe himself was probably also confused. That just then was the resonant activation through the ¡®Rune Stone¡¯. The spear was crafted using the old crafting methods that took rune activation into ount and was one of the skills that was used by a boss character in the game. By writing several rune letters everywhere with the spear, I could resonate them into one ¡®frequency¡¯ and activate them all at once. It took a lot of time to set up and used a lot of mana but only took 1 second to activate, which was even faster than elerated spells that were cast through Memorize. As long as there were enough preparations set up with enough time, it was even possible to create something that was as strong as a Grand Spell. ?[Bastaardd¡­? A voice filled with fury was heard from the fog, but this time, his voice was hazier than before. ¡°Sunlight is one of the critical weaknesses of the undead, right? That¡¯s why you were using fog to stop the light.¡± Like this, if we created a field of heat that had the attributes of the sun, it was possible to drastically lower thebat power of undeads. All the undeads would have been killed already if not for the few undead knights face-tanking the light. ?What a petty trick, you little kid. Do you think your terrible mana pool is enough to swallow my fog?? Of course not. Chasing out some of the fog and making the undeads slower was what I had been nning for. As nned, ¡®that device¡¯ appeared from the thinneryer of mist. ¡°Mr. Korin! Look over there!¡± Alicia pointed at the human figure in the distance that had the generic look of a mage. ¡°So that¡¯s John Doe!¡± ¡°Charlie! Blow him away!¡± Mr. Charlie shot a fireball in an instant but one of the knights stood in the way. Because of that straight-forward physical defense of the armored knight, the fireball ended up burning the knight without even touching the mage. ¡°I can¡­!¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± I cut Alicia off. That human figure was a fake. A ¡®Crimson Haze¡¯ woulde out as soon as we defeated that. But even so, we had to defeat that thing at the very least to end this event and escape from this ce. ?Six Ways of the Spear? ?Fifth Style, Crumbling Mountain? ¨C Kwang! The Silver Spear flew forward like aet. The undead knights moved their slow bodies in an attempt to block the spear but they couldn¡¯t stop the Silver Spear which contained the scorching heat of the sun. ¨C Kajik! The spear stabbed through the body of the mage in the blink of an eye all the way through into the ground. I could see the mage¡¯s body burning up even from a distance. ¡°Did we do it?!¡± Mr. Charlie said the sentence that could resurrect all evil. ?Not bad. You broke my puppet.? ¡°¡­!?¡± It obviously couldn¡¯t be that easy to defeat him considering how he was the boss of the early portion of the 2nd Arc. The puppet that I broke just then with Crumbling Mountain was a device he created that could give off a fog ¨C it was an undead created with the body of a mage. The reason John Doe was difficult to catch was because he used puppets like that to run away from chasers. On top of those scapegoats, his real body was synchronized into the fog so it was natural for the guardians to have trouble catching him. ?I shall stop here for today. Look forward to the day we meet again.? It was here. It was that same sentence he said whenever he was running away, which meant it was about time to face his escape mechanic. ¨C Chiiiiikk! As soon as he finished his words, the corpse of the mage that the spear was piercing through started giving off a red fog. ?Crimson Haze? It was a lethal fog that came out automatically whenever the triggers of the fog ¨C the undead mages ¨C hit 0 HP. They snatched the control over the opponent¡¯s blood with contact ¨C in other words, they rapidly sucked out your HP. In the previous iteration, several soldiers died in less than 10 seconds, and it was amendable feat for knights to evenst a few minutes aftering into contact with that fog. ¡°Let¡¯s run! That fog looks insanely dangerous no matter how you see it, right?¡± ¡°Uhh, y, yeah¡­ Looks that way!¡± ¡°Run!¡± Everyone immediately ran after processing my words. Alicia hesitated for a second but soon followed from behind. ¡°M,Mr. K, Korin. Shouldn¡¯t we¡­ retrieve your spear?¡± It looked expensive¡­ She asked while whispering thest few words. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± I activated the Rune of Return that was on the spear. Then, the spear that was stabbing through the undead mage heeded to my call and immediately flew through the air all the way to my hand. ¡°W, wow¡­ That¡¯s amazing.¡± Alicia said in admiration but it wasn¡¯t over yet. The Crimson Haze was speeding from behind while trying to swallow us all. It was then. ¡°Kuhakk!¡± Perhaps because ofck of exercise, Mr. Charlie the mage ended up tripping on a root of a tree of the unpaved pathways of the forest. ¡°Mr. Charlie!¡± Both Alicia and I stopped ourselves straight away and started running to him, but Alicia was the first one to reach him because of our difference in physical capabilities. ¡°Hold onto my hand!¡± ¡°Y, yeah! Than¡­ dodge!¡± ¡°Sorry¡­? Kyaak!¡± A red hand suddenly emerged out of the crimson fog. That horrible-looking hand gripped onto Alicia who hade back to save Charlie. ?Mist Restriction? ¡°Uht?¡± She was pulled back into the red fog just like that. ¡°Mr. Charlie! Get up and run!¡± ¡°U, uhh! What about you?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about us and run outside until you¡¯re out of the forest! And give me your robe!¡± ¡°Huh?!¡± After helping him stand back up, I quickly cut off the buttons at the front of his robe and snatched it away. Then, I quickly jumped into the Crimson Haze. ¡°W, wait!¡± Without worrying about him, I jumped into the fog but as soon as Inded inside, I could feel my entire body being shredded apart with blood being sucked out in bulks. ¡°I really didn¡¯t want to do this a second time but¡­!¡± I was also locked in this fog once in the previous iteration because of a misstep. Even though it was for less than a minute, I was still almost dead but I had the regeneration ability this time around so I would be able tost a lot longer. The problem was Alicia. Unlike me who was about at the level of a Grade 2 regenerator, Alicia had nothing and it was questionable if she could evenst more than 2 minutes with her bare body. I turned my eyes looking for her and discovered that she was a lot deeper inside than I thought. ¡°Alicia!¡± ¡°Uhkk, g, go away! Go away!¡± Alicia couldn¡¯t get rid of the red hand that was holding onto her and was locked in ce. She was in a panic because of the tough restriction on her body and the constant depletion of her vitality. Blood was already being sucked out from all over her body. She would probably be unable tost very long. ¨C Guwoooo ¨C Kuwaaaa To make everything worse, there were even undead knights approaching from a distance. Someone had to stop them. ¡°M,Mr. K, Korin¡­ T, this is noting off. Please¡­ please save me. I, I might die at this rate.¡± Alicia said with a teary voice as teardrops fell from her eyes. A potential death was always hard to get used to, and it was normal for girls of her age to show such a reaction at the face of it. I covered her body with the robe I took from Mr. Charlie. It would lower her exposure to the fog and would thus buy her a bit more time. ¡°Mr. K, Korin¡­?¡± ¡°Calm down, Alicia Arden. Nothing will happen if you continue doing that mindlessly. You need to focus andmit your strongest move. It¡¯s easy. As long as you calm down, it¡¯ll be a piece of cake.¡± ¡°B, but¡­¡± ¡°I will now protect you from those undeads. You know what you have to do, right?¡± ¡°I, I can¡¯t move my hands and, th, the fog is making me dizzy. It hurts.¡± ¡°Alicia. Alicia¡­!¡± ¡°Hikk¡­!¡± Lowering my head, I looked into her eyes under the robe. After wiping the falling tears off of her shivering ck eyes, I opened my mouth. ¡°You can do it. You can do a lot better than what you¡¯re doing right now.¡± ¡°Mr. Korin? What do you¡­¡± ¡°Just continue cutting and keep it up. Just focus yourself on getting rid of this spell that¡¯s holding you back. Don¡¯t worry about anything else. I will protect you, so you focus on one thing.¡± ¡°B, but¡­ m, my hands are burning! I can¡¯t clench my hands either¡­¡± ¡°You are the greatest genius I¡¯ve ever seen out of all the swordsmen I¡¯ve met. You can do anything as long as you want to. It¡¯s just one step. Alicia Arden. One step is enough.¡± After that, I held onto my spear. I trusted her. I trusted her ability to cut something that trivial. **** ?Alicia POV? It was painful and it was scorching hot. Plus, the feeling of blood being sucked out from every hole around my body gave me goosebumps. I could smell a heavy scent of rusted iron, like the one back when I first cut a person. The blood-colored hand inside the red fog was clinging onto me like a ma without ever letting go of me. A thin arm like this was supposed to be easy to cut. Swinging my sword once was supposed to be enough. ¨C Tang! Uhh¡­ Unlike what was in my mind, the sword was flung off. The demon-ying sword that was said to cut anything in existence couldn¡¯t even cut a simple spell like this and was bounced off. W, was that not strong enough? One more time! ¨C Taang! N, no. It¡¯s aura. I need more aura¡­ ¨C Taang! Is it my posture? So that¡¯s the problem! Let me straighten my body and¡­ I knew something was wrong, but I just didn¡¯t know how it was supposed to be fixed, nor what the exact issue was. Why wasn¡¯t it being cut? Why was the sword getting parried off? This is not right. This is weird! Meanwhile, the spell was continuing to squeeze my body. The veins around my eyeballs popped and blood fell like tears, as despair soared from the bottom of my heart. Ahh¡­ I shouldn¡¯t have tried to save him. I shouldn¡¯t havee back to help. I was regretting when I suddenly thought of my benefactor. I remembered the person who saved me, created an antidote for someone like me who was whining from a simple paralysis and blew on the medicine before bringing it to my mouth. Wasn¡¯t he so injured that he had to sear his wound with fire¡­? Didn¡¯t he willingly give me his hand when I was crying from the bandaging process? After meeting him, I didn¡¯t want to be a disgraceful person. I wanted to be someone who could willingly sacrifice myself for the sake of others. But look at me now. A quick regret and bursting into tears¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. Someone like me¡­ shouldn¡¯t have been saved by a person like you¡­ ¡°Alicia!¡± That was when the boy came to save me. He jumped into the fog of death without any hesitation just to save me. No. Don¡¯t do that. Run. I can¡¯t evenst here for that long. Why did youe in when your Aura Rank is a lot lower than mine? How are you even going to survive? ¡°Mr. K, Korin¡­ T, this is noting off. Please¡­ please save me. I, I might die at this rate.¡± Unlike the thoughts that were going through my mind, my mouth bbered about somethingpletely different. However, I knew this was my honest self. You idiot. Selfish Alicia. A stupid coward. Why didn¡¯t you tell him to run away? You should¡¯ve told him to leave you behind. Why are you asking him to cut the spell for you when you couldn¡¯t even do it yourself? ¨C Rustle! It was then. I was crying in an unsightly manner when Mr. Korin threw a robe over my body. ¡°Mr. K, Korin¡­?¡± ¡°Calm down, Alicia Arden. Nothing will happen if you continue doing that mindlessly. You need to focus andmit your strongest move. It¡¯s easy. As long as you calm down, it¡¯ll be a piece of cake.¡± ¡°B, but¡­¡± His voice was very low and was reminiscent of a simr voice that I heard before. Why was I suddenly thinking about that now? ¡°I will now protect you from those undeads. You know what you have to do, right?¡± Only then did I see the undeads that were slowly walking through the fog. I was crying so much that I hadn¡¯t been able to see them through my foggy eyes. Was he going to protect me here? By himself? Even though he was stronger than me¡­ was he going to protect me inside this red fog? Why? ¡°I, I can¡¯t move my hands and, th, the fog is making me dizzy. It hurts.¡± He was risking his life for me, and yet the only thing I could say in return was something like this. Whinging andining that it was painful and scary. Someone like me was iparably worse than the benefactor let alone the boy in front. It¡¯s because I was a fool like this that I could not say anything in front of Sister Lunia¡­ ¡°Alicia. Alicia¡­!¡± ¡°Hikk¡­!¡± In this pressing situation, the boy grabbed on my shoulders and wiped the tears from my eyes before opening his mouth. ¡°You can do it. You can do a lot better than what you¡¯re doing right now.¡± ¡°Mr. Korin? What do you¡­¡± ¡°Just continue shing and keep it up. Just focus yourself on getting rid of this spell that¡¯s holding you back. Don¡¯t worry about anything else. I will protect you, so you focus on one thing.¡± ¡°B, but¡­ m, my hands are burning! I can¡¯t clench my hands either¡­¡± ¡°You are the greatest genius I¡¯ve ever seen out of all the swordsmen I¡¯ve met. You can do anything as long as you want to. It¡¯s just one step. Alicia Arden. One step is enough.¡± Leaving those words behind, the boy lifted up his dazzling silver spear. Showing me his back, he faced the undeads. He was not throwing me away. ¡°¡­¡± If you stand up like that, I really have to force myself to do it then, don¡¯t I¡­? But I don¡¯t feel confident. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll fail. The fallen ego and the endless sense of self-doubt was burying me alive. ?Lack of practice from over-reliance on talent.? Yes. I waszy until now. I never even tried working hard. Ever since that day when I first cut someone¡­ my sword had been stagnant. I¡¯m just a fool, so why¡­ ?But talent-wise, you¡¯re better? Why did he have so much trust in my talent even when he wasparing me to unni? ?You can do it.? ¡°Kuhup¡­!¡± Swallowing the scorching beads of tears, I held onto my sword. The words, ¡®give up¡¯ were gone from my head. I didn¡¯t even have the time to think about anything negative. There was someone believing in me. There was someone who saved someone like me, as well as someone who was trying to save me. My Benefactor and Mr Korin had nted it in my heart ¨C trust for myself. Grabbing the scabbard with one hand, I sheathed the cold de back in. Grandpa¡¯s killing move ¨C the strongest sword strike in the world. This move was something that could sh through anything in existence. And thus¡­ I knew there was something I had to use beforehand when using this. Eyes of the Boundary. A cursed talent that forced me to look into the Domain. Inside the darkness of the Domain, I was all alone. It made me feel like I was left alone by myself in the world. An endless sea of darkness that made it look as if I would drown with a single misstep. The darkness that I would see through these eyes was so scary, and because I knew no-one could help me from falling into that dark ocean with no bottom in sight¡­ I had been frightened of opening these eyes until now. ¡ª¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C The world stopped. In a world of utmost concentration¡­ even the sound of blood drops was no longer reaching my ears. I was all alone in this shivering world. The coldness brought by the ebb threatening to swallow my ankles made me tremble. Am I alone? Am I¡­ by myself in this ce again? As soon as I was about to be swept away by the wave, my eyes met with someone¡¯s. Korin Lork. He was looking at me from the front with his spear in hand. Ah¡­ I wasn¡¯t alone. You were with me in the same world as me. A coward. You stupid retard. You idiot who needs someone to be by your side just to take a single step forward. I finally opened my eyes in full. For the first time, I gazed into it. Looking at the foreign substances of this world, I epted the darkness and stared into the boundary. The falling tears, the dripping drops of blood and the torrent of emotions¡­ they all became fuel for that one step forward within the suspended world. ¨C Guhahaha. I saw a hazy figure through the fog. An old evil that looked horrendous was showing a nasty smile while looking at his two sacrifices. ?It¡¯s just one step. Alicia Arden. One step is enough.? Finally, I took a step forward in the ck ocean for the first time ¨C it was a full andplete step forward. ?Arden First Sword Style: Domain Severance? The sword that was swung inside the Domain while ignoring the limitations of physics ¡ª ¡ª- It shed through the restriction, Through the crimson fog, And cleaved every evil hidden inside the mist. Chapter 34: Alicia Arden (3) ? Alicia Arden (3) ? In front of me was the powerless corpse of the bisected ck mage. Behind that corpse was the remains of a huge sword sh that made the entire forest look as if it had been cut into two with a sword. Ah, we couldn¡¯t even hide it at this point. It was clearly a Domain Severance. It was evidently something that could only be pulled off inside the Domain by someone walking down the path of sword. ¡­Umm. Dude, howe¡­ you¡¯re using that already? Like, I wasn¡¯t expecting her to use Domain Severance at all. I just thought¡­ she would use Crushing Steel or Three Paths of One Sword¡­ If you use Domain Severance here¡­ ¡°What in the world just happened?¡± No! ¡°Oh my gosh! The forest got cut into two?! How is that even possible?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard of this before! So that¡¯s the legendary ¡®Domain Severance¡¯ of the Sword Emperor!¡± Please don¡¯t! ¡°Ohhh! Does that mean that youngdy would be the next head of the Arden family?¡± ¡°Of course! Domain Severance is the strongest move that no-one could use until now except for the Sword Emperor!¡± No. Don¡¯t do that. We can¡¯t let everyone know that already! ¡°Mr. Korin! I did it! I did itt!¡± Why does nothing go ording to n? **** ?Breaking News! The Nightmare of Haze! The infamous Knight Killer John Doe! Defeated by the sessor candidate of the renowned swordsmanship household, the Arden family!? ?Who exactly is Alicia Arden, the beautiful knight who defeated the Grade 1 ck mage?? ?¡°We can finally talk about it now!¡± Agents of the Arden family state how Alicia Arden had always been the true genius of¡ª? ¨C Grip! I clenched on the morning newspaper that was ced at the door of the hospital room to the point it got ripped. Ahh, it had been a while! But it wasn¡¯t long enough for me to forget how it felt for everything to be fucked up so badly! The reason there hadn¡¯t been any properpetition between the sessor candidates of the Arden family until now was because one side had been overwhelmingly greater than the other. Alicia Arden could never defeat Lunia Arden even if she was to be born again. Poprity, followers, capability¡­ Lunia Arden had always been at an absolute advantage over her, but that single recent action started shaking the firm position and hierarchical status of Lunia Arden. Domain Severance. It was the killing move of the Sword Emperor. Alicia would now gather the eyes of a lot of people after re-enacting that legendary attack of the master of swords. Let me say this again. The fight for hierarchy in a group of beasts was brutal. The candidates had to repeat struggle upon struggle and wash blood with blood until they found themselves a leader. That was no different for Alicia and Lunia. What would happen if Lunia, who had practically been the only sessor of the family, suddenly had her position threatened by another candidate? ¡®The Five Swords would move immediately at the very least.¡¯ It was the same back in the game. They were the loyal followers of Lunia Arden while at the same time having their families¡¯ interests aligned with their loyalty. Their mindset was simr to that of a delinquent, and as long as Alicia had her eyes on the sessor position, they would ruthlessly try to stop her. With Alicia¡¯s current skills, it was hard for her to win against the Five Swords. She would be broken from their cooperation. It was the climax of the character scenario plot of Alicia Arden ¨C ?Sword Challenge?. The traditional pretext was that five swordsmen at the level of an instructor would test the skills of the future captain of a sword squad but¡­ the Sword Challenge of the Arden family had long turned into a legal elimination method of potentialpetitors. Originally, it was an event that was supposed to arrive after enough level ups and Alicia increasing the proficiency of her swordsmanship skills but¡­. It would probably start immediately in the real world as soon as the conditions were met. ¡°Mr. Korin. Would you like some honey bomb candies?¡± Oblivious to the rm bell ringing in my mind, Alicia rmended me a candy with a bunch of candies in her mouth and bulging cheeks. ¡°That was actually not that bad! Just a bit painful!¡± Last night, we went straight to the first aid rooms of the Academy aftering back from our mission. There weren¡¯t that many problems for me because of my regeneration ability, but the problem was Alicia ¨C her right arm was still bandaged. The side effect of Domain Severance¡­ Any movement inside the Domain was tremendously burdensome on the body. An average knight would have their body ripped to pieces from taking half a step forward within the Domain. Even though it was a very powerful skill, it came at a cost. ¡°When do you think you¡¯ll be back to being fit?¡± ¡°Nnn. They said one or two more days should be okay with some potion.¡± We didn¡¯t have time. It actually would have been better for her to buy some time by staying at the hospital if the injury was bigger but¡­ Leaving the worries aside, I also had a different question for her. ¡°Anyway, what¡¯s the secret?¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°You know, Domain Severance. Looking at the Domain with Eyes of the Boundary shouldn¡¯t mean you can immediately use it though.¡± ¡°¡­usted me.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± When I asked back, Alicia replied with a ticklish voice while scratching her cheeks out of embarrassment. ¡°It¡¯s because you trusted me, Mr. Korin, that I could do it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Umm¡­ So was she saying a super optimistic mindset like, ¡®I can do this!¡¯ was all she needed to use Domain Severance? ¡°Hehe. So I tried and it worked.¡± T, this¡­! This is why I hate geniuses¡­! ¡°Haa¡­¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± I could faintly understand why Lunia would be so upset. Anyone would find it unfair when looking at someone with such exceptional talents. ¨C Knock knock! A visitor. That was when someone came in after opening the door. ¡°Korin!¡± It was Marie. She was wearing an adorable white dress while carrying a straw basket. How many potatoes would be inside that basket, I wonder? ¡°Senior Marie.¡± ¡°I heard you defeated the murderer, John Doe! Are you alright?¡± ¡°We were unlucky.¡± Although the encounter had been somewhat intentional, I glossed over it as Marie suddenly raised her voice. ¡°Are you really alright?!¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Yeah. I am.¡± ¡°I can smell¡­ blood though.¡± ¡°Blood? Ah¡­¡± I was inside the Crimson Haze so I probably did bleed quite heavily, and it was natural for me to stink like blood considering how it had been sucked out of my entire body. It had all been recovered thanks to my regeneration ability but it seemed that she could still smell the leftover scent. ¡°You know how I have the regeneration ability, right? This much is nothing.¡± ¡°But still¡­¡± Marie muttered with a teary voice. She was such a nice girl that she was concerned about a lot of things. After a while, she discovered Alicia who was lying down next to me and spoke to her. ¡°Oh right. I am Marie Dunareff, a 2nd year student of the Magic Department.¡± ¡°Ah yes, nice to meet you, senpai. My name is Alicia Arden. I am a 1st year student at the Knight Department.¡± ¡°Ohh~ So you¡¯re that Ms. Arden! I saw you in the newspaper! It was amazing! Didn¡¯t you get a lot of injuries and stuff though?¡± ¡°Sorry? Umm, not really?¡± ¡°You should still get them checked! You never know!¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­ Thank you.¡± epting the advice of the cheery senior, Alicia gave a nod. ¡°Well then, Korin. Have you had lunch yet? Should we eat together?¡± ¡°Ah, actually. I have something to talk about with Alicia.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I had to discuss the future events with Alicia, because she waspletely oblivious to the things that would happen from now on. She had already acquired Domain Severance, which she was supposed to learn at the final stages of her growth as a swordsman. There was no way Lunia Arden and the Five Swords would leave her alone considering how symbolic that ability was. ¡°Hnnnn¡­¡± Marie squinted her eyes and turned to Alicia. ¡°What is it about? Maybe we can do it together?¡± ¡°No. It has nothing to do with you, Senior Marie.¡± It¡¯s not something Marie could help with. Wait, actually¡­ Maybe she could? ¡°It has nothing to do with me, huh. I see¡­¡± For some reason, it felt like I was being pricked by her sharp voice. The smile on the face of the ever-smiling merchant Marie was slowly starting to vanish. ¡°Are the two of you very close?¡± ¡­Why was I suddenly feeling a chill down my spine? Was it because my blood had been sucked out inside the Crimson Haze? It seemed that I wasn¡¯t the only one who felt that chilliness. ¡°He¡¯s my benefactor!¡± ¡°Nnn?¡± ¡°I would have died if not for Mr. Korin! He is my second benefactor!¡± Actually, the first was also me but, anyway. ¡°I see¡­!¡± As if she could empathize with that statement, Marie started showing a bright smile on her face again. ¡°So, are the two of you close?¡± However, the air was still rather cold. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Was this how it felt to be a rat in front of a tiger? I had an instinctive feeling that I had to choose my words carefully. ¨C Tung tung! That was when a sudden thud echoed from the window. We nonchntly turned to the side and flinched with a gasp. ¡°¡­Open.¡± Hanging outside the window was Hua Ran in her chained nun clothes with a bunch of talismans, ring at me over the window. ¡­Isn¡¯t this the 6th floor? ¡°Alicia!¡± ¡°Y, yes!?¡± ¡°Open it for her! Hurry up!¡± ¡°Y, yes sir!¡± Alicia, who was next to the window, hurried over to the window and pushed it wide open. Hua Ran hopped into the room and softlynded on the floor like a cat. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Alicia gulped after seeing her like an intimidated mouse. ¡°Hello junior?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Unexpectedly, Marie greeted her with a bright smile. Both Alicia and I were rather freaked out by Hua Ran jumping up to the 6th floor from outside, but it seemed that Marie didn¡¯t find it strange as a Unique-Grade herself. The room became silent so I opened my mouth with a question. ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°Meal.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Meal.¡± ¡°No, wait. Didn¡¯t I buy you onest time?¡± ¡°Raw fish.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± So you mean sushi!! It seemed that she still remembered the thing we talked about when I was buying her fishst time. But it¡¯s not like I promised her I would buy it or something, right? ¡°Umm¡­ Now is not a great time. How about you ask Professor Josephine to go with you?¡± ¡°¡­She said no because of parasites.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Even though there were all sorts of dishes in this world ranging from stews to kimchi, it seemed that there was still some repulsion against raw food. It was especially more true for Lady Josephine considering her age¡­ ¡°Korin,¡± said Marie. ¡°Umm¡­ yes?¡± ¡°Did you buy Junior-Hua-Ran a meal?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ I did buy her once.¡± ¡°Oh~ I see. You have a lot of friends, don¡¯t you?¡± Well, it was true that I had a lot more friends in this iteration. The standard group was with Jaeger and Lark. Sometimes, I would teach Yuel Ogham letters at the library and receive expensive mushrooms from the forest in return. Dorron was a weekend member. We would do a mission together if there was something that paid a good price. On the other hand, Kranel was a bit of a shy bloke and we yed together once or twice a week. Kyaah~! What a sess at making friends this timepared to thest iteration? I¡¯m finally getting rewarded for my constantly terrible school life after reaching my 3rd one. ¡°Umm¡­ Senior Marie?¡± ¡°What is it? Junior?¡± ¡°I have a ticket for a restaurant in the city called ¡®Holy Panda¡¯. Would you like to go together?¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°I heard it¡¯s famous for Eastern cuisine.¡± Actually, Old Man Haman hade looking for me after the interim exam. He asked me if I defeated the elemental body on that day and suddenly gave me a ticket for a fine dining restaurant! It was such a luxurious ce that I wasn¡¯t keen on going by myself, so it would be good for both of us if I went together with Marie. Alicia reacted first instead of Marie. ¡°Mr. K, Korin. W, when you say Holy do you mean one of the three big restaurants alongside Creamcycle and Everglide Jade ck?? Where do you have to pay a gold coin for each meal?¡± ¡°Do you know that ce, Alicia?¡± ¡°Of course! It was in the monthly Merchelin guide magazine. And it¡¯s also famous for being one of the best restaurants for a date!¡± ¡°Date¡­!¡± Marie gasped as if she had trouble breathing. It seemed to be a really famous restaurant. Actually, I used to go to these ces quite often in thest iteration as well. With Mr. Park, that is. ¡­How did I not notice it until thest moment? The room stayed silent for a while. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Senior?¡± It was strange how silent Marie was. Her cold gaze was long gone and was reced with trembling eyeballs and a gulp that was so loud that I could hear it from a distance. ¡°S, shall we? Okay! I¡¯ll get prepared right away!!¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be right now¡­¡± ¡°GreatToSeeYouAreWell,Korin! Let¡¯sMeetAgainAtNightForDinner!¡± Swish! After saying a bunch of stuff in one go, Marie dashed out of the room. You weren¡¯t supposed to run in the corridor though. ¡°Well then¡­¡± I was about to exin how we should approach this uing bomb, but that was when a loud thud reached us from the corridor. ¨C Tap tap tap tap tap! ¨C Kwaang! ¡°Korin!¡± With a flushed face that signified the distance she had run, Marie gasped while handing me a ss bottle. ¡°This! Elixir! I made it myself! It¡¯ll be very good on wounds!¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± Like, I was fully healed and I didn¡¯t need it though ¨C I was about to say that but Marie immediately began rushing down the corridor again. ¨C Please don¡¯t run in the corridor! ¨C Hukk! Sorry! Marie was gone while a pinkish elixir was resting on my hand. ¡°¡­Isn¡¯t this super expensive?¡± An elixir was something that boasted of having 10 times the effectiveness of normal potions. This specific one¡­ was probably made by Marie extracting her own blood. ¡°Alicia. Pour this on your right arm.¡± ¡°Sorry? I, is that okay?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving very soon so it¡¯s okay. We have to fix your right arm first.¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m not sure if I can take this though¡­¡± Alicia murmured while ncing at the corridor. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Senior Marie is a nice person.¡± ¡°Then¡­ Thank you very much.¡± ¡°¡­What about my meal?¡± Hua Ran¡­ do I owe you fish or something? ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll bring you to a sushi ce next week and buy you as much as you want so let¡¯s do something together before that.¡± ¡°¡­What is it?¡¯ Then, I started exining about the current situation. I exined how Alicia¡¯s sister was a very scary person and how her loyal subordinates would soone and try to crush Alicia. The culture of the sword n, Arden ¨C ¡®Sword Challenge¡¯. I told Alicia about ¡®Sword Challenge¡¯, which was the tradition of the Arden family. Her face started turning pale throughout the story and she finally understood her current status ¨C how she personally stepped into the fight for hierarchy between beasts due to using Domain Severance while defeating John Doest night. ¡°W, what should I do?! I¡¯ll die if I fight Sister! Actually, I won¡¯t even be able to win against the Five Sword sisters!¡± Alicia said while shivering from fear. Since she was now in the realm of the Domain, it should be possible for her to defeat one of the Five Swords, but it would be a different story if it turned into a group fight. ¡°We do have a way out, but there is a condition.¡± ¡°C, condition? Anything is fine. Please let me live!¡± ¡°From now on, whenever I say we should defeat a demonic beast or go train together at the training rooms, you need toe without anyints. You¡¯ll be a so-called fixed member of my party.¡± ¡°Is, is that all?¡± It was actually very important. You see, your job now will be to go around with me defeating Unique Grades. King of Iron Mountain was an especially harder boss to defeat without her help. And of course¡­ there was no need to talk about that yet. ¡°So, what¡¯s your choice?¡± ¡°I, I will swear loyalty so please help me!¡± ¡°Good. I have received thy pledge of loyalty.¡± Now, it was time to talk about our n. Leaving aside Lunia Arden, it was a fact that the Five Swords would being at us. If there was no way around something¡­ ¡°There is something I learned when I was in the military¡­ I mean a camp.¡± It was a 2-year-long camp. And rather than learning, it was something we had to scream out every time we were doing a squat. ¡°If there is no way around it, enjoy it.¡± ¡°W, what do you mean by that?¡± I gave the ignorant Alicia a grin and opened my mouth to enlighten her. ¡°We shall strike first.¡± If you like the novel, don¡¯t forget to rate it here Wanna read ahead? Buy coins here. You can unlock chapters with coins or rather ¡°genesis orbs¡±. You can support us by reading the chapter on the Genesis website, and also by bing an exclusive member. You should check out the illustrations on our discord server: discord/invite/JnWsEfAGKc Chapter 35: Alicia Arden (4) ? Alicia Arden (4) ? ?Arden Family in Turmoil. Sword Emperor Garrand continues his Silence!? ?Alicia Arden¡¯s Remarkable Performance. What will happen to the session of the Main Family?? ?Arden Family in Turmoil. Sword Emperor Garrand continues his Silence!? ¡°These insolent¡­¡± It had been three days since news had spread about Alicia defeating John Doe the murderer. One of the powerful groups of Arden Family¡¯s Lunia Faction, the Five Swords ripped the newspapers into halves after seeing their insolent and irresponsible nonsense. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Jennie the Rapid Sword, Sirin the Dual Wielder, Lena of the Rippling Sword, Mei the Sword of True Darkness, and Milia of the Illusionary Sword. They were the elite swordsmen of the renowned Arden family¡¯s 1st Sword Squad. While gritting their teeth, they carefully waited for one person¡¯s response. ¡°¡­¡± Sword Master, Lunia Arden. She was the sessor candidate who most of the trainees like them followed at the Arden family. Lunia was deep in thought while emptying her cup of tea. The Arden was a sword sect that had groups of swordsmen as its followers, who believed in thew of power. They had all been waiting for the next swordsman who could lead them forward with an absolute charisma like Garrand Arden. Although Lunia and Alicia¡¯s parent generation had seeded the position of the family head, they hadn¡¯t been fully acknowledged by Garrand Arden, but it wasn¡¯t because they were weak. Domain Severance. A realm that most martial artists weren¡¯t even aware of, that only existed in the imaginations of others¡­ Garrand Arden had been waiting for an existence that could seed his sword. He wanted a sessor that could continue the line of the great Domain attack which he had created himself. ?That is unfortunate. How truly unfortunate. So there is no-one to continue my legacy even in this generation, huh.? Even though Lunia had revealed her talents ever since a young age and had been receiving the expectant eyes of everyone in the household to be the next sessor in line, Garrand clicked his tongue after seeing her. In the end, even someone like her who was called the greatest genius of the contemporary times wasn¡¯t able to satisfy Garrand. She shed both sweat and blood. The thick calluses on her palms were proof of everything she had gone through in her life. Even so, she still wasn¡¯t able to be acknowledged by him. She still couldn¡¯t follow the traces of the greatest swordsman that she had been aspiring to be. Like that, she was solely focused on bing the fitting sessor of the Arden family but¡­ ?Haak¡­ Haak¡­!? Her younger sister had btedly picked up a sword to have a friendly battle against one of the trainees of the main family. Although Alicia was also a direct child of the Arden family, no-one even considered her a possiblepetitor for Lunia. Lunia could see Alicia¡¯s admiration and her attempt to follow her traces, but a genius like herself was hard to find. Alicia was just a newbie at the sword who was getting some decent special treatment just because she was a direct child of the family head. There was no way a child like her could defeat a trainee that was seriously contemting the path of the sword. The trainees, Lunia, their parents and even Alicia herself were aware of that. In the family, Alicia was nothing but an illegitimate child that was brought from outside by the family head, and she should have been content with that as well. But it was on that day. ?We can¡¯t stop the blood!? ?But the non-lethal spell was there! How is this possible!? What in the world¡­ just happened? She missed it. In fact, Lunia couldn¡¯t even see it. After being pushed to a corner, Alicia instinctively put up a guard that was too sloppy to even be considered a proper guard. It was the ssic mistake of a newbie but¡­ by the time Lunia came to her senses, the opponent had already been cut. It wasn¡¯t simply in the realm of being fast. That¡­ was just different. Domain. That great realm of martial arts. Alicia had taken a step forward inside that ce. How was that even possible? How could a kid ¨C thatzy brat¡­ ??[¡­!] ?? [N, no¡­ I¡­] Lunia turned and noticed that Alicia was smiling. It was evident that she was confused, but her lips were crooked and her eyes seemed possessed. Only at this point did Lunia understand what her grandfather meant. Talent ¨C the twisted nature that normal people could never understand. Sword Ghost. It was truly the gift of a ghost. ?Alicia will now be another sessor candidate of the Arden family.? Just like that, Alicia Arden became a candidate for the future family head despite the opposition of everyone else. ?Sister! I got to use an actual sword today!? The memories of her caressing the hair of her step-sister who had been the target of the negligence of her father and the family was then kept away in a corner of her head. ¡°Captain.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She returned to reality with Jennie¡¯s call. Lunia gazed at her subordinates that were looking only at herself. They, who hadn¡¯t been acknowledging anyone other than her to be the next family head, were being shaken. It was a natural response. They were probably confused, because the naughty miss of the family had suddenly shown off her talents. That loser who had been running away from her talents ever since that incident was now threatening her position, but that was what Lunia had wanted more than anything. Now that Alicia was finally at a position where she could threaten and challenge her position; If she could see that sword one more time¡­ would that allow her to also reach beyond the Domain? That was what Lunia was the most interested in. **** ¡°Wow. Look at this. A silver coin and a half for kimbap. I wonder what¡¯s inside?¡± ¡°Sea urchin roe sauce on kimbap¡­ This is crazy. Is this capitalism? Is this what this world hase to?¡± Marie was with Korin at the fine-dining restaurant, ?Holy Panda?. The legendary meal tickets of high-ss restaurants that Instructor Haman the gourmet gave out to the students he liked ¨C they were for 2 people in general, and that was why Korin had invited her out for a dinner at this ce. ¡°It¡¯s thanks to you, Korin, that I get toe to a ce like this!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. It was a bit awkward for me toe to this ce by myself anyway so it¡¯s good for both of us. Isn¡¯t that the first time you¡¯re wearing that dress? It looks good on you.¡± ¡°D, does it? Hehe. Actually, it¡¯s a dress I got from my younger siblings to wear on a special day.¡± ¡°Oh~ okay. You said you were the oldest daughter out of 3 boys and 4 girls, right?¡± ¡°Nn! They¡¯re all very cute.¡± Marie could spend the whole day talking about her proud brothers and sisters, but carefully asked a different question instead of bbering about herself. ¡°By the way, Korin, you have a lot of friends right? Why did you invite me out?¡± As if it was nothing important, Marie asked with a nonchnt look on her face but her ears were keen on hearing his response. ¡°Huu¡­ Actually in the past, there was someone who brought me to ces like this very often.¡± ¡°N, nnn? Really?¡± ¡®Who is it?¡¯ That question which she almost blurted out was at the tip of her tongue but she swallowed it back in. ¡°I decided that I would never, ever, leave any room for misunderstanding. I shouldn¡¯t have invited that person out just because I wanted to buy something nice¡­¡± ¡°Nn?¡± Did hee here with another girl before? ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s something I¡¯d rather not talk about.¡± Marie wasn¡¯t exactly sure what happened, but it seemed that things didn¡¯t go that well with that woman! It seemed that he wasn¡¯t even that interested in her in the first ce! ¡°I, I see~. But what about mee?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an honor for me toe with Senior Marie of course. Or, would it have been better for me to just give you the tickets for you toe with your friend?¡± ¡°N, no! It¡¯s a bit iffy toe to fancy ces like this with a same-gender friend, right!¡± ¡°Right? That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. It will just dampen the mood toe to a ce like this with all boys or all girls.¡± ¡°Nn nn! Yes, of course.¡± ¡°Have you ever gone to a ce like this with a boy before?¡± ¡°N, nnooo?! It¡¯s my first time! Korin, you¡¯re definitely my first time!¡± ¡°That¡¯s a surprise. You look like you¡¯ll be very popr with guys though.¡± ¡°D, do I? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s¡­ really the case.¡± ¡°You¡¯re pretty, nice and talented. Seriously, everyone is so young that they don¡¯t have any eyes for beauty. Maybe guys of this age still tease the girls they like and stuff?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Unable to respond to those words, Marie deeply lowered her head and clenched on the ends of her thin dress. Although Korin was simply talking from the perspective of an adult who had gone through countless vicissitudes of life while finding it a shame that the young boys were wasting their youth, it sounded differently to Marie. ¡°By the way, senior.¡± ¡°Nn? Nnn?¡± ¡°I know you are drinking your blood packs quite regrly, but are you seriously okay?¡± Korin looked directly at her face with a worried look on his face. Knowing the sincere concern of the boy, Marie couldn¡¯t hide her happiness and her heart pulsed with joy. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± she replied. ¡°The impulse can be controlled by regrly taking in the blood of a human. You don¡¯t need to worry about it, Korin.¡± ¡°But the impulse is not the only problem. Sucking blood is not simply to consume food for vampires, right?¡± ¡°¡­I know.¡± Marie had learned about the characteristics and powerful abilities of vampires from the professors of the Magic Department including Deputy Principal Josephine. The act of sucking blood was not a simple consumption of food for vampires. Sucking the fresh blood of a human was in itself a very important and mythical process, and fresh human blood contained a mysterious element that was by far different from the stored blood in blood packs. ¡°How about your familiar?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°It hasn¡¯t healed ever since that day, right? Because blood is the main source of energy for it, and there has been none of that until now.¡± ¡°¡­I don¡¯t need it.¡± ¡°Senior.¡± ¡°Korin, I really don¡¯t need it. I¡¯m okay.¡± He sounded like he was pressing her, so Marie replied with a shiver in her voice. Marie did not like the new power she had earned. It¡¯s not like she wanted to be one, and it was by pure ident that she ended up bing a vampire. She was ¡®Marie¡¯. The oldest child of the Dunareff ¨C family of farmers. She was the oldest sibling of 7 children and was not ¡®Marie the Vampire¡¯. That was why drinking fresh human blood was the same as breaking the pirs of the entirety of her life. It was like admitting that she was a vampire. ¡°You know what, Senior? You¡¯ve never changed until now.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Whether we¡¯re talking about you as a genius mage, or a dim-witted 2nd year Senior.¡± ¡°D, dim-witted? Was that your impression of me the whole time?!¡± ¡°Well, just listen for now. Whether you are the oldest child of 7 siblings of the Dunareff family, or a vampire. All of thatbined is ¡®you¡¯, Senior. There is no need to deny a part of you.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± There was no way she could misunderstand the warmth hidden behind those words. Everything he said was sincere. Korin had not a sliver of fear against her. He remained nonchnt as if her cursed trait of sucking the blood of humans and the ability to murder countless people were nothing important. ¡®I¡¯m always getting helped every time.¡¯ His words never failed to cause a ripple in theke inside her heart. She was already in an enormous debt. The debt that she owed him was so big that he could even take custody of the entire future life of herself, Marie Dunareff. Of course, he probably wouldn¡¯t even consider it a big deal. While hoping for her happiness, he had never wished for anything in return. He was cool. On both the day when he stood up on repeat without giving up, as well as when he didn¡¯t give up on her. Regardless of the importance of the matter, the boy called Korin Lork never hesitated in his actions. Looking at all the reasons behind his actions, she could even see a firmyer of conviction. That was why the boy did not ask her for anything. Despite the tremendous value of the blood of vampires and the amount of things she owed him, none of that mattered to Korin Lork. He was someone who only received goodwill if others gave it to him. It was a pity. I have so many things I want to do for you; do you really have nothing to request of me? Like how you helped me, I want to help you too. I want to lessen your burden even by a little, and make sure you don¡¯t shoulder everything like how you always try to do. No currency in existence was able to measure the amount of things that can be done by this girl who had just fallen in love. It was when their meal wasing to an end. ¡°Senior. I know it¡¯s a bit odd to make a request like this when we¡¯re here to have some nice food but¡­¡± ¡°U, huh?¡± A request? Really? Marie felt like she was soaring through the skies as she looked back at him with an immensely expectant gaze. Now, the bank called Marie Bank had no limits to the loan it could give to the customer called Korin. There was 0% interest rate to the loan, and in fact, he didn¡¯t even need to pay the bank back. The owner of the bank would probably dly open the safe with a bright smile on her face. ¡°Actually¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± She gulped. Even ady blinded by a male host at a host club wouldn¡¯t be as unconditional as her. ¡°Can you please lend me some money?¡± ¨C About 100 gold coins? The next day, a new Arden-style dojo called ¡®Alicia Dojo¡¯ was founded with 100% of their financesing from Marie Bank. **** It was extremely natural that Lunia Arden and the Five Swords decided to go through with the Sword Challenge. Mei, who was called the Heavy Sword of True Darkness out of the Five Swords, was carrying her characteristic 2-meter-long greatsword behind her back as she walked into the streets. She was looking to borrow a venue that was appropriate for the Sword Challenge. Although she wasn¡¯t keen on grouping up against one person to crush them, this was a necessary procedure of the household. Mei Rudia¡¯s family, the Rudia household, had been loyal to the Arden family ever since the current family head, Jade Arden took his position. With his favor, her family became one that had control over the Greatsword-style dojos of the Arden swordsmanship. There were a lot of families that were jealous of the Rudia household but their status was firm due to being in charge of one of the most important businesses of the Arden sect. It used to be firm¡­ but now it was just about to wobble because of Alicia Arden¡¯s sudden rise. What would happen if the illegitimate child of Jade Arden, Alicia Arden, was to suddenly be the head of the Arden family? The enormous cluster of households called Arden will be in great turmoil. The statuses of the swordsmen and families supporting Lunia would fluctuate tremendously and chaos would befall the sect. In other words, this was no longer just about Alicia¡¯s qualification as a swordsman, and was in corrtion with a lot of business-rted matters. ¡®You should have just stayed low, Young Miss.¡¯ Mei didn¡¯t have any real thoughts on Alicia. She was just a naughty child of the household, who liked eating desserts outside more than contemting the path of the sword. If she continued staying holed up in a corner while admitting that as a fact, she would have received some level of respect as a Young Miss. But now that she had stepped into a problem that concerned the profit of their household, the Five Swords were resolute. None of them wanted Alicia Arden to be the next family head. There was a need to crush Alicia Arden. Lunia didn¡¯t even need to do anything. The Five Swords would be enough to crush Alicia Arden beyond recovery. There might be some tedious retaliation from Merkarva Academy, but Arden was firm and strong. They probably wouldn¡¯t dare antagonize the Arden family just because of one student. In reality, Arden was a sword sect but they were closer to a group of gangsters that had way too much power for a single organization. ¡°¡­ Come out.¡± Mei said while looking at the darkness where she could sense the presence of another person. That was while preparing herself to unsheathe the sword behind her back whenever necessary. ¨C Clomp clomp. A human figure walked out of the darkness. It seemed that the person had zero intentions of hiding their presence in the first ce. ¡°You are¡­¡± Mei immediately recognized who the person was. The girl was wearing chained nun clothes. She was the special student from the New Faith who got full marks at the prac exam despite being the only one who didn¡¯t sit the test. ¡°Student Hua Ran, huh. It is veryte¡­ Why have you left the campus?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Without saying anything, Hua Ran scavenged through the pocket of her nun clothes and suddenly took out a dagger. ¨C Swish! After quickly unsheathing her greatsword, Mei pointed it at her opponent. But Hua Ran took out a memo from her pocket and hopped her way towards her without giving any heed to her sword. ¡°Stop! I will cut you if youe any closer!¡± Hua Ran approached while ignoring those words so in return, Mei swung the greatsword and used the t part of the de to strike her head. ¨C Kwang! Although it was a blunt attack, the impact created by the attack was definitely not small, and most average knights would have gone unconscious in an instant. ¡°Huh?¡± But Hua Ran did not move a single inch. Despite receiving such a heavy attack from the front, she showed less reaction than a person stung by a mosquito. ¡°¡­Move.¡± Hua Ran curled her fingers with an apathetic expression and flicked on the side of the greatsword with a ¡®Thud!¡¯. ¨C Kajik! The unimaginably strong impact caused the greatsword to tilt all the way to the ground. Seeing her sword that was stuck in the ground, Mei was appalled. ¡®I¡­ got pushed back?¡¯ How could she, the Heavy Sword of the Rudia family, be pushed back by a mere student? Hua Ran did not even give her the time to ept what was going on. ¡°Here.¡± ¡°What is¡­ this?¡± ¡°A letter of challenge.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Apparently I am the Instructor of Alicia Dojo¡¯s Fruit Knife-style? Or something.¡± Hearing that, Mei looked at the dagger in Hua Ran¡¯s hands and finally had a good look at it. It was a fruit knife ¨C the blunt knife that people would use to cut apples. Was she using something like that as a sword to issue a challenge? ¡°Bastard. Are you looking down on us!!¡± Picking up the sword that was stabbing into the ground, Mei swung it at her. Seeing the sword that was 1 centimeter away from her neck, Hua Ran said with a bored look on her face. ¡°He said he¡¯ll buy me sushi if I beat you.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, ¨C Channg! ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Sirin the Dual Wielder looked at her swords that were flung away before ring at the assaulter. There was a swordsman who suddenly issued a challenge as a dojo, but from what Sirin knew, the opponent was a student who did not belong to any dojos. In the first ce, she was a mage. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing, Marie Dunareff!¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Challenging the Sword Squad? Asking for a lesson as a junior? Something like that, apparently.¡± ¡°As if! You are a mage, not a swordsman!¡± In response to Sirin¡¯s bitterint, the young mage finally unsheathed the sword imitation that was hanging on her waist in a hurry. She then said while taking a posture that was clearly that of a newbie. ¡°I am Alicia Dojo¡¯s Gandalf-style Instructor¡­ and an elder.¡± ¡°A, are you stupid?!¡± ¡°¡­¡± She didn¡¯t reply. The girl lowered the visor of her hat as if she was embarrassed while pointing the staff at her. In fact, even though she was iming to be the instructor of a sword style, she did not even know what a Gandalf-style was. ?Blood Spear? ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡°Alicia Dojo¡¯s ive-style Instructor, Korin Lork! I request the esteemed Instructor Lena of the Rippling Sword for a lesson!¡± ¡°You¡¯re not even using a ive!¡± ¡°Ah, actually, the ive is currently broken and is in the middle of repair. Well, you just put a de at the end of a spear and that¡¯s a ive and a falchion, right?¡± ¡°What are you even talking about! And why are you doing this?¡± Korin grinned with the Silver Spear resting on his shoulders and replied to her shout. ¡°You see, new dojos like us need to raise our fame to expand our business right? We are looking for a very aggressive business model by challenging other groups.¡± Newly Founded Alicia Dojo. Fruit Knife-style Instructor Hua Ran, ive-style Instructor Korin Lork, Gandalf-style Instructor Marie Dunareff, Flying Sword-style One-day Instructor Dorron Warsky¡ª And the Head Instructor of the Newborn Alicia Dojo, Alicia Arden. Five Swords of Arden Style¡¯s 1st Sword Squad; Defeated. ?Breaking News! The appearance of a new Arden-style dojo! Crushing the 1st Sword Squad of the Arden!!? ?The images that have been sent from an anonymous sender seem very reliable and¡­ etc¡­? Chapter 36: Alicia Arden (5) ? Alicia Arden (5) ? My older sister was my aspiration. Back when I still had passion for the sword, Sister used to be my idol. ¡°Lady Lunia has defeated the Grade 1 demonic beast, Minotaur!¡± ¡°She is still only 15. That is remarkable!¡± ¡°Lord Garrand is also keeping a close eye on Lady Lunia!¡± Sister was like a hero from a fairy tale; like a legendary knight who defeated evil monsters. She was a hero like grandpa Garrand, whose tales I had been hearing from a young age. ¡°Sister¡­!¡± I knew what my position was inside the household. A daughter of a concubine ¨C mother passed away during my birth and father considered me a disgrace that was made from his mistake. The only value I had in his family was that I had the blood of the great Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden, flowing in my veins. ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°Y, you¡¯re back! Congrattions Sister!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve grown quite a lot.¡± My sister from another mother who was 9 years older than me patted my head a lot more than my biological father. That made me so happy, so rather than my mother whom I had never met and the step-mother who considered me non-existent, Sister was¡­ ¡°Ah¡­¡± Everything changed on the day I first cut a person. **** There was a thing called ¡®Sword Challenge¡¯ among the rules of the household. It was a sort of test to elect captains of the 5 sword squads, who would be taking care of the important matters of the household. However, I now knew that this was just a way to trample on potentialpetitors as a group. That was why Mr. Korin said he would change this. That was to issue a ¡®Dojo Challenge¡¯. By opening an official dojo and challenging the 1st Sword Squad as a newly founded group, we defeated the Five Sword one at a time and led to a 1 on 1 battle against my sister. Mr. Korin told me defeating them here and announcing that to the public would make it difficult for Sister and her forces to touch me for the time being. The money that went to the registry of the dojo, the purchase of an abandoned dojo and the employment of Mr. Dorron the mercenary all came from Senior Marie¡¯s wallet. I should be able to repay her as soon as I received the bounty money from defeating John Doe. Two days after the official registry as a dojo, we simultaneously attacked the five senior sisters of the 1st Sword Squad. And as Mr. Korin expected¡ª ¡°That¡¯s quite an interesting thing you¡¯ve thought of.¡± My older sister came to the dojo I opened. ¡°Si,sister¡­¡± Lunia Arden ¨C the step-sister, who I admire, red at me with an icy gaze. I remembered how I used to feel timid all the time from how scary that gaze was. ¡®Can I really¡­ defeat Sister?¡¯ Mr. Korin said that defeating the Five Swords was just a skirmish before the real battle, and that the real deal was defeating the contemporary Sword Master, Lunia Arden. But could someone like me really defeat Sister, who was already a semi-Unique Grade knight when she was my age? Should I apologize here and run away? My hands carrying the demon-ying sword trembled and I felt like it would drop any time soon so I tried my best to hold onto it. ¡°You fool. Half-assed judgements are the worst ones to make. If you were going to run, you should have run immediately after seeing me and if not, then stand tall and be firm like a boulder.¡± Her sharp gaze pierced through me. It was like this every time ¨C Sister knew everything about me all the time. ¡°There is no way a cheeky idea like Dojo Challenge would havee out of your head. As I suspected, was it you, Korin Lork?¡± I carefully turned my gaze over to the side and found Mr. Korin shrugging his shoulders. Even though he was pretty much picking a fight against the Ardens, he was still calm. In fact, he even told me off. ¡°Alicia. Isn¡¯t there something you need to tell her?¡± ¡°Uhk¡­¡± Do I really have to say it? I sent him a desperate gaze but he nonchntly glossed over it. So mean! ¡°A, as an instructor of a newly founded Arden-style dojo¡­ I request the Captain of the 1st Sword Squad, Lunia Arden, for a practice duel.¡± ¡°Hmph. Did you register as an official dojo and buy a building just for this stuff?¡± ¡°I, it¡¯s an official request.¡± ¡°Yes. A direct child of the Arden does have the free right to establish a dojo. To think you would make use of that rule like this, even though it was supposed to limit the branch families from gaining too much power.¡± Plus, the instructors of newly founded dojos had the right to request swordsmen of the household for friendly duels. Although it was possible for the swordsmen to turn them down, Mr. Korin assured me that that won¡¯t happen. It was because a sect of swordsmen wasposed of people whose pride had to stand firmer and taller than anything else in the world. ¡°Good. A friendly duel it is,¡± said Lunia, ¡°But you should know yourself, that we won¡¯t be casting non-lethal spells or using practice swords.¡± ¡°I am¡­ prepared.¡± Mr. Korin told me to use the ¡®demon-ying sword¡¯ at all cost, while saying that relying on the sword was the only way for me to win. ¡°Arden-style, Head Disciple of Singr Sword, Lunia Arden.¡± ¡°Arden-style, Grade 2 Swordsman of Singr Sword, Alicia Arden.¡± It was time to end this war between siblings. **** ¡°Is this really okay?¡± Looking at the serious battle between Alicia and Lunia, Marie asked in concern. ¡°I believe in her. Alicia will do a good job.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Marie was puzzled by Korin¡¯s ungrounded confidence. Objectively speaking, Alicia stood no chance against Lunia. She had just be a Grade 2 knight, whereas the opponent was the strongest swordsman of this generation and was at a Semi-Unique Grade. They weren¡¯t even on the same page. Even Marie herself wasn¡¯t confident in defeating Lunia even if she were to use her full potential as a vampire. ¡®But¡­ Korin won even when he was in a simr position.¡¯ She saw him defeating the familiar that had been born from her blood. Even though he was outssed in physical abilities, mana and everything, he still came out on top. ¡°Nn. It should be okay since you¡¯re the one saying it, Korin.¡± Right now, the credit Marie Bank had for Korin had reached beyond the maximum limit and was breaking through the roof. ¡°Take this.¡± That was when Lunia threw a purse at Korin. Judging from the clink of shing metal, it seemed to be money. ¡°Is this for repairing the dojo?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s for building a new one.¡± After saying that, Lunia vanished from where she was in the blink of an eye. ¨C Kaang! ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Following a sh Step was a sword sh. Alicia somehow managed to block the attack but the building was destroyed behind her back. ¨C Kajik! Kajijik! A sharp sword cut was carved on the wall of the dojo but Lunia didn¡¯t stop there. ¨C Grit¡­! A sword wrestle immediately began with their des touching each other. It was a fearsome battle between two swords where one mistake could end up with a cut on either the face or the shoulder. ¡ºFor the first attack, take a step back and push her sword to the side.¡» ¡°¡­?!¡± Lunia¡¯s sword fell to the side like it was flowing down a current of water. Lunia was slightly confused by her attack being casually nullified as if it had been predicted, but immediately swung the sword sideways but it was blocked again by the scabbard of the demon-ying sword. ¡®¡­Blocking with the scabbard?¡¯ ¡ºLunia likes sticking to the textbook. Even though she is proficient at everything that goes by the book, she won¡¯t be expecting a trick like blocking with the scabbard.¡» ¡°Haat¡­!¡± A silver sh burst forth. Alicia attacked for the first time ever since the start of their battle. That marked the beginning of a fiercer battle between the two swordsmen. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Parrying the attack with the sword and retaliating with an immediate sh ¨C Lunia was a master at it. Alicia threw her body back in an exaggerated manner to dodge the attack. ¡°Your footwork is still terrible.¡± Alicia retreated easily because she was scared of being cut, and was frightened about being hit. It was the way of cowards and because she knew that, Lunia¡¯s attacks in retaliation were always a step forward. ¨C Chiik! ¡°Kuhk¡­?!¡± A sharp silver sh traveled past the side of her head. The skin got ripped as blood dripped from thecerated wound. Alicia retreated greatly to the back. Lunia was either rxed or was trying to maintain her posture, but she did not chase after her. ¡ºMake use of your speed. Block her vision and stab as fast as you can.¡» The ground of the dojo was being covered with footsteps like the cartridges of a minigun ¨C Alicia was circling around the unmoving Lunia as fast as she could. Her feet would soone to a stop, and that would be the prelude to her charge. ¨C Tap! ?Forward March, 3rd Move: Lightning? Alicia jumped in while trampling on the tiles of the arena of the dojo. In response to that destructive linear attack, Lunia curled the corners of her lips up and lowered her sword and readied herself for an upward sh. ?Upward sh: Falling Books? ¨C Kaang! Lunia¡¯s sword parried Alicia¡¯s trump card. If she followed this through with a stab, it would certainly pierce through Alicia¡¯s chest. ¡°Iyaaaaaa¡­!¡± ¡°¡­?!¡± Even though her sword had been parried away, Alicia wasn¡¯t flustered in the slightest and in fact, she even dashed faster to pounce at Lunia. The two swordsmen rolled on the ground of the dojo. Lunia was the first to stand up. ¡°This stupid fool¡­!¡± Lunia kicked Alicia¡¯s head up with her boot. Due to being both weaker and slower, Alicia was kicked away while spurting blood with her mouth. ¡°Ahuk¡­!¡± Alicia couldn¡¯t disguise the pain and frowned. It was an unsightly thing to do for a swordsman. ¡°Did you think you could win with such petty tricks!?¡± As if she was discontent with the fact that Alicia pounced at her body without using the sword, Lunia heavily swung her sword down. ¨C Kaang! ¡°Htt¡­!¡± Alicia managed to block the attack but was being pressed down due to the sheer difference in strength. Atst, the sword dug into her shoulder and allowed blood to ooze out but Alicia¡¯s mind was clearer than ever before. ?Falling Books? ¡°¡­?!¡± Suddenly, Lunia¡¯s sword slid down the side. Alicia had gently altered the path of the sword to the side like what Lunia had done with Alicia¡¯s attack. ¡®Block the sword, let it fall to the side with Falling Books and after that¡­¡¯ The fearsome stab straight after the block grazed past Lunia¡¯s body. ¡°Hoh¡­¡± That set of consecutive attacks was rtively fluent. It was remarkable that Alicia had been able to pull off such moves even though she was almost pushed onto her knees with a stab in her shoulder. ¡®But it¡¯s still not perfect¡­¡¯ Lunia drove in an unexpected strike with her elbow at Alicia¡¯s chin right when she was about to carry the momentum through. Her following kick powered through Alicia¡¯s calf and brought her down onto the ground as Lunia continued like a lightning strike. Heavenly Strike,Reverse Kill ¨C Kaang! Lunia¡¯s sword came striking down from the heavens and Alicia parried it horizontally, but Lunia immediately kicked her chest with her foot and made Alicia roll across the ground. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Instead of fighting against the momentum, Alicia let her body constantly roll and used that momentum and inertia to quickly raise her body back up while putting a gap between them. ¡ºSister! I learned how to draw today!¡» The child who had been treated coldly ever since a young age only had one person to talk to, and that was her older step-sister. Instant sh, Advancing Fang, Reverse Kill, Soaring Heavens, Lightning. Falling Books, Three Paths of One Sword, Reverse Heavens, Crushing Steel. The sun cast a spotlight on the two as the constant dazzling sh of silver threatened to blind everyone. ¡ºSister! I learned how to use a sword for the first time today! One day I will be an awesome knight like you!¡» The dojo continued crumbling down throughout the bout of the two swordsmen. The walls and the floor became more rugged than ever as Alicia likewise umted simr injuries on her body. Currently, it looked like Lunia was forcing Alicia into a corner all the time and in fact, that wasn¡¯t too far from the truth. Lunia gazed deeply at her step-sister. ¡ºUahh¡­ I, it hurts! Please be more gentle!¡» Her face that usually would have been in tears while grumbling about the pain was turning stiff in real time as if it was sitting under a wintery blizzard. No ¨C actually, the corners of her lips were sneaking up. Even though Alicia was the only one who shed blood during the brief exchange, she smiled like a fiend as if she was bewitched by her own blood. This was the heavenly gift of Alicia: The talent of a ghost bewitched by the sword. The most fiendish talent in the contemporary times that Alicia had been concealing due to fear was about to wake up. ¡°Good. That¡¯s what you¡¯re supposed to be like.¡± That was the true Alicia that Lunia had been wanting to see. Lunia had been eager to see her real nature and that shocking talent which Alicia had been turning away from! This was a matter of pride as a swordsman. This was not the hierarchical fight between beasts but one that concerned honor and pride as fighters. Lunia had been dying to fight her rival when she was in her best condition. ¡°Are you seeing the Domain already?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Alicia didn¡¯t reply and instead, she drooled from her lips and widened her eyes into circles. The reason she had been wholeheartedly focused on blocking and dodging was to see that one tiny dot ¨C it was to take a step forward in the most extreme level of concentration. ¡ºYou can¡¯t beat her in a frontal fight. Block and dodge. You just need one moment to decide the battle anyway.¡» Alicia had been receiving a constant set of advice from the boy over the past few days. As if he had experienced fighting Lunia Arden dozens of times already, he talked about her habits, forms and postures and told her to focus on ¡®dodging at thest second¡¯. The key here was to not die; To find the one deciding moment during the battle. ¡ºA transcendent level of concentration allows knights to enter the Domain and collide once when put in an extreme situation. But your eyes will always allow you to see it. That is one of the two advantages you have over Lunia Arden. The other is ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡» It was pretty much like a gamble but Alicia agreed that that was the only way for her to win. She also noticed countless times during the fight that she was nowhere near Lunia¡¯s league. In a normal fight, her body would have been cut into two in a matter of a few strikes but here, she was extending that to 30 strikes at the cost of gaining injuries on her body. That was all to take that one step forward. ¨C Kaaangg!! A screeching sound of metal reached her ears. Alicia was feeling the numbing sense in her hands but that was when Lunia shed her eyes. ¡°Sister¡­!!¡± It wasing. Alicia¡¯s tremendously sensitive senses warned her of the uing death. She was about to sheathe her sword in a hurry but realized something before she could. Lunia was half a step ¨C half a second earlier than her. At this rate, she would be toote. ?Arden First Sword Style: False Domain Severance? Her Eyes of the Boundary flickered open. The ck ocean that she had been seeing for a while appeared vividly. She ignored the burning pain in her eyes and red daggers at the dimension. But Alicia wasn¡¯t prepared enough. One of the conditions of Alicia¡¯s Domain Severance was the Eyes of the Boundary that allowed its user to perceive the Domain, and the other was the sheathed demon-ying sword. The attack was fast because of the cirction of aura inside the scabbard pushing the sword for an instant eleration, but it was toote for Alicia to sheathe the sword now. It was also toote to swing now ¨C no matter what she did, Alicia realized that she would be cut first before she could cut her sister. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª If so, then all she had to do was have better control over the Domain. It didn¡¯t matter if she waste, or if she wasn¡¯t in the right posture. There was no need to defeat her. Alicia¡¯s goal wasn¡¯t to beat her as a swordsman in the first ce ¨C what she needed was a win. She had to win even if it may be pathetic and disgraceful. Thus, she didn¡¯t need to be faster than Lunia. As long as she couldnd a strike on her sword¨C ¡ºDemon-ying sword. It¡¯s a masterpiece that can withstand all risk inside the Domain. Don¡¯t forget the ridiculous sword you¡¯re holding onto.¡» Domain Severance,Alicia Style, Sword Challenge Against the opponent who was half a step and half a second earlier than her, she took a full step forward and came out even. Their two swords collided inside the Domain. ¨C Kaang¡­! The swords screamed as Lunia widened her eyes. It was natural for her to be shocked because the opponent who was trying to sheathe the sword suddenly raised the sword into the sky and swung it down in time. Even though Lunia was aware of her talents, seeing it unravel before her eyes was still annoying. ¨C Kkang¡­! Her screaming sword got shredded like paper along with a clear ding. The bisected sword flew through the air and pierced through the walls of the dojo. Remaining behind through the Domain was the lofty demon-ying de giving off a dark steam and a brilliant luster. Lunia Arden, Was hereby defeated. Chapter 37: Alicia Arden (6) ? Alicia Arden (6) ? Compared to Lunia Arden, the Sword Master, Alicia¡¯s only advantage was the Domain Severance. Her talent allowed her to walk in the Domain which even the knights who had reached the semi-Unique Grade could only perceive and barely set their foot inside. Thus, we had to decide the victor of this battle inside the Domain for Alicia to win, and that was why I told her to buy time by solely focusing on dodging and blocking. By sharing Lunia¡¯s habits that I learned by fighting her dozens of times in thest iteration, I made Aliciast through the attacks while waiting for one opportunity inside the Domain. And as expected, Lunia¡¯s sword broke during the collision inside the Domain. ¡°¡­¡± The dojo was covered in silence as Lunia nkly gazed at her bisected sword. She moved before Alicia did. She swung the sword first. She was better than Alicia in both ability and judgment, But even so, she was slower. How would Lunia feel after seeing her step-sister suddenly reach the ¡®Domain¡¯ fully, which had been her lifelong aspiration? ¡°Haa¡­ Not enough training, huh.¡± Nothing much. Lunia was the type of person to hold her sword again after a brief period ofmentation. ¡°From this point onwards, my subordinates and I will not interfere with your business.¡± Leaving those words behind, Lunia turned around. ¡°Si,sister¡­¡± Alicia awkwardly called her and carefully walked up to hold onto Lunia¡¯s sleeves as Lunia halted her feet. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She turned back and saw Alicia drenched in blood. Lunia hesitated a little before cing her hand on Alicia¡¯s head. ¡°You¡¯ve grown quite a lot.¡± After that, Lunia left the dojo. It was the end of the fight between siblings. ¡ºAlicia Arden, Lunia Arden¡» ¡ù Difficulty: B+ ¡ù Reward: ¨C Even Distribution of 40 points ¨C Aura Rank Increase { Lower Medium } -> { Medium } ¨C 600 Increase in Aura Capacity ¨C You have acquired ?Domain Comprehension? **** ¡ºI¡¯m Lunia Arden.¡»[] The first time I met her was even before Marie¡¯s incident. I remember being quite flustered because it was a lot earlier than the original scenario. In the game, Lunia would join the party if Alicia died so both Park Sihu and I weren¡¯t that confused by Lunia joining the party. However, there was something we didn¡¯t know and it was something Park Sihu, who had killed Alicia, definitely wouldn¡¯t have expected ¨C ¡ºI couldn¡¯t find the guy who killed my sister.¡» ¨C The reason why she joined the party. Lunia looked for Alicia¡¯s murderer the whole time but until the very end, she couldn¡¯t find the killer because Park Sihu was the real killer all along. We fought together for a long time but Lunia never gave up. In the third year after Alicia¡¯s death, I had the chance to talk to her who was still looking for the killer. ¡ºI thought you didn¡¯t like your sister.¡» ¡ºI didn¡¯t. She waszy, never serious, and only knew how to cling on and be a bother. But¡­¡» ¡º¡­¡» ¡ºWho else will avenge that child if not me? The father who neglected her after giving his seed away? The mother who mes the child for the sense of betrayal she feels for her husband? Or the swordsmen of the family who have no respect for her?¡» Shemented. By looking for the disappeared demon-ying sword, she waited for Alicia¡¯s killer to reveal their traces. ¡ºI¡¯m the only one. There is no-one else who can relieve that child¡¯s grief.¡» The illegitimate daughter of the family learned the way of the sword because of her immature admiration towards her sister. By first learning the sword and cutting a person, she realized the dreadfulness of swords. After being named as a sessor candidate that she didn¡¯t even want to be and ending up antagonizing the older sister of her admiration, what would Alicia have thought? That must be why she decided to give up. Deciding to bezy, she started straying away from the path of swords in order to relieve her older sister and her subordinates. Telling them that she wasn¡¯t her enemy. And Lunia was also aware of that. ¡ºI¡­ thought you didn¡¯t like your sister. There were plenty of reasons for you to dislike her as well.¡» ¡ºIf there is a reason for me to hate that child¡­ then that won¡¯t be because of something useless like session.¡» ¡ºWhat is it then?¡» ¡ºI had been pursuing grandfather¡¯s sword the whole time. At one point, I gave up on the Domain and yet the realm of my aspiration appeared right before my eyes.¡» Seeing that ideal talent choosing to bezy was an unbearable sight¡­ was what Lunia confessed. These sisters probably had a veryplicated rtionship that we weren¡¯t aware of, because the game did not reveal the trivial past of NPCs and their irrelevant rtionships. ¡°Did I¡­ do well?¡± Inside the hospital room, Alicia let out a soft mutter while sitting on the bed. ¡°You did.¡± I assured her that she did a good job but in response, she gave a small pout with sulky eyes. ¡°How can you be so sure? Now, I will probably be an official sessor candidate of the Arden family and Sister Lunia and her followers will start pressuring me. The Arden family is full of scary people, you know?¡± She was probably right. The seconding of the legend was not important to the members of the family because they were more concerned about their own interests and profit. Alicia, the illegitimate child of the family head, who had no-one¡¯s support, bing the next leader of the family was something they wouldn¡¯t be very happy with. ¡°It¡¯s up to you whether you fight or not.¡± ¡°¡­How would I not fight?¡± ¡°Well, you can just leave the family.¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± Alicia widened her eyes into circles as if she hadn¡¯t thought of that, but returned to being sulky after a while. ¡°I don¡¯t want to. If I do that¡­ My connection with Sister will bepletely gone.¡± ¡°No. It won¡¯t. Your connection with Lunia Arden will stay even if you die.¡± ¡°How can you be so sure of that?¡± Because I saw it ¨C I saw the sorrow of that one person which was triggered from your deathsting all the way until my final breath, And I saw the only person who felt remorse for your death, persistently chasing after the traces of your killer. ¡°The thing called siblings is very strange. Sometimes, you fight as if you want to kill each other and at other times you¡¯re even closer than your parents.¡± ¡ºIt¡¯s my time to use theputer!!¡» ¡ºFuck off. Or I¡¯ll bash you up.¡» ¡ºMom! He¡¯s not letting me use theputer!¡» ¡ºYou fucking dog!¡» The memories of that time were bing faint over time, but I still remembered how my older brother reacted when I returned home after being bashed up by the bullies of the town. ¡ºWho the fuck hit my brother!¡» Isn¡¯t that how siblings are usually like? ¡°You might feel a sense of distance and you might feel awkward, but a blood tie is not something that disappears that easily.¡± Even though it may be a memory of the past, I still remembered my brother, and he probably remembered me as well. In fact, he could even still be looking for me. ¡°Do you also have a sibling?¡± ¡°¡­¡­I have an annoying younger sister.¡± I had be way too used to this world. The younger brother who used to have theputer taken away, who used to be bashed up yet protected at times, was now the older brother of an annoying kid who constantly whined for expensive candies. ¡°We¡¯ll be siblings no matter what happens.¡± I already acknowledged the memories and emotions left behind by Korin Lork. And from that point on, I stopped worrying about my sense of identity. ¡°You are a really strange person, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you the same age as me? Why do you act like an adult all the time?¡± It was because I lived at least 14 years more than you did. I was at least 30, and if I added Korin¡¯s memories on top of that, you could say I was almost in my 50s. ¡°Do I sound old?¡± ¡°Yes! Like a veteran soldier who went through all sorts of hardships? I can kind of feel that from you!¡± How sharp. While fixing the bandage around her head that was starting to fall loose, Alicia said with a bashful smile. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°About what?¡± ¡°About what happened this time and back in the forest.¡± Mhmm? ¡°It was you who saved me in the forest, right, Mr. Korin?¡± How did she notice that? I wasn¡¯t nning on telling her though¡­ ¡°How did you know?¡± ¡°Umm, first is that your voice is simr, and second is your belt. Boys don¡¯t really¡­ change their belts too much right?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She was right. I never worried about it before but I couldn¡¯t really remember changing my belt that much. In fact, I used to use this cheap belt back in the previous iteration as well. ¡°And I became certain just then thanks to your honest reply,¡± Alicia added. ¡°¡­¡­Who are you?¡± ¡°Ehh?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way Alicia could be this smart¡­¡± ¡°¡­Hmph.¡± She pursed her lips before asking a question. ¡°Is there anything you want from me, Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°That was quick¡­¡± What; were you expecting me to say, ¡®No¡¯? ¡°Yes, of course! I know I am in great debt to you Mr. Korin! Y, you can tell me anything you want!¡± ¡°Anything is okay?¡± ¡°¡­Except for the demon-ying sword.¡± ¡°Why; do you think it¡¯s too expensive?¡± ¡°No. Grandpa is the legal owner of the item so the tax¡­¡± Apparently there was a 20% tax when reassigning the owner of the item. The official price of the demon-ying sword was¡­ over 20 white gold coins if I remember correctly. That meant the tax alone was at least 400,000 dors. ¡°Seriously, the things you talk about and stuff¡­ You are a very realistically poor person, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°¡­Unlike Sister, I didn¡¯t receive any property from the family either.¡± ¡°Anyway, of course I¡¯m not gonna ask for your help when ites to money or connections.¡± ¡°I might be able to help you a little bit though?¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± She pouted her lips again, perhaps from thinking that she was being looked down on. I really wanted to p those lips with a straw or something. ¡°Let¡¯s be friends.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Is that all?¡± Bing friends with True Alicia, the greatest counter to bosses, who can use Domain Severance with ease? It was a huge bargain for me no matter how I saw it. ¡°Why? Do you not want to be friends with me?¡± ¡°Ahht! O, of course not! Friend! Friend, huh! It¡¯s my first time having a boy friend but I think that sounds good! I, I mean, a male friend!¡± ¡°Yes yes.¡± Alicia reached her hand out with her cheeks tinged in a shade of red due to excitement. Thinking that she was asking for a handshake, I grabbed onto her hand and gave her a smile. ¡°Let¡¯s get along well, buddy.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­! I¡¯m also d to have a reliable friend like Mr. Korin!¡± It was an innocent smile that was far from bad intentions and ulterior motives. This girl would probably now have a better future ahead of her unlike thest iteration just like Marie. Let there be punishment to the evil and a brighter future for the good. And let children have a better set of choices for them. ¡°I¡­ am scared of fighting,¡± said Alicia. ¡°I know.¡± ¡°But I smile for some reason during a fight.¡± ¡°I saw that too.¡± ¡°So¡­ I avoided fighting all the time. Because it didn¡¯t feel like me¡­ and I was also scared of fighting against Sister. I wasn¡¯t as serious as other people, and I was always looking for an easy way out.¡± ¡°Everyone does that.¡± Alicia, who had constantly been pressed down by the environment and her own talents, shared her honest agony and concerns that were normal for girls of her age to have. Both Marie and Alicia¡­ and even Hua Ran were just young girls. As we age and as we go through a set of small misfortunes and incidents, we start to build experience. I didn¡¯t have to think of an amazing reply. The advice that could help these young kids who had just hit their puberty didn¡¯t have to be that grandiose. As someone who was born a bit earlier than them, it should be fine for me to cheer them up a bit. ¡°Don¡¯t think of this as something too difficult. I just helped you with the catalyst.¡± ¡°Catalyst?¡± ¡°You see, when I was young, I got beat up by the bullies of the town one day.¡± ¡°You did?¡± Her eyes widened into circles as if she couldn¡¯t believe my words. It was more than 10 years ago. I was pulled by some smoking high schoolers into the back alleyway. It was verymonce and was something that could happen to anyone. ¡ºDude, you got some cash?¡» They stole my money after that. It was back when I was in middle school, and it was an embarrassing event in the past which still embarrassed me whenever I reflected on it. ¡°I tried to stop them from taking my money as they ganged up on me, so I had to take a few days off from school.¡± ¡°¡­Was it very painful?¡± ¡°Just a bunch of kids so of course it didn¡¯t hurt that much. It was painful not because I got bashed up, but because I didn¡¯t even raise a fist to fight back.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I took a few days off of school not because it was painful, but because it was embarrassing. I did nothing wrong and it wasn¡¯t me who was in the wrong, but I was still very embarrassed for being unable to be proud during that moment. ¡°Alicia. You¡¯re a lot stronger than someone like me who used to be a powerless kid back then. I want you to be someone who can be proud of themselves all the time.¡± Alicia Arden¡¯s greatest weakness was her confidence which had plummeted into the ground. As long as she had the catalyst to reveal her talents without holding them back¡­ Then there would be nothing in this world that Alicia Arden could not cut. **** A beast frantic for the sword was living inside Alicia¡¯s heart. She knew that this too was a part of her. However, she spent her entire life denying that part of her which was possessed by the sword like a fiend. Until now, she had never made the swordsman living inside her heart content. She wanted to satisfy its desires. Her honest senses wanted her to wreak havoc by swinging the sword to her heart¡¯s content. But she was scared. Could I really make use of this talent? What about Sister? What about the people from the household? Will they let me be? Will they bless me, and cheer for my sess? Alicia knew how that couldn¡¯t be any further from the truth. That was why she made herself content with small things for self-satisfaction. By fighting against nothing but low-graded demonic beasts, she enjoyed the campus life and wanted the Academy to revere her while being unaware of how much of a coward she was. ying around like a hero, she wanted self-satisfaction without going through pain. Like what cowards tended to do. By looking for prey weaker than themselves, they pretend to be tough and cool in safe ces and dump whatever is dangerous onto others. At one point, Alicia began to think to herself that this was her limit, and that what she had was already more than enough. Even she herself started to believe that and yet¡­ ¡ºYou can do it. You can do a lot better than what you¡¯re doing right now.¡» A boy cheered for her. A peer whom she hadn¡¯t even known for that long showered her with blind trust. We hadn¡¯t even known each other for that long, so why did he believe I was more gifted than my sister even after seeing her? The girl, Alicia, was still unsure about the answer to that question. Born as an illegitimate child that was constantlypared and disregarded, who always thought to herself ¡®this is enough¡¯ and stopped herself from growing from the past, Alicia wasn¡¯t used to unconditional trust and support. Her blood-rted father, step-mother, and countless senior brothers and senior sisters ¨C because Alicia Arden had never heard of anything remotely close to ¡®You can do it¡¯ from any of them, she¡­ ¡°¡­He¡¯s like an uncle.¡± The reason she didn¡¯t say ¡®dad¡¯, was because her perception of her blood-rted father couldn¡¯t be considered positive by any means. The most positive image of an adult that she could think of was an uncle whom she had never even seen in her entire life. If I had an uncle; an adult who always cheered for me like that, how would it feel? ¡ºAlicia. You¡¯re a lot stronger than someone like me who used to be a powerless kid back then. I want you to be someone who can be proud of themselves all the time¡» ¡°Hehe¡­¡± She grinned with a wide smile that seemed slightly foolish at a nce. The only person that was close to her ¨C her older sister ¨C wasn¡¯t the type of person to say such warm words to her, so she couldn¡¯t help but flush her cheeks and feel restless after hearing such heart-warming words from an adult for the first time in her life. Without her noticing the nature of the emotion that was making her heart thump and jolt, her teenage life began to unravel. ?Korin Lork (Hero)? ss: {Knight} Personality: { Justice }, { Kind } Talent: { Spear Specialization } Aura Rank: { Medium (5,530) } Mana Rank: { Low (2,870) } Specialities: { Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior, Pain Tolerance, Domain Comprehension } ?Stats? Strength: 59 -> 67 Agility: 58 -> 66 Vitality: 60 -> 68 Aura: 56 -> 64 Mana: 56 -> 64 ¡¾Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior¡¿ ¨C When your HP falls below a certain level during a fight, your HP Regeneration speed will increase tremendously. ¡¾Pain Tolerance¡¿ ¨C Gain tolerance against attacks deemed lower than [Grade 4]. Significantly lowers the chance of having a stat debuff from poison or contamination. ¨C Gain increased tolerance against the same attacks. ¡¾Domain Comprehension¡¿ ¨C Increases the chance of entering the Domain. ¨C Increases the user¡¯sprehension of the Domain with every entry. Chapter 38: Dupe Bug (1) ? Dupe Bug (1) ? Isabelle Kirmin, a 2nd year student of the Magic Department, had a very deep concern these days. It had been about two months since the vampire awakening incident of her best friend, Marie. Despite all the chaos it created, it actually didn¡¯t take that long for Marie to fuse back into her peer group. ¡°Marie. Are you having lunch?¡± ¡°Uuunn?¡± During lunch time, Marie was sucking on arge pack of blood like it was juice. ¡°Is it another blood pack today?¡± ¡°Un.¡± ¡°Should I lend you my neck if you want some fresh blood?¡± ¡°Mhmm~. You¡¯re too skinny Ruine, so no! I would prefer it if the person was a bit more buff!¡± ¡°Oh my, that¡¯s so nice of you! Hohoho!¡± Marie was now okay enough to joke around with her ssmates about blood. ¡°M, Marie!¡± ¡°Nnn? Kane?¡± Kane, a 2nd year student from the Knight Department, suddenly walked up to Marie and fidgeted his fingers. The innocent love of this boy with disheveled hair was so obvious and famous that everyone knew about it except for Marie. ¡°Umm¡­ actually! I did a blood donation yesterday and took a pack of blood while I was at it!¡± He resolutely tried to hand over his blood pack as if it was a love letter. ¡®Ehew, that retard.¡¯ Did he think it was a romantic gift or something? ¡°Umm¡­¡± Even though she had be a vampire, Marie seemed to be finding it nonsensical to receive the blood of a peer, and shook her head with a troubled look on her face. ¡°I, it¡¯s fine. I am receiving more than enough blood packs from Professor Josephine regrly.¡± ¡°R, really? Then should I give you my neck¡­!¡± ¡®Th, that retard! Freaking blockhead!¡¯ Kane had been reading a bunch of novels and books about vampires ever since Marie turned into one, and it seemed that a strange piece of knowledge had settled in his head. Did he think Marie would dly ept it if he offered his neck? ¡°I¡¯m alright!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Sucking directly from a person is dangerous! And blood packs are enough to fill my stomach!¡± Saying that, Marie left the ssroom while Kane became the target of a bunch of criticism for creating an awkward atmosphere. ¡°Hah¡­ you idiot.¡± ¡°Do you not think about how Marie would feel?¡± ¡°N, no. I¡­!¡± ¡°You need to be more thoughtful. Okay?¡± Leaving behind the retarded Kane, Isabelle chased after Marie. As someone who had the experience of having her blood sucked out by Marie, Isabelle remembered how sad she was after sucking blood and the tears she shed. She was chasing after her friend to give her words of constion while hoping that she wasn¡¯t feeling depressed but¡­ ¡°Korin?¡± ¡°Senior Marie? Are you done with your lesson?¡± ¡°Nn.¡± In the corridor of the same floor, Isabelle noticed Marie encountering someone. ¡®That guy¡­!¡¯ Korin Lork. He was the freshman who had been roaming around Marie these days that required the most caution. Training room was the ce she first met Korin. By showing a reckless attempt at defeating an elemental body as a weak Grade 5 freshman, he gathered the eyes of a lot of people. Ever since that, he started showing off his presence wherever he went and Isabelle noticed from the side that Marie had started being conscious of him. The opponent was a Grade 5 random knight, but after the interim assessment where he came out even against Sword Master Lunia Arden, he became a hot topic among her peers. He was currently believed to be Grade 1 at the very least, and there were rumors that the professors of the Knight Department were preparing another grading test for Korin, who had shown an unprecedented level of skill. At this point, it was clear that he was a lot stronger than what others initially made him out to be, but there was something about Korin that Isabelle just didn¡¯t like. ¡°Senior Marie. Would you like some blood?¡± ¡°U, umm¡­!¡± Wow, so there¡¯s another retard like Kane here! Did you think Marie would go ¡®Of course!¡¯ and bite your neck or something? Teenage boys are all idiots! ¡°O, okay¡­¡± IT WORKED?! The two of them headed to a remote ssroom and locked the door. ¡­ THEY LOCKED THE DOOR?! Isabelle hurriedly dashed to the door and brought her ear to the door as much as possible. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hearing the sensual voice of her best friend and the gulps behind the door was¡­ a nerve-wracking experience. ¡°Oh right. Senior. Did you think about the thing I talked aboutst time?¡± ¡°N, nnn?¡± The somewhat dreamy voice of her best friend made it evident that she wasn¡¯t in the right state of mind to make a rational judgment. ¡°You know thend we bought when we were registering the dojost time? The dojo has copsed anyway, so I was thinking about building an inn there.¡± ¡°An inn?¡± ¡°Yes. How about you invest a bit? It¡¯s always better to have more money, you see.¡± ¡°Maybe¡­?¡± ¡°You should. I bet you the profit will be at least 3 times the investment. I am sure of it.¡± That was obviously a scam! The profit being at least 3 times the investment? There was no way Marie would fall for such a ridiculous scam¡ª- ¡°Okay¡­ How much do you need?¡± SHE FELL FOR IT?! Stop Marie, stop! You are being scammed! You are like the typical image of a sugar mama who falls for a man and ruins the finances of the family! Isabelle couldn¡¯t help but be astonished by the innocence of her friend. However, after sensing that the two of them were about to leave the ssroom, she quickly dashed off to the end of the corridor and hid herself behind a wall. ¡°Haa¡­¡± The two people soon left the ss in a disordered state. Marie¡¯s cheeks were conspicuously flushed and she had trouble collecting her breath. ¡°You can write¡­ as much as you need on the check and withdraw it¡­¡± ¡°Very good. Huhaha.¡± My friend! She¡¯s being deceived! A freshman in his 1st year was ying around with Marie! However, that wasn¡¯t the end of the astonishing events. It was right when Isabelle left the training rooms after practicing magic. ¡°Mr. Korin!¡± ¡°I¡¯m telling you you can drop the formalities.¡± ¡°Ah, umm, it¡¯s a bit¡­ embarrassing.¡± ¡°Seriously.¡± ¡°Are you here to practice again?¡± ¡°Yep. Just some basic stamina.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very diligent of you.¡± ¡°Whatever it is, the basics are the most important.¡± ¡°Shall we do it together?¡± What, what? Who is it this time? Isabelle realized who that girl was immediately after seeing her face. Alicia Arden ¨C she was the famous granddaughter of Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor. She was the younger sister of Sword Master Lunia Arden, who had recentlye as an invited instructor for the interim exam! And plus, there was news that she had recently killed the infamous criminal John Doe. ¡°Why would such a bigshot¡­¡± Isabelle was just like other people in that she didn¡¯t know about the presence of Korin Lork and the other party members during the John Doe incident. ¡°Huh, Isabelle? Are you here for practice?¡± That was when a peer from the Knight Department called her while leaving the training room. She was sweating a bunch and it seemed that she was out for a quick rest. ¡°Yeri. Do you know that freshman over there?¡± ¡°Freshman? Oh, you mean thedy from Arden?¡± ¡°No. I mean the guy.¡± ¡°Korin Lork? Of course I do.¡± ¡°You do?¡± Was he very famous? Well, it wasn¡¯t strange because he did quite well against Sword Master Lunia but¡­ ¡°He¡¯s famous for being crazy. There¡¯s a rumor that he uses 16 hours out of 24 hours everyday on training.¡± ¡°T, that much?¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be hard to find anyone that doesn¡¯t know about Korin Lork in the Knight Department. You know Old Man Haman, right? He gives him meal tickets on a regr basis.¡± ¡°That stubborn old man?¡± Any student of the Academy knew about the infamous obstinacy of Old Man Haman. He was very strict when it came to rewards and punishment ¨C he gave out rewards to diligent students and punishment to thezy ones. Meal ticket was the best form of goodwill that he showed to his students, and there were only two students among the 2nd year students who received one from him. ¡°You know what? He even received a ticket for Holyst time!¡± Was she talking about that ce where fries were sold for a silver coin and a half? Wasn¡¯t that like that best dating ce that every couple in the Academy dreamed of? Wait¡­ wait! ¡ºIsabelle! Do you think this is better or this? It¡¯s the dress I ordered during the winter banquet, but I think it¡¯s a bit small now. I feel stuffy around my chest, but isn¡¯t it still very pretty?¡» ¡ºDidn¡¯t you say you were going to give that to your sister? Why are you taking that out all of a sudden?¡» ¡ºMhmm¡­! Actually, I have to go to a slightly formal restaurant!¡» ¡ºWow~. Is it something rted to your family?¡» ¡ºI, I guess? In a way?¡» ¡ºWhat restaurant is it? It depends on the restaurant if it¡¯s fine-dining, right?¡» ¡ºDo you know Holy Panda?¡» Isabelle couldn¡¯t contain her hands from trembling. There¡¯s no way¡­ seriously? In shock, Isabelle was thinking back on Marie¡¯s weekend date which she glossed over by saying it was rted to her household, but that was when an unignorable voice reached her ears. ¡°Oh right. Alicia. Do you have time this weekend?¡± ¡°Time?¡± ¡°Yeah. I got a meal ticket from Old Man Haman. It¡¯s for a ce called Tangerine Steak House or something.¡± ¡°Wow¡­! D, do you mean that legendary high-ss steak franchise store?¡± ¡°What do you mean legendary? It¡¯s just a franchise, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°T, there weren¡¯t any branches in my hometown so I¡¯ve never been there before.¡± ¡°Yeah. Well, you need more meat. Knights like us need meat to fight.¡± ¡°I agree 100%!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give you the tickets so go eat with your friend.¡± If their conversation stopped there, Isabelle would have considered it a pure goodwill. ¡°Will that¡­ be okay? What about you, Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been there a lot so I¡¯m okay.¡± ¡°W, would you like to go together?!¡± Whatt? Isabelle immediately turned her head towards Alicia and focused her eyes on her. Evident from how she was fidgeting her fingers in embarrassment after saying that, it seemed that she was aware that she had proposed a date of some sort. Damn it! Korin Lork! How could he deceive two girls in just 2 months!?! ¡°That¡¯s okay too.¡± ¡°Really?¡± He had Marie so what was he doing?! ¡°Oh yeah. How much money do you have?¡± ¡°Money? Umm¡­ not much.¡± ¡°You know the bounty we got? I¡¯m telling you because we¡¯re friends¡­ Remember the investment I talked aboutst time¡ª-¡± My gosh. Isabelle realized that this must be how it felt to have her heart stop for a moment. That freaking scammer was reaching out his fiendish arms at the second daughter of the Arden family even though he already had Marie! Although Korin had given the offer because he was worried about his peer who was leading a poor life, there was no way that Isabelle would be aware of Alicia¡¯s impoverished life and theck of support funds due to her family being in the top 10 percentile of the country. That wasn¡¯t the end of Isabelle¡¯s astonishment. She was heading to the academy cafeteria for a meal and that was when she found Korin Lork chatting with another girl. ¡°Meal.¡± ¡°¡­Do I owe you money or something?¡± It was a freshman girl wearing nun clothes with chains. She was Hua Ran, who was also famous among the senior students because of her outfit. Isabelle also remembered her well for being the freshman who injured Marie during the prac lesson at the hunting grounds. ¡°¡­Sushi.¡± ¡°The one we hadst weekend was good, right?¡± ¨C Nod nod. How fearsome, Korin Lork! How many innocentdies did he lure out with food!? There were talks about how food was the number one thing that lowered people¡¯s vignce the most ¨C was he intentionally using that as bait to slowly approach them? ¡°If you¡¯re okay with fried ones, then you cane with me to the restaurant I¡¯m going to in the central streets.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± He nonchntly carried on with Hua Ran as if he was used to taking her around. Doesn¡¯t he have Marie? Doesn¡¯t he have Alicia? At this point, it was more frightening than anything. Korin Lork! How many girls did he catch with those fiendish arms of his? ¡°Oh yeah. Do you have some cash?¡± ¡°??¡± ¡°I know this amazing thing to invest in.¡± ¡°¡­Do whatever you want.¡± How fearrrsommee! Korin Loorrrrkkk!! After that, when Korin Lork was studying with a druid girl at the library, and also when he was furtively suggesting his peers and the boy that used to be famous as a mercenary for an investment¡­ Due to a strange set of coincidences, Isabelle was near them during every one of those moments and became certain. Korin Lork must be nning out a massively enormous scam! **** Two weeks went by after Alicia and Lunia¡¯s incident. Early May ¨C a refreshing spring breeze was gently blowing across while I was out of the Academy and was at the outskirts of the city. I was in the abandoned dojo which I bought after borrowing money from Marie to create a justification for issuing a challenge against Lunia and the Five Swords. 5 gold coins went into business registration. Adding that to the money that went into reconstructing the original gym into a dojo, hiring a mercenary to be a one-day instructor and taxes, we used up a total of 97 gold coins. It was close to 100,000 US dors, and all of this hade from Marie¡¯s pocket. I was still grateful for what she did. But seriously, I wasn¡¯t expecting her to take out 100 gold coins in one go¡­ It was to the point that I wondered, ¡®Was it that easy for mages to earn money?¡¯ Anyway, due to the duel between Alicia and Lunia, the building was pretty much broken down so now, I was nning on using the 50 gold coins Lunia gave me for the reconstruction to invest in this plot ofnd. First off, the gold coins that were given to me and Alicia aspensation for defeating John Doe, the Murderer of the City of Fog, was 110 gold coins in total. I changed the money I owed Marie straight into investment and also gained some cash from my peers. What surprised me was that Hua Ran and Yuel had more cash than I expected. Hua Ran had a fairlyrge amount of property that was being managed by the New Faith, and as for Yuel, there were a lot of things she brought from the forest and thus had a lot of assets under her name. Both Lark and Jaeger trusted my words and invested arge sum for a student, but the biggest shock was obviously Dorron. To think he was that loaded¡­ In total, I gained 550 gold coins and bought this entire piece ofnd. Thisnd had originally been bought by a constructionpany to build houses and became useless once thepany went bankrupt in the middle of the construction. It was in a slightly questionable location on top of that and was thus abandoned with no visitors, but I was nning on building something to use as an inn on this piece ofnd that I bought. The reason I was doing this was simple. It was obviously because I knew stuff from the future. There would soon be a friendly exchange festival with the Purple Hawk Academy of the eastern continent in the 2nd semester. A bunch of tourists will gather from the entire continent to watch that massive event. Because of all the demand, even the normal houses would open up their empty rooms to ept guests ¨C it was the peak season of the amodation industry! The amodation fees were obviously going to skyrocket as well. Hundreds of gold coins? They would be gathered back in less than 2 weeks. Easy! That wasn¡¯t the end ¨C if we ced several stalls in the nearby streets, we would be sweeping in bucket loads of money. Just buy a bunch of cheap beef and pork to make as skewers and that would lead to a fortune! Investment fees? The festival will pay it back for me! Demand? The festival will also take care of that. This is broken! Long live the festival! ¡°Huhahahaha¡­! Now this is a money dupe bug!!¡± In just a few days, it was time to harvest the mandrakes as well. Everything was going ording to n. Chapter 39: Dupe Bug (2) ? Dupe Bug (2) ? The Iron Lady, the old veteran who had been serving the Merkarva Academy for 80 years, Lady Josephine, was racking her brain due to the constantints. ¡ºOur Order cannot permit the admission of demons into the Academy! This is a serious criminal conduct against humanity!¡» ¡ºThere have been many concerns in the royal family about the Chairman¡¯s continuous eptance of demons.¡» ¡ºThe Tower of Mages requests your cooperation for research into a living vampire.¡» ¡ºepting demons as students? You guys are ying with fire right now.¡» Those were the stances of the Old Faith, the royal family, the Tower of Mages and the Alliance, but it wasn¡¯t as if they were too much to handle. Except for the Old Faith which was a group of fundamentalists, Chairman Eriu had a good hold of the royal family and the Alliance and as for the greedy mages of the Tower, it was possible to negotiate with them. The Old Faith was the only one with a strong resistance, but their forces were nothingpared to what they were like in the past. ¡ºOur Order supports the Chairman¡¯s recent actions. I believe everyone should be given the same opportunity.¡» There were many believers who escaped the stiff and corrupt state of the Old Faith through the religious revolution and founded the New Faith. They, who now became the mainstream religion of the world, announced that they would walk a different path to that of the Old Faith. One of their representative ideologies was their friendly attitude towards demi-humans. Thanks to that, the Academy was able to borrow the power of religion to settle the crowd for now but¡­ ¡°ra.¡± ¡°Chairman.¡± The youth wearing a clean suit while carrying a walking stick ¨C the Chairman ¨C came to bid farewell while cing a top hat over his head. ¡°I will have to leave for a while,¡± he said. ¡°Would you like me to go instead?¡± The Chairman was now going to visit various organizations with documents about Marie that had been prepared by the professors of the Magic Department. Several professors like Professor Ronan were going to follow Chairman Eriu and use the supporting documents to prove that Marie could control her bloodsucking impulse. ¡°For other ces it might be okay, but you wouldn¡¯t want to go to the Old Faith, would you?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Closing her eyes, Josephine reflected on the rampant witch hunt that happened a hundred years ago. That brutal scenery during her youth was still vivid in her memories. ¡°Please take care of this ce while I¡¯m away.¡± Josephine went to the entrance of the city to send the Chairman off. It took less than 10 seconds with her dimensional spell. ¡°Use the emergency contact if something happens.¡± ¡°I will. I wish you a safe journey.¡± After sending him off, Josephine took his role and continued working. One of the agendas was a new demonic beast experiment of Professor Deina and a coboration with Professor Fermack. Because it was an experiment of a sealed Unique Grade demonic beast, it was hard to permit professors with less than 10 years of service. ¡®This will be the 10th year of Professor Fermack. It should be fine to allow it.¡¯ Next up on the agenda was from Old Man Haman, who had been working at the Academy for 30 years, where he included his ns for a joint training session during the summer holiday. It was an annual event so Josephine permitted it without much hesitation. ¡°An experiment of a vampire¡¯s regeneration? Professor Jack? Does he think he¡¯s still at the Tower of Mages?¡± Rejected. ¡°Construction of the 3rd dormitory? Hmm¡­¡± Debatable. ¡°Permission for a new restaurant? This¡­¡± From the look of things, it was an eastern fish restaurant. It seemed to be a restaurant that served raw fish on rice which was a trend these days among the young ones. Josephine could give off a whole speech about how barbaric it was to eat raw fish, but thinking that this was probably a culture of the young ones that she couldn¡¯t understand, she postponed the judgment for the time being. ¡®Wasn¡¯t Hua Ran very interested in this barbaric food?¡¯ She even went to the city recently after applying for an official exit permit. Considering how she used to be reluctant about getting an official permit because of how she had to hang a tracking artifact all the time, it was a surprise how obedient she was. ¡®Korin Lork¡­¡¯ It was evident that the child¡¯s recent change was because of that one knight boy. An early stop to Marie¡¯s incident at the start of the semester and an even fight against Sword Master Lunia Arden, as well as assisting with the subjugation of the infamous killer, John Doe ¨C there were so many things he had done and recently, it seemed that there had been several heated debates among the professors of the Knight Department about Korin Lork. It was on whether they could leave a student at that level at ¡®Grade 5¡¯ or not. Josephine was also interested in this proficient student for a slightly different reason. A Grade 5 Knight who stopped Marie as if he had predicted it, who then had a surprisingly even fight against Lunia Arden. After that, he even helped with defeating the infamous John Doe. ¡°¡­A request for a location to harvest a Mandrake?¡± Spotting the name of a person whom she had been just thinking of, Josephine carefully observed the application. Mandrake. The seed that could be exchanged for 100 points during the prac lesson at the hunting grounds was the Seed of a Mandrake. Although Professor Lra of Alchemy should have taught the students about how to raise Mandrakes already, harvesting was a different issue. It was because Mandrakes tended to let out a ridiculous scream as soon as they were plucked out of the ground. This scream even had a magic damage to it so no matter how tough a knight was, their eardrums could still erupt and might even die in the worst case scenario. That was why applications had to be submitted when it was time to harvest them. ¡°¡­There¡¯s nothing wrong but¡­¡± Considering the potential risk of harvesting a Mandrake, it was nothing strange for an application to be submitted. Besides, Korin had also attached a n of how he would boil it into a stew after the harvest. There was nothing wrong with the application but there was something that weighed on her mind and that was the location. ¡°¡­That can¡¯t be.¡± Did he know where this was? Josephine immediately shook her head while telling herself that it was impossible. Because the only ones that knew of that secret were herself, the Chairman, and¡­ the traitor from 80 years ago. **** On the western side of the Academy past the Merkarva Great Library was argeboratory that was loved by the Magic Department. Thebs were close to the dormitory of the Magic Department students and after going deeper into the premises towards thebs of the professors, one could smell a very deep fragrance of herbs. ¡°Are we going to harvest the Mandrakes at a ce like this?¡± Alicia asked in doubt while being wary of the surrounding empty plot ofnd which had nothing but dry leaves. This ce did give off a very ominous aura. ¡°How much do you know about Mandrakes?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I know they scream a lot when they are uprooted.¡± ¡°Right. So when you¡¯re harvesting Mandrakes, you need to make sure your eardrums don¡¯t explode. A high-quality earplug is a must and it¡¯s better if you¡¯re in an empty plot ofnd.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to do it indoors if you want to reduce the risk of having other people get caught up?¡± Her question was very reasonable but there was a scientific reason behind why we couldn¡¯t do it indoors. ¡°You see¡­ sound gets reflected.¡± ¡°¡­Reflected?¡± There was a time when I was super into speakers. After buying the best 8-inch speakers and 12-inch subwoofers, I fine-tuned the room by attaching sound absorbing panels all around. What I learned during that process was that ¡®sound¡¯ was reflected after hitting a wall. Now, what would happen if the scream of a Mandrake, which was as loud as the full volume of a concert speaker, was to echo inside a sealed room? And what if that high note had additional magic damage on it? ¡°It¡¯ll be infinite ssh damage¡­¡± ¡°Ssh damage?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a thing. Anyway, harvesting a Mandrake indoors is the same as killing yourself.¡± It only required a few clicks of a button during the game so I wasn¡¯t aware of it until Professor Lra, who experimented with Mandrakes, told me about it in thest iteration. She talked about a fearsome experiment that killed a demonic beast in 10 seconds. That was when I first realized that monsters could be killed due to exploded eardrums. ¡°Did you check if there was anyone nearby?¡± ¡°Yes. I put down the warning signs as well. By the way, why did you choose the back of theboratory?¡± ¡°Because no-onees here.¡± The ce I chose for the Mandrake harvest was behind the westernboratory of the Academy. Thend here used to be maintained to grow various magic organisms but a mistake with a prototype ended up polluting the entire plot ofnd which thus resulted in its abandonment. ¡­Or at least that was the public excuse behind why this ce was sealed off. ¡®There¡¯s actually a secret passage connecting to the undergroundboratory here.¡¯ The special undergroundboratory which only a few of the professors of the Academy were allowed into had all sorts of demonic beasts and spirits sealed inside, and this ce had a passage connecting to theboratory. There were only about 4 people aside from me in this world who knew about this secret passage. Now, some exnation was required to justify why such a vicious ce was here inside the Academy campus. There were quite a few Unique Grade demonic beasts and spirits that couldn¡¯t be physically killed. An example was the King of Iron Mountain which was unkible without a special skill. These monsters had to be sealed somewhere, and because they would be immediately stolen when sealed in a random ce, they had to be ced under the direct supervision of strong people and stuff but¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t these get busted every time anyway? Is this even meaningful?¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Both back when I was ying the game and in thest iteration, I became way too used to seeing strong and sealed monsters being unsealed. In fact, the final boss of the 2nd Arc, ¡®King of Iron Mountain¡¯ was a prime example of an incident breaking out during an experiment, right? ¡°We¡¯re going to begin.¡± ¡°Gulp!¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t say something like that from the side.¡± ¡°It¡¯s to¡­ make sure we stay vignt.¡± I ced down the flowerpots where the Mandrakes were nted. Each of the pots had gold, silver and normal Mandrakes nted inside. Well, a Mandrake was already far from being normal though. In any case, I took out an earplug ¨C a special one that was crafted with the skin of a Northern Silver Fox. Both Alicia and I wore it in our ears and prepared ourselves. ¡°Ranger Alicia! Are you ready?¡± ¡°I am ready, Captain!¡± Mandrakes couldn¡¯t be harvested alone. You needed one person to grab the flower and pull it out, as well as a helper to immediately cut the roots from the stem. As long as the roots stayed intact with the stem, the Mandrake would continue its ridiculous scream. ¡°Huu¡­ Am I shivering?¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m also getting very nervous.¡± This was my fourth time harvesting a Mandrake. In thest iteration, it required the coboration of me and Mr. Park. I pulled it out while he sliced it apart with magic. ¡°Huu¡­! Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± I grabbed onto the stem of the nted Mandrake and¡­ ¡°Here we go!¡± ¨C Swish! I pulled it out in one go. ¡°Kiee?¡± The bare face of the Mandrake was revealed on the roots as soon as I uprooted it. It was a horrid face that appeared like a newborn baby that was 200 years older. ¡°Hello, friend?¡± ¡°Kieee¡­¡± The guy seemed slightly startled by the sudden sunlight but nheless, it immediately opened its mouth. ¡°KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡ª¡ª!!¡± ¡°Kuahht?!¡± Its scream echoed like crazy all across. If this was my child screaming, I would have been very d from how loud it was, and would have thought he was the seconding of Alexander the Great or something. ¡°Do it now. Alicia! Aliciaa?!¡± Now¡¯s your time to shine, True Alicia! Show us your swordsmanship that can even reach the Domai¡­! ¨C Ueekk. ¡°Alicia?¡± I had no idea when it happened but Alicia was lying down with her face on the ground and was foaming from her mouth. Looking at how one of her ear plugs was loose, I realized that her ears hadn¡¯t been under protection the whole time. This idiot wasn¡¯t wearing the earplugs properly! ¡°KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡ª¡ª-!!¡± I was the only person here with earplugs and at this point, there was no other choice but for me to cut off the stems of the Mandrake myself! Taking out a knife from my pocket, I ran it back and forth on the stem like a saw as it then started raising its voice. ¡°KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡ª¡ª-!!¡± ¡°Kuhuk¡­!¡± Could Ist until I was done cutting it off? The Mandrake¡¯s voice was getting increasingly louder. ¡°Dude, you think you¡¯re good at high notes or something?¡± Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth! I will offset your sound with my sound ¨C I am from Korea, a country that possesses IU! I will show you what the 3 high notes are like1[TLN: Good Day by IU (Korean singer) is famous for having 3 consecutive high notes near the end of the song.]!! ¡°KIEEEEEEEEEEE! I¡¯M LOSING BRAIN CEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLS!!¡± ¡°KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡ª¡ª?!¡± ¨C Slit slit! ¡°KIEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C!!¡± ¡°KIEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C!!¡± ¨C Slit slit! Chop! While canceling the Mandrake¡¯s scream with my own, I finally managed to cut off its stem. ¡°Kieeeee¡­¡± The scream slowly subsided and I then threw its ugly face down and simrly copsed onto the ground. ¡°Haak¡­ Haak¡­!¡± It felt like my ears were filled with blood. Did my eardrums pop a little? Uhh, if I remember correctly, I think the Yellow Gold and the White Silver Mandrakes were a lot noisier than the normal ones though¡­ ¡°Oi. Get up.¡± Tap! I tapped on the fallen Alicia who then immediately stood up from the ground. ¡°Hauhk¡­! I, I wasn¡¯t sleeping!¡± ¡°As if you weren¡¯t¡­ Wipe your drool before saying that.¡± ¡°Hugek¡­¡± Alicia lowered her head in embarrassment while wiping the foamy drools from her mouth. ¡°S, sorry¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I was going to harvest up to Silver today but¡­¡± Could I trust Alicia? Seeing how she wobbled immediately after standing up and crumbled back down, I just couldn¡¯t help but doubt her. ¨C Flop! That was when I heard the sound of something dropping from a high ce and turned my eyes to the side. There should have been signs about restricted entry so why was someone walking towards us? ¡°Hello, Korin. What are you two doing here?¡± The trespasser was in fact apletely unexpected person. Rather than a trespasser, it would be more correct to say that she was an uninvited guest. ¡°Senior Marie? Didn¡¯t you say you had an experiment at theboratory today?¡± ¡°Nn. It was noisy so I jumped down.¡± Jumped down? From where? I unconsciously lifted my gaze and found out that one of the windows of the tallboratory building was open at a strange angle. It¡¯s around the 12th floor. Did she jump from there? ¡°¡­Senior. You seriously should try bing a knight.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ Maybe if you teach me, Korin. I saw you going around with Junior Alicia the whole time at the training rooms.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s because we¡¯re both knights.¡± ¡°So, what were you two doing here?¡± She sounded quite obstinate with that question though. Was I thinking too much? In any case, I showed her the dead Mandrake by pulling it up from the ground. ¡°I told youst time, right? That it was about time to harvest Mandrakes.¡± ¡°Ahah~ I see!¡± Only then did Marie rx her expression and hop towards us. ¡°Are you going to pull the rest out as well?¡± ¡°We took some damage today so I was thinking of doing itter.¡± ¡°With Junior Alicia?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ We need two people for this so it is easier for me to pair up with Alicia.¡± ¡°Let me just do it for you!¡± ¡°Uhh, wait. It¡¯ll be hard to cut that if you¡¯re not a knigh¡­¡± ¨C Pluck! ¡°Kiee?¡± ¡°Hmm~? Silver? That¡¯s interesting.¡± It was over! She pulled it out too early! The White Silver Mandrake was getting ready to let out a sonorous shriek! ¡°KIEEEEE¡ª¨C¡± ¡°Quiet.¡± ¡°H!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°???¡± W, wut the heck? Did the Mandrake just hup? ¡°We have a Mandrake farm at home, you see~. Even though we produce less than 30 a year, I¡¯ve been harvesting them a lot back when I was young!¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ How is that rted to them not screaming¡­?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Marie brought a finger to her lips and tilted her head, before blurting out as if she wasn¡¯t sure about it herself. ¡°After harvesting them for about 5 years, they simply stopped screaming whenever I pulled them out!¡± ¡°H!¡± ¡°Hugikk!¡± Umm, was this simr to how dogs became docile when seeing a vet? The Mandrake couldn¡¯t even dare scream anymore and was huping with a gloomy look on its face. ¡°Look, Korin. For Mandrakes, you grab onto the stem like this.¡± Marie used her tiny hands that were half the size of my arms to skilfully hold onto the stem and the roots, and twisted it in one go to separate the stem in an instant. ¡°Kii¡­!¡± The Mandrake died with a single suppressed scream. Its corpse hung loose after a gruesome death. ¡°Korin. Are you going to boil it into a stew? Or are you going to eat it raw?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ the sparkling ones will be eaten raw and the normal one will be used for a stew.¡± ¡°Really? That will take some time then. Junior Alicia?¡± ¡°Ah y, yes! Yes! Senior!¡± ¡°I will prepare the stew so while we¡¯re waiting for that, can you bring something else to eat? Hmm¡­ Some rabbit meat and potatoes will do.¡± ¡°Sorry? Uhh¡­ D, do we have to?¡± ¡°Yes. I will make a rabbit stew for you!¡± ¡°A rabbit stew! Roger that, Captain!¡± Alicia quickly ran off after a salute. Why did I suddenly lose my captain position? ¡°Umm¡­ Senior Marie? What should I do?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to do anything Korin.¡± ¡°¡­Sorry?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to do anything. I will do everything for you.¡± Her words¡­ had a strange charm that made it difficult for me to turn them down. Mama. Footnotes: Chapter 40: Dupe Bug (3) ? Dupe Bug (3) ? There were two ways to consume Mandrakes. One was to chew on the roots but Mandrakes were simr to ginsengs in a lot of ways ¨C there were rumors that eating them raw was the best way to consume them, but the officially better method to consume it was by boiling it into a stew like a Chinese medicine. Bybining it with 28 other ingredients including reed roots, silvervine, matrimony vine roots and antlers, you boil it for over 10 hours¡­ Yes. It was just like traditional Chinese medicine. As expected of a Korean game. ¡°That¡¯s done! Now we just have to wait. What are you doing Korin?¡± ¡°Making the wait a bit more interesting.¡± ¡°Nnn?¡± Marie tilted her head in doubt after seeing the letters I wrote on the ground by removing the dry leaves. ¡°These are rune letters, right?¡± ¡°Yes. Can you read them?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand what they mean, but I¡¯ve seen them in one of my courses.¡± ¡°This one here is ? [Uruz]. It means untamed / pure strength.¡± ¡°Then, what about these ones here?¡± ¡°This one is ? [Wunjo], which means joy and glory. The one next to that is ? [Ansuz], which represents a great deity of the pantheon and this ? [Gebo] here is the symbol of a female warrior that was favored by one of the gods.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like a simplebination of letters. Does it mean anything?¡± ¡°Apparently you get this when youbine these four letters. O warrior, you are being watched over by the pantheon and the great warrior, so obtain glory through your power.¡± ¡°Wow~. That¡¯s an interesting interpretation!¡± ¡°Yes. So from ancient times, this set of runes have been sent down as an unignorable deration of a fight to Rune Mages.¡± ¡°Where did you learn this from? Isn¡¯t runenguage pretty much unused these days?¡± ¡°I learned it from my Master.¡± Less than a year ago, I had been learning runes and spearmanship under her. The Void and the Primal Rune she left behind¡­ Even though I learned how to reach the Void, the Primal Rune was a bit of a different issue. Knowing the letters did not mean I could use them, after all. By ¡®retrieving¡¯ and carving into one¡¯s body, a Primal Rune was something that could only be used by one person. One of the goals of the final boss of this scenario was to retrieve one of these Primal Runes for himself. My master wanted me to inherit the Primal Rune but ended up being killed before that by ¡®that guy¡¯. ¡°What kind of person is your master? Is your master from the Tower of Mages or something? Or else, it would be hard to know about runes, right?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ My master¡­ is just a normal person. A normal person that you would find anywhere.¡± A normal and kind person, who did everything she could. ¡°¡­You look very fond of your master.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ do I?¡± ¡°Nn. And you look very sad as well.¡± Marie directly stared at me for a while before pulling me by my hand all the way to the boiling pot of medicine. ¡°Would you like some potatoes?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I did skip my meal but¡­¡± ¡°I have it so don¡¯t worry! Doggo!¡± ¨C p p! Something began sprinting towards us after her p. I was a bit nervous from the rough and violent set of steps but what appeared afterwards was a blood-red dog which was as big as arge werewolf. ¡°Looks like you have full control over your familiar.¡± ¡°It¡¯s thanks to you, Korin. Because you¡¯ve been giving me your blood all the time¡­ I was able to form a proper contract.¡± A familiar of a vampire ¨C inside the Blood Realm formed by a vampire above the elder-rank, they were as omnipotent as the vampire themselves. Their strength was at the pinnacle of every familiar possible, and it wasn¡¯t an overstatement to say that the status of a vampire was decided by the strength of their familiar. ¡°Is his name Doggo?¡± ¡°Not bad, right?¡± ¡°Well, he is a dog I guess¡­¡± Upon a closer inspection of Doggo, I realized that he had started to form a ¡®physical¡¯ shape that was a lot clearer than before. He was simr to a y doll formed with drops of blood before back when I was fighting him, but he now looked like an actual organism. As expected, Marie¡¯s talent as a vampire was unprecedented. ¡°By the way, isn¡¯t this guy also my child in a way?¡± ¡°H, huh? What do you¡­ mean?¡± ¡°Like, think about it. If he¡¯s made of blood, then half of this guy¡¯s blood was probably mine, so doesn¡¯t that make me his father? Hahaha!¡± ¡°¡­!! I, I see. That makes sense.¡± Perhaps because she had been outsmarted by a knight as a mage who seeked wisdom, Marie lowered her hat all the way down and silently hid her face. After a while, she lifted her head with a bright smile and gave a suggestion. ¡°So since you are Doggo¡¯s daddy¡­!¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°How about you y with Doggo?¡± ¡°y with him? Like, he¡¯s not a real dog though so why¡­¡± ¡°He likes to move around a lot, so you really need to y around with him! It surprises me sometimes because he brings dead demonic beasts from the hunting grounds if he doesn¡¯t have enough exercise!¡± ¡°Is he a real dog or what¡­¡± Wasn¡¯t he more like a tiger or a lion considering his size? Why was he acting like a dog? ¡°Doggo! Papa is saying he will y with you!¡± ¡°Woof!¡± Doggo walked up to me and lowered his tongue while panting out loud. Hmm¡­ I guess he¡¯s a little bit cute? ¡°You might spill the stew so go y over there!¡± ¡°Okay mama.¡± ¡°Thank you~¡± ¡°Haha, Doggo! Let¡¯s go y with daddy!¡± I took Doggo over to the corner of the empty plot ofnd but I wasn¡¯t really sure what to do, because I had never yed with superrge dogs that were 1 meter taller than a person. ¡°Should we y catch with a rock or something?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Doggo?¡± The big guy, who had been clinging on while panting just then, suddenly turned different. ¡°Grrhhh¡­!¡± ¡°U, uht?!¡± Suddenly, Doggo started rapidly dashing towards me! ¨C Kwang! ¡°¡­?!¡± Even though his speed wasn¡¯t as fast as the one he had inside the Blood Realm, that was definitely not the speed of a ying dog. It was so fast that I could have died immediately upon contact. If I got hit by that instead of that tree¡­ ¨C Gulp! ¡°Kukekekeke¡­!¡± That was when I saw something ¨C the wicked smile on Doggo¡¯s lips which he had been concealing by ¡®pretending¡¯ to be nice! ¨C Kwang! Kwagagang! ¨C Kwagagagagang!! ¡°Let¡¯s have potatoes when you¡¯re done!¡± Marie¡¯s voice was barely audible through the thunderous roars resonating across the area. Following that, another voice echoed from behind. ¡°Haa¡­ haa! Senior Marie! I brought some food over! It¡¯s enough for the three of us to¡­ Nnn?¡± ¨C Pugak! Kwagagak! Rolling across the ground, I somehow managed to re-posture myself. Doggo you bastard! Are you trying to kill me!? ¡°Mr. Korin!¡± ¡°Alicia?¡± ¡°W, what is happening? Is there an enemy attacking us?¡± ¡°Give me your hand!¡± ¡°Huh? H, here you go.¡± ¨C p! I gave her palm a p. ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°Your turn now. Doggo! Alicia-noona here will be ying with you from now on!¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m too old to y with dogs¡­¡± ¡°Grrhh!¡± ¡°Huh? Huhh? Kyaaaaat?!¡± The newborn vampire-breed dog was way too proactive. **** Soon, the Mandrake stew was done. This decoction made of all sorts of medicinal herbs and a Mandrake was bubbling in a color that was as dark as outer space. ¡°Looks good.¡± Marie poured the medicine into a bowl as if she was used to it. ¡°It¡¯s best to drink a Mandrake stew in one go. Let me put ice inside.¡± After creating arge cluster of ice with her magic, Marie ced it inside the bowl of medicine. I could already feel with my hands how lukewarm it was, and it looked like there wouldn¡¯t be any problems with drinking it in one go. I poured the content down my throat while being grateful of her consideration. ¡®Bitter.¡¯ The Mandrake stew was very bitter but it wasn¡¯t unbearable because things that were good for the body were all bitter in general. ¡°Mr. Korin. Here¡¯s a candy.¡± ¡°Hoh¡­¡± There was a very intense and bitter aftertaste so I was craving for something sweet and Alicia handed me a honey bomb candy in a timely manner. It was sweet enough to numb your tongue so I usually had this only when I was trying to focus on something, but it was okay after being mixed with the bitter taste of the Mandrake decoction. ¡°Korin! Would you like some potatoes?!¡± ¡°No. Why would I have potatoes while having medicine? I¡¯ll eat itter.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­!¡± Her cheeks bulged out like balloons. More importantly, a system window appeared in front of my eyes. ¡ºYou have consumed a Mandrake Decoction.¡» ¨C Your mana regeneration speed greatly increases. ¨C Your maximum mana capacity increases by 1,300. It wasn¡¯t an overstatement to say that this was a miraculous improvement for mages. The mana pool I had after Alicia¡¯s incident was [Low (2,870)]. Considering how I was recovering less than 1,500 mana a day, it was a massive improvement. Right now, my mana pool was at 4,170, and if this was the same as the game, the regen speed should have gone up by over a thousand so I should be recovering about 2~3,000 a day. ¡®With this, my stats have finally reached the level of a full-fledged named character.¡¯ Although it really was a random set of stats, I was starting to have simr stats to named characters. Taking into ount the support I had through the Precept, it was safe to say that I wouldn¡¯t lose to peers of my level. ¡°Senior Marie and Alicia, you should have some too. Having it on repeat isn¡¯t going to do anything anyway.¡± Because a Mandrake was a very potent herb, they only showed their effect once. You could have it again once the medicine was fully absorbed into your body but that would halve the effect and this decoction would also go bad before that so it was better to give it to other people. ¡°Can I?¡± ¡°Just leave a little bit please, so that I can give it to others as well.¡± A pure knight like Jaeger had no use for it, but Lark and Yuel would probably love it. As for Dorron, I would sell it to him. Considering the effect of a Mandrake stew, he would dly pay up to 10 gold coins for it. ¡°Oh right. After boiling it once, you should put the leftover Mandrake in a fridge,¡± said Senior Marie. ¡°Isn¡¯t it over once you boil it once?¡± ¡°You can continue boiling it into a tea, and it will help harden your bones!¡± To think there was such an effect to used-up Mandrakes¡­! As expected of the daughter of a family of farmers, she knew a lot more than I did. Next up was the White Silver Mandrake. ¡°It¡¯s my first time seeing a Mandrake of this color! What is this?¡± Senior Marie asked. ¡°I just got a bit lucky. Ah, I have to eat this one by myself.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that because it¡¯s yours, Korin. We¡¯re grateful already for you sharing the stew with us!¡± ¡°But I am curious about what it does.¡± Alicia added after Marie. Both of them seemed very intrigued by the White Silver Mandrake which they were seeing for the first time. ¡°Huu¡­¡± White Silver Mandrake. Although there was the downside that you had to eat this horrendous-looking thing raw, it did have a ridiculously positive effect to it. ¨C Gulp! I slowly munched through it starting from the roots. Thanks to Marie dusting off the dirt with her magic, the texture wasn¡¯t so terrible. There was a time when I chewed on a raw fresh ginseng, and it had the exact same texture as that. The vor wasn¡¯t actually that bad. ¡ºYou have consumed the White Silver Mandrake.¡» ¨C An Aura Core has been formed.- Your Aura Rank is { Medium }. You may umte up to 3,500 aura. Atst! Atst, I have gained it. My main energy source in thest iteration, the Aura Core! ¡°Huhuhu¡­¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have had to go through all that stuff if I had this.¡± The original n was to consume this before the boss fight against Marie. It was a type of expedient that would let me, who was still at the level of a Grade 2 named character, use the ¡®Sixth Style¡¯. ¡°I have an Aura Core now.¡± ¡°Hukk¡­ An Aura Core?!¡± ¡°Are you serious?¡± Aura Core. It was a storage of aura that knights had once their control over aura reached the pinnacle. Although it was formed naturally inside your body once you reached { High } in your Aura Rank, I was able to obtain one a lot earlier than others thanks to the White Silver Mandrake. Besides, if I reached { High } in my Aura Rank, I would be forming another core so that meant I would be having double the cores! With an Aura Core, it was possible to store excess aura inside it, and that was why the difference between knights at the Medium Rank and those at the High Rank in terms of Aura was like that of heaven and the earth. Even if they had a simr amount of aura, a Medium Aura Rank knight would be fighting with about 4,000 aura whereas a High Aura Rank knight would be fighting with at least 10,000. That was one of the reasons why the power bnce surged through the roof into the Milky Way when it came to the highest level of knights. A simple calction would already tell you that one side had more than double the other side¡¯s ammunition. For someone like me who had a terrible Aura Rank as well as Aura Capacity from birth to be able to use the ¡®Sixth Style¡¯ which consumed a tremendous amount of aura, measures like this were essential. ¡°That is some¡­ amazing effect. Then the gold one¡­¡± ¡°Not yet. That is forter.¡± In response to my words, Alicia halted her hands that were heading to the Golden Mandrake. ¡°Ah~. I guess it¡¯s bad to have different types of medicine at once right?¡± She wasn¡¯t necessarily wrong so I didn¡¯t bother correcting her. **** There was a very rational reason behind why countless professors of the Magic Department gave up on joining the Tower of Mages and remained behind to be professors at the Academy. The overwhelming number of books inside Merkarva Great Library was one of the reasons, but that came second. If so, then what was the first and foremost reason? It was because on the western side of the Academy was the enormousboratory which had the best experiment subjects that mages could ever dream of. An example¡­ was a ¡®Unique Grade¡¯ demonic beast that was sealed due to being unkible. ¡°Now now. Please prepare the restriction spell, and the Magic team? Please double-check the sealing chains and the pressure.¡± Professor Deina couldn¡¯t help but twitch the corners of her lips while seeing the test subject that was prepared for this experiment. Since the Academy was an education facility, inhumane and immoral experiments were forbidden but being able to use a massive and renowned monster like this as a subject was one of the privileges that the professors of the Merkarva Academy had. ¡°King of Iron Mountain. To think I would see such a famous great monster with my own eyes.¡± Laying in front of the eyes of Professor Deina was arge boar. Reaching 6 meters in length, it weighed 50 tonnes at the very least. The fearsome fangs going up looked more like smooth steel than a bone, and the skin of the boar that wasrge enough to cover a small house appeared like a metal te instead of the stiff fur of an animal. This ¡®Rune Boar¡¯ which was currently sleeping in its sealed state was the legendary demonic beast from 85 years ago, which had been barely sealed after it crushed the northern Dingle Penins into fragments. King of Iron Mountain. Killer of Heroes. The Demonic Pig of the Dingle Penins. A great demonic beast that was sealed by the previous previous chairman, Biren, Josephine the Dimensional Witch and¡­ the one renowned for being the strongest knight of the time, Tates Valtazar. Even though two semi-Unique Grades and a Unique Grade Knight like Tates Valtazar had joined the expedition, they weren¡¯t able to kill the King of Iron Mountain. The reason for that was the ¡®Primal Rune¡¯ that this Rune Boar had inside it. The ancient power that functioned as a concept rather than a simple addition of power was inside the beast. ¨C p p p. ¡°Wow~ What an amazing boar.¡± At the corner of theboratory, an afro-haired knight wearing vambraces walked up to the sealed boar which was being sealed by the best restrictive items and the world¡¯s strongest spells. ¡°Professor Fermack. Don¡¯t go too close to it.¡± ¡°I am aware, Professor Deina. Is this it? The one that I have to carve a ¡®rune¡¯ on in this experiment?¡± ¡°Yes. You¡¯ve seen it in the textbook right, Professor Fermack? This is the boar that swallowed an entire iron mine as well as the Primal Rune that was carved deep inside the mine.¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯m from the Dingle Penins, you see. This thinges out in our fairy tales.¡± Professor Deinamented on how ironic it was that even the great demonic beast that used to be unstoppable in its times was now just a viin of a fairy tale, as Professor Fermack showed his agreement. ¡°Haa~. It¡¯s great that we have you, Professor Fermack. It¡¯s pretty much impossible to find Rune Mages these days.¡± The one that sealed the rationality of this demonic pig was the Rune Magic of Tates Valtazar. In other words, the first step to undoing the countless seals that were cast on this monster was by unsealing the rune spell, and that meant you needed a Rune Mage. There was a time when Professor Deina contemted whether she should learn Rune Magic herself just for this experiment. However, learning a newnguage was proving to be very difficult and due to all the ambiguous descriptions in the modern times, it was extremely hard to learn them. That was when Professor Fermack showed up. He was a knight but was a user of Rune Magic. ¡°That¡¯s how everything is with deadnguages. Only knights like me with a bit of room to spare for mana uses it, but it¡¯s still hard to use in a real fight.¡± ¡°Are there still some people in the North that use rune letters?¡± ¡°There are some. In Berkut Academy, it¡¯s a part of the mandatory course.¡± ¡°Ah~ right. I do remember inviting a professor from Berkut Academy for an experiment that required an expert at Rune Magic.¡± Although the origin of rune letters wasn¡¯t very clear, the northern continent was believed to be where it originated. Looking back, strangely enough, most of the great demonic beasts that were unstoppably powerful tended toe from the North. ¡°By the way, what was this experiment about again?¡± Professor Fermack asked. ¡°It¡¯s about the alpha specialty of Unique Grade entities. I am nning on writing an article regarding the alpha energy of Unique Grade demons and how they affect the lower Grade entities.¡± ¡°Unique Grade, huh¡­¡± Professor Fermack immediately thought of a few names, because there were two Unique Grade demi-humans in this Academy already. Leaving aside the Heavenly Yaksha due to theplex circumstances because of her rtionship with the New Faith and the empire in the East, Marie¡­ ¡°Now now. Shall we start with interpreting the sealing runes that are cast on this pig?¡± The two of them ended their short conversation and focused on the demonic boar in front of their eyes. It had been 80 years since it was captured, but the vicious energy emanating out of this sealed monster was still the same even after 80 years of captivation. Chapter 41: Group Assignment (1) ? Group Assignment (1) ? The professors of the Knight Department gathered every month for a conference to share their evaluations of students and things to note. Even aside from that, this conference was a fairly important social event for all the knight professors for them to keep in touch with others. It was back inte April when the interim exam had just taken ce. There were plenty of agendas for the monthly conference, such as the unfair treatment of the Magic Department receiving more budget and the equity issues of the payment for knights on the Mission Board but the hot potato this month was a Grade 5 Knight. Korin Lork. The topic was on how wrong it was to keep him as a Grade 5 Knight. ¡°There¡¯s a need to increase Korin Lork¡¯s grade.¡± The proposer of the agenda was the old-timer of the Knight Department, Old Man Haman who had 30 years of service at the Academy under his belt. It was rare for this stubborn old man to proactively support a student so his words gathered the attention of a lot of other veteran professors. ¡°Korin Lork. He¡¯s a freshman if I recall correctly, yes?¡± ¡°Grade 5? The data seems horrendous. Why would you consider raising a student like him?¡± The professors of senior students asked in confusion. They hadn¡¯t attended the freshmen interim exam which had taken ce 2 weeks ago. ¡°If he¡¯s just a Grade 5 Knight, then there¡¯s no need to¡­¡± ¡°That Grade 5 Knight fought on equal grounds with Sword Master Lunia Arden. Only for 3 minutes though.¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± ¡°What kind of joke¡­¡± The exnation of Professor Fermack, who was in charge of the freshmen students, caused voices of doubt to spread between the senior year professors of the Knight Department. Lunia Arden? Wasn¡¯t she the prime sessor candidate of the renowned Arden family? Her unprecedented evaluation of being a semi-Unique Grade knight despite her young age and her performance were all proof that she was one of the representative heroes of this era. One flick of her hand should be enough to demolish dozens of Grade 5 Knights let alone a single one, so how could one possiblyst 3 minutes? ¡°She must have been holding back.¡± Professor Royd, in charge of 3rd year students, raised a skeptical opinion but was immediately rebutted by Old Man Haman. ¡°Are there any professors among the ones that were present back then including myself who think Lunia Arden was holding back against Korin Lork?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The ensuing silence made the senior student professors even more flustered. ¡°But even so, raising the grade just because of an interim exam is a bit¡­¡± Old Man Haman did not mention Marie Dunareff¡¯s incident here. Unlike himself, a Grade 1 Knight and a central figure of the Knight Department, most of the professors here only knew about the publicly announced pieces of information. In order to make sure, Professor Royd asked Professor Fermack. ¡°Professor Fermack. Is there no room for doubt on the abilities of this student called Korin?¡± ¡°There¡¯s none. His skill with the spear is as exceptional as that of a demon. Frankly speaking, there¡¯s probably no-one among the Grade 2 students who can fight against him.¡± ¡°Is he that strong?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t we have another sessor candidate of the Arden family in the 1st year?¡± ¡°She was beaten up by him during the hunting grounds practical lesson. She stood no chance.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­!¡± Indeed, that meant there was no doubt on his ability. That meant it was certain that he was as strong as a Grade 1, but¡­ ¡°Even if that¡¯s true, we cannot increase his grade without any achievement. Since that is our rule.¡± All the participants here agreed with the fact that his Grade couldn¡¯t go up immediately. Interim exams did not count as an achievement and were therefore not enough. Old Man Haman, who had been at the Academy longer than anyone else among these professors here, shared a different perspective as if he had been waiting for that statement. ¡°Let¡¯s entrust that to the Alliance¡¯s official grading test. There is a limit to how much we could increase his grade by, but it should be okay if we let him take a reassessment for an ¡®official¡¯ guardian license.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¡°But if we do that, the student would need to be apanied by a professor¡­¡± ¡°Professor Haman¡­ or should I say Instructor Haman. Since you were the one who proposed this, how about you take charge?¡± ¡°I would be d to.¡± Instructor Haman volunteered for the reassessment as the Knight Department came to a conclusion. Firstly, they would have to prepare a test to reassess Korin Lork¡¯s grade. If he passed it, then his grade would officially be raised up. ¡°Huu¡­ Korin Lork, huh.¡± Professor Fermack, who was also in agreement with the reassessment, thought about the person in question. Korin Lork. Grade 5 Knight. Both his Aura Rank and Mana Rank were at Low, and he didn¡¯t have much aura either. However, his fight against Lunia Arden implied that there was something wrong with that evaluation. His weapon proficiency was one thing, but his stats were iparably different to the one he had before the grading test. Fermack quickly came to a conclusion¡­ that he was hiding something. The reason he could quicklye up with a hypothesis was because he had an idea about the power Korin Lork was using ¨C the secret technique of the ancient warriors of the Shadow Paradise: the high-risk and high-reward ability ¨C Precept. ¡®Besides, that spear¡­ it¡¯s that person¡¯s spearmanship no matter how I see it.¡¯ Fermack¡¯s master and benefactor who taught him how to use runes ¨C that person was a great spear wielder. Although Fermack didn¡¯t have any profound knowledge on spearmanship, he could still say with certainty that Korin¡¯s spear was the same as the one he had seen several times from his master. ¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­ Is he also his disciple just like me?¡¯ It was still just an assumption but there were a lot of clues. If Korin was that person¡¯s disciple just like him¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll have to test him out a little.¡± While hiding his sharp gaze behind the sunsses, Fermack returned to the usual frivolous young professor. **** It had been a rather noisy start to the semester but it was already May. After spending an eventful early semester, Alicia hopped up the stairs with more expectation than usual. Alicia was like every other student. She found lessons boring and wanted to skip them whenever possible but today¡¯s lesson was different, because it was one she shared with a specific student. Pushing open the door of Lecture Room 4012 on the 4th floor of the Knight Department¡¯s Liberty Hall, Alicia greeted everyone. ¡°Hello~!¡± ¡°Hi Alicia.¡± Since she was one of the few Grade 2 Knights among the freshmen students, everyone knew who she was. Besides, she was the sessor candidate of the Arden family which was known for their incredible swordsmanship. It was impossible for the students to not know her considering the newspapers and the rumors around the campus. Alicia was a fairly sociable person so she showed a friendly smile to all her peers that were greeting her as she hopped across the room. ¡°Mr. Korin~¡± The ce she settled in was the seat next to Korin. ¡°¡­¡± Jaeger, who just returned from the bathroom and realized that his seat had been taken, squinted his eyes. With a sharp gaze that couldn¡¯t be hidden despite his narrowed eyes, he red at Korin. These days, there was always someone amazing by his side. Whenever there was a joint lesson with the seniors, the Number 1 celebrity of the Academy, potato senior, would be sitting next to him and when it was a freshmen Knight Department lesson, it would either be the frightening demon girl or that granddaughter of the Sword Emperor. There was only one thing Jaeger could say as Korin¡¯s friend (?). ¡®I¡¯m so jealous!!¡¯ Since when did my friend have such an impressive set of female friends? What about my youth? Why is there no-one by my side! He groaned like that until the start of the lesson. ¡°Yo~. Hello freshmen buddies, are y¡¯all ready?¡± Walking into the room with a loud greeting was a funkish man whose afro-hair and sunsses were very impressive. He was Professor Fermack Daman of the Knight Department. ¡°As I mentionedst lesson, we will be starting a group assignment from today.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­¡± There werements from everywhere but Professor Fermack Daman ignored theirints with ease. ¡°Now now. I know you might be thinking this is annoying, but this is very important and it¡¯s going to help out in the future.¡± Professor Fermack nted expectation into the minds of the students like a veteran professor. People might think of a group assignment as something tedious at a nce but as an education facility of guardians, the Merkarva Academy was very practical even when it came to group assignments. ¡°Let me first describe what you¡¯ll be doing before we start the lesson. We are the Knight Department so unlike the geeks of the Magic Department, we are not going to tell you to solve some difficult Math equations or tell you to nt mysterious nts.¡± ¨C Hahaha! Knight Department and the Magic Department. Although the conflict between the two wasn¡¯t serious by any means, it was natural for some level ofpetitiveness to exist, which Professor Fermack made good use of. ¨C Click! He clicked his fingers and created a pop of air which opened the documents that were installed on the board. ¡°Wow~. He added Condensed Aura into his fingers right? Did you see that, Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°I did.¡± Professor Fermack was popr among the students for showing such attention-grabbing tricks. ¡°Now. Have a look at this paper.¡± The papers he prepared hadrge drawings of human figures and appeared like they were exining certain moves one by one. They were diagrams that you would find from martial art books rted to knights and weaponry. ¡°Mhmm?¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± The movements on the papers were showing a set of spear moves. Several elementary spearmanship postures ranging from middle guard to high guard, advancing, walking, strafes and lunges were expressed in detail. Considering how I had immersed myself into basic spearmanship like crazy before learning Six Ways of the Spear, they were a set of moves that I knew off by heart. ¡®But why? Wasn¡¯t it boxing in thest iteration?¡¯ Fermack Daman was someone who fought with bare fists. He was a boxer known for controlling the gap, his dashes as well as his unique use of shadows. He was a famous Grade 1 Knight from the Berkut Academy of the North with Rune Magic installed in his gauntlets. He was also known for changing the bare-handed fight curriculum of the army, which was why he picked boxing in thest iteration but¡­ ¡®Is it because of me?¡¯ Did he notice something from the spearmanship I showed against Lunia Arden during the interim exam? In a way, I guess you could say Fermack Daman and I were the nephew and an uncle of a martial family. It was normal for him to be in doubt after seeing my spearmanship ¨C not that it mattered though. ¡°Why is it spear out of everything? No offense but don¡¯t we have more students that are learning the sword?¡± Fermack replied to the question raised by one of the students. ¡°There are a bunch of other people that learn swords.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Weapons each have their own profound secrets. If you don¡¯t know the secrets of these other weapons, you¡¯re bound to lose in an interpersonal battle.¡± ¡®Sword wrestling¡¯ was a prime example. This was something that was easily misunderstood, but the victor of a closebat fight with swords pushing against one another was not decided by pure strength. In fact, it wasmonce for those that overly trusted in their strength to allow a strike to their vitals instead. As one of the prime examples, in a sword wrestle, the victor could be decided in less than 0.5 seconds with one of them losing their heads. The only way tobat these techniques was to practice without an end. ¡°You¡¯ll have plenty of chances to see swords in the future but as for the weapons that are less mainstream like spears and fists, you will have less chances of seeing their skills. For example¡­ Student Korin?¡± ¡°¡­Yes.¡± In this lecture room of about 40 students, there were only six spear-users including myself. And out of those 6 people, it was natural for me to be chosen as someone who was rising in fame despite being a Grade 5 Knight. After all, my stock price was breaking through the ceiling after the even fight against Sword Master Lunia Arden. ¡°What do you think are the advantages of a spear?¡± ¡°I would say it¡¯s the ability to pressure the opponent from a distance, as well as the destructiveness of a long weapon.¡± ¡°That is correct. Why is that the case?¡± ¡°Because it is usually held with two hands, and it is easy to add weight and leverage into the spear.¡± ¡°Correct. It¡¯s something you can also see byparing weapons like greatswords and one-handed swords, but weapons always be more powerful the longer and heavier they are.¡± After saying that, Fermack pointed at one of the students who had their hand up. ¡°Student Ranan. Do you have a question?¡± Ranan replied, ¡°Sir! Isn¡¯t the sword still the strongest!? There are a lot of people learning it as well!¡± Hisment brought about a fierce retaliation. ¡°You¡¯re saying that again! Long weapons are the best, okay?¡± ¡°Nope! Have you never heard of swords being the king of weapons? The sword¡¯s definitely going to win in a close distance!¡± ¡°How about you try closing in the distance then~?¡± Ahh. There was never a conclusion to this long debate. Which weapon was the real king of them all? It was an important issue to young students. Actually, it was very important to adults as well. ¡°Haha. Then as someone who showed a wonderful fight against Sword Master Lunia Arden, how about you tell us, Student Korin?¡± Why was he calling me again? The sharp gaze behind Professor Fermack¡¯s sunsses headed towards me. ¡°What do you think is the strongest weapon?¡± I could probably give the reply of a model student but I didn¡¯t feel the need to do so. Fermack was probably trying to see through me but¡­ there was no need to bother hiding it from this bastard. ¡°Of course, the spear is the best and I am the strongest.¡± ¡°Boooo!!¡± ¡°He¡¯s picking a fight with us!¡± Haha. The jeers and irritated gazes of young and energetic students were all on me. What are you going to do huh? Fight me? ¡°¡­¡± I could also sense Hua Ran¡¯s gaze in the mix. Umm¡­ she¡¯s not going to say something about thister is she? Uhh¡­ not you, of course. *** Professor Fermack announced at the end of the lesson that the group assignment will be about exining a basic spearmanship posture. ¡°In this assignment, you will form groups to freely choose a spearmanship style, research into it and demonstrate one skill.¡± ¡°Sir. Wouldn¡¯t that make it way too good for the ones that already use a spear?¡± ¡°I will take that into ount for the evaluation, by either extra marks or increasing their evaluation threshold. Each group will have 4 people and we will decide the groups by drawing lots.¡± Fermack ced on the desk a box with numbered papers inside, and made the students take them out one by one. There were 40 freshmen students of the Knight Department inside the lecture room. It was four in one group so that would make about 10 groups, and Korin and the other spear-users had already been divided into separate groups. ¡°I¡¯m in Group 3. What¡¯s yours, Korin?¡± ¡°Group 3.¡± ¡°Ohh, nice~.¡± ¡°¡­Mr. Korin is Group 3.¡± After listening to the conversation between Jaeger and Korin, Alicia walked towards the box of lots. There was a 10% chance, and she hoped that the goddess of fate would be standing on her side. Going up to the front desk, she lined up behind Hua Ran in her chained nun clothes who had just finished picking a number. ¡°Student Hua Ran. What group are you in?¡± asked Professor Fermack. ¡°Group 3.¡± ¡°Okay. Korin Lork, Hua Ran and Jaeger Hinzpeter in Group 3.¡± ¡®T, there¡¯s only one left now!¡¯ Wouldn¡¯t that lower the chance significantly? Alicia nervously threw her hand into the box of lots. ¡®Group 3! Group 3! Group 3¡­!¡¯ She immediately took a paper out which read¡­ ¡°Alicia Arden. Group 8.¡± ¡°¡­Ah.¡± The goddess of fate wasn¡¯t standing on her side. And immediately after that¡­ ¡°Dorron Warsky, Group 3.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Herment reached the ears of Dorron who had just pulled his lot. He looked back and forth between his paper and Alicia before giving her a seemingly gentle suggestion. ¡°Do you want to swap?¡± ¡°C, can we please?!¡± ¡°Well, it will be a slight loss for me, but it¡¯s not like I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Mr. Dorron¡­ You were a nice person!¡± Alicia walked up to Dorron¡¯s paper with sparkling eyes but Dorron retrieved it in the blink of an eye. ¡°???¡± ¡°20 silver coins.¡± ¡°A, are you charging money for that?!¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing free in this world, Lady Arden.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too expensive!¡± ¡°Well¡­ if you think about the opportunity cost, I¡¯d say I¡¯m making a loss.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°What I mean, is that you don¡¯t have to buy it if you don¡¯t want to.¡± He cold-heartedly turned around so Alicia rapidly grabbed on the end of his clothes. She was so fast that even the veteran mercenary Dorron could not react in time. ¡°I, I will give you the money.¡± The purse of the poor girl opened with a shiver. ?Group Assignment, Group 3? Hua Ran Korin Lork Alicia Arden Jaeger Hinzpeter There was a bit of corruption and a secret negotiation but the members of the Group Assignment were thus decided. ¡°The assignment will be due 2 weekster during this lesson. On the weekdays, you can study by borrowing some books from the library and you can practice at the training rooms or the festival hall.¡± With that, the lesson ended ahead of time for the groups to each discuss their ns. ¡°First off. Who should we choose for our group leader?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Korin¡¯s words were like an own goal because the three of them all turned to him at the same time as if they had promised on it beforehand. It was going just like every other group assignment of modern Earth. Group assignments in Korea are infamous for having uncooperative members (it¡¯s used like a meme at this point), and the group leader usually shoulders the me if something goes wrong. Chapter 42: Group Assignment (2) ? Group Assignment (2) ? What exactly was a group assignment? A way to increase the cooperation skills of students and evaluate them¡­ Would be the model response. However, following the Pareto Principle which states that 20% at the top does 80% of the work, a group assignment was like a game of chicken that made the diligent ones suffer the most. Because everyone was evaluated as a ¡®group¡¯, there were sometimes people that did not even know what the topic was, as well as those who did not follow through with their words. There were times when humans became weaker by forging a group and this was a great example. In other words, a group assignment depended greatly on the people involved and the oues were heavily influenced by the team atmosphere. ¡°Huhu¡­¡± In that sense, you could say that our Group 3 was a blessed one. I looked at the reliable team members who had gathered at the 2nd floor cafe inside the Academy. Jaeger Hinzpeter ¨C Grade 3 Knight. His physical abilities were rtively high up there. His decision-making skills weren¡¯t bad and was also good at listening to what he was told to do. There was nothing toin about Alicia either. She was a prodigy at using swords and since she was proficient at moving her body, she should be able to follow with ease. And ourst member was Hua Ran. As for Hua Ran, even though she was a bit grumpy at times, she was still a very diligent person inside. Seeing her concentrating on the lessons these days was another source of delight. In any case, our members were very good. For 4 years at the physical education college and 3 years at the Academy, the only people I have had in my group assignments were guys who no idea what the topic was, guys who wanted to join in without doing anything as well as those whose grandparents were passing away everyday. My luck with groups was not very good in thest iteration either so I had to carry them the whole time because of how frustrating it was. But now that I was with these guys, I could do anything! I must be a blessed child to have such diligent and highly capable buddies as my group members! ¡°Now everyone. How much do you know about spearmanship?¡± ¡°You¡¯re very good at it, Mr. Korin!¡± ¡°I heard that guys with a spear are highly likely to be homosexual.¡± ¡°Jaeger you crazy bastard! What kind of ludicrous nonsense is that!¡± Please don¡¯t cross the line. ¡°¡­I want bread with honey and cream.¡± Unlike Alicia and Jaeger who at least replied to my question, Hua Ran gave apletely different demand while slurping her frappino and pointing at another student¡¯s dessert. It seemed that I would have be the leader of this group no matter what. ¡°That¡¯s okay. It¡¯s natural for you to not know about it. Now, here is a book for the basic postures of spearmanship including Eight Trigram, Divine Spear and Pointing Spearmanship. It might be hard just with these diagrams, but first let¡¯s go through the theory and I will show it to you at the training rooms.¡± I became well and truly used to spearmanship. Although I started using a spear because I thought it would be easier to use than a sword, I started scavenging through all sorts of books for a better chance at survival because unlike the game, I had to use my actual body to move the spear. Mr. Park went the easy way out as a mage though¡­ Maybe I should have listened to my Math lessons back in high school. ¡°First is knowledge. Know the enemy and know yourself and you will never be in peril in a hundred battles. If you know about yourself and your enemy, you¡¯re already increasing your chance to win.¡± ¡°Korin my buddy. You know it so shouldn¡¯t it be okay for us to not know about it?¡± ¡°Shut your trap Mr. Jaeger Hinzpeter! As a group assignment leader for 7 years, I will not allow you to get marks without doing anything!!¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Okay boss.¡± ¡°And Hua Ran¡­¡± She was already reading the book. As expected of someone who always read a book whenever I saw her, it seemed that she was used to reading letters in a book. ¡°I already reserved a training room. We have 3 hours to go so¡­ we will go full-on with theory first.¡± ¡°Ohh¡­!¡± ¡°So it¡¯s not that different from our usual schedule even though it¡¯s a group assignment!¡± Alicia shouted. Here, we had a veteran spear-wielding group leader, A sword-usingdy from a family renowned for swordsmanship, A nundy with the world¡¯s best physical capabilities and a knight buddy who could do at least 1-person¡¯s worth for everything. These members¡­ No matter how I saw it, I could not see ourselves failing this group assignment. ¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ That¡¯s what I used to think, at least. ¡°Hey buddy.¡± ¡°What is wrong, friend.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve beening to the training rooms for 2 months now, yes?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°The walls and the floor here, they were all supposed to be super dense shock absorbing materials, right?¡± ¡°They were.¡± Super expensive on top of that. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could break them.¡± ¡°You learn new things everyday, I guess.¡± ¨C Drop! The ground was crushed and shattered along with a sonic boom but even that was better off inparison. ¡°Uh, ugh¡­ uhh¡­¡± Alicia muttered in fear while touching her cheeks that were slightly swollen up. She wasn¡¯t even hit by anything ¨C the wind caused by a fist strike had scraped past her cheek and yet this was that oue. Behind the back of the fallen Alicia was a clean hole on the outer walls of the training room. The scenery outside the building was on full disy. Rather than being broken, the wall had pretty much been disintegrated into atomic molecules. ¡°So this is magic.¡± ¡°No, this is not magic. She just¡­ did a punch with a fist.¡± The suddenmotion gathered arge crowd. At the end of their gazes was a girl wearing a funkish costume of a chained nun who was frozen stiff with the fist out in front of her. ¡°¡­¡± Even though she still had a cold look on her face, I could tell that she was thinking, ¡®oops¡¯. ¡®I think they got demolished into atoms or something.¡¯ That would cost a fortune to repair. Alicia and Hua Ran were swinging around a practice spear when Hua Ran identally dropped her spear and unknowingly hurled a fist with demonic aura embedded inside. That overwhelming punch and the gust created by it was what caused this disaster. ¡°¡­Hey, Korin.¡± ¡°What is it¡­ Jaeger.¡± ¡°If I say any gibberish about demons one more time in the future, please stop me even if you have to smack my head.¡± ¡°I will not let my friendmit suicide.¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s a real friend.¡± Obviously, we were then chased out of the destroyed training room. **** On the noon of the next day, which was a Sunday, we all gathered at a church. ¡°Ehem. We will now have a moment of self-reflection. Please do not hesitate to share your personal opinions.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The group members stayed silent for a long time. Jaeger was pursing his lips in dissatisfaction so Alicia was the first to carefully raise her hand up. ¡°Sorry¡­ about what happened yesterday. I couldn¡¯t really adjust my strength.¡± ¡°No. You did great, Alicia. Both your posture and your swings were good. Watching me train everyday must have been helpful.¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­ That¡¯s only because your moves with the spear are close to perfect. I was just copying what you did!¡± ¡°It¡¯s thanks to you having good eyes. What about you, Jaeger?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯m not too sure yet. Not used to swinging a long weapon and¡­ Spinning Heaven, was it? I still have no clue how you¡¯re supposed to spin like that. I just can¡¯t see the path.¡± Spinning Heaven was the fanciest move with a lot of changes to the trajectory of the spear. If he could use that after seeing it a few times, I would have picked him up as the sessor of the Six Ways of the Spear. ¡°You¡¯re doing well. As long as you acquire the basics of Eight Trigrams, you¡¯ll be able to move your mace in a more diverse manner.¡± Alicia had good eyes to begin with so she was good at imitating skills but I actually wasn¡¯t expecting Jaeger to do so well. This guy was quite good at everything that required a physical movement. ¡°Hua Ran. What about you?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran was next to us by the time I realized it with her usual nun clothes. What was different from usual was that she was carrying arge silver te. ¡°Eat it.¡± On top of her silver te were several cups of red wine that were smaller than shot sses and portions of white rice cake. ¡°Is this amunion?¡± ¡°The blood and flesh of the Saintess, apparently.¡± Because the developers added a mix of religions from Earth, they had simr religious events like this. The problem, however, was that they merged several into one and created a horrifying hybrid. ¡°Are you volunteering?¡± ¡°Sunday services are mandatory.¡± Inside the Merkarva Academy campus, there was a church for the faithful students to go to. It was closer to arge hall instead of a church but they could hold over a thousand students per service. In truth, it was a bit awkward to call it a ce for faithful students, because there was a mandatory worship service every Wednesday for 1 hour in this Academy. Although it wasn¡¯t actually mandatory, it was pretty much the same because it gave out 1 unit of credit. It was good though because they didn¡¯t necessarily point out any students for dozing off or fidgeting around. Anyway, apart from the Wednesday services, the Sunday one was optional. ¡°Hua Ran, you¡¯re a probationary nun of the New Faith, right?¡± ¡°¡­Not that I wanted to be one.¡± Right. The only reason she could move freely to some point was because of the seals casted by the New Faith as well as her status as a nun. ¡°I know you were forced into one, but you should still read the Scripture. The stories about the Saint and the Saintess have a lot of things that are worth learning from.¡± I used to be an atheist on Earth but there were still many things to learn from the virtuous people at the root of all the religions. Love thy neighbor. Greed is the root of all evil. Don¡¯t do unto others what you don¡¯t want done unto you. Admit what you do not know and learn. Then you¡¯ll know them. They were all lines worth following even if you didn¡¯t necessarily believe in a religion. But it was also rare to find believers that followed these principles. Unlike my perception of religion, it seemed that my team members in the height of their youth were feeling a sense of distance from it. ¡°I don¡¯t believe in religions.¡± ¡°Mhmm~ The things that the fathers and the sisters say are a bit difficult for me to understand.¡± ¡°The Old Faith is strict and has a lot of fundamentalistic gibberish but the New Faith pretty much talks about one thing.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Although it was a bit embarrassing, I replied to Alicia¡¯s question. ¡°Love.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Sorry?¡± Her cheeks turned red as she blinked her eyes. ¡°Love yourself, love the person in front of you and love your neighbors. Love and love and love.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Y, you mean that?¡± I really liked that sentence. In fact, it was something good which everyone would agree with. ¡°Some might say it¡¯s embarrassing but everyone wants to love and wants to be loved. The Saintess of the New Faith really knows how to touch people¡¯s hearts.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­! I think it¡¯s a great sentence! Love! Hmm¡­! Love! It¡¯s very important!¡± ¡°¡­Hmph.¡± Hua Ran seemed to think otherwise, and turned her back to us with a pout on her face. ¡°Anyway¡­ Sister Hua Ran? Do you have any conjectures about the reason we couldn¡¯t do all the spear moves perfectly yesterday?¡± ¡°¡­¡± I knew the reason myself but didn¡¯t bother voicing it out loud. Instead of other people pinpointing her mistakes, it would be better for her personal growth for her to realize her own wrong-doings. Even though she was a Unique Grade demi-human and a living Jiangshi, she was only 3 years old. She denied both herself and her original self, but if she could one day have an objective view of herself¡­ ¡°You guys are too weak.¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re all too weak. Everything breaks when I add a little bit of strength.¡± What an amazing conclusion that she came to! **** Since we couldn¡¯t create more construction work for the training rooms, we asked if we could use the empty plot ofnd behind theboratory which we had borrowedst time. If not for the immediate eptance and permission of Lady Josephine, it would have been impossible for us to even practice. ¡°Pushing the opponent¡¯s weapon outward is the Outer Trap [Lan], pulling the spear inward to press down on the opponent¡¯s weapon is the Inner Trap [Na] and stabbing from that position is the Stab [Zha]. This is the basic counterattack of the spear, Lan Na Zha.¡± ¡°The movement itself looks easy.¡± ¡°Actually, it¡¯s quite hard,¡± Alicia replied to Jaeger¡¯s remark. ¡°Because you need a delicate power control and your waist movement is also important.¡± ¡°Alicia¡¯s right. When you¡¯re doing a Lan Zha or Na Zha, you need to make sure the shaft of your spear is always connected to your body.¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple but hard toplete this set of movements together, is it? Quite profound.¡± ¡°A spear is the mostmon weapon after the sword. You need to learn how to presume the opponent¡¯s goal by seeing their movement and if you don¡¯t know about their skills, you¡¯re bound to get the short end of the stick.¡± Interpersonal fights were about reading each other¡¯s intention and could only be improved through countless practices. Reading their movement, their reach and aiming for a counter-attack was more important than a blind attack. ¡°Let¡¯s just do the basic movements a thousand times today. What about you Hua Ran?¡± Hua Ran didn¡¯t say much but ever since she destroyed the training room building, she started watching our practices from the side in an insincere and lethargic manner. Alicia and Jaeger being scared of her might be something that contributed to her lethargy, but that was unavoidable because she would hurl a fist immediately after dropping her spear. ¡°Is this important?¡± asked Hua Ran. ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°No matter how much you practice like this, the weak will stay weak and the strong will stay strong.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Those were some disrespectful words but I understood where she wasing from. Hua Ran was saying that because she had been born as a powerhouse without even having to practice. In the end, martial art was a set of techniques that were invented for the weak to fight against the strong. It might have appeared worthless to Hua Ran, who was born strong with an Unbreakable Vajra Body. I suddenly remembered the question I asked a long time ago. ¡ºMaster. When are you going to teach me some killing moves and secret arts? How long would it take for me to kill those monsters if I continue learning basic stuff like this?¡» That was something I used to think in the past. That was when I was still very immature. ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± ¡°K, kuhum!¡± Both Alicia and Jaeger seemed frightened by Hua Ran and could note up with an objection. Naturally, the two of them turned to me, who was the leader of the group. Huu¡­ If I admitted Hua Ran¡¯s words here, then this group assignment would bepletely doomed and I could not let that happen. ¡°In a way, you¡¯re not wrong, Hua Ran.¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± Alicia interjected but ignoring her, I continued. ¡°But that¡¯s something only the truly strong ones can say.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± ¡®Someone like you has no qualification to say that¡¯ ¨C Hua Ran immediately reacted to that subtle condescending phrase. Right ¨C there was no way she would ignore a provocation like this since she was very confident in her power. ¡°Rather than someone like you who looks down on things like this as being insignificant, don¡¯t you think I¡¯m better suited to be called a strong person?¡± ¡°¡­Are you serious?¡± She must be thinking that there was something wrong with my head, but this was what I had to do as the leader of the group. If I got pushed back here, then I would have no justification to stop Hua Ran from doing nothing in this assignment. Rebellions had to be oppressed quickly. That was what I thoroughly experienced after being a group leader for 7 years. ¡°M, Mr. Korin!¡± ¡°Korin¡­ I will not let youmit suicide!¡± ¡°You¡¯re noisy. Shuddap!¡± Picking up a practice spear, I pointed it at Hua Ran. ¡°Do you want to bet?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°1 minute. I will try to force you down onto your knees in 1 minute. If I win, dinner will be on you tonight.¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was no need to even bother thinking about who the stronger one was. In terms of physical abilities, she was probably about 8 times stronger than me with her restrictions intact. Although I had gotten a bit stronger, the difference between Hua Ran and I was still enormous, and despite the restrictions her Vajra Body was still literally ¡®unbreakable¡¯. ¡°Okay. If I win¡­ I don¡¯t need anything. You will have a fracture.¡± ¨C You¡¯ll need money for your hospital fee. After she said that vicious sentence, Hua Ran and I stood at the center of the plot ofnd with Alicia and Jaeger watching us. I contemted through everything I knew. Hua Ran had the Unbreakable Vajra Body. It was the best defensive specialty of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? that increased the defense in rtion to the Aura Rank and the Aura Capacity. You might think she would be useless once all her aura was depleted, but even with the restriction in ce, Hua Ran¡¯s Aura Rank was at Very High and her capacity was above 20,000. In other words, it was nigh impossible for me to create a wound on Hua Ran¡¯s body no matter what I did. ¡°Get set¡­¡± Her defense had never been broken until now so it was obvious what Hua Ran would now choose to do. ¡°Start!¡± ¨C Clomp clomp. She started walking. After walking, she would grab on the opponent and fling them onto the ground. It was an arrogant way of fighting that was only possible thanks to her overwhelmingly powerful defense. I unhesitatingly aimed the spear at Hua Ran who was walking without forming any guard. ?Ominous Snake: Secret Arts ¨C Distorted March? ¡°M, Mr. Korin?!¡± I used one of my strongest skills from the get go. Alicia and Jaeger seemed surprised by that sudden attack but Hua Ran didn¡¯t even attempt to dodge it. ¨C Kagakak! While continuing to walk, she allowed the three consecutive stabs tond on her body. Although they didnd on her body, her march was not hindered in the slightest and the tip of the practice spear was the one that was crushed instead. The durability of the spear was a lot weaker than Hua Ran¡¯s bare skin. ¡®Stabs are not going to work.¡¯ ¡°Hupp¡­!¡± Retrieving the broken spear, I swung it with the force of my waist. The result was a terrifying swing of the spear which was a simple yet immensely powerful strike of the spear. ?Second Style, Horizontal Sweep of a Tiger? ¨C Kwang! A thunderous thud echoed as my spear struck Hua Ran¡¯s head at a ridiculous speed. Even though it was a practice spear, it was nheless a very powerful attack straight to her head. It was strong enough to kill people but the one that drew itsst breath was in fact my spear. ¨C Kajik! Aftering into contact with the Unbreakable Vajra Body, the spear ended up shattering to pieces. Now, all I had was my bare hands; Empty hands and naked fists. Hua Ran reached her hand forward with an expression assuming her victory. ?Eight Trigrams Footwork: Fleeting Body? ¡°¡­?!¡± Dodging her attack, my body twisted with a mysterious footwork and reappeared behind her body. It was a short moment but I must have disappeared for a split second in her eyes. ¡°You¡­!¡± After realizing that I was behind her back, she threw a powerful fist. It was emanating a ridiculous amount of pressure and was absurdly fast but blind attacks were hard to hit and missed attacks were meaningless. By slightly altering my steps, I dodged her attack again. ¨C Chiik! The clothing around my chest got ripped just from the pressure of her fist but I was still alright. ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran and I were in a super close distance with less than 30 centimeters between us. We were so close that she should be able to reach me just by extending her arms but she couldn¡¯t. Her punches and nails all barely grazed past my body. The mystifying set of steps did not allow Hua Ran tond a hit. It wasn¡¯t an amazing skill or anything ¨C it was just one of the basic evasive skills of the Eight Trigrams that aimed at taking the opponent¡¯s back. I was using that super basic movement to constantly dodge her attacks. ¡°Annoying.¡± She seemed annoyed as if she had a fly flying around her ears. Soon, Hua Ran started adding aura into her fists. It wasing. If the Unbreakable Vajra Body was the strongest defense skill¡­ Then Hua Ran¡¯s demonic aura was the strongest attack. Her abundant supply of aura turned into pure violence. The Unique Grade living jiangshi¡¯s instinctive use of aura was the most destructive form of power ever seen. ¡°Dodge. If you don¡¯t want to die.¡± I would be crushed into smithereens even if it was to graze past me but¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll try to block it.¡± Without any hesitation, I extended my hand forward. My legs were already rooted into the ground. ?Straight Fist? A fist that was as dark as charcoal flew towards me. I would have to sit in bed for at least a month if I received a direct hit from that. The best option was to dodge as Hua Ran said but¡­ ?Eight Trigrams: Fleeting Body Palm Strike? I blocked her attack. Blocking the straight and undisguised fist that was flying towards me was not an issue after I focused all my aura into my right arm. But¡­ ¨C Crack! Even though it was a perfect defense, the overwhelming destructiveness was still conveyed through the palm. The muscles around my arms ripped apart as blood sttered out from my skin. ¡°¡­!?¡± As if she wasn¡¯t expecting me to block her attack from the front like a fool, Hua Ran widened her eyes in surprise, but this wasn¡¯t the end of my block. Using the palm I used for the defense, I pulled Hua Ran¡¯s fist towards me. For a moment, Hua Ran¡¯s body leaned towards me as I then immediately reced myself behind her back using the Eight Trigrams Footwork. After reaching her defenseless back, I stepped on the joint behind her knee with my foot. ?Eight Trigrams: Prevailing Chains? No matter how strong and tough she was, as a living organism, the structure of her joints were no different from a human¡¯s. ¨C Flop! One of her kneesnded on the ground. ¡°Look. You¡¯re on your knees now.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± It seemed that Hua Ran wasn¡¯t content with the result of the battle. She was on her knees due to the structure of her joints which had nothing to do with strength ¨C this must have been different from what she was thinking of. But in the end, Hua Ran was on her knees whereas I was still standing. Besides, the deal was whether I could make Hua Ran kneel in one minute or not. ¡°Do it again¡­¡± Discontent with the oue, Hua Ran asked for a rematch as if she was confident that she wouldn¡¯t lose this time. ¡°Nope. Not gonna.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± ¡°I won already so why should I bother fighting you again?¡± I suppressed the rebellion of the team member while showing her an annoying face. ¡°¡­One more time.¡± She seemed very upset. It was rare for her to show her emotions like this and in fact, this was my first time seeing it so that made me want to tease her even more. When would I get another chance to tease Hua Ran? ¡°After this is paid content.¡± ¡°Paid?¡± ¡°Please insert coins for another match.¡± Hua Ran scavenged through her pocket and realized that she didn¡¯t have a single coin on her before gritting her teeth. ¡°¡­Wait.¡± Turning her head with a flick, she kicked off the ground. The ground crumbled from a single kick and a small crater appeared underneath where she was standing. ¡°W, where are you going?!¡± Was she going to bring real money or something? I was nkly staring into where she disappeared and after a while, Hua Ran reappeared bynding with a thud. In her hands was a heavy bag. ¡°One more time.¡± ¨C Clink clink clink! Therge number of silver and gold coins fell like a waterfall. D, did she actually bring all this money just for one more attempt? Wasn¡¯t this more than 100 gold coins at the very least? ¡°Wow¡­ it¡¯s my first time seeing so many gold coins.¡± Jaeger and Alicia had their chins dropped while nkly gazing at the fallen coins. Was Hua Ran always sopetitive? ¡°Freshmen? What are you guys doing here?¡± That was when a female student walked into the empty plot ofnd. She was someone I was acquainted with. ¡°Senior Isabelle?¡± Marie¡¯s best friend ¨C Senior Isabelle walked towards us after spotting us on her way somewhere. ¡°What is all this¡­¡± ¡°I will give you all of this, so do it one more time with me.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Senior Isabelle was astonished after hearing Hua Ran¡¯s words for some reason. What was wrong with her? ¡°Nope. I¡¯m not doing it.¡± ¡°Why¡­¡± ¡°You won¡¯t be popr if you¡¯re too clingy.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Seeing the gold coins tempted me to have another go, but there was a need to protect my authority as a group leader here. Besides, now that she knew the trick, she probably wouldn¡¯t allow it a second time. Even if it wasn¡¯t manly, I would rather be a winner than a loser! ¡°Just one more time¡­¡± ¡°Nope. I am not doing it again~¡± ¨C Grit! Hua Ran red at me in fury. Her face was super scary but if I epted this challenge here, I would get shit on, my authority as a group leader would plummet and the group assignment would be over. epting her challenge was out of the question. ¡°Money¡­ One more time¡­ Clingy?¡± ¡°Senior Isabelle?¡± For some reason, Senior Isabelle was shivering while looking at me with eyes filled with trepidation. Seriously, what in the world was wrong with her? ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran did not hide her dissatisfaction but had no choice but to give up. What was she going to do when I was saying no? That marked a sessful stop to a group member¡¯s short rebellion. Now, all I had to do was leisurely teach some spearmanship and prepare for the presentation. However, somethingpletely outside my expectation happened a few dayster at the regr group assignment meeting. To think Hua Ran would do such a thing¡­ ¨C I¡¯m sick. Do it without me. She sent me an excuse for her absence in the meeting and her ridiculous excuse made everyone bbergasted. Y, you? Sick? Even though you can munch on steel like it¡¯s nothing? We had an unexpected troll in our group assignment. Chapter 43: Group Assignment (3) ? Group Assignment (3) ? Hua Ran stoppeding to the group meetings ever since that day. Like¡­ well, I could understand why she wouldn¡¯t want toe, but how could she be so small-minded? Was she a kid or something? ¡°Ah¡­¡± Actually, she was a kid. Something I forgot quite often because she looked like a high schooler was that Hua Ran was just a kid who had been born three years ago. Just like myself, she did have the memories of the original owner of the body, but she hadn¡¯t been there for long. ¡°W, what should we do? Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Well¡­ what else can we do? We just have to do it by ourselves.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t everyone have to participate in the group assignment?¡± Right, that was the problem. It was the same back when I was going to college on Earth but what exactly was a group assignment? Because they put emphasis on cooperation, the non-involvement of anyone reduced marks. This Academy¡­ took all the frustrating elements there were in a Korean university. As someone who had been a group leader for 7 years, there were times when I mercilessly took the name out of the finished product whenever there was a troll. What did the professor do back then? Welp, that¡¯s ack of cooperation right there. Boom, there goes your mark! Those damn professors¡­ They tended to be very stubborn just because they weren¡¯t the ones doing it. ¡°We have no other option now.¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°We must bring Hua Ran back for our marks and our eternal glory!¡± ¡°But how?¡± Alicia asked and in response, I grabbed onto her shoulders and looked into her eyes. ¡°Adjutant Alicia.¡± ¡°Umm. Yes? Captain?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I have no idea on how to improve the moods of sulky girls.¡± ¡°¡­I think you can just do as usual though?¡± ¡°I will entrust this matter to you, Adjutant Alicia! Girls should be better at this than myself! There are things like special empathy abilities and stuff between girls, right? Anyway, you know what I¡¯m trying to say!¡± She gazed back at me with a displeased look on her face. ¡°If you think about it, this all started because you teased Ms. Hua Ran, Mr. Korin¡­¡± ¡°I trust you Alicia! I will be working on your part in the meantime.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ I, if you insist¡­¡± Alicia stood up in a hurry with a resolute look on her face. It seemed that she was very tired frompiling a report for the group assignment. ¡°I¡¯ll be back soon, Captain!¡± ¡°I believe!¡± After a salute, Alicia started sprinting to the special dormitory where Hua Ran should be at. ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll be able to do it?¡± Jaeger asked a natural question. Thanks to moving together with Alicia as a group these days, he too had an idea of how clumsy Alicia was. ¡°There¡¯s nothing for you to worry about. Alicia is the best counter-attackerter on but she¡¯s a good enough tank in the beginning.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± After a while¡­ ¡°Hing¡­ she didn¡¯t even open the door for me.¡± ¡°Did she hit you?¡± ¡°N, no? A fork dide flying through the door though.¡± ¡°Hmm, good. So it¡¯s not like she wants to kill us or anything as of yet.¡± Alicia returned with not a single wound on her body! ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± As if she read my impure motive, she called me while squinting her eyes. ¡°Looks like her fury level is sitting at around Level 2 or 3. Good, let¡¯s get this done in a breeze.¡± ¡°Mr. Korin? You didn¡¯t send me to see how angry Miss Hua Ran was or anything, right?¡± I gently ignored the sharp question thrown by Alicia. **** Hua Ran spent herst few days inziness. She was annoyed by Korin Lork teasing her after her humiliating defeat at the group meeting. ¡°Hmph¡­ he just got lucky.¡± Was it really just luck though? Although that question did rise up in her mind at times, Hua Ran tried her best to ignore it because admitting that would be the same as acknowledging her defeat. She was born strong. As a beast that was born from a living corpse that was close to death, she didn¡¯t need to train at all because her fists were stronger than magic, spearmanship and everything. Countless martial artists, soldiers and generals all fell before her, so how could a mere knight¡­ ¡ºRather than someone like you who looks down on things like this as being insignificant, don¡¯t you think I¡¯m better suited to be called a strong person?¡» ¡°¡­¡± If she wasn¡¯t a strong person¡­ if she wasn¡¯t a beast of destruction that could overturn any irrationality¡­ then what worth did she have as a being that was born through another person¡¯s death? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°?¡± A sound reached her ears from outside the building, so she unconsciously opened the window to gaze at the source of the sound. ¡°¡­¡± It was Korin. He was standing on a tree branch that was going over the dormitory fences while ying an acoustic guitar. ¡°For now the day bleeds, into nightfall and you¡¯re not here to get me through it all~. I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran red at Korin with a cold gaze. As if he was satisfied with the fact that he managed to catch her attention, Korin walked across the branch while ying the guitar. ¡°I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved! ¨C I¡¯m sorry! Please let me pay for my mistakes!!¡± She seemed puzzled by the strange scene of Korin apologizing while ying an acoustic guitar, and didn¡¯t know how to react. ¡°But now the day bleeds~! Into nightfall!! And you¡¯re not here~ to get me through it all!!!¡± ¡°Noisy.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to tease you!¡± Even though he actually was, Korin concealed his intention. ¡°I was bad at conveying my true thoughts! Please give me another chance!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°And¡­! To be frank, you also did something wrong, Hua Ran! We were both insincere to each other. Please get together with me again!¡± Hua Ran started closing the window with a cold gaze. That was when Korin stopped her in a hurry. ¡°Are you serious?! Are you seriously going to do this to me! Huh?! I will give you one more chance! If you settle your feelings ande down for everyone, I will forgive you with my benevolent heart and give you a warm hug!¡± The window continued to close. ¡°Wait, Hua Ran!¡± She halted her hands that were about to shut the window. ¡°You know what? Society is even harsher than this! I know you¡¯re feeling embarrassed for getting shit on by a random Grade 5 knight that you were looking down on, but you never know what¡¯s gonna happen in this world! It¡¯s fine to have embarrassing and ufortable truths thrown at your face! You have to build such humiliating experiences to be an adult!¡± ¡°Go away.¡± ¨C m! The gust formed by the sweep of her fingers broke the thick branch like a sugar cane. Caught off guard, Korinnded on the ground right on his bum. ¡°Kuhak!¡± ¡°Idiot.¡± With that, Hua Ran closed the curtains and returned to the other side of her room. ¡°¡­Mr. Korin. Are you okay?¡± Hanging off the top of the fence, Alicia asked in concern while peeking into the dormitory. ¡°Hah¡­ do kids enter puberty as well?¡± ¡°I thought you said you were confident.¡± ¡°I tried to persuade her with enough rationality and logic! I even added the seasoning with my intense emotions!¡± ¡°Those emotions were the biggest problem I think¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s crazy that you managed toe out without being punched.¡± Jaeger¡¯s criticism was very reasonable. ¡°What are you gonna do? Doesn¡¯t look like that¡¯s going to be resolved in a day or two.¡± ¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t too bad,¡± I replied. ¡°How was that not bad?¡± ¡°Because I didn¡¯t get smacked by her. She¡¯s a nice girl.¡± ¡°A nice girl wouldn¡¯t run away from a group assignment, buddy.¡± ¡°And they wouldn¡¯t punch people just because they¡¯re in a bad mood either.¡± Alicia added from the side. Despite the criticisms from the two other people, Korin stood back up in determination while dusting his butt. ¡°Now, there is no other choice but to rely on ourst resort.¡± **** The sun settled before long as several lights were lit up to illuminate the darkened house. As someone who had been living at this dormitory for roughly half a year ever since she came from the east, Hua Ran knew that it was about time. ¨C Knock knock! She judged based on the slight leftover scent of blood that the one who knocked on the door was the housemate who recently joined the dormitory. ¡°Junior Hua Ran~. It¡¯s time for dinner~¡± ¡°¡­¡± As if she was used to it, Hua Ran closed the notebook that was on the desk and stood up from her chair. Opening the door, she found an amicable 2nd year senior with water-colored hair wearing a bright smile on her face. ¡°We have a special menu today!¡± ¡°¡­Potato?¡± ¡°Potatoes are always special but it¡¯s a little different tonight!¡± ¡®There is a chef today~!¡¯ said Marie, which instilled a bit of expectation into Hua Ran¡¯s mind, because usually, the meals at this dormitory were limited to the ones made by Josephine or Marie, or the ones brought from the Academy cafeteria. While heading down to the dining room, she smelled a unique scent and realized the identity of the dish that was currently being made. ¡°¡­Mackerel.¡± It was the familiar smell of mackerel. Looking back, it was because of Korin that she first had that fish. Even though she was put in a terrible mood just by thinking of Korin, she nheless considered it a positive thing that he taught her about the fried-mackerel set meal. The reason she wasn¡¯t grateful was probably because of her pride. Despite not showing it on the outside, Hua Ran went to the dining room with a rare hint of expectation inside her. After all, having fish was very rare in this dormitory. Josephine preferred vegetables whereas Marie liked eating heavy meals with chunks of meat that she always brought from somewhere. Because Hua Ran prided herself for not being ¡®a kid¡¯ that winged about food, she hadn¡¯t said anything about it. Atst after arriving at the dining room, she pushed open the door as a deeper surge of a fishy smell seeped into her nose. ¨C p p! ¡°Irasshaimase!!¡± The sonorous wee was something she had also heard from a sushi ce that she had visited with Korin. However, unlike the past, this time the owner of the voice was¡­ ¡°Hello~¡± It was none other than Korin Lork. ¡°I¡¯m not eating.¡± Saying that, Hua Ran turned her back with a flick so Korin hurriedly shouted at her back. ¡°Y, you might regret it if you don¡¯t eat this!¡± ¨C Flinch. Hua Ran turned her head back as Korin returned a good-natured smile while pointing at a fish that had just finished cooking. ¡°¡­¡± Actually, she was a bit hesitant to go back just like this because it was true that she was starting to feel hungry. Although Korin Lork was so annoying that she wanted to punch him once, there was no logical reason why she should turn him down from preparing a food that could satiate her hunger. ¡°Hmph.¡± She sat down on the table, while being under the impression that her attitude towards Korin was still very firm. In fact, sitting down and waiting for the other person to finish cooking was not something an irritated person would do, but that wasn¡¯t something she could know as a 3-year-old jiangshi that had zero social experience. ¡°Wait one second! It will be done in an instant!¡± In the end, Hua Ran decided to overlook his actions without stopping him. ¡°¡­I¡¯m not eating if it¡¯s not good,¡± she whispered in a soft voice that wouldn¡¯t even reach the person sitting next to her. Hua Ran had been upset ever since Korin beat her in the bet. Although her discontentment wasn¡¯t as intense as fury, it was inevitable for the loser to be very annoyed by the winner who would not ept a rematch. The reason she didn¡¯t attend the group meetings was to pay him back and was a way to express her irritation. He tried to persuade in a funny way but her mind was very firm. She was wholeheartedly disying her irritation and her unwillingness to forgive him. Well, sitting down to have the meal cooked by the person who made her upset meant it was already over but Hua Ran did not know that. She was even contemting whether she should forgive him if the food tasted decent or not. Regardless of her internal turmoil, Korin continued cooking in the kitchen. ¨C Chiiik! For a short moment, Hua Ran savored the scent of the frying fish. Soon, Korin ced down the entire ¡®wok¡¯ that had the dish inside on the dining table. ¡®The whole thing?¡¯ Inside therge steel wok was something colored in deep reddish-brown. ¡°¡­What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°Braised Mackerel.¡± It was a quick dish that was made by adding chunks of mackerel, potatoes and radish and braising them in a marinade. ¡°It¡¯s delicious. Even in the army¡­ I mean, even in some camps, you eat this very often. Debone the fish and mix the rice into the sauce here and¡­ Kyaah~. It¡¯ll just be amazing.¡± Korin gently ced pieces of mackerel, cooked radish and potatoes into a smaller bowl. ¡°¡­¡± Meanwhile, Hua Ran silently gazed down at the dish. Seeing the red sauce that seemed like the magma of an active volcano, she couldn¡¯t even guess how to approach it. While she was hesitantly looking at the fish with the chopsticks in her fingers, Korin walked up to her back and came closer. ¡°Here.¡± Taking her two chopsticks and carrying one each in his hands, Korin started separating the bone from the flesh. He removed therge spine and the small bones which revealed the white flesh inside. After using a spoon to scoop up the marinade inside the wok, he poured a generous amount onto the white flesh of the fish. ¡°Have a taste.¡± Hua Ran carefully cut the fish into bite-sized pieces. She carried one of them into her mouth. As for the taste¡­ ¡®Not terrible.¡¯ If she had to give it an evaluation, she would say it was crude and miserablepared to the fine-dining restaurants in the city but it was still edible. While thinking to herself that it wasn¡¯t so bad that she would return the food to the kitchen, Hua Ran continued moving her chopsticks. **** I came to Hua Ran¡¯s room after the meal. The room only had a bed, a desk and a densely packed bookshelf and gave off a very deste feeling. ¡°That wasn¡¯t very nice.¡± ¡°You were enjoying it weren¡¯t you?¡± After living a few years by myself, I inevitably ended up acquiring some cooking skills. Although the menu was very limited, I was quite good at making fried rice and braised mackerel. ¡°I¡¯ll make you fried rice or something else next time.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡®I¡¯m not eating if it¡¯s bad,¡¯ Hua Ran added at the end but there was a slight sense of expectation embedded into her gaze. The fact that she epted the dinner I made meant our reconciliation had already been decided. There was still some remaining sharpness to her voice and word choice but it was understandable since she was still a child that wasn¡¯t used to getting angry. ¡°Buy meals instead. That¡¯s more delicious.¡± ¡°Of course my cooking is not going to be as good as the ones made by chefs.¡± What would you do with your living expenses if you buy every meal outside? I would have asked that question to anyone else but not her. From what I could tell based on the pouch of gold coins that she prepared in the blink of an eye as well as her unhesitant investment for the inn n¡­ it seemed that she was more loaded than I expected. But since she wasn¡¯t the type to work to save money, her possession was probably the inheritance of her ¡®father¡¯. Right. The two keywords of Hua Ran¡¯s scenario were ¡®father¡¯ and ¡®original self¡¯. I knew why she was acting strong the whole time, as well as how important power was to her. ¡°Do you know how long it takes for chefs to cook one dish?¡± ¡°They take less than 30 minutes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s 10 years.¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°From finding good ingredients to preparing and cooking them. It seems that normal chefs require up to 10 years until they can show their own dishes to their customers. Well, that¡¯s probably not the only case but still.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Apparently the old owner of your favorite fish restaurant drank only water his entire life to protect his sense of taste and wears gloves all year long to protect his hands from the heat of the summer and the coldness of the winter.¡± ¡°¡­What are you implying?¡± ¡°It took me 3 years, to learn enough martial arts to put you down on your knees once.¡± I reflected on my desperate days. I first started with Eight Trigrams. It wasn¡¯t because of anything special and it was simply because that was the first martial arts rted book that I found in the library. Through the Eight Trigrams, I learned how to use the fist and the spear and immersed myself into them until I met my master. Compared to my party members who all used fancy styles like the Singr Sword of Arden, Flying Swords and elemental magic, my skills were very pathetic. ¡ºMaster. When are you going to teach me some killing moves and secret arts? How long would it take for me to kill those monsters if I continue learning basic stuff like this¡­?¡» That was why Iined to my master about teaching me secret moves from the get go so that I could stand on a simr page as them. ¡°You said weaklings will stay weak even if they practice spearmanship and stuff.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I reached both of my hands forward to the silent Hua Ran. ¡°Try grabbing my hands.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Here. Make sure our palms are touching each other.¡± After slight hesitation, she carefully aligned both of her palms against mine. I closed my fingers and held onto her tiny hands. ¡°I will now try my hardest to escape from your grip so make sure to hold onto me so that I can¡¯t escape.¡± ¨C Gripp! She started clenching her hands as soon as I said that. It felt like my bones would be cracked with one mistake but while withstanding the pain, I pulled my body back in an attempt to escape from her. ¡°Knnngg¡­!¡± I pulled as hard as I possibly could but I just could not escape from her grip. ¨C Flop! I even tried to use my legs but it didn¡¯t work and all that happened was me losing my bnce, so the two of us ended up falling onto the bed. Hua Ran was pretty much lying on top of me but she was still holding onto my hands to make sure she would not lose the contest. ¡°I lost. I lost!¡± Her lips curved up after hearing my deration of defeat as if she was satisfied by her victory. But at the same time, there must be a rising doubt in her mind. If I was as weak as this, and a lot weaker than herself¡­ How was I able to defeat her back then? ¡°It¡¯s interesting right? I¡¯m a weaklingpared to you. You can beat me as easily as this so why did you lose back then?¡± ¡°¡­I didn¡¯t lose.¡± ¡°Yes yes. But you did get on your knees.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Did the skill I used to block your punch appear like an amazing move?¡± Hua Ran didn¡¯t reply but she silently showed her agreement. Actually, the skills I used to put her down onto her knees were block, pull and push. Such simple actions were just used in a timely manner when she was least expecting them. ¡°The spearmanship I learned is simr to your favorite fish. It starts from choosing the ingredients. And it starts with a simple punch.¡± ¨C You start from the small basics. ¡ºChild, you must always give your very best no matter how trivial they seem.¡» ¡°If you give your very best to everything, you¡¯ll learn how to be caring. Learn how to be caring, and it will leave a mark on your personality. If it leaves a mark on your personality, it will show on the outside. And if it shows on the outside, you will be brighter, If you be brighter, you will move other people, Move other people and you will change. And if you change¡­ you¡¯ll be mature.¡± ¡ºThat is why only the people that give their very best sincerely to everything are the only ones that can change the world.¡» Hua Ran, who was quietly listening to my words, suddenly asked a question. ¡°Would something change by learning things like that?¡± ¡°As in by diligently preparing ingredients and practicing one spear move on repeat? Nothing might change from just one of them, but¡­¡± This was not a proverb that guaranteed sess. It was about one¡¯s attitude to life. Even though it was a very idealistic proverb that might be very difficult to fulfill¡­ ¡°At least you won¡¯t lose to me again right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Rather thanining without doing anything, it¡¯s better to be proud after doing something. I want you to try it at the very least.¡± ¡°¡­You only know how to talk big.¡± ¡°Huhaha¡­! That¡¯s true too! Anyone can give encouragement and tell you to try your best.¡± Hua Ran started carefully inspecting my palms. While flipping my hands back and forth, she looked at the deep calluses around my hands and curiously fidgeted with them with her tiny hands. Only after a long time did she let go of my hands. ¡°We¡¯re good now, right?¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± ¡°Good. Give me a high five!¡± I opened my palm and raised it into the air but her expression was still very cold. Thinking that it was a bit too much, I was awkwardly retrieving my hand when Hua Ran headed to the desk and picked up a notebook before tossing it to me. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Opening the book, I discovered that it was a report on the spearmanship posture that we prepared for this assignment and its principles. It was the research that she was supposed to be in charge of. ¡°You did this already?¡± Turning her head away, she pretended like she didn¡¯t hear me. It seemed that she had been working on this even though she wasn¡¯t attending the group meetings! ¡°You adorable little cutie!¡± I rustled my fingers through her well-organized hair. Her disheveled hair was quite the sight. ¡°Go away.¡± ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am.¡± Taking the research report that Hua Ran prepared, I walked out of her room. ¡°Oh right, the next meeting is at 4:30 pm tomorrow. Let¡¯s meet at our usual spot.¡± Although she didn¡¯t reply, I knew what type of person she was. She would definitelye out despite a fewints. As I expected, Hua Ran came to the group meeting with the same cold and indifferent expression on her face as usual. Reference to Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi Chapter 44: Group Assignment (4) ? Group Assignment (4) ? A week went by. There was Hua Ran¡¯s truancy in the middle but like how the ground hardens after the rain, our team worked together in perfect cooperation to finish the report after the incident and decided on ¡®Lan Na Zha¡¯ for our ss demonstration. ¡°Hey, can you have a look at my posture for me? I don¡¯t think the movement from the bottom to the middle is smooth enough.¡± ¡°There needs to be some dy between the movement of your body and your hands. Otherwise the spearhead is not going to move with a bounce.¡± ¡°Ohh~¡± Their skills with spearmanship advanced rapidly over thest week. Naturally, a short practice didn¡¯t mean they could use it in a real battle but at least they would have a betterprehension of Lan Na Zha and know how to respond to it. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Hua Ran. Lower your grip a little. And make sure a part of the spear is right next to your ribs.¡± After that day, Hua Ran also became fairly obedient. Just like that, we finished today¡¯s practice and I was writing the daily records to submitter on as a part of the assignment when Alicia walked up to me instead of returning home. ¡°Mr. Korin. Are you going to boil the Mandrake again today?¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m going to suck all the essence dry so you should have some for yourselfter.¡± Even though the Mandrake was now so dry that I would barely suck anything out of it, there were still things for me to do in this empty plot ofnd. While boiling the Mandrake and making sure I was making the most out of this precious herb, I started carving more ¡®rune letters¡¯ onto thend. Meanwhile, Alicia brought some pieces of meat from somewhere and made it into a skewer to cook next to the pot. After perhaps about an hour, we deemed that it was about time and stood up around the center. ¡°Let¡¯s start off slow.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I tossed the practice spear that I had been using until now. Alicia picked up her Demon-ying Sword whereas I picked up my Silver Spear. They had already gotten the non-lethalizing spell at the training rooms. ?Crushing Steel, Three Paths.? ?Two-faced Ominous Snake: Dragon Blood? ¨C Kagang! The two des collided. In the following bout, Alicia almost allowed a graze to her wrist so she quickly parried the spear up. ¡°I thought we were starting off slow!¡± ¡°This is slow.¡± The opening stab of the Ominous Snake. Making use of the spear¡¯s ability to carry out a quick stab in session, it was a skill that aimed to halt the opponent¡¯s weapon with the first and stab the opponent with the second. Compared to Distorted March which was more about controlling the pace of the battle, it was a rather simpler skill that was better suited for a consecutive use. ¡°Focus. The spear will always be faster than a sword in a stab.¡± ¡°Wow, spears are amaaazing. I know. You have been saying that the whole time.¡± ¡°You can be as sarcastic as you want after you finally beat me.¡± Alicia prepared herself in a middle stance. In a usual duel, she would follow through with a safer attack like Advancing Fang or Flying Dragon but Alicia was slightly irritated. ?Singr Sword of Arden? ?Fastest sh, Instant sh.? The sword carrying an abundant cluster of aura flew in at a ridiculous speed. Rearing Head of Venomous Dragon was the only skill in my kit that could match off against that speed but my body wasn¡¯t warmed up enough to use an extreme art already. Thus, my only option was to respond with a simple counter-attack. ?Six Ways of the Spear? ?Third Style, Lan Na Zha? Deviate the path of the opponent¡¯s weapon with Outer Trap [Lan], press [Na] and stab [Zha]. She lost from this move back in the hunting grounds but¡­ ?Singr Sword of Arden? ?Falling Fist, Corruption? By blocking the stab with Falling Fist, she stabbed in line with the shaft of the spear as the tip of the sword barely missed my nose by a hair¡¯s breath. That fluent use of skills reminded me of Lunia Arden. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°How was that? You were caught off guard right?¡± Alicia seemed excited from catching me off guard. Even though it was a bit problematic that she was going ¡®Hooray~!¡¯ with a fist in the air in the middle of a fight, I let that slip. ¡°That was as smooth as Ms. Lunia¡¯s attacks.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°It was great. Now, shall we raise the tempo by a little?¡± ¡°Ehk? N, no? I think this is fine.¡± ?Six Ways of the Spear? ?Fourth Style, Spinning Heaven? elerating the spear, I swung it in circles as it left behind a shy set of after-images. ¨C Swish! Swish! It elerated even more the more it spun. The potential changes to the path of this movement were moreplex than any other styles of Six Ways of the Spear. ¡°Mhmm¡­!¡± Alicia¡¯s pupils followed the trajectory of the spear. Left? Right? Or was it up, or down? Whatever it is, it wasn¡¯t something that could be seen with naked eyes no matter how good of a dynamic vision you had¡­ ?Eyes of the Boundary? ¡­Or maybe not? ?Horizontal sh? ¨C Crack! The sword strike collided with Spinning Heaven and stopped the spear. That just then¡­ Wasn¡¯t the Domain. It was just an extreme increase to her dynamic vision which was just one of the additional functions of Eyes of the Boundary. ¡°Those eyes can even see through the trajectory of Spinning Heaven, huh.¡± ¡°Somehow.¡± It was a fearsome ability that was as expected of one that allowed you to see through the gap between dimensions. It seemed that she was easily able to catch up to the speed of someone like me. ¡°Hehe, as long as I can stop it, you won¡¯t be able to use that dizzy skill right?¡± ¡°What a massive improvement. This oppa here is in tears.¡± ¡°We¡¯re the same age though?¡± I had to test something, to see how good of a dynamic vision she had. ?Six Ways of the Spear? ?Sixth Style¡ª? ¡°Ahht?¡± Her pupils contracted and trembled. In an instant, the surrounding air turned dry as an explosive surge of heat pounced at her. ?Spinning Heaven: Second Move ¨C Rotating Demon Spear? ¨C Kang! ¡°Uht?!¡± She was still following my speed but Spinning Heaven turned increasingly faster with more spins. How long would shest? ?Void Spinning Heaven, Turbulent Spear.? ¨C Kagagagagak! The eleration knew no end. People watching from the side might think of my current form as that of a rampaging train with a malfunctioning brake. Spinning Heaven was one that was supposed to be difficult to deal with because of its unpredictable path and fanciness but at this point, it was like a chariot that forced its way through everything with sheer violence. ¨C Kang! Alicia was bounced off after a clear ding. It wasn¡¯t strong enough to fling her all the way back there, so she must have thrown herself back by using the momentum of the spear. ¨C Click! As soon as shended on the ground, she sheathed the Demon-ying Sword back into the scabbard. It was the signal re marking her intrusion into the Domain. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The world paused leaving only the two of us behind in the dark dimension. ?Singr Sword of Arden, Domain Severance? Her sword dashed out of the scabbard. Fighting in response to that was the soaring snake. Looking back on my fight with Lunia Arden during the interim exam, that Domain was something which both Lunia and I could only ¡®perceive¡¯. Even inside that half-assed Domain, Lunia was half a step faster than me. However, Alicia Arden was a real user of Domain Severance. She was the gifted prodigy who was permitted to take a full step forward inside the Domain. She was too fast. My spear was definitely slower than Alicia¡¯s sword but the difference¡­ ?Soaring Snake: Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon? ¨C Gwaaaaaaaaaaa!! The two steel weapons collided as a roar that appeared to be made by the screaming dimension echoed across. In truth, that was just the shing noise of a sword and a spear. ¡°Huh?¡± ¨C Khang! One of the weapons was pushed back with an explosive thud. The one that was pushed back was my spear but Alicia was the one with a dumbfounded look on her face instead. ¡°Mr. Korin, that just then¡­¡± ¡°Was that about¡­ Half a step?¡± ¡°It was more than that! It¡¯s a lot better than before!¡± Alicia said in excitement and gave a p in joy as if this was a matter that concerned herself. This wasn¡¯t my first time dueling against Alicia as a practice. Starting off slow, we would get ourselves warmed up before entering the Domain. Of course, against Alicia who had a full-fledged Eyes of the Boundary and Domain Severance, I could note out on top with my half-assed interaction with the Domain. There was in fact an even bigger difference inside the Domain between me and her,pared to the one I had with Lunia. ¡°The more we practice, I can feel your Domain being more exquisite, Mr. Korin. It¡¯s surprising that you can get so much stronger in such a short period of time¡­¡± Alicia seemed surprised despite being aplete user of the Domain herself. That implied that my use with the Domain hade closer to a ¡®full step¡¯. The only reason I could grow so much even though I couldn¡¯t even take half a step forward inside the Domain until recently was because of a specialty. ?Domain Comprehension? It was a specialty that increased the likelihood of entering the Domain while at the same time amplifying myprehension of the Domain with every entry. My rapid improvement was only thanks to this ability that I earned as a reward of the Precept after clearing Alicia Arden¡¯s scenario quest. ¡°Thanks for all your help. Can you do a bit more?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I think that¡¯ll be a bit difficult.¡± Alicia replied with a troubled look on her face while showing me her shivering right arm. Her body wasn¡¯t able to withstand the weight of the Domain. Unlike me who still wasn¡¯t perfect, Alicia was taking aplete step inside the Domain every time so she must be experiencing a much more serious bacsh. ¡°Is it still hard to withstand the bacsh?¡± ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t think I can use it twice.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s normal because any movement inside the Domain does burden your body.¡± Even weapons made out of steel tended to be crushed after moving inside the Domain and human bodies weren¡¯t any different. Although Alicia had a body that was on the level of a Grade 2 Knight, Domain Severance required an absurdly tough body. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to train everyday. Have milk and anchovies, and I¡¯ll give you some Mandrake teas as well so drink them everyday. They¡¯ll make your bones tough.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I feel like you treat us like kids sometimes, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°Of course, because you¡¯re a kid. You are not an adult are you?¡± ¡°You say that, but you are not an adult either right, Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°I¡¯m allowed to say that though.¡± ¡°What is that even supposed to mean?¡± My mental age is already over 30, buddy. ¡°Well¡­ You are very different from other boys though.¡± ¡°Right?¡± ¡°How should I say this¡­ you¡¯re like an old man? Like an uncle?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Why? Why do all the young girls consider me an uncle? ¡°Alicia.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Can you try calling me oppa?¡± ¡°W, where is this suddenlying from?¡± ¡°This oppa here doesn¡¯t look that old, okay? I¡¯m a teenager in my youth!¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s things that you say that make you look like an uncle?¡± ¡°¡­I am older though so it¡¯s oppa. Just try calling me oppa.¡± Looking back, even when I was going to church, I was a church uncle and not a church oppa, wasn¡¯t I? What the heck? Even though I first went to church after leaving the military¡­ And even though I was an assistant teacher of the teenage kids¡­ I was still only 25 back then, and was in the peak of my youth! ¡°Mr. Korin. You¡­ Are more like, umm¡­ A father or a mother I would say.¡± ¡°¡­¡± A father. Isn¡¯t that even older than an uncle? Do I really look that old? ¡°Why are you suddenly talking about a father?¡± ¡°This might not be the most pleasant thing to hear but¡­ I used to grow without needing anything, but I don¡¯t think anyone really liked me or anything.¡± The current family head, Jade Arden and his wife weren¡¯t cruel individuals so her environment itself shouldn¡¯t have been that impoverished. But whether they had love for her or not was a different issue. ¡°Father always clicked his tongue after seeing me and, umm¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever talked to my step-mother.¡± There was no way that the members of the Arden family would be happy with an illegitimate child that suddenly came from outside. Although they raised her up as a part of their duty, none of them would have acted as a proper adult for her. The only reason Alicia could grow like this (despite her low self-esteem) was because her older sister used to take good care of her. ¡°You see, I really liked my sister. She was the only one who talked to me; the only one who noticed the change in my height¡­ And she was the only one who patted my head.¡± Allicia gave out a soft smile in reminiscence. ¡°Sister¡­ Hmm, she was like a father. I went to the dentist with her¡­ And my first birthday present ever was also from her.¡± She slowly flipped the meat skewers. ¡°When I think about it, all my memories that others would have had with their fathers were all with my sister. I went off topic but what I was trying to say, is that you are simr to my older sister.¡± ¡°Looking at our gender, isn¡¯t Lunia the mother and I the father?¡± ¡°No. That¡¯s not it, Mr. Korin. Of course you¡¯re closer to a mother!¡± But that¡¯s not what our gender suggests, Ms. Alicia. ¡°So Mr. Korin is a mom! You are more like a mom! Actually, maybe I should introduce you to my sis¡­ No. That doesn¡¯t sound good. Nn. I¡¯m not doing that, ever.¡± Well, that was very serious¡­ Was I that bad? ¡°¡­Why can¡¯t I just be an oppa?¡± ¡°We¡¯re the same age though?¡± ¡°Umm hello? This is not making any sense. So you mean mom¡¯s okay but oppa isn¡¯t? Just call me oppa, and I will seriously buy you a meal.¡± ¡°Maybeter!¡± Alicia said with a wink which made me want to drive a fist onto her head. You said I was a mom right? A few pats of love are okay, aren¡¯t they? ¡°Ehew¡­¡± Kids these days¡­ ¡°Alright, sure. Call me mom.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ Mom!¡± ¡°Yes, my dear daughter.¡± ¡°Please give me some money.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Seeing Alicia showing me her open palms with sparkling eyes made me fume from my nostrils. ¨C Uahhht! Please don¡¯t drill your fist into my head! I, it hurts! Kuaahkk?! ¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡°Oh right! Mr. Korin. What was the thing you did during that fight?¡± ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°Spinning Heaven! When you were using that, you suddenly became super¡ª¡± ¨C Shh! Bringing a finger to her lips, I made her close her mouth. ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡± Everyone should have a hidden trump card or two right? **** Time flew by and it was mid-May already ¨C the first week of our group assignment presentations. The first group began their presentation and would continue in ascending order. Now, what will the spearmanship newbies talk about? It was quite an interesting wait. ¡°Hello. I am Feleis, the group leader of Group 1.¡± Three of his teammates were right behind Feleis, the group leader. Looking at their spears¡­ Hoh, they were carrying the long spears of the east. Were they going to demonstrate Pointing Spearmanship? Or something stemming from Eight Trigrams like mine? ¡°The one we will be showcasing today is the Five Starry Spears.¡± ¡°What kind of spearmanship is the Five Starry Spears?¡± ¡°Right! So it¡¯s a group spearmanship of the east that is excellent for hunting demonic beasts in corrtion with the group members.¡± Ahh¡­ As expected of a newbie. ¡°Hmm. Okay. Please show us a demonstration.¡± The four members of Group 1 including Feleis stood in a formation and showed the ss a demonstration. ¨C Hahp! Haht! ¨C Hahp! The four of them disyed their harmonious teamwork by stabbing, which was the most fundamental basic of group spearmanship. ¡°Hmm, not bad. Student Feleis?¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Feleis had a bright look on his face after receiving Fermack¡¯spliment. It was a natural response because they had been working on it for 2 weeks. ¡°I will now try to break through your formation. Please try to block me.¡± After wearing his practice gauntlets, Fermack walked up to the stage. Even though they were nervous, the four members of Group 1 held onto their spears and pointed their spearheads at Fermack. ¡°If youst 10 seconds, I will give you full marks for this assessment.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± ¨C Kang kang! The gauntlets gave a noisy rm by clicking against each other. After that, Fermack postured himself again as Group 1 became all the more tense. ?Ducking Dash? Fermack Daman dashed into the formation as Feleis in the lead responded in time. But when Fermack¡¯s fist parried his spear into the ceiling, the spear was powerlessly flung up and took a long time toe back down. ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± ¡°F, fifth Formation!¡± ¡°Hahp!¡± The remaining three reacted by swinging down their long and straight spears which was a simr type to my own. The spears that were about tond on Fermack¡¯s shoulders ended up hitting strange ces after being misdirected by his fancy footwork. ¡°Block this.¡± ?Down-ducking Boost Jab? ¨C Pang! One of the members of Group 1 fell back without being able to block the light jab. One of the other ones tried to trip Fermack with the spear by following the formation principles but Fermack retreated like a slithering snake before bouncing back like an stic band. ?Southpaw Boost Combination? His straight punch struck one of the students as he followed through with several jabs and hooks. ¡°Kuahk¡­!¡± The group members all fell down in less than 10 seconds. Although Fermack had been holding back, they should have trouble standing back up for now. ¡°I do not know much about Five Starry Spears. But group spearmanship is something that requires every one of you to be in harmony with each other. And in order to be in harmony, you must learn the basic formation first.¡± He was right on the mark. As you could tell from the name, Five Starry Spears, this was a group spear formation designed to have 5 people in 1 group. ¡°Of course, there are probably other formations for 4 and 3 people in case there are casualties, and I can see that that¡¯s where your focus has been. However, you must have acknowledged the fact that you weren¡¯t skilled enough to demonstrate it.¡± Alternative ns were alternative ns for a reason. Besides, the users had to be proficient users of the spear to maintain the formation. ¡°It was great that you chose a group formation. As for the practice¡­ There were some unfortunate elements but it is still a pass. B- sounds okay. Do you have any objections?¡± ¡°¡­ We do not.¡± B- wasn¡¯t a bad grade but Professor Fermack was known for giving good marks. Since the Academy had a rtive evaluation system, it wasn¡¯t a high enough mark for them to be satisfied with. After Group 1, it was Group 2¡¯s turn to present their spearmanship. ¡°We have chosen the killing move of the North, Nine Dragons Destruction! The name is because it looks as if there are 9 dragons rampaging around¡ª¡± ¨C Kuehk! ¨C Kuaakk! ¨C I thought this was supposed to be a killing move!! ¡°The skill is needlessly fancy and you haven¡¯t even properly mastered it. Let¡¯s refrain ourselves from copying the strongest moves from the start just because they look cool. C-.¡± Group 2 that was way too mesmerized by fancy moves was quickly disqualified. Ehew¡­ Kids were kids I guess. ¡°Next up is Group 3. Leader of Group 3, Student Korin Lork. Pleasee up to the stage.¡± My group members. Jaeger, Alicia and Hua Ran each walked to the stage after me. Our spears were all shorter spears that could also be used as javelin. ¡°It says your group will be demonstrating a move from Eight Trigrams, Student Korin. What exactly will you be demonstrating?¡± ¡°It is Lan Na Zha of Eight Trigrams.¡± ¡°Is it a skill that exists in Eight Trigrams?¡± ¡°Yes. Well to be exact, it¡¯s one of themon skills shared across many spear disciplines.¡± Blocking the opponent¡¯s weapon and pressing on it before stabbing ¨C whether it be swords or spears, skills were in fact quite simr to each other. A bit vague right Mr. Fermack? You¡¯re feeling uncertain, aren¡¯t you? I know. ¡°Hmm¡­ Okay. Then please show us your demonstration.¡± We straightened our spears as we had practiced. Lan. Alter the path of the iing attack. Na. Press on the opponent¡¯s weapon. Za. Stab the unguarded opponent. This was one of the fundamental moves of the spear that proactively made use of the strengths of a long weapon and its reach. This was Lan Na Zha. Jaeger, pass. Alicia, pass. Hua Ran¡­ pass. She must have practiced a lot. ¨C p p p! ¡°Magnificent. There were no problems from what I could see. It¡¯s simple but has a very profound use to it.¡± Professor Fermack walked up to us while pping at our demonstration. Now that the demonstration was over, it was time for an actual practice. ¡°Let me get my group members to¡­¡± ¡°Nope. Student Korin. You can be the only one. That¡¯ll be enough.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I was working my ass off trying to teach these kids for the past 2 weeks though? What was all that hard work for? Well, it¡¯s not that I couldn¡¯t see his motive though. Fermack Daman. A high-achieving graduate of the northern Berkut guardian academy that came from the Dingle Penins of the northern continent. As a former Grade 1 Knight of the El Rath Kingdom, he was one of the renowned powerhouses of the modern times that killed countless demons. He was known for being a master at high-speed closebat. He was a powerhouse that even Lunia Arden might have trouble defeating in a closebat fight. Spear was a weapon that was stronger with a rtive distance between each other. Even a skilled swordsman had trouble diving into the range of a spear let alone someone who used gauntlets. However, he had Rune Magic which could flip the situation on its toe. ¡°Here we go.¡± [?] ¨C Raidho He shortened the distance in a sh by using the short-distance eleration rune spell. Even though he hadn¡¯t been using it against other students, he was now using it against me. ?Ducking Boost In-dash? He was fast. Fermack fiercely kicked off the ground as if trying to crumble the stage and rapidly shortened the gap before posturing himself for a punch. ¨C Creak! Fermack looked like he was readying himself for a right hook but there was something I knew that others didn¡¯t. He was left-handed. His left foot was the one in charge of maneuvering his body. If so¡ª- ?Southpaw Jet Boost? ?Six Ways of the Spear? ?Third Style, Lan Na Zha? ¡°¡­?!¡± Fermack, who threw a left jab instead of a right hook which seemed to be the obvious choice, was surprised by my unhesitant response to his left punch. The gauntlet was pressed down by the spear with a nk through Lan and Na as I continued through with Zha, the stab. ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± He hurriedly leaned back but even that wasn¡¯t enough for him to escape from the long reach of the spear so he had to parry it away with his right hand. ¡°How was it?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Fermack silently gazed at me for a while. He must be very skeptical. Until now, he had only been using his right hand and had been disguising himself as right-handed. But in truth, he was left-handed, so him choosing to go with the Southpaw Style just then instead of the orthodox one was to catch me off guard. My quick reaction was a sign that I was aware of him being a southpaw. What do you think this means, huh? My dear Martial Nephew? ¡°¡­That was magnificent, Group 3. I could tell that everyone had been working their hardest and your understanding of the basic spear skills were exceptionally high.¡± Even though he was talking about one thing, his doubtful eyes were still on me. How did I know he was left-handed? Why was I using ¡®Six Ways of the Spear¡¯? He must be very curious, but I wasn¡¯t going to tell him just yet. ¡°You might think we¡¯re talking about fancy skills when we say profound secrets but you can say these fundamental skills are the real profound secrets.¡± A+. After receiving the best set of praises, we finished our group assignment demonstration. At the end of that lesson¡­ ¡°Student Korin. May I please talk to you for a bit?¡± ¡°About which?¡± ¡°It is just a 1 on 1 consultation. It¡¯s nothing serious.¡± Fermack Daman called me to his office with a very serious look on his face. Chapter 45: King of Iron Mountain (1) ? King of Iron Mountain (1) ? Fermack¡¯s office was on the 7th floor of the Liberty Hall where we just had our lesson. In this world without any elevators, any office that was higher up the building was known as a bad one but as a knight, Fermack seemed fond of it because of how much of an exercise it was. Despite being a very half-assed institution that had the traits of both a university and a high school, they seemed to have taken all the bad things from both sides. ¡°Student Korin Lork?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Fermack directly stared at me for a while. Was he going to ask a straight-forward question about it? ¡°Are you really a Grade 5 Knight?¡± Hoh, is he not going to ask? He must be feeling very curious though. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you know it yourself, that it¡¯s not correct for us to call you a Grade 5 Knight judging from your abilities.¡± ¡°Well yes. I am a bit strong.¡± The only reason I became Grade 5 was solely because I couldn¡¯t defeat a demonic spirit during the grading test. Since I couldn¡¯t perceive astral bodies, it was impossible for me to defeat any demonic spirit without meeting certain conditions, and that was why I couldn¡¯t even beat a ghost. ¡°Recently, the professors of the Knight Department gathered and had a discussion about you.¡± Hmm? Ah, I guess that wasing. It was probably because of the fight against Lunia Arden during the interim exam. Because of her splendid set-up just to see how strong I was, my n to hide myself like an eminence in the shadows ended up failing big time. ¡°The conclusion we came to was that we needed to reassess your ability, Student Korin.¡± ¡°I would assume so.¡± Despitesting only a few minutes, I was able to fight on equal grounds with a semi-Unique Grade Knight like Lunia Arden. Just from that alone, it was exceptionally obvious that I wasn¡¯t supposed to be in Grade 5. It would be at least Grade 2, but my guess was that I wouldn¡¯t be ced into Grade 1. Grade 1 required achievements and a referee. Starting from Grade 1, guardians would have the right to participate in the secret agendas of the worldwide Guardian Alliance and receive official support from them. The representative Grade 1 named characters among the 1st and 2nd year students were Marie and Hua Ran. Marie was an official guardian who made her way up thedder by umting achievements upon achievements, whereas Hua Ran had a ¡®temporary student grade¡¯ which had no actual rights. For someone like me who hadn¡¯t achieved anything, I would probably be semi-Grade 1 at the very best. ¡°You¡¯ll be given several missions, Student Korin. And we¡¯ll be reassessing your grade through those missions.¡± ¡°Ohh. What¡¯s the highest grade I can get?¡± ¡°Semi-Grade 1.¡± ¡°That sounds great to me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s only possible because of all the things you¡¯ve shown us.¡± There was nothing bad about getting a higher grade. First off I would be getting more money and there would be a wider selection of missions, allowing me to choose more difficult missions at will. It was the privilege that was given to the yer one year into the plot, which meant I was quite ahead of time. ¡°Okay. I will take the reassessment. What do I have to do?¡± ¡°There will be 2 missions. One for a semi-Grade 1 demonic beast and the other for a demonic spirit. Of course, it¡¯ll have to be by yourself.¡± That was tough. The variable here was that I had to defeat a demonic spirit as well. ¡°What kind of monsters do I have to defeat?¡± The assessment standards became more strict the higher the grade. Normally, a semi-Grade 1 knight was supposed to be able to hunt a Grade 1 monster after forming a party. Grade 1 monsters were usually bosses of a field event or a dungeon. Therefore, the fact that the mission was about hunting 2 semi-Grade 1 monsters meant that I had to do it all by myself without receiving any help. ¡°Currently, there are four semi-Grade 1 level subjugation missions that you can get from the Guardian Alliance. Luckily we have both beasts and spirits.¡± In other words, it meant I had to clear one each. ¡°Can I have a look?¡± ¡°Here you go.¡± Fermack handed me several papers in response. Hmm, they were all monsters I was familiar with. As for the semi-Grade 1 demonic beast missions, there was the horseman with no head ¨C duhan ¨C and a twin-headed ogre which was known for having two heads¡­ A twin-headed ogre was supposed to be at least Grade 1, so judging from how it was a semi-Grade 1 mission, it might not even be a full grown-up. The biggest problem is the demonic spirit missions though¡­ Hoh? Was this one out already? ¡°I chose my missions.¡± ¡°¡­That was quick. I believe you should be a bit more careful.¡± ¡°Well, they¡¯re all dangerous anyway. Who¡¯ll be my supervisor?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be apanied by Old Man Haman and members from the Alliance. They won¡¯t help you unless you are in an extremely dire situation so be ready for that.¡± That old man was definitely trustworthy. Actually, it was probably him that strongly persuaded others about my reassessment because he was a very impartial person. ¡°Do I have to do this immediately?¡± ¡°Of course. Because semi-Grade 1 subjugation missions have to be promptly dealt with.¡± In other words, he was saying I might not even have another chance to receive a reassessment if I missed this opportunity. ¡®¡­This is a bit risky.¡¯ I realized his intention as well as the reason why he picked this specific moment. That was a very clever move from him. ¡°Alright. Then please do so. When should I leave?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be leaving tomorrow morning. Of course, you don¡¯t have to worry about your other lessons and assessments.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s Old Man Haman, I guess we might even have to leave first thing in the morning. I¡¯ll get myself prepared then.¡± Turning my back to Fermack, I walked out of the office. Until the very end, he did not ask me about my identity. By showing neither goodwill nor hostility, he pretended to be uninterested. **** ¡°S, semi Grade-1 test?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°T, this is big! You are taking a semi-Grade 1 test!!¡± Marie made a fuss after hearing about how I had to take another grading test as soon as possible. ¡®Maybe I should go with you as a judge!¡¯ she said while forging a n so I calmed her down and dissuaded her. ¡°Senior. You can¡¯te with me anyway. You¡¯re still in your surveince period.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Ever since she awakened into a vampire, Marie still hadn¡¯t received the permission to leave this city. Just like Hua Ran, she was only allowed to go downtown and was not allowed to leave the city by any means. Of course, this restriction would soon be lifted. Chairman Eriu Casarr was going around the Tower of Mages, New Faith and the kingdom for a negotiation so we should be hearing some good news very soon. The Old Faith might be a bit fussy but their forceful demands of outdated principles were causing them to fall in poprity slowly but surely. At the very least, they did not have the power to suppress Merkarva Academy, which was receiving the support from the New Faith as well as the kingdom. The problem was the Tower of Mages. They would be in full throttle after the end of the 4th Arc but now that we had a variable called Marie Dunareff, we had to be on guard against them. ¡°Nnn¡­ I see. Sorry¡­ It¡¯s an important test but I don¡¯t think I can help you.¡± Marie apologized with a sullen look on her face. Holding onto her shoulders, I raised a sincere request. ¡°Senior. There is something I want you to do for me while I¡¯m away.¡± The key elements were already in ce. The only question now was whether I could make good use of them or not. This would be the first turning point that decides the state of the main scenario henceforth. ¡°How much do you trust me, Senior?¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Evident from the slight flush in her cheeks, Marie was also quite tense. After sensing the seriousness in my gaze, she must have noticed the importance of this conversation. ¡°W, what do you mean?¡± ¡°Senior Marie. How much do you trust me¡­ Korin Lork?¡± ¡°I trust you!¡± Marie held onto my shoulders with a fairly serious look on her face. We were now holding onto each other¡¯s shoulders in a very peculiar posture but that wasn¡¯t the important part. ¡°I can trust you! Even if you tell me you can make kimchi with potatoes!¡± ¡°¡­You can make kimchi with potatoes though.¡± ¡°I trust you!¡± ¡°Like, I¡¯m serious. There are some types of kimchi where you can add potatoes.¡± ¡°Nn! If you say so!¡± I was super serious though. I guess she never had one before. ¡°Anyway¡­ If you trust me, how far can you go with me?¡± ¡°H, how far!!?¡± It was a question that had to be asked, because Marie Dunareff might be caught in another vortex and walk a different path in the future than what she had nned because of my choice. Could shee with me for the sake of a peaceful future? ¡°Until the end! Yes! Until the very end! Hukk! Am I taking that too far?!¡± As if she understood my intention, Marie replied without any hesitation that she would walk the same path as mine. ¨C Sniff! This uncle here¡­ I mean, this oppa wasn¡¯t the type to be moved this easily, but that was quite a touching sentence. ¡°To think you trust me so much¡­ I knew it. You¡¯re the best, Senior Marie.¡± ¡°R, right? I¡¯m the best, right?¡± As expected of a kind girl, it appeared that she was very loyal to her friends. Now that I sessfully persuaded Marie, there were about two more important members left including Alicia. ¡°I have a n. But your help is a definite must for that n, Senior Marie.¡± ¡°I, I see!! I¡¯m a must for your n, huh!¡± That was natural, because Marie was the only acquaintance I had that could openly enter theboratory. ¡°Let me exin the n now. Starting from tomorrow Senior, you and Alicia¡­¡± ¡°Korin.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Her voice suddenly turned cold in an instant. With a chilly look on her face, Marie asked with an interrogating voice. ¡°It¡¯s our n. Why are you talking about another girl?¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± **** That morning, there was a rareyer of mist. Carrying my bag, I arrived at the eastern gate of the Academy. ¡°You are right on time, Korin Lork.¡± Waiting for me at the eastern gate wearing a stiff business shirt that revealed his muscr build was Old Man Haman. His clothes were very simr to my own. ¡°Instructor Haman. Good morning¡­ It¡¯s a bit foggy though.¡± ¡°This is nothing. Back in my days, we used to march to the nest of a bunch of demonic beasts through a thick fog.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be a fun journey if I get to hear your heroic tales on the way.¡± ¡°Hmph! I guess I could start off with what happened back when I was in the west.¡± Old Man Haman was just like every other old man in his age, and he loved talking about his own heroic exploits. He was actually quite an interesting speaker to listen to, so it wasn¡¯t that bad either. Both in this iteration and thest iteration, I¡¯ve always been a fairly good listener. ¡°So¡­ Where¡¯s our first prey?¡± ¡°I like your eyes, young man. Those are the eyes of a hunter.¡± It seemed that I was the type of person that Old Man Haman liked because he did say something simr in thest iteration as well. Looking back, he didn¡¯t really like Park Sihu for some reason. This veteran knight might have some instincts that couldn¡¯t be exined through logic or something. ¡°Your first prey is the semi-Grade 1 demonic beast found on the mountain range in the west, twin-headed ogre. It¡¯s slow but very menacing.¡± ¡°I did pick it, but aren¡¯t twin-headed ogres usually Grade 1? Why is this one a semi-Grade 1?¡± ¡°This one¡¯s not an adult. So it¡¯s natural for the grade to be lower.¡± It sounded usible because both demonic beasts and spirits also tended to grow in power over time. ¡°Considering your skills, this shouldn¡¯t be too difficult. From what I heard, the monster also seems to be raising several long hounds.¡± ¡°I believe you¡¯re telling me to avoid going straight in?¡± ¡°Of course! Strength isn¡¯t the only important aspect of a guardian. I shall evaluate everything I see from you.¡± He appeared to be over-evaluating me due to the fight against Lunia. But¡­ ¡°Sounds doable.¡± ¡°As expected of the knight I rmended!¡± Old Man Haman hurried me forward as if there was no reason to waste any more time. I was quickly leaving the Academy when he suddenly turned his eyes to my neck. ¡°Looks like there¡¯s a wound on your neck. And you look quite exhausted as well.¡± ¡°Ah~. It¡¯s nothing much. It should be fully healed by the time we get there.¡± It was the bite created by Marie when I let her suck as much blood as she wanted yesterday. I had a feeling that yesterday was a bit more painful but¡­ I was probably just overthinking it. ¡°Huhu. Being too ethical is also a problem, but try not to be too immoral.¡± ¡°¡­Sorry?¡± He appeared to be misunderstanding something, but Old Man Haman glossed over it while grumbling ¡®That is youth¡¯. Seriously¡­ ¡°Would you like some beetroot juice? It¡¯s good for your blood cirction.¡± **** Marie had trouble falling asleep that night but still woke up on time. Leaving behind the crumpled nket which was caused by her kicking it several times, Marie started her morning shower. Korin should have departed by now, right? ¡°Ugh¡­ Making me misunderstand all the time¡­¡± Even though she was leading an extremely eventful life as a veteran guardian who suddenly turned into a Unique Grade vampire, she was still a girl in her teens. Korin¡¯s word choice that made it very easy to misunderstand was more than enough to shake the heart of a young girl. ¡®But¡­ That was more serious than I thought.¡¯ It was always the same for that boy. He was always at the scene before things even urred and by creating a n, he would respond to everything in time. Even when he was saving herself and helping Alicia Arden¡­ It¡¯s not like she didn¡¯t feel grateful for his dedication, but there were still some questions appearing in her mind. What exactly did this boy know, and how much was he aware of? He knew way too many things for a newbie knight that entered the Academy as a Grade 5 Knight and was way too strong. ¡®It would be tactless of me to ask about it, right?¡¯ If Korin didn¡¯t talk about it himself, Marie had no ns of delving deeper into it. If need be, he would probably tell her one day. However, she still couldn¡¯t help but wish to be his ¡®special person¡¯ whom he would entrust everything with. ¡®Mhmm! But the reason Korin left this task with me is because he trusts me! Let¡¯s be positive!¡¯ That was a good sign. It probably meant that she was the only one he could make such requests with that wouldn¡¯t ask for things in return. Marie decided to put the focus on that. As a girl that just recently became aware of what love was, she had the very mindset of an easy pushover, but she couldn¡¯t help it. Her mind would melt like butter on a stove every time she was in front of Korin, so what could she even do? It was inevitable for the one who first developed the crush to be the one on the losing end. ¨C Knock knock! ¨C Come in. Marie knocked on the door of Room 606 of the Magic Department¡¯sboratory as the owner of the room invited her in. ¡°Hello, Professor Deina.¡± ¡°Oh my, isn¡¯t this Marie? What brought you here?¡± ¡°I wanted to volunteer for your research, Professor!¡± As a girl who recently fell in love, Marie was heavily blinded by it. It was to the point that she readily epted the request, even when her crush pretty much wanted her to jump into a pit of mes while carrying hay on her back. Chapter 46: King of Iron Mountain (2) ? King of Iron Mountain (2) ? ¨C Kwaang! Kwagang! The trees of the forest were being swept away by the birchwood club of the infuriated ogre. Nature was being destroyed. The green remains scattering everywhere made its onlookers realize that humans weren¡¯t the only cause of the destruction of nature. ¡°What a tough bloke.¡± Twin-headed ogre. It was a conjoined twin ogre that had two heads. Normal conjoined twins were said to have under-performing immune systems and a high metabolism rate which shortened their life span, but for some reason, conjoined twin demonic beasts had more than double the power of their originals as if they drank the blood of godzi. How is this even possible though? Does it make sense for them to get stronger just by gaining a head? ¡°A birchwood club huh¡­¡± ¡°What about it?¡± In a corner of the forest, Old Man Haman was hiding at the same ce as me but unlike myself, he wasn¡¯t even carrying a weapon. Despiteing all the way here, he seemed to have no ns on helping me. ¡°Back when I was in middle school, the teacher used to smack me on my bum a few times with a simr stick.¡± Of course, the stick from then was far from being taller than my height, though. ¡°Oh. I guess you weren¡¯t a good student then.¡± ¡°Personally, I do think I used to be one of the model students though.¡± Did I bash kids up or smoke cigarettes or what? Aside from having bad grades, I was a great student. ¡°Well. Anyway¡­ When are you going to kill that?¡± ¡°Let me just wait until that guy uses up more power. Ehew. Seriously, he¡¯s very strong isn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Old Man Haman silently agreed to my decision with a grin. A few days ago, we discovered the cave that was being inhabited by the twin-headed ogre, but I had no ns of running in like a fool. Old Man Haman and the people from the Alliance were only here as support in case things turned south. Even though they would help me if there was a serious risk to my safety, that would mark an immediate end to my grading test. Firstly, I started off by investigating the area around the twin-headed ogre¡¯s cave, and on the presence of other demonic beasts nearby and what the ecosystem was in this forest. ¡°Report what you have discovered from your investigations. Korin Lork.¡± ¡°From the surrounding footsteps, I have found traces of the ogre moving together with long hounds. That pretty much confirms their cohabitation.¡± ¡°How many long hounds are there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s three.¡± ¡°Hooh? There are only two sets of footsteps of four-legged animals following around the ogre though?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because one is a female that is pregnant.¡± In response, Old Man Haman floated a smile while the evaluating guardians of the Alliance started writing things down on their notes. ¡°You look like you know the answer already, but give us an exnation.¡± ¡°Aside from the footsteps, there is also a trace of a dragged beast. That means instead of eating the hunted animal there, they dragged it all the way back to the cave.¡± Although the twin-headed ogre and the long hounds were in a symbiotic rtionship, hunting was mainly up to the hounds. The ogre was just a deterrent to stop other enemies and its job was to protect the long hounds from other demonic beasts. ¡°Both the ogre and the long hounds aren¡¯t the types to store food. That means they have a kindred that cannot move, whom they are bringing the food for.¡± ¡°Magnificent.¡± ¨C Scribble! I could hear my evaluation of the Alliance members rising. ¡°Now, Korin Lork. How are you going to hunt the young semi-Grade 1 twin-headed ogre and Grade 3 long hounds?¡± ¡°Firstly, I will separate the ogre from the hounds.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Since we¡¯re humans, we have to use our brains.¡± Unfortunately for them, I was a professional at things like this. **** Humans broadened their borders, founded cities and created highways to increase the number of man-made structures in the continent, but most of the world was still being upied by naturally-made ones. No matter how many trees were cut down by humans; no matter how many forests were to be broken down to turn into farms and no matter how many animals were to be extinct, the demonic existences were still imposingly standing in ce, threatening humanity. The ruler of this forest was one of them. This forest with little passersby was like a kingdom to the twin-headed ogre who was reigning as a dictator. ¨C Woof! Woof woof! The prey hunted by the hunting dogs today was another source of delight. A deer asrge as this was enough for both the tyrant and the hunting dogs to have their fill. The hunting dogs grabbed on the remaining leg of the deer and started dragging it behind them, as the tyrant leisurely followed them through the foggy forest for a stroll. Even though it wasn¡¯t even an adult yet, the ogre still reached 4 meters in height and had to break the branches while walking through the woods. Even though it considered itself the ruler of this forest, its scope of activity wasn¡¯t very big. Despite the mist, there was no way it would get lost while returning to its habitat. ¨C Woof! Woof! The hunting dogs were the first to notice a change. They were very sensitive to the foreign scent that had infiltrated into their base because a pregnant female was by itself inside the cave. They had been careless because no-one had dared to trespass their territory ever since they became the ruler of the forest. ¡°Grrrh¡­!¡± The ogremanded the dogs as the hunting dogs then hurriedly searched through the cave. It wasn¡¯t there. The female with a baby that should have trouble moving was nowhere to be seen. ¨C Woof! Woof woof! Hearing the call of its friend, the other hound raced towards where the sound wasing from. There, they came across the sign of something that had been dragged outside. Even though it might be the trace that was created when they were dragging some meat inside, the smell was different. The infiltrator had dragged the female out of the cave. ¨C Guwoooooo¡­! ¨C Awooooooo¡­! The hunting dogs roared in fury. After realizing that their kindred, the female of the group and their baby had been kidnapped, they expressed their pure bestial fury. The infuriated scream of the ruler of the forest and its subjects made the entire forest tremble. ¨C Woof! Woof woof! ¨C Woof woof woof! Blinded by fury, the two male dogs pressed their king in dissonance. They had to go after the trace. They had to save their female kindred. The ogre responded to that suggestion without any hesitation. In a symbiotic rtionship that was there to supplement each other¡¯s weaknesses through the hardships of nature, both sides had rights and duties. Action was mandatory. The owners of the forest moved with a clear purpose in mind. The hounds dashed after the smell of their female kindred as the ogre chased from behind. The two hunting dogs raced across the foggy forest to where the smell led them. ¨C Woof! They looked at each other in the middle of their sprint. The smell of their female kindred was bing denser over time and along with that was the deepening scent of the infiltrator who had snatched the female from them. As expected, There was nothing in this forest that could shake them off. This forest was where they were born, and they knew this ce like the back of their paws. Using their tough four legs, the demonic beasts kicked off the dirt and jumped over the thick tree roots. Now, the foolish trespasser will receive its due punishment for messing with the ruler of the forest. ¨C Woof¡­ ¡°¡­!!¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± At the end of their sprint, they came across their kindred that was wailing on the ground. ¡°Woof!¡± ¡°Kii¡­ Iiii¡­¡± The female dog groaned while staying on the ground. Unable to hold itself back anymore, one of the two male dogs dashed forward. It was the father of the baby inside the female¡¯s belly. ¡°Woof! Woof woof!¡± While rubbing its nose on the body of its spouse, the dog confirmed its safety. Right as it was about to support the female to stand up on its legs¡­ ¨C Click! Right when the female moved its body, a click echoed across the forest as a rope made with vines tightened itself. At the same time¡­ A log that appeared to have been discarded in the forest suddenly started to soar up. ¡°Woof?¡± The log flew towards the sky as the other logs that were connected to it began to fall. The male was in the middle of supporting the female dog and couldn¡¯t react in time and¡ª ¨C m! Its face was blown away by one of the flying logs. ¡°Woof! Woof woof!¡± The remaining male hound somehow managed to dodge the flying logs. It was looking around in extreme wariness when its ears sensed something ominous. ¨C Shiiiiiik! Something was falling down the air. The hound immediately rolled to the front as sharp stakes of wood fell on where it was standing. ¡°Woof! Woof woof!¡± Thinking of how one of those stakes could have pierced through its head and the spine made its hairs stand on its end. However, there were more. A bunch of stakes that had been installed on the branches started falling all at once. ¨C Pabak! Pababak! Leaving behind its kindred that were still under the downpour of stakes, the remaining hound started another sprint but this time, it was for survival instead of a pursuit. ¡°Grrrhh¡­!¡± Despite starting off from a non-ideal posture, the hound still reached the speed of 70 kilometers per hour. After racing at a speed faster than the falling stakes, the dog turned around to confirm its safety. ¡­The stakes were no longer falling down. The dog rxed itself a little. And because it was rxed¡­ It was toote by the time it noticed that something was sparkling beneath it. [?] ¨C Kenaz ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? But even if it did notice them, it was questionable whether that would have changed anything or not. The letters of me covering the ground were too enormous and dense for it to escape at the speed of 70 km per hour. ¨C Hwaruk! The hound¡¯s fate was decided the moment it was swallowed by the mes zing from the ground. ¨C Kung! Kung! Kung! By the time the ruler of the forest and the owner of the hounds arrived at the scene, the dogs had already been killed. The couple had been pierced by wooden stakes while the other one was scorched by the zing mes that were still burning the trees nearby. ¡°KUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH¡­!!¡± The two heads shared the same emotions as they roared together. The roar of the tyrant reverberated sonorously. It was truly what one would expect from the so-called ruler of the forest but the ogre did not even have the time to dwell in its sorrow. One of the devices it identally stepped on ended up triggering another trap. Logs started flying towards it, but the two-headed ogre was able to notice them ahead of time due to its wide vision. ¨C Vuung! Without even moving its feet, the two-headed giant swung the club in its right hand. ¨C Kwaang! The logs were shattered by the birchwood club. There were still a few more traps that hadn¡¯t been activated, but none of them would be able to serve as a threat against the wide vision of the twin-headed ogre and its monstrous strength. However, what the tyrant did not know was that this was just the beginning of the hunt. **** As the ruler of the forest, the twin-headed ogre was also an innate hunter. The 1st head was very perceptive with its eyes while the 2nd head had a good sense of smell. Through cooperation, the two heads tried to avenge the hounds and in fact, chasing after its prey was quite simple. In fact, there were so many traces that it was ridiculous. The enemy couldn¡¯t even hide their scent or their footsteps, and it was a shame how the hounds had been defeated by someone of this caliber. Of course, the journey wasn¡¯t that easy because there were all sorts of traps that were trying to deter the ogre from advancing forward. But although the twin-headed ogre was not a full-grown adult, it was still a semi-Grade 1 demonic beast. The traps that could barely defeat some dogs were easily swept away by the massive birchwood club in its hand. A few sharp stakes didnd straight at its body, but they could only create some tiny wounds aftering into contact with its thick skin. However, unlike what it expected, the ogre could not find the prey on the first day. There were definitely a lot of traces and it was stubbornly chasing after them but for some reason, the ogre just couldn¡¯t find its prey. It felt like they were so close yet so far. Despite feeling discontent by it, the ogre decided to rest for the night, but it was that very night that something attacked it. [?] ¨C Hagz It wouldn¡¯t have been able to respond in time if not for one of the two heads being awake the whole time. A hail fell from the sky as the sleeping head of the twin-headed ogre also woke up. The hail itself wasn¡¯t much. A few pieces of stones had fallen on the body of the ogre from the sky and the damage was very miniscule. However, it was still true that its sleep had been disturbed. The ogre crushed all the trees nearby to express its fury. Simr things continued happening after that. A hail fell from the sky whenever it was about to go to sleep. If the ogre decided to ignore it after thinking that it would be the same thing again, the falling stones would then have mes surrounding it as they scorched the surroundingnd. The ogre destroyed the surrounding forest in a midnight pursuit but the prey continued leaving vague traces without revealing itself. After that repeated for three days, The ogre realized that itself was the one that was being hunted. With countless wounds around its body that were caused by Rune Magic and natural traps, the ogre couldn¡¯t even fall asleep for the past few days and was thus exhausted both physically and psychologically. All it could do in retaliation while limping with innumerable burns and scratches on its body was to crush everything in its sight. The role of the hunter and the prey had been reversed. Atst after realizing that it had fallen to bing the prey, the ogre felt grief and fury. ¡°Hi there.¡± On the afternoon of the third day, the hunter finally revealed himself. ¡°Huaahm~. Why do we all have to go through so much trouble just to kill you? Let¡¯s hurry up and end this.¡± After harassing it on repeat, the hunter confronted the ogre while provoking it. ¡°Kuwaaaaaaaaaah¡­!¡± The ogre let out a scream as Korin likewise lowered his body. Like sprinters waiting for the sound of the re gun, the two of them gazed at each other in silence. 1 second, The ogre ran. And so did Korin. Dashing towards therge ogre like a gust, the spear-bearer used the forward momentum to kick off the ground. His body soared into the air. Noticing the huge mistake made by the hunter at the veryst second, the ogre¡¯s lips curled into a crescent. As soon as itnded, the ogre would use the 2-meter long birchwood club to strike his tiny body. Even though that was its n, the ogre couldn¡¯t see it through. ?Crumbling Mountain: Secret Arts? ?One Strike One Shot, Thunderous Strike? Jumping into the air, the spearman readied himself to throw the spear. This was the innate purpose and use of the spear. It was the single most powerful strike that humans could pull off with a spear. ¨C Gwaaaaaannngg!! The spear pounced at the ogre through the air. When the ogre subconsciously raised its club, the two weapons collided and¡­ A crack appeared on the club that used to break everything without fail during the past 3 days. ¨C Kwang! The top half of the birchwood club was now nowhere to be seen. In addition, the ogre¡¯s right shoulder was also gone along with an iprehensible tempest. ¡°Kuwaaahh?!¡± Landing back on the ground after the abominable javelin toss, the spearman dashed forward without killing his momentum. Even though the ogre was shrieking from the pain, its two heads were still able to perceive the world. It reached its arms forward at the dashing Korin but it was toote ¨C he was already right in front of its chest. ?Eight Trigrams, Mixed Origin? ¨C Kajik! The palm strikended directly on the ogre¡¯s chest. Apression of inner energy was sent from Korin¡¯s dantian to the ogre¡¯s body. As expected of one of the three most powerful strikes of Eight Trigrams, the energy sent from Korin¡¯s palm rooted up the innards of the ogre. ¨C Kung! The twin-headed ogre soon fell on its knees. Due to the explosion that urred inside its body, the demonic beast was bleeding profusely through its two mouths. ¡°What the heck¡­ Why did I bother filling up my Aura Core¡­? I didn¡¯t even get a chance to use it.¡± This appeared to be the limit of a semi-Grade 1 demonic beast that couldn¡¯t even reach Grade 1. Due to spending the past few days putting all of his aura into the Aura Core in preparation for a decisive battle, Korin had a dispirited look on his face after the underwhelming oue of the fight. **** At the undergroundboratory of Merkarva Academy, there were countless test subjects. This was the biggest reason why the professors of the Magic Department rejected the offers of the Tower and stayed at the Academy. Golden Miss, Professor Deina, who had been working at the Academy for 15 years, put on a thickeryer of makeup and a stronger perfume than usual. That meant that she had gained problems on her skin and a bad odor due to the repetitivete night research. ¡°Professor Deina.¡± ¡°Ohh. Student Marie. You¡¯re here!¡± Marie, who had been helping her with the experiments as a volunteer for the past few days, assisted her with the same face as usual. ¡®Wow¡­ Look at how soft her skin is. Is this youth¡­?¡¯ Professor Deina¡¯s skin wasn¡¯t bad by any means. In fact, she looked younger than others of her age due to being a mage, but she obviously did not want to stand side-by-side next to someone with real baby-skin. Look at how white and moist her skin was, as well as its softness that could probably swallow a finger like a mochi! Marie had the youthful appearance of a girl her age but the reason Professor Deina couldn¡¯t help but question the fairness of this world was because Marie had also been workingte overnight just like herself. ¡°Student Marie¡­ You¡¯ve been helping me a lot these past few days right?¡± ¡°Nnn~. I guess?¡± Professor Deina knew herself that even though Marie was the one who volunteered for the task, making a student work three days overnight had been questionable as an educator. But surprisingly, Marie was showing off her incredible stamina by doing more work than Professor Deina herself. It should be normal for her to gain some dark circles under her eyes and yet she was still lively like always. ¡®Is it because she¡¯s a vampire?¡¯ After recently awakening into a vampire, Marie became the hot potato of the Magic Department. How many professors had joined the fray just to prove that she was safe and rational enough? Normal vampires had pale skin and were weakened under sunlight, but Marie was proven to be at the level of an elder-rank vampire that was at least 100 years old. As for vampires, the elder was right beneath the lord rank, and yet Vampire Elders were already in the Unique Grade¡­ in other words, Vampire Elders were already unmeasurably strong so how strong would the legendary Vampire Lords be? That question aroused her inquisitive mind as a schr but that wasn¡¯t the important matter at hand. ¡°Student Marie. What is the state with the demonic beasts that will be used for the experiment with ¡®King of Iron Mountain¡¯?¡± ¡°Ah yes. They¡¯ve all been isted.¡± ¡°We will be able to carry out a more detailed experiment thanks to your help, Student Marie. The demonic boar of Dingle Penins and a Unique Grade vampire¡­ It will lead to a huge progression of the magic industry!¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡± Marie gave an awkward smile which was a very rare sight. Seeing that smile, Deina immediately noticed that she had made a mistake. ¡°Ahh, that¡¯s not what I meant. Of course it¡¯s a huge misfortune that you ended up awakening into a vampire. My apologies. I shouldn¡¯t have said that.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°It probably doesn¡¯t matter to him whether I¡¯m a vampire or not.¡± ¡°Nnn?¡± ¡°Oh right! I forgot to give food to the demonic beasts! Sorry. I¡¯m a bit all over the ce!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ There¡¯s no need for you to do that much though.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine! And it¡¯s safer for me to go as well!¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± Professor Deina couldn¡¯t refute those words. It was just the day before yesterday when one of the staff members had been greatly hurt while feeding the demonic beasts. She had to pay hospital fees andpensation for both physical and emotional distress. They were running low on budget due to buying Grade 1 demonic beasts like the King Tyrant and the Melting Dragon. What would happen if there were to be another casualty? Let alone the screams of the budget team, their research might also be forced to a stop due to safety reasons. ¡°C, could you please take care of that then?¡± ¡°Sure~¡± By making use of their budget problem as an excuse, Marie organized the visit to the demonic beasts while carrying food. ¨C Oink! Oink! ¨C Oink oink!! Echoing all the way to the corridor from one of the rooms at a corner of the 2nd basement floor of theboratory building were the disharmonious grunts of pigs. They were the Grade 4 demonic beasts, Fang Boars, that were screaming due to the distressful experience of having to live in a small fenced-up area. There had been a huge increase in their numbers due to their recent breeding season and Professor Deina ended up buying a whole bunch of them out of greed. Although their individual prices had gone down, buying hundreds of Grade 4 demonic beasts in one go might make others question the financial senses of mages, but Marie found nothing wrong with that. ¨C Oink oink!? ¨C Oinkkk? ¨C Oin¡­ ¨C O¡­ ¨C Kiii. The sudden howling voices of the beasts from the echoing sound of footsteps rapidly started to dwindle back down. Clomp clomp. When Marie¡¯s beautiful white boots stepped across the stone floor, their changes became all the more apparent. ¨C Kung! Her tiny handnded on the door of the iron fences that had at least hundreds of fang boars inside but what came back was a deathly silence. ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ Even though the Fang Boars were extremely savage beasts, they became nervous after sensing Marie¡¯s approach. Some of them were even squeaking while driving their heads into the bums of their friends to hide themselves. ¨C Kung! Normal staff members would have thrown the food inside from outside the fence but Marie opened the gates and walked into the cage like a madman. Those Fang Boars that used to threaten every staff that threw the food from outside the doors by pouncing at them were silent and still as if the world stopped. ¡°Time to have some food.¡± Overwhelmed by the demonic aura that was being emanated out of her voice, gaze, and scent. The Fang Boars shivered heavily but still queued up in front of her in a line. Marie gave the trembling monsters a piece of chicken alongside some small pebbles. Those pebbles that were mixed with the meat weren¡¯t a part of the meal that she had received from the staff. ¨C Munch munch! It was when the Fang Boar that was hurriedly trying to finish its food identally crunched on the pebble. ¨C Crack! ¨C Kki?! Like a fiend, Marie moved in an instant to grip on the beast¡¯s fang. While holding onto the fang that was several times bigger than her hands, Marie raised the animal up with her monstrous strength. The Fang Boar floundered in the air but it was unable to escape from her grip with its body that weighed only 400 kilograms. ¨C Crack! Crackkk! Her otherworldly grip started causing cracks on the sharp fangs of the demonic beast. ¡°That¡¯s weird.¡± The golden eyes of the amicable girl with water-colored hair started being tainted in red. With their instincts, the beasts sensed the demonic aura of the monster that was wearing the skin of a harmless girl. ¨C Quak¡­ ¨C Kiii¡­ Only one of them was caught and yet all the Fang Boars froze stiff. The one that was being held by Marie was in a worse state, and was even peeing itself. ¡°Did I not tell you?¡± Yellow liquid was dripping down its shivering rear legs. Despite the puddle of smelly liquid, the girl from a family of farmers, who was used to the smell of feces, did not even spare a nce. ¡°Do not bite on the rock. Swallow it.¡± Her eyes that were now tainted in a deep crimson color oppressed the beasts. Soon, the hundreds of Fang Boars started hurriedly swallowing all the rocks and pebbles they saw as if it was apetition. Chapter 47: King of Iron Mountain (3) ? King of Iron Mountain (3) ? King of Iron Mountain, Killer of Heroes, The Demonic Boar of the Dingle Penins. This boar that was perhaps one of the most well-known Unique Grade demonic beasts of the continent first appeared 88 years ago at the tip of the Northern Continent, Dingle Penins. Thosends were incredibly cold but had a remarkable abundance of natural resources, and the mountain range had so many mines that it was called the Iron Mountain. The miners that one day visited the mine to look for iron, silver and gold ended up witnessing a shocking scenery. ¨C Kaduk! Kaduk! Arge boar was greedily devouring everything inside the iron mines. That was the first eyewitness ount of the one who devours everything, the King of Iron Mountain. **** ¡°What do you think is the difference between Unique Grade demons and demonic beasts below that, Student Marie?¡± ¡°¡­Maybe their strength?¡± Marie replied after tilting her head and thinking about Professor Deina¡¯s question. The topic about ¡®Unique Grades¡¯ was something that was also very relevant to herself. ¡°Strength is like a natural passive skill that goes with Unique Grades. One of their most powerful abilities is the power to ¡®rule¡¯.¡± ¡°Power to rule?¡± ¡°It is said that Unique Grade demons give off a different energypared to other demons. We call that the alpha energy.¡± ¡°Alpha energy¡­¡± ¡°You know how we have alpha entities of groups sometimes even among Grade 2 and Grade 1 monsters right? The ones that are stronger than their kindred that give outmands?¡± As Professor Deina said, there were oftentimes leaders ¨C the alpha entities ¨C among demonic beasts that traveled around in groups. These entities were more powerful than their kindred and could even break through the restrictions of their grade to be iparably stronger. ¡°But even those alpha entities cannot give outmands to demons that are of different species to them. Their ruling ability does not go through. But¡­¡± ¡°¡­Unique Grades can give outmands to every lower-graded demon.¡± ¡°Exactly. You have experienced it yourself, right?¡± Marie used to control the demonic beasts of the forest when she had run away to the hunting grounds. It was the same even when she was feeding the Fang Boars who did not dare fight against her. ¡°Nnn? But, Miss. I¡­ think it was a bit different from ruling them.¡± She said while reflecting on what happened at the hunting grounds. It was true that the beasts of the forest couldn¡¯t fight back and offered her their blood, but that wasn¡¯t because of a consciousmand from her. Those frightened demonic beasts had simply been unwilling to fight back. It was the same even with the Fang Boars. Although Marie didmand them to have a better time feeding them, that was slightly different from ruling over them. The Fang Boars had simply been overwhelmed by her and were fearful. ¡°Right. But that is mainly because of your race, Student Marie.¡± ¡°Race?¡± ¡°We have three types of demons right? Demonic beasts, demonic spirits and demi-humans. It¡¯s a very simple ssification but the effect of alpha entities do depend on this as well. Can you make a guess?¡± As expected of a professor, Professor Deina naturally suggested Marie to think about the answer herself, and as a clever high-achieving student, Marie was quickly able toe up with an answer. ¡°Does the degree of the ruling ability of alpha entities change depending on races?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± In other words, Unique Grade demonic beasts would have trouble givingmands to lower graded demonic spirits, while Unique Grade demonic spirits would have troublemanding lower grade demonic beasts. This was apparently due to the nguage systems¡¯ of each race. ¡°Hmm¡­ Does that mean I would be able tomand other demi-humans?¡± ¡°That still requires some research but the general consensus is a no.¡± ¡°Do you mean it¡¯s impossible?¡± ¡°Yes. Demi-humans are former humans that awaken into demons right? Because their intellect is above a human level at least, they are apparently immune to the ruling power of demonic aura.¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± It seemed that she wouldn¡¯t be able tomand them even if she were toe across other demi-humans. ¡®That¡¯s a bit of a shame. Demi-humans are tough, so they should be good at farmin¡­!!¡¯ ¡°Student Marie?¡± ¡°I, I wasn¡¯t thinking about anytthingg!!¡± ¡°O, okay?¡± What was that just then? Marie shook her head to get rid of the scary thoughts that appeared in her mind. She wasn¡¯t someone who would have such violent thoughts in her mind after all! ¡°M, Miss Deina!¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Y, you see, I have been recently experimenting with making potions and elixirs at theboratory!¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve heard about it. I heard there are a bunch of people from the Magic Department that are lining up to buy your elixirs. Is that true?¡± ¡°Ugh, yes, but¡­ It¡¯s a bit¡­ Weird for me.¡± ¡°Why? The potions made with the blood of a high-ss vampire should be priceless though?¡± Professor Deina jested that she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about money all life even if she did nothing but sell her blood. ¡°¡­It¡¯s embarrassing.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Deina reminded herself that Marie was still a teenage girl. It was normal for her to feel repulsed by the idea of feeding her blood to someone else ¨C unless it was someone special for example. ¡°But what about it?¡± ¡°Actually¡­ I want to make the potion more delicious.¡± Wasn¡¯t she repulsed until just then? Why would she bother making it delicious? Professor Deina tilted her head in doubt. ¡°Why? People would line up to buy a bit of your unprocessed blood for gold coins, won¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Actually the thing is, such and such¡ª¨C¡± ¡°Hooh, hooh¡­ N, now this is a very interesting idea¡­ The effect does change depending on the materials and such but this¡­¡± ¡°Do you think it will be possible?¡± ¡°Theory-wise¡­ It looks like there are no problems. But we would need a lot of materials and precise experiments. We would need some clinical experiments¡­ We might even need a knight to¡­¡± ¡°May I please ask for your help?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ It might be a bit strange of me to say this, but I¡¯m quite an expensive and busy person as well, you see. Maybe if you share a little bit of your blood, Student Marie?¡± ¡°Would this much be enough?¡± ¨C Whisper whisper! ¨C Nod nod! Professor Deina and the 2nd year student Marie shared a firm handshake as a symbol for their sessful negotiation. ¡°Kuhum¡­! We kind of strayed off the topic. This experiment with the King of Iron Mountain is on the magnitude of a Unique Grade demonic beast¡¯s alpha ability.¡± ¡°Is that why you¡¯ve purchased a bunch of demonic beasts?¡± ¡°Yes. If we could analyze this ability and be able to control it at free will¡­ Theoretically, that means humans would be able to control most of the demonic beasts and spirits around the world at will.¡± It was a more incredible experiment than Marie had initially thought, and was one that waspellingly attractive to mages. If this experiment seeded, humanity would be able to practically nullify the risk of demons. ¡°I¡¯ve also purchased Grade 1 demonic beasts like the King Tyrant and Melting Dragon just for this experiment. My article will definitely be included in next year¡¯s Tower¡¯s academic journal!¡± Grade 1 demonic beasts. They were extremely powerful monsters which most Grade 1 knights and mages would team up to fight against for safety measures. There were semi-Unique Grade demonic beasts as well, but there were essentially zero organizations in the world that could capture these alive so it was impossible to buy them with the experiment budget. ¡®But aren¡¯t hundreds of Fang Boars more expensive than those two monsters?¡¯ Professor Deina did purchase them at a low price since they were easy to catch during the breeding season, but the problem was with their maintenance cost. Grade 1 demonic beasts were monsters in a different ne that could survive without eating anything by changing the mana in the air into energy but on the other hand, Fang Boars needed to have as much food as their own weights everyday. A few days of the experiment and the maintenance fees of the Fang Boars would quickly drain their budget. Marie was in the middle of calcting how long it would take for the budget to run dry when a different work partner visited Professor Deina¡¯sb. He was the professor who had been working at the Academy for 10 years with eye-catching afro hair and ck sunsses, Fermack Daman. ¡°Wassup! Professor Deina, I¡¯m here~¡± ¡°Oh. You¡¯re right on time.¡± ¡°Should I havee earlier?¡± ¡°No no no. You came at the perfect timing. We just finished organizing the rune that will be carved on the King of Iron Mountain.¡± ¡°Rune?¡± Marie tilted her head after hearing Professor Deina¡¯s words. They were supposed to be experimenting with the alpha ability, so what was this rune for? ¡°Ah. I guess I haven¡¯t exined that part yet. The King of Iron Mountain is currently being sealed.¡± ¡°I¡­ Am aware of that.¡± ¡°That seal was done by using runes 80 years ago, by the previous chairman, Sir Biren, Senior Professor Johsephine and¡­ The knight who used to be praised for being the strongest of the times, Tates Valtazar.¡± ¡°Do you need Rune Magic to lift the seal?¡± ¡°Yes. And we need a highly proficient Rune Mage for that.¡± ¡°I see. Professor Fermack¡­ Is a famous Rune Mage after all.¡± His tales were well-known and it was even included in the magazines published by the Guardian Alliance, the ¡®Guardians¡¯. A stylish high-ss knight who merged boxing with Rune Magic ¨C Fermack Daman was a hero who even defeated Basilisk, a semi-Unique Grade demonic beast along with a party. ¡°But¡­ Isn¡¯t it dangerous to lift the seal? It is a Unique Grade demonic beast¡­¡± ¡°Haha. Here in theboratory, we have strict legion-ranked restriction systems andyers of gravitational pressure devices. Even if it¡¯s a Unique Grade demonic beast, it won¡¯t be able to escape from this ce in a weakened state after 80 years of confinement.¡± The confident voice of Professor Deina made Marie feel all the more anxious. ¡®Nnn¡­ This always leads to a problem in all the novels I read though¡­¡¯ But what else could she do? As a mere experiment assistant, she could only trust Professor Deina and move on. Besides, there was something she heard from Korin. ¡ºI have a n.¡» Although Marie wasn¡¯t sure how he would carry out the n now that he was outside the city, she still trusted the boy without any suspicion. **** Alicia¡¯s idle life went on day by day. The refreshing spring breeze was on its leave as soothing heat was slowly starting to seep into the ground in this early summer. Inside the hot deep fryer, the potato croquette was resting on the frying basket after being scooped up from the scorching oil. ¡°Here you go.¡± After buying a potato croquette at one of the street vendors of the Academy, Alicia took a big bite into it. The melting sensation of potatoes and the deep fragrance of oil filled her enclosed mouth but there was somethingcking. ¡®I used to eat this a lot with Mr. Korin.¡¯ This was the store they used to visit after training at the training rooms to replenish energy while having some unhealthy food. It might be because she wasn¡¯t with her usualpany, but Alicia wasn¡¯t 100% content with the food today. Training together, having snacks and discussing each other¡¯s skills took a lot of time and it was thus verymon for the two of them to also have a meal afterwards. It had only been a month since the matter with her older sister had been handled, but in that short period of a month, Korin had be a very important person inside Alicia¡¯s mind. ¡®Maybe I should just go back and read a romance novel.¡¯ Reading romance novels was a new hobby of hers. While going to the library for the group assignment, she happened toe across the romance novel section and those served to be a decent pastime activity. She especially liked it when she could link the male protagonist to someone else¡­ ¨C Tap tap! It was then. Someone tapped her on her shoulder. ¡°Who is¡­ Huaahk?!¡± A red werewolf¡­ That looked a bit closer to a dog instead of a wolf had been touching her shoulder. ¡°A, are you Doggo?¡± ¨C Nod. One of the abilities Marie gained after awakening into a vampire was the ¡®Familiar of Blood¡¯. Doggo was the familiar born from her blood that could also be considered as her child. Its name was very adorable but as someone who knew about the monstrous power of this familiar, Alicia couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly frightened. ¨C Flick flick! ¡°Uhh. Do you want me to follow you? Is Senior Marie calling me?¡± ¨C Nod nod. She wanted to ask why but it¡¯s not like Doggo could speak in humannguage so Alicia decided to obediently follow it from behind. There were times when Doggo woulde and take Korin with him so Alicia was quite used to this turn of events as well. ¡®Actually, how was Doggo able to find out where Mr. Korin was every single time?¡¯ Was it because it was a dog? But rather than a dog, Doggo was simr to a magic form that didn¡¯t even looked like an organism. Let alone a sense of smell, it was very questionable whether it even had internal organs like other animals. ¨C Woof! ¡°A, alright! I¡¯ming!¡± Alicia hurriedly chased after Doggo after he shouted at her to hurry up. Before long, she arrived at theboratory in the western region of the Academy. ¡°I wonder why she called me?¡± She didn¡¯t have much connection with Marie, the 2nd year senior. Since she met her quite often while traveling around with Korin, she did greet her every time but that was it. ¡®What¡¯s her rtionship with Mr. Korin? They looked very close¡­¡¯ Alicia wasn¡¯t aware of the things Korin had done to save Marie. Because she only knew about the false announcement of Chairman Eriu Casarr and Senior Professor Josephine, it was natural for her to be oblivious to the nature of their rtionship. However, one thing she did know was that Marie and Korin¡¯s rtionship was far from being a normal senior-junior rtionship. The fact that Marie had a connection with Korin which she wasn¡¯t aware of was something that subconsciously caused Alicia to feel a slight sense of distance. She herself wasn¡¯t really sure about the nature of her feelings though. ¡°Woof!¡± B1 ¨C 1st basement floor of theboratory ¨C even though this floor was only for the professors and staff and did not allow student entry, Alicia was easily able to pass the check thanks to Doggo being in the lead. After seeing Doggo, the securities immediately let her go through. When she arrived at the basement, she realized that the undergroundb waspletely different from the dark and somber image in her mind. ¡°Wow¡­¡± The basement was incredibly enormous. At the center was a hollow space that connected B1 all the way down to B3, and going along the sides was a tform which appeared to have been made by carving out a rock, that led to the rooms where mages were conducting all sorts of experiments. Alchemy, demonic beasts, astral experiments, cultivation of magic nts, dissection, magic engineering¡­ There were all sorts of experiments taking ce, and Alicia could also see through the windows of the rooms, several students that were here as either assistants or observers. As expected of one of the dream jobs of mages, it was on an entirely different scale. ¡°Woof!¡± ¡°O, okay! Can you please not bark? It¡¯s scary¡­¡± She was led to one of thebs on B1 and felt puzzled after smelling something. ¡°Is this food? Ah.¡± There seemed to be demonic beasts that could be eaten by demonic beasts, and Alicia did hear how researching about that was also one of the jobs of mages. Those things would be poison when consumed by a normal person, but knights or mages with enough immunity might receive some positive enhancement from it. ¡°Excuse me¡­ Senior Marie?¡± Boiling inside theboratory was an experiment beaker holding something murky inside as it gave off a savory scent, and next to that was Marie gazing at the beaker with an extremely serious gaze. ¡°Hmm¡­ What if I add a bit more of ¡®this¡¯ here? No, it¡¯s too much. That¡¯s going to take away from the main ingredient¡­¡± Alicia carefully walked up to the girl with water-colored hair that was immersed in the experiment, and spoke to her. ¡°Senior Marie-nim?¡± ¡°Haht¡­!¡± Marie jumped in the air while letting out a cute gasp. After seeing Alicia, she settled her startled heart. ¡°It was you, Junior Arden¡­! You surprised me there!¡± ¡°Sorry¡­ For bothering you while you were in the middle of an experiment. Was it a very important one?¡± ¡°I, it¡¯s nothing! I was just doing this and that during the short break!¡± Alicia heaved a sigh of relief after hearing her say that it was nothing, because she had often heard rumors of how mages utterly detested being interrupted during their experiment. ¡°By the way, why did you call me? I dide because Doggo told me toe but¡­¡± ¡°Nn nn. Actually, Korin wanted me to exin something to you during this time in his stead!¡± ¡°He did?¡± There seemed to be a message left behind by Korin who had left for the grading test a few days ago¡­ So Alicia readied herself. ¡°Oh right. Before that, would you like to have a sip of this?¡± Marie said while pointing at the liquid inside the beaker. All sorts of medicinal herbs had been added to the murky liquid inside the beaker that was constantly bubbling up. ¡°Uhh¡­ Is this a potion?¡± ¡°I, I guess? You can say that¡­¡± ¡°I would be d to have it, if it¡¯s good for the body.¡± ¡°It will definitely be good for your body! I¡¯ve only added nice ingredients to it!¡± ¡°Wow~. Really? I haven¡¯t had things like this in a long time. I used to have them quite often back in my hometown but I was busy earning a living aftering to the Academy, you see. I didn¡¯t have time nor money.¡± ¡°I see. W, would you like to try? It should be tasty as well!¡± Tasty? Since when were potions and elixirs supposed to be tasty? Especially for potions like this that were simr to an elixir, they only showed their effect once per person so taste wasn¡¯t even a consideration for most¡­ But the savory scent spreading out of the elixir inside the beaker was a sign that Marie wasn¡¯t lying about the taste. ¡°I, it¡¯s hot so take your time. We also have to check its safety, so¡­¡± ¡°Yes, I will. What was that at the end, sorry?¡± ¡°Nothing! I¡¯m very happy to have such a tough junior!¡± Even though thest sentence sounded a bit strange, Alicia carefully started to drink the boiling medicinal decoction, thinking that Marie wouldn¡¯t give her something dangerous. ¡°Uhpp?!¡± ¡°W, what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°It¡¯s delicious! Like, the taste of my hometown? I can even feel that from it!¡± ¡°R, really?!¡± Marie started writing down something on her notepad. Taste, check. Safety, check. Poison, check. More experiments required just in case. **** ¡°It¡¯s over there.¡± The ce we came to under the guidance of one of the staff members from the Alliance was arge mansion built in the middle of a mountain. ording to the mission, it seemed that the owner of this mansion became pessimistic after a failed business idea andmitted suicide with his entire family. It would have be a well-known venue for a ¡®test of courage¡¯ in modern Earth and that would have been all, but this was a fantasy world. In this ce, demonic spirits were born from the grudges of the dead. In other words, a tragic end like a family suicide was highly likely to end up creating a demonic spirit. ¡°The grudge itself shouldn¡¯t have been enormous but thend wasn¡¯t good for us. This ce is near the center of the ley lines and has been a long-time favorite of demonic beasts, so it seems that the spirit ended up swallowing a bunch of demonic aura.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t believe he decided to build a mansion in such a ce.¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably because of that bad instinct of his that he failed his business.¡± Because of the tragedy and all sorts of unfortunate events, this haunted house became extremely dangerous. Since it was a stationary spirit, it couldn¡¯t move anywhere else to wreak havoc, but should nheless be immensely powerful in its home grounds. The demonic spirit that had to be defeated this time was the ¡®Haunted House¡¯ itself. ¡°What do you say? Will you investigate this as well? Just letting you know, lighting it on fire is not going to let you remove that house.¡± Old Man Haman waited for my response with an expectant gaze, asking what kind of detailed n I¡¯ll use this time to y with the demon. Unfortunately, investigating a demonic spirit was meaningless for me. Because of one of the 3 rules engraved onto my body, the Restriction ?I do not perceive spirits?, I couldn¡¯t even sense them. So¡­ ¡°I will deal with it in 30 seconds.¡± Chapter 48: King of Iron Mountain (4) ? King of Iron Mountain (4) ? ?I do not perceive spirits.? I was unable to perceive spirits because of that Restriction but the rare asion that allowed me to either converse or deal with a spirit was through their ¡®possession¡¯. There were some demonic spirits that were able to possess things or organisms. For example, Sebancia Duke possessed an organism and that was why I was able to talk to him. In this case, it was simr to a poltergeist caused by possessing objects ¨C this demonic spirit had possessed this house instead of a living being. Arge mansion built in the middle of a mountain that turned into a Haunted House after the mass suicide of the family. What would be the thing that had to be done to send the ghosts away? It was simple. All you had to do was destroy the whole building. A physical demolition was usually the best solution for a lot of things. ¡°Just to double-check, the mages failed at burning the house right?¡± ¡°Two Grade 2 mages used fire magic but couldn¡¯t destroy it. The defense of the demonic spirit was tougher than expected.¡± ¡°And you can¡¯t make it too strong since it could turn into a bushfire, right?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Lighting the house on fire to destroy the Haunted House was impossible due to the interference of the ghost possessing the house, but increasing the intensity of the me was also impossible because it would result in a bushfire. In the end, the most low-risk and low-cost method to resolve this problem was by entering the building to defeat the true body of the demonic spirit. ¡°It will be difficult by using a normal method, because that house haspletely turned into a demonir.¡± ¡°Well, it should be over in no time. Are you really going to follow me though?¡± After hearing my pompous deration that I would defeat the Haunted House in 30 seconds, Old Man Haman stated that he would follow me and see with his own eyes. He was done preparing by just covering his hands with gauntlets. ¡°Just letting you know, I won¡¯t be able to protect you.¡± ¡°Hmph! Who do you think you¡¯re talking to, young brat.¡± I had never seen Old Man Haman fight before, because he was closer to a Skills NPC back in the game. He was a veteran knight who even reached Grade 1 in his youth so he should be fine by himself. ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s get ready, get set¡­¡± I bent my back like an athlete preparing for a sprint. In my eyes, the Haunted House appeared like a normal discarded and shabby mansion but it would appear like an ominousir of demons to the eyes of Old Man Haman and the members of the Alliance. Well, that had nothing to do with me though. ¡°Go!¡± ¨C Pabak! Kicking off the ground, I marched into the Haunted House. Old Man Haman was following from behind but unlike me who was going straightforward, he was constantly vignt of something. ¨C Kugung! A branch soared up from the ground before pping down like a whip. ¡°Now, you dodge the attack with a jump and use your spear to cut off the top core of the root! One jump!¡± ¡°??!¡± My suddenmentary made Old Man Haman tilt his head, but this was only the beginning. ¡°StraightenYourSpearAsYouGoForward, AndTheTerraceWindowWillBreakAsssFragmentsFlyAtYou. SlideNextToItAndEnterThroughTheDoor!¡± 5 seconds. ¡°WhenYou¡¯reInside,CutTheClockOnTheTopRightHandCornerFollowedByThreeJumpingStabs! CrushTheNailsPoppingUpFromTheStairsWithoutWorryingAboutTheCeiling. GoDown, StepOnTheMiddleCarpetAndIt¡¯llGoCrack!¡± ¨C Crack! 12 seconds. ¡°ATableWillBeNextToTheMagicCircleInTheMiddleOfTheBasement, WhichYouCutAndScratchTheMagicCircleToWeakenTheSpirit¡¯sTelekicAbility. There¡¯llBeACandlestickToYourRight, SoKickItAndGoKenazPlusHagzFIREEEEWithTheSpear!¡± 16 seconds. ¡°ClimbUpTheStairsNow. TheDoorWillBreakWithA ¡®Thud!¡¯ AndAPortraitWillFlyAtYou. StabThoseUglyEyesAndMakeThemPretty, AndDashToTheStairs!¡± While carving rune letters here and there. ¡°Now! WhenYouGoBackUpThereWillBeABunchOfTablesAndChairsFlyingAtYou, WhichYouBetterDodgeByYourself. GoToTheUnmovingWallAndCarveSomeRuneLetters! NextUpWillBeCutleries,AndYouWillGetADebuffWhenYouGetHitSoBlockThem!¡± 21 seconds. ¡°There¡¯sADressingTableToTheRight. PickItUpAndBlockBlockBlock! TheChandelierWillFallSoJumpAndStabStabStab!!¡± 25 seconds. ¡°That¡¯sItWithTheFlyingFurniture. WhileThisGhostIsGoing ¡®WhoTheHellIsThisGuy,¡¯ WithAnUglyLookOnItsFaceYouActivateAllTheRuneMagicAllAtOnce! FIREEEEEEE!!!!!¡± Rune Magic Kenaz, Resonant Activation. ¡°NowItWillBurnByItSelfSoJustLeaveTheHouse. Real men do not turn around to see explosions. That is all you have to do.¡± ¨C Booom! 30 seconds. Easy. ¡°That¡¯s super~ easy, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± That was simr to what I had seen in thest video left behind by the legendary streamer Starry Guy who used to dominate the Korean streaming websites. It was a video that I could only view in my memories now. **** Haunted House Mission. This was actually one of the missions that could be chosen after entering the second semester. Just like the Unique Grade demonic spirit quest of Sebancia Duke in the Great Library, it was a choosable side quest. That¡¯s probably when this demonic spirit reached Grade 1. The mission itself was very simple. In order to defeat the Grade 1 demonic spirit possessing the Haunted House, you had to dodge all sorts of furniture that was being thrown at you to destroy the magic circle hidden inside the basement and so on. However, because of all the disgust-evoking patterns and mechanics of this mission, it received countlessments of people that wondered whether this was an RPG or a ¡®Soulslike¡¯ game. Because of that, the Haunted House mission became one that could be used to prove your skills with the game. ¡°Congrattions. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be bing a semi-Grade 1 Knight without a doubt at this point.¡± Old Man Haman congratted me with a bright smile on his face as if this was something that concerned himself as he tapped me on my shoulder. Now that I was a semi-Grade 1 Knight, my monthly support fund as well as my mission-epting qualification should have both gone up. A higher Grade also signified an increase to my authority, and meant that I would be able to proactively intervene in the uing scenario. ¡°There is a port city called Zarr nearby. I know an amazing restaurant there. Let us drop by and have some food before we go back.¡± ¡°Zarr¡­ is it a ce that sells sashimi soups?¡± At the same time, it was the city that had ¡®that thing¡¯ inside which was one of the reasons why I selected the demonic spirit subjugation mission of this area in the first ce. ¡°Hoh? You know that ce? Are you okay with raw fish?¡± ¡°I love sashimi.¡± ¡°Good! Let me introduce you to the best sashimi soup restaurant I know!¡± While listening to Old Man Haman, I stole a nce at the mountain behind us. A red dog was silently gazing at me. Good. It was still following me without a problem. **** At B4, the fourth basement floor of theboratory building, were cages of all sorts of sealed demonic beasts and spirits that could only be visited by very few members of the Academy. A bunch of dangerous demons including the Grade 1 demonic beasts, the Melting Dragon and the King Tyrant were sealed inside for an experiment but the strongest one out of them by far would be this boar here. King of Iron Mountain. Looking at thisrge boar that weighed at least dozens of tonnes messed around with Marie¡¯s mind. If the size was the only thing that was impressive about this monster, then Marie would have simply considered it a slightly bigger pig because she had seen several monsters that were even bigger than this back at her farm. However, the most overwhelming aspect of this boar was the absurd amount of demonic aura that was emanating out of it. The bristles of the boar were a mixture of crimson red and blue, and its skin was as tough as an armor that no weapons could possibly create a mark on it. Unlike the colorful hairs on its skin, the fangs of the boar were polished sharp like a masterpiece created by the god of cksmiths. ¡°Unique Grade demonic beast¡­ King of Iron Mountain.¡± This was a Unique Grade ¨C this was the beast of an immeasurable power that was on an equal rank with herself¡­ if not above. The legendary demonic beast that reduced the northern Dingle Penins into rubble 80 years ago was currently sealed by all sorts of magic circles and tough chains forged with hundreds of tonnes of magic stones. ¡®It¡¯s almost like Hua Ran¡­¡¯ Perhaps this was the expanded version of the chained nun clothes that were restricting Hua Ran. ¡°Now. Please bring the Fang Boars here!¡± Following themand of Professor Deina, the staff members brought the Fang Boars from their cage. They were furiously screaming inside the small cage but they started to feel timid the moment they saw Marie. ¡°For safety purposes, everyone except for Student Marie and Professor Fermack; please leave theb for the time being.¡± The staff members of theb immediately began leaving the room after her words. Now, the only ones left behind in this vast underground room were the demonic beasts and a small number of people. ¡°Student Marie. Can you try controlling the Fang Boars for now?¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­!¡± Marie approached the monsters as requested by Professor Deina. ¡°Come out.¡± Shemanded the several Fang Boars that had been reced to another cage nearby after opening the door. The monsters started crawling out with pitifully trembling legs. ¡°Student Marie. Can you please give out some simplemands?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± As previously discussed, Marie started giving simplemands to the Fang Boars by telling them to sit, stand, run andy down. Most of them tried their hardest to follow hermands but a few of them wandered around, not knowing what they were supposed to do. ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯re listening to me.¡± ¡°It is probably because of an issue with themunication between demi-humans and demonic beasts. Low-grade demonic beasts do not have the intellect to understand yourmands.¡± It would be a different story for simr beasts because theirnguage systems were also simr. ¡°Professor Fermak. Please unseal the ¡®King¡¯.¡± ¡°Roger.¡± In response to Professor Deina¡¯s request, Professor Fermack approached the sleeping demonic pig. ¡°I will now use the unsealing rune to remove the 1st Seal.¡± The 1st Seal was the one responsible for sealing the consciousness of the demon boar. Casting a rune to remove that was a fairly tough job. Rune Magic was anguage system where each of the letters contained a magic definition. Only by engraving dozens of rune letters onto the demonic pig without a single mistake would one be able toplete a meaningful unsealing sentence. Now that Rune Letters had be a deadnguage in modern times, there were only a tiny number of people that could use Rune Magic to this level and Professor Fermack was one of them. ¡®It said they removed the seal a few times over the past 80 years¡­ I wonder who did those?¡¯ The small doubt in Marie¡¯s mind disappeared when she saw the demonic boar twitch with the activation of Professor Fermack¡¯s rune. ¨C Krrrhh¡­! It howled with a voice that resembled a ferocious carnivore than a boar. After opening its eyes, the boar nced around with a pair of eyes that gleamed ominously in blue. ¨C KURARAAAAAAAAA!! The roar of the demonic boar reverberated across. At the same time, it shrunk its body and twisted and turned in order to snap the chains that were binding itself. ¡°Groups 1, 3 and 7. Activate hypergravity! Group 6, fortify the chains!¡± Professor Deina shouted through the in-ear microphone as mages outside began to activaterge magic circles one after another. The grand demon-suppressing magic circles of the 4th underground floor of theboratory had mana supplied to them as the chains began to tighten around the monster. ¨C Kugung! On top of that, the gravity-increasing spell installed on the ceiling was turned on as it helped suppress the demonic boar. Each one of the activated spells were grand magic circles that had been maintained and improved over the past 80 years to restrain this monster. ¡°Krrhhh¡­!¡± After perhapsing to the judgment that it couldn¡¯t escape by itself, the demonic boar roared out loud as the Fang Boars began to respond to its call. ¨C Kuruk¡­! ¨C Kueeek! ¡°Student Marie!¡± Professor Deina shouted and Marie red at the Fang Boars whilemanding them, ¡®Stop!¡¯. It worked in the past but this time, they were giving off a strange response. ¨C Kueeeeek¡­! They weren¡¯t immediately running in at Marie, but they appeared to be resisting against hermand. It didn¡¯t take long for them to eventually make the decision of pouncing at her. ¡°Hmph¡­!¡± When Marie smacked the ground with her staff, water budded like fruits around her before striking the monsters down. In the blink of an eye, she knocked the three Fang Boars unconscious and turned her gaze to Professor Deina to ask what to do with them. ¡°Haa~. Maybe it¡¯s because they¡¯re both boars? It snatched the control away from us way too easily.¡± ¡°What should I do with these guys?¡± Marie asked. ¡°Just keep them unconscious. We can have some boar cutletster or something.¡± ¡°Can I take a few pieces home?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Marie was d that there was something she could cook for the boy but her joy did notst long. One of the cages of the za outside the room cracked open with a thud. [Emergency! Emergency! Demonic beasts of Cage A-107 have escaped!] ¡°What? Don¡¯t tell me!¡± The demonic beast that escaped from the cage entered their room in an instant. ¨C Guwoooooooo¡ª¨C With a strange scream that sounded like the mix of a flute and a trumpet, the monster red at Marie. ¡°A manticore?¡± A chimera, which had the body of a lion and the tail of a snake that was as big as the demonic boar, red at her before jumping at her. ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± ?Blood Spear? She created arge number of icences and fired them at the monster. However, the clever and agile manticore disyed an acrobatic jump while escaping from the attack range of the Blood Spears. ¡°Doggo¡­!¡± Marie was just about to summon her familiar but Professor Fermack held her by the shoulder and stopped her. ¡°Save your power for now.¡± After standing in front of her, Professor Fermack took off his sunsses and postured himself in a boxing stance. Using boxing, which appeared like it would only be effective against humans, to fight therge monster weighing dozens of tonnes seemed like a questionable choice but¡­ ?Shadow Servant? A human figure suddenly soared out of Fermack¡¯s shadow. It was a shadow clone created by Professor Fermack¡¯s specialty. The Shadow Servant was a spitting image of Professor Fermack and even its boxing stance was the same as his. ¡°? ¨C Oth. ? ¨C Raidho.¡± Professor Fermack disappeared in the blink of an eye. The only one that could perceive his super rapid eleration was Marie thanks to her monstrous dynamic vision, but even she had trouble following his movement with her eyes. ¡°Guwooo?¡± The manticore showed a puzzled look on its face after seeing Professor Fermack reappear in front of itself. Meanwhile, both Professor Fermack and his shadow were taking in a deep breath in preparation for a massive attack. ?Ducking Boost In-dash? Crushing the ground he raced beneath the monster. Right as the manticore was about to sense a foreign being underneath its belly, Professor Fermack¡¯s left arm prated inside from underneath as if he was reaching for the sky. ?Southpaw Screw Demolition? ¨C Kwang! ¨C Kwagang! Two thuds echoed out shaking the innards of the manticore and was soon followed by arge amount of blood gushing out of the monster¡¯s throat. ¨C Kung! After killing the enormous manticore with just one move, Professor Fermack opened his mouth while cleaning his gauntlets that had been drenched with the blood of the monster¡¯s innards. ¡°Professor Deina. Something¡¯s not right.¡± It was then. ¨C KURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA¡­!!!! The demon boar let out an inexplicable roar, as all the demonic beasts nearby responded to its cry. ¨C Kiaaakkkk! ¨C Siiiiii! Siieeeee! ¨C Quack! Quaaaaaakkkk! Whether it be low-grade or medium-grade demonic beasts, they all roared out loud in alignment with the cry of the King of Iron Mountain. ¡°W, what¡¯s going on? I didn¡¯t see anything like this in the records!¡± That wasn¡¯t the end. [Professor! This is not good! The demonic beasts are driving their heads into the iron bars like crazy and are trying to escape from their cages! You must escape!] The reactions of the demonic beasts were definitely abnormal but Professor Deina cool-headedly responded to the problem. ¡°Follow the manual; Z-17! Activate the anti-demon pressure spell and the blockade at once! We shall reseal the King of Iron Mountain as well for the time being! Activate all the magic circles right now!¡± Her response was superb. Remembering the manual in this dire situation, shemanded the members of theb to activate all the spells installed on the 4th underground floor and promptly decided to reseal the demon boar, which was most certainly the cause of this problem. At this point, it was hard to expect another experiment of a simr kind, but she prioritized the safety of people over her academic desires. However, there was one thing that even Professor Deina hadn¡¯t been able to expect and that was¡ª [This is Group 2! We cannot activate the magic circle!] [Same with the sealing spell! Damn it! Someone has messed around with the magic circles!] ¡°W, what?!¡± Professor Deina gasped in utter shock, but that wasn¡¯t the end of their source of grief. ¨C Crunch! Crunch! ¡°P, Professor Fermack!¡± After seeing something, Marie hurriedly looked for Professor Fermack and pointed at the demon boar with a visibly flustered look on her face. ¡°Well shit¡­¡± Professor Fermack widened his eyes as he looked at the demon boar. The King of Iron Mountain ¨C the demonic boar of the Dingle Penins ¨C was chewing and devouring the magic stone chains that were restraining itself. ¡°Damn it. We have to stop it! Student Marie!¡± ¡°Yes¡­!¡± ?Crystal Lance? Marie quickly created arge transparent spear in the air. Formed withbination magic, it was arge and frozennce that was even tougher than it appeared. It was a high-gradebination spell which she never used against humans. Hernce pierced down at the defenseless blue hairs of the boar. ¨C Kwang! The crystalnce shattered from the collision but the boar was still surprisingly normal. ¡®That¡¯s weird¡­ How did that do no damage?¡¯ Even though she couldn¡¯t break through its defense, she did seed at catching its attention. Professor Fermack managed to approach the monster while its eyes were on Marie. Professor Fermack swung his strongest fist at the unprepared body of the demon boar. His fist that even killed a manticore with a single strike drove deeply into the ¡®red hairs¡¯ of the demon boar. ¨C Kung. It was like throwing a pebble at a giant rock ¨C Professor Fermack¡¯s strongest strike was nothing but a pebble in front of the monster. ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­¡± The demon boar turned its eyes to Professor Fermack as their gazes collided in the air. As soon as those blue eyesnded on him, strange letters began to form on its fangs. ¡°¡­Runes?¡± ??? ¨C Thurisaz Fehu? ¨C Kwang! A great amount of heat emanated from its fangs and struck Professor Fermack as a colossal amount of light and heat swallowed the underground za. At the end of that fluctuation of pure mana¡­ ¨C Sheeek. Boom! ¨C Crack, crack! ¡°N, no.¡± Professor Deina¡¯s powerless denial of the truth echoed in vain. The chains and the magic circles that were restraining and suppressing the monster were all crushed into shatters. After undoing all the seals that were restraining it, the demon boar arrogantly gazed at the surroundings before letting out a thunderous roar. ???????????¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!! ¨C ng! nk!! ¨C Crack! Kung! The sounds of breaking iron bars could be heard from everywhere. As a result of the demonic beasts throwing themselves at the bars to obey the call of the Unique Grade monster, the cages ended up breaking atst. [E, Emergency! Emergency!] All the demonic beasts that were sealed on the 4th underground floor were released. Chapter 49: King of Iron Mountain (5) ? King of Iron Mountain (5) ? [Emergency! Emergency! Code Veronica. Code Veronica. All the staff are to evacuate. The securities are to use every magic circle avable and activate the golems!] ¨C Sieeeeeek! A long andrge body reaching 40 meters in length slithered its way. It resembled an amplified version of a white snake that was made by increasing its size by a hundred-fold. The name of the monster was Melting Dragon¡­ and was better known as a fake dragon, a pitiful being who had to boorishly slither across the ground after failing to be a dragon. ¨C Grrrhhh¡­! Following the Melting Dragon from behind were tworge feet smashing through the ground. With ankles that were as thick as the feet of an elephant supporting its weight of a hundred tonnes, its legs destroyed the ground with each step and its pping tail crushed everything behind its path. It was arge monster that appeared to be abination of a brown bear and a monitor lizard. This being that was referred to as the tyrant in its homnd had be a target of fear and earned the name, King Tyrant. Melting Dragon and King Tyrant. Both of them were one of the top strongest entities out of all the Grade 1 demonic beasts. [Activating golems! Ready to intercept! Code Veronica! W, we cannot let them step out of this building!] There were about a hundred elemental golems that were made by making an elemental contract on a tough body made by mixing in magic stones. They were one by one killing the monsters including Fang Boars that reached roughly a thousand in numbers, but¡­ ¨C Kuwaaaaaaaah!! King Tyrant walked to the elemental golems, and a sweep of its tail swept the golems away. The sheer power from its weight was overwhelming. Golems were supposed to be the ones suppressing their foes with weight and size, and yet now that they were in front of an enormous monster, they became like powerless ants. They weren¡¯t the only ones ¨C there was also the Melting Dragon that was recklessly marching forward while ignoring the attacks of the golems. ¨C Hissss! Letting out a shrill voice, therge snake destroyed the elemental golems. After straightening its long back, the Melting Dragon spurted out a huge amount of acid at the ceiling. ¨C Chiiiik! The ceiling melted from the acid and fell like rubble. It created a hole in the blink of an eye as the floor of the 3rd underground floor crumbled at once. ¡°Uaahkk¡­!¡± Several people that hadn¡¯t been able to evacuate in time fell along with the rubble into the open mouth of the Melting Dragon. ¨C Kajik! [Assistance! Assistance required! We cannot stop the higher grade demonic beasts without the magic circles!] Most of the magic circles that had been installed to halt the demonic beasts were damaged. Now that the magic circles weren¡¯t working, theboratory didn¡¯t have enoughbat potential to fight against two giant Grade 1 monsters. ¡°Kieeeekkk¡­!¡± Besides, the Grade 1 demonic beasts weren¡¯t the only problems. The monsters that Professor Deina gathered for the experiment with the Unique Grade demon boar reached several hundred at least. ¡°N, no¡­! If these monsters leave the Academy grounds¡­!¡± There were way too many monsters inside theboratory including the Fang Boars. Assuming what would happen if these were to enter the Academy and go to the city wasn¡¯t very difficult. ¡°Kieeeee!¡± It was then. A Beowulf pounced at Professor Deina who was trying her best to halt the flood of monsters. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± ?Consecutive Lightning? Using the lightning skill that allowed her to defeat multiple Fang Boars already, Professor Deina incapacitated the Beowulf. Her proficient control with lightning immediately turned the pouncing Beowulf into a steak but that Beowulf wasn¡¯t the only one sprinting towards her. ¡°I, I shouldn¡¯t have bought this much!!¡± She was too excited from this rare opportunity to conduct arge project but regrets were called regrets because they werete. Right when one of the Beowulfs that survived from her lightning attacks was about to swing its vicious ws at her¡­ ¨C Kang! ¡°Kiee?¡± Several des suddenly flew in from somewhere before prating through the puzzled Beowulf. ¨C Pababak! ¡°H, hnn?¡± ¡°¡­Boss¡¯s insight is bing more and more frightening.¡± The one who suddenly saved Professor Deina was Dorron Warsky of Flying Swords who could manipte five magic swords at once. His sudden appearance made Professor Deina blink her eyes in doubt. ¡°S, Student Dorron? Why are you¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ for an observation.¡± He definitely hadn¡¯t been expecting something like this to happen on the day of his observation of theboratory, which he applied after receiving money. ¡°Come.¡± The flying swords danced in the air. Those magic swords that were crafted with high-ss magic stones erupted with fire and lightning as they scorched the iing demonic beasts. ¡°Krrhh?¡± As if his fancy use of magic swords was eye-catching, the King Tyrant turned its gaze towards Dorron before thumping its way towards him. ¡°Debris Fuse. Create Golem.¡± ¨C Hududuk! The remains of the crumbled elemental golems merged into one. Although their bodies were broken, their crucial cores were still intact and those cores heeded to the call of the Golem Mage. ?Great Siege Golem ¨C Junk Golem? After dozens of crushed golems were added into one, it created an enormous siege golem that was roughly the same size as the King Tyrant. It had the shape of a two-legged weapon that truly tugged the heartstrings of a man. ¡°Krrhh?¡± Feeling an enormous pressure emanating behind it, the King Tyrant turned around and immediately caught sight of the siege golem that was swinging a fist that was about the same size as its head. ¨C Boom! ¡°Good! I can control it just fine!¡± Kranel Luden the Golem Mage was marveled by the power of the great siege golem created by himself. ¡®It really worked. The form he taught me actually worked.¡¯ It was the golem magic form that Korin Lork talked about a few days ago on the fly while forcing him to train at the training rooms while talking about how ¡®Stamina was power¡­¡¯ Saying that he discovered a book about it at the library, he casually told him about the form and what he requested in return was today¡¯s observation at theboratory. Kranel gulped while thinking about how Korin¡¯s request was a perfect fit as if he had predicted this event. ¨C Kwaang! The sharp ws of the King Tyrant created a sh down the Junk Golem. Although it was a golem forged with the fusion of dozens of smaller golems, it still couldn¡¯t escape from the limitations of its materials. ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± Slowly but surely, it was being pushed back. As expected of a Grade 1 demonic beast, it was able to push the Junk Golem back but that might be natural because Kranel wasn¡¯t very experienced at using a massive golem. ?Root Reinforcement? The golem was about to copse but that was when something supported it from falling down. At first, Kranel thought it was another attack but upon a closer inspection he realized how abnormal the tree roots growing out of the walls were. It was definitely a supernatural and sudden growth of trees. The only one that was capable of doing this was¡­ ¡°Seriously¡­ How did that man even know this¡­¡± ¡°Druid¡­¡± Druid of the Avelorn Forest ¨C the freshman student, Yuel, appeared in a timely manner to support Kranel¡¯s Junk Golem. ¡°And how did he think of this?¡± Supporting the Junk Golem which had a weak inner structure with tree roots and reinforcing it. It was something that was hard to think of without having a profound knowledge of both nature magic and the form of a Junk Golem. ¡°Anyway, we will take care of the King Tyrant!¡± ¡°T, thank you, guys! Oh right! How could I forget that! The Melting Dragon! The Melting Dragon was about to go to the 3rd floor!¡± Professor Deina quickly turned her gaze towards the ceiling. The Melting Dragon was trying to swerve its way through the hole on the ceiling by twisting its long body, but was being stopped by a swordsman. ¨C Kung! ¨C Shiiiik! The body of the Melting Dragon melted after a single groan. The long snake fell back on the ground with a thud as the swordsman thennded on its body. ¡°Huu¡­ Did we do it?¡± ¡°Hisss¡­!¡± ¡°I, I knew it. It¡¯s still alive!¡± The one who stopped the Melting Dragon from leaving theboratory was the sessor candidate of the Arden family, Alicia. ¡°Student Alicia?¡± Professor Deina widened her eyes in shock upon seeing the freshmen students appear one after another. It was true that they were wee reinforcements. After all, even though they were students, they were all Grade 2! The Academy did have enough power to subjugate these monsters that were wreaking havoc inside theboratory but the problem was the chaos that was bound to ur if all these monsters were to leave at once. So these students stopping them and buying time was something to be extremely grateful for. But¡­ ¡°W, why are you all in theboratory?¡± Professor Deina¡¯s response was very reasonable. Despite the urgency of the situation at hand, everyone replied at the same time to her unconscious question. ¡°¡°For observation.¡±¡± The n that was forged by the boy who currently wasn¡¯t even present inside the Academy was sailing without an issue. And as for the most important cause of this incident¡­ The demon boar was locked inside the blood-colored barrier casted by Marie and was forced to defeat her before others. It was a sh between two Unique Grades. Although Professor Deina was feeling very flustered from the sudden turn of events, she still couldn¡¯t help but feel curious about the oue of their fight as a schr. **** Afterpleting the ¡®Haunted House¡¯ quest, we arrived at the port city of Zarr. It was because Old Man Haman brought me to a famous sashimi soup restaurant to congratte me on my promotion to semi-Grade 1. Thin slices of t head sashimi mixed with cucumbers and a spicy cold soup with a bulky ice inside¡­ ¡°Kiaaa~ That feels good. Add a few shots of soju to this and it¡¯s going to be absolutely perfect!¡± ¡°Haha. Looks like you know how to eat, young man!¡± He seemed content after seeing me dly dive into the sashimi soup. It would be rare to find someone like me who enjoyed sashimi soup, because modern eastern food might have appeared repulsive to the people of this era. ¡°How about you buy us a bottle of soju?¡± ¡°Young man! You¡¯re a student! And I¡¯m an instructor!¡± Although he scolded me, which was a natural response as an educator, he didn¡¯t seem offended by it or anything. This¡­ was a chance. These past 3 years as Korin Lork¡­ Legally I was still underage so I never had the chance to drink alcohol so far. I did hear other people call me ¡®ahjussi¡¯ at times after seeing my face, but these damn bottle shops were so strict with checking ID. This mixed world of the Middle Ages and modern times did not allow me to drink alcohol¡­ Do you know? The sorrow of not being able to drink beer with chicken at Mr. Yoon¡¯s chicken restaurant? How does it feel to not be able to drink soju with Korean BBQ? Me, a former resident of the number 1 country in terms of alcohol consumption, was being held back from drinking!!! But this was a rare opportunity. ¡°We have a saying like this in the east, Sir.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Drinking¡­ is something you must learn from adults.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± ¡°I wish you could be my lifelong teacher who teaches me how to drink, Sir Instructor.¡± How was that? Did that sound okay? Old man, you know me right? Yeah? I respect you this much so a bit of alcohol should be okay, no? ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°Sir¡­¡± ¡°I never knew you were such a well-mannered and respectable young man! To think we still had such a nice and promising youth in our world!¡± ¡°Haha.¡± ¡°Good. Excuse me! Can we get a bottle of soju each¡­!¡± ¡°Sir.¡± ¡°Mhmm?¡± ¡°Do you have ns on driving a magic carriage today?¡± Is one bottle going to be enough? Do you need to drive? Should I call a taxi for you? ¡°Hoh? Hahaha¡­! Good!¡± Before long, four bottles of soju were ced on top of our table. ¡°Huhu¡­¡± How long has it been since Ist drank alcohol? Licking my lips, I was just about to open the bottles but¡­ ¨C Woof! ¡°¡­¡± No. This can¡¯t be. W, why now of all times? ¨C Woof woof! ¡°What? Where is this sounding from?¡± ¡°Did someone bring a dog here?¡± The noisy customers of the sashimi soup restaurant confirmed the ominous feeling I had. I carefully turned my gaze to the entrance¡­ and found a red dog that looked like it was made from y staring at me. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± That was my first alcohol in a year though¡­ **** Gritting my teeth and bidding farewell to Old Man Haman, I walked outside and headed somewhere with the ¡®blood dog¡¯. This dog was a clone created by one of the self-replicating abilities of Doggo. It was simr to one of the abilities it used during Marie¡¯s boss fight. The important thing was that this clone was connected to Doggo. This clone and Doggo shared the same senses. Before leaving the Academy, I requested Marie to have Doggo create a clone to chase after me, ande looking for me if something was to happen. In other words, the fact that Doggo¡¯s clone came to me meant¡­ ¡°Looks like the seal of the King of Iron Mountain has been lifted.¡± The thing I had been wary of finally happened and Marie alerted me of this event through Doggo¡¯s clone. Even though Marie was at the Academy, she was at an absolute disadvantage because the King of Iron Mountain was her biggest counter. I also sent the named freshmen characters to theboratory under the pretext of ¡®Observation¡¯ but they alone wouldn¡¯t be enough to defeat the monsters of that building. There were still strong professors staying behind at Merkarva Academy so they should somehow be able toe out on top, but a victory full of scars was not the ending I was looking for. In other words, I had to return myself in order to perfectly deal with this incident. However, it would take 3 days on a magic carriage to return to Merkarva from Zarr. Even if I were to depart immediately, I would arrive after the Academy was half-destroyed. Of course, this was why I chose the Haunted House mission, and this was why I hade to Zarr. ¡°Huu~ This ce is still the same as always.¡± The ce I came to was a cathedral in Zarr City. ¨C Knock knock! ¡°Anyone inside?¡± ¡°Oh. Hello there.¡± An old and virtuous-looking sister of the cathedral weed me with a benevolent smile on her face. ¡°I am a student of the Academy that was dispatched on a mission. I couldn¡¯t attend the weekend service because of my mission. Can I please use a prayer room?¡± ¡°Oh? You are a guardian! Sure, of course.¡± I showed her my Merkarva Academy ID card and she invited me inside without any suspicion. The ID card of the Academy was a proof of identity that worked anywhere. After working down the corridor, I looked for the 3rd prayer room and went inside. Fundamentally, the religion of this world took after the one that everyone knew of back on Earth. Because of that, even the prayer rooms were simr to the ones I saw back when I was following mom to a prayer house on a mountainside. But the thing was that the religion of this world was a shocking hybrid of Catholic and Protestant¡­ ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ was it this?¡± I carefully observed the wooden cross that was stuck at the center of the prayer room. When I carved a rune there¡­ ¨C Jiiiiing! The dimensions widened, revealing a mature blonde-haired beauty inside. ¡°Chairman? I thought you were at the Tower¡­ Korin Lork?¡± Josephine ra. The Dimensional Witch gave a dumbfounded look after seeing me. Chapter 50: King of Iron Mountain (6) ? King of Iron Mountain (6) ? Lady Josephine was a master of dimensional spells. She could use it during a battle but the main purpose was to teleport a long distance. You might ask, were there no limitations to her long-distance dimensional spells? The answer was no. Lady Josephine could go anywhere she wanted as long as she stayed inside Merkarva City but things would be different if she wanted to travel outside the city. Her dimensional spells required traces of her mana to be present at the destination. Merkarva City was a ce she had been living in for over 80 years so that ce had more than enough, but her traces had already vanished from other ces. This was where ¡®markers¡¯ came in. A marker was where you carved a specific rune letter inside that causes the suppressed mana inside to burst out and leave a trace. It would automatically send a signal to Lady Josephine so she could move anywhere to where her ¡®marker¡¯ was at least once. But it became her habit to teleport whenever there was a signal, which became the cause of the ¡®Josephine ra Sealing Incident¡¯. ¡°Korin Lork.¡± She red at me with a sharp gaze. That was natural because the Chairman should be the only one who knew of this ¡®marker¡¯. ¡°Answer me. How do you know about this marker?¡± She threatened while pointing the wand at me. Inside the prayer room that could barely fit two, the dimensions around me were locked and were keeping me hostage. I would lose all my limbs if I were to move here. ¡°It would be great if you could undo this spell first.¡± ¡°Nonsense!¡± Her voice was sharp but I could sense her fluster from within. It was about time for me to show myself to them, but¡­ there was a more pressing matter at hand. ¡°Apparently the King of Iron Mountain is wreaking havoc right now. Aren¡¯t we short on time?¡± ¡°!! How much do you¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s deal with that first. Right now, Senior Marie is holding it back but everything would be over if it leaves theboratory andes outside.¡± ¡°¡­¡± There must be a lot of questions in her mind but now was not the right time. At least not just yet. ¡°Let¡¯s kill the boar first.¡± **** One of the 3 best facilities of Merkarva Academy ¨C thergeboratory which went all the way down to the 5th underground floor regained its light. The reason why theboratory, which was intentionally kept dark to cut down on energy wastage, was suddenly dazzling bright was because of the huge ruckus that happened at one of the floors. Hundreds of Fang Boars were noisily creating a fuss while the enormous snake was destroying everything in its sight. Fighting against the two-legged beast King Tyrant was the Junk Golem, abined cluster of dozens of golems. All the demonic beasts of theboratory were attempting to escape from this prison in harmony. Such a thing was originally something that was impossible to happen. Even though they were all ssified as a ¡®demonic beast¡¯, a slight difference in their species meant they were unable to act together in a strategic manner. Even aside from the Fang Boars, there were the Grade 3 demonic beast Owlbear, Grade 2 demonic beast Beowulf, semi-Grade 1 demonic beast Giant, Grade 1 demonic beasts Melting Dragon and the King Tyrant¡­ all of them were from different types of species and yet they were doing the same thing on repeat with one objective in mind. ¡°This is unreal¡­ I did see several alpha entities lead a pack but this¡­¡± This was on a whole different scale. Without even bothering topare this to all the experiences that he went through over his long years as a mercenary, Dorron concluded that this was a very strange turn of events. The only reason he wasn¡¯t shocked was because he had already seen something simr beforehand. The simrity between that recent event and this incident was that they both had a foe that was ssified as a ¡®Unique Grade¡¯. ¡°So that¡¯s the nightmare of the Dingle Penins, King of Iron Mountain, huh.¡± The demon boar of the Dingle Penins that wasmonly introduced in legends and fairy tales. The monster that murdered countless heroes was now controlling the demonic beasts of theboratory. But what most of the people here did not know was that this was half the chaos that was originally supposed to happen. The demonic spirits that were supposed to be affected by the demonic aura of a Unique Grade monster to rampage about, and the Unique Grade monster itself that was supposed to destroy the most number of things were both being kept in check ever since the beginning of this incident. Blood Realm. If not for therge blood-colored barrier that was locking the experiment room like a prison cell, the demon boar would have demolished this building and taken a step under the sun already. ¡°Krrhh¡­¡± Dragging the chains that weren¡¯t fully removed from its legs, therge monster stood on its four legs. The overwhelming pressure emanating out of its entire body was enough to make everyone shiver. ¡°I thought it was seriously hard to believe even after Korin said it but¡­¡± A historical monster of the past that was considered as nothing but an experimental subject after being heavily sealed¡­ Marie, who had heard the prediction that it would escape from its seals beforehand, vacantly murmured to herself. The entire body of the ¡®demon boar¡¯ was covered by deep dark blue hairs. Even the skin seemed tough as if it had turned into iron and the fangs of the monster were gleaming in a sharp light. Its thick legs caused the ground below to crack on repeat. ¡°Doggo.¡± The blood familiar unhesitantly showed itself in response to the call of its owner. Even though its name was a very amicable one like ¡®Doggo¡¯, this familiar was as threatening as its owner. He should be a good addition to fighting against that monster but that wasn¡¯t Marie¡¯s intention. ¡°Go out of the Realm and help other people.¡± ¡°Grrrhh!¡± Doggo immediately refuted against his mother¡¯smand but Marie had already resolved her mind. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Trust me and go.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Doggo turned around with a grumble, but he couldn¡¯t help but create a few clones to stay behind. ¡°Good boy Doggo.¡± ¡°Grrh¡­¡± The blood dog that was growling back immediately turned quiet after a singlepliment from his mother. ¡°Hope we can finish this before your daddyes.¡± ¡°Knngg!¡± Doggo scoffed in dissatisfaction again. Even though he loved his creator and mother, he didn¡¯t seem to be very fond of his biological father who provided him with most of his blood. ¡°Kuraaaaaaaaaaa!¡± Aftermanding the small dogs that came out of his body, Doggo left the barrier onto the outer world. ¡°Go!¡± Marie turned cold-headed immediately after themencement of the battle. The small demon dogs dashed forward following hermand. ¡°Woof!¡± They pounced at the boar¡¯s ankles with screeching howls. Their teeth should be able to shred most medium-grade monsters to powder but the boar continued walking without even sparing them a nce. It elegantly took steps forward as if showing off the dignity of a king. While dragging the little dogs that were biting onto its ankles, the boar stood right in front of Marie. ¡°Krrrrhh¡­¡± The blood boar gazed down at Marie. Therge boar weighing 60 tonnes approached the vampire girl and pondered how to devour her. ¡°Don¡¯t be too careless. I¡¯m a Unique Grade just like you.¡± That was when water drops exploded right before the eyes of the demonic boar. ?Blood Bomb? They were water bombs that were amplified several times through Marie¡¯s specialty, . The bombs exploded right in front of the boar¡¯s nose with a magnitude far superior to normal water bombs. ¨C Kugung! Even the building itself quaked from the thunderous explosion but the boar only wobbled a little from that attack. ¡°How about this then? ¡° ?Combination Spell ¨C Multi-Shield? ¨C Kwang! An enormous cluster of ice soared up from beneath the belly of the demon boar. The shield of ice that wasrge and strong enough to pierce through castle walls carried the boar all the way up and crashed it into the ceiling of the Blood Realm. Marie did not stop even after pushing thatrge monster away. ¡°Mana Amplification.¡± The air heeded to her call. As a genius mage, her maniption over mana was now so delicate and profound that she could even control nature itself. ?Combination Spell ¨C Blood Ice? It resulted in a crimson roar. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- Therge ice was created at the cost of all the molecules in the nearby space. It was such a grandiose spell that others had trouble believing that it was cast by one single person. Piercing through the shield that pushed the demon boar up into the sky, the spear atstnded on the monster. The pir of ice blood soared into the air and drove the boar deeper into the roof of the Realm. If theboratory hadn¡¯t been built with all sorts of incredible materials with plenty of defensive spells cast on top of that, the building would have crumbled from the aftermath of her attack. ¡°Huaaaah¡­¡± ¡°W, what the hell is that¡­¡± The soaring frozen fountain of blood gathered the eyes of the noisy crowd. Let alone people, even the demonic beasts shivered at the face of an overwhelming disy of power. ¨C Kuwaangg! After crashing into the roof, the enormous body of the demonic boar fell straight back down on the floor with the thunderous echo of a missile. The crater and cracks caused beneath its body was proof of how destructive her Blood Ice was. In fact, one wouldmend anyone if their body could be intact after that attack but¡­ ¨C Crack! Crack! The pebbles and the dust scattered down, revealing the ¡®blue¡¯ hairs of the demon boar. Seeing its body that was unbelievably unscathed, Marie widened her eyes in shock. ¡°I, it really is¡­ like what Korin said¡­¡± ¡ºSenior, you won¡¯t be able to defeat it.¡» While exining the n, he gave a firm deration. The reason for that was the Primal Rune the boar swallowed that was thus engraved onto its heart. ¡ºPrimal Rune ¨C ¨®¡» The reason it turned into a demon boar after crunching on the oldest steel. ¡®Paradise exists¡¯ 100% resistance to Physical/Magic attacks. That was the reason why this monster could only be sealed without being killed even with the sacrifices of countless heroes. **** King Tyrant. Rather than a demonic beast, this specific Grade 1 monster resembled a monster enemy that would appear inrge mecha games and novels. It was a massive monster that should be killed immediately upon sight instead of being captured, but was captured thanks to a mage that was crazy for experiments paying a huge amount of money for it. Ironically, you could say that the scale of thisboratory building beingrge enough to house even a monster like this was the reason why things turned this bad. ¡°Damn it. Everything¡¯s breaking down just from its movement! Do something!¡± The irritation at the predicament made the tongue of the veteran mercenary coarser than usual. ¡°Yuel! I need more support!¡± ¡°Can that really move?¡± Fighting against the King Tyrant was a trash giant. Formed with the form provided by Korin Lork plus Yuel¡¯s reinforcement, the Junk Golem reached 13 meters in height and was definitely not small even whenpared to the King Tyrant. Supporting the Junk Golem was a fusion of multiple cores of elemental golems that had been destroyed by the rampant demonic beasts added with the tree roots created by the Druid of the Avelorn Forest. ¡°Kuwoooooooo¡­!¡± King Tyrant, the monster at the peak of the food chain dashed forward at the potentialpetitor of the ecosystem that threatened its position. Itsrge ws that could tear down a whole mountain were swung at the Junk Golem. ¨C Kuang! As one would expect from the sheer size of those ws, its attacks were incredibly heavy. The Junk Golem wobbled from a single attack from it. ¡°Can you please control it properly? My Wickerman is probably better than that!¡± ¡°You said you can only use that in the forest! Just focus on enhancing the snapped joints!¡± Yuel the Druid of the Avelorn Forest, Golem Mage Kranel Luden. These two were the so-called ¡®Mecha members¡¯ of . Several mecha fans among the yers loved the idea of summoning the Wickerman and the Junk Golem at the same time by using those two named characters. Originally, those two powerful abilities were supposed to be acquired towards the end of their character scenarios but Korin had told them about it ahead of time. It was thus natural for both Yuel and Kranel to be inexperienced at handling their summons. ¡°Uhh. ording to the form¡­ Yuel! Can you enhance the fists please!?¡± ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± ¡°I will explode five of the elemental golem cores at once to scatter arge amount of mana! Go, Luden Warrior!¡± ¡°You even gave it a name?¡± The Junk Golem, Luden Warrior, drove an uppercut at the King Tyrant with its right arm. While the monster was befuddled by the sudden strike to its jaws, the Junk Golem pulled its left arm back like a bowstring. In that instant, the joints cracked open around its left elbow. Inside was a portion of elemental golem cores that had been providing energy to the Junk Golem, overflowing with energy like it was about to explode very soon. ?Posture/Bnce Control Form ¡ª Check??Magic Booster Form ¡ª Check? ?Target Tracking Radar ¡ª On? ?Nature¡¯s Weapon Wooden Fist Equipped? ?Forced Explosion of Elemental Core x 5? ?System All Green¡ª You have Control? ¡°GOOOOOOOOO!!¡± ?Master Form Junk Wooden Golem ¨C Elbow Rocket? A heavy punch flew forward with the explosion of mana acting like a boost. Backed by that immense force and weight, the punch drove deeply into the King Tyrant¡¯s face. Go, Master Form Junk Wooden Golem! You can do it! Master Form Junk Wooden Golem! ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡°W, wut is going on?¡± Seeing the genre change in front of her eyes, Alicia couldn¡¯t help but drop her chin. But there was something Alicia wasn¡¯t aware of. Yuel the Druid with knowledge on how to create the Wickerman and Kranel Luden who knows how to create the Junk Golem ¨C with the two in the party plus a certain hidden piece, it was possible to create Over Master Form Super Fusion Nature Golem Wicker Warrior!! ¡°N, now is not the time for this!¡± Even aside from the King Tyrant, there were a lot of demonic beasts that were running in at her. While shing through one of the roaring Fang Boars, Alicia witnessed the overwhelming fountain of mana that asserted Marie¡¯s dominance even through the barrier of blood. Marie¡¯s magic was so powerful that it shook the building from its core. It was incredible that she could use such a mighty attack but what was even more incredible was the demon boar that waspletely unscathed after receiving that attack from the front. ¡°Can I¡­ really kill that monster?¡± Korin had told her that she was the crucial key in defeating that demon boar. But let alone that boar, she had to worry about therge snake in front of her first. ¨C Hisss¡­! The Melting Dragon charged in with a low hiss. Thisrge yet fake dragon stubbornly chased after Alicia for interfering with its escape. ¡°Uahht¡­!¡± Throwing her body, she barely escaped from the marching Melting Dragon. Even though she was a Grade 2 Knight, she would still have all of her bones crushed if she was to get hit by that tackle. ?Singr Sword of Arden, Crushing Steel? A fierce stab with aura pierced at the exposed temples of the Melting Dragon. ¨C Kang! ¡°Uahh¡­¡± But the resulting sound was that of shing steel unlike the sound of a de cutting through flesh. It seemed that Grade 1 demonic beasts, which were like raid bosses for guardians, had ridiculously tough skin. ¡®Can I¡­ really kill this without using Domain Severance?¡¯ Korin chose Alicia as the key member of the subjugation of the King of Iron Mountain. The reason for that was naturally because of her ¡®Domain Severance¡¯, and that was why he had given an earnest request. ¡º¡®Never! Never ever use Domain Severance,¡¯ he said!¡» Even though it was through the vampire-senior, Alicia could still tell how serious he must have been when saying that. With her current stats, Alicia could only use Domain Severance once. Without using that powerful ability, she had to stop the demonic beasts from leaving theboratory building. ¡®Miss Yuel and Mr. Kranel are taking care of the King Tyrant. Professor Deina and Mr. Dorron are trying their best but¡­¡¯ There were too many demonic beasts on this battlefield. There were so many of them that they couldn¡¯t even spare the time to care about the remaining Grade 1 demonic beast, which was the biggest threat of them all. Alicia was the only one that could fight against the Melting Dragon. Although she did be much stronger after being enlightened into the Domain, she still doubted if she could defeat the Grade 1 demonic beast, Melting Dragon, by herself without relying on Domain Severance. ¨C Kuraaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! It was then. A powerful roar bounced across the walls of the building and resonated sonorously, which momentarily gathered the eyes of everyone present. ¡°D, Doggo?¡± A huge dog of blood that reached 2 meters in height jumped onto the Melting Dragon. ¡°Kukakakakakkk!!¡± Doggo repeatedly smacked the Melting Dragon with a loud roar but its scales were inexplicably tough. As if trying to chase out an annoying bug, the snake tossed and turned in order to drop Doggo. ¡°Sieeee!¡± The snake hissed while opening its mouth. The acid of a Melting Dragon was about to soar out of its throat. Even a magic organism like Doggo would melt immediately if he was to be hit by that acid head-first. ¡°Run away!¡± ?Singr Sword of Arden, Soaring Heavens? Jumping into the air, Alicia attacked the head of the Melting Dragon as fast as a lightning bolt. The fake dragon¡¯s head plummeted into the ground as the acid powerlessly flowed out of its mouth. ¡°Doggo! Now!¡± Doggo kicked off the ground. Like a magic bullet, he started a destructive march that he once used when trying to crush Korin to pieces. His form resembled a rampaging train with broken brakes. The moment he kicked off the stone floors of theboratory and sped through the air, the Melting Dragon opened its mouth in an attempt to swallow Doggo as a whole. ¡°Haht! That¡¯s dangero¡­?!¡± ¨C Kaduk! They collided. In the blink of an eye, the venomous fangs of the Melting Dragon were crushed¡ª ¨C Kaduk! Kadududuk?! And it was followed by the sound of the inner flesh being torn to pieces. ¨C Rip! Chieeeek! Soon, Doggo raced out of the snake¡¯s tail along with the explosion of the snake¡¯s inner organs. ¡°Awooooooooooooooo¡­!!¡± Drenched in blood and organs of the Melting Dragon, Doggo raised a scream of victory. ¡°No-one¡­ is normal.¡± Honestly, Alicia even pondered if it was alright for her to be here or not. ¨C Jiiing! That was when the dimensions opened in the middle of theboratory ¨C Alicia knew what this spell was. ¡°P, Professor Josephine?¡± It seemed that the master of dimensional spells, Professor Josephine, had finally arrived at theboratory. Lady Josephine soon showed herself from the portal, and the good news was she wasn¡¯t the only reinforcement. ¡°Woah~. Looks like everyone¡¯s doing fine.¡± Korin Lork. He, who should be out of the city for the grade reassessment, arrived along with Josephine. ¡°M, Mr. K, Korin-?!¡± Alicia knew he would be back before everything was over, but she definitely wasn¡¯t expecting him to arrive like this so she widened her eyes in surprise. ¡°How did you meet Professor Josephine?¡± ¡°Tell me the situation before that. Where¡¯s the boar?¡± ¡°Ah! Senior Marie is holding it back for now! We have to help but¡­!¡± Alicia turned to Marie who was keeping the demon boar busy with Blood Realm in the middle of one of the rooms of the building. What she saw next were hundreds of demonic beasts camping outside the barrier. They were waiting as if they would pounce at Marie immediately once the Realm was gone. It seemed nigh impossible to approach her through that horde of monsters. ¡°King Tyrant should be alright now. And Melting Dragon¡­ what did you even do to that guy?¡± ¨C Woof! Doggo gave a fierce bark and showed off his achievement. ¡°What¡¯s your n, Korin Lork? Should I throw you into the barrier with my magic?¡± asked Josephine. Her idea was very reasonable. Even though she was a semi-Unique Grade mage and was immeasurably strong, even she couldn¡¯t defeat hundreds of rampant demonic beasts in an instant in an underground setting. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Miss, you can just help us defeat the demon boar.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Instead of replying to her question, Korin responded with his actions. Raising the Silver Spear, he tapped the ground once. ¨C Hwaaaaa, hwaaaaaaaaakk¡ª¡ª!!!! In that instant, astonishing mes started to rise from everywhere. The hundreds of demonic beasts that were pushing the guardians back suddenly started being scorched with ck smoke leaving their bodies. ¡°Are they being¡­ scorched from the inside?¡± ¨C Hwaaak! Hwaaaaaaaa! ¨C Squeakkk! Quackkk! Kuwooooo! mes started rising from the ¡®undigested stones¡¯ that were inside the bodies of the demonic beasts. Like white phosphorus, they simultaneously began to burn. The synchronized screams of countless monsters including Fang Boars were so noisy that even Professor Josephine turned dizzy from it. ¡°Resonant activation of the Silver Spear. With enough time and tenacity, you can even do things like this.¡± Korin¡¯s lips curled up as he gazed down at the burning demonic beasts. A?vance? ch?pters ?vable on our s¨ªt? Chapter 51: King of the Iron Mountains (7) ? King of Iron Mountain (7) ? ¡°Gulp¡­¡± Professor Deina of the Magic Department gasped while watching the scene unravel before her eyes. Let alone historians and guardians, everyone regardless of gender and age would have imagined something like this if they had read about the great legends and the myths of the old times. Unique Grades. What would happen if the historical legends ¨C those immeasurable monsters ¨C were to fight against each other? ?Combination Spell ¨C Snow Flower? ??? ¨C Thurisaz Fehu? The absolute zero coldness that threatened to freeze everything in existence was swallowed by the exploding heat of mana. Their mana output was in a whole different league. Their fight was beyond the realms of humanprehension. Even though the two Unique Grade demons were casually using these spells as if it was nothing, those spells were like a tempest of destruction. If not for the that separated everything with a barrier that only allowed herself and her familiar to cross it, the aftermath of their fight would have reached the entire building. Professor Deina was shocked by how each of their spells were powerful enough to easily destroy an entire floor of this building, and was relieved by the fact that it wasn¡¯t leaving the Realm. That was Unique Grade. The legendary great demon, King of Iron Mountain. Elder-rank vampire, Marie Dunareff. ???????????¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C!! The monster charged forward. The four-legged beast weighing 60 tonnes left an afterimage behind its path as it marched towards its enemy with gleaming fangs. Even though it had simply kicked off the ground, the resulting gust was destructive in itself. ?Multi-Shield: Blood Snow Barrier Fortress? The originalbination spell, Multi-Shield, which was formed by freezing moisture, was supplemented with the blood of a vampire. It was truly as tough as a fortress but it wasn¡¯t enough to stop the demonic boar. ¨C Kwaaaaaaaaang!! One strike made the Blood Snow Barrier Fortress crumble to pieces. Even after destroying those tough fortress walls, the demon boar did not stop advancing forward. ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± It seemed that even the girl with water-colored hair wasn¡¯t expecting the monster to break through one of her strongest defense skills this easily, and gave a frown. ¡°¡­!!¡± Right as the boar was about to collide with her, Marie¡¯s body vanished from sight. ¡°¡­¡± Using its insane dynamic vision, the demon boar¡¯s gaze chased after her body and realized that it was a crimson dog that moved its foe away from its path. ¡°Doggo?¡± ¡®What about the outside?¡¯ Before asking that question, Marie instinctively looked outside and noticed that theboratory was being splendidly burned down. ¡°Korin¡¯s finally here.¡± There was something Korin had requested of her while exining his n. It was to feed a thousand pebbles and stones to the demonic beasts of theboratory. Of course, those weren¡¯t normal pebbles and they were stones that had the rune letter, ¡®Kenaz¡¯ engraved on them. The n was to feed those stones to the demonic beasts under the pretext that it was safer for her to feed them, and use Resonant Rune Activation to kill them all at once. This disastrous scene of the burningboratory was the result of that n. Higher-level demonic beasts like Grade 2 and semi-Grade 1 were able to withstand the attack somehow, but lower-grade demonic beasts were immediately scorched to death by the mes rising up from their innards. That meant that most of the monsters outside that were keeping everyone busy had been dealt with. ¡°Krrhh¡­!¡± At a corner of the Blood Realm, Doggo dropped Marie back down on the ground. Watching from outside the barrier next to them was Korin. ¡°Korin!¡± ¡°Thank you for your hard work, Senior.¡± ¡°I did my best!¡± ¡°Everything became a lot easier thanks to your help. Can you open this for us?¡± Only Marie and her familiar were able to enter and exit out of the Blood Realm. That wasmon sense but there was an exception. ¡°You can juste in, Korin.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± In response, Korin reached forward with his hand as it easily passed through the barrier made of blood. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± ¡°You are always wee, Korin!¡± ¡°Ohh~¡± Korin walked back and forth out of the Blood Realm as if it was an interesting experience, but he soon stopped and opened his mouth. ¡°Can you still remove this for us though? Because we need to kill that guy.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Marie removed the Blood Realm in an instant without any hesitation. That was when the heavy thud of something falling down quaked the entireboratory. ¨C Kuwwoooooo¡­! Therge body of the King Tyrant fell on the ground with a remorseful roar. Standing on that body and dering its victory was an enormous golem. ¡°N, nice! We did it!¡± ¡°Defeating a Grade 1 demonic beast as two people¡­ We got lucky!¡± One by one, the named characters gathered together. Golem Mage, Kranel Luden. Druid of the Avelorn Forest, Yuel. Mercenary of Flying Swords, Dorron Warsky. Domain Wielder, Alicia Arden. Unique Grade Vampire, Marie Dunareff. The party was far beyond being simply good and was even extravagant, but they were still unsure of victory because the enemy was a great monster that befit its notorious fame. And besides¡­ ¨C Grrhh¡­ ¨C Kiyaaa¡ª¨C The stronger demonic beasts that survived through Korin¡¯s Resonant Rune Activation slowly gathered to form an army. Those monsters that should have been fighting recklessly without any order or cooperation had gathered under the single g of a Unique Grade. They were about 30 in numbers. Fighting against 30 Grade 2 monsters at once was already a tough task and yet behind them, there was even the Unique Grade demonic boar. ¡°Krrrh¡­!¡± A short howl echoed from the boar followed by Marie¡¯s immediate shout. ¡°Everyone, scatter!¡± Everyone reacted fast. Both knights and mages instinctively sensed danger and retreated. The only ones that did not listen to her advice ¨C the demonic beasts ¨C were caught up by the relentless march of the boar. ¨C Kaduduk! ¨C Pabak! A tyrant. The charge of the sole king that destroyed everything it touched like the des of a blender had no regard for allies. Its march that ripped everything into shreds without caring about the demonic beasts under its path reminded one of the poem from 80 years ago that was sung by a bard describing the tyrant. King of Iron Mountain requires no minion. Before him there can be no safe bastion, For the king has no mercy for you all. Run, o foolish mortals. We cannot stall. Herees the tyrant to devour them all. ¡°Luden Warrior!¡± In order to fight against the enormous boar that was charging in a straight line, the Junk Golem started dashing forward. ¡°You idiot. You can¡¯t go head-to-head against that!¡± Korin¡¯s shout was buried under the crushing footsteps of the golem. The siege golem had proven its strength by defeating the King Tyrant. Its destructiveness was marvelous, even more so after receiving the enhancement of a druid. Even a Unique Grade shouldn¡¯t be unscathed after being kicked by this giant from the front. ?Forced Explosion of Elemental Core x 7: Flying Knee Kick? ¡°GOOOOOO!!¡± The powerful kick was made by sacrificing most of the elemental cores that were left behind in its body. Even a Unique Grade demon boar would get injured if it received such an attack to its skull! ¨C Kajik! The marching demon boar collided against the leg of the golem. The result was very obvious. ¨C Pang! The leg of the Junk Golem, which was made bybining the remains of golems that weighed tens of tonnes, crumbled in an instant. Like a balloon, it popped and vanished when it reached the boar. ¡°This can¡¯t be¡­!¡± Kranel and Yuel were greatly astonished. They probably weren¡¯t expecting the strongest knee kick under Yuel¡¯s greatest support to be crushed this easily. ¡°Kranel, hold onto it as much as you can! You need tost 30 seconds at least! Go!!¡± ¡°Eeeek¡­!¡± He hurriedly started moving the Junk Golem. Holding onto the demon boar that did not even slow down after destroying one of the golem¡¯s legs, he tried his hardest to slow down the monster. ¡°Yuel! Grow your nts! You must hold it back somehow!¡± ¡°You make it sound easy!¡± Despite shouting back, Yuel followed the order given by the party leader. She wrote an Ogham letter through her staff. Using the profound abilities of a druid, she grew nts from the literal bottom pits of nature. ¡°Dorron! Attack the sides! Don¡¯t use the maic and the heavy iron sword! Focus all your mana on the lightning and fire spirit swords and go as fancy as you can to grab its attention!¡± ¡°Those two swords require a lot of mana. I won¡¯t evenst 3 minutes if I use them in full scale. Is that still okay?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. That¡¯s all you need to do. Explode your swords at the end if you need to. The important thing is to deal as much damage as possible using your magic swords.¡± ¡°What a cold thing to say, Boss.¡± He grumbled but still followed Korin¡¯smand, because Korin had never given a wrong order as a party leader. A strategist that raises the best and safest options in a timely manner ¨C there was no reason for him to disobey as a mercenary. ¨C Kwaaaang! Large nts shot out of the ground. The huge bean sprouts that were amplified by the secret skills of a druid reached out at the demon boar in order to stop the giant monster. After losing both of its legs, the Junk Golem clinged onto the boar using its arms and its weight. Thanks to that, the demonic boar had been slowed down a fair bit. ¨C Duruk! Creak! ¨C Rip! Kajik! However, the boar was still moving forward. The golem weighing tens of tonnes was being dragged along the ground, while the huge vines were being ripped without being able to stop the monster in its tracks. ¡°¡­Are you serious?¡± ¡°How is this even possible¡­¡± This was a Unique Grade. A monster that couldn¡¯t be measured by human standards. Something incredibly different from people. ¡°It¡¯s going to use it soon,¡± muttered Korin. ¡ºPrimal Rune ¨C ¨®¡» That was when the hairs of the boar turned red. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°W, wait? What?¡± The demon boar simply walked out ignoring the nts and the golem that were holding onto its legs. As if they weren¡¯t fully wrapped around in the first ce, it naturally walked out. ¡°Dorron!¡± ¡°I know!¡± The mercenary¡¯s swords started to dance. The sword of fire and the sword of lightning. Those weapons had been upgraded into having the best Grade 1 magic stones that he received as reward from the Academy after Marie Dunareff¡¯s incident. His swords were truly remarkable. Bolts of lightning danced around with tall mes to sear both sides of the boar. ¡ºPrimal Rune ¨C ¨®¡» This time, the hairs of the monster started turning into blue. The swords of me and lightning reached the demonic boar after its hairs finished turning blue. ¡°What?¡± Dorron felt nothing. Although he was flying the swords around with telekinesis, he was the one controlling them. He should be feeling some type of collision if they were toe into contact with something. However, he didn¡¯t feel anything just then as if he had shed through thin air. ¡°Korin!¡± ¡°Yes, I know. Send Doggo forward.¡± Only Marie, who had been fighting against the King of Iron Mountain until now, was able to understand what was going on. ¡°Doggo!¡± The familiar of blood heeded to the call of its owner and marched forward. Its destructive vigor was by no means less than that of therge monster. ¨C Kung! Relying on pure speed, the blood dog pounced forward. After being hit by the dog that was even faster than the speed of sound, the demon boar¡¯s body wobbled for the first time. ¡°Krrh¡­!¡± ¡°It worked?!¡± The party members cheered out loud, thinking that they had finally managed tond a meaningful strike. The Primal Rune that was swallowed by the demon boar ¨C the statement that ¡®Paradise exists¡¯ and the power that stemmed from it was like a y on words. ¡°In order to kill the King of Iron Mountain, there needs to be both physical and magic attacks. It¡¯s quite amon pattern.¡± Prime. The 8 letters required to head into Paradise. As something that existed but not anymore, the Paradise gave out iplete notions of power. In the case of the demon boar, the notion was that Paradise existed. This concept was realized in but in an imperfect way that had two conditions. Red hair gaveplete resistance to physical attacks. Blue hair gaveplete resistance to magic attacks. And the gold hair, its final resort was¡­ ¡°Kranel and Yuel. Try your best to hold it back as much as you can. If it slips out of your grip, do it again. Dorron, attack from medium-range. Alicia and I will be waiting for our turn at the back.¡± ¡°Korin, what about me?¡± Marie asked. ¡°Leave all the attacks to Doggo. Wait until I give you other orders.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡°Everyone. Do not worry about whates next. This is a fight for our lives and the result will be decided shortly. Pour out everything you have and we will win.¡± All the guardians present were lost for words. They were shocked to see someone who was sure of victory even in the face of a legendary opponent with such absurd abilities. ???????????¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C!! A roar that seemed to be knocking on the world sonorously echoed across the building as therge body of the King of Iron Mountain started to move again. ¡ª¡ª¨C!! Following its shout was another simple charge, but there was no-one here who did not know of how destructive and powerful its attack was. ¡°Yuel! Kranel!¡± The Junk Golem with no legs and the half-crushedrge nts pounced at the monster. Rather than an attack, it was closer to a grappling move. ¡°!!!¡± Those annoying things started to slow it down again, so the demon boar immediately changed its hairs to red. ¡°Uhht?!¡± ¡°It ran away!¡± As soon as the hairs changed its color, the arms of the golem and the nts ended up slipping out as if they couldn¡¯t evene into contact with the demon boar. ¡°Dorron.¡± The lightning spirit sword and the fire spirit sword started to dance and struck down at its sides as if it had been waiting. Due to the magic stones inside and Dorron¡¯s skills, the mes and lightning bolts of these swords were on a simr level to the high-grade spells of mages. However, the boar started turning its hairs to blue and escaped from his attacks again. That was when¡­ ¡°Gyaaooo!!¡± It was the same pattern as before ¨C Doggo threw its body at a rapid speed and marched in at the side of the demon boar as soon as it started changing its hairs to blue. ¨C Kung! The power behind the attack was enough to send its onlookers shivering but Doggo realized that something was different after marching at it. ¡°¡­?!¡± The color of the hairs hadn¡¯t changed ¨C the monster had stopped changing the color of its hair in the middle, and they were still red. A feint. Showing its change to the magic-resistant blue hairs was a trick to attract Doggo, who was proving to be the most threatening foe. ¨C Smirk. The old and great monster of the past gazed down at the young beast. At the same time, its fangs gleamed in gold. ??? ¨C Thurisaz Fehu? ¨C Kwang! Those runes destroyed everything nearby and that destructive light sent Doggo flying. ¡°Doggo!¡± ¡°Senior. Retrieve your familiar. Use Blood Spear.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Marie regained her temper after hearing Korin call her from the side. She retrieved Doggo who was starting to lose his shape after being crushed. It was possible to resummon him after sufficiently replenishing blood and mana but she didn¡¯t have enough blood to do that right now. ?Blood Spear? She created dozens of Blood Spears in the air. After being amplified by her specialty, those spears were several times stronger than normal medium-grade spells. ¡°Blow it away!¡± Without even bothering to dodge the attack, the demon boar dashed into the tempest of spears. Its hairs turned blue. Despite ignoring Dorron¡¯s swords like it was nothing, the boar used its Primal Rune to fight against Marie¡¯s attacks. Its first priority now was Marie Dunareff. ¨C Kagagang! The spears began to break immediately upon contact with the boar without leaving a single wound on its body. The boar and Marie were now less than 10 meters apart. Marie still had more than enough mana. She could continue pouring out newly-created Blood Spears for hours without an end. The only issue was that the enemy wasn¡¯t keen on giving her the time to use all her mana. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± ¨C Thud! The spearman kicked off the ground, making everyone doubt their eyes. No-one was expecting there to be a fool who would charge back at the march of the demon boar. He jumped into the air, but was still in the path of the boar. In the middle of the air, in a situation where he might lose his body without even having the time tond back down on the ground, he bent his back like a bowstring and¡­ ?Crumbling Mountain: Secret Arts ? ?One Strike One Shot: Thunderous Strike? He used the strongest ability of a spearman. ¡°¡­¡­?!!¡± The demon boar that was holding off against Marie¡¯s magic bombardment with its blue Primal Rune was flustered by the unexpected yet destructive attack. That single strike was even stronger than the bombardment used by a Unique Grade mage. Seeing that iing spear, the demon boar immediately realized that the attack had the power to leave a massive wound on its body. Did it have to change to red hair? As the boar quickly elerated its thoughts, it spotted the vampire pointing the staff at its body in its slow perception of the world. Mana was gathering at the tip of the staff. Even though she was already creating tens and hundreds of Blood Spears, she was casting another spell on top which was in a different league to what she had used thus far. The boar immediately noticed what their n was. As soon as it changed its hairs to red in order to avoid the tossed spear, it would be swallowed by that massive spell. It was bound to receive arge amount of damage no matter what happened. ¡ºPrimal Rune ¨C ¨®¡» What would the monster choose? What did it choose to allow, and what did it choose to resist? ¡°Huh¡­?¡± The first one to let out a stupified gasp was Kranel, who had been controlling the golem. He was appalled after seeing the change that started from the butt of the demon boar. After him were Dorron and Yuel, who were likewise flustered upon seeing the new color of the boar. ¡°¡­¡­Gold?¡± Right. Gold. Covering the lofty King of Iron Mountain was neither blue nor red, but was the lustrous sheen of gold. ¨C Kang! The spear bounced off. Unable to do any damage, the silver spear powerlessly bounced off the body of the boar, and the same was with the countless Blood Spears that were being poured on the monster. Golden hair. Its ability was purely absurd ¨Cplete resistance to both Physical and Magic damage. The king grinned. Satisfied, it contorted its lips. As always, the battle was decided by thest resort that it had been hiding from everyone¡¯s sight ¨C the ability that made it invincible for 5 minutes. No-one was able to fight against the king in front of this power. ¡°Alicia.¡± But the king¡¯s vanitysted only a second. Next to where the spearmannded ¨C 10 steps in front of the boar ¨C was a swordsman with bent knees and a lowered head. Amidst the confusion of theboratory caused by everything being crushed, destroyed and crumbled was a swordsman keeping her calm like the tranquil ocean. The king looked at her. They were only 10 meters away. It would take 0.5 seconds for its current unstoppable march to reach her; another 0.5 seconds for its fangs to prate through her stomach, and 0.5 more seconds for it to be trampled on the ground after being shredded into pieces in the air. Overall, it should take less than 1.5 seconds. The opponent was just a feeble and tiny human that should be gone in less than 1.5 seconds. That should be it but if so¡­ why was the swordsman making the king feel this uneasy and vignt? The king¡¯s instincts and its speed were iparably fast, But its judgment and its change of ns were slow. ?Singr Sword of Arden¡ª Facing off against the boar that was hundreds of times heavier than herself, the girl unsheathed the Demon-ying Sword. ¡ªDomain Severance.? Sheek. The sword cleaved the dimension. As the colossal body of the boar came crashing down. **** The boar fell while sttering its blood everywhere. I was probably the only one who saw what happened in that short decisive moment. Everyone who hadn¡¯t been able to see her entry to the Domain and her sh inside the Domain doubted the scene before their eyes. Alicia herself was barely holding onto her sword with her shivering right arm. That was probably the strongest strike she had ever pulled off in her entire life. ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± I supported Alicia who was about to powerlessly fall to the side. It was verymendable that she was still holding onto the sword despite her condition. ¡°I, is it dead?¡± Alicia asked me to confirm whether she had been able to deal the final blow to the monster or not. ¡°Not yet.¡± She sent an astonished gaze at the fallen beast. Even after being hit by her strongest attack, the demon boar was still alive. Golden hair. Thest phase of King of Iron Mountain, the demonic boar of the Dingle Penins, was where the final boss became invincible for 5 minutes. It was truly a disgusting mechanic but there existed a secret way around this phase. And that was none other than Domain Severance. Domain Severance was like a killing move in a suspended world, but it had another effect in the game. 100% Physical and Magic Pration. The reason why Alicia Arden was the strongest counter to all the boss characters who loved having a bunch of physical or magic resistances was simple. There was nothing in the world that could block her sword strike when she was staring into the gap between dimensions through her Eyes of the Boundary. The normal way to go through thatst phase was by running around for 5 minutes from that demon boar but Alicia could defeat it in one strike. Her strongest attack as a result of thebination of the Domain and the Eyes of the Boundary were exceptionally overpowered. There was a reason why she was called the True Alicia after her scenario quest. ¡°As expected, one well-nurtured Alicia¡­ is way better than 10 people~¡± ¡°W, what are you talking about?! More importantly, is it okay to leave that monster like that? Isn¡¯t it going to run around again?¡± Even after being shed by Alicia¡¯s secret move, the boar was still alive. That was natural considering the sheer amount of HP it had. ¡°No. It¡¯s about time for Lady Josephine to get to work.¡± ¨C Swish! It was then. As soon as I finished saying that, a grandiose magic circle appeared at the ceiling. ¡°W, what is that?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the repaired version of the broken grand magic circle¡­¡± I had asked Lady Josephine to repair the grand magic circle of theboratory while we were stopping the boar. That was the normal approach to the boss fight back in the game as well. ¡°She finished repairing it that fast?¡± Everyone seemed surprised by the works of the great witch, but this wasn¡¯t the end just yet. ¡°The golden hair pattern is a strong ability, but it can¡¯t use the Primal Rune again for some time after that¡¯s over.¡± In other words, now was the only chance to kill the demonic boar. It was very rare to even get a chance to kill someone or something that contained a Primal Rune. We would gang up against the monster together in the original game to barely beat it but¡­ we had a Unique Grade mage in our hands. ¡°Senior Marie.¡± ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± Marie started using her grand spells against the demon boar that was powerlessly being pushed down by the magic circle of suppression. The spell of pure destruction of a Unique Grade vampire was exceptional. Several members of our party that recognized the intensity of her attack immediately retreated to the stairs in a hurry. ¡°Professor Josephine! I leave this building in your hands! It¡¯s all you!¡± [¡­Damn it.] A rare profanity left the mouth of Lady Josephine. After gathering all the energy inside theboratory that came from the leylines, the great mage started using her spell and¡ª ¡°Goodbye.¡± ?Grand Magic of Blood ¨C Pure Crimson Spear? The spear of the strongest output that she had been building over time struck down to kill the King of Iron Mountain. The nightmare from 80 years ago. The Killer of Heroes. During thest moments of the demonic boar of the Dingle Penins¡­ The spearman did not miss the Primal light that shot out of the crumbling body of the monster. **** ¨C Kugugung! The empty plot ofnd behind theboratory ¨C that barrennd with no passersby ¨C echoed with the sound of a mechanism as a path appeared out of nowhere. A man was walking out of that secret passage which should only be known by two people of the Academy. In his hand was a well-polished magic stone. The letter engraved on that was the Primal Rune [¨®], the rune swallowed by the demon boar which was the root cause of this incident. Primal Rune. The eight letters leading to the Paradise. They were the remnants of the divine ages of gods in the past that could not be broken by anything in the world, but it was possible for the ¡®rune stones¡¯ that served as the shell to break at times. 88 years ago, that rune stone had been swallowed by one of the boars of the Dingle Penins. Because it just happened to give semi-immortality to its owner, no-one had been able to take it out of the monster until now. But today, the unsealed demon boar was subjugated and the rune stone in its body ended up breaking. Where would the Primal Rune go after losing its shell? The answer was simple. After roaming the air and finding the closest rune stone, it wouldnd inside it, and the closest rune stone this time was the one being held by the man who was hiding nearby. He had finally achieved his goal. It was a joyous event after 10 years of hard work, which he had been aiming for ever since he first infiltrated into this Academy following themand of his master. ¨C Has everyone evacuated from the building? ¨C There are still some monstersing out of the entrance! Kill them! ¨C Don¡¯t let any of theme out! Everyone was focused on the entrance of the building, which was on theplete opposite side of the empty plot ofnd. The man simply had to leave this secret passage and leave both the Academy and the city. ¡°That wasn¡¯t very difficult.¡± The monster had been defeated with more ease than he expected considering its fame as the King of Iron Mountain, but that made sense because it had been sealed for over 80 years. The man with afro-hair walked out of the opened doors of the secret passage out of theboratory, and walked onto the empty plot ofnd behind the building. For some unknown reason, at the center of thend were traces of a campfire and¡­ a log chair which was being upied by a man. The man sitting on the chair was a famous freshman who was known by everyone in the Academy ¨C the Grade 5 Knight whom he had intentionally sent outside the city during this time. Surrounded by a cold and sharp breeze, the man gazed back with a wild sneer on his face. Korin Lork. Grade 5 Knight. An irregr who defeated the Unique Grade vampire Marie Dunareff, as well as the great demon, King of Iron Mountain. ¡°How is my Senior Brother Valtazar doing? My dear nephew Fermack?¡± He greeted the long-awaited ¡®King¡¯s Subject¡¯, Fermack Daman. Advanced ch?pters avable on our s¨ªte, ¨ªllustrations on our d¨ªscord You can rate this serieshere. Chapter 52: Finishing Touch (1) ? Finishing Touch (1) ? ¡°How is my Senior Brother Valtazar doing? My dear nephew Fermack?¡± ¡°Nephew¡­?¡± Fermack was probably suspecting that I was a ¡®martial brother¡¯ of his that he wasn¡¯t aware of but¡­ ¡°You¡¯re the disciple of the renounced disciple of my master, so that makes me your uncle. Come show your respects to your elder.¡± ¡°Uncle¡­? Don¡¯t tell me!¡± He seemed to have finally noticed who I was. ¡°That can¡¯t be! That woman shouldn¡¯t be able to leave the ¡®Pce¡¯ right now! How could she possibly take in another disciple?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like you need to believe me.¡± His decision after seeing me use the same spearmanship as his master was very wise. From Fermack¡¯s knowledge, his master should be the only spearman out there who used ¡®Six Ways of the Spear¡¯ to reach the ¡®Void¡¯. Therefore, judging from what I showed him, it should have been highly likely for me to be that man¡¯s disciple. But why would his master not tell Fermack about another direct disciple even though he was here for a mission that was given by him? As a traitor¡­ or rather as a subject of the ¡®King of Paradise¡¯, what would have been the right call for Fermack Daman?
  1. Ignore.
  1. Ask for help.
Ignoring was the safer option. Even after ignoring me here, he could still reveal his identity at ater date. Asking for help was a foolish choice, because one Rune Mage was more than enough for this n. He didn¡¯t even need to receive my help for this n, and what if I didn¡¯t have the same master as him? What if I was antagonistic, and what if I had nothing to do with them? Instead of bearing the risk, he decided to ignore me. On top of that, Fermack added a clever move. He sent me outside the city using the ¡®reassessment of a Grade 5 Knight who performed well against Lunia Arden¡¯ as the excuse. The subjugation of a semi-Grade 1 demonic beast and spirit would normally take a week or two at the very least. Considering the time it takes to travel back and forth, I wouldn¡¯t have been able toe back before it was over. Meanwhile, he could create a ruckus with the ¡®King of Iron Mountain¡¯ incident and escape after the whole thing was over. My identity was something he could ask his master and king at ater date. He probably wasn¡¯t expecting me to return using a long-distance dimensional travel through Lady Josephine¡¯s marker. ¡°Professor Deina¡¯s experiment and Senior Marie¡¯s incident were great events for you, right? Because you have been waiting for the right opportunity.¡± The boss of the 1st Arc, Marie Dunareff¡¯s incident was a coincidental ident whereas the outbreak of the 2nd Arc¡¯s boss, King of Iron Mountain, was a thoroughly devised n. One of the key requirements of the 2nd Arc¡¯s boss fight were the questions about Eriu Casarr¡¯s right as the chairman, which was triggered by Marie¡¯s incident. In this iteration, it was substituted by questions about Marie¡¯s safety and security issues but the important part here was ¡®Chairman Eriu Casarr¡¯s absence at the Academy¡¯. The absence of the ¡®Primal Guardian¡¯ that was created with the strongest ¡®rune stone¡¯ must have been the best opportunity for Fermack, who had been waiting for it for over 10 years. ¡°You are not going back with that ¡®Primal Rune¡¯.¡± ¡°!!!¡± Fermack¡¯s eyes widened behind his sunsses. That wasn¡¯t something a mere student should be aware of, and the only ones that knew about it were his master and¡­ ¡°Did Josephine¡­ No, that can¡¯t be right.¡± If the ¡®guardians¡¯ were aware of his existence, they wouldn¡¯t have watched this happen in the first ce. I could sense his confusion from the torrent of undecipherable information. A normal viin would have gone, ¡®Who are you!¡¯ and lingered on the topic but¡­ ¡°I see. So you¡¯re my enemy, huh.¡± He concluded it with that one sentence. ¡°Yes. I am your enemy.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Fermack Daman. The real mastermind behind this incident, who lifted the seals cast on the final boss of the 2nd Arc, ¡®King of Iron Mountain¡¯, that wouldter appear with the ¡®King of Paradise¡¯ as one of his 4 attendants. He was known as a famous Grade 1 Knight in the world, but no. At the very least, he was a semi-Unique Grade just like Lunia Arden and had the potential to reach the power of a Unique Grade after meeting certain conditions. ¡°¡­¡± It was such a distant past¡­ Actually, it wasn¡¯t even that far back, because it was 1 year ago before the end of thest iteration. This guy did the same thingst time, and reappearedter to kill arge number of myrades and innocent people. Everything was for the Advent of Paradise ¨C for that stupid ambition of theirs. When I first met him at the grading test in this iteration, I had vowed to myself that I would kill him without fail. ¡°Looks like you have gotten overly arrogant from all thepliments of your peers. Do you think you¡¯ll have a chance against me?¡± Fermack Daman was the first one to move. ¡°Arise, my shadow.¡± ?Shadow Servant? A clone stood up from within his shadow and created another version of him. That was his specialty. It doubled the user¡¯s attacks as long as there was shadow nearby so it was a wondrously powerful ability when paired up with boxing. ¡°It will be over in no time.¡± Fermack gave an arrogant deration but¡­ there was a reason why I had chosen this ce as the battlefield. ¨C Crack! Rip! Kajijik! The created clone suddenly fluctuated before dissipating due to the radiant light of the sun. ¡°Sowilo¡­!¡± ¡°The natural counter to shadow-type moves. You already know the biggest weakness of your skill right?¡± It might be obvious but shadow-type skills required shadow in the first ce. Like how water-attributed spells required moisture and fire-attributed spells required oxygen, everything had a necessary cost and a procedure whether it be a specialty or an elemental spell. ¡°¡­¡± Fermack avoided the rune of the sun that was eliminating his shadow and took a step to the side. ¨C Pajik! However, there was another rune of the sun in that ce. He realized something after noticing that his shadow had been removed once again by the same rune. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­ you covered this entire area with Sowilo?¡± ¡°It was quite tough actually. I spent 20 days engraving sr runes all across this ce. It was a lot of work but I had a lot of spare mana these days you see.¡± While boiling the Mandrake decoction as well as when we were practicing spearmanship for the group assignment, all the way until I had to leave for the grading test, I was practically living in this plot ofnd. I had been preparing for this battle in this inhabitednd, that had no passersby and a secret passage leading to the basement of theboratory, before anyone else. This was a brutal stage set just to counter Fermack Daman. ¡°¡­¡± ¡®Damn it¡¯ ¨C that¡¯s what his gaze told me. He must be quite annoyed by the fact that his Shadow Servant had been deactivated, after requiring so much mana to activate, by such a simple and elementary rune. ¡°You damn coward¡­¡± ¡°You mean organized.¡± ¡°I do admit you have perseverance but¡­¡± ? ¡ª Raidho He closed the distance in an instant. 10 meters ¨C it wasn¡¯t a super long distance by any means, but it was a distance that still required some time to travel. However, Fermack¡¯s supersonic movement happened like a sh, where the distance between him and his foe became smaller like it was folded, and did not seem like a simple sprint. I moved my spear to meet the lightning-fast fist. ¨C Pabak! ¡°??!¡± But the spear ended up cutting nothing. His body vanished like it blinked out of sight. He had already elerated next to my body and was swinging his fist at my side. ?Southpaw Jet Boost? ?Eight Trigrams ¨C Fleeting Body? ¨C Vuung! My feet moved following the profound wisdoms of Eight Trigrams and slid across as Fermack¡¯s punch failed to reach anything. ¡°Hoh?¡± A consecutive use of Raidho to attack the weakness ¨C it was a decent yet straight-forwardbo. Did he think I wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge that or something? ?Fourth Style, Spinning Heaven? Using my fingers, I started spinning the spear. The spear rotated far and wide and threatened the boxer. ?Full Back? With his lower body in the same ce, Fermack lowered his back to dodge the spear. Relying on his superhuman dynamic vision and perfect calction of distance, he dodged my sudden chain of attacks with the minimal number of movements. ¡°¡­A nice bnce of techniques polished through experience and practice. Very good.¡± ¡°Pretending to be a professor now?¡± ¡°I have been at it for 10 years. It¡¯s something I cannot help.¡± ¡°How about you talk like a frivolous teacher again, huh? Continue doing what you¡¯ve been doing.¡± ¡°You cocky brat.¡± ¡°Whatever you try to do, this will be your graveyard.¡± I proimed while pointing at him with the ambiently glimmering Silver Spear. After hearing my resolve, he also turned serious. He must have decided that I wouldn¡¯t be an easy foe. However, his first goal was to leave this city, because he had to avoid the eyes of people who were assuming he was dead. ¡°It is a shame that we cannot see this through. I will make sure I kill you the next time we meet.¡± That was an obvious decision on his part. If he was seriously keen on running away, no-one would be able to stop him including Lady Josephine the dimensional mage. But I was definitely not going to let that happen. ¨C Thud! Before he could escape using the rune of Raidho, I dered to him. ¡°It is a duel. Fermack Daman.¡± ¡°¡­I have no reason to respond to the duel of someone like you.¡± ¡°Of course you do. Fermack Daman. Because that is the Precept restricting you.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Fermack Daman seemed befuddled after realizing that I even knew about the Precept that was engraved on his body. He had the same Precept as me on his body, and the reason he could reach the power level of a Unique Grade was thanks to the support of his Precept. Precepts were the ways of the great warriors of the Paradise of Shadows ¨C a high-risk high-reward system that allowed you to be a lot stronger. ?I do not refuse duels.? Since he had engraved that as his Restriction, refusing the duel was not an option for Fermack Daman. ¡°Is that¡­ why you came here by yourself?¡± ¡°Because duels must be one-on-one.¡± Right ¨C the reason I came here alone without bringing Lady Josephine or other members of the party was simple. It was because Fermack didn¡¯t need to ept duels when outnumbered. Duels had to be impartial, sacred and¡­ at the same time, it had to be one versus one. Therefore, the only duels that were forced by the Restriction were one-on-one fights. If another person joined the duel, the Precept would grant the Rune Mage a ridiculous amount of power to ovee the situation. Most importantly, Fermack Daman would have immediately run away if he had two or more people as his opponent, because his mission was to retrieve the Primal Rune. But because I was here by myself, and because he had already seen the Rune of Duel Deration¡­ he had no choice but to ept my duel. He would certainly not be willing to bear the risk of going against the Restriction, which he had been keeping for decades. Fermack Daman postured himself and red at me with the eyes of a warrior. In response, I held the Silver Spear in my hands. We both readied ourselves for the duel and following the sacred rules of a duel, we introduced ourselves. ¡°The 1st warrior of Tates Valtazar, the ¡®King of Paradise¡¯, Fermack Daman.¡± ¡°The 1st spear of Erin Danua, the ¡®Queen of Paradise¡¯, Korin Lork.¡± There were only 10 meters in between us. Victory and defeat. That would be the only difference between us two. ¡ºSystem Back-up in Operation. Reviewing the Precept.¡» 1st Precept: Duty ?I will not disregard the misfortune of the good.? ?Rtivity: A+? 2nd Precept: Restriction ?I do not perceive spirits.? ?Support: 50% Additional Damage? 3rd Precept: Pledge ?I will save the world.? ?Fermack Daman ¨C Rtivity: A? ?Support: A+? Aura ¨C { Medium (5,530 + 5,530) } Mana ¨C { Low (4,170 + 4,170) } Strength:> 67 + 67 Agility:> 66 + 66 Vitality:> 68 + 68 Aura:> 64 + 64 Mana:> 64 + 64 ¡ºRegeneration of the Tenacious Warrior¡» ¡ºPain Tolerance¡» ¡ºDomain Comprehension¡» x100% ¡ºAura Core (Medium) ¨C Storing 3,500¡» ¡ºDefeat Fermack Daman, and take a step forward to saving the world. Good luck, Hero Korin Lork.¡» **** Fermack rationally analyzed his opponent. The enemy was someone who had been fighting against Lunia Arden on equal grounds, although momentarily. Besides, his Precepts were also unclear. He was Grade 1 at the very least, and could even be considered a semi-Unique Grade. On the other hand, Korin knew what Fermack¡¯s Precepts were about. At least he knew exactly what his Restriction was. After some time, the uproar will subside and others might surround them. Fermack had to go with a short decisive battle. ¡°It is rather annoying but I will admit it.¡± ¨C I shall use my everything to crush you. Fermack gave an arrogant statement before gathering mana at his fingers to write down runes. [?] ¡ª Tiwaz [?] ¡ª Oth His fingers beneath the gauntlets wrote various letters at a supersonic speed. War and death. The two letters of the Runic alphabet that represented great power were engraved in the air. When he added the rune, [?] ¡ª Inguz and several other letters on top¡­ ?Segment of Paradise, Shadow Fortress? Pitch darkness swallowed the ground, the empty plot ofnd as well as the sky. Something dark began to infiltrate the real world. The fortress covered the sun like a screen and did not allow any light to pervade inside. This fortress that turned the barren plot ofnd more deste than ever, and swallowed it with the deep darkness of the abyss was a portion of the otherworldly Paradise that existed somewhere beyond the dimensional gap. [?] ¡ª Sowilo ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Runes of the sun erupted out in retaliation. However, after the heavy shadows of the huge fortress came to contact with the ground, they weighed down from above with its immense weight, destroyed the runes carved on the ground and spread across endless darkness. A world without a sun. A glimpse into the abandoned Paradise. The fortress of shadows devoured all the nearby light as if it loathed the sun that refused to shed light unto their world. ¡°With your petty skills, you won¡¯t be able to remove this shadow. Your defeat has been decided the moment this fortress arrived here.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Removing the shadow with sr runes. It was a great idea but he probably had no idea about this point of entry into the Paradise, which had only been permitted to the great warriors of the Paradise. ¨C Grrrhhh¡­! ¨C Kyaoooh¡­! Demonic beasts of the Shadow Realm crawled into the enclosed fortress. They faced the two infiltrators of the Paradise with endless hostility and hatred. This was a double-edged sword to Fermack ¨C these demonic beasts would attack him as well. However, Fermack was confident because his 3rd Precept, the Pledge ?I will serve the Shadow.? gave him a ridiculous amount of power when inside the Paradise. Now, the only future ahead of Korin Lork was either being ripped to pieces by the demonic beasts of the Paradise of Shadows or being killed by his fists, and yet¡­ ¡°¡­¡± Within the world covered and walled off by the shadows, Fermack, who had be used to darkness due to wearing sunsses all the time, spotted a grin on Korin¡¯s lips. ¡°Right. I knew you would use this when you¡¯re in a rush.¡± Korin scavenged through the bag which had been on him from the start, and took out something from inside that was covered with ¡®dirt¡¯. ¨C Flop! ¡°¡­Kieee?¡± The nt that looked like a human gave out an adorable gasp. It was radiating in bright gold despite being inside the Paradise of Shadows. Korin¡¯s lips curled up with a haughty light. He was smiling. Countless runes carved on the ground; an empty plot ofnd; and Fermack¡¯s hidden trump card which could nullify any locational disadvantage. There was no way Korin Lork hadn¡¯t been expecting this move from him, and that was why he took out this very item right here and then. Yellow Gold Mandrake. It was the medicinal herb which he did not pluck out despite its astonishing effect ¨C the hidden item that had 7 times the noise and magic damage of a normal Mandrake. KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!!!! The Golden Mandrake howled inside the fortress of shadows which hadnded on the empty plot ofnd. That enclosed structure, which would echo from the softest of whispers, was filled with the scream of a Mandrake. Advanced ch?pters avable on our s¨ªte- Genes¨ªstls, ¨ªllustrations on our d¨ªscord You can rate this series here. Chapter 53: Finishing Touch (2) ? Finishing Touch (2) ? KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!!!! The roar of a Mandrake echoed across the Shadow Fortress. The voice of a Mandrake had sufficient magic damage to kill most demonic beasts in one go. Even normal Mandrakes were like that, let alone the golden one which had 7 times the damage. Hearing the wail of the Golden Mandrake, the demonic beasts of shadow screamed in pain with ruptured eardrums. Even though they were demonic beasts, they still could not hold off against the one and only Epic-ranked Mandrake of this world. Amidst that horrifying noise, the two warriors gazed at each other in silence. ¨C Drip. Blood flowed out of their ears. The Golden Mandrake had heavily impacted the two warriors as well. Although they should have both received a simr amount of damage, Korin Lork said after floating a smile. ¡°Just letting you know, I have a regeneration ability and one that¡¯s called Pain Tolerance.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get used to it over time, but I wonder how long you¡¯llst?¡± ¡®It¡¯s a provocation,¡¯ thought Fermack. Whether Korin was saying the truth or not, it was clear that he was trying to make him feel rushed. What was worse was that he was probably telling the truth. Fermack was one of the few professors who knew about the ins and outs of Marie Dunareff¡¯s incident. The fact that Korin could resist the first blood suction of a vampire made it highly likely that he indeed possessed some type of regeneration ability. He had to escape the city as soon as possible and yet the scream of the Mandrake was harassing him in real time. Plus, the opponent even had a regeneration ability, and if Korin wasn¡¯t lying, that meant he would be getting used to the scream of the Mandrake through Pain Tolerance. It was a very crafty set of actions that forced Fermack Daman to go for a very short, and decisive battle. ¡°I admit it. You have the talent of a schemer.¡± ¡°I told you already. This will be your graveyard.¡± Fermack wondered why Korin had so much hatred and killing intent against him. Even he, who knew about the hidden side of this world, probably wouldn¡¯t even imagine that it was because of his evil deeds of the ¡®previous iteration¡¯. ¡°The subject of the evil king will fall here.¡± ¡°You insolent fool.¡± Fermack charged forward with thepressed eleration of his runes. Korin reacted as soon as his body vanished from sight. Kagang! The outreached fist was blocked by the shaft of the spear. After that, the spear disyed the potential dizziness it could cause through Spinning Heaven. Following his retreat with Full Back, Fermack even had to use the Ducking moves to fall back by two more steps, and ready himself against the iing spear. ?Shadow Mist? Darkness started to form shapes around him. This fortress enveloped in shadows was his spear and shield. ?Ominous Snake: Secret Arts ¨C Distorted March? x [?] ¡ª Sowilo Resonant Activation Three sharp stabs of the Silver Spear, which was still radiantly gleaming within the world of shadows, pierced through the darkness as Fermack widened his eyes into circles. All the darkness of the Shadow Realm protecting Fermack was prated. The three stabs of the spear that suppressed the dimension itself easily sped through his defense and grazed past his cheek. ?Down Ducking? Right as Korin started retrieving the spear, Fermack lowered his head and approached him in the blink of an eye but in response, Korin jumped to the side. That was a foolish move. Did he not know that jumping at a close range was a stupid thing to do that opened him up to a lot of attacks? Fermack waited for him tond back down but it was then. ?Void Spinning Heaven, Turbulent Spear? ¡°¡­?!¡± The fancy trajectory of the spear that turbulently rotated while he was still in mid-air was so dizzying that even Fermack had trouble keeping his vision straight. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± 7 times while he was still in the air ¨C that outrageous consecutive strikesnded on his gauntlets 7 times and made his hands tremble. Korin Lorknded back down in that time frame, but the rebnce after thending required a lot of time. Despite having just recovered the stability of his hands, Fermack charged in tond a few major hits at the cost of potentially receiving some himself. ? ¡ª Raidho x Jet Screw Combination At a supersonic speed he approached Korin. As soon as his first punch was about to reach his unprotected back¡­ ¨C Tung! ?Spinning Heaven: Second Move ¡ª The spear that had been resting next to his foot started an unexpected rotation. Without even looking back, Korin spun the spear behind him using the force of his kick. ¡ª Rotating Demon Spear? He used that trick to fend off against the sudden ambush from behind. ¨C sh! A sh appeared on Fermack¡¯s outstretched arm. The reason he only had a small wound despite being countered at an unexpected timing was all thanks to his superhuman reaction speed. ¡®That almost took my right arm away,¡¯ thought Fermack while throwing a nce at his bleeding arm. It wasn¡¯t a serious wound as of yet, but the injury was bound to get worse the longer this battlested. ¨C Thud! ¨C Pajik! It almost happened at the same time. While the two warriors were collecting their breath after sharing that violent bout, Korin¡¯s left ear and Fermack Daman¡¯s right ear started to bleed profusely as if a dam had been broken. ¨C KIEEEEEEEEEEEE¡ª-!!! The scream of the Mandrake that they had been trying to ignore in the heat of battle had finally ended up rupturing one of their eardrums. ¨C Drip ¨C Drip Due to their damaged semicircr canals, the two of them wobbled a little and required some time to regain their coordination, but that was when the surrounding demonic beasts overcame the scream of the Mandrake to run at the two of them. Ominous Snake. Boost Upper. One strike of theirs was enough to explode their heads and chests. Without paying any attention to the lowly beasts, the two warriors stood face-to-face. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Taking in a deep breath, Fermack collected mana. ?Shadow Servant x 12? Using every bit of mana he had inside him, Fermack summoned arge number of clones. That was only possible because they were in a world covered by thick shadows, but Korin Lork did not let him make use of them. ¨C p! ¡°¡­¡­??¡± Korin suddenly took off his shirt and threw it away, which greatly confused Fermack. His Precepts should be engraved on his bare body ¨C recklessly revealing that was close to asking for death, so why was he suddenly doing that? ¡°¡­?!¡± After turning to his body to have a look at the Precepts that were engraved on top, Fermack couldn¡¯t help but feel appalled at the sight of the engraved runes. [?] ¨C Resonant Activation. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? The sr runes were engraved all across his body. They were giving off a radiant light that chased out the surrounding darkness and at this rate, the Shadow Servants wouldn¡¯t be able to reach him. It seemed that he had prepared everything in his kit just to fight against one warrior who went by the name of Fermack Daman. That persistence was quite terrifying even. ¡°It¡¯s sad to have your skills revealed. Because others cane up with plenty of ways to counter them, right?¡± Even though Korin said that, this particr move was also quite suicidal for the user himself. The rune of the sun wasn¡¯t something that simply emitted light ¨C there was a reason why it was called the rune of the ¡®sun¡¯ and not the ¡®light¡¯. The blinding light and dazzling heat of the divine sun. Carving that all across his body was the same as opening his body up to all that heat. In other words, it meant that his body would be burning throughout the fight until he dispelled the runes. To think he would do something so suicidal just to seal one of the opponent¡¯s abilities¡­! ¡°Crazy. You are truly not sane.¡± ¡°Not as much as you guys, who try to destroy the world for the Advent of Paradise.¡± Korin Lork arrogantly dered. ¡°Let¡¯s stop here with these petty tricks and let our martial skills be the deciding factor of this fight. Don¡¯t try to save up on a bit of power for no reason ande at me with your life on the line.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Receiving his red prating gaze, Fermack loosened his arms, but his face was still tense and frozen stiff with no signs of easing up like his body. He had no choice now but to admit that the warrior before his eyes was a great foe that could only be defeated after him putting everything on the line. Fermack maintained his calm aftering to that conclusion. Calmly and rationally, he settled his impatience and anger. ¡°Hmm.¡± Wind blew across the fortress. There shouldn¡¯t be any natural breezes inside the structure, so it would most certainly be rted to Fermack¡¯s change of attitude. Semi-Unique Grade. The knight who could call himself the subject of the King of Paradise was able to create a wound on the fortress with his overflowing abundance of aura alone. Six Ways ¡ª Shura That was when the air shifted around Fermack. A haze was created by his aura going outside of his body as an intangible aura was covered by a tangible energy. Shura. The explosive emanation of aura that every great warrior of Paradise could use. Its effect was very simple and straight-forward ¨C all of their aura would be substituted to ¡®power¡¯ and ¡®speed¡¯, all the way until they ran out of aura. It was the profound secret of Six Ways that allowed a warrior to focus all of their aura on destruction; to make them a match for thousands with no equal on the, that could deter tens of thousands of people. That was thest resort ability that should only be used as a finisher due to its ridiculous cost of aura, and was one that was impossible to use without a huge amount of aura saved up inside the Aura Core. ?Light Straight? ¨C Kwang! The extended fist resulted in an explosive thud as it crumbled a portion of the fortress. Just froming into contact with the gust of the attack, the Golden Mandrake ended up drawing itsst breath. The Mandrake that had been filling the background noise with its scream died, and the scream was reced by the crumbling roar of the fortress. His attack was on apletely different scale from before. That brutal show of violence was enough to frighten most people but¡­ ¡°Phew~¡± Korin only seemed slightly impressed as he gave out a whistle. Unlike Fermack who had been concealing his ability that was on the level of a semi-Unique Grade knight, Korin Lork¡¯s Aura Rank had yet to reach a High rank. The reason there was a big difference between High Rank and below was the existence of the Aura Core. That decisive difference should lead to the difference inbat potential between Korin Lork and Fermack Daman but¡­ Six Ways of the Spear, Sixth Style, Shura. Condensed aura of a simr kind started leaving from Korin Lork¡¯s body as well. ¡®He has an Aura Core!¡¯ Fermack couldn¡¯t understand what was going on. Even if Korin had the Precept to somehow rapidly increase his growth speed, how would anyone be able to increase their Aura Rank from Low to High in just 2 months? Since he wasn¡¯t aware of the effect of the White Silver Mandrake that created an Aura Core for its consumer, Fermack just couldn¡¯tprehend what was going on. First Style, Ominous Snake ¨C Kajik! The air was divided into two. Despite being a simple warming up skill, the force behind his strike wasn¡¯t too different from Fermack¡¯s. ¡°It¡¯s Round 2.¡± Korin said with a smile. **** Demonic beasts of the Shadow Realm were the true bodies of evil from the other side of the real world. Born with innate violence, brutality and hostility against humans, they would sometimes cross over the gaps between dimensions and earn a new body. That was what humans referred to as ¡®demons¡¯. In other words, you could say that they were the true beasts of evil. For these monsters, violence and struggle were a part of their lives, like how humans consumed food for survival. However, they were all staying still while holding their breath. A human and a human. Small, feeble¡­ and pitiful existences who sometimes wandered into the Shadow Realm and got ripped to pieces. When they first spotted the one-on-one battle of those humans, they didn¡¯t think much about it. ¡®Let¡¯s eat both of them together!¡¯ was their initial thought, but the scene before their eyes was proving how arrogant they had been. The heat of the battle unfolding before their eyes and the scale of their violence¡­ were so huge that even the beasts of evil were frightened by it. The amount of aura and weight behind their attacks both far exceeded the realms ofmon sense. A single punch crushed through the ground and spread across an aftershock. A raise of the spear sent the poor monsters flying into the air. Each of their steps resulted in an earthquake and their kicks smushed the monsters in the blink of an eye. The monsters weren¡¯t even allowed to survive from the aftershock of their collision. Ominous Snake: Secret Arts, Distorted March Boost Double Jet Kwagagang! The world quivered. The two warriors swung their weapons as the aftermath swallowed the evil beasts. The collision caused by two people that transcended the limitations of a physical body crushed the nearby monsters. Swallowing the mouthful of blood that almost spurted out of his mouth, Korin stood his ground despite his wobbling knees. The one who suffered more damage from the consecutive aftershocks was by far Korin Lork, whocked defense inparison. ¨C Grkk! Gurukk! However, his flesh wriggled and gathered back to one piece. The tenacious will of the warrior immediately regenerated his wounds. It was now 200% more effective than its original ability thanks to his Precept. But before he could fully recover from his wounds, the afro-haired boxer marched in. Rush! Rush! Rush!!! Fermack poured out his attacks. At the cost of pain and potential injuries, he continued his fierce outburst. Horizontal Sweep of a Tiger Spear was still a fearsome weapon even at close range. The long shaft of the spear bolted sideways with the force that could swallow thousands in its path. It was an attack that threw a question at the opponent. Will you get cut, have your ribs broken¡­ or will you give up on attack and defend? Fermack had no choice. He put his guard up in preparation for the attack. ¨C Kung! The fortress jolted from the attack. As if he had been hit by a flying meteor, Fermack¡¯s body flew across the air after receiving the swing of a tiger and the condensed aura inside it. ¨C Kwang! Kajik! Kaduduk! Fermack crashed into the wall as the watchtower of the fortress crumbled down. From amidst the dust created by the falling remains of the watchtower, the man jumped out. In his hands was a big piece of the watchtower. Using the monstrous power of his arms, the man threw it at the spearman. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Eight Trigrams Spearmanship, Taiji Korin shed with the spear as the overflowing aura inside the weapon bisected the flying fragment of the fortress. Appearing from behind the bisected watchtower was Fermack, who was wearing the darkness of the Shadow Fortress around him. By even making use of the crumbling fragments of the watchtower as his footholds, he elerated himself again through [?] ¡ª Raidho. In response, Korin Lork dug his two feet into the ground like tree roots, retrieved the spear and prepared for a lightning-fast stab. His body scorching from the heat and light of [?] ¡ª Sowilo made it look like he was wearing golden ted armor. Wearing the pure darkness of shadows and the zing heat of the sun, the two of them appeared likeplete contradictions of one another that seemingly tried to deny each other¡¯s existence. [?] Raidho¡ª Soaring Snake¡ª Atst, they used it. The explosive punch ofpressed eleration and the fastest spear of the Void. ¡ªMeteor Strike¡­!! ¡ªRearing Head of the Venomous Dragon¡­!! Kicking off the remains of the fortress, the fist fell straight down like aet as a venomous dragon reared its head in retaliation. The two powers crashed into each other. As soon as they tried to overpower one another, the aftermath became like a rampaging excavator that crushed and destroyed everything around them. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Korin Lork was the first to let out a groan. That blindly fast stab wasn¡¯t the perfect one he had been after. He failed at entering the Domain even after all that warming up. That might be how it seemed at a nce, but to be exact, it was slightly different. The runes of the sun were constantly burning his body. On top of that, his physical stats that had rapidly increased by tenfold, if not more, due to the Precept and Shura-mode were instead stopping him from concentrating on one thing. The unfamiliar power and pain were interfering with the process of him entering the Domain, since his stats were originally just at the level of a Grade 2 Knight. ¡°A gap¡­!¡± ¨C Scribble! Korin wasn¡¯t able to make full use of the crash and deal the finishing blow, and ended up allowing his enemy to approach him. Fermack used his fingers to carve a rune onto the shaft that he was holding onto. [?] ¡ª Raidho ¡°Damn it¡­!¡± A rune of eleration was engraved on his spear. Due to that eleration, the Silver Spear escaped from Korin¡¯s grip and soared into the air. ¨C Kung! It immediately pierced through the ceiling of the world of shadows and the spearman ended up losing his spear. ¡°Come¡­!¡± The spear did not respond. It was deep inside the ceiling and did not heed to his call. ?Southpaw Flicker Jab>? ¨C m! A fist struck Korin by the face. His teeth fell out as blood sttered from the wound. ¡°A spearman without a spear is nothing.¡± Fermack pushed his advantage. Korin had reached a remarkable level with the spear but he was still just a kid. There was no way a spearman could beat him in a closebat battle. ¡°I¡¯ll end it before the speares back.¡± As soon as he finished his words, a rune that had been carved on the gauntlet, ? ¡ª Raidho, emitted a radiant light. It was thepressed elerationbo skill that he had been hiding until the veryst second. This elerated fist could even destroy a castle. ?Southpaw Jet Straight? Fermack shot out his strongest punch that could immediately destroy a person¡¯s heart. Even someone with a regeneration ability should die after having their heart crushed. ?Eight Trigrams Footwork, Fleeting Body? ¡°¡­?!¡± Like flowing water, Korin flowed by using a mysterious footwork. By dodging the opponent¡¯s secret move with a mystifying set of steps, he reced himself behind Fermack. ?Southpaw Liver Shot? Although he managed to dodge Fermack¡¯s strongest attack, Fermack responded in time. He swung his fist sideways to the back as it uratelynded on the right side of Korin¡¯s body¡­ at his liver. ¡°Cough¡­!¡± Korin was somehow still standing up but his organs must be in a mess. Even though he was still in Shura-mode, that attack should have been lethal. ¡®I won,¡¯ thought Fermack. ¡°Looks like your bare-handed skills are not as good as your spearmanship. Your defense is very sloppy.¡± The warrior savored his victory but there was something he was unaware of. He did not know that even the system had acknowledged Korin Lork¡¯s Eight Trigrams as having reached MAX level. ¨C Slip In a manner that was so natural, By matching himself to the flow of thoughts and breath of the enemy, Korinnded his hand on Fermack¡¯s chest before he could even realize it. ¡°It was on purpose.¡± ?Eight Trigrams, Chest Palm¡ª A palm strike to the chest; ¡ªEye Palm, Nose Palm.? And a palm strike each to the eye and the nose. That was the Three Palm Strikes of Eight Trigrams. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Fermack staggered from the unexpected attack. Blood flowed from above his eyes and interrupted with his sight, but he instinctively threw a fist and made itnd on Korin¡¯s chest. ¨C Kajik! That punch made Korin scatter a blizzard of blood from his mouth. The fundamental difference between a palm strike and a punchid in their destructiveness. After receiving a straight punch to his liver and his chest, even Korin shouldn¡¯t be able tost¡­ ¨C Kung! It was then. A spear of silver light that was gleaming in white arrived in front of Fermack¡¯s eyes. ¡®I can¡¯t let him grab it!¡¯ The opponent had more profound wisdom on bare-handed fights than he expected. That was a painful mistake but Korin Lork was all in all a spearman. His best chance at victory was when Korin wasn¡¯t holding onto the spear. Fortunately, he was closer to the spear than Korin. Fermack decided that he would end it here before he couldy hisnds on his spear again. ?Southpaw Jet Straight? Fermack threw a fist. As soon as Korin Lork reaches his hand out for the spear, his fist would definitely pierce through his chest. Right. That was only ¡®if Korin reached his hand out for the spear¡¯. ¡°¡­?!¡± Fermack doubted his eyes. Korin twisted his waist, as one of his legs rotated for a powerful kick. ¡®A kick?¡¯ Was he in a rush after realizing that he couldn¡¯t grab the spear again? It was a high kick that was aiming at his head. It was a powerful attack but at the same time, it was one with a very high risk that Fermack could easily dodge by lowering his head to dive deeper inside. ?Down Ducking? Bending his back down, Fermack easily dodged the iing kick. All he now had to do was use a skill to deal the finishing blow to Korin who couldn¡¯t move after that wide kick but¡­ ¨C Tung! A strange sound echoed into his remaining eardrum. At the same time, the spear that had been stuck on the ground was pulled back out. ¡°What?¡± It seemed that Korin had kicked the tip of the spear. The reaction from that kick made the spear leave the ground at a rapid speed and made it bounce up with a powerful spin. ?Unorthodox Spinning Heaven? An unorthodox skill used by the feet and not the hand ¨C that adapted skill which was very questionable to be called spearmanship made the spear sh past Fermack¡¯s left arm. ¨C Swoosh! His left arm began to fly in the air. Fermack¡¯s little pause and hesitation was more than enough time for the spearman to grab onto his spear again. ?Void Spinning Heaven¡ª The spinning spear shed past both of his knees. Fermack¡¯s right arm that instinctively tried to protect his body had its veins cut off on top. ¡ªTurbulent Spear.? By the time it spun three times, the spear even cut off his remaining right arm. Watching his enemy retrieve the spear for another sharp stab forward, ¡°Splendid¡­!¡± Fermack sent an honest and undisguised praise to his enemy. ¨C Pakk! The scattering drops of blood marked the end of their fight to death. Chapter 54: Finishing Touch (3) ? Finishing Touch (3) ? I won. The mastermind behind the 2nd Arc, Fermack Daman, who had been living as a professor for 10 years while deceiving the Merkarva Academy. If I remember correctly, the users used to call Fermack the Traitor as one of the Elite Four. [H, help me!] [I don¡¯t want to die! I don¡¯t want to die!] [Korin¡­! Help me!] Closing my eyes, I could still hear the screams and cries of that time. When we met Fermack Daman again, whom we couldn¡¯t catch at the end of the 2nd Arc, we were imprisoned in a world of nightmares. A hell called Paradise that was inhabited by beasts of the shadow. We lost a lot of my teammates. A lot of innocent people had been killed. Fermack Daman. One of the four executives of the Evil King ¨C the Strongest Rune Mage, Tates Valtazar ¨C who tries to bring Paradise to this world. Killing him early was incredibly meaningful, because with the support of the Precept and the Shadow Paradise, his power could even reach the level of a Unique Grade. And¡­ ¡°I knew it¡­ He doesn¡¯t have it yet, huh.¡± I rummaged through the body of the heartless Fermack but couldn¡¯t find what I wanted. It was to be expected though, because he would have used it already if he had it. One of the 4 great treasures protected by the druids, the Destiny Stone of Falias, Lia Fail. If he was in possession of that item, which he would haveter received as a prize for retrieving the Primal Rune, my chance of victory would have fallen below 40%. ¡°¡­Found it.¡± But nheless, I managed to retrieve the Primal Rune that he stole so that was still okay. ¡ºPrimal Rune ¨C ¨®¡» This stone with the rune was one of the eight Primal Runes that could lead one to the Paradise of Erin. The Advent of Paradise was the goal of the final boss of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, Tates Valtazar, and he needed to have all the 8 pieces of the Prime for it. ¡°Just for something like this¡­¡± Just for something like this, they had massacred countless people. Well, I could understand their hatred and anger at the world¡­ but their method was terribly wrong. ¡°Huu¡­¡± I threw my body over the parchednd. Fighting while taking in all the damage of the Golden Mandrake¡¯s scream and the sr runes with my bare body was quite a crazy thing to do for sure. The Mandrake, the runes and the Shura-mode were all great ways to ruin your body. Honestly, I was only doing it because I had my regeneration ability and I would have long died without it. But it was thanks to that that I was able toe out on top. Fermack Daman had to be in a rush the whole fight after being pulled into my tricks. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± My eyes were very heavy. My entire upper body was scorched by the runes of the sun and my left eardrum was also ruptured because of the Golden Mandrake. Plus, my right one wasn¡¯t normal either. What was worse than these injuries, which I could just disregard, were the wounds I gained during the fight against Fermack. There was a piercing pain in my liver and my right shoulder bones were also crushed. The strike to my chest crushed my sternum and shook my organs. The only things I could barely move were my left arm and my two legs¡­ and even those were hard to move because of the bacsh of Shura. ¡®I thought I was used to pain but¡­¡¯ Despite everything, it was still hard to withstand the pain of having twisted organs. Huu¡­ Huup¡­ Huu¡­ While straightening my mind and my breath that could fade away at any given moment, I took a hold of my consciousness. If I lost my consciousness here, the rune stone and my goldie would be¡­ ¡ºYou have sessfully defeated Fermack Daman. You will now receive the reward of your Precept.¡» A faint message appeared in front of my dim vision. No, that¡¯s not the important thing here¡­ My vision turned dark. My eyes slowly closed by themselves. It didn¡¯t take long for my consciousness to escape from my grip. **** ¡°¡­¡± By the time Korin woke up, he found himself going down a familiar path. Of course, he wasn¡¯t the one voluntarily moving his body ¨C his body was still in a mess and was bleeding down the track. ¡°Is this Alicia¡­?¡± Korin vacantly perceived the identity of the girl carrying him by seeing her hair. ¡°You woke up¡­¡± Alicia was walking down a pathway with Korin behind her back. She was probably heading to the infirmary. Her martial uniform, which conservative adults would consider as having too much exposure, was revealing her skin that was covered in blood. Even though it should be very ufortable for her, Alicia was still walking forward while carrying Korin on her back. ¡°Working hard aren¡¯t you¡­¡± ¡°Not as much¡­ as you, Mr. Korin.¡± His body was still very numb. Since she was a knight, Alicia should be fine carrying a male adult on her back, but Korin was feeling a mental burden from the fact that he was being carried by a girl. ¡°How did everything go?¡± However, it¡¯s not like he could turn her offer down so he gratefully epted her help. ¡°Professor Deina has started cleaning everything up. She did seem very sad though. Mr. Dorron went back while everyone else, like Ms. Yuel, were looking for you.¡± ¡°Dorron that freaking¡­ unloyal friend¡­¡± ¡°He said don¡¯t expect anything more than that from a business rtionship. Also, he said you need to pay him the remaining payment for this incident by next week.¡± ¡°Hah. Seriously¡­¡± Korin gave an empty smile while thinking about how that was exactly what he would expect Dorron to say. However, he didn¡¯t hate it ¨C being honest about one¡¯s greed was an adorable thing inparison to everything he had seen. ¡°Alicia¡­ Did you¡­¡± ¡°Do you mean the Rune Stone and the Golden Mandrake? I took both of them.¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯re surprisingly quite sharp today aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Eeeek¡­! You know you¡¯re on my back right, Mr. Korin? Do you want me to shake you!?¡± ¡°Wait wait. Don¡¯t¡­ My organs are going to shake as well¡­¡± Realizing once again that Alicia was such a nice girl who wouldn¡¯t even talk about throwing him away even in the heat of the moment, Korin gave a grin. ¡°I¡¯m alive¡­ thanks to you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing much.¡± Alicia smiled widely as she continued walking down the road. Riding on her back, Korin forced open his eyes that were still threatening to close and tried his best to keep himself conscious. ¡°Say something. I might fall asleep again.¡± ¡°¡­You can just take a nap and rest. It won¡¯t take long.¡± ¡°No. If I sleep¡­ my regeneration speed will also slow down.¡± His regeneration was based on the ¡®tenacious spirit¡¯. In other words, it was better for him to tenaciously stay conscious for a better regeneration. ¡°Okay. Then¡­ Why did you fight by yourself?¡± Her voice was a lot lower than usual, as if she was trying to rebuke him. ¡°Because it was necessary.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hearing his ambiguous response, Alicia slowed down her steps. Because of that sudden reduction in speed, her fluttering strands of hair tickled his cheeks. ¡°Honestly, I have no idea how much you know and what you are trying to aplish, Mr. Korin.¡± She started off with the question that had constantly been on her mind, but Alicia wasn¡¯t going to delve deeper into that now. ¡°Isn¡¯t it alright¡­ to fight together until the end?¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡± Korin looked back on the past with a bitter smile on his face as he reminisced in the memories of thest iteration. People with a good personality that risked themselves for the right things ¨C the so-called heroes always looked like they were in a precarious spot for the ones watching them from the side. Korin¡¯s old friends used to ask something simr in the past. Even when he dly offered his neck to the girl that just awakened as a vampire, and even when challenging the great evil of the world that he would stand no chance against without the support of his Precepts¡­ He simply did not look after his body, and that was very evident for everyone watching him from the side. ¡°I am aware of it myself. I will ask for help next time.¡± ¡°Of course you should. Because we are¡­ umm¡­, ehem¡­!¡± While Alicia was hesitantly thinking about her next words, Korin regained a bit of strength so he lowered his legs back on the ground. ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough. Let¡¯s¡­ take a rest at that bench over there.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we go to the infirmary for a¡­¡± ¡°Resting at a bench is more than enough.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± His voice was still energyless but Alicia noticed the firm resolve in his tone, so she headed to the nearby bench andid him on top. Seeing him lying down on the bench, Alicia was fidgeting her hands when Korin opened his mouth. ¡°Aliciaaa¡­¡± ¡°Aht, yes?¡± ¡°My head hurts¡­¡± ¡°Haht¡­!¡± She quickly lifted his head and sat on the bench where his head used to be. Only after resting his head on her soft thigh did Korin heave a small sigh offort. He slowly reopened his mouth. ¡°If you weren¡¯t there¡­ we wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill the King of Iron Mountain.¡± ¡°All I did was swing my sword once.¡± ¡°The action itself is important, but what you achieved with that action is just as important.¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯ve been preparing for this fight, right? Mr. Korin?¡± Alicia had felt her breathing to a stop after seeing the aftermath of the fight at the empty plot ofnd. Back when they borrowed thend to boil Mandrake into a stew as well as when they were practicing spearmanship for the group assignment¡­ Alicia could still remember him carving runes across thend whenever he had time. Hundreds of rune letters on the ground¡­ and the pebbles of rune that he gave to Marie ¨C it was extremely evident that he had been arranging a lot of things for the fight for a very long time. ¡°Yes. I did prepare for it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She didn¡¯t ask him how he knew about this beforehand. Instead, Alicia quietly gazed at Korin resting beneath her chest before carefully raising a question. ¡°¡­Why?¡± Plenty of time had already gone by. There was a scorching red sunset on the horizon and the light from the setting sun was shining brightly on Korin¡¯s figure on this inhabited bench. Revealed by that spotlight were traces of burns all over his body ¨C despite his seared skin, his eyes were still burning as brightly and clearly as the sunset. ¡®So pretty.¡¯ ¡®This person¡¯s eyes are always clear,¡¯ thought Alicia. They were endlessly clean and tough. Even though he was stepping on a puddle of his own blood, his eyes were chasing after something remarkably beautiful. She wondered where his strength wasing from. Were adults all like this? ¡°My eyes¡­¡± ¡°Ah. L, let me cover your eyes!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­ Let¡¯s just, stay like this for a while.¡± As if he sensed her silent gaze resting on him, Korin mischievously opened his mouth. ¡°Geez¡­ How blessed of a mom am I to have a daughter like Alicia?¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯re treating me like a kid again.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say I was like a mother?¡± ¡°It was just a figure of speech.¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡± The silly smile on his face and his heartwarming gaze that were looking at her like an adorable baby were a sign that he was considering her as a young child. ¡°Mhmm¡­!¡± Pinch! She gently pinched on the nose of the annoying boy. ¡°Aiya¡­ my bad, my bad. Ahh, I¡¯m starving.¡± The boy easily glossed over her response and changed the topic. Due to losing a lot of blood, his mind was going back and forth. His next remark that reached Alicia¡¯s ears was probably an unconscious one. ¡°It¡¯s better¡­ for less people to die.¡± ¡°That was very sudden.¡± ¡°Why is everyone so¡­ insensitive¡­?¡± Was he talking about the mastermind of this incident? Or was it someone else that Alicia wasn¡¯t aware of? In any case, Alicia soothed his mind. ¡°You have done more than enough.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ This¡­ should be good enough. Yeah¡­¡± Fatigued, Korinpletely rxed his body with his eyes closed. He and Alicia stayed at the bench for quite a while. **** ¡ºYou have sessfully defeated Fermack Daman. You will now receive the reward of your Precept.¡» ¡ºMany Unspecified¡» ¡ù Difficulty: A ¡ù Reward: Even distribution of 60 points Inside the single room of the infirmary, I checked the reward I received for this incident. ¡°¡­¡± It was a bit¡­ less than I thought. Until now, the rewards I had received from the Precept were all from dealing with specific targets. In the case of Marie and Alicia, I had even gotten a specialty along with the stat points. But as for Fermack, it wasn¡¯t as if it was decided that he would be killing a specific good-natured person, so that was probably why it said [Many Unspecified] as the name of the reward. It¡¯s not like I couldn¡¯t understand what was going on, but wasn¡¯t this still a bit too small considering I killed one of the executives¡­? ¡ºYou have defeated one of the great evils of this world. You will receive bonus rewards.¡» Huh? ¡ºFindias¡¯s Sun¡» ¡°¡­What the heck?¡± Why is thising out here? Findias. That was the name of the mysteriousnd that contained iomh Sis, which was another one of the 4 great treasures just like Lia Fail. The top epic-graded items, the 4 treasures. From what I knew, they were all supposed to be in the hands of Tates Valtazar. In fact, oimh Sis was the sr sword of one of the Elite Fours, the King of Beauty, Ohad. What I received just then as a reward was the ¡®map¡¯ of the ce where that sword was buried. They just drove the location into my mind. ¡®Seriously. That stupid Mr. Park received stuff like this as an item in his inventory and here I am, having these driven into my head.¡¯ Isn¡¯t this yer discrimination? Anyway¡­ it seemed that those ruins would open up during the sr eclipse. I will have to look into thatter¡­ ¡°Korin! I cut all the apples. Here!¡± A bright voice woke me up from my rumination. Marie, who was here for a visit, handed me a piece of apple on a fork with a bright smile on her face. Just like what one would expect from her personality, she had sliced them into bunny shapes. Unfortunately, I had to wear casts because of the broken bones in my arms and I thus couldn¡¯t move them. The bones were already fine again, and yet for some reason, it seemed that I still needed to refrain from using them. ¡°Open your mouth. Say ¡®Ahh~¡¯¡± ¡°A, ahh~¡± ¨C Crunch! ¡°Ehew, good boy~¡± Marie patted my head after I bit on the apple in her hands. Mhmm¡­ this isn¡¯t too bad. Ah, by that, I mean the apple of course. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Jaeger and Lark, who had simrlye over for a visit with packets of snacks in their hands, had unfriendly gazes in their eyes. ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong, huh?¡± ¡°¡­You freaking bastard.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t deserve to be worried.¡± Are you jealous? Huh? You jelly? Why don¡¯t you have all your bones fractured like me then, huh! ¡°Korin! Would you like some peaches as well? I can slice them up for you!¡± ¡°Of course~. Anything will be delicious.¡± It has been 3 days since the King of Iron Mountain incident. Marie was staying in the infirmary looking after me without even returning to her dormitory. ¡°Mr. Korini~! I¡¯m here!¡± ¨C Thud! Alicia pushed the door open with a m. In her hands was a dessert set which high school girls would love to eat. ¡°Hey. Be careful with the door. You might break it.¡± ¡°Haht! I¡¯ll be careful.¡± ¡°But seriously~. Single rooms are great, aren¡¯t they~.¡± This room was big enough to hold a lot of visitors, which was definitely a plus. Alicia was opening the box of desserts that she brought when someone started knocking on the window. ¨C Knock knock. Looking outside, I saw Hua Ran in her nun clothes knocking on the ss. This was the 13th floor though¡­ ¡°¡­Please open it for her.¡± Alicia immediately went to the window and opened it as Hua Ran nonchntly walked into the room. ¡°That¡¯s not the entrance. We have a functioning door so why do you keeping in from the window?¡± While disregarding my words of disapproval, Hua Ran ced a t fish on top of the table. ¡°¡­Is this a gift for me?¡± ¡°Please cut it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± You want me to cut an 8-inch giant thead? Where the hell did you even get this from? ¡°I¡¯ll do itter.¡± ¡°And you can have the rest.¡± Let¡¯s think of this as something positive. She must be trying to show her goodwill on her part¡­ right? Since we were all together in one ce, we spent time chatting and ying some simple games. There was a bizarrebination of food ¨C a thead, a cake and fruits but¡­ well, kids their age should be able to digest steel so it should be fine. ¨C Knock knock! Thinking that we had more visitors, Jaeger walked up to the door and opened it as people I had been waiting for finally showed themselves. ¡°Korin Lork. How is your body?¡± Coming in from the door were Senior Professor Josephine ra of the Academy, and a man with an appearance that seemed a bit¡­ too young to be the Chairman of the Academy. ¡°Student Korin.¡± Chairman Eriu Casarr. It was him. ¡°It seems that a lot of things have happened during my absence. My heart skipped a beat when I heard what happened from Professor ra.¡± As if. That¡¯s not even your real body. ¡°Hello, Mr. Chairman.¡± Despite what I was thinking on the inside, I weed ¡®her¡¯, who was officially the Chairman of Merkarva Academy. I think it¡¯s about time for us to reveal our hands, Master. Advanced ch?pters avable on our s¨ªte- Genes¨ªstls, ¨ªllustrations on our d¨ªscord You can rate this series here. Chapter 55: Finishing Touch (4) ? Finishing Touch (4) ? Josephine ra was an old professor of the Academy who had been here for over 80 years. She was one of the old bigshots who had constantly been the Senior Professor of Merkarva Academy, and yet she had never been the Chairman in those 80 years. Why? Previous previous Chairman, Biren. Previous Chairman, Bihu. Current Chairman, Casarr. All three of them were rookies who had all suddenly appeared out of nowhere and had less ability and fame than Lady Josephine. Lady Josephine had never been in charge of the Academy, even though it wasn¡¯t strange for her to have been the Chairman the whole time during those 80 years as the genius witch of history and a master at dimensional spells. The reason for that was simple. The position of the Chairman had always been reserved for one person. ¡°Sorry for sending your friends outside. It is something that has to be done in secret, after all.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Eriu Casarr, Lady Josephine ra, and I were the only ones left behind in the hospital room. It seemed that most of our encounters in this iteration were happening at the infirmary. ¡°Firstly, there are a few questions that we have to ask you. Please understand that we cannot gloss over this with ease, unlike what happened with Student Marie.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She was still testing things out. In order to quickly progress our conversation, I tossed the Primal Rune that I collected from Fermack. ¨C Vuung! Lady Josephine immediately responded with a dimensional spell as if she perceived that as an attack. The rune of the Prime vanished in the air before soon reappearing on her palm. ¡°¡­¡± After that, she red daggers at me, but I could sense that she wasn¡¯t sure whether she was supposed to show goodwill or hostility against me. ¡°Professor Fermack was a spy.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The two of themmented after hearing my words. A professor of the Academy who had been working for 10 years was actually a spy and the mastermind of this incident. Even though there was no proof to back up my im, the two should have noticed something after seeing his corpse. Precept. A vow to the world that was engraved on the bodies of the great warriors of Shadow Paradise. There weren¡¯t many people who knew of this ancient ability that offered a great amount of power to its user at the cost of high risk. But there was still something that the two of them were unaware of. ¡°Do you know who sent him in as a spy?¡± ¡°Well¡­ That¡¯s something for us to investigate¡­¡± And how long will that take? Probably after the 4th Arc or something. Instead of waiting until that point, I decided to tell them beforehand. ¡°Tates Valtazar. Fermack Daman is that man¡¯s disciple.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be! 80 years ago, we¡­!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Lady Josephine reacted with an agitated voice before quickly shutting her mouth. Eriu Casarr¡¯s eyes were also trembling in disbelief. ¡°Six Ways of the Spear. Void. Precept. Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know them, because you¡¯re the one who taught him everything. For your reference, that¡¯s the same for me.¡± ¡°¡­Don¡¯t tell me you¡­¡± The three above-mentioned abilities were all secrets of the race of Paradise. More importantly, Void, which came off of Six Ways of the Spear, was a technique that only had two users in the contemporary times. And yet here I was telling them that I had also learned them. In other words, the conclusion they woulde up with about me was¡­ ¡°You¡¯re Valtazar¡¯s disciple¡­!¡± A dimensional fissure appeared in an instant. Beyond the fissure that was activated with more speed than before were all sorts of corpses drooling while waiting to pounce at me. ¡®Partholon¡¯, the most threatening of all the shredded Shadow Paradise, huh. She was more serious than I thought. One flick of her fingers and I would be swallowed by the gued corpses of Partholon, but¡­ ¡°Please stop with the bluff. It¡¯s not like you¡¯re going to kill people without being sure of their identity.¡± I cursorily carved a rune in the air that meant ¡®to close¡¯ as the door to the dimension was forcibly shut down. ¡°¡­!?¡± Lady Josephine was shocked by the fact that her dimensional spell had been shut down by a single rune. There were still tens of activated spells that were ready to be fired at me, but she must be shocked that I dispelled that particr one. ¡°ra. Please cancel your spells.¡± ¡°But, Chairman!¡± ¡°Do as she says. The Chairman here is just a spare body anyway, right? I¡¯m sure the true body is not even in the state to leave the Castle just yet.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Even Chairman Eriu was surprised after hearing those words. Undoing the cast restricting my arm, I stood up from the bed and slowly walked to the young man¡­ or rather, my Master, who should be controlling that humanoid doll. ¡°King of Iron Mountain? That¡¯s just the beginning.¡± ¡°You¡­ What exactly¡­¡± ¡°Your disciple, Valtazar is still alive and has built up power. He has be a lot stronger than before, and he¡¯s no longer alone either.¡± You guys won¡¯t be enough to stop him. ¡°Because of your hesitation 80 years ago.¡± Hearing that, Chairman Eriu slowly started to take several steps away from me. Her one and only mistakeid in her past indecisive action, which had been the result of her affection for her disciple. ¡°He survived and is now threatening this world.¡± I reminded her of her mistake and pushed her into a corner. I made her traumatic memories to resurface. ¡°Now, because of the betrayal of your trusted disciple, the Prime has scattered all across the world. And you have only managed to recover two of them.¡± One of them was the Primal Rune swallowed by the King of Iron Mountain. I reminded them how that one would have also been stolen without my help. ¡°¡­¡± She admitted it. She had no choice but to admit the truth ¨C the existence of Fermack Daman, who had been waiting for the right opportunity after infiltrating the Academy 10 years ago, was the proof. Without giving them time to organize their thoughts, I pushed them further into a corner. ¡°The great stone of destiny, Lia Fail, is in the hands of Tates Valtazar. And he probably has most of the 4 treasures of Danu already.¡± Paradise. The original world of the race of Danu. When the path to Paradisees down, Tates Valtazar would enter it while carrying the 4 treasures in his hands. There was no way that Erin Danua wouldn¡¯t know what that meant as the ¡®Queen¡¯. ¡°After a proper coronation, Tates Valtazar won¡¯t be an usurper anymore. Whates next is very predictable, right? Erin Danua?¡± I uncovered her secret. Biren 80 years ago. Bihu 50 years ago. And now Casarr. She, who used to observe the world using the body made of rune stone and all those fake names, was being shaken by my flood of extraordinary information. The guilt that she couldn¡¯t deal with Tates Valtazar; and the regret that she had raised someone like him up as her future sessor. That was her biggest mistake as a teacher who had taught innumerable disciples, and here I was throwing those facts at her face. ¡°What exactly¡­ is your goal?¡± I took off my clothes in front of ¡®her¡¯, who was in the shape of a man. Above the scars and wounds was the indestructible Precept on my body. Josephine and Erin, my Master, gasped after seeing it. They were under the impression that I was an evil disciple of the Evil King, the usurper Tates Valtazar, and yet there was a very contradictory Precept engraved on my body. I had revealed all my hands and gave them my most crucial information, and yet the two of them were the ones that stepped back in shock. Pushing her further into the corner, I ced my hand on the wall next to her and gazed down into her eyes. I saw the stupefied look on my Master¡¯s face. Even the fake body was unable to conceal her clear blue eyes. ¡°We have the same goal in mind.¡± ¡°¡­Are you trying to stop him?¡± ¡°To protect this world, I will dly be your first spear. You can even treat me like a hound.¡± I was showing a very oppressive and insolent attitude but¡­ there was no other way around it. There were too many suspicious parts about me for us to form a regr rtionship of trust. Even so, I wanted this person to live. ¡ºChild, I am an adult. As long as I am an adult, I have the duty to prioritize your safety as a child.¡» Her back which she showed me at the end, was still a vivid and painful memory. This time, it was my turn to protect her. **** It was a dark pce with no signs of sunlight. There was a red carpet on the floor, and the only source of light was from the ambient lighting of themp stone. At the end of that chamber was a dark throne of stone, sleeping on which was a singledy. Her hair which seemed to have been made from melting silver was reflecting the light from themp stone to brighten up the dark throne. Visiting her in that lonesome ce was her one and only friend. ¡°Erin.¡± A blonde-haireddy entered the pce through a dimensional gate. Josephine walked towards thedy sitting on the throne, who slowly opened her blue eyes in response. ¡°I¡­ am against it.¡± Josephine¡¯s emerald eyes weren¡¯t as resolute as usual. Even she was confused, and that served to show just how shocking everything they heard today was. For about 100 years, Josephine had been living with Erin Danua¡­ who was currently indulging in her past memories. ¡°Tates¡­ is still alive.¡± Just like she did to Josephine, Erin had showered Tates with love, if not more. She, who had been alive since the ancient times, had been looking for a sessor and had been considering Tates as the inheritor to the throne. However, she was betrayed by that trusted disciple and hesitated at thest second when she was supposed to deal the final blow. This was the result of her past inaction, and she had to take responsibility for it. ¡°Can we¡­ trust him?¡± He was a strong-willed boy with burning red eyes. What exactly was he, she wondered. ¡°Erin¡­¡± ¡°I know. I¡­ shouldn¡¯t easily trust people.¡± What she received in return for her trust was the betrayal 80 years ago. She couldn¡¯t easily trust the boy called Korin Lork, who had suddenly appeared like aet, nor should she. However¡­ ¡°Let¡¯s keep an eye. For now¡­ we can¡¯t be sure of anything.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± As someone who was bearing arge burden, it was an obvious choice. She couldn¡¯t bear more risk. Even though he stopped Fermack from retrieving the Primal Rune¡­ and even though he had vowed to save the world¡­ there was still the possibility of everything being a trap to deceive her. But one thing she just couldn¡¯t understand was¡­ ¡°Why¡­ was he looking at me so pitifully?¡± Was she imagining things? The silver queen re-entered her slumber with unresolved doubt lingering in her mind. **** On thest day of the semester at Merkarva Academy was the grade adjustment ceremony, where they reassigned grades to students depending on their achievement. This grade adjustment was very important. The ones given during the admission were temporary student ranks, whereas these ones were official grades assigned by the Guardian Alliance. In other words, it was possible for students to have the qualification of a real guardian despite staying a student, depending on the results of this adjustment. ¡°Uun¡­ Korin, do you want potatoes?¡± I took the baked potato that was in her hands. The peeled potato had sugar seasoned on top, which was my favorite way of consuming potatoes. ¡°It¡¯s amazing as always.¡± ¡°Hehe. Right?¡± All the students were at the Festival Hall for thest-day-of-semester ceremony, and Marie was giving out potatoes to everyone. She had already given it to about 100 people, and she was still going at it. ¡°Senior. Why did you cook so many potatoes today?¡± I inquired while helping her give out potatoes. Actually, around 20 of Marie¡¯s friends were already volunteering to give out potatoes. Looking at how they all seemed used to the task, this seemed to be a regr event. ¡°Today¡¯s thest day of the semester! Everyone will be leaving, so we have to bake and give out all the potatoes in the warehouse. Otherwise they¡¯ll go bad!¡± ¡°¡­You have a warehouse?¡± Why exactly do you have a warehouse of potatoes inside the Academy? Interesting¡­ ¡°Thank you everyone for your amazing work. Your astounding growth over this semester has been the model growth of our Academy and¡­¡± We were handing out the potatoes while Chairman Eriu Casarr¡­ or rather, Erin Danua my Master, finished with her speech. The grade adjustment was about to start very soon. ¡°Shall we head over?¡± ¡°Nn!¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°We will now be introducing the students who will be receiving an adjustment to their grades.¡± The students walked up to the stage one by one as the Chairman called out their names. Most of them were seniors of the Academy. That was natural because freshmen students only took mandatory courses and simple missions from the Mission Board, so it was hard to have enough achievements for a grade adjustment. Besides, it was rare to call freshmen students for something dangerous. ¡°Highest-achieving student of the 2nd year Magic Department, Marie Dunareff.¡± The crowd buzzed, but it was still positive as if it was within their scope of imagination. Marie had been a Grade 1 mage at the start of the semester. Most of the students of the Academy graduated with Grade 1 at best. In fact, it was very rare for the 4th year students to even reach Grade 1, and yet Marie was a prodigy among prodigies for reaching Grade 1 at the 2nd semester of her 1st year at the Academy. Despite that, she was going through another adjustment, which was even faster than Lunia Arden. ¡°Student Marie has experienced an unfortunate event, but has proven herself with her indomitable spirit and has greatly assisted with preventing the ident at theboratory from going out of hand.¡± Marie¡¯s achievement in terms of missions this semester was close to being zero, because she wasn¡¯t even allowed to leave the city after bing a vampire. However, there were things she did as the helper of Professor Deina¡¯s experiment, and the biggest reason was her mana capacity breaking through the roof after turning into a vampire. It was impossible not to raise her grade considering her overwhelming strength. Besides, it was only thanks to her holding back the King of Iron Mountain for a long time, that the Academy had a lot less victims than what the situation called for. ¡°Guardian Marie Dunareff. With the rmendations of Merkarva Academy¡¯s Chairman, Eriu Casarr and Dina Grandeia, the president of the Southern Guardian Alliance, we assign you to the rank of Semi-Unique Grade.¡± ¡°Wahh¡­!¡± ¡°That¡¯s insane!¡± Even though it wasn¡¯t anything unexpected, everyone cheered out loud after seeing her grade actually go up, because this was the legendary moment of the history¡¯s youngest semi-Unique Grade guardian. To be honest, Marie was already as strong as a Unique Grade, but the requirements to be considered a Unique Grade were slightly different for demons and guardians. Besides, it was also extremely rare for demons to be guardians so the standards weren¡¯t very clear. At the end of the adjustment announcement for the 2nd year students alongside Marie, the crowd was bustling up after perhaps thinking that the ceremony was almost over, but unfortunately for them, it wasn¡¯t over just yet. ¡°We will now be calling out the names of freshmen students who had actively participated in reducing the magnitude of the incident that urred at theboratory along with Student Marie.¡± The crowd buzzed in response. The King of Iron Mountain incident was known to have been an extremely dangerous one, but the beast never ended up leaving theboratory so there were only few things known about the incident. There were a lot of hidden secrets about the matter including both the King of Iron Mountain and the betrayal of Fermack Daman. ¡°From the Magic Department, Yuel and Kranel Luden. From the Knights Department, Alicia Arden, Dorron Warsky¡­¡± One by one, the named freshmen characters walked up to the stage. They weren¡¯t surprised or anything because they had already received a letter beforehand. There were already four freshmen students that were getting a promotion in their grade at the adjustment ceremony of the 1st semester. It was definitely unprecedented and was thus received by a heated discussion. ¡°Andstly, Korin Lork.¡± Hearing my name, I confidently headed to the stage. The fake body of my Master, Eriu Casarr, was on the stage presenting news about our promotion. ¡°Taking into ount their achievements thus far and their dedication at theboratory, Students Yuel, Kranel, Alicia and Dorron will be officially promoted from Grade 2 to semi-Grade 1.¡± It was an unprecedented promotion. With this, our grade also gained the extraordinary record of having four semi-Grade 1 students with none being in Grade 2. ¡°Andstly, Student Korin Lork¡­ was a Grade 5 guardian but¡­¡± My name was finally called. There was a deal I had made with my Master. ¡°Looking at his remarkable fights and his exceptional achievement, and with the rmendations of the 3 people: Chairman Eriu Casarr, Senior Professor Josephine ra and Professor Haman Welsch, we proim his promotion into Grade 1.¡± ¨C What? Grade 1? ¨C He came in as a Grade 5 and became a Grade 1 in just one semester?! ¨C How does that even make sense? Korin Lork. Grade 5 Knight -> Grade 1 Knight. It was a grade given after some negotiations under the table with the Guardian Alliance. Finally, I now had more social power and the right to create a guild of guardians. ¡°Atst.¡± Advanced ch?pters avable on our s¨ªte- Genes¨ªstls, ¨ªllustrations on our d¨ªscord ¨C d¨ªscord.gg/genes¨ªstls You can rate this series here. Chapter 56: Suspiciously... (1) ? Suspiciously¡­ (1) ? My conferment into Grade 1 Knight was met with an extremely negative response. An ultrahigh-speed promotion from temporary Grade 5 to Grade 1 in just one semester was both ridiculous and unprecedented. A guardian¡¯s strength relied heavily on innate talent. Themon belief was that students entering the Academy as Grade 5 were all ungifted, and only those above Grade 3 were considered talented with a decent future waiting ahead of them. It was rare for even those Grade 3 students to reach Grade 1 in their lives, and yet I had suddenly gone up from Grade 5, the ungifted students, to Grade 1, so it was natural for people to strongly disagree. ¨C How is this even possible? ¨C This doesn¡¯t make sense. ¨C Korin Lork is the guy that fought against Ms. Lunia during the interim exam right? ¨C But even so, it should be impossible for him to be Grade 1 in an instant just from that. We never had anything like this happen before! Honestly,ints like this were bound to be raised even if I had been promoted to semi-Grade 1. Whatever the case, I was a knight who had perfectly cleared the grade assessment for a semi-Grade 1, assisted with dealing with the King of Iron Mountain, and had dealt with the traitor, Fermack Daman, one-on-one. All the professors that were aware of these restricted pieces of information seemed convinced by my promotion, and that puzzled the students and other professors even more. ¡°Wow~. Mr. Korin. That¡¯s great.¡± Alicia said in surprise while watching me walk down the stage. She wouldn¡¯t have expected me to go straight to Grade 1 in one go either. ¡°I thought you would be semi-Grade 1. Is it because of ¡®that¡¯?¡± She asked while secretly implying about Fermack¡¯s incident. ¡°That one is a secret. Officially, this promotion to Grade 1 is because of the King of Iron Mountain incident.¡± My Master Erin and Lady Josephine appeared to be hoping to hide Fermack¡¯s betrayal for the time being. It was partially to slow down the speed of the news of his death reaching Valtazar, but it was also to prevent chaos from breaking out. Because of that, the only higher-ups that knew about Fermack Daman¡¯s betrayal were Erin Danua, Lady Josephine, andstly, Dina Grandeia, the president of the Southern Guardian Alliance. With the agreement of those three people, I was able to go straight to Grade 1 even though I was supposed to stop at semi-Grade 1. The thing of most importance was the right of a Grade 1 guardian ¨C this was the most important one. The right of a Grade 1 guardian was something that was only avable in the 3rd year in the game, and even in thest iteration, it was something we barelyid our hands on in the 2nd year. It was something that would have a great impact on the future. After all, the members of my guardians guild will make me have more influence inside the Alliance. ¡®It will be perfect if Marie can join as well.¡¯ If the semi-Unique Grade mage, Marie, or the sessor candidate of the Arden family, Alicia, were to join my guild, even the Alliance headquarters wouldn¡¯t be able to ignore my words. That would trante to authority, and more authority meant that there would be more things I could do in the future. That will allow me toy my hands on power that was unthinkable for mere students to have. Even when taking in the ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? and thest iteration into consideration, this was the first time that the yer¡¯s social power had gone up this early. ¡®For now, I guess I need to contact those three first.¡¯ Renya, the waitress of a bar, And the wolf siblings; Ren and Ron. Leaving aside Renya the waitress, the wolf siblings were rted to the hostile group acting in secret inside Merkarva City, so I had to deal with them before the festival. ¡°It¡¯s a holiday now. What are you guys going to do?¡± After the ceremony, most of the students were leaving the stadium while the freshmen acquaintances gathered in one ce. ¡°Earn money.¡± First to reply was Dorron. That was exactly what one would expect from him. ¡°I¡­ am going to go to thends of other druids. We have kept in touch with few of our kindreds after all.¡± Yuel, who had lost her homnd from the demonic beasts, appeared to be nning on looking for other druids. ¡°I¡¯m going home.¡± ¡°I applied for an internship at the Tower of Mages this holiday.¡± Jaeger was heading home while Lark was doing an internship at the Tower. I heard that was tough though¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll be going to the west¡­ Apparently they¡¯re nning on demolishing an old castle. It will be the best ce to make a new core¡­¡± It seemed that Kranel would be leaving for some golem materials. Judging from how gloomy he looked, one might think he was the type to stay holed up in his room at home, but he was more diligent than what one would expect. ¡°I think I have to return home. Grandpa¡­ was looking for me.¡± Next up was Alicia. So she was going back to the Arden family, huh¡­ Well, now that Lunia Arden proimed that she wouldn¡¯t touch Alicia, she shouldn¡¯t go through anything dangerous at home. ¡°Well, good luck.¡± ¡°Where are you going to go, Mr. Korin? Will you be going back home?¡± ¡°No.¡± In thest iteration, I returned home this holiday by relying on Korin Lork¡¯s memories, and found out that no one was home. ¡°Apparently, they¡¯re going on a family trip. Without me.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Due to postal errors, the letter arrived 3 days after the beginning of the holiday in thest iteration, which was why I had to suffer for no reason. ¡°¡­I see.¡± When I told her that I wouldn¡¯t be going back to my hometown, Alicia started fidgeting her fingers and lowered her head before raising an offer. ¡°I, in that case. Would you¡­ like toe with me?¡± ¡°Me? To your house?¡± ¡°I, it¡¯s scary to go by myself¡­¡± ¡°Ah~¡± It was reasonable for her to be scared. Nothing happened back in the game, so there shouldn¡¯t be any problems, but I could understand why Alicia would be so frightened. ¡°Unfortunately, I have things to do in the South, so I don¡¯t think I can.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ the South?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go there together next time. I do want to visit the East when I have time.¡± Alicia¡¯s household was in the east. It wasn¡¯t in another continent, but it was still quite far from the south. ¡°Why do you have to go to the South?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a ce I have to go to, because someone told me to check that ce out.¡± Sebancia Duke, whom I met at the Great Library at the start of semester, told me to have a look at the office in his castle. This holiday should be the best time to have a visit. ¡°Korriiiinn~!¡± Marie shouted while running to me from a distance. It seemed that she was finally done bidding farewell to her friends. ¡°Senior Marie. Congrattions on your promotion to semi-Unique Grade.¡± ¡°Congrattions on your Grade 1 promotion too, Korin! If it¡¯s you, you¡¯ll easily be able to go up even more!¡± Wearing a bright smile on her face, Marie handed me some potato chips as a celebration. She still had more potatoes, it seemed¡­ ¡°By the way, Korin. Are you going to the South?¡± ¡°Did you hear that?¡± ¡°B, by chance of course!¡± Weren¡¯t we a bit far for it to be by chance? Was it because of her physical traits as a vampire? ¡°Let¡¯s go together then!¡± ¡°Together?¡± ¡°My house is also in the South! So why not!¡± Well, if we were going the same way¡­ ¡°Well, I guess there¡¯s no reason not to.¡± Like that, it was decided that my trip to the South this time around will be with Marie as apany. ¡°Oh right, Yuel. Can you do me a favor?¡± ¡°You have something to ask of me? What a surprise. What is it?¡± ¡°Yeah. If you happen to meet other druids, can you ask around for a ce called ¡®Findias¡¯? It¡¯ll be great if you can also look for a druid called ¡®Uzkias¡¯.¡± ¡°¡­I will try.¡± Findias. The ce that concealed the sun, iomh Sis, under the protection of the druid, Uzkias. As long as I couldy my hands on that item which was one of the 4 great treasures, I would be able to ruin Tates Valtazar¡¯s ns by a lot. ¡®Golden Mandrake. It might go easier than expected if I use this.¡¯ It was crushed during the fight against Fermack but it was alright, because I could still use the Golden Mandrake in another way. **** After the ceremony, I bid farewell to my friends and headed off with Marie. Soon, we arrived at the station for magic carriages heading to the southern cities from Merkarva Academy and were met with countless carriages. The carriages of this world werepletely different from the horse carriages that were used in Europe during the medieval times. Theserge transportation devices that moved with the power of a mana crystal had 12 specially crafted wheels that were each 1 meter thick, and were as tall as 7 meters. It was about as big as two triple-decker buses put together. It was a widely-used transportation method in the game that allowed fast travel between cities while keeping a fantasy-feel to it. ¡°Korin! I got the food!¡± Marie said while bringing the giveaway meals from the 1st floor of the carriage. The meal itself wasn¡¯t too bad even though the carriage was quite bumpy at times. After 4 hours, we arrived at a ¡®carriage tform¡¯ which was simr to a service center. ¡°We are departing again in one hour, right? I heard they were selling udons at the tform. Do you want to try that out?¡± ¡°Shall we?¡± We were returning to the magic carriage after a light meal when I found new passengers boarding the carriage. ¡°New passengers, please head up to the back seats of the 2nd floor.¡± They were customers who were changing carriages in the middle. ¡°Excuse me~¡± ¡°Carriageing through.¡± The new passengers made their way through the carriage to their designated seats. They looked like nimble men. ¡°Oh no¡­¡± I heaved a sigh after seeing them, and Marie asked a question with a tilted head after seeing that. ¡°Is there something wrong?¡± ¡°No it¡¯s nothing. It would take 9 hours for us to reach the next tform, right? How about you get some sleep first, Senior?¡± ¡°Maybe I should.¡± Because the carriage doesn¡¯t stop even at night, we had to sleep in the moving carriage. Something was going to happen on the way, so sleeping now was better than sleepingter. After sleeping for about 4 hours, I woke up and felt something leaning on my shoulder. ¨C Hnn~ It was Marie. Marie was resting her head on my shoulder, while letting out a soft breath in her sleep. ¡°Doggo.¡± In response to my call, arge blood dog revealed itself from Marie¡¯s shadow. Other passengers would have been frightened if they saw him, but it was in the middle of the night with most of them asleep, and the lights were also off, and it thus didn¡¯t cause any chaos. ¡°Let¡¯s get rid of some flies before your mom wakes up.¡± ¡°Woof?¡± **** ¨C Rattle rattle Hearing the wheels of the carriage that had been running across the road for hours, Jackie opened his eyes. Oops! He was supposed to pretend to be asleep but ended up actually falling asleep. But a question appeared in his mind ¨C his partner Rock should have woken him up when it was time¡­ Was he also sleeping? ¡°Rock¡­ Rock?¡± He wasn¡¯t here ¨C the partner that was supposed to be sitting next to him was gone. Maybe he was in the bathroom? Standing up from his seat, Jackie went around the carriage looking for his disappeared partner but couldn¡¯t find him. What? Where did this idiot go? Jackie turned to his pocket watch, and noticed it was already about time. Even though Rock was nowhere to be seen, he still had to send the signal by himself. He immediately headed to the corner-most seat, opened the window, and turned on his magic shlight. He repeatedly turned it on and off. Like that, he sent the signal a few times, but nothing happened. ¡°What? Isn¡¯t this the right ce?¡± The carriage was already speeding through an empty in with nothing but nature surrounding them. If they quickly stole everything inside and crushed the wheels, it would take 2 days for news to reach the nearby public security officers. Right. Jackie was a member of carriage thieves. His job was to board the carriage and pretend to be a passenger before sending a signal to his buddies outside. ¡°Like, fuck¡­ What is going on?¡± There were problems with the n. One was that his partner, Rock, was nowhere to be seen, and the other was that his buddies, that were supposed to be following carefully from behind, weren¡¯t responding to his signs. ¡°These retards. They didn¡¯t fall asleep or anything right?¡± It was actually quite convincing because he was also sleeping until just then. But¡­ ¡°Nope. They were drinking coffee and were all wide awake.¡± ¡°Huahk¡­!¡± By the time he perceived the sudden voice, his neck was already being grabbed by someone. ¨C Swish! Without even having the time to scream, Jackie was pulled outside the carriage through the window. After getting off the carriage in the blink of an eye, he stared at the one holding onto his neck. ¡°Hello?¡± In the barrennd of darkness, the voice of the man under the moonlight resembled the howling voice of a wolf. ¡°W, who are you?¡± ¡°What do you mean who? Of course I¡¯m a Sir Knight, who¡¯s here to catch bad thieves.¡± ¡°K, knight! Hukk! W, wait! Sir! I, it¡¯s a misunderstanding!¡± ¡°Misunderstanding my ass. I¡¯ve seen your faces in thest iteration as well.¡± ¡°W, what do you¡­¡± It was then. A humanoid figure was dragging something with a growl. Upon a closer inspection, Jackie realized that more than twenty men were all tied up and being dragged by a red demonic beast. They were most certainly his buddies. Rock, who had disappeared from the carriage, was also in the mix. ¡°D, demonic beast?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s a familiar. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± The man with a wild atmosphere kicked Jackie by his chin and made him faint, and tied him together with the carriage thieves before telling the red beast. ¡°Tie these guys up and put this signboard next to them. Security officers will pick them up on the way when they find them.¡± ¨C Woof! ¡°Ah, I¡¯m so sleepy. Why do I have to do this in the middle of the night?¡± After a yawn, the boy dashed forward and immediately caught up with the distant carriage. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ When the morning sunlight began shining through the curtains of the window, Marie gave a big stretch and raised herself up. ¡°Kyaaahuu~~!¡± It had been a while since shest stayed on a seat for this long, so her body was very sluggish even after a sleep, and her shoulder was in more pain than usual. ¡°Uunn?¡± Shoulder pain was nothing new, so she was about to ignore it, but for some reason, her right shoulder was heavier than usual, as if something was resting on it. ¡°Aht¡­!¡± Turning to the side, Marie realized that it was Korin. The boy was leaning his head on her shoulder in his sleep, without even knowing that it was already morning. ¡®S, should I wake him up?!¡¯ Wait a second. Is there¡­ a reason to bother waking him up? The boy¡¯s everyday life was as arduous as a farmer leaving for the farm everyday. Building stamina, practicing spearmanship, and researching at the Great Library ¨C it was very rare for him to have any day off. The reason she invited him to her house after hearing that he was heading south this time around was because she wanted to give him a nice holiday at her house. So was it correct to wake someone like that up when they were in such a deep sleep? ¡®No! Mhmm! Of course not! So what if my shoulders hurt a little!?¡¯ With her wondrously ethical standards, Marie decided to sacrifice her shoulder for the benefit of another person. There was not a single ulterior motive behind it. Yes. It was a generous consideration on her part with not even 1 millimeter of ulterior motives! ¨C Thump thump! Even though her heart was beating out loud, she decided to ignore it. Moving her trembling eyes, she looked at Korin¡¯s hairs that were touching her cheek. It was very disheveled because it was morning but¡­ wait, disheveled? ¡®Hutt! I didn¡¯t get to wash today!¡¯ That was the inevitable downside of long-distance travels with a magic carriage. Unless you were to get off in the middle on one of the tforms, there was no way you could have the luxury to wash your hair or take a shower. Of course, that was something that applied to all the passengers inside the carriage including Korin Lork. However, it was a huge problem for the girl who was deeply in love, and was a problem that she couldn¡¯tpromise with. ¡°D, Doggo¡­¡± In response to the hurried voice of the girl, arge blood dog showed itself from her shadow. ¨C Woof! ¡°S, shhh! B, be quiet! What if he wakes up¡­!¡± ¨C ¡­Woof. ¡°C, can you go to my bag over there¡­ and get a brightening cream, and some perfume? And for the perfume¡­ g, give me one that¡¯s a bit thicker than usual!¡± Marie tried to reach for her bag, but quickly pulled her hand back after hearing Korin go, ¡®Mhmm¡¯ as if he was about to wake up. ¨C Doggo. Hurry up! Instead, she sent a desperate gaze at Doggo. ¨C Woof! Seeing his mother, Doggo couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. ¨C Doggo. You! How can you say something so mean?! The girl¡¯s voice was so soft that herint was buried by the background noise. **** By the time we were at the second tform, I opened my eyes and saw several other people that were also waking up from their sleep. ¡°Ah, Korin. You woke up.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Was I leaning on your shoulder? I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°N, no! It¡¯s okay! That¡¯s nothing, so you don¡¯t have to worry about it!¡± ¡°Well¡­ thank you.¡± It seemed that she was such a nice girl, that she didn¡¯t even know how to say ¡®No¡¯. I had to be more careful from now on. ¨C Sniff ¡°¡­Huh? Senior, are you wearing perfume?¡± ¡°Hmmmm? W, wat do you mean??¡± ¡°I think you smell a bit different today¡­¡± ¡°O, oh, y, you don¡¯t know it, huh! T, this is the smell of potatoes! If you have enough potatoes, your body will start to have this scent!¡± ¡­¡­Isn¡¯t that way too fake no matter how you see it? ¡°Sure. If you say so.¡± ¡°¡®If you say so?¡¯ Korin? D, do you think I¡¯m lying?¡± ¡°No no~. Of course not~.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­!¡± I smiled before changing the topic. ¡°Huu~. Finally time to get some fresh air.¡± The first tform that we got off at was like a service center that you would often see on highways, whereas this tform had a small vige surrounding it. People who gathered to sell food and items to passengers and technicians that were here to look after the carriages gathered one by one and eventually formed a small vige. ¡°Feeling a bit hungry now. Should we go have some food?¡± ¡°I know some good ces!¡± ¡°Have you been here often?¡± ¡°This ce is our transfer station, after all!¡± ¡°A transfer station?¡± This ce was sitting at the entrance of the southern ins. ¡®Transfer¡¯ was, therefore, quite a strange word because all the carriages going through this ce had to stop by the biggest city of the South, Reff City, which took another 8 hours on the carriage. ¡°If you see over~ there, there¡¯s the transfer station that we are going to use!¡± Marie was pointing at an empty plot ofnd that was managed by tens of workers busily walking around. Something different, I guess, would be¡­ that there were wyverns tied in ce. ¡°Is that a wyvernnding zone?¡± ¡°Nn! We¡¯ll be heading straight home on a wyvern.¡± ¡°Ahh~ I see.¡± Wyverns were a transportation method that I¡¯ve used quite often, even back in thest iteration. It was tremendously faster than carriages and was just a strictly better method for moving across ins in the undeveloped countryside. However, the cost of hiring a wyvern rider was incredibly expensive, so we couldn¡¯t use it very often. If we were moving around as a party, we had to hire 2~3 wyvern riders at once, and that was way too costly. There was a time when we had to solve an extremely urgent situation and had to hire a squad of 12 wyverns to take all our party members across and¡­ damn, even that Mr. Park was appalled by the price of it. ¡°How much is it here? A one-way trip is like 30 silver coins, right?¡± ¡°Nn? Nope! My family will be sending us a wyvern! Because I always catch one here!¡± ¡°Wow¡­¡± Her family possessed a wyvern? Looking back, Marie was from a family of farmers. I¡¯ve heard how some rich farmers that had an enormous plot ofnd used wyverns to water the crops. That was how to water crops like a badass ¨C using wyverns. ¡°Senior Marie. You said you were from a family of farmers, right?¡± ¡°Nn. What about it?¡± ¡°Since you also have a wyvern, I assume you own arge piece ofnd. Is that correct?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ It is quite big.¡± She scratched her cheek in embarrassment. Since she wasn¡¯t the type to usually boast about being rich, she seemed shy about bragging about her wealth. ¡°Please excuse me if this is disrespectful, but how big is yournd? I heard how people watered the crops using wyverns, but it sounded like a story from another world to me.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I don¡¯t know exactly though. Maybe about 2 million?¡± 2 million? Wow~. That¡¯s crazy. I was living in a house that was less than 50 square meters back when I was on Earth though. ¡°2 million square meters? ¡­That¡¯s ridiculous.¡± 2 million square meters¡­ it was such an unfathomably enormous plot ofnd that I couldn¡¯t even imagine how big it was. It seemed that Marie was incredibly rich. ¡°2 million square meters? Uhh¡­ the unit is a bit different.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not square meters¡­ It¡¯s hectares.¡± ¡°¡­¡­ Hnnn?¡± ¡°2 million hectares.¡± So¡­ Roughly 20,000,000,000 square meters. While my mind was going in circles from that absurd set of numbers, a squad of wyverns were approaching thending zone from a distance. Advanced ch?pters avable on our s¨ªte, ¨ªllustrations on our d¨ªscord ¨C d¨ªscord.gg/genes¨ªstls You can rate this series here. Chapter 57: Suspiciously... (2) ? Suspiciously¡­ (2) ? It wasn¡¯t an overstatement to say that the Duff Vige, which was sitting at the entrance of the southern ins that slowly grew to the size of a vige from a carriage tform, was living off of that industry. Mac, who was in charge of the wyvernnding zone, was one of those people. His job was to manage the safendings of wyverns and the ¡®monster carriers¡¯ on thending zone of the vige. [This is Reff One. This is Reff One. Approaching Duff for the VIP.] ¡°Mr. Mac! Reff One is here!¡± ¡°I heard that too!¡± Reff One. That was the broad title of the wyvern squads and the monster carriers of the Dunareff Family, which was in charge of the hyper-mega ntation all across the vast ins of the south. ¡°Was something happening at the Dunareff this month?¡± ¡°Umm~. It¡¯s probably because of the Academy holiday.¡± ¡°So the Princess ising back, huh.¡± In the southern regions of the continent, the Dunareff family was overwhelmingly more famous than even the royal family. There was no way the people wouldn¡¯t know about the genius mage who regrly returned to the household every holiday. While the guardians representing the east were the Sword Emperor Garrand and Sword Master Lunia, the people of the south were supporting Marie as the future representative of the south in a war of regional pride. ¡°Ah ah. This is Duff. We will now organize thending zone. Cat 1. Cat 1. A visual reference confirmation is required when 200 feet in the air.¡± [Roger that. We will arrive in 10 minutes. We are slowly lowering the altitude.] ¨C Copy that. Mac used a magicmunication device to announce to the workers of the wyvernnding zone. ¡°Reff One. Reff One is about tond soon. Bring the wyverns of the zone indoors. And make sure you clean up the area.¡± Some organization work was mandatory when there was a VIP. Stopping the other wyverns from setting off andnding on the area, they readied themselves to ept Reff One. [This is Reff One. Landing soon.] ¡°Roger that. Reff One.¡± Mac replied while looking at the squad of flying beasts that were slowlying down from the air. ¡°Now now. Reff One is about tond. That means Ms. Marie is also going toe very soon! Get ready for some hot, burning wee!¡± While the squad of wyverns wereing to pick up Marie, the workers of thending zone dropped everything they were doing and prepared themselves to wee the VIP. **** Wyverns were expensive. Like, I wasn¡¯t just throwing that out there because I didn¡¯t know about their exact price; they were extremely, extremely expensive. Sometimes on the news, they show how fighter nes and helicopters cost this and that, right? Wyverns were exactly the same. 550 gold coins. 5.5 white gold coins. That was about 550,000 in dors, but that was the bare minimum, and wyverns with a good heritage easily went over 10 white gold coins. But that wasn¡¯t even the end. The cost to maintain wyverns was also abnormally ridiculous. Maintenance fees, hiring riders, training fees, and food. I heard how each wyvern costs about 60 gold coins each year. In the game, you only had to buy it once, and that was it, but here, you had to consider the maintenance fees on top of that so buying wyverns in real life was definitely not an easy feat. ¡°Wow¡­ there¡¯s a whole squad of them.¡± So in other words, that meant that those 12 wyverns that were swarming in from the distant sky cost at least 6,600 gold coins and ate up 720 gold coins each year. It was scary how that was still the bare minimum cost. ¡°Huh? Poppy¡¯s not here? Ah, he swapped ces with Jun from the 8th Squad, huh! Maybe he¡¯s sick?¡± O~kay then!! Right now, the minimum number of wyverns in Senior Marie¡¯s family just soared all the way up to 96. 96 wyverns meant it was at least 52,000¡­ ¡°Oh, shit¡­ This is making me dizzy.¡± I didn¡¯t even know what to say after thinking about the sheer cost of that thing. But there was more. ¡°Y, you also have¡­ a monster carrier?¡± Wyverns weren¡¯t the only ones that were slowly descending from the sky. There was also a monster carrier that was carrying a whole ¡®house¡¯. Monster Carriers. It was amon way to refer to enormous flying monsters that were domesticated through long years of gic modification and training. Although they were demonic beasts by nature, these docile monster carriers that were a result of several gic modifications were able to carry more than 50 tonnes and still carry out a stable flight. The oneing down right now was an eagle that was mainly white. One thing to note was that it was even bigger than 6 wyvernsbined. ¡°¡­Hresvelgr.¡± ¡°You know what it is!?¡± Of course I did, because that was the end-game mount of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. That was the final mount of the game that could only be earned after collecting materials like a madman and doing everything, including a special egg quest, training quest, private nest construction, and more. You had to have a Hresvelgr to call yourself a veteran on the web because otherwise you¡¯d be med. As for the price¡­ I¡¯d just say that it¡¯s more expensive than the most expensive price of that wyvern squad. It wasn¡¯t an end-game mount for nothing. ¨C Guung The fact that the Hresvelgr gently ced down therge cubical ¡®building¡¯ hanging on its neck on the ground without even making any noise, was proof of how perfectly trained it was. Soon, the wyverns alsonded one by one, and an experienced middle-aged veteran came down from the biggest wyvern. ¡°Lady Marie!¡± ¡°Uncle Verg!¡± Marie was about to approach the man called Verg, but he politely stopped her before gesturing at his men with his eyes. ¨C Toot toot! Along with a noisy fanfare, an old gentleman and an olddy wearing butler clothes came out of the cubical ¡®building¡¯ and walked up after rolling a red carpet in front. ¡°Great job studying as always, Ms. Marie.¡± ¡°Grandpa Paul~. Seriously. I¡¯m telling you, you don¡¯t have to do this every time.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t do. After all, you are the first daughter of the Dunareff of the South, Miss.¡± Butler Paul, with a benevolent look on his face, greeted Marie before turning towards me. ¡°This gentleman over here is¡­?¡± ¡°Ah, he¡¯s Korin! Korin Lork! He¡¯s a freshman this year!¡± ¡°Ah~. So he is the one¡­¡± Paul walked up to me and suddenly grabbed onto my hands. ¡°Thank you sir. Thank you so much¡­ for saving our miss. It is an honor to see you.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ okay.¡± It seemed that they were already aware of what had happened to Marie. Paul wasn¡¯t the only one ¨C all the wyvern riders and workers simultaneously lowered their heads at me. ¡°T, thank you?¡± Honestly¡­ I was quite overwhelmed by the wyverns and the Hresvelgr in front, so I didn¡¯t even know what I was supposed to say. ¡°Now! Pleasee into the guest room!¡± ¡°Thank you for everything!¡± After shouting that, Marie greeted all the wyvern riders and nonchntly walked on top of the red carpet all the way into the so-called guest room. ¡°What are you doing, Korin? Hurry up ande inside!¡± ¡°¡­¡± On top of the ¡®guest room¡¯, the Hresvelgr was looking down at me with a majestic gaze. Damn it¡­ I seriously want one of these. By the way, I only gained ess to the Hresvelgr at the end of the game scenario. I barely got to ride this handsome eagle towards the end and yet¡­ **** Dunareff Family. They were apparently the practical rulers of the southern regions of the continent, who possessed 2 million hectares ofnd and operated a super-megalo farm. Using the vast piece ofnd that they have possessed from a long time ago, they supported the kingdom¡¯s finances, and it seemed that they were in charge of ? of the crops of the entire El Rath kingdom. Starting from crops and produce like potatoes and cotton to pastoral farms that have hundreds of thousands of domestic animals freely roaming around the green pasture ¨C they even had ntation factories that produced magic nts like Mandrakes. Instead of thinking, you only needed to listen to Marie¡¯s exnation to tell just how enormous everything was. ¡°From all~~ the way there to there, we have flour farms, and from there to there ¨C hmm, we can¡¯t see because of the horizon ¨C anyway, for about 30 minutes on a wyvern, we have potatoes! That mountain over there is this year¡¯s grazingnd! We will be moving back to that mountain over there next year! Oh right. Was that where our gold farm was?¡± ¡°Miss. The gold farm is further north. That ce is the diamond farm.¡± ¡°Right right!¡± Hmm, I see. When it¡¯s millions of hectares big, everything¡¯s just on a whole different scale. ¡°¡­Is that a corn farm?¡± ¡°Nn! Ah~, you saw the Audhum!¡± It was so far down, and yet I could still see their shapes through the window of the guest room. Just how big were they exactly? ¡°That¡¯s called an Audhum, and it¡¯s su~per big! Hmm~ Probably about twice the size of the carriage that we were on!¡± So¡­ it¡¯s bigger than the King of Iron Mountain, huh. Those unimaginably enormous animals were collecting corn with a harvesting tool on their necks. Twenty or so of those massive monsters moving around in a group was¡­ truly a mind-numbing sight. S, so this is normal for rich people huh¡­ But wasn¡¯t this still too much? While I was dumbfounded by the ridiculous scale of the farm, Butler Paul brought arge roast turkey from the kitchen of the guest room. ¡°This is a special meal we have prepared for our two esteemed guests.¡± He said while serving a gold roasted turkey, beneath which was a garnish made with a potato puree. The cocktails had several tiger prawns sticking inside ¨C this was something I only saw in movies! After having the best food that I haven¡¯t even had on the ground, we arrived at the wyvernnding zone that was just outside the big city of Reff in about an hour and realized that there were still many things to be surprised about. ¡°Lady Marie! Congrattions on your holidaayyyyy!!!¡± ¡°Congrattions on your promotion to semi-Unique Gradeeeee!!!¡± Around thending zone were thousands of people weing Marie, who just got down on the red carpet. ¡°U, uhh¡­¡± It was fearsome at this point. I had never seen such a warm wee, even when the stupid Mr. Park was saving the world and being called a Hero, and even when he returned after defeating the Unique Grade demonic beast that attacked the city. ¡°Umm. Grandpa Paul? Why are there so many people?¡± ¡°They have all heard about the things that happened to you, Miss.¡± ¡°I see¡­ they must have been worried.¡± It seemed that even Marie wasn¡¯t used to such a big wee when returning from the Academy, so she had a slightly embarrassed look on her face. ¡°Uncle Verg. How many people are there¡­? And it was just yesterday that I had my grade adjustment. How do they know about it already?¡± ¡°Well, we have already heard news from our wyvern riders. And there were so many people that we had to return some of them back home.¡± What? This is after you sent some back? ¡°I¡¯m sure you guys are busy with other things though. I feel a bit sorry.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t say that, Miss. Ms. Marie, you are the pride of everyone in the south after all.¡± It¡¯s not like I couldn¡¯t understand her poprity. In this day and age, the most popr and well-received upation was a guardian. They were few in numbers, and had the public image of heroes that protected humanity from tonnes of demonic beasts. If the most well-known guardian across every generation was Garrand the Sword Emperor, the current representative of guardians was Sword Master Lunia Arden from the Arden family of the east. There were several famous guardians in the west and north, but there was no one that was particrly famous in the south. Marie, who was well-known for being a genius mage, was definitely more than enough of a talent to be the iconic figure of a generation. Regional pride was probably one of the other reasons as well. ¡°Now then, let¡¯s head straight to the mansion.¡± Waiting for us at thending zone was a carriage ¨C not the magic carriage that moved with a crystal but a horse carriage that was dragged by horses. It was surprising that this was the first ¡®normal¡¯ domestic animal that I was seeing for the first time today. Getting on the carriage, we entered Reff City. Wait¡­ the name of the city was ¡®Reff¡¯. Don¡¯t tell me¡­ ¡°Senior Marie. Is the name of this city¡­¡± ¡°Ites from our surname! There¡¯s also Duna City if we go slightly to the east!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Looking back, the name of the tform was also ¡®Duff¡¯ Vige!! It was in fact surprising that I was unaware of this until now. Although I hadn¡¯t been to the south very often, it was still shocking that I had no idea about this. Even when we were inside the city, I could still spot the influence of the Dunareff family. [Dunareff Barber] [Dunareff Groceries] [Dunareff Post Office] [Dunareff Farming Cooperation Association] [Dunareff Professional Wrestling Club] Seriously¡­ the entire city was full of Dunareff. And why the heck was there a pro wrestling club? ¡°We have arrived at the entrance.¡± We soon arrived at the mansion that was standing tall inside the city and¡­ I was trying not to get surprised by size at this point, but I couldn¡¯t help it. There was a time when I went to the royal courtroom of the El Rath Kingdom. Back then, I was shocked by the size and fanciness of the royal pce of the fantasy world but¡­ ¡°It¡¯s really¡­ not any worse than the pce.¡± ¡°Wow~ Korin. Have you been to the pce? I haven¡¯t even been there that many times myself!¡± At the entrance of the mansion were ornaments and an emblem of a potato flower, and those flower petals appeared like they were sculpted with pure gold. Starting from the entrance all the way down was a vast garden and a fountain. There were several sculptures and artworks that were most certainly made by famous artists that were decorating the roadside. The most mesmerizing of them all were the flowers blooming all across the garden. It reminded me of the overwhelming tulip fields of the Nethends that I saw on TV. The only difference was that it was FHD resolution back then, whereas this was about 16k. Plus, there was a queue of countless guests lining in front of the entrance. What exactly were those people? It seemed that Marie wasn¡¯t sure either, and she, therefore, asked Mr. Paul. ¡°Do we have a party today?¡± ¡°Ah~. Guests areing from all across the southern regions including the mayor of Reff City, after hearing news about your grade adjustment, Young Miss.¡± Again, let me reiterate this. The grade adjustment was yesterday, and the news of Marie¡¯s promotion was something she shared at the Duff tform about 2 hours ago. Considering the time it would take for wyverns to fly in and send the news, that meant that those people hade here in less than 30 minutes immediately after hearing the news. ¡°Currently, we only have guests that either live nearby or have private wyverns, but we will have more guestsing very soon.¡± ¡°Aiya¡­ I¡¯m sure they¡¯re all busy though.¡± Judging from her words, I could tell that even Marie wasn¡¯t seeing anything strange about the current turn of events, as if it was natural for people toe congratte her. What kind of life have you been living, Marie-noona¡­? ¡°Senior Marie. Why did you never tell me you were rich?¡± ¡°Hmm. My parents are rich, but I¡¯m not, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what rich people always say!¡± You sell this mansion and that alone would be enough to feed 100 generations! ¡°Haha. Miss. You will be inheriting all this eventually anyway because you are the oldest child of the Dunareff family.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t need to say that, Grandpa Paul!¡± Marie wasn¡¯t denying his words though. Ah¡­ what¡¯s this sense of betrayal that I¡¯m feeling? ¡°The Dunareff Family often takes in inws when the head of the family is ady. Of course, we also provide a portion of the businesses that we own to the inw¡¯s family along with incredible support.¡± O¡­ kay? But why are you looking at me when saying that? ¡°Ms. Marie has been renowned for being both beautiful and clever ever since her childhood, and has been called the Flower of the South. There were so many people that wanted to marry our young miss, that the marriage proposal letters didn¡¯t even fit into one of our potato warehouses.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I see.¡± ¡°In thest generation with Sir Lergen, Miss Leticia, who used to be the family head back then, even gifted him with a mansion built with jewels. Hahaha. Even that was only worth less than 8 hectares of a potato farm, though.¡± It seemed that this old gentleman was a person of the Dunareff family, after all, considering how he wasparing things to potatoes¡­ ¡°G, Grandpa Paul! Why are you talking about that all of a sudden!?¡± ¡°Hahahaha. I¡¯m just saying things. Hahaha¡­¡± His expression facing me was a bit burdensome, so I changed the topic. ¡°Sunbae. You know the castle that I was talking about?¡± ¡°Ah~ You mean Castle Duke, right?¡± I asked her if she could look into the castle of Sebancia Duke, who used to be hailed as the hero of the south hundreds of years ago. ¡°It seems that someone has bought the castle recently!¡± Right¡­ Castle Duke was one that was under someone¡¯s possession even in thest iteration. The owner was like¡­ a trader from the archipgo at the southern tip of the continent or something. ¡°Castle Duke has indeed been recently purchased by Count Casseus, who does trading at the archipgo.¡± ¡°Oh~. He¡¯s a noble?¡± By the way, nobles were an honorary title in this world, like how famous actors were knighted and old nobles appeared on TVs in the modern Earth. ¡°Miss. Our Dunareff Family also has peerage.¡± ¡°Oh, right. What were they again?¡± ¡°The family head is the duke of Reff, marquis of Rangol, count of Cardriol, viscount of Crancia ¡ªskip¡ª. He has the above 25 peerage titles.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re the only one who remembers all of that, Mr. Paul.¡± ¡°It is a must as the Head Butler of the Dunareff.¡± Right¡­ the thing called peerage existed per region, and it was indeed possible to have multiples of them, like how King William I of Ennd was both the king of Ennd and a duke of Normandy of France. But still, isn¡¯t 25 too much? ¡°I think Korin wants to visit the count¡¯s castle!¡± ¡°We are very lucky then. Count Casseus has visited Reff City for his business. If we invite him to our mansion, he will dly join us for the party.¡± ¡°I see! That¡¯s great, Korin! We can talk to him about it today!¡± Count Casseus. That was indeed the name of the one who possessed Castle Duke in thest iteration. But¡­ was this quest meant to progress this easily? In any case, after 30 minutes on the carriage, we finally arrived at the actual mansion. ¡°Grandpa Paul. Where¡¯s mom and dad?¡± ¡°The family head and madam will being tonight. They told me to apologize for not being able to make it in time. The other young masters and young misses will have their holiday starting in 3 days.¡± ¡°Then we can rest until then! Korin, follow me! I¡¯ll show you your room!¡± After getting off the carriage, I followed Marie, who was hopping up the stairs. ¡°The 1st floor is where all our workers stay! We have rooms starting from the 2nd floor, but our family stays on the 3rd floor!¡± ¡°Then should I stay on the 2nd floor?¡± ¡°No! You cane here, Korin!¡± She led me to one of the rooms on the 3rd floor, with Mr. Paul following from behind. ¡°This is my room! And yours is here!¡± ¡°The Evergreen Room, I see,¡±mented Mr. Paul. ¡°Evergreen Room?¡± ¡°Yes. For generations, it has been reserved for the future family head¡¯s fiance¡ª¡± ¡°M, Mr. Paul! You don¡¯t have to say that! I¡¯m just giving this to him because it¡¯s the best room we have!¡± After saying that, Marie exined several things about the Evergreen Room, before going into her room which was connected to the Evergreen Room. The bed was a queen-sized bed that was a bit too big for me to use by myself. It was my first time seeing such a fancy andrge bed. ¨C Knock knock! I came out after a shower in the bathroom connected to the room when someone knocked on the door. ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°My name is Wilson, sir, and I am a massager working in the mansion.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Pleasee in?¡± The man who then walked into the room looked like a professional massager that you would see at expensive spas. He asked whether I wanted to have the massage in another room or not but I told him that I wanted to do it here. ¨C Creak! Crackkk! ¡°Aah. That feels good¡­¡± ¡°Haha. You have a lot of cramps. Let me start from your shoulders.¡± ¡°Thank youuu¡­¡± This was so rxing¡­ Was this paradise? I wanted to spend my whole life here if I could. **** Meanwhile, Marie was being served by maids for the first time in a long time. ¡°Oh my. Miss. Your skin is as soft as a baby¡¯s!¡± ¡°Your skin¡¯s very beautiful. Even prettier thanst winter!¡± While looking after Marie¡¯s skin, which was as soft as a mochi, the maids were bustling with noise. It was normal for maids to say things that would put their masters in a good mood, but all theirpliments for Marie were genuine. Actually, there was something the employees at the mansion had decided on before Marie¡¯s arrival. ¡®You remember right? Don¡¯t ever talk about vampires in front of Lady Marie!¡¯ Everyone was greatly shocked when they heard how Marie had awakened as a vampire. Even though it wasn¡¯t that rare for people to sometimes awaken into a demi-human, the reception and public consensus against them was by no means positive. But even so, Marie was still Marie. Those who knew about Marie knew how adorable and gentle she was. The maids who had been serving her for a long time felt like they were sending off their daughter when she headed to the Academy, and yet she hade back as a demon! In order to make sure she didn¡¯t feel down, they decided to be careful with their words. Actually, the newspaperpanies that the Dunareff had shares in made sure to portray her as a victim, and the public perception was therefore not as bad as it could have been. As long as there was enough money and power, it was possible to make a serial killer into a saint in this world. And besides, who would dare openly pick a fight with the royal Princess of the Potato Empire? ¡°Ms. Marie. How is life at the Academy?¡± ¡°Nnn¡­ I think I need another uniform. It feels stuffy around my chest.¡± ¡°Oh my~. That proves you are still growing even more. We will prepare the best designers and master dressmakers.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ And, can we get one for a male as well?¡± ¡°For a male?¡± ¡°Ah~. Is that for your peer that you came here with?¡± This is it! The maids looked at each other, before immediately deciding on the next topic. ¡°He was a very handsome-looking gentleman, right? Very amicable and had a great personality as well.¡± ¡°Nn. He¡¯s a great person.¡± Marie replied while slightly burying her head into her clothes with flushed ears. The maids paused after seeing that conspicuous change. ¡®That¡¯s youth.¡¯ ¡®Youth it is.¡¯ ¡®Does anyone know anything about that gentleman?¡¯ ¡®He¡¯s a Grade 5 Knight, apparently. It¡¯s a bit low for him to be Miss¡¯s spouse, don¡¯t you think?¡¯ ¡®No no no. Mr. Verg told me he¡¯s a Grade 1 Knight. Apparently, he is on a simr level with Sword Master Lunia Arden of the East!¡¯ ¡®Hoh¡­¡¯ After silently sharing information in less than 3.7 seconds in front of their master with nothing but eye contact, the maids decided on the next direction of the conversation. ¡°Oh really~? He looked like a very reliable person. What kind of person is he?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ First off, he¡¯s handsome¡­¡± ¡®Is he?¡¯ ¡®Objectively speaking, I guess?¡¯ ¡®But not as much as our Miss.¡¯ ¡°Very responsible, nice¡­!¡± ¡®His personality seems good at least.¡¯ ¡®How about his family?¡¯ ¡®It doesn¡¯t matter when Miss is from the Dunareff.¡¯ ¡®You¡¯re right.¡¯ ¡°He said he wanted me to be happy. He called me a good person, nice and pretty¡­! Hehe¡­¡± ¡°¡°¡­¡­¡±¡± Hearing thosest words, an ominous feeling struck the three maids. ¡®His tongue¡­ is quite smooth.¡¯ ¡®Is he a yer?¡¯ ¡®No way¡­ right?¡¯ The maids all got an ominous feeling, because thisdy from the Dunareff family had been protected from the surroundings due to her absolute position in the south that she had been living a life that was very distant from men. Even though there were enough marriage proposal letters to fill up a warehouse, that meant nothing because someone burned them all down while screaming, ¡®These guys are all after my daughter¡¯s wealth!¡¯ In other words, it meant that Marie Dunareff knew nothing about men! ¡°Umm¡­ By the way, Miss. This might be a very sensitive topic, but¡­¡± ¡°Nn? What is it?¡± ¡°Did you perhaps, provide the young gentleman with any financial support¡­ or were there talks about borrowing money by any chance?¡± ¡®Y, you idiot! That¡¯s way too straight-forward!¡¯ ¡®But! She won¡¯t tell us if we don¡¯t ask like this!¡¯ For some reason, she was right on the mark. ¡°Hmm~. I did invest some into his business!¡± ¡°Ohh¡­¡± None of the maids had the room to scold the one who identally let out an audible gasp. After a while, they carefully asked a question with a shivering voice. Their hands weren¡¯t even moving at this point. ¡°Umm, by business, you mean¡­?¡± ¡°He said he wanted to create an inn! And he said he would definitely multiply the money by three times! Korin is very smart and capable!¡± ¡®¡­Shit.¡¯ The maids all shared the same sentiment. **** Considering how all the influential people of the area were invited, including the mayor, the party itself was aparatively normal one held at the garden. Of course, even a normal one was extremely big when held at the Dunareff mansion. ¡°Korin¡­! Everything here is delicious! Do you want some hash browns?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± Marie was in a casual dress, leading me forward by the hand. Since she was the protagonist of this party, we naturally ended up gathering a lot of eyes from the crowd. ¡°It was called a party, so I was thinking of a banquet of nobles, but this is quite different from what I expected.¡± ¡°Hnn? Well, it¡¯s because everyone¡¯s just here to say hi~¡± She said as if it was natural for the influential people of the area to greet her. Seeing how there was a whole crowd that was eager to strike up a conversation with her¡­ it might be correct to say that it was a part of everyday life for her. ¡°Oh right! We need to deal with your thing first, Korin!¡± ¡°With Count Casseus?¡± ¡°Nn nn! He¡¯s right there!¡± It seemed that she was going to prioritize my business first. ¡°It¡¯s your party so how about you enjoy it first?¡± ¡°Hmm~. Why bother?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Damn, she was just built different or something! Was she implying this was just an everyday stuff for her that she didn¡¯t need to bother enjoying it? Was this the dignity of the rich farmers that had control over the continent? Together with Marie, I headed to a corner of the garden, where a man with a slightly darker skin that was normal for people from the archipgo was sharing a conversation with the guests. Count Casseus. He was a named character that you inevitably had to meet when clearing the quest of the Unique Grade demonic spirit sealed inside the Great Library, Sebancia Duke. While looking for news about Sebancia¡¯s wife and his daughter, Ruina Duke and Cecilia Duke, there was a need to visit his castle and the yer had two choices. One was to infiltrate Castle Duke in secret and look for clues. Of course, patrol guards woulde for you if you got discovered and killing them would increase your infamy points so it was way too risky if you weren¡¯t maining stealth. The standard procedure was to finish Count Casseus¡¯s questline and get the official permit from him. The problem, however, was that he would ask you to defeat the Sea Serpent that was wreaking havoc at the archipgo. In any case, Count Casseus was a strict and seasoned NPC that matched his appearance of an old merchant. Even when he was talking to us, the heroes of the country, he was strict in the sense that we had to finish his quest beforehand if we wanted to ask him for any favor. ¡°Hello, Lord Casseus!¡± ¡°Lady Marie?¡± What was going on? Why does he have such a bright smile on his face? When we were looking for him, he was like, ¡®You¡¯re a guardian? Maybe I can get a permit for you if you deal with this troublesome problem of mine,¡¯ with a discontent look on his face, was he not?! ¡°I¡¯m Marie Dunareff!¡± ¡°Casseus ndria. Nice to meet you, Madam.¡± Marie pushed her hand forward for a handshake, as Casseus received the offer with a wide smile on his face. ¡°I am the director of Dunareff Construction.¡± ¡°Of course, Miss. And I am the head director of the ndria transportation business.¡± ¡°Wow. I love the buttons on your coat. Did you make them by carving obsidian?¡± ¡°Yes. We have stores in each port city that take care of jewelry.¡± ¡°No wonder! Oh, by the way, I have a monster carrier ¨C one that¡¯s called Hresvelgr.¡± ¡°Right. Actually, I saw it on the way ¨C it looked incredible!¡± ¡°You see, the bed inside the guest room of the carrier is a bit shaky, and it¡¯s quite ufortable.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s not good! You see, my wife runs a furniture business. She also has very firm beds and maybe she can do something about it.¡± ¡°Sounds great. I would love to see her if I can.¡± ¡°If you may, pleasee to our castle. It would be an honor to introduce my wife to you, Miss.¡± ¡°Wow~. Castle Duke, right? The castle of the hero, Sebancia Duke! Can I please have a look at the office as well, then?¡± ¡°Of course you may. Would you be okay with this week?¡± ¡°I think Friday would be great! If you¡¯re busy¡­¡± ¡°No, we definitely have time, and we would make one even if we didn¡¯t for your visit, Miss. We would love! To see you on Friday!¡± ¡°Then, see you on Friday!¡± After making an appointment with Count Casseus in the blink of an eye, Marie came to me with a wide smile on her face. ¡°I got the appointment! It¡¯s this Friday!¡± ¡°¡­¡± I had to board a ship, dive 60 meters underwater and fight against a damn snake inside the ocean just to go into that castle and yet¡­ ¡°Korin. Do you want to go shopping tomorrow? He said he will be hosting a party, so I think we need to get some formal clothes! And it¡¯s also boring to stay home doing nothing, right?¡± ¡°Sure, of course. Let¡¯s do that.¡± Advanced ch?pters avable on our s¨ªte ¨ªllustrations on our d¨ªscord ¨C d¨ªscord.gg/genes¨ªstls You can rate this series here. Chapter 58: Suspiciously... (3) ? Suspiciously¡­ (3) ? To prepare for Count Casseus¡¯s party, Marie and I headed to one of the shopping districts in the city. There, I noticed an interesting street name. ¡°Marie Street?¡± ¡°Uht¡­! I, it¡¯s nothing important!¡± The name of the shopping district was Marie Street. What in the world was this? ¡°Can you exin what this means?¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ Like, when I was born, dad built this ce to celebrate my birth.¡± ¡°¡­¡± It seemed that the Duke really cherished Marie. ¡°All the stores here look very expensive though.¡± Marie Street was like a fashion street that was filled with all sorts of branded clothing stores and jewelry shops. ¡°Montijo? Ghesquiere? Oh damn¡­¡± Even though it was a fantasy world, there were branded stores that were on the same level as famous ces on Earth. After living in this world for 3 years, I reached a point where I could somewhat recognize a few of those names. ¡°Senior. Are we going to shop here?¡± ¡°Nn. Why, is there a problem?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Unlike Marie who was born as the daughter of the super potato farm, I was a sryman who just became a Grade 1 Knight. I had yet to even receive my first support fund so there was no way I could afford these expensive items. ¡°Sorry but¡­ I don¡¯t have enough money¡­¡± ¡°Ahht¡­!¡± Marie blocked her mouth as if she wasn¡¯t expecting to hear such a thing. What she then said was very unexpected as well. ¡°Why would you consider using your money Korin?¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°Of course I¡¯m going to be buying it for you!¡± ¡°Like, that¡¯s a bit¡­¡± I had my pride as a man and couldn¡¯t afford to receive something so expensive. ¨C Grip! That was when Marie tightly grabbed onto my hand and said with a bright smile. ¡°I really wanted to buy you clothes! Can you please let me buy you presents just for today?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Her eyes were very clear. ¡°Okay sure. Well, then can I please ask you to buy me a couple of clothes?¡± ¡°Really?¡± She seemed extremely d to hear my words. Everything was fine as long as she was happy with it herself. ¡°Then I will give you everything we buy today as a present!¡± Wait, did I hear something wrong? Did she say everything instead of one? ¡°Let¡¯s go there first! I really wanted to be the one to get you your first tuxedo!¡± Pulling my hand, Marie hurried me forward. Her following words that today was too short to go looking around all the ces was a bit puzzling though. Well¡­ it¡¯s not like we would be buying that many clothes right? What I should have known, was that ¡®looking around¡¯ was definitely not the only thing we were doing. **** ¡°One for daytime and one for nighttime please.¡± ¡°What kind of style would you like?¡± ¡°Three buttons ¨C obsidian would be good. Ones that are carved in the southern style.¡± Isabelle Eastwood Dress Shop. I almost lost myself after seeing how dozens of gold coins for a single suit was the bare minimum. ¡°Please make sure you show his neck line! Because Korin has a beautiful neck and corbones!¡± ¡°Oh my, as expected of Lady Marie. You have amazing eyes for this.¡± ¡°Right! Also, Korin has muscles and wide shoulders so a roped shoulder fit would be nice.¡± ¡°We will also make sure his trousers are so perfect that he can even squat with them on.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t the design be a bit in though? I think adding a birdseye jacquard or a herringbone pattern would add vor to the suit.¡± ¡°In that case, we will add a faint pattern arrangement that makes it seem seamless at a distance, but with a hint of herringbone pattern when nearby. If you add this handkerchief and this tie on top of that¡­¡± Holy moly. What in the world were they talking about? Was this the same Marie as the one who was boiling potatoes every morning to give to her peers? ¡°As expected of Isabelle Eastwood! I can trust you with this.¡± ¡°It is an honor, Lady Marie. We will send them to the mansion in time before the party.¡± Under the devoted care of the workers, I left the store while carefully holding onto the container of handkerchief that they gave as a souvenir. Even though it was just a souvenir, I was shocked upon hearing that this cost 3 gold coins and that was why I was being exceptionally careful with this. ¡°Aren¡¯t we¡­ using too much money?¡± ¡°Nn? Did we use that much?¡± ¡°Wait. Looking back, I don¡¯t think we even paid for them though¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯ll send the bill home so don¡¯t worry!¡± ¡°Is that okay?¡± ¡°Korin.¡± Marie suddenly called my name with a serious look on her face. ¡°Yes, Senior?¡± ¡°My name is all the credit they need.¡± ¡°Haa¡­!¡± She was dazzling. I would love to be someone like her who can say things like that! ¡°Hah~.¡± I said after a sigh though. ¡°Aren¡¯t you teasing me too much?¡± ¡°Ah, you figured it out!¡± ¡°Of course I would when you are smirking all the time while waiting for my reaction.¡± ¡°Hehe. Because Korin was always the one teasing me! When would I get to tease you if not now?¡± ¡°Well. If this is how you tease¡­ then I¡¯d wee it any time.¡± We used a white gold coin for a single suit. I was somewhat expecting that to happen after seeing her spend dozens of gold coins for a ne and boots but¡­ it was still shocking nheless. By the way, we also bought a ridiculous number of casual branded clothes before going for the tailored suit. Those only cost 3~4 gold coins each so they didn¡¯t make me as ufortable as this suit, which was a plus. ¡­¡­The fact that I unknowingly thought to myself that they ¡®only¡¯ cost 3~4 gold coins after buying a bunch of shirts that were worth thousands of dors was the frightening result of today¡¯s shopping. ¡°Anyway, this is everything right?¡± ¡°What do you mean, Korin?¡± ¡°¡­Is there more?¡± ¡°You have to buy a watch as well! Men need to be wearing good watches before doing anything big!¡± ¡°It will break in the middle of a fight¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay! We can get a few spares!¡± After going to a watch store, Marie said the following. ¡°Please give us one each from here to over there!¡± Wow~. I thought I earned a fair bit of money myself in thest iteration after working hard for 3 years, but I finally noticed something after seeing Marie use a nk cheque. Whether it be a hero of a war or whatever, it was impossible for an individual to reach the financial level of a truly wealthy family. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Thest ce we went to was a workshop. ¡°What is this ce, Senior?¡± ¡°Nn you see! There is something I prepared for you, Korin!¡± ¡°Oh my~. If it isn¡¯t Lady Marie! You are finally here.¡± ¡°Hello, Miss Sariere.¡± A master craftswoman who had brown skin, which was unique to those from the southern archipgoes, weed Marie as if she had been waiting for her. ¡°Are you here to collect your requested item?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± In response, the person called Sariere headed somewhere before carrying back arge box and opening it. Inside was a piece of iron that looked like normal steel. But I knew how this ore changed when going into the Domain. ¡°¡­Unbreakable Stone?¡± ¡°Nn! This is the same ore as the one that went into Junior Alicia¡¯s Demon-ying Sword!¡± ¡°How did you¡­¡± It was something that even the Academy did not have. I received Refined Silver instead but it wasn¡¯t something that could be used perfectly like the Unbreakable Stone and was something that would one day crumble after entering the Domain too much. However, the Unbreakable Stone was different. This one never broke. It was a Unique-Grade magic stone that instead became more powerful after entering the Domain. ¡°How did you even get this? They¡¯re hard to find on the market, aren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Nn? I don¡¯t think it was that hard to find it though.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I see.¡± ¡°If we cover your spear with this, it will be possible to use your spear inside the ce that you called ¡®Domain¡¯, without a problem, right?¡± ¡°Yes, but¡­¡± This single stone was iparably more valuable than everything I received today. The Unbreakable Stone wasn¡¯t ssified as Unique-Grade for nothing ¨C it was the one that was used for the sword of Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor before he gave it to Alicia. It was hard to obtain because it was pretty much impossible to see them on sale. ¡°Korin. This is myst gift for you!¡± And yet Marie handed it over to me with a bright smile on her face. **** That night, I was invited to a family meal of the Dunareff family. ¡°This way please, Sir Korin.¡± ¡°K, kuhum¡­¡± Following the directions of the butler that was assigned for me, I arrived at the dining room. The exnations he gave about the history of the Dunareff Mansion and the artworks decorating the corridor were mind-blowing. The butlers were excessively kind to me, whereas the maids were rather antagonistic for some reason. As for the butlers, it was probably because the Head Butler, Mr. Paul, had a good impression of me but I had no idea why the maids hated me so much. When I arrived at the dining room, I found 3 people sitting on the seats including Marie. Needless to say, they were her parents. ¡°Ah, hello. Nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Oh my~. What a handsome-looking gentleman.¡± A middle-aged woman who looked exactly like Marie was the first to open their mouth. The charming middle-ageddy who looked like a future version of Marie weed me with a deep smile on her face. ¡°Hmph! You call that handsome?¡± On the other hand, sitting on the highest seat of the table was a middle-aged man with water-colored hair. It seemed Marie had received her hair color from her father. From what I heard, he was a very skilled mage. I could see him sitting in the unique posture of a mage in a tidy robe. ¡°It is an honor to see you, Duke Dunareff.¡± Although I may look like this, I had to meet quite a lot of nobles and people from the royal court in thest iteration. Duke Dunareff had a slightly surprised look on his face after seeing my decent etiquette. ¡°Take a seat.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Korin! Come here! Here!¡± Marie invited me over to the seat next to her by tapping on the chair. I sat down on the seat which was in between Marie and the duke. Veins immediately popped up on Duke¡¯s face. ¡°Kuhum, kuhum¡­!¡± ¡°Dear? Anything wrong?¡± ¡°Kuhuhum¡­! Mari? How about you sit next to daddy like you¡¯ve been doing all the time?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s alright! Because today, I want to introduce Korin to you daddy!¡± ¡°I, introduce¡­!?¡± ¡°Oh my oh my~¡± Her words were very open for misunderstandings, which thus resulted in two contradicting reactions. Duke red daggers at me like a thief who stole his seat from him. ¡®Is this my fault?¡¯ I asked with my gaze, and he returned, ¡®It is¡¯. Even though this was quite unfair, I could understand why he was vignt as a father. If I had a daughter like Marie myself, then I would have done everything for her as well. ¡°Again, it is an honor to meet you. My name is Korin Lork.¡± ¡°I am Marde Dunareff.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m Elencia Dunareff. So you are my son-in¡­ I mean, Student Korin, right? Nice to meet you.¡± I thought I heard something strange just then. I was hearing things¡­ right? ¡°So,¡± said the Duke. ¡°I heard you are one year younger than Marie.¡± ¡°Yes sir. That is the case.¡± ¡°And I heard you are a knight of excellent skills. To the point that you became a Grade 1 Knight in just one semester.¡± ¡°It is still far from enough.¡± Something I¡¯ve noticed from conversing with a lot of people was that it was better to hide your pride and ego. They generally considered it rude for you to proudly talk about yourself. When I gave a humble reply, it was instead Marie, who was sitting next to me, that praised me with a fuss. ¡°Korin is super amazing! He fought on equal grounds with Sword Master Lunia as well!¡± ¡°Against Lunia Arden?¡± ¡°Nn! It was during the interim exam. He was amazing!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Even Duke Marde seemed surprised after hearing that I had a close fight against Sword Master Lunia Arden. Her name was incredibly powerful even in a ce this far from the center of the continent. ¡°Just letting you know, I was promoted to Grade 1 Mage 20 years ago.¡± ¡°¡­Is that so, sir?¡± ¡°I was 20 years faster than you.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Congrattions.¡± ¡°Ehem.¡± Congrattions on doing that before I was even born. ¡°So, what kind of work do your parents do?¡± It was strange that he was suddenly asking about my family, but I answered his question by going through the memories of Korin Lork. ¡°My parents run a restaurant.¡± ¡°Hmm~. Do you have siblings?¡± ¡°I have a younger sister.¡± ¡°I see. A normal household.¡± ¡°Quite normal, yes.¡± It was a normal family that you could see anywhere on both Earth and here. ¡°Now, listen carefully. Mr. Korin Lork. This question is the most important one of all.¡± Duke Marde gazed at me with a serene and serious look on his face when saying that.. He was the ruler of the South ¨C the emperor of the Potato Empire that was running the omega enormous agricultural business of the Dunareff. I got to see a portion of their wealth today. What question was this man ¨C who could move the entire southern region with one word ¨C going to ask me!? If this was still a game, this would be the turning point of an important scenario quest. ¡°Are you a virgin?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­Sorry?¡± ¡°Come on dear! Why would you ask something like that?¡± Duchess Elencia pped him by the shoulder and the Duke exined himself while throwing nces at her face. ¡°Of course the son-inw of the Dunareff family must be a pure virgin¡­!¡± ¡°Dad?!¡± Oh¡­ So he is misunderstanding our rtionship, huh? ¡°Anyway, Mr. Korin Lork! Marie took everything after me; she¡¯s very clever and is very kind at heart.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I don¡¯t think she took after your personality though? ¡°I am not trying to brag or anything, but Marie was able to use magic ever since she was 7. She¡¯s a prodigy among prodigies.¡± Aren¡¯t you bragging at this point? ¡°She is the apple of my eye, and my precious daughter that I raised with everything I had¡­!¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I see. Well¡­¡± Duke Marde red at me with a bloody gaze. I could sense his wariness in his eyes. ¡°So I will never give you my daughter!¡± ¡°Dad?!¡± ¡°Dear?!¡± As expected, he suddenly started rambling on. He was as unstoppable as a bulldozer. ¡°Mari said, ¡®I¡¯ll marry daddy when I grow up!¡¯ I will never give her to you¡­!¡± ¡°Daddddd!!!¡± Marie shouted while looking at Duke Marde with an appalled look on her face. ¡°What are you saying! To someone you¡¯re seeing for the first time!!!¡± With a deeply flushed face, Marie pushed him and hit him by the shoulder. Even though he was double her size, Marie was the one overpowering him. ¡°Ahkk..! Ugh! Ahkkk¡­! W, wait! Mari, it hurts! W, why are you so¡­! You take all these bad things from your mom¡­!¡± ¡°Please just stop talking, dad!¡± It was pitiful seeing him be dragged out like that by Marie. Now that I thought about it, there was probably no-one in this family that could resist Marie¡¯s power. Now that Marie dragged Duke Marde out of the dining room, Duchess Elencia and I were the only ones left behind inside the room. ¡°Sorry for the mess, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°Haha, I am jealous of the open atmosphere here.¡± ¡°A bit too open, I might say.¡± The duchess wearing an amicable smile on her face looked at me with an elegant gaze before suddenly standing up from her seat. ¡°Duchess?¡± Then, she deeply lowered her head. ¡°Thank you very much for helping Marie.¡± ¡°¡­Please don¡¯t lower your head like that. It makes me feel ufortable.¡± ¡°Does it?¡± ¡°And I was just doing it because I could.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Plus, more than anything¡­ Senior Marie is someone who has the right to be more happy.¡± It was better for good people to have better end to their story. In fact, that was the natural thing. ¡°Huhu¡­¡± In response, the Duchess returned a refreshing smile that was simr to Marie¡¯s before covering her mouth. ¡°I was worried that she was way too blinded when I saw her letter but¡­ Ah, and I do wee you, Mr. Korin. Unlike my husband, I am not the type to bind my daughter too much.¡± ¡°¡­I see?¡± About what? And what¡¯s with this letter from Marie? ¨C Ahhhk! No you cannot, Mari! Your daddy will not allow this! ¨C Please stop! ¨C Y, you can hold hands! But you can¡¯t do anything more than that! ¨C S, s, stop saying weird things like that! I hate you, dad! You idiot! ¨C Ha, aahkkkkk¡­! Marieeee¡­! Ehew. It was an illness at this point. Were all fathers like that after having a daughter? Soon, Duke Marde came back and gave both an apology and a word of gratitude, but he still couldn¡¯t give up until the very end. ¡°You may hold your hands but that is it¡­! That virginity of yours! You better keep that until the end of your life¡­!!¡± ¨C p! The best cure for the rampaging husband was a p to the back from his wife. Adv§Ñnced ch§Ñpters §Ñvable on our sit§Ö illustr§Ñti§àns on our disc§àrd ¨C disc§àrd.gg/g§Ön§Ösistls You can rate this series here. Chapter 59: Suspiciously... (4) ? Suspiciously¡­ (4) ? On the day of the party, after wearing the delivered suit, dress shoes, and the watch, I stood in front of the mirror. ¡°¡­This feels unbelievablyfortable.¡± It¡¯s not like I never had to wear suits in thest iteration and my previous life. Both in interviews and when I was meeting people from the royal court or high officials, I had to dress myself up. But because I was still a knight, I didn¡¯t have enough money to spend on a suit as someone who constantly had to fight. ¡®I remember buying a cheap one from one of the stalls for 70 silvers.¡¯ Ah¡­ Was that why the 2nd Princess gave me cash? So that I didn¡¯t have to wear clothes like a beggar? ¡°It was quite expensive for me back then though.¡± Right now, the suit I was wearing was already worth one white gold coin, and the watch and shoes added up with the tie cost about one white gold coin and a half in total. The scary thing was that Marie bought me even more than this. There were so many clothes that I probably didn¡¯t have to buy anything else in my entire life, but the problem was that I had to take them back. How am I supposed to carry all of them back? ¡°Korin! Are you ready?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± There was a door connecting the Evergreen Room to Marie¡¯s room. Opening the door, Marie came into the room. ¡°Ohh¡­¡± It was breathtaking. Along with transparent ss shoes, she was wearing ivory-colored stockings and a dress with a hint of water-colored drops. The daring exposure of her chest and her shoulders was probably an expression of her unreserved pride. Marie was even wearing some makeup unlike her usual self. Her skin that was already as white as white jade became as bright as the star of a night sky with the help of makeup. ¡°How does this look? It just arrived today!¡± Lifting the sides of her dress with her pure white opera gloves, Marie rotated on the spot. She was as bright and mystifying as a dancing fairy. Honestly, seeing her made me feel worthwhile. If I hadn¡¯t saved this girl, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to see her in this dress today, and the people of the south would have forever lost their beloved princess. ¡°It was definitely worth the trouble.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± Marie tilted her head but without paying attention to that, I unhesitatingly walked up to her. [When in front of an attractivedy, it is the courtesy of a gentleman to give her a kiss and ask for a dance, Knight Korin.] I remembered being scolded in thest iteration by someone, so I decided to be a courteous gentleman this time around. By gently holding onto her hand through the opera glove, I gazed up at her after going down on one of my knees. ¡°Could you please give me the honor of having your first dance tonight, mydy?¡± ¡°U, uht¡­! Umm! Ahh?!¡± Her cheeks were visibly flushed. Even her ears were reddened and it seemed that she wasn¡¯t used to things like this. How cute. ¡°I will be asking you like that tonight, so it would be nice if you could ept my offer for me.¡± ¡°Huh? Nn! Of course! Of course I will! Okay! I will definitely do that!¡± For some reason, the maids were whispering to each other behind Marie. ¡°¡­I knew it, he¡¯s a yer.¡± ¡°Our Lady fell for a gold digger.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this dangerous? It looks like she would give everything to him.¡± Even with the incredible ears of a knight, it was hard for me to pick up all the words in their conversation. They were exceptionally skilled at practically talking in silence. In their conversation, there were a few words about real estate and inns¡­ are they interested? To be fair, real estate is the best way to multiply your money. They are overpowered after all! Maybe I should talk to themter about investment! ¡°Now, shall we get going?¡± ¡°U, uhh yes! Can you be my escort?¡± ¡°Of course, my Lady.¡± ¡°P, please stop¡­!¡± ¡°Then should I call you the Princess of the Potato Empire?¡± ¡°¡­??¡± She was tempted there for a second. ¡°Anyway, stop calling me by strange names! I am your senior so you need to listen to me!¡± ¡°Of course, my princess.¡± ¡°Korin. You¡­!¡± Marie punched my arm in protest¡­ and honestly, it was quite painful. Her strength was nothing to scoff at¡­ In any case, we got into the guest room of Senior Marie¡¯s enormous beast, the Hresvelgr, and headed to the count¡¯s castle located further south. It would have taken a few days by carriage, but it only took a few hours on this guy. ¡°Ehew. I wonder when I can get myself one of these.¡± ¡°Nn? Do you want me to give it to you?¡± ¡°¡­Don¡¯t even say that as a joke please. You are pampering me too much.¡± It was scary because she really might give it to me if I asked her for one. Even if she did give it to me, there was no way for me to use it. Large beasts like wyverns let alone Hresvelgrs needed a ce to dock and I didn¡¯t have any. Merkarva City prohibited the entry of flying animals for security purposes as well, so it was all the more useless for me. ¡°We will get off in the middle and change into a carriage.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we just jump off from here?¡± Jumping straight down from flying beasts like the secret ops was something I had often done in thest iteration. ¡°No! My dress and my hair will be a mess then.¡± ¡°A mage at your level should be able to stop that without a problem though. Right?¡± ¡°Other people will also be surprised! It¡¯s not good etiquette.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true too.¡± In any case, wended on a nearby in and moved into a carriage of the Dunareff family that was waiting for us beforehand to head to the castle. ¡°Ahh. Lady Marie! Wee!¡± As if he had been waiting for her the whole time, Count Casseus hurried his way over immediately after spotting the golden potato flower emblem of the Dunareff family. ¡®I swear this guy wasn¡¯t like this before¡­¡¯ Was he really the same guy as the one who stubbornly refused to open the castle gates before we killed the Sea Serpent? ¡°Hello, Lord Casseus!¡± ¡°It is an honor to see you again. Our ndria family will wholeheartedly wee you for your visit, Miss!¡± After saying that, Count Casseus led us to the side of the queue of people that was waiting for inspection in front of the castle¡¯s entrance and simply let us through. ¡°Oh my. It really is Lady Marie.¡± ¡°The news about having a guest from Dunareff was true then.¡± ¡°Lord ndria must be doing very well these days.¡± What I realized the past few days was that it wasn¡¯t an overstatement to say that the influential power of the Dunareff family was at an absolute level in the south. Let alone the ridiculous size of their farm that reached 2 million hectares in size, they were a bigshot that pretty much had full control over 25 cities and the continent¡¯s trade market. The archipgo, where the headquarter of Count Casseus was at, wasn¡¯t a subject of the El Rath Kingdom, but they desperately needed the cooperation of the Dunareff family to open a trade with the continent. Therefore, the fact that the oldest daughter of the Dunareff family had epted the invitation to the count¡¯s party was a green light signal that the ndria family could dream of a smooth sail. ¡®In that sense, I guess Marie showing up to the party is a lot better for them than killing a Sea Serpent.¡¯ A Sea Serpent was something that could be dealt with by striking a deal with the Guardian Alliance with money or something, but moving the princess of the Potato Empire wasn¡¯t something that could be done with money. ¡°Ehew¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Korin?¡± ¡°I was just thinking of how amazing a person you are, Senior Marie.¡± ¡°R, really? Ehem! That¡¯s right. Your senior is an amazing person, okay!¡± In response, I gently pressed her nose down. ¡°W, what are you doing?¡± ¡°I had to because you were being a bit too snobby. Your nose was about to reach the sky at that point.¡± ¡°I, isn¡¯t it okay for me to say that much though?¡± ¡°Well, I guess. Because you are the princess of the Potato Empire after all.¡± ¡°¡­It is a good name, but it sounds like you¡¯re teasing me so I don¡¯t know if I should be happy or not.¡± Ahh, seriously. Just how much did this girl love potatoes? After entering the castle, we were unloading the carriage when Marie tilted her head. ¡°Korin. Did you take your weapon? Where is it?¡± ¡°Yeah I did. Here. What about you senior?¡± My spear was wrapped with a piece of cloth but I couldn¡¯t see any weapon on Marie. ¡°I left it in the carriage just in case.¡± ¡°But is it okay for us to carry around weapons?¡± ¡°People actually think it¡¯s cool for guardians to carry around weapons all the time. Besides, you never know when you¡¯ll have to fight against monsters so it¡¯s okay to bring them.¡± ¡°I see~¡± It was probably not a good idea to carry a weapon into the banquet hall though. ¡°Entering now are Lady Marie of Dunareff Dukedom! And Sir Knight Korin Lork!¡± The door opened along with the sonorous roar of one of the servants, allowing us into the well-decorated banquet hall. The chandeliers were made with crystals and had fluorescent stones. All the windows were made of stained ss and on the walls were tapestries of the ndria household and representative ornaments from the southern archipgo. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Korin?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Everything looked exceptionally different from thest iteration. All the items were new and were fancier than the ones in my memories. Did they remodel the entire building because of Marie¡¯s visit? ¡°Oh my. Is that Lady Marie?¡± ¡°She has recently been promoted to semi-Unique Grade mage, right?¡± ¡°Semi-Unique Grade? Isn¡¯t that practically the same as Sword Master Lunia Arden?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. The Dunareff Family must be feeling joyous then.¡± ¡°My son is entering the Merkarva Academy next year¡­ Maybe I should try to put them together?¡± ¡°Won¡¯t that be difficult? I heard there¡¯s a whole warehouse full of marriage proposals.¡± ¡°More importantly, who is that young gentleman by her side?¡± With just her appearance alone, Marie created a ripple in the banquet hall. Back in Merkarva Academy, everyone was a student so her influence was a lot smaller, but it seemed that Marie¡¯s position in her homeground was unmatched. All the important guests gathered before long so the host, Count Casseus, started his speech on the stage. ¡°I am Count Casseus ndria. Thank you everyone for attending our family¡¯s party today, and especially, a warm wee to Lady Marie Dunareff for honoring us with her presence.¡± As expected, Count Casseus started by mentioning Marie. He was pretty much unting that this was how close he was with the Dunareff family. Now that she was at the center of everyone¡¯s attention, Marie returned a wave and a faint smile until the host gathered their eyes back to the stage. Soon, the party officially began as the performance of the orchestra resonated across the hall. ¡°Lady Marie. I am the countess of the Rotenan region¡ª-¡± ¡°Your dress looks amazing today. I run a small business in Sebastian¡ª-¡± Whether it be a noble or an influential member of the region, they all looked for Marie for a conversation. Marie started a fluent conversation with all of them with a bright smile on her face and satisfied everyone that came to her. As expected of a human capybara, she was very friendly and great with people. [The banquet hall is where tongues dance like swords, Knight Korin. You have to be careful with your words at all times.] ording to the words of the 2nd Princess in thest iteration, the banquet hall was the battlefield of tongue-swordsmen that could turn 180 degrees at any given moment, but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case for Marie. To be fair, that was natural because the royal pce had factions and political positions whereas the Dunareff family had an absolute position and wealth in the south. ¡®I guess Senior Marie will be untouchable in the south at least.¡¯ After all, there was no-one in the south unlike the capital that could fight against her on equal grounds. I carefully approached Marie, who was in the middle of a conversation, and whispered into her ears. ¡°Senior. We should go to the office in a bit.¡± ¡°Nn¡­!¡± Marie and I had already prepared our weapons. Once the party was well and truly underway, we would talk to the count and retrieve our weapons that we assigned to the servants before heading to the office. Around when the orchestra started changing the theme of their music, a young neat-looking man came to Marie with Count Casseus. ¡°Lady Marie.¡± He was a young man wearing the ornamented pure-white formal clothing of a knight. If I remember correctly, that was his son. ¡°Lord Casseus.¡± ¡°I hope you are enjoying the party. This here is my son.¡± ¡°Hello. Young Lord ndria.¡± ¡°My name is Levent ndria. Nice to meet you, Miss.¡± After the bow, Levent raised his head up with his back still bent and stared at Marie with sparkling eyes. ¡°Haha. I¡¯m not saying this because he¡¯s my son, but he has exceptional skills as a knight. He was recently promoted to semi-Grade 1.¡± Hoh~. Semi-Grade 1, huh¡­ He looked like he was still in his twenties, which meant he was probably hailed as a genius by his peers. ¡°I see¡­! Congrattions!¡± ¡°Stillckingpared to you, Lady Marie.¡± Levent said in modesty. After that, Count Casseus opened his mouth with a cough. ¡°Haha. Well then, let me go greet other guests of the party. Young people should talk with young people, so an old man like me will leave you to your own devices.¡± Following Count Casseus¡¯s suggestive invitation, Marie started having a conversation with Young Lord Levent. ¡°You are a student in Merkarva Academy, right? I am also from Merkarva Academy. Is Instructor Haman still doing well?¡± ¡°You were a senior huh! Yes, he still goes, ¡®You guys!¡¯ and is very strict with his lessons.¡± ¡°Haha. He¡¯s the same as always it seems. If I may, can I talk to you more casually, Junior?¡± ¡°Of course you may. Senior.¡± ¡°Then I will be more casual from now on.¡± Levent naturally closed the distance. He then shifted the topic to make faint moves at her. ¡°The holiday just started right? If you¡¯re okay, how about youe to the salt mine that we have? The scenery inside the mine with all the rock salt is as beautiful and pretty as you, Junior Marie.¡± ¡°Ah, we have some salt mines too. Around 20 of them.¡± ¡°Hnn? Ahh¡­ I, I see. Then how about youe over to the beach that we bought recently? It¡¯s famous for having an emerald color¡­¡± ¡°Wow~! My mom said she sold a small corner of ournd. So your family was the one that bought it. I see!¡± ¡°R, right¡­ You mean the one with a resort in construction¡­?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the one! She mentioned giving me some things to do because there wasn¡¯t much construction work these days. I am the director of the constructionpany, you see!¡± ¡°¡­I see. Ah, do you like seeing taxidermied bodies of demonic beasts? In our house, we have some that I killed¡ª-¡± ¡°I love it! My father even made museums for me. Do you know the Dunareff Taxidermy Museums in all the cities? All the demonic beasts there are the ones that I defeated! Ah, sorry Senior. I missed yourst words.¡± ¡°N, no. It¡¯s nothing¡­¡± Stop, Marie! Levent¡¯s HP is already at 0!! What was this? Was she trying to embarrass him on purpose? But there was not a sliver of bad intention on Marie¡¯s face for that to be the case. At this rate, it was like he was trying to teach a fish how to swim. He couldn¡¯t boast about money in front of Marie because of the overwhelming difference in finance, and she was a semi-Unique Grade mage for him to boast about his strength. Unfortunately, there might be no-one in this continent that could brag about anything in front of Marie. But Levent didn¡¯t give up and continued striking a conversation with her. There were a lot of hyenas nearby that were aiming for Marie. They were openly facing her with greedy eyes but couldn¡¯t dare approach her, and Levent knew that he was in an overwhelmingly advantageous situationpared to the rest of them. ¡ª¡ª Slowly, the pace of the music changed. The ones who attended the party started looking for their partners as we neared the dancing time. ¡°Lady Marie. Although I might not be perfect¡­¡± Levent said while slowly reaching his hand out. The point he was trying to get across was very straight-forward. Even Marie who was tactlessly shaming him knew what this meant and turned her gaze towards me. Right when we looked at each other, a young man stood in the middle to block my sight. ¡°Lady Marie! I am Garlie of Rondenium! I am one of your devoted admirers! Could you please grace me with your first dance!¡± ¡°Hoh~.¡± He was sipping on his drink while throwing nces at her so I wasn¡¯t expecting him to have the guts to speak up like that. Looking at his face¡­ he probably just hit 20 or something. ¡°Lady Marie! Me too!¡± ¡°Please grace me with your first dance!¡± ¡°No! Lady Marie¡­!¡± As soon as the guy called Garlie spoke to her, the guys immediately pounced forward like hyenas. Marie didn¡¯t know how to deal with the sudden flood of guys and was flustered for a second. ¡°Ah, umm¡­ So¡­¡± It was great that they had guts, but they didn¡¯t have enough manners it seemed. The slightly better choice for Marie would be to have the first dance with Levent, who was the son of the host of the party but¡­ the basic etiquette of a banquet was to have the first dance with the partner. ¨C Clomp clomp. ¡°Marie.¡± ¡°Korin?¡± Her face turned visibly bright after seeing me walk to her. She then sent fierce gazes at me, asking me to save her from this trouble. ¡°You are¡­¡± ¡°I am Korin Lork.¡± ¡°Young Lord Lork, is it? You are Lady Marie¡¯s partner¡­¡± After noticing that I was her partner, the guys including Levent immediately showed their vignce. ¡°You can call me Sir or Knight Lork. I¡¯m not a noble, you see.¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯re not a noble?¡± Again, peerages in this world were close to honorary titles. This world already had a centralized state and centralized military rules in ce, and the noble peerage of this world was but a name. They didn¡¯t have the right to collect taxes or run private militaries. Without power to support it, titles weren¡¯t as powerful as before. But even so, they still had value in that they were proof of someone¡¯s social position. For instance in Marie¡¯s case, she wasn¡¯t even interested in the peerages she will be inheriting, but there were still a lot of them under the name of their family to prove their position. In other words, having a peerage meant that you either had a rtively high social status or were rich. ¡°Hah¡­¡± The guys immediately started looking down on me. Everyone here were from noble families so they probably didn¡¯t care much about a single knight. ¡°I am Levent ndria, a semi-Grade 1 Knight. Sir Lork. You seem to be one of the peers of Lady Marie, am I correct?¡± Look at him put emphasis on the ¡®semi-Grade 1¡¯ part. How cute. ¡°I am her junior.¡± ¡°Hah~ I see. Lady Marie must have brought you here to guide you to ces and show you around I believe.¡± ¡°That is somewhat true.¡± After all, the pretext was that I was here to have a look at Castle Duke. ¡°If you¡¯re Lady Marie¡¯s junior, that means you¡¯re my junior as well. Junior Korin. If you are okay with it, I would like to dance first with Lady Marie. Can you please concede for me?¡± If I were to trante his words, I would get this ¨C ¡®I am a semi-Grade 1 Knight and I¡¯m your senior as well. Fuck off if you understand your position.¡¯ Tranting the words of the high-ss people was daunting as always. It was surprising how princesses had to deal with these every time. But of course, there was only one thing for me to say in return. ¡°No. I don¡¯t want to.¡± Advanced ch?pters avable on our s¨ªte ¨ªllustrations on our d¨ªscord ¨C d¨ªscord.gg/genes¨ªstls You can rate this series here. Chapter 60: Suspiciously... (5) ? Suspiciously¡­ (5) ? ¡°No. I don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°What did you say?¡± Hey buddy. That wasn¡¯t very elegant was it? You need to put your etiquette mask back on! ¡°Listen. Junior¡­¡± ¡°We are not in the Academy, Senior.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± ¡°And if we are talking about hierarchy, it is you who should be showing your respects, Sir ndria.¡± ¡°???¡± Levent frowned as if he couldn¡¯t understand what I was saying. ¡°What do you¡­¡± ¡°It means that I have a higher rank than semi-Grade 1, Sir ndria.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nonsense¡­!¡± The young noble masters buzzed and whispered to themselves after hearing me imply that I was a Grade 1 Knight. ¡°How could a freshman be a Grade 1 Knight? It is not wise to tell lies that¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯s not lying.¡± Marie was the one who refuted Levent¡¯s words. ¡°Korin was promoted at the same time as me. I can guarantee it.¡± That was the guarantee of Marie, thedy from Dunareff Dukedom, who became a semi-Unique Grade mage before the age of 20. She was at the pinnacle of the southern regions of the continent and there was thus no-one that could talk back to her. ¡°B, but even then¡­!¡± Levent ndria stubbornly held on as if he couldn¡¯t back down yet. ¡°Marie¡¯s first dance is mine, you see.¡± I gently grabbed Marie by the shoulder and pulled her towards me as she thennded in my chest. Now, what did it mean for me to do something like this, you might ask? ¡®I am so close to Marie that I can even hug her like this and I am free to do so. You are the one that needs to go away.¡¯ ¨C That was what I was suggesting with my action. ¡°K, Ko, Ko, Ko, Ko, Korin¡­!¡± Marie mumbled something from my chest but I didn¡¯t really hear what she said. It was probably embarrassing but she had to hold on a bit because this was the fastest way to get rid of these people. While openly hugging Marie, I gave a victorious smile to the infuriated young noble masters. Seeing them made me recall how the 1st Princess said that the envious face of a man was the most humorous sight out there. I used to think she was a very bad-tempered princess, but now I could somewhat agree with her words. ¡°Marie. Can you please dance with me first?¡± ¡°¡­Yesh.¡± She replied with her head stooping low. For starters, we walked away from the crowd of young masters. ¡°You are very popr, aren¡¯t you senior?¡± ¡°N, nn¡­¡± ¡°Was that a bit too violent? Sorry if that put you in a bad mood.¡± ¡°N, no! It was feisty and I actually liked¡­ N, nothing!¡± Things became a little awkward. It might have been a bit embarrassing for her¡­ I felt slightly sorry, so this time, I decided to be more polite, like a gentleman. ¨C Kiss! After kissing her on the back of her hand, I offered with a soft voice. ¡°Will you please dance to a song with me, my Lady?¡± Resting on one of my knees, I raised one of my hands and lowered my head. After being frozen stiff for a while, she grabbed my hand with a full smile blooming on her face. ¡°With pleasure!¡± We walked to the dance hall hand-in-hand. The sound of footsteps loudly echoed from Marie¡¯s clear ss shoes as we walked forward with a minimal distance between us. Stopping our feet, we looked at each other. Behind Marie, I could see that everyone¡¯s eyes were on us. ¡®This is not good¡­¡¯ Even I was feeling quite embarrassed now, and I became worried that she might notice the speed of my heartbeat. Whatever the case, the music began and we were at the center of the hall. Matching ourselves with the pace of everyone around us and the music, we started to dance. Gently holding onto both of Marie¡¯s hands, I guided her on. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t that confident in banquet dances since I only tried it a few times and only had some superficial knowledge about it, but it wasn¡¯t that distressing since it was something that required a physical movement. However¡­ ¨C Clomp! ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¡°S, sorry!¡± Unexpectedly, the flower of this banquet, Marie, was fairly clumsy with dancing. It was her second time stepping on my feet and it was quite painful because she was wearing hard heels. ¡°Ugh¡­ Sorry. I¡¯m not good at dancing.¡± It seemed that she just wasn¡¯t good at everything that required her to move her body because otherwise, it would be hard to exin how someone at her social position couldn¡¯t dance. Marie sweated profusely while trying not to step on my feet. Since she was now intentionally trying to avoid my feet, her steps turned more stiff which ended up interrupting the pace of our dance. Seeing the reddened face of my partner, I quietly whispered into her ears in a voice that only she could hear. ¡°ce your foot on top of my left foot. Let¡¯s dance like that.¡± ¡°H, huh? But then¡­¡± ¡°My shoes might get a bit dirty and our dance might not be the most aesthetically pleasing one to see, but that¡¯s all there is to it.¡± ¡°I, isn¡¯t that¡­¡± Marie mumbled while ncing at the crowd that was focusing their eyes on her. Even though she didn¡¯t need to be conscious of anyone else, she couldn¡¯t help but notice everyone else¡¯s gaze when they were tantly looking at her like this. ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about anyone else right now. Just focus your eyes on me, your partner. All you need to do in a dance is enjoy it.¡± Even when I was at the college wee party; even when I was at a club, and even when I came to a banquet for the first time in this world, what I always thought to myself was that dance was a fun entertainment activity that was fine as long as you enjoyed it yourself. Honestly, I even wanted to do some breakdancing right now, but it created amotion when I did that in thest iteration, so I had to hold back on that one. Acrobatic rock and roll and breakdancing was a bit too much for the people of this era. I returned the advice I received before to Marie. ¡°Now. ce your foot on my foot and follow after me. Your eyes are good, right? Look at my eyes, look at my feet and read whether I¡¯m trying to pull or push you.¡± Saying that, I looked into her bright golden eyes. Her quivering eyes became stable again after we stared at each other for a while and before long, we started to smile at the same time. In alignment with the beautiful melodies of the orchestra, Marie did a spin on her foot with the support of my arm embracing her waist. Under the bright lights of the banquet hall ¡ª she and I danced together and shared a dreamy moment together. **** After the song was over, we walked away from the center of the dancing hall. A refreshing breeze swept across as soon as we let go of each other¡¯s hands, and that reminded us how the warmth from before was due to us clinging onto each other. Even though both of us had superhuman stamina, we still had to collect our breath and settle our fever. ¡°Lady! If you may please¡­!¡± ¡°No! Please let me have the honor of¡­!¡± Guys ran in at her without even giving her the time to have a break. In response, Marie raised her arms with an apologetic and troubled look on her face. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m a bit tired and would love to take a short break.¡± It was the right of a gentleman to ask for a dance, but it was the right of ady to ept or refuse the offer. When Marie talked about having a break, the guys had no other option but to retreat back while hiding their dejection. ¡°Shall I guide you to the resting lounge, Lady?¡± ¡°I would appreciate that, Sir Korin.¡± Walking up to Count Casseus, we talked to him about how we would like to visit the office as we had mentioned beforehand and received his permission. The Count seemed slightly disappointed by the fact that his son didn¡¯t get to create good ties with Marie, but wasn¡¯t in the position toin about it. We unhesitatingly left the banquet hall asments echoed from behind. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± ¡°Lady Marie is being taken away by that scrub¡­¡± Well, they were probably swearing at me for taking Marie away from them. ¡°Wow~ did you see that?¡± ¡°Yes I did.¡± ¡°Dancing with their feet piled together¡­ How romantic.¡± ¡°The gentleman was very considerate. It was a clumsy but amazing dance.¡± ¡°Did you see that bright smile on Lady Marie¡¯s face? That is 100%, right?¡± ¡°I would say it is definitely above 99%.¡± Ignoring the words of those behind us, we headed straight away to Sebancia Duke¡¯s office. **** Using the key we received from Count Casseus, we opened the office and entered the antique-looking room. The bookshelves were full of old books made of orc skin. From what I heard, it seemed that Count Casseus kept this office as it was without touching anything. ¡°So this is the office of Sebancia Duke, huh¡­¡± Sebancia Duke. He was the grand general who had the entire continent under hismand 800 years ago. He was a legendary figure and a Hero of the kingdom. You could say he was like thebination of Yi Sun-sin1Yi Sun-sin: A famous historical figure of Joseon Dynasty in Korea who held off the Japanese navy during their invasion. Famous for making the turtle ship and the Battle of Myeongnyang where he defeated 133 Japanese ships with 13 of his own. There is also a movie about the Battle of Myeongnyang. and Cheok Jun-gyeong2*Cheok Jun-gyeong: Called the Sword Master of the Korean Penins, he is widely believed by Koreans to have been the strongest swordsman of Korea throughout history. Since this was the actual castle and office used by someone like that, Count Casseus must have kept things as is since moving things around would be a waste. Who knows, this castle might be a famous tourist attraction after a century. ¡°Korin. What are we looking for here?¡± ¡°Hmm~. Anything is fine. Let¡¯s try to look for Sebancia Duke¡¯s traces.¡± ¡°Nn!¡± Marie and I started searching through the office. I first went to the bookshelves and found a familiar journal. ¡ºStory of the Duke Duchy¡» ¡°This¡­¡± This was the article written by Cecilia Duke and was an item describing the histories of Ruina, the wife, and Cecilia, the daughter, that the yer had to search for in the game for Sebancia Duke¡¯s questline. Taking this item to Sebancia Duke was the way toplete Sebancia Duke¡¯s quest. But even in the game and in thest iteration, he never talked about ¡®searching the office¡¯ so what exactly was it that we needed to look for? For a long time we searched through the office in vain. Drenched in sweat, we threw our body on the couch. ¡°Uahh, I can¡¯t find anything!¡± ¡°It¡¯s certainly not easy.¡± ¡°Are there any clues? I was expecting to find some kind of secret passage but there¡¯s nothing!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± We mindlessly searched through the office but couldn¡¯t really find anything. Adding this up with my experience from thest iteration, I had a feeling that we wouldn¡¯t be able to find anything at this rate. ¡°Uhh¡­ I¡¯m hungry.¡± ¡°Did you not eat anything at the banquet hall?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t have time to¡­ Umm, Korin?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°¡­¡± That gaze on her eyes was a signal that was naturally formed as we started this rtionship. Undoing my tie, I ced it on top of the coat that I took off a long time ago as Marie started deeply staring at my neck. ¡°Not sure if I mentioned this already but¡­ your neckline and your corbone are really pretty, Korin.¡± ¡°¡­I would prefer hearing handsome over pretty though.¡± ¡°O, of course, you¡¯re very nice and handsome too!¡± ¡°I might smell like sweat a little, but please bear with me.¡± ¡°Even bette¡­ I mean, don¡¯t worry!¡± In a fluster, she sat on myp with me still sitting on the couch. ¡°Uhh¡­ can I start?¡± She carefully buried her face into my neck after seeing me nod. ¨C Stab I could feel her sharp fangs digging into my skin, as her soft lips rested on my neck. ¨C Gulp! Gulp! Haaaa¡­ ¡ªThe sound of a gulp and heated breaths echoed at a regr pace. After who knows how long¡­ I opened my eyes and took a deep breath and Marie flinched in response, but she refused to move away. It seemed that she still hadn¡¯t had her fill yet. ¡°¡ª¡ª¡ª¡± My blood was being sucked out in an irregr direction. At the start, it felt a bit spooky because it felt like my life was being drained away but these days¡­ ¡®It feels like I¡¯m sharing my life with her.¡¯ Perhaps thanks to Pain Tolerance, it wasn¡¯t painful in the slightest now that we repeated this process a few times. ¨C Squash! Indulged in sucking my blood, Marie pressed her body on mine and squeezed my body. As if trying to make up for the decrease in my body temperature as a result of having less blood, she increased our touching surface area and squeezed me towards her in an attempt to bring our hearts together or something. ¡°Huu¡­¡± Now that I had more room to take in the surroundings after my heart started fiercely pumping out more blood, I gazed down at Marie mindlessly sucking my blood. ¡°Gulp. Haaaah¡­¡± What I could tell from her rushed and heated breath was that Marie was frantically craving my blood without even taking a break. And the heat being conveyed from her cheeks was a sign of her satisfaction. ¡°Haaaah¡­¡± ¡°Are you done drinking?¡± ¡°Nn¡­¡± After mindlessly drinking my blood, she powerlessly leaned on my body while gasping for breath. Her chin rested on my shoulders as we both took some time to take a breather. We had a moment of silence without saying anything. ¨C Thump thump¡­! I could hear her heartbeat across the aligned chest. Unlike my heart that was furiously thumping out blood, Marie¡¯s heart was beating at a softer yet more frequent pace. After a while, she raised her head back up from my neck and retreated, but she still had a dreamy look on her face as if she had yet to wake up from the pleasure of sucking blood. I waited a bit for her to calm down and regain her sense of self. ¡°S, sorry¡­ I drank too much right?¡± ¡°I regenerate just as much so don¡¯t worry. It doesn¡¯t hurt either.¡± ¡°Nnn¡­ Sorry. When I drink fresh blood¡­ my body doesn¡¯t feel like my own.¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s okay. Life is about helping each other, isn¡¯t it?¡± I wiped the leftover blood around my neck and soon, my skin wriggled and refilled the wound with flesh. The Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior was at work like always. ¡°Hmm?¡± Wait a second. ¡ºRegeneration of the Tenacious Warrior¡» ¡ºSoul Warrior¡» A grimoire that we gained from Sebancia Duke at the secret area in the Great Library¡­ Suddenly, a trail of thought sparked across my head so I immediately said to Marie. ¡°Senior. Can you summon Doggo?¡± ¡°Hnn? Okay. Doggo.¡± Doggo immediately gained a form from within her shadow. Since his usual body existed in real life, he was closer to a demonic beast than a demonic spirit. ¡°Senior. Can you make the summon dimmer?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Make him closer to an astral body¡­ like how he would look before obtaining a body.¡± A vampire¡¯s familiar was by nature a spiritual existence that could gain ess to a body using the blood and mana of their master as a catalyst. In other words, just like how gaining a body was possible, going the other way around was also equally doable. ¡°Okay. Doggo. Can you hold on for a little?¡± ¨C Woof! Doggo seemed discontent from the fact that his body would now go through a semi-destruction and wailed, but Marie started demolishing his body and made him closer to an astral body. After a while, he was no longer visible to my eyes that could not perceive spirits, and¡­ It was then. ¨C Sheeeeeeek!! A faint chilliness started to fill the office. Since I could also perceive this sudden drop in temperature, it was definitely not because of a spirit. ¡°Senior Marie. Be caref¡­!?¡± My vision turned upside down before I could even say anything. Thud¡ª!! A thickyer of pressure oppressed my body along with a sticky reverberation of mana. This was something I was used to. ¡°A Blood Realm?¡± Everything flipped upside down and by the time I reopened my eyes, I was at a pitch-ck location that was full of darkness. ¡°Ah~. I wish he exined this to us beforehand at the very least.¡± The one that was sealed inside the grimoire of the Great Library was the soul of Sebancia. Sebancia couldn¡¯t even kill himself and had to constantly suffer from bloodsucking impulses and thus, what he chose to do was separate his body from his spirit. After separating his spirit, he sealed it inside a book forever. And that raises a question ¨C Duke Sebancia Duke. The great and legendary Hero of all time. He, who used to be revered as the strongest man of all time, turned even stronger after bing a vampire. At that point, he gained a body that was essentially unkible. ¨C The question raised was this. His soul was sealed, but what happened to the ¡®body¡¯ of the strong vampire called Sebancia Duke? The answer to that question was right in front of my eyes. ¡°This was supposed to be something my soul left behind for my daughter. I wonder why a random bloke came here with the scent of my soul.¡± A man wearing crimson ted armor with long hair and a dignified beard opened his mouth while gazing at me. ¡°Let me ask you, visitor. Why have youe to my castle?¡± Footnotes:
  • 1Yi Sun-sin: A famous historical figure of Joseon Dynasty in Korea who held off the Japanese navy during their invasion. Famous for making the turtle ship and the Battle of Myeongnyang where he defeated 133 Japanese ships with 13 of his own. There is also a movie about the Battle of Myeongnyang.
  • 2*Cheok Jun-gyeong: Called the Sword Master of the Korean Penins, he is widely believed by Koreans to have been the strongest swordsman of Korea throughout history.
Chapter 61: Sebancia Duke (1) ? Sebancia Duke (1) ? The Sebancia Duke I met at the Great Library was in an intangible astral form and had to possess Lark to gain a body. Even back in the game, he only appeared as a ck fog like a ghost so this was my first time seeing Sebancia Duke in his actual body. ¡°Are you Duke Sebancia Duke?¡± ¡°Indeed. What is your name?¡± ¡°Korin Lork. A very distant junior, you could say.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Your body is not bad, but it is still within the spectrum of mediocrity.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a better evaluation than the one I heard at the library at least.¡± He told me I was too weak back then, but it seemed that I was somewhat able to be mediocre during that time. ¡°Have you met my soul?¡± ¡°Yes. I have questions about that. You separated your soul from your body, so how is your body still able to speak?¡± ¡°I am the one asking questions.¡± Sebancia Duke said while slowly walking up to me. Even though the spear was in my hands¡­ I honestly wanted to avoid fighting against this man as an enemy. The legendary historical figure. Hero Sebancia Duke. Although I wasn¡¯t exactly sure how strong he was, he was the strongest in the contemporary times back in his days, so he would be a semi-Unique Grade at the very least. Besides, he was also a good-natured hero so I would only be receiving the aid of one Precept out of three. ¡°The fact that you¡¯re here must mean that my soul has gone away in satisfaction. I am also very content.¡± ¡°Uhh, wait. Are you going to go away in peace as well? You can¡¯t!¡± ¡°¡­What do you mean?¡± ¡°Like, didn¡¯t you send me here to give me something?¡± ¡°Did you not get a grimoire already?¡± ¡°Well, I did but¡­¡± Wait a second. This was not right. Was he not going to give me something else? ¡°Hold up Mr. Duke. You made mee all the way here and you have nothing to give me? This is not fair for me is it?¡± ¡°And what about it?¡± Sebancia said with an annoyed look on his face. ¡°What do you even want? You came here as a messenger so I might as well give you some rewards.¡± ¡°Damn it! That old man used me as a messenger!¡± Did Ie all the way here just to let his body sealed inside the castle know that his soul was able to leave in peace? ¡°First off, let me ask a question.¡± ¡°I allow it.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you separate your soul from your body? Why do you look so normal?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple. I left 1% of my soul behind on this ursed body.¡± ¡°Is that even possible?¡± ¡°What you¡¯re seeing right now is the proof.¡± ¡°¡­Seeing this Blood Realm, I guess you are the real Sebancia Duke but¡­¡± After all, Blood Realm was a powerful ability that could only be used by high-ss vampires. ¡°Hooh? Do you know about this ability?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Everyone who sees this ability usually dies on the spot but¡­ I see, that little girl¡­¡± ¡°Are you talking about Marie?¡± ¡°Hmm. Interesting. A girl as young as this being this talented huh¡­ And she¡¯s not even going berserk¡­¡± ¡°Is Senior Marie in a totally different dimension or something?¡± ¡°Have you noticed what this ce is?¡± Realms were simr to barriers in a sense. It would stop both entries and exits out of the Blood Realm while at the same time activating a unique ability inside. It was an ability that was usually possessed by boss characters. ¡°Feels like an imaginary dimension.¡± It felt slightly different from the dimensional spell of Lady Josephine. Lady Josephine¡¯s spell was like connecting the coordinates to that of another location, rather than creating a new dimension like this. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. I guess¡­ you could say this is inside my organs.¡± ¡°¡­Uwek.¡± ¡°That is not a nice response.¡± Sebancia clicked his tongue after seeing my reaction. And¡­ It was then. ¨C Kwang! He suddenly swung his cross-shaped sword. I blocked it with the shaft of my spear on reflex but the huge force behind his attack made my body fly backward. ¡°Hoh. Looks like you do have the necessary skills to ask for guidance.¡± ¡®Strong¡­!¡¯ It was a simple swing without any signs. There was no technique behind the attack and was a straight-forward swing, but considering how that resulted in a constant ringing of the spear and my stiffened arm muscles proved just how insanely powerful he was. ¡°The fact that we are inside my organs is not a lie, because this entire castle itself became one with myself 800 years ago. In a way¡­ you could say my body is that of a Unique-Grade demonic beast.¡± ¡°¡­What are you trying to say?¡± ¡°You are inside the organs of a vampire. With a body as weak as yours, I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t evenst 5 minutes before being digested.¡± In other words¡ª ¡°Try your best to defeat me. Otherwise, 5 more minutes and your life will be over.¡± ¡°Hah¡­ You are a shy old guy aren¡¯t you?¡± I raised my spear in response. The opponent was the greatest hero from 800 years ago and there wasn¡¯t enough time either. Six Ways of the Spear Sixth Style, Shura. The only option was to go full-power from the start. **** While gasping for breath, Marie barely kept her knees straight and stopped them from bending themselves. Her body was arduously trying to remain standing as merciless des of words dug into her ears. ¡°You are a mere beast. By what right do you desire to live like a human?¡± Vampire. A beast that ends up killing people after being unable to hold back their impulse. ¡°Do you consider yourself a human instead of a beast? Are you confident in being strong-minded enough to withstand it by yourself? How truly arrogant.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not it!¡± ?Blood Spear? Tens of spears fell on Sebancia Duke. A tidal wave of spears wasing at him but Sebancia uttered in response. ¡°Same move again.¡± ¨C Kagack! ¡°¡­?!¡± Marie¡¯s face crumpled from disbelief. Tens of Blood Spears were eradicated at once after Sebancia said that one sentence. ¡°Vocal magic?¡± That was the pinnacle of magic where the sound traveling through the vocal cords turned into a spell. What that implied was that Marie¡¯s spell as a result of her calction was not even as sophisticated as Sebancia¡¯s words. ¡°But this time¡­!¡± ?Crystal Lance? Reusing the scattered moisture in the air, Marie immediatelybined them back into a high-grade spell. The mana density of Crystal Lance far exceeded the likes of Blood Spears and Vocal Magic shouldn¡¯t be strong enough to dispel it this time. ¡°A petty trick!¡± ¨C Kung! Sebancia trampled on the ground. His foot quaked the earth and destroyed the bnce of the straight ground. ¡°What¡­?!¡± The ground popped up like a seesaw. A tremendously heavy cluster of the ground rose up like the lid of a cauldron and acted against thew of gravity to block the Crystal Lance. ¡°Doggo¡­!¡± ¨C Woof! Doggo rose up from her shadow. Marie continued firing spells from behind as Doggo jumped in and dashed at Sebancia. Traveling as fast as a red cannonball, the blood dog was just about to bisect Sebancia into half but¡ª ?Art of Restriction ¨C Coffer? ¡°¡­?!¡± Dozens of chains appeared all around Sebancia. Thanks to his insane reaction speed, Doggo managed to stop himself before being entangled by the chains but the chains pounced back at Doggo in an attempt to seize him. ?Combination Magic ¨C Multi-Spell? A shield of mana rose from the ground. Using that as a wall, Doggo escaped from the dozens of iing blood chains. ¡°Now!¡± As soon as the pursuing chains came to a halt, the blood dog kicked off the ground once again. Doggo was able to ignore the self-protective instincts of an animal that every organism possessed. Even though his own body was being ripped because of his speed and even though his body might get shredded in the following sh¡­ Doggo pounced forward regardless. Without any safety limits, he could evenmit suicide by bombarding himself together with his opponent. It was because his body being broken meant nothing. A physical body was something he could gain any time. His destructive and aggressive fighting method was only possible because Doggo was a monster who had an immortal body and infinite life. ¨C Kwang! The air erupted with a sonic boom. The materialized form of mana transcended the physical limitations of an organism and charged forward at a supersonic speed. In less than 0.7 seconds, he arrived before his enemy. Doggo began swinging his nails and noticed after seeing the opponent stay still on the spot that his enemy wasn¡¯t as fast or strong as him. That body with not a sliver of blood was so weak that it wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge his attack. Thinking that, Doggo swung his nails and the ominous-looking ws of the blood dog were about tond on Sebancia but¡ª ¨C Bam! ¡°??!¡± ¨C Grit, grit¡­! Doggo¡¯s front paw was grabbed from the front. Right when he was about to strike down with his ws¡­ in less than 0.01 seconds, Sebancia reached his hand forward and locked his fingers with Doggo¡¯s to hold those ws in ce. Was this even possible? At this point, it wasn¡¯t even in the realms of speed or power and¡­ this was in the realm of foresight. Seeing that brought back a memory of the past. Doggo was feeling the same thing as what he felt back inside the forest, in front of the man who was challenging them with a single spear in hand¡­ ¡°Quite fast. As expected of a beast. Both the speed and power are well above mine. Even faster than me back in my days.¡± The blood dog¡¯s hand was tightly grabbed by Sebancia as chains approached from behind and tied themselves around his hands and legs. ¡°However, that is all you have. A foolish beast with nothing but strength.¡± Doggo¡¯s body was made to turn 180 degrees. A little bit of strength and a slight gesture of Sebancia¡¯s hand toppled the giant werewolf reaching 2 meters in height. ?Sealing Sword of Romania? ¨C Kaduk! Arge cross-shaped sword pierced through the blood dog all the way into the ground. The blood dog wriggled and twisted its body but couldn¡¯t move a single step as if he was sealed in a different dimension. ¡°Doggo. Come back!¡± Marie quickly tried to call him back to her shadows but Doggo couldn¡¯te back. ¡°¡­?!¡± Discarding the body, Marie tried to retrieve the astral body of Doggo but he was still stuck in ce with the cross-shaped sword digging into his chest. ¡°This sealing sword is one that was made to seal the dimension for immortal beings. Your immortality means nothing before this sword.¡± Two cross-shaped swords also flew towards Marie. She quickly created a barrier in response but the swords easily pierced through the barrier andnded on the ground next to her on each of her sides. ¡°Ugh¡­?!¡± Just like that, the tworge swords locked Marie in ce. Unable to endure the pressureing out of the two swords, Marie couldn¡¯t keep her trembling knees straight and kneeled on the ground. ¡®A, am I going to lose just like this¡­?¡¯ Sebancia¡­ probably wasn¡¯t that strong right now. But these swords and his skills were specialized forbat against vampires. Looking at his body, Marie could tell that Sebancia¡¯s body was far inferiorpared to her own in terms of both mana and physical strength. Despite being a vampire, the opponent had been asleep for hundreds of years without taking a single sip of blood so that was natural. Sebancia Duke¡¯s body had been in a slumber until they visited him today. That meant he was far weaker than how he was at the peak of his power and yet¡­ He was undefeatable. Both the blood dog and the owner shared the same sentiment. An overwhelming intuition for battle put him in an advantage despite being weaker and outnumbered. His ns were on the level of foresight and had abnormal powers and talents that were hard to tell by normal standards. Right, for example¡ª- A hero. Those with lofty minds who powered through every adversity, regardless of a difference in strength and a numbers disadvantage. They were different from normal people, and Marie knew one person who was very simr to Sebancia Duke. ¡°¡­Korin.¡± Combat prowess as a knight, as a mage, and as a vampire. The vampire in front of her eyes was unprecedented in all three spectrums ¨C that was what a hero from 800 years ago looked like. ¡°O beast. You beast of damnation. Are you confident in controlling your impulse forever? Do you think that man will stay and support you until the end of your life?¡± Because he was also a vampire and a hero of a lofty mindset, he reproached Marie. ¡°¡­¡± And Marie couldn¡¯t refute his words. It was because she had been holding a simr doubt in mind. She was a demi-human, and was somehow maintaining her consciousness¡­ but did that really make her a human? How could there be a human who couldn¡¯t survive without drinking the blood of other humans? ¡°Just die. End that pitiful life of yours. Once a beast, you will forever remain a beast.¡± ¡®Don¡¯t cause harm to humanity and die a quiet death by yourself,¡¯ he added. It was painful. It was all the more painful because Marie couldn¡¯t find any words to refute him with. That was something that had been harassing her the whole time ever since she became a vampire. A beast that could rampage and crave human blood at any given moment. Korin managed to stop her in time but what about next time? Who would stop her for her if that same thing was to happen again? Her blood turned cold. Her heart slowly stopped beating. ¡ºYou know what, Marie-sunbae? You¡¯ve never changed until now¡» ¡°Ah¡­¡± That was when she suddenly remembered those nonchnt words of the boy. His words that there was no need to deny a part of herself started making her heart beat once again. ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± She forced her knees back up. Even though the cross-shaped swords added more weight to her body, Marie stood up by supporting herself with pure strength. ¡°Hoh¡­¡± Despite being condemned as a blood-craving beast, and despite epting that as a fact herself and going down on her knees, she managed to stand back up just by reminding herself of the words of that boy. Ahh, I see. Korin Lork already had such a big ce inside her heart. ¡°I¡­ I will not die. Ever.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Korin said it¡¯s okay. So it¡¯s all fine.¡± ¡°What are you¡­¡± Her golden eyes slowly started to turn red. Her refreshing water-colored hair turned deeper in color as an intense pulse of mana started resonating with intensity. ¡°If these¡­ cross swords are there to seal vampires¡­!¡± She tightened her fists and gathered a pure cluster of mana. After gathering an explosive amount of mana, she swung her fist. ¨C Kwang! And her fist crushed through the cross-shaped swords. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯re probably not durable enough to stop physical attacks.¡± ¡°Interesting. A mage that swings fists around, huh.¡± ¡°I¡­! Am the daughter of a family of farmers, after all!¡± Anyone that knew about the Dunareff family would have strongly disagreed with her words but the unique toughness of a countryside girl was one of the hidden attributes of Marie. ¡°So? Did you think you had a chance of winning after merely dealing with those two swords?¡± Countless cross-shaped swords appeared behind Sebancia¡¯s back. It was an incredible number of swords. ¡°There¡¯s no reason to dwell on chances. I need to win.¡± ?Grand Magic of Blood ¨C Pure Crimson Spear? Gathering all the mana and blood in her arsenal, Marie created an ultimate spell. It was the grand spell that she used to kill the King of Iron Mountain in the past. ¡°So move aside. I need to go pick up Korin.¡± Dozens of cross-shaped swords raced at her as Marie responded to the flood of swords with a singlerge spear. The anti-vampire swords collided with the ultimate spell and tainted the world in red. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Hmm¡­¡± It was rare for Sebancia Duke toment in awe as such. ¡°Indeed, her talent as a vampire is outstanding.¡± An unstoppable flood of cross-shaped swords ¨C that dimension-sealing attack which should have been unstoppable had its current shift to a different direction from the crimson spear. The fact that she could create an outrageous spear that could scatter through dimensional spells was proof of her incredible talents. A child whose wishes were realized by mana itself was a child blessed with mana. A girl like that was now even able to focus an abnormal power of blood into a single cluster of energy, and that proved that she was born to be the greatest vampire. ¡°I admit it, Marie Dunareff. You have talents. And that makes you all the more dangerous.¡± What kind of disaster would it lead to if a vampire of her level was to wreak havoc and go berserk? That was why his initial goal was to seal her in this castle just like himself. It meant nothing even if his body were to die in the process. In fact, it would be a bargain if he could nullify a seed of catastrophe just by sacrificing his ursed body. ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± Sebancia Duke walked up to Marie who was in tatters after being defeated in the battle. Despite her show of power, Sebancia Duke was still the victor and that proved just how powerful he was as the greatest hero of the past. He gazed down at the young vampire before his eyes. She was a baby vampire that was less than a year old, and yet she could control a familiar and could even use a Blood Realm. She was already at the level of a Vampire Elder and¡­ if she built up enough experience and strength, it might even be possible for her to aim to be a Vampire Lord. She would be an absolute existence that could gather the greatest evil beings of all time, the vampires. ¡°I should be sealing you right now but¡­¡± The burning red eyes of the girl disyed her unwillingness to ept defeat. She was still nning to fight. What was intriguing was that the reason for her unwillingness to lose was not based on herself. Besides, ording to the bits and pieces of memory that he had a look at during the fight as a vampire of a higher-status¡­ ¡®She stopped the initial blood sucking impulse and stopped herself. Was that even possible?¡¯ That was the reason why Sebancia was hesitant to seal her. And in the end¡­ he decided to trust that young spearman and let her go for the time being. ¡°You are very powerful and your talents are definitely at an exceptional level. However, you are wasting your energy too much. Your familiar is also sloppy, and is the typical oue of having all brawn and no brain.¡± ¡°¡­Are you going to teach me things?¡± ¡°No. You¡¯re different from that spear-wielding brat, and you¡¯re already heading to perfection. All you need is time and you will perfect yourself after a while.¡± It seemed that Sebancia Duke suddenly gave up on the idea of sealing her. Even though Marie wasn¡¯t able to understand the sudden shift in his ideas, she nheless stood up and requested once again. ¡°Then please send me to where Korin is¡­¡± ¡°If you¡¯re talking about that man, his heart is already no longer beating.¡± His next words sent her heart crashing down. Chapter 62: Sebancia Duke (2) ? Sebancia Duke (2) ? The spear stormed forth in a straight line. The sharp stab of the spear was that of Shura which had allowed its user to defeat several enemies until now. ¨C Kang! ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± But this time, it was Korin Lork who had to retreat after the attack. Despite shing their weapons dozens of times, there was no change on who had the advantage. Carrying his enormous cross-shaped sword, Sebancia Duke remained firm like a fortress and Korin Lork¡¯s arduous attempt at breaking through his defense was all in vain. ¡°¡­¡± This was already his 10th attempt to close the distance but Sebancia Duke held off against it with ease. Originally, a spear was supposed to have the upper hand over a sword in terms of reach. Even though it would usually be the sword that tries to close the distance, this time it was the other way around because of the 2-meter-long greatsword in Sebancia¡¯s hands. ¡®A sword that big should be slow but¡­¡¯ They should either be slow or there should be gaps between the swings ¨C even though that was themon belief for those enormous swords, Sebancia Duke had none of it. Whenever Korin stabbed with the long spear, Sebancia Duke swung his greatsword in a heavy curve. It was obvious that the stab should be faster and in fact, it indeed was faster but¡­ ¡®This is strange. Why is he always making it in time?¡¯ His sword always found the spear and flung it away with sheer power. ¡°Are you puzzled, brat?¡± When Korin stopped his feet and stayed on the spot, Sebancia opened his mouth. ¡°You are over-confident on the strategic element of your weapon. Do you think you will win even if you do close the distance? It won¡¯t work no matter how many times you try.¡± ¡°Are you saying it¡¯s because of a difference of experience?¡± ¡°Hmph. That¡¯s not the main reason but that is also true.¡± ¡°¡­Then what is the main reason?¡± ¡°You have no principle.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°The momentary physical enhancement by relying on the Aura Core is definitely interesting. It¡¯s the way of the shadow warriors. However, is your ¡®spearmanship¡¯ supposed to be used for subduing enemies through force?¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± After hearing that, Korin halted his feet in enlightenment and canceled the Shura mode. ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s go again.¡± His body was warmed up already. It was possible to enter the Domain as long as he wasn¡¯t in the Shura mode. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª In a suspended world; inside the Domain, Korin Lork¡¯s spear was the only one moving. A step in this suspended world could exceed the physical limitations and differences to lead to a devastating attack. Ominous Snake: Extreme Arts Soaring Snake, Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon The silver spear was in the middle of racing towards the heart of Sebancia Duke but¡ª ¡°???¡± It suddenly stopped moving. As if it was being sealed by something¡­ it got locked up in the dimension and refused to move. ¡®What is going on? Did I fail to enter the Domain?¡¯ In a fluster, Korin unconsciously turned to Sebancia Duke¡¯s face and noticed that he was staring into his eyes. ¡°¡­!!¡± That gave him goosebumps. Seeing him carefully raise the cross-shaped sword, Korin btedly realized that his enemy was also inside the Domain just like him. The sword came crashing down, carrying within a dark aura. When that was pouncing at him¡­ Korin saw his impending death. ¡°Uht¡­!¡± As soon as the Domain cracked, Korin instinctively retreated back. His spear was no longer in his hands and was still stuck in ce in the middle of the air as if it was sealed on the spot. ¡°¡­Did you ce a trap beforehand?¡± Korin asked. ¡°Simr, but do you know why I could do that?¡± ¡°You have an intuition¡­ that¡¯s at the level of foresight.¡± ¡°There¡¯s more.¡± A jet-ck aura emerged out of Sebancia Duke¡¯s body. That huge torrent of power was an appalling sight for its contenders ¨C even a cracked dam would be a better thing to turn to inparison. ¡°Aura¡­ no, wait. It¡¯s something more¡­¡± It was something of a higher caliber¡­ Right; it was at the level of Erin Danua and Tates Valtazar, which Korin could not reach until the very end of thest iteration¡­ ¡°Look. This is the heaven-defying power ¨C the one I used in my youth to kill a dragon.¡± ? Final Demonic Sword Strike ¨C Dragon Killer? A dark sh was formed by dragging out all the aura umted inside the core. When he carried through with that overwhelming sh¡ª the world immediately got divided into two. **** ¡°¡­¡± I turned around. The imaginary world created by Sebancia had been clearly divided into two by that attack. ¡®What a monster.¡¯ It seemed that one had to be at this level to reach the peak of a generation. This was the might of the strongest man from 800 years ago. ¡®The only ones that can do this are probably the Sword Emperor, Master during the peak of her power and¡­ Tates Valtazar.¡¯ ¡°No matter how you struggle through building technique and reflex skills, you cannot retaliate in front of overwhelming power, brat. You need more fundamental strength to be able to fight against that. You don¡¯t even reach the bare minimum right now.¡± ¡°¡­And that¡¯s why I¡¯m trying hard like I am.¡± The only things I could rely on were my body and the spear techniques that I learned, but my body wasn¡¯t the best one out there. If it was possible for me to get physically strong enough to stand off against the great evil, I would have done it long ago. In the first ce, I was learning spearmanship and carving all sorts of Precepts into my body to make up for that deficit. ¡°I do like your idea of momentarily enhancing your body to reach that minimum threshold. However, how does it make sense for you to give up on your strongest move just to match yourself with the enemy¡¯s power level?¡± The strongest move Sebancia was talking about was the Domain. It indeed was a miraculous move that could flip the oue of the battle on its toe regardless of the strength of the opponent. Over time, my understanding of the Domain and chances of entering it were increasingly going up but there was a downside. Like what I experienced during the fight against Fermack, I couldn¡¯t enter the Domain during physically enhanced states like when I had the back-up support of Shura and the Precepts. The abnormal strength filling my body in fact caused me to lose focus and made it impossible for me to enter the Domain, which required utmost concentration. ¡°It¡¯s like an equivalent exchange. If you get one, you have to give up on¡­ huh?¡± In the middle of my own speech, I noticed a paradox. Didn¡¯t Sebancia Duke¡­ Sebancia Duke was able to use a restricting spell that was great enough to block a spear inside the Domain, while also moving his own sword inside it. He was able to do two things that both required a great amount of concentration at the same time. ¡°Have a broader perspective of the world, kid. Don¡¯t whinge and think others won¡¯t be able to do something just because you can¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± In the end, he was saying that I needed both strength and technique, but I wouldn¡¯t be suffering like this if that was so easy. ¡°I¡¯ll give you mine.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I¡¯m saying I will give you the Aura Core of mine, Sebancia Duke. That is the only thing I can give from my ursed body.¡± ¡°Uhh. Why are you so helpful all of a sudden?¡± ¡°I thought you were an incredibly mediocre one but seeing your fight¡­ Well, it seems that you have some prospects. And besides¡­ I can see why my soul has made youe to this ce.¡± He said while looking at my Precepts that were now visible due to the aftermath of the fight. ¡°You have the qualification to be a hero and I can see that. Korin Lork. You have not the usual greed of those who seek power, but conviction and pride.¡± ¡°Hoh~. Do you feel like respecting me now?¡± ¡°You? As if.¡± ¡°But you¡­ said you respected me back in the library though?¡± ¡°My soul must have be emotional after being buried in books the whole time.¡± Sebancia Duke said while disagreeing with the words of his own soul. That¡¯s not a very respectful thing to do, old man! ¡°However, I will bless you and hope you have a better path waiting for you.¡± ¡°Is that so.¡± Saying that, I immediatelyid down on the ground because using both Shura and the Domain took a toll on my body. Seeing me nonchntly lie on the ground, Sebancia looked at me with a dumbfounded look on his face. ¡°How carefree.¡± ¡°I know you are not the type of person to kill people for no reason. So hurry up and just give me the thing. I¡¯m busy trying to save the world.¡± ¡°Seriously, what an annoying little brat.¡± He came up to me and raised his cross-shaped sword. ¡­Wait, what? But why? ¡°Hold up! Wait¡­!¡± ¡°Be quiet.¡± ¨C Stab! **** The cross-shaped sword pierced through Korin¡¯s heart and his blood immediately started flowing the other way. ¡°Y, you actually stabbed¡­!¡± ¡°Why would I not?¡± Korin¡¯s heart that had been pulsing rapidly after the arduous battle started slowing down before eventuallying to a stop. What next entered his eyes was Sebancia taking out a small core from his own chest. ¡°Kuhk¡­ Can¡¯t you, just¡­ give it to me normally¡­!?¡± ¡°This will mark the end of my long life. Inherit me, o hero of this generation.¡± Sebancia¡¯s words echoed in his ears but Korin couldn¡¯t help but close his eyes. ¡°You have the right to inherit everything I once had.¡± His heart was no longer beating. **** ¡°Korin?¡± Inside the Blood Realm opened by Sebancia Duke; when the barrier separating Korin and Marie disappeared and merged their dimensions back into one, the girl with water-colored hair called the boy with a trembling voice. She saw Sebancia Duke wearing the heroic crimson armor stabbing his sword through Korin¡¯s chest. ¡°N, no¡­ This can¡¯t be¡­¡± Her bright and energetic voice started being soaked in mncholy. Her clear and dazzling golden eyes wavered while turning crimson red. Slowly, while shivering from disbelief, the girl headed to the boy who was bleeding tremendously with his eyes closed. ¡°You¡¯re here,¡± said Sebancia from the side but Marie¡¯s eyes weren¡¯t on him. The blood flowing out of the wound that Sebancia opened by himself on his chest couldn¡¯t even garner a bit of her attention. The mere sight of him was simply irritating. ¨C Crunch! ¡°?!!¡± Marie grabbed Sebancia¡¯s arm that was being protected by the crimson armor. The gauntlet was crushed by her superhuman strength which was a surprising sight even for Sebancia. ¨C Kung! With her tiny hand, she picked Sebancia up and threw him away like trash. Inside his own Blood Realm, Sebancia was thrown away along with an aftershock that trembled the entire dimension. ¨C Kwagagang! His body crashed into the barriers of the Blood Realm. Who would ever believe that that had resulted from a simple show of sheer force? ¡°Hoh. A mage being this physically strong huh.¡± Sebancia Duke was fine with not a single extra wound on his body, but even that failed to enter her sight. ¡°Korin¡­¡± With her eyes fixed on Korin¡¯s chest that was still bleeding heavily, Marie tried to move her shivering hands to push the blood back into his body. She knew how meaningless of an act it was and couldn¡¯t help but tear up. She knew very well how animals tended to look upon death. With a pale countenance, their body would go cold with life leaving their eyes. She had seen it time after time. Because she knew how animals looked when dying, she despaired at the sight of the boy going through that exact same process. ¡°Korin¡­ Korin, Korin¡­!¡± However, she bellowed without epting the reality. ¡°I, I can heal you. I will bring you back to life¡­¡± Marie remembered one of the mighty abilities of a vampire that she read in one of the old books ¨C it was the curse of blood that could forever seal someone. It was the contract of a familiar that could let them survive forever until the death of their master. ¡°Stop. That is a curse. That is definitely not a way to save him.¡± ¡°Shut up¡­!¡± Her body fumed with mana in her distress as she red daggers at Sebancia, who was most certainly the one who caused this. ¡°Mhmm¡­!¡± That abundance of mana was easily able to suppress Sebancia Duke who no longer had his heart. It was way too much to retaliate against for a heartless vampire who had been sleeping the whole time without drinking any blood. ¡°I will bring him back to life. I can¡­ Korin can¡¯t die here. He won¡¯t die.¡± Marie bit on her tongue to help the dying body of Korin regain a little bit of warmth. The blood from her ripped tongue filled her mouth which she transferred over by aligning her lips with his. From mouth to mouth ¨C the blood of a Vampire Elder which was at the level of an elixir traveled down Korin¡¯s throat without reserve. Worried that he might choke on it, Marie lifted his head and straightened his throat while constantly supplying him with her blood. ¡°¡­¡± Sebancia watched that happen with an awkward look on his face. At the same time, he couldn¡¯t hide his surprise. ¡®She¡¯s not feeling the urge to drink blood even when in front of such arge pool of blood, huh.¡¯ A vampire¡¯s urge to drink blood was stimted the most at the sight of fresh blood. The blood being pumped out of Korin¡¯s chest was enough to create a puddle beneath him, and yet Marie did not spare that puddle a single nce and was immersed in instead sharing her own blood with him. Was that how important of an existence he was to her? Was he that important for this vampire girl? ¡°These young romanticists.¡± Sebancia murmured to himself but he didn¡¯t necessarily hate it. Even he was a soul who remained for 800 years just to hear news about his wife and his daughter. Heroes were actually romanticists and were very sentimental. ¡°M, mhmm¡­¡± ¡°K, Korin?!¡± With the forced injection of the blood of a Vampire Elder, his vitality took a massive leap and his pierced chest regenerated in an instant. Even though the earnest wish of a vampire to regenerate the boy made her blood act like an elixir of life, even Marie wasn¡¯t expecting him to be healed so quickly. On the other hand, Sebancia Duke made the guess that her blood must have acted in conjunction with the regeneration ability that his soul gave him. ¡°W, what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Ahh, thank you god. Thank you. Thank you¡­!¡± Marie prayed to god with a pale look on her face. She had never thanked god this much ever in her entire life. ¡°Haa¡­ Both of you, calm down.¡± Sebancia said as Korin Lork grumbled in response. ¡°Ugh¡­ Sebancia Duke. Couldn¡¯t you have given it to me in a more normal method?¡± ¡°That was the fastest method by far. I don¡¯t have much time on me.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s true but¡­¡± ¡°Nnn??¡± Noticing that something was off while listening to their conversation, Marie tilted her head. Sebancia answered her doubt. ¡°I opened his heart to transnt my core. A short stoppage of the heart is a cheap price to pay in return.¡± ¡°A, ahht¡­¡± Only then did Marie realize what Sebancia Duke had done to Korin. A giveaway of life and an inheritance of power. All of that started from the heart, which was the source of all life. It was an advanced magic ritual which was only possible because both of them had incredible vitality and tenacity. ¡°T, thank goodness¡­ Really. Thank goodness.¡± After heaving out a deep sigh of relief, Marie hugged Korin who was still lying down on the ground and wailed. ¡°Umm¡­ Senior?¡± Not knowing what was going on, Korin bewilderedly returned her a hug. ¡°I was worried¡­! Sniff. Korin, don¡¯t ever die on me¡­! You need my permission to die¡­!¡± ¡°How is that even possible?¡± ¡°Promise me! That you won¡¯t die without my permission!¡± ¨C Grit!! The power behind her embrace made Korin realize just how serious this girl was. However, the only thing he could do in return was tap her on her shivering back. **** Opening my eyes, I found Marie in a deep sleep. We were back in Sebancia Duke¡¯s office and Marie was sleeping with her arms wrapped around me. ¡°That¡­ probably wasn¡¯t a dream.¡± A new system message cleared the doubt for me. ¡ºYou have acquired the Aura Core of Sebancia Duke.¡» ¡ºYour Aura Rank will increase due to acquiring a Dual Core¡» ¡ºYou have now gained the Core Attribute: Demon Nature of Duke¡» Aura ¨C { Upper Medium (6,730) } Mana ¨C { Low (5,370) } [Specialty ] ¨C { Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior, Pain Tolerance, Domain Comprehension, Dual Core } Strength:> 83 Agility:> 79 Vitality:> 86 Aura:> 76 Mana:> 76 ¡°¡­A second core.¡± Not only did my Aura Rank go up but I also acquired another Aura Core. It even had a special attribute to it¡­ Maybe¡­ I would be able to do something simr to what Sebancia Duke did with his sword? ¡°That¡¯d be crazy¡­¡± The grimoire paled greatly inparison to everything I gained here. But that raised a different question. Both in the game and thest iteration, why did Sebancia Duke refrain from giving this power over to the yer? What was the difference between me and the yer? ¡ºYou have my respect¡» Those were thest words left behind by Sebancia Duke. Did I have something with me that the yer did not have, that made Sebancia change his mind? ¡°How much better would it have been if he just nicely gave this to me though? That¡­ was a really close call there.¡± He could have just handed it over without me going through all that stuff. Making people work for nothing¡­ Well, it was probably to test me though. ¨C Creak! It was then. Someone came into the office after opening the door. ¡°Who¡­¡± ¡°Hikk?!¡± As if she wasn¡¯t expecting anyone to be inside, the visitor was greatly surprised after seeing me. Looking at her maid clothes, it seemed that she was here to clean up the dust. ¡°M, my apologies! I was not expecting a guest to be¡­?!!!¡± ¡°Ah, sorry. We will be going out very¡­ soon.¡± What was going on? The maid had a very unusual look in her eyes. With a shiver, she looked back and forth between me and Marie¡­ wait, Marie? ¨C Hnn hnn. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Right. This was definitely open for misunderstanding. Yes. ¡°Wait. This is not what you think it is. Seriously. I know what you¡¯re thinking, and whatever you are thinking is wrong.¡± ¡°K, kiss mark¡­¡± ¡°A kiss mark? Where¡­¡± I unconsciously touched my neck; at the ce where Marie inserted her fangs to drink blood. Now that the flesh had grown back up, it was no longer like a wound but it still had red blood clots which probably made it look like flushed skin at a distance. ¡°Ahhh. That¡¯s wrong. You are seriously misunderstanding something. For real. I get what you are thinking but¡­¡± ¡°Apologies for my intrusion! Please have a great time!!¡± ¡°W, where are you going?! Hello? Just wait one second!¡± ¡­¡­¡­¡­That would definitely create rumors right? Again, the upper-ss society and banquets were ces where tongues danced like swords. In other words, rumors tended to spread across at an extremely rapid pace. ¡°YOUUUU BASSTARDDDD! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY DAUGHTTERRRRR!! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOUUUUUU!!¡± It took about 20 days for the misunderstanding to be resolved. **** Even though there was a small incident¡­ the holiday in the south was overall quite decent. ¡°Korin¡­ Are you okay?¡± ¡°Haha. Well, I do understand. It¡¯s normal for fathers with daughters to act like that.¡± ¡°Hing¡­ Sorry. It¡¯s my fault.¡± After the visit to Sebancia Duke¡¯s castle, I had to hide inside the mountain for 20 straight days. I hid in one of Marie¡¯s vis and spent time training there. Avoiding the eyes of wyvern squads patrolling through the skies was definitely not easy, but who am I? I¡¯m a former soldier of the Korean military forces, am I not? This was probably what all that mountainside training and operations were for. ¡°But it¡¯s great that we resolved the issue towards the end. You came and gave me potatoes here and there as well, so it was quite good.¡± ¡°Hing¡­ I wanted to give you a better time though.¡± ¡°I think it was already great.¡± Thest week of holiday was quite literally amazing. Even though I didn¡¯t get to visit the famous ces of the southern region, I still got to receive all sorts of services in Marie¡¯s house. Especially that massager¡­ he indeed had some superhuman skills. I swear, meridian massages were the best. ¡°Anyway, the 2nd semester is about to begin. And we¡¯ll have to prepare for the festival as well.¡± ¡°Nn! The Purple Hawk Academy from the eastern continent is going to being very soon, after all!¡± The festival was where the 4 great academies of the 4 continents each visited one another¡¯s academy for a friendly exchange. However, because guardians had an incredible status in this world, it was as popr as the Olympic games, except it was smaller and urred every year. It attracted a lot of tourists and was one of the reasons for active tourism. ¡°Oh right. By the way, the inn is going well with our investment right?¡± ¡°Of course it is. Trust me ¨C I will bring it back to you threefold.¡± ¡°I trust you! You¡¯ll be able to do a great job, Korin!¡± On the way back to the Academy on a carriage, I thought about Hua Ran¡¯s episode which would begin with the 3rd Arc. This was the one that would decide whether we could take her in as an ally or not. ¡®Whatever the case, I want to make it a happy ending at least.¡¯ It would be great so long as it didn¡¯t lead to the worst ending, where she transcends into a Yaksha. Things should go just fine as long as I stop the petty tricks of the spiritualist. Aside from that, I also had to make some big money from the amodation investment to get rid of any potential financial problems in the future. There was a mention in the game that there was an abnormallyrge number of tourists this year so the amodation industry should return a lot of money. The lodging fees would skyrocket when tourists are attracted to the festival and after going big, I¡¯ll sell thend and save all that money. You might ask, ¡®Why don¡¯t you borrow from Marie?¡¯ bute on! I had my pride as a man as well! ¡°I am unstoppable! Long live the festival!¡± ¡°K, Korin?¡± Huhahahaha¡­! A money dupe bug iing!! Unless the suddenly did some random shit, and unless a hole was to suddenly appear in the sky, there was nothing that could possibly stop my n! ¨C Kwaaaaaaaaa¡­!!!!! A storm. All the paved roads were destroyed; trees of the forest were pulled out and were crushed apart by the unstoppable torrent. An EF5 tornado ¨C the natural disaster we came across right in front of Merkarva City was like a testament of god¡¯s wrath. ¡°W, wut in the world?¡± T, this didn¡¯t happen in thest iteration though? ¡°Wow¡­ what a tornado¡­ This might have a huge impact on the festival as well.¡± Marie tapped me on my shoulder with a pitying look on her face. ¡°It¡¯s okay Korin. It¡¯s normal for men to fail once or twice in their lives!¡± ¨C Should we write an IOU1¡°I owe you,¡± is a document that acknowledges the existence of a debt, often viewed as an informal written agreement document though? I will prepare everything and give you a document so all you need to do is sign it! You don¡¯t even have to bother checking it! She added with her eyes glistening as if this was her chance and honestly, it was quite scary. Footnotes:
  • 1¡°I owe you,¡± is a document that acknowledges the existence of a debt, often viewed as an informal written agreement
Chapter 63: Bat Effect (1) ? Bat Effect (1) ? ¡°Hua~! We are so wet now!¡± The Academy wasn¡¯t that close from the tornado so it was possible for us to make a detour somehow but we had to go through a bunch of rain in the process. ¡°Wee. It must have been rough because of the tornado.¡± ¡°Huh? Mr. Chairman? What about Professor Josephine?¡± ¡°She spent the holiday with Hua Ran at Chapel Zeon and ising back at the moment.¡± Waiting at the entrance of the special dormitory was Chairman Eriu. She¡­ my Master Erin handed over arge towel, which I ced on top of Marie¡¯s head. ¡°You should wipe yourself first.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Okay.¡± Seeing me hand over the towel to Marie, Master went somewhere with her dimensional spell before returning with another towel in hand. ¡°You should stay here tonight.¡± ¡°Am I allowed to?¡± ¡°You are not an outsider anymore. Starting from the 2nd semester, we will have you stay at this dormitory.¡± That was probably in order to observe me. Since they couldn¡¯t fully believe me as of yet, Lady Josephine and my Master Erin would have decided to do that to monitor my actions. ¡°So what exactly is that tornado?¡± ¡°Right! It was huge! I¡¯m worried it might cause more problems for the city. Is that going to be alright?¡± Master heaved a sigh while looking outside at the source of the sharp noise of the swirling tornado and replied. ¡°First off, the city itself hasn¡¯t suffered from that much damage. The tornado is not touching the center of the city so it¡¯s probably only a small outskirt of the city that received some level of harm.¡± ¡°Huh? But won¡¯t it be problematic if it moves towards the center?¡± ¡°No. The tornado will not move.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± The tornado won¡¯t be moving? What did that mean? From what I knew, there was no such thing as a spell that could stop tornadoes from moving. ¡­Wait a minute. ¡®A small outskirt of the city¡¯? An ominous sensation filled my body after ruminating on those words but Master continued with her exnation regardless. ¡°That tornado is not a natural phenomenon; it¡¯s the work of a demonic beast.¡± Umm¡­ Master? Where exactly is this ¡®small outskirt of the city¡¯? There¡¯s no way right? It¡¯s not where I think it is, right? **** One of the important seaways of the southern archipgo was the Egernia Strait which was often used by several nations including the El Rath Kingdom. Recently, people in this ce were having a headache because of the Sea Serpent. The enormous sea snake reaching 60 meters in length was a Grade 1 demonic beast and was the lofty king of the ocean. One day, it just suddenly arrived and decided to stay at the Egernia Strait. As if the financial circumstances of humans were none of its business, this lofty king began to sink all the trade ships that infiltrated its territory. The ones that had to suffer the most from the sudden appearance of this long snake were the trade merchants including Count Casseus. ¡°My son¡­ do you really have to do this yourself?¡± Count Casseus said while worriedly gazing at his son who pompously volunteered to defeat the Sea Serpent. ¡°Yes, father. It¡¯s a Grade 1 demonic beast. As long as I seed at defeating this monster, that will make it easier for me to be promoted to Grade 1.¡± ¡°I understand your point but¡­¡± Ever since he met thedy from the Dunareff family which reigned over the south like an overlord, his son had be very hasty. Him falling in love at first sight wasn¡¯t a problem, but the problem was that he was feeling overlypetitive to another person. This knight, who was so talented to be able to be a semi-Grade 1 Knight at the young age of 23 with a bright future ahead of him, was feelingpetitive for someone younger than him. It was the young gold-digger who had a bunch of rumors about having a secret love affair with the oldest daughter of the Dunareff family ¨C the spear-wielding boy who became a Grade 1 Knight at an age younger than himself. ¡®Marie¡­! You¡¯re being deceived!¡¯ Levent could still remember him ¨C that disrespectful man who touched an unmarrieddy from a dukedom with bare hands without regard and hugged her as if she was his! He didn¡¯t know what kind of underhanded trickery the man used but Marie was definitely being deceived by him! In order to save her from the hands of the gold-digger, Levent first needed to build his fame. By using some tricks, that man had be a Grade 1 Knight, meaning that he too had to be a Grade 1 Knight to get to his level. ¡°Don¡¯t worry father. I will defeat this Sea Serpent and bring peace to the ocean.¡± I shall be the hero of the Egernia Strait and stand before her once again! Along with the battleships and crews provided by his father and guardians of the Alliance, Levent ndria headed off to defeat the Sea Serpent. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Result-wise, the subjugation was a sess. This huge campaign that mobilized five battleships with 16 knights, 5 mages and over 500 crew members was a sess. But it was only a ¡®half-sess¡¯. ¨C Miyooooooooonnng!! ¡°The Sea Serpent is running away!¡± ¡°Wahh¡­! It¡¯s our victory!¡± ¡°Congrattions on the sessful campaign, young master!¡± ¡°Lady Marie¡­ This victory was made only thanks to you¡­!¡± It was a shame that they couldn¡¯t kill the Sea Serpent but they seeded in driving the Sea Serpent away from the Egernia Strait, which would bring a peace of mind to the trade ships going past the seaway. ¨C Miyooooooooonnng!! ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ But where did this Sea Serpent head off to in its escape? ¡°Queeek?¡± Now, there was a bat demonic beast called Alvan. Theserge bats that had a wingspan of up to 30 meters had two other well-known names. First of them was the ¡®Tornado Bat¡¯. Some time around June, they would visit the archipgo for a breeding season ¨C in order to avoid their predators, they would create a nest on a small ind of the archipgo. This was where the reason they were called Tornado Bats came to y. During their mating season, the male Tornado Bats would use up all the lifetime energy they built up inside their body and sacrifice themselves to be the epicenter of a tornado. Using that tornado, they would block the approach of predators and have their final moment of reproduction. These tornadoessted forever until the death of the Alvan that created it, and was usually kept until September where the female would give birth to a baby. ¨C Miyooooooooonnng! An uninvited guest appeared while two bats were sharing an affectionate time like protagonists of a youth drama ¨C it was the Sea Serpent that escaped from the campaign. What was terribly unfortunate for the bats, was that therge Grade 1 demonic beast, Sea Serpent, was one of the few demonic beasts of the ocean that could break through an Alvan¡¯s tornado, and as a result¡­ ¨C Quieeeeee?! Right when the female bat was getting ready to have another intimate rtionship on top of a rocky ind, the Sea Serpent suddenly showed up and carried the male bat away. ¨C Quieee¡­! ¨C Quie!! The female Alvan screamed while watching the male bat be taken away by the Sea Serpent. After losing its spouse, the female Alvan had no choice but to leave the mating ind with a wail. There were already babies growing in its womb, and the Alvan had to give birth to them. Flying further north, the female Alvan started a perilous flight. It had to alter its path aftering into contact with a wyvern squad that was looking for a boy, and even had to suffer from retaliation when it was trying to pick up a cow that was harvesting corn only to realize that it was an Audhum that weighed more than 70 tonnes¡­ In tatters, the Alvannded somewhere near Merkarva City. Rather than nd¡¯, it was more correct to say that it no longer had the power to go any further. Andstly¡­ this was where the second well-known name of the semi-Grade 1 demonic beast, Alvans, came to y. They were called Tornado Bats because of the tornado they created at the cost of their vitality and body, while the other name they had was¡­ a Gold Bat. Blood, bone and flesh ¨C every part of their body was as potent as an elixir. They were a fabulous demonic beast that also ended up luring nearby demonic beasts with their mellow scent. All sorts of monsters came to eat the Alvan after itnded on the ground and because of the maternal instinct of the female Alvan that wanted to safely give birth to its babies, it voluntarily became the epicenter of a tornado, so that it could give birth to its babies even at the cost of its own life. As a result, it created an enormous tornado that also impacted the eastern side of Merkarva City. ¡°¡­¡± The spear-wielding boy who had to receive some unfair retributions for his actions was befuddled at the sight of the tornado in front of his eyes. **** I was fucked. Right now, I could say with a very rational and objective perspective of the situation. Rationally speaking, I was fucked. ¡°Haa¡­¡± A Tornado Bat¡­ A Tornado Bat¡­! Who could have expected such a thing to happen?!! A Tornado Bat!!?? Weren¡¯t they rare beasts that stayed on small rocky inds of the archipgo to mate like crazy? Why were they here on the continent? Yes. I know¡­ I know! It¡¯s probably because of the butterfly effect of something random that I did. It must be like how a butterfly flutters its wings and creates a tornado on the other side of the. But this time, it was an actual tornado! I couldn¡¯t even imagine how all this happened but the problem at hand right now was that stupid bat creating a fierce tornado. And the biggest problem of all was that my inns that were still in the middle of construction were at the ¡®outskirt of the city¡¯ that was within the boundary of the tornado, and that the tornado could reach it anytime! ¡°W, we have to leave now. We just cannot continue working here!¡± ¡°W, wait. The deadline is just around the corner. If you go now¡­!¡± ¡°The tornado is getting bigger every day! We will all die in the middle of construction at this rate!¡± ¡°Boss! Hey boss. One second!¡± ¡°You should give up on this ce as well! Sometimes shit happens in your life and you can¡¯t do anything about it!¡± Unable to hold back the leaving builders, I remained glued to the ground. Not only did the Tornado Bat¡¯s tornadopletely devour a portion of Merkarva City, but it was also getting bigger over time. It was probably because of the mother working even harder to protect its babies now that it was close to giving birth to them. The problem was that my amodation buildings that were being built to suck out money from the festival tourists were sitting right in front of the edge of that tornado. And if the tornado were to continue like this¡­ there was the possibility of the festival being suspended or being reduced in size. It was already questionable whether they could rebuild all the roads that were crushed in time before the date of the festival which would be some time in October. In other words, if this tornado persisted longer, the number of tourists visiting Merkarva City would have an exponential decrease in numbers, and in the worst case scenario, the festival itself might even be canceled. Most important of all was that the tornado would definitely blow up my inns in around a week¡¯s time! 280 gold coins for buyingnd, and 330 gold coins for materials, hiring manpower and construction¡­ And 220 more gold coins were supposed to be paid until the end of construction. And by the way, only 110 gold coins from these were mine. The rest? I borrowed them all!! I had to pay 720 gold coins if I failed with this business! ¡°I¡¯m fucked. I am actually fucked¡­¡± It felt like I was discarded on Mars with nothing on me. **** An emergency conference was held at Merkarva Academy. Chairman Eriu Casarr gathered several professors that were staying at the Academy along with a few students. ¡°I believe that is everyone.¡± The old veteran of the Knight Department, Professor Haman Welsch; Professor Deina Arianne, who recently received a sry cut due to the horribly failed experiment; New professor of the 2nd year students of the Knight Department, Orgen Rentree; Professor Edgar Linton, the career advisor of 4th year Magic Department students; And Professor Lra Mars who teaches Alchemy to both 1st year and 2nd year students. What these people had inmon was that they had all been well-known for being strong in their prime back when they were working as active guardians. Professors weren¡¯t the only ones that were gathered ¨C there were also a few students who had either returned early like Marie, or stayed behind at the Academy over the holiday. ¡°Huu¡­¡± And among them was also the freshman student who was quite a hot topic in the Academy, Korin Lork. Both professors and students inside the Academy were summoned as long as they were higher-ranked guardians. ¡°I am sure you all know what this conference is for. It is because of the Tornado Bat, Alvan.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Are we going to be killing it?¡± Professor Deina asked the chairman after carefully raising her hand. Before she could even finish off her sentence, Professor Haman yelled out. ¡°Of course we are!¡± ¡°I am against it,¡± said Professor Edgar. ¡°What?¡± Professor Haman gave a sharp re at Professor Edgar. Edgar, who used to work as a Justice of the Peace before bing a professor, was an active and belligerent man who used to personally chase after criminals. It was therefore quite unexpected for him to raise an objection. ¡°The tornado will be stopping in a month. There is no reason for us to bother shouldering the risk.¡± ¡°Professor Edgar. On what grounds are you saying that~~?¡± Professor Lra asked with a sluggish voice. ¡°Alvans start breeding in early June. If they seed at finding a partner, they will give birth sometime around early to mid September.¡± ¡°That quick?¡± ¡°They are famous for their quick fertility and delivery among mammals. But that also corrtes to just how difficult it is for their babies to survive.¡± ¡°In other words~, you mean this tornado will end in less than a month for sure, right?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°Hmm~. I guess there is no reason to bear the risk then. 1 vote for status quo from me~¡± ¡°But I believe we should try to kill it at the very least.¡± Professor Orgen, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, shared his opinion. ¡°It will take more time for students toe back and it might cause problems for our festival. Most importantly, people from outside might consider our Academy as weaklings who are too afraid to make a move.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound right, Professor Orgen. Our Academy is, all in all, an education facility. Killing demonic beasts is the job of the Alliance. It seems that you are still in the mindset of an active guardian.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The professors were divided into 2 sides. An old veteran professor and a new professor were under the belief that the bat should be killed, whereas two professors with fairly long careers were against it. It created an exceptional bnce so they naturally then turned to Professor Deina. ¡°Uht¡­ U, umm, shouldn¡¯t we¡­ try to defeat it at the very least? It is a Gold Bat after all so¡­¡± ¡®Everything about them is expensive, right?¡¯ Professor Deina couldn¡¯t finish her entire sentence and swallowed thest few words. ¡°Professor Deina. You¡¯re not telling me that you will bear the risk just because of the recent financial budget situation of your faculty, are you? Will you involve all your colleagues and students just for such a greedy reason?¡± ¡°O, o, o, of course that¡¯s not what I was thinking!!¡± She stuttered her words as if that was right on the mark, and in the end, she reluctantly agreed to keep it at status quo. ¡®T, this is not good!¡¯ The one who was getting the most frightened by the conversation between the professors was Korin Lork. He was someone who had to kill the Alvan as soon as possible to bring back peace. More than 700 gold coins were involved in this matter and naturally, Korin Lork did not have the power to pay back all that money. In other words, he was close to being bankrupt. He had a ¡®financial reason¡¯ that was iparably more personal than Professor Deina whose sry got cut off because of the King of Iron Mountain incident. ¡®Looking at how Professor Deina immediately got reproached, talking about money won¡¯t be good¡­ I have to shift the atmosphere somehow!¡¯ Korin immediately got to work. ¡°Professors!¡± ¡°Student Korin?¡± Bashing on the table, Korin immediately stood up. His sudden unpredictable action gathered the eyes of the professors. ¡°I, Korin Lork¡­! Would like to share my humble opinion with you, ¡®Seniors¡¯!¡± Senior¡­ well, it wasn¡¯t a technically wrong expression, because all the professors were from the Merkarva Academy and were guardians like himself. ¡°We vowed to ourselves! That we will enact justice, and goodness with courage! That we will not yield before death! That we will protect the weak and defeat our foes!¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ that¡¯s the short vow we have to do when getting guardian licenses, right¡­?¡± ¡°Senior Deina! I believe you must have made the same vow as myself!!!!¡± Korin decided to target Professor Deina first before anyone else, since she was involuntarily made to enter the objectors. He was giving her a valid excuse. ¡°Who are we? We are guardians! Every one of us here vowed to be protectors of humanity and officially became a guardian from either the Alliance or the Royal Family, did we not!!?¡± ¡°Y, yes, but¡­¡± ¡°Student Korin. I understand your passion but this time around, it is better for us to refrain from fighting the¡­¡± ¡°Senior Edgar! How can you possibly say such a thing!?¡± ¡°Mhmm?¡± ¡°Do you not see the suffering victims lying in the streets after losing their houses to that tornado? Can you not see them losing their jobs and lying down on the barren streets by themselves? Do you not see those starving children that will be forced out of their houses?¡± ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to say, but the damage done to the city is quite small and there aren¡¯t that many casualties either¡­¡± ¡°The children are starvinnggggg¡­!!! How can you possibly say that!!!!??¡± ¡°Like, there are only a couple of people that lost their houses¡­¡± ¡°Lives cannot be calcted with money! Each and every one of them is a precious citizen of our city! How can you possibly discard them!!¡± ¡°M, me? I, I am discarding them?¡± ¡°Can you tell them that we have discarded them for our benefit¡­! Could you ept that if you were one of those poor children, Professor?¡± Sniff, sniff! Korin was even tearing up now. Even though the prime reason for his tears were his inns that would soon be blown away by the tornado, the professors weren¡¯t aware of that. ¡°Just by thinking of those poor children crying out for their parents¡­ I can¡¯t even make myself go to sleep!!¡± ¡°Oohh¡­¡± ¡°What a respectable young man!¡± ¡°He is the model knight with a chivalrous heart.¡± Professor Haman and Professor Orgen said in awe. Unlike mages who were always rational and calctive, knights were actually quite weak to sentimental lines like that. ¡°I have an uncle called Ben. Hisst name is Parker and he¡¯s not from my father¡¯s side, but you know ¨C he¡¯s one of those uncles with a big beer belly that gives a heartyughter that goes like, ¡®Huhaha¡¯.¡± Korin didn¡¯t have an uncle like that. It was pure fiction. ¡°When I told him I was entering this Academy to be a knight, this was what he told me.¡± After readying himself to copy a famous line from his previous life, Korin opened his mouth with a serene look on his face. ¡°With great power! Comes great responsibility¡­!!¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Hohh¡­¡± ¡°What a great sentence¡­¡± Carefully ncing across the audience whose eyes were all on him, Korin passionately continued with his sentence. ¡°I Korin Lork! Will follow my uncle¡¯s advice, and heed to the vow of guardians! And voluntarily enter this fight for the suffering citizens of this city! I trust that you will all be standing with me for this cause¡­!!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! That¡¯s the spirit, young man!¡± ¡°As expected of a knight. Now that¡¯s some courage!¡± Professor Haman and Professor Orgen took this opportunity to add weight to Korin¡¯s words. It wasn¡¯t just because he was on their side though, and they were whole-heartedly moved by Korin¡¯s passionate speech. ¡®My eyes were correct!¡¯ ¡®To think we still have such a young yet passionate and respectable knight¡­!¡¯ A simr opinion was soon carefully raised from the other side. ¡°S, Student Korin is 100% correct. Each and every life of citizens are equally important. Ahh~ I can also remember the vow I made when I was appointed a guardian¡­¡± Professor Deina, who wanted the byproducts of an Alvan which was also known as a Gold Bat, changed sides after getting a valid excuse. The one who was at the lead of the objection side, Professor Edgar, repositioned his sses and tried toe up with a rational and logical rebuttal, but emotion was something that couldn¡¯t be rational in the first ce and it was therefore very difficult. ¡°And even if¡­ we take away chivalry and the vow of guardians¡­ even without all those grand reasons¡­¡± Tears welled up under Korin¡¯s eyes. His acting skills were so remarkable that he might even receive the Academy Award for Best Actor. ¡°I want to save people ¨C those people that are within our reach. So¡­ let¡¯s save them. Okay? Senior Marie?¡± ¡°Nnn?¡± Korin asked for the agreement of Marie, who had the most power and the biggest voice among the students. ¡°Umm¡­ I, I think it¡¯s okay to just wait though? I can prepare their amodation and food with my¡­¡± ¡°Senior Marie¡­! The children are losing their housesssss¡­!¡± ¡°H, huh? R, right. Houses are important¡­!¡± Marie was slightly hesitant but in the end, she was like a sunflower who listened to everything Korin Lork said and thus couldn¡¯t go against him. ¡°Now that I think about it, I think you are definitely correct Korin!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Professor Edgar wasn¡¯t expecting the top student of the Magic Department, who should be the personification of rationality and logic, to agree to such a sentimental assertion. He tried to say something in objection but after seeing Professor Lra, who was sitting next to him, wipe her eyes with a handkerchief, Professor Edgar couldn¡¯t help but swallow his words back in. If he said anything else here, he would be a horrible person. In truth, Korin had indeed prepared everything and was ready to frame him as a cold-blooded and cruel person if Professor Edgar was to say anything more. ¨C Just agree. Come on¡­! ¡°That¡¯s right! Student Korin! No, I should say Junior Korin! You have truly opened my eyes!¡± ¡°Hahaha. There will be a bright future ahead of you! Now this is a knight!¡± ¡°I believe we havee to a conclusion then.¡± Chairman Eriu, who had been watching that skit from the side, organized the opinions of the professors and students and announced our goal. ¡®My inn! I have to save them!¡¯ The boy at the brink of bankruptcy was extremely desperate. Chapter 64: Bat Effect (2) ? Bat Effect (2) ? Therge tornado was spinning at a supersonic speed. Standing in front of that disastrous tornado, we appeared as tiny as powerless humans. The only difference between this and an actual tornado was that this was an artificial one created by the Tornado Bat, Alvan, and that it stayed still unlike a real tornado. In any case, going into that enormous tornado without any ns was not a very wise thing to do. Large monsters might be okay but humans would definitely be swept away by it. ¡°The Support Team is getting ready. All we have to do is decide on the timing.¡± The leader of this subjugation party was Professor Edgar, and his n was to separate us into two groups. The Support Team would momentarily nullify the tornado to open up a path for the Combat Team to enter and defeat the Alvan, the core of the tornado. It was a simple yet effective method. Support Team: Marie Dunareff, Lra Mars, Eriu Casarr, Deina Arianne. Combat Team: Haman Welsch, Orgen Rentree, Edgar Linton, Beazeker, Korin Lork. The Combat Team consisted of 4 knights and 1 mage. ¡°It¡¯s an improvised team so we probably can¡¯t expect the best teamwork but everything will be fine as long as everyone does their job.¡± The party leader was Professor Edgar Linton. As a former Grade 1 mage, he was a Justice of the Peace who traveled across the continent to punish criminals and was an experienced party leader. It was thus quite natural for him to be the party leader of this operation. ¡°Instructor Haman and Professor Orgen ¨C please take the vanguard, and as for Student Korin and Student Beazeker, please stand at the rear.¡± It was a very luxurious partyposition. Edgar Linton, an experienced Grade 1 mage and two semi-Grade 1 knights, Old Man Haman and Professor Orgen. And even though Beazeker and I were students, we were both talented enough to be a Grade 1 knight at a young age. While waiting for the Support Team to prepare a spell to deal with the tornado, we had a short moment of silence. ¡°Junior Korin.¡± That was when Beazeker, a 2nd year student, spoke to me. ¡°Hello, Senior Beazeker.¡± He was a bulky giant. The animal leather that he had cast over himself was not big enough to cover his white muscr body. He was , a named character from one of the Irnd barbarian tribes of the north. ¡°Stand behind me. You¡¯ll get in the way.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ sure.¡± I was on the taller side as well but Beazeker was at least double my size. ¡°You are really tall. You are a half-giant, right?¡± ¡°¡­None of your business.¡± Unlike his notorious fame of having a violent temperament and the unique trait of ¡®Berserk¡¯ that his tribe had, Beazeker gave a curt reply. ¡°But Senior Beazeker. Our job in this operation is to be the rearguard.¡± ¡°¡­ I am stronger.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¨C re! He red at me with stormy blue eyes. He must have thought I was looking down on him or something. ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand, Senior. The core part of this operation is Professor Edgar. Our job is to protect the rear of these veteran professors.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°And of course, the professors probably won¡¯t allow us to stand at the front, since we are students and they are adults.¡± ¡°That is useless bravado.¡± In a way, he was right. Excluding Professor Edgar, Old Man Haman was already well past his prime and Professor Orgen was a powerful tanker-type like Beazeker but was overall weaker than him. Currently, Beazeker was the strongest one in this party. Even I wouldn¡¯t be able to beat this man without the back-up of my Precepts. ¡°Well, let¡¯s watch on for now. They¡¯re adults and have more experience than us, after all.¡± ¡°¡­Are you treating me like a kid?¡± He definitely did not appear like one, but in my eyes, Beazeker was a high-schooler just like Marie. ¡°But you are, because we have yet to take ouring-of-age ceremony. Ah, of course, I¡¯m talking about how we do it in the kingdom and not your tribe.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Beazeker gazed down at me with a strange light in his eyes. ¡°Looks like they¡¯re about ready. That right there is therge-scale spell of Student Marie.¡± The good-looking blonde middle-aged man, Professor Edgar, lit up his cigar while notifying us of the start of the operation. Before long, a massive magic circle appeared in the distant sky. It was way too enormous to be considered as something created by a single human. That magic circle was so big that it could garner the title of a ¡®grand spell¡¯ just from its sheer size. ¡°Haa¡­ She definitely is unprecedentedly talented.¡± Any spell under the assistance of Marie¡¯s specialty, ¡®Mana Amplification¡¯, had the potential to be as powerful as a grand spell no matter how limited its original output was. That one was one of Marie¡¯s favorite skills, ?Combination Spell ¨C Frost ?, which was amplified endlessly with her mana. Mana started pervading into the enormous tornado of wind and rain. And in less than 1 second¡­ ¨C Crack! Crack crack! Therge tornado that appeared out of nowhere ¨C this enormous disaster created at the cost of a Tornado Bat¡¯s vitality, which meteorologists could bber about how nonsensical it was for a whole day, turned stiff in an instant. Or rather, it was more correct to say that it was frozen stiff. ¡°That is quite literally ¡®magic¡¯.¡± The massive ¡®natural disaster¡¯ that appeared like the materialized form of a god¡¯s wrath turned into ice and became like an avant-garde artwork. ¡°It¡¯s Professor Lra¡¯s turn.¡± As soon as Professor Edgar finished his sentence, a cluster of mist that flickered like the stars of a night sky flowed into the frozen tornado. ¡°Everyone. Get down.¡± Following his advice, we lowered our bodies and Professor Edgar then created a hemispherical barrier to cover us. As soon as the sparkling things touched the tornado¨C ¨C Kwang! Kwagagang!! A deafening thud roared as the frozen tornado started to explode. That enormous explosion shattered the ice like ss. ¨C Kwang! Kwarururu!! The tornado was so big that the sound of ice shattering down was as noisy as the bombardment of bombers. Seeing the aftermath of that huge explosion, Professor Orgen flinched before asking Old Man Haman a question. ¡°What was Professor Lra¡¯s alias back when she was an active guardian?¡± ¡°Serial bomber. She used to be notorious for being crazy for bombs.¡± ¡°I asked her outst week and got turned down but¡­ thank goodness.¡± ¡°We are going in.¡± Arge hole appeared on the frozen tornado thanks to Professor Lra¡¯s explosion magic. Following the original n, the Combat Team entered the tornado by going through the hole. **** ¨C Kajik! ¨C Kaduduk! ¨C Bam! Immediately after entering the tornado, the Combat Team had to face a horde of monsters. They were demonic beasts that ended up being locked inside the tornado aftering here to eat Alvan the Tornado Bat. The semirge demonic beasts that had been holding their ground with their weight despite the sacrificial tornado of the Alvan immediately pounced at the Combat Team after seeing them. ¡°Guwooooo¡­!¡± A single-eyed giant ran forward while swinging its club. Blocking the attack of thatrge weapon was an old knight. ¨C Kung! Their sh resulted in a loud thud. The cyclops smirked while imagining the shape of the human that should have now turned into a sludge. ¨C Crack! Crack! Unlike its expectations, however, the club started cracking from the tip and the cyclops could not retrieve its club. Someone stronger than itself was grabbing onto the club from the bottom. ¡°Been a while since Ist saw this one-eyed idiot.¡± The one who blocked and clenched on the enormous club after its devastating downward strike was Old Man Haman Welsch. He, who used to be called strong-armed Haman during his youth, was fairly old but his strength still far exceeded that of the one-eyed giant. ¨C Kwang! Haman threw a fist into the air, and the aftershock of his punch struck the cyclops on its left knee. A horrible noise and the deathly scream of the cyclops echoed as the cyclops got down on its knees. Haman kicked on the natural-made club that the cyclops was using to support itself and jested. ¡°You can use this as a walking stick now.¡± ¡°Uwwoooo¡­!¡± A huge man followed from behind. Professor Orgen swung his enormous ax that was longer than 2 meters and struck down on the cyclops¡¯s head. ¨C Kajijik! The head of the one-eyed giant got divided into two like firewood. ¡°Siiiii¡­¡± As soon as the cyclops went down, a gargoyle that had been waiting for an opportunity pounced at the group for an ambush. ¨C Saaaa¡­! ¡°Slice.¡± ¨C Kaduk! The smoke from Professor Edgar¡¯s cigar turned into a sharp de that immediately shed past the gargoyle¡¯s neck. ¡°That was clean.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Korin and Beazeker, who were standing behind Professor Edgar to protect his rear, didn¡¯t even get a chance to do anything. Semi-Grade 1 knights, Old Man Haman and Professor Orgen, and Grade 1 mage Professor Edgar were already demolishing all the rampaging demonic beasts while disying their overwhelming might. ¡°Weaker than expected,¡±mented Beazeker. ¡°Well, these guys were probably locked inside the tornado for days without having any food, and seeing how some of them had scars on their bodies, I guess they were also fighting each other.¡± ¡°¡­You saw all that?¡± Beazeker said while turning to Korin. Considering how Korin used to be a terribly underperforming student until recently, it wasmendable that he was taking everything in like a veteran. ¡°Analysis anding up with a counter-n is my forte.¡± ¡°That is a good skill.¡± Beazeker openly acknowledged the skills of this freshman student. Because of his appearance, he was often mistaken as a barbaric warrior who only sought power and violence, but he was a more rational person thanmon misbelief. ¡°But you should always be prepared to move up. The real ones are going to being soon.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Korin was right. The demonic beasts that had been sealed inside the tornado frozen by their peer, Marie, had now broken through the ice to flood them from their surroundings. Since they had been able to survive in both this tornado and the Frost spell, they were probably fairly strong. ¡°Sieeee¡­!¡± ¡°A Queen Taratect¡­!¡± Semi-Grade 1 demonic beast, Queen Taratect, was quite obviously arge-type monster. Its size was already a big problem but the scariest part about this monster was that it could spontaneously give birth to babies on the spot. ¨C Papabak! Eggs that the Queen Taratect shot out like cannonballsnded on the ground. Immediately afternding on the ground, the eggs started to crack open as dozens of smaller spider demonic beasts started pouring out from within. An army of spiders was a massive threat to anyone. The spiderspetitively raced against each other as if they wanted to defeat more enemies to receive praise from their mother, but that was when the smoke from Professor Edgar¡¯s cigar approached them. As soon as the tiny spiders broke through theyer of smoke to approach the group¡­ ¨C Kieee? ¨C Kiiikk!!? They suddenly fell on the ground with a spasmodic seizure. ¡°There is a small amount of poison in the smoke. Be careful not to touch them,¡± warned Professor Edgar. The alchemic poison inside the smoke was not something that these low-grade demonic beasts could handle. ¨C Siiiiii¡­! ¨C Kiyaaaa¡­! But that was when an orchestra of demonic beasts reverberated from a distance. That was the prelude to the iing wave of monsters. ¡°About time for the real one!¡± ¡°Korin, Beazeker! Protect Professor Edgar!¡± ¡°Finally, it¡¯s our turn.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± 15 minutes after entering the tornado, Korinid his hands on his Silver Spear for the first time and so did Beazeker, who clenched on his 2-meter-long greatsword. ¨C Kukaaaak! Monsters suddenly emerged from the ground ¨C the ones that had been hiding underground to avoid the tornado revealed themselves. ¡°Sand Dragoons?¡± Demonic beasts that resembled centipedes with tens of legs simultaneously dashed in at the group. As if they were d to see fresh meat in front of their eyes after a long period of starvation, they were reckless in their charge. ¨C Kagagak! The fangs of a serpent crushed through the centipedes. Avoiding the tough upper shells of the Sand Dragoons, the spear of the venomous snake slithered through the eyes, mouths and the soft belly of the centipedes. The scavengers that climbed through the walls of hell were stopped by the venom-fanged dragon of the middle world. Using as little aura as possible, Korin stabbed four times in just one breath. His attacks were rapid yet destructive; fast and precise. ¨C Sieeee! ¨C Kyaaak! However, piercing attacks were not enough. The flood of scavengers from all around was difficult for an individual to stand off against. ¡°Huup¡­!¡± But here, the group had a beast, taking in a deep breath before a wide sweep. ¨C Kwaaaaaaa¡­! ¨C Kwaang! Kajijik¡­! ¨C Kaduduk! The gust raged on. Without even bothering to target one specific opponent, the beast shed every approaching monster and scattered them away in pieces. ¡°Phew~¡± Even though Korin Lork had gone through various battles himself, the violent might of this beast-like warrior was still an impressive sight. It was something that was only possible thanks to his ridiculous strength and his greatsword that reached more than 2 meters in length. Beazeker the Berserker. This half-giant was also sometimes referred to as the Berserk Warrior, but here in this battlefield of ughter, he was not a berserk warrior and was a rampaging beast himself just like other monsters. ¡°Wow¡­¡± Even the professors including Professor Edgar were marveled at his disy of strength. The great prowess of the students that they had left at the rear motivated the professors even more. ¡°We cannot lose to students can we?¡± ¡°I will check how many you killedter on, Professor Orgen. If you got less than the students, then you will have to attend my lessons as well.¡± ¡°I am more worried about you old man.¡± ¡°Haa¡­ Seriously, knights are just¡­¡± In the heat of battle, the five guardians proceeded on through the tornado of demonic beasts. They were aiming for the epicenter of the tornado, and it didn¡¯t take that long for them to reach the center. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°I knew it¡­¡± All the party members including Professor Edgar were appalled at the sight before their eyes. Inside therge tornado created by the Alvan that was frozen by Marie¡¯s Frost; at the center of the tornado was another smaller tornado. ¡°Did Alvans have the power to create two tornadoes like this?¡± ¡°It must be because of what we call a maternal instinct. It¡¯s a beast but is still verymendable.¡± ¡°You cane up with that irrational logicter.¡± Across the small tornado, the group spotted the silhouette of arge bat vigntly staring back at them. After noticing the approach of an enemy, the bat had used up all of its remaining energy to create another tornado in front of it. ¡°Do you think we can push through this?¡± ¡°No. Maybe if we don¡¯t mind having our flesh shredded on the way but¡­¡± ¡°The drawback is too big. There is no need for us to overdo it.¡± After quicklying to a conclusion, the three professors turned to the sky and fired a re gun. ¨C Shiiiiiiii~ Boom! Seeing the re gun pop at the sky, Professor Edgar gave out another order. ¡°We will retreat out of the danger zone.¡± A thunderous thud echoed from the sky as soon as they retreated from the smaller tornado. The sky started to quiver and began to roar while sucking in all the nearby dark clouds. ¨C Kwagang! Kwagagang! Thunderbolts traveled across the dark clouds of the sky. The lightning bolts of the sky started undergoing a strange change as they began to gain a ¡®color¡¯. ¡°¡­Umm, Professor Edgar? Isn¡¯t that a bit¡­¡± ¡°Dangerous, you¡¯re right. Damn it, Professor Deina. She doesn¡¯t know how to control her strength or something¡­! This stupid power-addict!¡± The one creating this strange phenomenon was the lightning mage, Professor Deina. This young witch ¨C in her 40s ¨C who was more well-known for her academic contribution rather than her works as a guardian, was still one of the strongest lightning mages out there. All those beautiful supercells and thunderstorms were on the level of a grand spell. She was a nuker who could bombard powerful spells at once. And the one that she was currently getting ready to fire was ?Red Sprite? ¨C a crimson lightning bolt of destruction that was said to strike down at 1/30th of the speed of light, at roughly 10,000 km/s. ¡°Tch. Let me put up a barrier!¡± Professor Edgar used up all of his remaining mana to create a barrier that protected all the party members. Soon, a red lightning struck the ground. **** The huge bombardment of Professor Deina demolished even the tornado frozen by Marie, leaving the area with a cluster of remains. ¡°This is why I hate mages. Those guys love killing knights or something.¡± ¡°I agree wholeheartedly.¡± Old Man Haman and Professor Orgen stood up on the ck, scorched ground with a grumble but that was followed by Professor Edgar¡¯s word of disapproval. ¡°Please do not group us with people like Professor Deina.¡± As a former Justice of the Peace who preferred the smart way around things, Professor Edgar seemed offended by that statement. ¡°Anyway, that settles things. A lightning that big should have destroyed everything in¡ª¡± ¡°Look there.¡± Following the finger of Beazeker who was pointing somewhere, the party members all turned their gazes around as their faces soon crumpled from disbelief. The tornado¡­ was still there. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t it get struck directly by that lightning? How is it still alive?¡± ¡°Wait. Don¡¯t you think the silhouette inside the tornado became even bigger than before?¡± ¡°¡­An evolution.¡± Thest words from Korin made everyone close their mouths. Evolution. It was a strange phenomenon that sometimes urred during the growth and experience process of demons. Rather than simply bing the alpha entity of a group that would then act as the leader, it was closer to aplete evolution of their species. ¡°Kiyaaaaaaa¡­!¡± The Tornado Bat, Alvan, which had been sacrificing its life for the tornado withstood the lightning strike from Professor Deina and even ended up evolving to a higher species. At this point, it was pretty much the king of lightning and storm. ¡°If that really is because of its maternal instincts¡­ then I really have to say, it¡¯s a really remarkable thing.¡± ¡°Now is not the time for that. We must immediately deal with that!¡± But¡­ how? The small tornado that was created to buy time until its delivery now contained ayer of lightning. Who would ever be able to go through that tornado in one piece? ¡°A frontal breakthrough is not an option.¡± Professor Haman came to a reasonable conclusion. The Alvan had seeded in withstanding the lightning attack of Professor Deina, and the desperate tornado created at the cost of its life was too risky to break through from the front. Even though everyone still had a secret move up their sleeves, going in right now without any preparation was still very risky. ¡°Let¡¯s back off. Whether it be Professor Deina or Student Marie, I believe we need to borrow someone from the Support Team.¡± No one there was a rookie who was foolish enough to argue against Professor Edgar¡¯s logical opinion. As soon as they were about to give up and retreat for the time being¡­ ¡°You can go.¡± The sharp voice of a blonde-haired professor echoed from somewhere, as someone jumped through the dimension and dug into the center of the tornado. ¨C Kyaahuk¡­! Kururuk¡­ Kurugeeeekk¡­!! From within the pandemonium of storm and lightning, a vengeful and horrendous scream echoed on repeat. The sound of flesh and skin being ripped was evidence that someone was rampaging inside the tornado. ¨C Kaaaaaahh¡­! The sharp tornado of des threatened to slice through the fragile-looking body of the girl, but even the slicing tornado and the lightning sparks within weren¡¯t able to pierce through the Unbreakable Body. ¨C Drip! Drip! Drops of blood were dripping from the girl, but they were not hers. While dragging the head of therge evolved Alvan that was even bigger than her entire body, the girl wearing nun clothes nonchntly walked out of the tornado. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Heavenly Yaksha Hua Ran. She asked while gazing at Korin and the party members with the same indifferent look on her face. Chapter 65: Bat Effect (3) ? Bat Effect (3) ? The Tornado Bat that settled outside the city only gave a small amount of damage to the city itself. Thanks to the early resolution of the matter, only a small portion on the outskirts of the city was damaged. There were a few people who lost their houses because of the storm but¡­ it was within a recoverable level. ¡°Please take your meals! Today, we have potatoes and onion soup!¡± Guardians weremonly viewed as heroes who fought against evil, even more so than the army. Since each and every one of them was superhuman with an overwhelming degree of power, this sense of heroism was unavoidable. Volunteering to give out meals to the victims of this incident was a part of an image-making strategy. ¡°Thank you, Sir Knight!¡± ¡°No worries.¡± The citizens who suddenly ended up bing homeless lined up and received their giveaway meals. ¡°Can you please give me one more potato, Sister?¡± That person must have been quite hopeful on the inside when asking that question. The clerics of the New Faith were known to be generous not only to their believers, but also to the non-believers. Even though she was wearing chains, which seemed absurd at a nce, Hua Ran still looked like a sister. ¡°Be content with what you have.¡± ¡°¡­Okay.¡± Hearing the cold voice of Hua Ran, the man dejectedly walked away. The meal quantity was set and it was indeed difficult to give out more to a specific individual, but the important thing was not what you say, but how you say it. ¡°Sister Hua Ran? How about you be a bit nicer?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°Since you are doing a volunteer job, why don¡¯t you try to be nicer?¡± ¡°Not like I wanted to.¡± Hua Ran was a guardian but at the same time, she was a probationary nun of the New Faith. Because of that identity of hers, she seemed to be the first to be chosen whenever theycked volunteers. ¡°¡­Why do you help people?¡± ¡°What is this about all of a sudden?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you would help people without anything in return.¡± It seemed that this girl wasn¡¯t used to the concept of volunteering in a human society. That wasn¡¯t the best thing for a sister to say, though. ¡°A nice society needs to have people helping each other. Helping each other when in need is how you get the society rolling in a healthy manner.¡± ¡°???¡± She had a totally clueless look on her face. Her social skills were the same as the ones she had 3 years ago, it seemed. ¡°You can have a ss of juice on the way back. If you go over~ there, ady with water-colored hair will give you assistance.¡± ¡°Thank you Sir Knight.¡± ¡°And all these potatoes are supplies from thatdy¡¯s family so don¡¯t forget to thank her!¡± ¡°Oh, thank you very much. Miss!¡± ¡°Uun? It¡¯s nothing!¡± While giving out the meals, I decided to teach Hua Ran about society. ¡°When do you think was the beginning of humanity¡¯s civilization?¡± ¡°¡­You are talking like a professor.¡± Anything is fine so please give me an answer¡­ Looking at her sharp and uncooperative attitude, it seemed that even though she was okay with listening, she was not going to actively participate in the conversation. ¡°This is something I heard from somewhere but apparently, the first discovered trace of civilization was when they discovered a broken leg bone that had signs of recovering back to one piece.¡± ¡°¡­¡± As if she wasn¡¯t interested in the topic, she continued cing boiled potatoes on giveaway tes but her ears were pointing in this direction. ¡°In a barbaric society of the survival of the fittest, a broken leg is the same as death. That means you cannot run away from danger, nor can you drink water or hunt for food.¡± That was the same even for a society of animals. A wounded beast was nothing but easy prey for other predators. ¡°But the sign of a recovered leg bone means that someone was helping them until they healed back up. Helping people out when they¡¯re in distress¡­ Apparently, that was the beginning of civilization.¡± ¡°So in the end, it¡¯s because humans are weak.¡± ¡°So you were listening from the start huh!¡± ¡°¡­Be quiet.¡± Her ears were slightly flushed. When you look at her like this, you wouldn¡¯t imagine her as anything other than a cute little girl. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong but in any case, helping each other out was one of the survival tactics of humans. In a way, what we¡¯re doing now is simr to that right?¡± I think that was quite a logical exnation as to why we should help people who lost their houses from the tornado. ¡°That means nothing to me. No one is going to be helping me anyway.¡± ¡°I can help you,¡± I replied. ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran turned and looked at me with her crimson eyes for the first time in a while. ¡°Don¡¯t say random things in your mind. You¡¯re weak.¡± She said with a cold gaze as if she did not need my help. However, I did not miss the faint quiver in her eyes. Now that the food distribution was over, I gave soup to thest person standing in the line and gave one of the leftover potatoes to Hua Ran. ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± Her piercing gaze was very cold. You know, even though I look like this, this oppa is quite worried about you so please don¡¯t look at me like that. In the empty plot ofnd next to the food-distributing tables were kids of the families that lost their houses energetically ying around with themselves. It seemed that kids had the positive power to safely pass through this depressing turn of events. ¡°Guys! This sister here is saying she¡¯ll be ying with you guys!¡± ¡°What are you¡­!¡± ¡°Hua Ran, go y some ser with those kids. Make sure to hold back¡­!¡± ¡°Sister! Are you ying with us?¡± ¡°Wow. Look at those chains. They¡¯re so cool!¡± ¡°You¡­!¡± ¡°Well then, see youter.¡± Bidding farewell, I left behind Hua Ran who soon got surrounded by the kids. Her nun clothes were definitely effective at closing the distance with kids. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ I was drinking instant coffee on a bench when Master Erin came up to me. ¡°Are you doing fine?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Master Erin sat on the bench. I offered coffee to her, who was wearing the mask of the young man called Chairman Eriu. ¡°Seems that you are a very considerate young man.¡± ¡°I hear that often.¡± ¡°Huhu¡­¡± Even though the fake body created with a rune stone did not need to eat anything, there was the necessity to disguise it as a real person. ¡°Hua Ran¡­¡± She turned to the empty plot ofnd in the middle of her speech. On the field was a girl wearing nun clothes kicking a ball around with kids from families that lost their houses to the tornado. It was evident that she was involuntarily forced into ying with the kids, but she seemed quite intrigued by the sport itself. On top of that, she was also holding herself back just fine. ¡°How much do you know about that child?¡± ¡°I heard she was a living Jiangshi.¡± Just like Marie, Hua Ran¡¯s exact identity had also been announced to the public even though it was actually possible to hide their traits. My master Erin was the one who disclosed their identities without hiding them. Although it was partially because she wanted a transparent academy, it was also probably because she wanted those who were viewed with prejudice as demons tomute to the Academy with pride. Beazeker, who received half of his genes from a giant, a demonic beast, Vampire Marie Dunareff, Living Jiangshi from the eastern continent, Hua Ran. The three of theming to the Academy without hiding their identities was because of my Master¡¯s conviction that demi-humans should also be able to study as students. ¡°When I was bringing that child from the eastern continent, there were many objections. In fact, there are still a lot of people that are not happy with her.¡± Even when Marie became a vampire, Master had to visit the Tower of Mages, the Old Faith and the royal court to prove that Marie was a safe existence. Considering how the Heavenly Yaksha had destroyed one of the castles of the eastern continent, it was hard to imagine all the objections she would have had to face during the admission. ¡°She hurt many people and made big mistakes. Both ra and other professors called her dangerous.¡± Master said whileposedly gazing at me. It appeared that she was asking me for my opinion. ¡°Ohh~. Look, she scored a goal.¡± We turned to Hua Ran who kicked the ball into the goal post. She had an annoyed look on her face, but her lips were in a faint curve. ¡°Is it important that they¡¯re pure humans, halves, or demons? As long as they can help people, worry about them andugh together¡­¡± Looking at how she was carefully controlling her power so that the kids wouldn¡¯t be hurt by the ball she kicked¡­ it was safe to say that her innate personality was definitely quite good. ¡°Then that¡¯s more than enough.¡± ¡°¡­¡± That was all there was to it. ¡°You are quite a sentimental child for Valtazar¡¯s disciple, aren¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Huhahaha.¡± I am your disciple after all. **** ¡°Huu~!¡± After a long stretch to rx my muscles which became stiff from standing up the whole time, I turned my gaze to Hua Ran. ¡°Aren¡¯t you tired?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± During lunch, we gave away meals and in the afternoon, we had to remove the remains of the buildings that were destroyed by the tornado. It was a purely physical job so Marie wasn¡¯t with us and we had to do manualbor for hours on end. ¡°Should we go get dinner?¡± ¡°¡­Sushi.¡± We were now close enough to discuss the dinner menu together without reserve. It was quite the progresspared to thest iteration. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Is it okay?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re talking about Chairman and Senior Professor, it¡¯s okay. I told them we might have dinner outside today.¡± They were probably confident anyway that they could immediately locate Hua Ran as long as she stayed inside the city. ¡°So, let¡¯s go get some sushi.¡± ¡°¡­Ah.¡± Like that, we decided on the menu but Hua Ran let out a shortment. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°My wallet¡­ I didn¡¯t bring it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it buddy. I will buy it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± We usually split our bill when I was eating with Hua Ran. It was great that she wanted to pay for herself but I got to save all my property thanks to her. Huu¡­ thinking about all those gold coins that I could have lost because of that Tornado Bat still gave me goosebumps. And by the way, the half-destroyed corpse of the Tornado Bat was to be split equally to everyone that was there including Hua Ran. Professor Deina, who was short on money, was in tears after seeing the smushed corpse of the bat. ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s go! I will buy you the most expensive otoro1Otoro is the fattiest portion of the tuna, found on the very underside of the fish. This cut is fatty almost to the point of falling apart and can literally melt in your mouth. out there!¡± ¡°¡­Otoro.¡± Been a while since I¡¯vest been to a sushi restaurant. Let¡¯s go hear that ¡®Irasshaimase¡¯2¡®Irasshaimase¡¯ means ¡®Wee to my shop/restaurant¡¯ and is just one of the many formal Japanese ways of politely weing new customers.! ¡ºWe are closed for today.¡» ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Hua Ran and Korin returned to the special dormitory and walked into the dark building. ¡°No one¡¯s here.¡± Josephine was probably still working and Marie said she would be meeting her friends after the volunteer work so she would be homete. Hua Ran was greatly disappointed by the sushi restaurant that was closed for today and felt like immediately going to sleep in her room but was stopped by the boy. ¡°Let me cook something for you.¡± She was stopped from having otoro, so would his dishes be able to make up for that disappointment? Hua Ran wanted to turn him down but¡­ ¡°I should probably make a bit more for Senior Marie and Lady Josephine while I¡¯m at it.¡± Without even waiting for her reply, Korin headed to the kitchen and it was toote for Hua Ran to say anything. ¡°Haa¡­¡± Hua Ran didn¡¯t bother following him into the kitchen just to turn him down. In fact, it was also true that she was hungry and so it would be a fairly logical choice to wait for him to bring something that could satiate her hunger. If he was going to cook something, then there was no reason not to wait. ¡°Meat.¡± She whispered to herself in an inaudible voice. Last time it was terribly disappointing when he cooked nothing but a bunch of fried oden, stir-fried anchovies, and spinach. It was because he had the habit of cooking side dishes inrge bulks due to living alone for a long time but Hua Ran had no way of knowing that. Since she couldn¡¯t have otoro, he had to cook something that was at least about 40% as delicious as otoro otherwise¡­ ¡®Maybe 30% is okay.¡¯ He wasn¡¯t a professional chef, so she decided to be more lenient. Unconsciously, Hua Ran was more magnanimous with Korin today and frankly, it was because the words of the boy had shaken her heart a little. ¡ºI can help you.¡» It sounded like a promise that he would help her whenever she needed help, but she was most likely assigning too much meaning to a random sentence he threw out. She was a living Jiangshi ¨C a being closer to a demonic beast that was created from a living human. The wish of her ¡®father¡¯, The greed of her neighbors, The officials, And the emperor¡­ Would the boy be able to say the same thing even afterying his hands on the Jiangshi called Heavenly Yaksha? The monster that everyone wished to control to satisfy their greed? ¡°Nonsense.¡± Hua Ran knew ¨C because she knew of her innate evil nature, she all the more denied the words of the boy. Oblivious to her internal turmoil, Korin continued cooking inside the kitchen. ¡ºHua, you are a monster.¡» If he knew about her past and her true nature, would he be able to show his back like what he was doing right now? ¡°Stupid.¡± Letting out a ruthless remark, Hua Ran stayed alone in the darkness. Her eyes were fixed on the dazzling back of the boy inside the bright kitchen. ¡®Give it back! Hua¡­! Give me back my body!¡¯ ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± Her head throbbed in pain. It was here again. ¡®It¡¯ was still iling around without giving up. ¡°Be quiet¡­ This is mine. This is my body.¡± She knew better than anyone else how this was not her body. ¡°I will not give it back to you.¡± ¡­If you knew about this, would you still help ¡®me¡¯? Footnotes:
  • 1Otoro is the fattiest portion of the tuna, found on the very underside of the fish. This cut is fatty almost to the point of falling apart and can literally melt in your mouth.
  • 2¡®Irasshaimase¡¯ means ¡®Wee to my shop/restaurant¡¯ and is just one of the many formal Japanese ways of politely weing new customers.
Chapter 66: Night before the Festival (1) ? Night before the Festival (1)? Inside Merkarva City was the guardian academy and thus it wasparatively safer from demonic beasts than other cities. Safety attracted more people and more people led to the prosperity of the city but not everyone received the benefit from that increased prosperity. There was a slum in every city and there was a gang reigning over the anarchic streets of Merkarva City. ck Star Group. A group of gangs that increased their size in the backstreets through power and violence. Their main source of ie was illegal cirction of moonshine and ves, and no one cared about the ingredients of their low-quality alcohol. There were some whoined about the trash taste of the alcohol but no one really cared about it. Those idiots would be dealt with by the members of the ck Star Group that always stayed in those bars. ¡°Kuaahk¡­!¡± But this time, it was a bit different. ¡°Give me more alcohol. More booze¡­!¡± ¡°K, kyaaah¡­!¡± ¡°O, oh dear. Sir, pleaseee¡­¡± The store keeper ran up in a fluster. He couldn¡¯t do anything even though his employee, Renya, was being harassed by a drunk customer. ¡°You fucker! You¡¯re calling this alcohol?¡± The drunk customer creating a ruckus looked a bit old to be called a boy and a bit too young to be called an adult. But the reason he couldn¡¯ty his hands on him was that he was a student of Merkarva Academy. Although he wasn¡¯t wearing a uniform, it was obvious that he was a superhuman seeing how he flung away muscr giants with one hand! No matter how buff a person was, they still couldn¡¯t stand a chance against a single Grade 5 knight, and that was just how things were in this world. ¡®Damn it! What the hell is the ck Star Group doing? They¡¯re only on time when they¡¯reing to take protection fees!¡¯ This bar was buying moonshine from the ck Star Group and at the same time, they were paying them protection fees. In the back streets, protection fees were given mainly due to violence than logical business rtionships, but in any case, the ck Star Group had to do something because the store keeper was paying arge sum of money as the protection fee. ¡°Who the hell is it that¡¯s creating a fuss at the bar, huh!?¡± ¡®T, they¡¯re here!¡¯ It was the high executive of the ck Star Group that the store keeper used to call a son of a bitch, Red-haired Dickson! Even though he wasn¡¯t an official former guardian, he was a former roaming knight who used to work as a mercenary! Besides, as if they heard news about him being a student of the Academy, Dickson¡¯s brother ¨C Luger the Crazy Hound and the son of the ck Star Group¡¯s boss, Rickie, were also here! ¡°Huooh? Wut now?¡± The student with a ponytail turned to Luger and his brother with a twisted tongue. Behind them were dozens of ck Star Group members lining up in a menacing posture. ¡°Fuck off from our business when we¡¯re still being¡ª¡± ¡°Ah, shut up. I don¡¯t like hearing guys.¡± Ignoring the words of the ck Star Group members, the boy violently pulled Reyna the employee deeper into his embrace. He was clearly a drunk sexual harasser. ¡°¡­This bastard.¡± Leaving behind the Luger brothers that had intimidating frowns on their faces, the son of the boss, Rickie, walked up while lighting his cigar on fire. ¡°An Academy student, huh. Underage kids shouldn¡¯te to a ce like this.¡± ¡°Who the hell are you now?¡± ¡°Rickie Johnson. I am the future boss of the ck Star Group.¡± ¡°Oh, okayy?¡± ¡°Kid. Just leave if you¡¯re done drinking. I will be nice and pay for your alcohol today so¡­¡± ¨C Glug! It happened in the blink of an eye. The drunken boy suddenly picked up a bottle of alcohol and poured it over Rickie¡¯s head. Drip. The flowing moonshine wetted Rickie¡¯s waxed hair and turned off his cigar. ¡°B, brother!¡± ¡°This bastard¡­!¡± Lifting his hand, Rickie stopped his underlings. He was the only one in the group that was still keeping his rationality but it didn¡¯t take long for him to growl like a beast. ¡°I¡¯ve seen a bunch of people like you. Thinking you¡¯re something big just because you¡¯re a knight. I¡¯ve seen too many of them.¡± Using a towel that he received from one of his men, Rickie dried his hair and lit his cigar back on fire. He gestured to the Dickson brothers standing behind him as they walked up in response. ¨C Vuiing¡­! The long sword and spear in the hands of the two brothers vibrated. After noticing that was the unique reaction of a weapon resonating with the aura of a knight, the eyes of the boy underwent a quick shift. His opponents were knights. Rickie enjoyed seeing that change with an evil and crooked gaze. ¡°These guys are the crazy hounds of the north. They are infamous ve hunters notorious for their name, Red Hounds. A mere student¡ª-¡± ¨C Kajik! ¨C Bababam! ¡°Huah?¡± It happened in the blink of an eye. The boy, who appeared to be having trouble standing up straight, suddenly smashed Luger and Dickson down with his bare hands. Since he had empowered himself with Shura, Rickie couldn¡¯t even see the thing that happened right before his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m listening. Continue.¡± ¡°¡­What can I do for you, Sir?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to do anything. Because today will be yourst day.¡± ¡°S, sir?¡± One night. There was no need to wait until the next sunrise for the 100 members of ck Star Group to be demolished. **** In the game, mafia and gangs were just mobs that give experience points, and were third-rate evil groups that were supposed to be crushed during a quest. That didn¡¯t change even when it turned into reality, and if I were to line up all the gangsters that I destroyed in thest iteration, they would take up 25ps around a sports field. Of course, destroying one gang wouldn¡¯t clean up the dense darkness of the slum but it was still better than nothing. ¡°Is it here?¡± ¡°Y, yes yes¡­ Sir!¡± After I made the boss of the ck Star Group someone who could only have porridges his entire life, Rickie brought me to the underground storage in the slum while beingpletely afraid of me who did such a thing to his father. The underground storage was damp with no venttion. The disgusting odor and humidity of this area was something difficult to get used to. ¡°How could you lock people in a ce like this, you fucking trash.¡± ¨C m! When I smacked him by the back of his head, Rickie started shivering like a leaf and said sorry on repeat. ¡°Huh. What are you?¡± ¡°Brother Rickie?¡± I crushed all the guards that I saw on the way. Even though I was a nice guy, I wasn¡¯t nice to bastards like them. ¡°T, this way!¡± Several cages appeared as soon as Rickie opened the door to the underground storage. There were a bunch of dirty cages as if they were smuggling animals. However, the ones they were smuggling weren¡¯t animals but humans. Specifically, they were ¡®demi-humans¡¯. ¡°Open them.¡± ¡°Sorry sir?¡± ¡°Open all the cages.¡± ¡°But sir! W, we will be doomed then!¡± ¡°You are already doomed, you idiot.¡± The frightened Rickie started opening the cages one by one. Some left through the opened gates of their cages whereas some nkly looked back at us without moving from their seats. ¡°At least there¡¯s not that many.¡± There were roughly 20 demi-humans ranging from a dryad, which was a mixed-blood with fairies, a dog beastman and a dokkaebi1Dokkaebi are legendary creatures from Korean mythology and folklore. Dokkaebi, also known as ¡°Korean goblins¡±, are nature deities or spirits possessing extraordinary powers and abilities that are used to interact with humans, at times ying tricks on them and at times helping them. Legends describe different dokkaebi in many forms and beings with a thousand faces, and dokkaebi often wear hanbok¡­ Ehew. Seeing how they were from all sorts of different cultures, it seemed that taking them back home would be quite an arduous task. In this world, demi-humans were a target of ostracization. These humans with an unfortunate fate waiting for them would suddenly awaken into a demi-human and be reborn with strength and abilities that far exceeded the norms. People ostracized others just because of skin color, so there was no way they wouldn¡¯t discriminate against demi-humans. Besides, just less than 100 years ago, hunting demons and demi-humans used to be the main focus of the Old Faith. ¡°If you go outside you will find a carriage. It¡¯s a carriage from the Dunareff family and if you get on it, they will take you back home.¡± A few of them seemed to have differentnguage systems, but they should be able to understand what was going on by looking at other people. ¡ºMany Unspecified¡» ¡ù Difficulty: D+ ¡ù Reward: ¨C Even distribution of 25 points ¨C Rumors about you will spread across demi-humans. It was followed by a small reward but it didn¡¯t specify the siblings. It¡¯s probably because they were in the role of viins ording to the scenario, and because I didn¡¯t personally consider them as good on top of that¡­ ¡°Is there a sibling here that goes under the name of Ren and Ron?¡± The dryad girl pointed at a cage in response to my words. As for this girl¡­ I should probably entrust her to Yuel. I walked up to the cage that the girl pointed at and inside were kids that appeared to be about 9 years of age who were crouching down while vigntly looking at me. ¡°Wait¡­ they¡¯re a lot smaller than I thought.¡± Wolf siblings, Ren and Ron. Unlike most demi-humans who usually awakened into one after birth, beastmen tended to awaken at birth. Because of that, it wasmon for them to be killed or sold at an extremely young age but¡­ This was strange, wasn¡¯t it? When I saw them in thest iteration, they looked like they were about 20 years old, which was twice the age implied by their current appearance. I did hear stories about how beastmen had physical growth that apanied mental growth but¡­ weren¡¯t they still just way too young? ¡°Hi guys?¡± ¡°Hiik¡­!¡± ¡°D, don¡¯t hit my brother¡­!¡± The girl shouted while trying to protect her younger brother. She was probably the older sister Ren but¡­ ¡ºI will kill you, you bastard¡­!¡» She had a very different atmosphere from the one she had in thest iteration. She was uhh¡­ a very bigdy in a lot of ways with a husky voice¡­ Was this little girl going to grow that much in just one year? Ren and Ron used to be viins working under the Old Faith in thest iteration. In an attempt to control the public perception, the extreme demi-human discriminators and the fundamentalists used the wolfmen ves tomit all sorts of ruthless acts, which even resulted in a political stand-off of the 1st Princess and the 2nd Princess. Looking back at it now, it used to be a lot of work. Originally, the wolf siblings were supposed to be sold to the Old Faith through the ck Star Group. They were powerful werewolves and difficult foes to fight against, and were both killed by Park Sihu in thest iteration. What I did now was save these unfortunate kids who wouldter grow to be an evil mid-boss. ¡°A bit different from what I thought but¡­ let¡¯s go guys.¡± I carefully reached out to them but the sharp ws of the girl pped my hand away. ¡°G, go away! Leave us alone!¡± ¡°N, noona¡­¡± Because of all the things that adults had done to them, their wariness was on a different level. I couldn¡¯t leave them like this though, so¡­ I took out a jerky from my pocket. ¡°Do you want some snacks?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a kid!¡± It backfired. Did she not like jerkies? ¡°Guys. Let¡¯s just quietly all leave.¡± ¡°Leave us alone! Just let us go¡­!¡± Ren tried to strike the bars of the cage with her fist in a fit. It seemed that she was trying to be as intimidating as possible but her hand was the only thing that was going to be injured. ¡°Huu¡­¡± I snatched her hand by the wrist. ¡°You¡¯ll just hurt your body.¡± ¡°L, let go!¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. No one is going to hit you anymore. You guys are now safe.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± When I tapped her on her back to relieve her, she slowly stopped writhing her body in fury. These children who always suffered from the persecution of adults instead of their protection were always vignt of their surroundings. It was a very sad thing to see. ¡°What are your names?¡± ¡°Ron¡­ My name is Ron.¡± ¡°¡­Ren.¡± Ron, who was anxiously gazing at me, replied first which was followed by Ren, who was in my arms. ¡°I see. My name is Korin. Korin Lork.¡± ¡°¡­Are you a Mister Knight?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I could feel Ren immediately turning energyless when I continued tapping her back. Her constant wariness to protect her younger brother must have taken an immense toll on her mind. As soon as she felt slightly relieved, she fainted into a deep sleep. ¡°¡­¡± Did I really have to put these kids into my guardians guild? The ones I was thinking of were the mid-bosses Ren and Ron, and not these kids. I was going to use their specialties to deal with the fundamentalists and the ¡®Spiritualist¡¯ but¡­ ¡°What are you going to do now, boss?¡± A leisurely voice echoed from behind. Thedy wearing a waitress uniform was the one who was harassed by me at the bar¡­ or rather, someone that was pretending to be harassed. Renya the waitress. Even though she looked like a normal waitress of a backstreet bar, she was in fact an executive of the intelligence guild. ¡°Take them to my inn. And give them some food.¡± ¡°Were you a phnthropist?¡± ¡°Think of it as you wish.¡± I received a great amount of help from Renya when looking for the organizational structure of the ck Star Group and the location of their underground storage. She was a great person to have a dry business rtionship with just like Dorron, and it was therefore possible for me to be fairly carefree with her. ¡°Huu~.¡± Thoughts muddled my brain because I unexpectedly came across these young kids. Ehew. All in all, I did something good so I guess it was still worth it. **** On the eastern side of Merkarva City in one of the tform viges, a foreign beastnded on thending zone of flying animals. The animal had a red beak and strangely enough, it only had one leg but it didn¡¯t give off the feeling that it had a disability since it had an exceptional sense of bnce. Instead, its fluttering eight-colored wings gave its onlookers an auspicious sensation. It was called Shangyang in the east and was a bird that could only be mounted by the higher-ups of the society. ¡°Hello sir. You must be from the east. Can I please have a look at your ID?¡± The man wearing an eastern clothing touched his long beard in silence after getting off the Shangyang, and the boy and girl that dismounted with him soon took out a golden que. It was a que with the emblem of a falcon and was the most well-known emblem of the east in this continent. ¡°I see you¡¯re from the Purple Hawk Academy!¡± ¡°Yes, that is the case. I am Senior Professor Kang Ryun. They are my disciples.¡± ¡°I am the student council president, Kang Yuhua.¡± ¡°Jinhyuk is my name~. Nice to meet you.¡± Since they were already informed of the guests from the east, thending zone staff immediately led them to a carriage. ¡°We at the El Rath Kingdom wee you for your visit. We have the carriage prepared right here so please follow me.¡± Following the staff, the three got on the prepared carriage. Carriages were supposed to transport dozens of people at once but this specific one had fewer seats and had fancy decorations inside, as if it was for VIPs only. ¡°Weow~! The reception is quite good.¡± ¡°Hyuk. Master hasn¡¯t even taken his seat yet.¡± Jinhyuk nonchntly sat down on one of the seats which earned a reprimand from Kang Yuhua. Even though her sword was still inside the scabbard, the viscosity of her qi was enough to pressure Jinhyuk. ¡°Whoa whoa~. Big Sister. You know I¡¯m not good at fighting.¡± ¡°¡­Haa. Is that something a Grade 1 Knight is supposed to say?¡± ¡°Certainly can to you, Big Sister.¡± ¡°Stop. Cut the idle talk.¡± The middle-aged professor made his disciples shut up with one sentence and gracefully sat down on his seat. He was sitting with a straight back that seemed to be showcasing the rigidness of his personality. ¡°By the way, master.¡± Kang Ryun closed his eyes as if trying to have some time for meditation but Jinhyuk spoke to him. ¡°Is it certain? Is that bitch really here?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Yuhua didn¡¯t reproach him this time because she too was here because of the same reason as Jinhyuk. ¡°Yes. It is certain that the Chairman of this Academy has taken her. His Majesty guaranteed it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The two people turned silent in response. Even though it was a chilling silence, their eyes were burning with fury so Kang Ryun looked at his disciples and clicked his tongue. ¡°How can you achieve anything big if you cannot even hide your hostility?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. As long as I can beat up that fucking bitch.¡± ¡°Hyuk¡¯s very crude with his tongue but¡­ I can¡¯t leave Hua, that wicked thing, alone either. Thinking of how Ran is still locked inside her, I¡­ Master¡­ No. Uncle. Is there really a way to save Ran before the end of the festival?¡± ¡°Of course. Yuhua. I want to save my niece just as much as you.¡± Listening to their conversation, Jinhyuk quietly opened the lid of the drink bottle next to him. Unlike those two people who were acquainted with the person in question, he had a different purpose. As the sole survivor of the pandemonium of the burning Moonlight Castle, revenge was the only thing in the mind of the boy. Footnotes:
  • 1Dokkaebi are legendary creatures from Korean mythology and folklore. Dokkaebi, also known as ¡°Korean goblins¡±, are nature deities or spirits possessing extraordinary powers and abilities that are used to interact with humans, at times ying tricks on them and at times helping them. Legends describe different dokkaebi in many forms and beings with a thousand faces, and dokkaebi often wear hanbok
Chapter 67: Night before the Festival (2) ? Night before the Festival (2) ? A month passed after the Tornado Bat incident. These days, the Academy was bustling with noise. ¡°There are a lot of people talking about the festival.¡± The reason the students were so hyped up was because of the uing festival. ¡°It¡¯s a big event that onlyes once a year, after all.¡± Hearing Korin¡¯s reply, Alicia gave a concerned look instead of one of expectation. ¡°¡­Parents and guardians will be invited as well, right?¡± ¡°Yeah. Are your parents going to being?¡± ¡°I think¡­ my Sister will be the oneing.¡± Even during her middle school, it was always her older sister whenever there was a parent-teacher interview. ¡°Did you see Miss Lunia during the holiday?¡± ¡°No, I did not. She was busy hunting demonic beasts in the east. I had toe back when she was close to being finished.¡± Just like Alicia, who wasn¡¯t really hyped up for the festival because she was still scared of Lunia, Korin was also not interested but he had a different reason. Including thest iteration, this was already his 4th festival. He was an experienced newbie who even attended the Legendary Festival that involved all the 4 great academies worldwide. ¡°By the way, shouldn¡¯t we hurry up and make our teams?¡± ¡°Yeah. We need to sign up for the individual, double, and group events!¡± ¡°You can only attend 2.¡± ¡°Oh right.¡± As expected of a knight, Jaeger preferred individual battles whereas Lark wanted to participate in the doubles event. It was understandable because individual battles were quite difficult for a mage. ¡°Which one are you going to attend, Mr. Korin?¡± asked Alicia. ¡°Doubles. By the way, you have toe with me.¡± ¡°Uwek¡­¡± ¡°What do you mean, ¡®uwek¡¯? You¡¯re in my fixed party, remember?¡± Alicia had no right to turn him down. ¡°What about the group event?¡± ¡°A lot of things are random for the group event, so it¡¯s hard to tell right now.¡± By the way, there were always at least 1,000 people participating in the preliminaries of the festival¡¯s group battle event. Out of them, only 4 teams of 4 people would be making their way up to the real stage. ¡°But wasn¡¯t everything random? Even if Mr. Korin and I want to attend the doubles, the chance of us being chosen for the doubles is¡­¡± ¡°We will have an announcement soon. Everyone above Grade 2 can choose to participate in one of the events except for the group battle.¡± ¡°Ohh~¡± Alicia was in the middle of thinking about how she had no other choice but to attend the doubles, but she suddenly thought of something and asked Korin. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you going with Senior Marie? It¡¯s a bit weird for me to say this but¡­ isn¡¯t Senior Marie the strongest?¡± ¡°Senior Marie said she¡¯ll be going for the individual event.¡± ¡°Huh? She¡¯s a mage though?¡± ¡°Apparently she likes one of the prizes of the individual event.¡± Mages were weak at 1 on 1 battles because most battle mages excelled at slow but strong spells that required time to cast. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure Senior Marie will be beating everyone this year.¡± Unlike other mages though, Marie had the overpowered Doggo, who could be the strongest bodyguard that offset the greatest weakness of mages. Besides, Marie herself was also physically strong enough to blow away random knights with her fists. ¡°Look!¡± ¡°What is it?¡± That was when the lecture room turned noisy. ¡°Look at those clothes. Is that the famous sage clothes of the east?¡± ¡°You idiot. That¡¯s just what they wear in the east.¡± ¡°Wow. Look at her; she¡¯s so pretty.¡± Looking out the window, Korin saw three people walking across the Academy. Their clothes were proof that they were from the east, from the same homnd as Hua Ran. ¡°They¡¯re finally here.¡± Taoist Sage, Kang Ryun. Sword Lord, Kang Yuhua. Trampling Warhound, Sa Jinhyuk. They were the main characters of the 3rd Arc, [Heavenly Yaksha]. **** ¡°¡­Do you seriously believe what you¡¯re saying makes sense?¡± Senior Professor Josephine of Merkarva Academy was bbergasted by the request of the middle-aged man who visited from the east. ¡°I believe it is a rightful request as the child¡¯s direct kindred.¡± ¡°Transferring a student of our Academy to Purple Hawk Academy is something we cannot permit.¡± As soon as Senior Professor Kang Ryun arrived as the ¡®judge of the preliminary group event¡¯, he immediately requested a meeting with Chairman Eriu and Senior Professor Josephine. The content of the meeting was that he wanted his blood-rted kin, ¡®Kang Ran¡¯ to transfer over to Purple Hawk Academy. ¡°1 year ago, we had ourselves a terrible tragedy. Unfortunately, the one at the center of that tragedy was my own niece.¡± ¡°¡­I am aware.¡± ¡°In the midst of chaos when one of our castles was being reduced to rubbles, you took away my niece. Now that we are aware of her whereabouts, I believe retrieving her is the most natural measure for me to take.¡± ¡°Student Hua Ran has special circumstances. I¡¯m sure you are aware of that yourself.¡± ¡°I simply want to regain my niece.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Kang Ryun¡¯s argument was very reasonable because he really was Hua Ran¡¯s blood-rted uncle ¨C he was her father¡¯s older brother. ¡°As you know, there is a beast lying inside the body of that child, Ran.¡± ¡°It is thanks to her that the body of Student Hua Ran is still alive. And that was the wish of Chairman Eriu and his long-time friend, Mister Kang Yu, the father of the student.¡± ¡°Hmph¡­! That is up to us to decide. In the first ce, do you seriously think that that beast can learn social skills?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± In truth, Hua Ran spent her first semester without any problems. She didn¡¯t show any overly aggressive attitudes and she did have several acquaintances despite her limited number of rtionships. Josephine was saying that to make sure Hua Ran wouldn¡¯t be dragged back to the east, but that was when the other visitor opened his mouth after a long silence. ¡°I would like you to prove your words for us.¡± He was arge yet virtuous-looking man. He, who was wearing a slightly old-fashioned sacred clothing was Bishop Renault Lusignan who was sent from the holynd of the Old Faith, Xeruem. ¡°That fiendish demon having social skills? How do you not realize that this is part of their evil ns?¡± ¡°Bishop Lusignan. I believe it is better for you to refrain from saying anything else.¡± ¡°No! We, the true faithful ones, will not believe your ims that have zero evidence.¡± ¡°¡­What are you trying to say?¡± ¡°How about you let that evil one attend this festival? That fiend that murdered countless innocentmbs will reveal its true nature in the heat of battle and violence.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Honestly, Josephine wanted to logically argue against everything he said but she didn¡¯t have the confidence to have a battle of logic against religious people. A dispute against a religious person was not a battle of facts and logic, and was in the realms of emotions and faith. ording to their standards, she too would have to be burned at the stake for being a witch. ¡°Are you saying we should have Student Hua Ran attend the festival?¡± Fighting against Old Faith and the Senior Professor of Purple Hawk Academy on the topic of Hua Ran was actually favorable for Merkarva Academy, because they had two precedents that proved how demons could have more than enough social and rational mindsets. It would be great if she beat them in the argument by using that as proof and stopped them froming up with worthless disagreements but¡­ ¡°Alright. I will ask Student Hua Ran if she would like to attend the individual event this year. And, Professor Kang Ryun?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Student Hua Ran will decide her residence herself. Things might be different in the eastern continent but here, her legal guardians are me, Chairman Eriu¡­ and the great Saintess of Chapel Zeon.¡± ¡°¡­¡± With that, Josephine encouraged them to leave. There was a reason why she was so cooperative with their request. ¡°Things¡­ really went the way he said.¡± Josephine recalled the conversation she had with a certain boy a few days ago. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Please let me decide the group dormitory of the students from Purple Hawk Academy.¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s very sudden.¡± Lady Josephine said with a cold gaze. She was in the middle of monitoring every one of Korin¡¯s actions due to her distrust and was probably wondering why he was suddenly saying this. ¡°Is there a reason?¡± ¡°The academy invited for this festival is the Purple Hawk Academy, right?¡± ¡°Yes. It is an annual event.¡± ¡°There are Valtazar¡¯s dogs hidden in this festival.¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± Lady Josephine¡¯s eyes widened into circles. She was considering Korin Lork as Valtazar¡¯s disciple, so she found his words highly convincing. ¡°Who?! Where are they?¡± ¡°I only know that something will be happening but I¡¯m not sure about the details either. However, I can make a guess.¡± ¡°You mean?¡± ¡°Old Faith and Purple Hawk. It might be one of them, or it might even be both.¡± It indeed was both. Because of their constant decline, the Old Faith was desperate to increase their influence once again, and a small portion of students along with the spiritualist of Purple Hawk were also working in conjunction with them. The keyword for both groups was [Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran]. This event concerned the turning point of the main scenario and the fate of the super important named character, Hua Ran, which wouldter decide the future of the entire El Rath Kingdom. ¡°Professor Josephine. I want to ask you to monitor the Old Faith.¡± ¡°Then Student Korin, you¡­¡± ¡°There are newly constructed inns, or rather hotels, near the outskirts of the city. Please have the Purple Hawk students stay there. That ce is the best ce to monitor them for me.¡± ¡°But how can I trust that¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to trust me. Please continue doubting because that is the right way to take things. But whatever you do, my goal will never change.¡± ¡ºI will save the world.¡» Josephine had also seen that Pledge. ¡°¡­¡± After heaving a sigh, Lady Josephine turned to Korin with a squint. ¡°By the way, I think there were stories about how new hotels were built in the outskirts with the investment of students¡­¡± ¡°That has nothing to do with this.¡± ¡°I heard how Student Korin was the owner of the hotels who received the investment¡­¡± ¡°That has nothing to do with this.¡± ¡°Recently, there were talks about Student Marie moving fresh ingredients over to that ce and running stalls¡­¡± ¡°That has absolutely~ nothing to do with this.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Obtaining more than 100 long-term guests. The reason he prepared all sorts of profitable business models including daily necessities, food, carriage fees, and everything was all because he wanted to make things morefortable for the guests. That was most certainly the case. **** At the center of the Academy at the ¡®festival venue¡¯ were more than 1,000 students including myself. Everyone was looking around their surroundings including Jaeger and Lark. ¡°There¡¯s so many of them.¡± ¡°Apparently there¡¯s a bunch of 4th year Seniors as well.¡± ¡°Can we¡­ even survive here?¡± We were here for the preliminaries of the festival group battle event. Only 16 of these people would be able to survive. Starting from freshmen students who participated out of curiosity, it ranged all the way to 4th year students who wanted to add even one more line to their CV. There were about 1,000 students including the 4th graders and that meant most of the diligent students had applied for the event. ¡®I guess Hua Ran is the only named character that is not participating in the group event.¡¯ Apparently, she was only going to be attending the individual event. And as for Alicia¡­ ¡°Mr. Korin~. I¡¯m hereeee¡­!¡± She was all~ the way over there in the middle of the crowd. Try your best to survive, Alicia. ¡°Nice to meet you everyone. I am the judge of this year¡¯s preliminary battle, Kang Ryun.¡± The middle-aged man with a dignified aura said from the tform while gazing down at the festival venue. ¡°Who is that person?¡± ¡°You know, he¡¯s the Senior Professor from Purple Hawk that came a few days ago.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ that¡¯s him huh. I think I saw him the year before when we went over to the east¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to be disgustingly hard again. Ahhh~!¡± The 1st and 2nd year students showed a contrasting reaction to the 3rd and 4th year students. ¡°Is he famous?¡± ¡°I think¡­ he was on Guardians once. He was like the greatest formation expert of the east or something¡­¡± Taoist Sage, Kang Ryun ¨C he was officially recognized by the Alliance as a semi-Unique Grade mage, and was well-known for creating unbreakable formations with unbreachable walls. ¡°The following battle is the preliminary stage to choose 16 brave guardians that will be attending the group battle. I wish you good luck. You will be disqualified on the spot if your epauletse off so keep that in mind.¡± After saying that, Kang Ryun ended his dry speech. ¡°We will now begin. The content of the test is¡­ I believe you could say this is the most important role of guardians.¡± ¡ºSave the Citizens.¡» Before the students could even process those words¡ª ¨C Kugugung¡­!! The ground began to soar up. ¡°H, huh. W, what¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°The ground is moving!?¡± ¡°¡­This is gonna be another hassle.¡± Some of the students were confused while others were somewhat expecting this to happen. In the blink of an eye, the ground finished changing into a structure. ¡°How does this make sense?¡± Jaeger barely stopped himself from swearing but¡­ ¡°Crazy¡­¡± Lark unknowingly let out a swear word. As a mage who understood just how immensely difficult something like this was in principle, it must have been more ridiculous for him. Their reactions were justified though, because the festival venue that had a thousand students inside had suddenly turned into abyrinth! ?Eight Formation Drawings ¨C Eight Gates Formation? It was a formation that was activated by cing down mythical articles that braced thews of nature with the support of the user¡¯s mana. A well-constructed formation messed around with people¡¯s sense of distance and was as tough as an unbreakable fortress that could stand off against tens of thousands of enemies. In order to crush a formation that had already been activated, you had to destroy or remove the articles forming the formation, or brute force the formation. Of course, brute forcing and trying to find the weak points of a formation was as difficult as finding the pattern of ymore mines in a minefield. ¡°By the way, what does it mean to ¡®Save the Citizens¡¯?¡± ¡°Maybe he was talking about those?¡± Lark pointed at a ce that had golems made of stone. There were sentences written down on the wall next to them. ¡º1. You maymand the citizens after touching them. 2. If you safely guide the citizens to the destination, you will receive 1 point per citizen. But needlessly destroying a citizen will result in -2 points per citizen.¡» The rule itself was quite straightforward. **** Alicia was able to understand the rules of this preliminary event without much difficulty. All in all, this was about protecting the citizens. Following the fundamental purpose of guardians, which was to protect citizens in and infiltrated by demonic beasts, their job was to guide as many stone citizens as possible to the safe locations. ¡°C,e this way!¡± ¡°Miss Alicia! We have another citizen here!¡± ¡°We already have ten! This should be quite enough right?¡± Right now, she was moving with other students. What she wholeheartedly realized during the hunting grounds prac lesson was that tests like these weren¡¯t supposed to be done as an individual despite the Academy not separating them into groups. Especially in a test like this, the most efficient method was to gather allies and assign roles. ¡°A demonic beast in front! A long hound¡­!¡± Hearing that, Alicia quickly raced across thebyrinth. Hounds had the tendency of calling their kindred so it was best to deal with them as quickly as possible. ¨C Woof! With a thud, a long wound appeared on the long hound¡¯s body. Soon, the body of the long hound turned into stone and crumbled down. ¡°Huu~¡± They were the stone warriors of formation experts. It was probably made to look like demonic beasts to make it seem more realistic. Since the stone citizens were also technically stone warriors, it was possible to see just how much effort and articles had gone into this formation. ¡°Huu~. Everyone. Did you find the safe locations?¡± ¡°I¡¯m looking for them right now with my familiars. It¡¯s an Eight Gate Formation so there should be an exit near this ce as well¡­¡± ¡°Everyone else was busily moving around though. Shouldn¡¯t we gather as many citizens as possible beforehand?¡± ¡°What do you think, Senior?¡± Four boys and girls including Alicia worked in cooperation toe out on top of this preliminary event. However, what they weren¡¯t aware of was that crazy people tended to appear in survival games like this. ¨C KIYOOOOOOOOTTT¡­! A strange scream echoed across the enclosedbyrinth along with the deafening sound of drums. ¡°Drums?¡± ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung Dung! ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung Dung! ¨C KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡­!! ¡°E, enemies! Enemies approaching from the front!¡± ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung Dung! ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung Dung! A thunderous set of noises were reverberating inside thebyrinth. The owners of that ominous yet majestic background music were slowly approaching Alicia¡¯s group. And when they atst showed themselves¡­ Alicia and others were struck speechless. ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°¡­What in the heck is that?¡± Running across the ground were stone warriors that went by the name of stone citizens. Afterbining dozens of stone citizens together like the horses of a mock cavalry battle and riding on them, several students were striking their drums and harps, which they got from who knows where, like madmen. ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung Dung! ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung Dung! ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung Dung! ¨C KIYOOOOOOOOTTT¡­!! ¨C KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡­!! Due to being way too immersed in their acts, the boys let out barbaric howls and yed their harps like electric guitars which made them appear like bandits that came straight out of a book. ¡°We are the Mandrake Bandits! Drop your weapons and we will spare your lives!¡± One of the bandits with their lips painted red, Jaeger, shouted while looking down at Alicia and her crew. It was hard to tell them apart because of their overall appearance which made them appear like people who would say, ¡®Why so serious?¡¯, but Alicia immediately recognized who the boss of that bandit group was. ¡°¡­M, Mr. Korin?¡± Themon rule for battle royales was this: Look for teammates and cooperate. But this was the real principle of battle royales: Plunder everyone except for me. ¡°I know not who Korin is.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°I am the omnipotent ¡®Immortan Lork¡¯! You are to call me ¡®O~ Mighty Immortan!¡¯ when referring to my name!¡± ¡°¡­What kind of thing are you up to now?¡± Chapter 68: Night before the Festival (3) ? Night before the Festival (3) ? Save citizens and guide them to safe locations. Even though that was the rule¡­ this was essentially a battle royale. What? We had to score points by guiding a few of the limited number of citizens against 1,000petitors? ¡°Why bother? When it¡¯s a lot easier to disqualify everyone else?¡± ¡°As expected of our boss!¡± ¡°Your foresight is exceptional!¡± ¡°Huhahahaha¡­!¡± First off, we took in a bunch of nearby students at the start to clear the preliminary event by grouping up together. At the same time, since there would be 16 people moving on to the next stage, we could group up and disqualify as many other students as possible. That was why we didn¡¯t bother looking for safe locations. Instead, we gathered a bunch of citizens and used them as meat shields. ¡°We need to use magic!¡± ¡°Stop you fool! You¡¯re going to destroy the citizens as well!¡± ¡°Kuuk¡­! These cowards! There¡¯s no way for us to attack them!¡± The stone citizens served as remarkable shields, because moving them to safe locations was worth 1 point whereas destroying them was -2 points. ¡°Huhahaha¡­! Use magic if you dare! Are you scared?¡± ¡°Kuuk¡­ you coward! At this rate¡­!¡± ¡°Charge forward! Pull them away from the citizens!¡± Giving up on magic, the opponents decided to march forward but that was when Lark, who was drooling next to my stone throne, opened his mouth. ¡°Huhehe. Boss, I was holding myself back as much as possible. Can I do it now?¡± ¡°Ahh. Of course.¡± ¡°Huhahaha. Fireball¡­!¡± ¨C Kwang! ¨C Kwagang! ¡°Ahk¡­! Y, you¡­! We have stone citizens as well!¡± ¡°Welp, we have a lot. We can just make up for it by gathering more.¡± This was the fundamental difference between us and them. Unlike us who increased our numbers and collected as many citizens as possible from the start, the opponents were slow and had been heading to the outskirts to find a safe location as soon as they found several citizens. Unlike us who were using the citizens as a shield, they were afraid of destroying the stone citizens and had to be more careful. ¡°Huhahaha¡­! Kill everyone that¡¯s bigger than a wheel!¡± ¡°Roger Boss!¡± ¡°Get rid of them!¡± ¡®Ah¡­ this was honestly, quite fun.¡¯ We werepletely enjoying ourselves at this point. Applying on our faces the dye that was a part of one of the articles forming the formation, we used the stone citizens like ves and made them into horses to carry us from beneath. Like hipster viins from movies, we continued our march. ¡°M, Mr. Korin?¡± Right as we disqualified roughly 30 other students and increased our numbers to about 10, we came across Alicia. ¡°I know not who Korin is.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°I am the omnipotent ¡®Immortan Lork¡¯! You are to call me ¡®O~ Mighty Immortan!¡¯ when referring to my name!¡± ¡°¡­What kind of thing are you up to now?¡± Alicia barely stopped herself from saying, ¡®what kind of crazy thing¡¯. ¡°O Alicia Arden. I shall give you the chance to join our Mandrake Bandits.¡± ¡°¡­Sorry?¡± She tilted her head as if this sounded like nonsense. ¡°Take off the epaulets of your teammates! Then I shall anoint you as the underboss of our group!¡± ¡°¡­No. I don¡¯t really need¡­¡± ¡°Also! If there is anyone that takes off Alicia¡¯s epaulet, then I will ept you as one of us!¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?!¡± Alicia was about to point out how ridiculous that was but immediately noticed the shift in atmosphere. Her teammates whom she had been fighting with until now suddenly started pointing their weapons at her from all sides. ¡°Umm¡­ guys?¡± ¡°Sorry Alicia. To be honest, rather than going against Korin who¡¯s a Grade 1 Knight¡­¡± ¡°¡­A semi-Grade 1 like you sounds easier.¡± ¡°Guys?!¡± Ahh. How ruthless was human society? During times of peace, they act like civilized people but immediately turn into squids of a bucket that threaten to eat each other as soon as things turn difficult. T, this can¡¯t be¡­. NOOOOOOOOO¡­!¡± In the midst of the ¡®corpses¡¯ of her fallen teammates, the girl whose trust had been betrayed wailed out loud. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Everyone came up with a simr idea and formed groups, and that was the same for the ace of the 2nd year students, Marie Dunareff. Marie had a lot of friends and many acquaintances so she naturally became the center of her group. Her group harmoniously collected stone citizens and her friends including Isabelle dly joined her party. They thought their friendship wouldst forever. Even though middle-school and high-school friendships tended to be cut off after going to society, they were overly confident in their friendship. At least that was the case this time around. ¡°K, Korin¡­¡± The Mandrake Bandits had 14 hand-picked members, who were currently confronting the six students of Marie¡¯s group. ¡°They have more numbers but it¡¯s doable. We have a higher average Grade.¡± Isabelle rationally analyzed the power level of themselves and the enemy. Even though the enemies had Korin Lork and Alicia Arden, they had Marie on their side along with a bunch of Grade 2 students. This was doable. Through the power of friendship, a numbers-disadvantage of this degree was definitely oveable! ¡°Noona¡­ Are you going to hit me?¡± ¡°U, uhh¡­¡± What Isabelle did not take into ount however, was that their 2 years of friendship¡­ ¡°A, all hail¡­!¡± ¡°Marie?¡± ¡­meant nothing in front of love. ¡°Immortan Lork¡­!¡± ¨C Kuaahkk! ¨C M, Marie!? ¨C Marie¡¯s on a rampage! ¡°Ah¡­ ahh¡­¡± That was when Isabelle realized something. Friendship and the value of friends crumbled so easily in front of love. ¡°Ahh~. Feels good to not do anything¡­¡± The one who was born a genius can¡¯t win against the one who tries, and the one who tries can¡¯t win against the one who enjoys. ¡°KIYOOOOOOTT¡­!!¡± ¨C Immortan Lork! Immortan Lork! ¨C Immortan Lork! Immortan Lork! **** ¡°¡­¡­What in the¨C¡± Kang Ryun was appalled while looking at the magic footage that showed what was happening inside the formation. The formation of Eight Gates which he painstakingly prepared for this test required a lot of articles. But because it was to test young students, he had created a few holes and didn¡¯t apply the principles of Eight Gates and that might have been the cause of this problem. There was some madman rampaging inside the formation. ¡°Senior Professor Josephine¡­ Immortan Lork¡­ What in the world is with this student?¡± ¡°¡­¡­It¡¯s just Korin Lork. He¡­ is just like that. We do not teach anything of that sort in our Academy.¡± Seemingly embarrassed, Josephine even ambiguously denied the fact that he was one of her students. ¡°¡­Even though you are supposed to cooperate and help each other in the formation of Eight Gates¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡®Shouldn¡¯t that also be considered cooperation in a way?¡¯ Josephine swallowed those words before saying them out loud. 16 people ¨C that freaky group of bandits did not increase their numbers after bringing it up to 16, which was the number of people that would be making their way up to the real stage of the group event. ¡®Is he seriously going to make everyone in their group pass?¡¯ It wasn¡¯t impossible. Like bandits, they were attacking every student they saw and were snatching the stone citizens away from them. Korin Lork, the leader of the group, was already Grade 1, and on top of that, they even had a semi-Grade 1 knight Alicia Arden as well as the strongest student of the 2nd year students, Marie Dunareff, who chose love over friendship. Although the preliminary group event wasn¡¯t something that could be cleared through sheer force, their group members were very strong. Besides, even aftering across the safe locations that they were supposed to bring the stone citizens to, the bandit group was ignoring them, and was instead focused on wiping off all the students of the formation. ¡°Hmm¡­ Looks like we might have to settle the scores sooner than nned.¡± ¡°Sorry? What do you¡­¡± ¡°Those heinous bandits are messing around with all the articles inside the formation.¡± The key of the Eight Gates Formation was the locations and symbolic meanings of the articles ced on each of the cardinal directions¡­ as well as other articles inside the formation. A painting of a yellow dragon, the string instrument Sanxian made with snakeskin, a ne made with a white tiger¡¯s w¡­ all the articles contained meaning and were working as devices to activate the formation. Of course, Kang Ryun had ced several spares in case some of them were to be broken duringbat but¡­ ¡°To think they would be so atrocious as to steal every article they see¡­¡± ¡°¡­Sorry about our students.¡± The group of bandits that were immersed in their acting were either destroying or removing all the articles inside the Eight Gates Formation for their immersion. It was but a matter of time until the formation would be forced to a stop. Therefore, Kang Ryun came to the conclusion that he had to end the preliminary event ahead of time after keeping the formation up for as long as possible. ¡°No. I have in fact learned that humans do some utterly useless things without any reserve. Next time, I will prepare articles outside the formation rather than inside.¡± Even though he would have to find and prepare new articles, it gave him the opportunity to look at the lengths that these students in the prime of their youth would go to. He was enlightened that in life, things didn¡¯t always go rationally and logically. **** The beggars of the back streets, Ren and Ron, had been discarded by their parents at birth. They, who awakened as werewolves from birth, had ears and tails that weren¡¯t that of a human and unfortunately, their parents were those who feared and detested demons. The only reason they could survive despite being discarded at a young age was because of their physical abilities they were born with as a werewolf. At the young age of 3, they were already as strong as an adult and their skills at stealing apples surprised even the professional pickpockets. Wandering through the dark alleyways, the siblings relied on each other and survived. However, perhaps because of theirck of education and due to staying at a mentally young age, they couldn¡¯t escape from their appearances which made them look like 9-year-olds, despite already being 16. But it wasn¡¯t all that bad. After getting older, they gained the ability to hide their tails and ears when it wasn¡¯t a full moon, and a young sibling of beggars was easily able to gain the sympathy of other people. Of course, after several years, people started looking at the siblings, who looked the same, with skeptical gazes so they had to travel to other cities and that was where it caused a problem. The gangsters of the ck Star Group that did human trafficking for money ended up finding out their identities. ¡°Ren¡­ Ren. Look at this.¡± Ron, her younger twin brother, was hopping up and down with dazzling emerald eyes after wearing ¡®new clothes¡¯ for the first time in his life. ¡°You idiot. That¡¯s for girls.¡± ¡°Huhh? These are pants though?¡± ¡°It has pretty decorations.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that what makes it better?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Ren looked at her younger brother who was the same age as her. Unlike Ren who was slightly more mature, Ron was still innocent and simple as always and it was concerning that he might not grow any time soon. Well, Ren hadn¡¯t been able to grow either though. ¡°Oh yah, is that big bro our master now?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not our master. He¡¯s just an Uncle. Call him Uncle.¡± ¡°Not big bro?¡± ¡°Uncle.¡± After cleaning up all the stains on his body, tidying his hair and wearing decorative clothes for the first time in his life, Ron no longer felt wary about the boy who saved them. But Ren, on the other hand, still did not drop her guard. Adults were always the same; they wanted to make use of kids like them all the time. Even though he was giving them clothes and food right now, he might change at any given moment¡­! When that dayes, Ren vowed that she would use her skills to immediately crunch at his neck¡­! ¡®No wait, is that too much? It might be painful. Hang on, I am biting to make it painful! Let¡¯s¡­ bite his leg.¡¯ Even though Ren tried to tell herself that she had to stay vignt and be on her toes, she couldn¡¯t help but reflect on the conversation from before. ¡ºIt¡¯s okay. No one is going to hit you anymore. You guys are now safe.¡» Because it was her first time hearing that from an adult, and because it was her first time having someone pat on her back like that, that distracting experience left way too big of a mark on her mind. ¡°Hah¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± Ren threw herself on the bed of the room that was prepared for them. Her gold hair that no longer had any stains slowly fluttered onto the soft mattress. ¡°¡­Soft.¡± Even though the chest of that Uncle was very hard, she had a feeling that the warmth behind his hug felt morefortable than this soft bed. ¨C Knock knock! That was when someone knocked on the door. The siblings thought it was that bar waitress who brought them here, but it was a different person this time. ¡°Can Ie in?¡± After a short silence, the boy opened the door. The boy with a wild countenance gave a whistle after seeing the dressed-up siblings. ¡°You look a lot better clean.¡± ¡°Hello, big bro.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Ron greeted him by bending his back but during that, he couldn¡¯t support the weight of his own head and bumped his head on the floor after which he whined in pain. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Korin carried Ron and sat him down on the bed before going down on one of his knees to match his line of sight with them. ¡°So, is there anything you¡¯re notfortable with?¡± ¡°I like everything! Bro!¡± ¡°¡­Let¡¯s not say bro.¡± ¡°Uung?¡± ¡°You see¡­ I have a bit of trauma with that ¡®bro¡¯ word. So instead, you can call me ¡®hyungnim¡¯.¡± ¡°Okay, Big Brother Korin.¡± ¡°Right. Good boy.¡± Patting him on his head, Korin took out a sausage from his pocket which Ron dly epted. ¡°¡­What are you going to do with us?¡± Ren asked and looked at Korin with a sharp light in her green eyes. She was a golden wolf, which was rare even among werewolves. Rather than demonic beasts and animals, they were closer to elementals and spirits, and each of them were born with unique traits. Her emerald-colored eyes had the power to tell the authenticity of the other person¡¯s words. To be exact, the ability to see the sincerity of the other person was just a byproduct of her beast-like and sensitive eyes, but that was the ability that allowed the poor siblings to survive through the dark side of the world. ¡°Actually, I wanted to borrow your help for something.¡± True. ¡°But you guys were a lot younger than I thought. So I didn¡¯t like the idea of having you go through something dangerous.¡± True. ¡°But it¡¯s not like I can leave you guys here so if you want, I can take you to a ce with other people that are simr to you.¡± True. ¡°Is it important?¡± ¡°Not something for you to worry about. I can do it fine without you.¡± False. Ren quickly assessed the situation. This boy wanted them to do something ¨C it was an important task that needed their help. However, just because they were young, he was telling lies to give them peace of mind. ¡°¡­¡± He was a needlessly nice person. Even though he did have a calctive mind, he was a good-natured person who was okay with not having any profit as long as he did something good. ¡°Do you have a lot of money, Uncle?¡± ¡°¡­Can you please call me Oppa? ¡®Bro¡¯ is not good, but Oppa is fine. In fact, I would love it.¡± Why is everyone calling me Uncle? Do I really look that old? He murmured to himself but Ren nonchntly glossed over it. ¡°Please hire us. We will work if you give us money.¡± That was already a great amount of growth on her part. Considering how she had been stealing from other people all the time, this was her being as nice as possible. ¡°Do I have something kids can do? Do you want to clean the hotels or something?¡± ¡°No. Not that¡­!¡± ¡°More importantly, aren¡¯t you guys hungry? Do you want some snacks?¡± ¡°Stop treating me like a kid!¡± ¡°Okay okay. Yes yes yes. Little Ren is not a child; you¡¯re an adult. Of course you are.¡± False. Even though Ren puffed in fury, she knew that she wasn¡¯t strong enough to beat him just yet. At least not right now. **** The hotels newly built on the outskirts of the city were a hot topic these days. These buildings that were said to have been built with the investment of students looked like they were going to be destroyed by the Tornado Bat even before itsplete construction, but they were somehowpleted. What was more important was the set of rumors about this ce. It was how all the 100 people from Purple Hawk Academy for this festival would be staying at this ce. ¡®Does that¡­ even make sense?¡¯ Foreign academies usually visited once every 2 years. Since more than 100 students and professors were entering at the same time, everyone in the industry was very much interested in their amodation. The sheer amount of amodation fee of 100 people was already enormous but they would be staying behind throughout the peak season of the festival, and all the side businesses like inviting other merchants and providing food were also things that would result in several white gold coins. There were a bunch of amodation owners that were waiting in line to grab this juicy opportunity, and the Merkarva Academy tended to make a contract with a different amodation facility every time for equity purposes, but to think they would suddenly sign one with a new hotel! Despite their astonishment, the merchants had to find a way out. Even though they couldn¡¯t take the long amodation itself, they had to make money by aiming for street stalls nearby. Mr. Bae, who ran mobile food vendors inside the city, was one of those people. ¡°I am Brite Bae from the Brite Corporation.¡± ¡°Korin Lork from Happiness Hotel. Please take a seat.¡± The office of the newly constructed hotel was sparkling and modern as expected of a new building. After giving a deep bow to a student that was much younger than himself, the merchant took a seat. ¡°I heard you wanted to run a business in our hotel?¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­! Our corporation has high hygiene scores, and we have always been receiving¡­¡± ¡°By the way, Mr. Spencer has actuallye here before you did.¡± ¡°S, Spencer¡­!¡± It was nothing new that Spencers were the long-time rivals of Brite Bae. Even the meal distribution for the new kindergarten inside the city had been taken away from them. ¡°P, please let us be in charge of this! We have higher hygiene scores and have more experience under our belt!¡± ¡°Ah~. I see.¡± The young boss cursorily flipped past the business proposal document of the corporation. As if he wasn¡¯t even interested, it took less than 2 seconds for him to flip past each page. ¡°Umm¡­ Are you, reading them?¡± ¡°Ah, of course~. I am a fast reader, you see.¡± Was that speed even achievable just by being a fast reader? That was what he was thinking, but the next words from Korin induced some lines of thought in his mind. ¡°I feel like every~one does a simr job though¡­¡± ¡®What? What was he trying to say?¡¯ thought Brite Bae, who had been in the industry for a very long time. A line of thought appeared in his mind, but he wasn¡¯t sure whether he could ask a straightforward question about it. Was that even okay? What if that wasn¡¯t what he meant? Brite Bae was considering his options when Korin opened his mouth again. ¡°I believe you are from the east, am I correct?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Yes.¡± ¡°I heard there was a thing called ¡®Guanxi1TLN: Guanxi = A term used in China that describes socialworks of people that are based around a mutually beneficial rtionship.¡¯ in the eastern continent. Helping each other out like one true family¡­ You should know that concept very well, right?¡± ¡°Ahh¡­¡± ¡°I believe I might be able to be like true family members with Mr. Brite Bae, but¡­¡± ¡°I, I think the same too.¡± After hearing his reply, Korin closed the document in his hands and ced his hands on Brite¡¯s two shoulders. ¡°Oh right, Boss. You are also supplying imported goods for this festival right?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ from Purple Hawk¡­¡± ¡°Right! You see, Professor Josephine from the Academy is a good friend of mine.¡± ¡°I, is that so?¡± ¡°What do you think? And while we¡¯re at it, hnn? Can I make a small request of you?¡± ¡°W, what is it? Wait, before that, are you really friends with Senior Professor Josephine¡­?¡± Brite Bae¡¯s doubt was cleared after having a glorious 1-on-1 discussion with Professor Josephine. That was when he realized it. Ah! This student is my path to being rich!! ¡°So. Can you now listen to a small request of mine?¡± ¡°O, of course! T, to think she would actually allow us to sell items inside the Academy¡­! P, please tell us anything. Boss!¡± ¡°Aiya~ Mr. Bae, you¡¯re a nice man to talk to! Let¡¯s stay on good terms like this, Brother Bae!¡± Korin reached out for a handshake and Brite quickly held onto that hand. The next morning, a mysterious apple box was delivered to Happiness Hotel and the Brite Corporation became in charge of the meal distribution of the Purple Hawk students. Even the people wishing to run carriages for a round trip to the Academy, errand runners, tour guides, and other businessmen gathered at the hotel, which made for a good harvest of ¡®apples¡¯ for someone. ¡°Now this is what I¡¯m talking about.¡± The hero who wouldter save the world had zero ulterior motives. ¡°I will use all~ of this for good things.¡± He seriously didn¡¯t. Probably. Chapter 69: Night before the Festival (4) ? Night before the Festival (4) ? ¡ºHyuk, my son. I am incredibly proud of you.¡» Both the zing ground and the sky were tainted in red like blood. All the corpses rolling around like pieces of trash were the friends and neighbors of the boy. Even the one who caused all this to happen was one of his friends. ¡°¡­Ran.¡± That massacre had taken ce in less than a day. He nk-mindedly looked at the cause of this tragedy. When the cold crimson-red pair of eyes turned to him with those thin fingers pointing at him¡­ ¡°Haht¡­!¡± The burning pain in his heart made the boy wake up from his nightmare. His heart was being scorched and beads of sweat had drenched his entire body. ¡°¡­Fuck.¡± His arms continued shivering with no signs of settling back down. **** The festival hall of the Academy. Thisrge stadium that was usually only used for prac tests and Academy events was finally fulfilling its original construction purpose. ¡°Wahhhhh¡­!¡± ¡°Aoh! Why don¡¯t you just crouch and dive in? Just go in, smack him on the belly, ande back out!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even think about going home today if you lose to Purple Hawk!¡± A friendly exchange festival of the two best academies worldwide, Merkarva and Purple Hawk. A total of 200 students from both academies were at the stadium with a bunch of people filling the seats. The tourists bought casual drinks and snacks from wandering sellers while bustling with noise. ¡°Kuhum¡­! Mr. Korin. We might be bashed up by our seniors if we lose this!¡± ¡°They probably will punch you.¡± ¡°¡­Actually?¡± It was a friendly event but it still concerned the pride of each academy. The younger students would be scolded by their seniors if they lost in their fights. On thementary seats of the festival venue were Professor Edgar from the Magic Department and Old Man Haman of the Knight Department. ¡°Hello, fellow citizens of the El Rath Kingdom. An amazing battle is currently underway right as we speak!¡± ¡°Amazing battle? It¡¯s just a talent show of immature kids.¡± ¡°¡­Please stick to the script, sir.¡± By the way, recorded clips andmentary audios were also sold to the people outside, and a premium price was attached to more eye-catching battles. ¡°More importantly, Mr. Korin¡­!¡± ¡°Yo.¡± ¡°M, Mr. Korin? This is doubles! We are doing doubles right now, right?¡± ¨C Pak! Pabak! On the wide battlefield, Alicia was being pushed back by the fierce set of attacks of the two Purple Hawk students. ¡°Their teamwork is pretty good. As expected of twins.¡± Our opponent was the Chen siblings, Grade 2 twins of the Purple Hawk Academy, who only showed up after the 3rd round in the game. It seemed that luck wasn¡¯t on our side today, considering how we met them in the 1st round. ¡°Mr. Koriiiinnn¡­!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re not gonna die. We have non-lethalizing spells and you have an HP bar as well.¡± ¡°Ahh, seriously!¡± In this festival, all the students had bracelets that gauged their HP. It was over if it went below a certain level, and it was a safer method of telling the victor. ¡°F, first I need some distance¡­!¡± Alicia tried to retreat away from the attacks of the Talisman Mage, Liyen, but something light touched her on her back. ¨C Kwaang! Aftering into contact with Alicia¡¯s back, the floating talisman immediately exploded like a bomb. It was an invisible explosion talisman. ¡°Kyaaht¡­!¡± Alicia¡¯s body was pushed forward by the smoke of the explosion. As if he had been waiting for it, Chen, the Dual Wielder, let out a sharp stab with his swords but she dodged it by rolling on the ground. ¡°Oi~. Alicia, you have less than half of your HP left.¡± ¡°W, whose fault do you think that is, huh? Whose fault?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re not strong enough.¡± ¡°Eeeek¡­!¡± Chen, the Duel Wielder, and Liyen the Talisman Mage ¨C Chen pressured Alicia while the trap of talismans limited her movement. Even though they were Grade 2 guardians, their teamwork allowed them to fight on equal grounds with most semi-Grade 1 guardians. Hoh? Liyen used the pebbles created from the battle and attached a talisman to it before throwing it at Alicia. I guess that was also a viable fighting method ¨C maybe I should try something simrter with runes. ¡°Mr. Korin? Can you please help me instead of just watching?!¡± Alicia was being very noisy for a while. She had exceptional burst potential but was always subpar when it came to the fundamental and basic skills. ¡°Alicia. You¡¯re talented ating up with tactics on the spot. Analyze the opponent ande up with a strategy.¡± ¡°This is not funny! Are you seriously not going to help?¡± At a nce, it might seem like I was teasing Alicia, and I really was teasing her, but there was a reason why I wasn¡¯t actively taking part. ¡®I knew it. They¡¯re there.¡¯ There was a section in the seats that was designated for the students of Purple Hawk Academy, and on those seats were the three people that needed the most amount of attention. Senior Professor Kang Ryun, student council president Kang Yuhua and the highest-achieving 2nd-year student, Sa Jinhyuk. ¡®I can¡¯t reveal all of my skills just yet.¡¯ In this festival, the individual, doubles and group events were carried out in rotation, which meant that there was a lot of time for people to observe others. My n was to hide as many skills as I could from them until the very end. Even if I were to step up, I had to reveal as little as possible. Kang Yuhua was the strongest student from Purple Hawk but¡­ the Trampling Warhound, Sa Jinhyuk was like a rugby ball that could bounce anywhere, so I needed to keep him at bay all the time. I might have lost in thest iteration, but things might not be the same this time around. This time, there was no Mr. Park to stop Kang Yuhua but¡­ ¡°You have my trust, Alicia.¡± ¡°S, stop talking to me!¡± Even though she was True Alicia now, she was still very unreliable. ¡°Alicia. Can you not beat them without using the Domain?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t! I seriously cannot! Like, I can somehow win but the next fight will be a problem!¡± ¡°¡­¡± The one who responded to her words were the Chen siblings. It was understandable though, because it sounded like Alicia was certain that she could defeat them by herself. ¡°Ohh~ they¡¯re mad, they¡¯re mad. You¡¯re in trouble now.¡± ¡°Eeeek¡­!¡± Clenching her teeth, Alicia stood off against the emotional twins. ¡®I guess she¡¯ll somehow be able to defeat them.¡¯ Alicia was the physically strongest student out of all the named freshmen characters except for Hua Ran. She also had exceptional talents at the sword. Even though she had no experience and was having trouble, it would still be difficult for students of her age to beat her. ¡°Alicia. Who¡¯s the tougher one to deal with?¡± ¡°T, talisman! Thedy who uses the talisman! Please! Hurry up!¡± ¡°Okay. I can do that for you.¡± She had the right toin since I was making it sound like I was doing a favor despite this being a doubles event, but Alicia simply shouted, ¡®Thank you!¡¯ on repeat with a brighter look on her face. ¡°Hmph! This is doubles. As if I would do a 1 on 1 with you¡­!?¡± Liyen, the Talisman Mage, scoffed at me who finally decided to participate in the battle, before getting into the reactable range of Chen, the Dual Wielder. They were going to induce a 2v2 battle. That was the textbook approach but there was no reason for me to be pulled into their pace. I recklessly marched forward to strike Liyen. ¡°You fool!¡± Liyen had a wide smile on her face as if that straightforward charge was all ording to n, which was probably because of the invisible talisman between me and her. The explosion talisman was Liyen¡¯s forte which she had been using to harass Alicia the whole time. The way to counter it was to run away from the range of the explosion or approach before the explosion and¡­ Six Ways of the Spear, Fourth Style, Spinning Heaven ¡°Ahht?!¡± I sliced the talisman apart. The rotating spearhead of Spinning Heaven shed through the talisman and canceled its invisibility as well as its explosion. It was set with a reactive form that made the talisman explode after sensing my approach instead of Liyen activating it with a remote controller. Since it was automated, there was no room for her to activate it by prediction which ended up giving me the upper hand. ¡°H, how did you see through the invisibility¡­!?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a good idea, but you¡¯re abusing it way too much.¡± An explosive spell like this was simr to Othello. You couldn¡¯t put multiple disks in one ce and she probably didn¡¯t have an unlimited number of them either. Whether invisible or not, working your way through it was not that difficult as long as you could see through the opponent¡¯s fighting style. ¡°Chen!¡± In a fluster, Liyen called her older twin brother. However, Chen couldn¡¯t help but stop his feet from a foreboding sensation behind his back which he got immediately after turning around to help his sister. ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± There was no way you could show your back to the swordsman called Alicia Arden without getting punished. ¨C Charuruk! Arge number of talismans were unleashed. That was Liyen¡¯sst resort, the detonation of talismans, but even before the yellow talismans floating in the air could form a shape¡­ Six Ways of the Spear, Fifth Style, Crumbling Mountain. They were prated with a piercing shriek. ¡°A, ahht¡­¡± The ear-splitting javelin grazed past her chin. Even though the spear had been turned non-lethal, that noise and prating power was enough to make her lose the will to fight anymore. Liyen lost power in her legs and fell on her bum. ¡°Liyen¡­!¡± In a hurry, Chen activated the secret talismans that were tied on his arms and legs. By momentarily enhancing his body with the talismans, he wanted to defeat Alicia before it turned into a 2v1. Singr Sword of Arden¡ª- However, Alicia was an innate counter-attacker. Trying to defeat her with pure power was not a good choice. ¡ªFalling Fist ¡°Uhht?¡± Chen couldn¡¯t believe just how easily his swords were parried. Thest thing he saw while falling on the ground was the opponent¡¯s sword digging into his side. ¡°Ugh¡­ Winning without killing is too hard.¡± ¨C m! The de smacked Chen on his side. If not for the non-lethalizing spell, his body would have been bisected into two. ¡°Huu¡­ it wouldn¡¯t have been this hard if you helped out from the start, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all~ a part of your life experience, Alicia.¡± ¡°Ah please¡­! Stop talking like an old man. You sound like an Uncle!¡± ¡°Hey! You¡¯re calling me Uncle again! I told you to call me Oppa!¡± The 1st round of doubles was quite an easy victory. **** ¡°I heard she was the Sword Emperor¡¯s granddaughter but that¡¯s less than what I expected, right, Big Sister?¡± On the VIP seats of the arena, Sa Jinhyuk took a sip of his soft drink while munching on popcorn. ¡°Indeed, she gave off the feeling that she slightlycked the basics.¡± Alicia Arden was the direct descendent of Sword Emperor Garrand Arden, who was the dream goal and aspiration of every swordsman. Since her sister, Lunia Arden, was also the Sword Master and one of the strongest people of the generation, their expectations were bound to be high despiteing from a different continent. Even though Alicia did beat her sister, she was still veryckingpared to Sword Master Lunia Arden, but what caught their eyes more was her partner. ¡°Hyuk. Do you know who that spear-using student is?¡± ¡°You felt it too? He¡¯s the real deal.¡± ¡°Yes. I heard he was a Grade 5 Knight until recently but¡­¡± Beforeing here for the festival, Yuhua had been considering 2 people as her greatest contenders. Berserk Warrior, Beazeker. Vampire, Marie Dunareff. They were both incredibly famous for being the representative Grade 1 guardians of this generation, which was why Yuhua had been the most concerned about the two. However, Korin Lork was a formidable foe as well. Breath, sense, and gaze. Although it looked like he was ying around at the start of the fight, his eyes were piercing through the Chen siblings. While watching the struggle of his ally, he had beening up with a counter-n for the two. ¡°If the Chen siblings fought against Korin Lork 2v1, how long do you think they would havested?¡± Yuhua asked. ¡°Maybe 2 minutes? That guy broke through Liyen¡¯s talismans with just 2 moves. If they fought from the start, it would have taken him less than 2 minutes.¡± He was strong, but what was even more impressive was his experienced analysis skills. In that short time frame, he worked his way around the invisible talismans and defeated Liyen, which was a difficult feat even for most veteran knights. ¡°It would be a pain if wee across him in the group event. A clever type like him is more impactful in group battles.¡± Hidden in the group event was the formation that would answer their long-time wish. They hoped he wouldn¡¯t be a hindrance to the n. ¡°Nn?¡± That was when Jinhyuk spotted someone familiar in the corner of his eyes. He knew he shouldn¡¯t but¡­ his body moved before he could rationally think about his actions. ¡°Hyuk?¡± He escaped the crowd like a bewitched person, with Yuhua following from behind. **** ¡°Noisy.¡± Hua Ran closed the exercise book that contained her neat handwriting. She was sitting on the seats of the festival hall because she was forced to participate, but this was certainly not the best atmosphere to study in. For her, who preferred quiet ces, the heat, passion, and cheers of the festival hall were things that she wasn¡¯t fond of. Thinking that this should be enough of a stay, Hua Ran left the hall and walked across the broad roads of the Academy. Most of the people were gathered in the festival hall which made the Academy feel more deste than usual. Overall, the scenery of the Academy that was enjoying the advanced civilization of modern times, appeared simr to the city in her memories. ¡°¡­¡± When she closed and reopened her eyes, the peaceful scenery of the Academy was immediately swept away by mes and ashes. It ovepped with the scenery in her memories. The survivors were screaming; corpses were forming mountains. Her own body traversing through that horrible scene was drenched in blood and ashes. ¡ºKill them. Kill everyone that you see.¡» That was the day she became a Yaksha¡­ ¨C Kagak! It was then. A human figure raced towards her. It happened in a matter of milliseconds. Right when her mind shifted away; When she was just about to breathe; And when she just turned her eyes away. It was definitely an ambush and an attempt to catch her off guard. The assant stopped on the spot after trampling on the ground and used the other leg to carry out a powerful kick with the momentum of the charge. The attack was so fast and instantaneous that nobody would notice it. ¡°You.¡± However, the beast reacted even to an attack that fast. Hua Ran¡¯s instinctive senses as a beast were close to foresight and she was incredibly sensitive to any killing intent facing her. She pondered how to react to this attack. It was a high kick that was strong enough to immediately crush the throat and corbone but¡­ even an ambush of this degree wouldn¡¯t be able to harm a hair on her body. The attack would leave no injuries. It was a meaningless attack that would not be able to shake the unbreakable status of her body. ¡°Go away.¡± She flicked the air-shredding kick away as if it was a bug. That alone would probably snap the cartge of the assant, but she considered it a cheap price for an ambush. ¨C Bam! Hua Ran flicked her finger. However, her attack that should have bursted one of the legs of the assant met nothing but thin air. ¡°¡­?¡± Her finger flick in the air made one of the nearby trees fall as well as its leaves. Only after hearing the crumbling noise of a tree did she realize that her finger hadn¡¯t found a target. Was that an illusion? But how could she mistake such an intense burst of killing intent? ¡°Wow~. Look at that.¡± Seeing the fallen tree, a boy nonchntlymented with a whistle. Soon, Hua Ran¡¯s eyes turned to the face of the speaker. ¡°You¡­¡± The person at the end of her gaze was a boy who had features that looked as ¡®ominous¡¯, or rather, as ¡®impressive¡¯ as her own crimson eyes. His jet-ck eyes were the standard color for anyone from the eastern continent, but his white and bleached hair signaled his inauspiciousck of mnin. ¡°Do you know me?¡± He looked so memorable that it would be hard to forget after seeing once but Hua Ran had no memories of that boy. But even so, for some reason, he felt rather familiar and¡­ ¡ºI will kill you! No matter what, I will definitely kill you with my own hands!¡» ¡°Ugh¡­!¡± His eyes suddenly ovepped with a pair of eyes that used to re at her through the sea of mes. It was from the tragedy 1 year ago, but she still couldn¡¯t remember him. ¡°No. It¡¯s your first time seeing me, Sister.¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± Hua Ran was slightly curious about the boy but she didn¡¯t feel the drive to delve deeper into his identity. Lassitude andziness were innate traits of a Jiangshi, and her Unbreakable Vajra Body that made it impossible to get hurt by anyone also contributed to her tendency to observe everything happening nearby without taking part in them. After Hua Ran walked away while leaving behind the poor fallen tree, a girl wearing a martial uniform suddenly appeared next to the white-haired boy. It was such a silent and ¡®weightless¡¯nd that it barely even reached the sensitive ears of the boy, but the boy immediately realized who that person was without even needing to turn around. ¡°That was way too reckless.¡± ¡°But thanks to that, I was able to prove that Master¡¯s ¡®Eight Gates Formation¡¯ works in interpersonal fights¡­ even against that monster.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean you should have done this in broad daylight.¡± The monster with an unbreakable body ¨C the masterpiece of spiritualists. In order to seal that monster and save Ran, they needed to form the ?Eight Gates Sealing Formation: Evil Extermination?. They needed to wait for the right chance before stimting the Yaksha. Although Yuhua was just as desperate about this n as Jinhyuk, she persuaded her martial younger brother who was 1 year younger than herself. ¡°You should hold your breath and wait for now. As soon as we get rid of Hua, that evil thing, away from Ran, you can do whatever you want.¡± ¡°I know that, Big Sister. I¡¯m not going to ruin the n or anything.¡± The articles that were going to be used to form that phenomenal formation were due to arrive tonight by the hands of their coborators. However, what they weren¡¯t expecting was that those items that should have been carefully smuggled into the city by their coborators were sitting under the gaze of someone else. **** Carriage tform Tiran, which led to the eastern gates of Merkarva City, was closer to a tform formodities and items instead of one for passengers. Arge number of the items entering Merkarva City went through this tform of Tiran. Most of the things rted to food entered through the southern gate whereas the east was mainly for valuables and imported goods. ¡°Phew~. This is from Xeruem, right? Why are those priests bringing so many things with them?¡± One of the guards of the tform, Aaron,mented in awe while looking at the cross-shaped carriages entering the parking lot. A lot of goods that were imported through Tiran tform were those that came from the holynd of Xeruem, which existed on the eastern side of the kingdom. Dikto, his colleague, replied to his question. ¡°Maybe these are for the Temr Knights? I heard a few of them are visiting the city because of the festival.¡± ¡°I guess bringing all the equipment in person would be quite a daunting task indeed.¡± ¡°One of my friends runs a bakery at Eitan tform on the western side, and you know what? It¡¯s also insane on that end. Apparently there¡¯s a whole bunch of Redemption Knights.¡± ¡°Hoh¡­ damn.¡± The Temr Knights were the Old Faith¡¯s symbol of strength, whereas the Redemption Knights were those of the New Faith. It was obvious why the representative military groups of the two religions woulde at the same time. ¡°They¡¯re still at it huh.¡± ¡°I guess there¡¯s nothing as eye-catching as the Academy festival, so it makes sense why they would have a war of pride here.¡± The religious revolution that happened due to the aftermath of the witch hunt 100 years ago led to the decline of the Old Faith and the rapid rise of the New Faith. The religious stand-off divided the continent into two which almost led to a war of religions. If not for the mediation of Biren the previous previous chairman of Merkarva Academy, this continent would have been swept away by a religious campaign. Well, the Old Faith was probably greatly irritated, considering how Chairman Biren and Senior Professor Josephine were the greatest contributors to bringing down the power of the Old Faith, but there was nothing they could do back then. ¡°Anyway, do we really have to protect all these items? What kind of crazy person would touch the items of Temr Knights?¡± ¡°I know, right? Let¡¯s just pretend like we¡¯re working and sleep in the office or something.¡± Although the Old Faith was in a decline, their madness and rigidity was still infamous across the continent. Who would dare touch the supplies of the Old Faith let alone the equipment of Temr Knights, considering how they were still one of the greatest powerhouses of the continent? Unless they were crazy or something¡­ ¡°Oh¡­? Aaron. What do you think that is?¡± Dikto tilted his head and asked while staring into theyer of dust in the distance. Under the dark curtain of night, they spotted faint shapes behind a cloud of dust. ¡°¡­Are those horses?¡± Right ¨C dozens of people wearing horses were marching towards them. ¡°Guys, attack!¡± ¡°This is all money!¡± ¡°W, what? What are these guys¡­?!¡± The ones that suddenly attacked the tform were some mounted bandits. They had more than dozens of men on their side. ¨C Ding! Ding! Ding! A warning bell echoed across the tform. A bunch of guards would soon being out so the bandits themselves weren¡¯t a problem but¡­ ¡°Boss Rickie! Look at this! There¡¯s a whole bunch of goodies that look expensive!¡± ¡°Good. That¡¯s exactly like what we heard. Take everything you can!¡± ¡°T, these guys must be mad!!¡± The mounted bandits started stealing goods from the carriages parked by the Old Faith, ranging from expensive silk to porcin with eastern patterns and ornaments of jade, which were inside the carriage for some reason. ¡°Stop those bandits right now!¡± Soon, the guards arrived but the bandits did not bother wasting time like fools by trying to fight against them. After taking whatever they could, they got back on their horses for a rapid escape. ¡°Toss your oil bottles! Burn the rest! They¡¯ll have their hands full on turning off the fire so they won¡¯t have time to chase after us!¡± ¡°As expected of Boss! Fellows, use your oils!¡± ¡°N, noo!¡± The bottles of oil immediately drenched the carriages. Before long, matchsticks were thrown to the puddles of oil as a sea of mes devoured the carriages of the Old Faith. That day, all the 9 Old Faith carriages from Xeruem were burned down and quite a lot of items were stolen. By the time they realized that the culprits were remaining members of the ck Star Group that was recently demolished by a student from the Academy, the bandits had already long escaped to the north, away from their pursuers. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Uncle. What¡¯s this pot?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a small gift I got after helping out some friends that I recently made.¡± ¡°It looks expensive.¡± ¡°Take it to my office away from everyone¡¯s sight. It¡¯s a very~ valuable item.¡± The expensive porcin pot of an azure dragon became one of the decorations of the owner¡¯s office inside Happiness Hotel. Chapter 70: Nazrea, City of the Dead (1) ? Nazrea, City of the Dead (1) ? Hotel Mami. The safeness from demonic beasts achieved thanks to the existence of the guardian academy gathered people, and all that money brought prosperity to the city. At the center of that city was the finest and best hotel. Hotel Mami had both a high status and an exceptional customer service that befitted its title as the best hotel in the city, and their suite room cost hundreds of coins for a single night. Even though Bishop Renault Lusignan was sitting on a top-quality leather couch with a high-ss wine that was over 80 years old in that room, his voice was filled with fury. ¡°Do you even hear yourself!!¡± Thud! He smashed on the side table, which made the wine fall to its side. It was a premium wine that cost several gold coins but that meant nothing to him right now. ¡°My apologies. We weren¡¯t expecting mounted bandits toe to the tform¡­¡± ¨C Kaang! The bishop unhesitatingly threw his wine ss which shattered on the forehead of the man giving his report. The scarlet wine dripped from the man¡¯s forehead but he remained still without moving a single inch. ¡°Useless. Aren¡¯t you the captain of the honorable Chargers of the Cross that follows the will of god? How could you not even deal with something so simple? Chargers of the Cross. They were religiously fanatical secret troops that destroyed the Old Faith¡¯s enemies while hiding in the darkness. Each of their skills was well below those of the Temr Knights, but these guys had no name or identity and were thus incredibly good ¡®consumables¡¯ ¡°Those things belong to the pagans from the east. Find them at any cost. If you can¡¯t, then find recements at the very least!¡± Renault gave the most natural order but also added another sentence in case it didn¡¯t work out. ¡°Tell those ck-haired guys and Kang Ryun, to tell us about the path and schedule of their carriages from their Academy!¡± ¡°¡­What do you¡­?¡± ¡°You fool! We have to buy time! Disguise your men as mounted bandits and steal the items from Purple Hawk, and we will have more justification even if we have to dy the n!¡± ¡°I, I understand.¡± As soon as the captain disappeared, Bishop Renault turned to the scenery of the city that he could see through therge window. There was nothing he liked about it; both the current situation as well as the prosperity of this city that turned away from the will of the god were detestable. However, what Renault Lusignan knew was that gods did exist in thisnd. The time was nigh for them to atst show themselves and disy their might. ¡°Everything for the Advent of Paradise.¡± After all, he had personally seen ¡®god¡¯. **** Details about the group event were announced. 16 people from Purple Hawk Academy were divided into Teams 1, 2, 3, and 4. And 16 from Merkarva Academy were divided into Teams A, B, C, and D. The following 32 students of the two academies were announced, along with the location of the event. ¡°Nazrea¡­ City?¡± Alicia, who seemingly woke up too early in preparation for the group event schedule, asked with a yawn. ¡°Where is Nazrea City?¡± Near the center of the El Rath Kingdom was a dead city called Nazrea. It was such a big thing that it always had several guardians in it. Marie, who appeared to know about the background history of that city, opened her mouth. ¡°Wow. Isn¡¯t this the one that¡¯s well-known for being a city of undeads?¡± ¡°A, a city of undeads?¡± ¡°Nn.¡± Marie took out a pamphlet from her protective robe which she prepared for the group event. ¡°Nazrea was a big city that used to prosper 300 years ago. But it fell from its former grace.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ that¡¯s tragic. Why did that happen?¡± ¡°A ck mage summoned undead into the city, by using arge-scale ck magic called Immortal Legion.¡± ¡°A b, ck mage?¡± Immortal Legion. It was a grand spell that raised as many undeads as possible inside the magic circle as long as there was enough mana to support it. ¡°W, well that¡¯s an ominous event.¡± ¡°The problem is that the spell still exists 300 yearster in the form of a special barrier,¡± I added. ¡°Yes. Nazrea is still called the City of Undeads because there is an unending number of undeads roaming around the city.¡± ¡°How is that possible when it¡¯s from 300 years ago?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s done at a miraculous timing in alignment with a special astrological shift, it is.¡± Being a mage, Marie seemed knowledgeable about the undead-phenomenon of Nazrea, and continued on with her exnation. ¡°300 years, 3 months, and 24 days ago, there was a super-blue-blood-moon. It was an extremely unique lunar eclipse where a super moon, a blue moon, and a blood moon all happened at the same time.¡± Super moon, a phenomenon that made the moon appear bigger than usual; Blue moon, which came every 2~3 years like a leap year; And blood moon which made the moon appear crimson due to the instability of the atmosphere. All of that happened on that rare day, which was a rare urrence that might not evene once every few centuries, and caused a supernatural phenomenon. ¡°When that happens, a unique wave of manaes down to the earth. Any grand spells that are formed using this mana can forever be under the protection of the moon.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ so that means?¡± ¡°It means the city called Nazrea now has an evesting spell that infinitely revives those undeads.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Alicia had a questioning look on her face, as if she couldn¡¯t understand why we would leave such a dangerous ce alone. ¡°It¡¯s impossible to cleanse Nazrea. Their numbers are already a problem, but cleansing the city in one day¡­ or rather half a day is impossible even if the kingdom sent all their soldiers for it.¡± ¡°What do you mean, Senior Marie?¡± ¡°Nnn¡­ You¡¯ll see once you get there! I¡¯ve been there oncest year as well, you see!¡± In any case, after realizing that it was a dangerous ce, Alicia raised a different question. ¡°¡­So why would we have the group event at such a dangerous location?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that dangerous as long as you stay away from the center of the city. We¡¯ll probably stick to the outer areas of the city that have low-grade undeads.¡± But no one could say for sure whether this trip would be safe or not. These days, even though the city was often used as training sites for priests and a venue for the group event of students, Nazrea was still a demonic field. After all, in that ce was a Grim Reaper. **** ¨C Kieeeee¡­! The houses started a smooth flight and before long, I could see white clouds outside the window. Four monster carriers including a Hresvelgr were carrying the students and professors while flying across the sky. ¡°Huaahm~¡± Alicia was dozing off to sleep while going through a pamphlet about Nazrea but Marie was nowhere to be seen. She was probably steaming potatoes in the kitchen or something. The individual and doubles events were probably still taking ce at the Academy right now. People like Marie and I, who were also participating in the group event, had our turns before others. This group event made me think quite a bit. ¡®Originally, it was supposed to be about stealing an egg from a semi-dragon.¡¯ The future changed. The original Nazrea was just a location that the yer happened to visit during the main scenario. It was closer to a side quest than a main one, and had definitely not been used as a stage for the festival. ¡ºSenior Professor Kang Ryun has changed the location of the group event.¡» It was quite dumbfounding when I heard that from Professor Josephine. All the details of the festival were decided by the representative of the visiting Academy. That was the convention added to avoid the hosting Academy from having too big of a home-ground advantage. The details were generally decided as soon as the visitors arrived at the hosting Academy, and it was rare for things to change after the decision was already made. It was probably because of the Old Faith¡¯s carriages being robbed a week ago. ¡®Trying to buy time, huh.¡¯ Since all the important articles that were supposed to form the Eight Gates Sealing Formation: Evil Extermination were stolen, they were probably trying to buy time until they could either regain them or find recements. The special items, that were supposed to have been smuggled into the city away from the eyes of the guards, had been stolen so they were bound to be lost. ¡ºApparently the items that were being brought by Purple Hawk had been stolen by mounted bandits. Was that you?¡» As for this, I could definitely say that it wasn¡¯t me. The ones I stole were from the Old Faith that was trying to smuggle in the articles and not Purple Hawk. In other words, that meant that Bishop Renault and Kang Ryun pretended like their other carriages had also been stolen in order to buy time. That was probably their excuse for changing the content of the group event. ¡®That pig. His brain works quite fast.¡¯ His name was in my death note as well. He was a stereotypical religious viin, but was a tough nut to crack because of his social position, influence, and proactiveness. Besides, most of the higher-ups of the Old Faith including him were fundamentalists that dreamed of the ¡®Advent of Paradise¡¯. In ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, one of the factions that were always removed regardless of the ending was the Old Faith that had their sanctum in Xeruem. That was just how horribly useless those people were. ¡®The Grim Reaper is a problem though¡­¡¯ ¡ºGrim Reaper of Nazrea¡» It was a powerful existence that also appeared in the main scenario. Rather than a demonic beast or a demonic spirit, it was closer to being an elemental and a spirit. If everything went ording to the scenario, the yer would be meeting this angel of death. The guider of souls that ended up having to stay behind because of the Immortal Legion incident of Nazrea 300 years ago. There was a very high chance of it appearing in front of us. ¨C p! p! That was when the sound of the wings changed. It seemed that the monster carriers were preparing to descend by lowering their speed. ¡°Ugh¡­ I just finished boiling my potatoes though!¡± Marieined while waking up Alicia, who was dozing off to sleep. Meanwhile, I woke up Lark and Jaeger who were sleeping in a corner of the room. ¨C Kuuung! Before long, the buildings were softly ced back down on the ground and 16 of our students each left the rooms with our belongings. There were people waiting for us already. ¡°Wee,dies and gentlemen from Merkarva Academy. I am Priest mel, who will be one of the guides for your exploration of Nazrea. Please enter the carriage over there.¡± On thending zone where our monster carriers justnded, I could see other monster carriers that were eating their fill. It appeared that Purple Hawk had already arrived and had already set off for the entrance of Nazrea City. Alicia was just about to enter the horse carriage but soon realized that it was too small for everyone to fit in. ¡°Isn¡¯t the carriage a bit small?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, that was all we could manage because it was a very sudden visit. We couldn¡¯t prepare a big-enough carriage so I would like to ask you to use horses if you can¡­ Is there anyone that knows how to ride a horse?¡± The priests also seemed troubled by the short notice they received. There was nothing that could be done about it. ¡°I know how to ride one.¡± ¡°Ah, I know as well!¡± Marie and I knew how to ride horses. As for Marie, it was natural because she had a farm of horses, and I also learned horse-riding while going to several ces in thest iteration. ¡°Marie. Can I get on your back?¡± ¡°Nn. Hold onto my waist, Isabelle!¡± Isabelle got on behind Marie who was skilfully maneuvering the horse while I also picked a random horse to get on. I turned to the students that weren¡¯t on the carriage. ¡°Jaeger. What do you wanna do?¡± ¡°You want me to ride behind a stinky guy? Ehew~ please don¡¯t. That¡¯s not how we do things and you know it.¡± ¡°¡­As expected of my buddy.¡± Nodding my head, I disyed my whole-hearted agreement with his opinion. ¡°Alicia. Do you know how to ride horses?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ N, not really.¡± ¡°¡­Aren¡¯t you the daughter of a swordsmanship family?¡± Wasn¡¯t horse-riding a must in the Arden family? ¡°Do you want me to ride on a horrible animal that kills people with its hind legs? How could you say such a thing as a human?¡± ¡°¡­¡± What was she even talking about? She straight-up denied the most traditional method of transport that had existed throughout the history of humanity. ¡°Just get on my back if you don¡¯t know how to ride one.¡± ¡°U, uhht¡­ N, no thank you. I can use the carriage¡­¡± When I drove the horse next to her, who was slowly taking a step back, she went ¡®Hieek!¡¯ in fright. ¡°My arm hurts. Hurry up and get on.¡± ¡°Ughhh¡­¡± I had to carry a guy behind my back if not Alicia, and I didn¡¯t want to do that. Why would I let a sweaty guy hold onto my waist when I had better options? After getting on the horse, she immediately started shivering and disyed her urge to quickly get off the horse. ¡°Marie? What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I should¡¯ve said I didn¡¯t know how to ride horses¡­¡± I decided to depart before Alicia changed her mind. ¡°Go, Chi Tu1TLN: Chi Tu (Red Hare): A famous horse from three kingdoms rode by Lu Bu and Guan Yu. Known to travel 1,000 li a day without getting exhausted.!¡± ¡°Mr. Korin? Ugyaaahtt?!¡± ¨C Trot! Trot! Chi Tu, the Red Hare, raced forward at a rapid speed. That sudden march was a bit cruel for newbies, and Alicia quickly wrapped her arms around me to avoid falling off the horse. ¡°M, Mr. Korin! Wait! Wait!¡± ¡°Huhahaha! This is what it means to say ¡®Korin among men and Chi Tu among steeds¡¯!¡±2The original saying is ¡®Lu Bu among men, and Chi Tu among steeds¡¯: Lu Bu was known to be the strongest man during that time, whereas Chi Tu was the best horse. ¡°Hieeeekkk¡­!¡± The excitement from riding a horse for the first time in a while allowed us to arrive in the blink of an eye. Even though wyverns were too expensive¡­ a horse or two should be fine right? Now that I was earning a hefty sum of money, it seemed that the god of impulse buying had descended into my body. ¡°Huehk¡­ M, Mr. Korin! M, my eyes are spinning. I feel super dizzy!¡± ¡°Come on¡­ if you run seriously, you¡¯re faster than a horse, you know that right?¡± ¡°I, I can¡¯t walk.¡± ¡°Ehew¡­ get on my back then.¡± In the end, I had to carry Alicia on my back before heading to the Nazrea encampment. A sister with the sign of a different-patterned cross weed us when we arrived at the entrance of the city. She was from the New Faith just like Hua Ran. ¡°Wee. You are the first to arrive from Merkarva.¡± Because of our full-speed dash, we were the only students from Merkarva that arrived at the encampment so far. Marie was the type to ride her horse leisurely so she would probably arrive at the same time as the carriage. ¡°Do we get our exnation straight away?¡± ¡°No. I believe you¡¯d be tired from the flight, so please rest at the amodation first. Please follow me.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± There were several priests and clerics waiting at the entrance that seemed to be the guides of the city. Out of them, we followed the sister called Lina. ¡°Huhh?¡± Alicia widened her eyes immediately after entering the city. Nazrea, the City of Undeads. For it to be considered a city full of the undying, it looked way too ¡®normal¡¯. ¡°L, looks quite normal to me?¡± From the old gates heading into the city to the fruit stands, bakeries, and sprinting children¡­ The city had an old yet normal look to it. ¡°Hello there! Would you like some hot, steaming bread? It¡¯s straight out of the oven!¡± Alicia was tempted by the baker who seemed way too normal to be considered a denizen of a dead city. ¡°Sniff¡­ It smells delicious. Mr. Korin, should we get one?¡± ¡°You cannot.¡± Sister Lina stopped Alicia from taking out her coin purse. ¡°Uhh¡­ yes. Umm¡­ you¡¯re short on time right? I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it. You cannot have any food in this ce. Did you not check the things you need to be careful of beforeing inside?¡± ¡°H, huh? S, sorry.¡± ¡°Listen to the sister. We¡¯re heading to the hotel first.¡± Since I knew about the reason why we shouldn¡¯t have any food in this ce, I persuaded Alicia and continued heading to the hotel. The one we arrived at was a 3-story building that was quite close to the entrance of the city, Hotel Kanna. ¡°Wee! We¡¯re getting a lot of guests today!¡± The hotel owner weed us in. Clerics and professors were sitting on the first floor but the students were nowhere to be seen. ¡°Please head up to the 2nd floor. You muste down by 6:40 pm.¡± Without giving us any exnation, they moved us to the 3rd floor of the hotel. On the wooden key that we received, which was too ancient to even be used outside, was our designated room number. ¡°Please stay quiet. It would be even better if you take some sleep.¡± ¡®It¡¯s the middle of the day though?¡¯ Alicia asked but the sister simply shushed her by cing her finger on her lips.¡¯ ¡°Ugh¡­ I have no idea what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°Be quiet. We¡¯ll exinter. You should get some sleep for now.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°Now¡¯s not the time to stand out just yet. You have to take into ount that ¡®we¡¯ are not the only ones in this ce.¡± ¡°¡­¡± After seemingly realizing that I wasn¡¯t going to answer any of her questions, she quietlyid herself on the bed after unpacking her belongings. **** 6:40 pm. We, who had been awake from 20 minutes ago, headed down to the lobby of Hotel Kanna just in time. I could see other students that were also leaving their rooms at the same time as us. Among them was the student council president of Purple Hawk Academy, Kang Yuhua. ¡°Huaaahmm~¡± Everyone quickly walked down the stairs as if they were itching to begin. Professor Haman gestured to us once we arrived at the lobby. ¡°Come here and sit.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Alicia and I sat down at the same table as Professor Haman. Around us, the guests of the hotel were bustling with noise while enjoying their meals and booze. ¡°Umm¡­ Mr. Korin? This is a lot different from what I was expecting.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because you fell asleep while reading your pamphlet.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± The Merkarva students arrived one by one. Soon, we had all our 16 students including Marie, Isabelle, Jaeger, and Lark. Senior Professor Kang Ryun, the one who came up with the details of this group event, gazed around to confirm our numbers. ¡°Everyone¡¯s here, it seems.¡± 32 participants of the group event, along with 8 professors and 20 clerics. Even though quite arge number of us were inside the lobby, this ce was still bustling with noise from a bunch of other guests. ¡°6:58.¡± Professor Kang Ryun said as most of the students started to turn tense. There were a few students like Alicia and Jaeger who weren¡¯t aware of what was going on, but everyone was ¡®prohibited¡¯ from asking questions so none of them were opening their mouths. ¡°6:59.¡± The hotel was still noisy. Guests were indulging in their meals and booze while the workers were hurriedly serving their food. On the side, the owner of the hotel was picking out his best wines. ¡°6:59 and 30 seconds.¡± It was such a normal scenery that might happen anywhere else on the continent ¨C so peaceful that it was even fascinating. ¡°6:59 and 50 seconds.¡± Along with a rustle, several people took out their maces. They were the clerics. ¡°5¡­ 4¡­ 3¡­ 2¡­¡± ¡°What is going¡­¡± ¡°¡­1. Begin.¡± As soon as he said that, all the students including myself and the clerics took out our weapons. ¡°Kill everyone you see!¡± My silver spear immediately pierced through the temple of the guest that was indulging in his meat on the next table, and an icence shot by Marie blew away the head of the hotel owner. ¡°H, huh?¡± ¡°W, what are you guys doing¡­!¡± While the ignorant students were lost as to what was going on, more than 50 of our armed forces started massacring everyone inside the hotel. The massacre at Hotel Kanna ended in less than a minute. Footnotes:
  • 1TLN: Chi Tu (Red Hare): A famous horse from three kingdoms rode by Lu Bu and Guan Yu. Known to travel 1,000 li a day without getting exhausted.
  • 2The original saying is ¡®Lu Bu among men, and Chi Tu among steeds¡¯: Lu Bu was known to be the strongest man during that time, whereas Chi Tu was the best horse.
Chapter 71: - Nazrea, City of the Dead (2) ? Nazrea, City of the Dead (2) ? The brutal massacre at Hotel Kanna left behind a bunch of corpses. ¡°Ugh¡­ What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Jaeger, ¡­ Look at these corpses.¡± ¡°What do you¡­ uahk!?¡± Btedly, the clueless students also noticed the change that had urred to the headless and chestless corpses. They had rotten flesh that was too wrinkled to be considered human and was giving off the dismal aura of death. The priests and sisters exined the situation to the students that had yet to fully understand what was going on. ¡°Ever since the incident 300 years ago, this city has been repeatedly going through the same time period.¡± ¡°It has a normal everyday life during the day, but turns into and of the dead when it turns into night.¡± That was what made it an unrestorable piece ofnd. After 7 pm, this city would be the City of the Dead for 12 hours. During the time of its fall, there had been 1.2 million undeads inside Nazrea. There were no knights, mages, religious groups, or countries that could cleanse 1.2 million undeads in half a day. ¡°What about during the day? Why don¡¯t they do it during the day for example¡­?¡± ¡°You probably saw how normal the city looked. And this city has everything you would expect from a normal city, including defense troops, and the knights and mages of that time.¡± In other words, doing anything suspicious during the day could make you get attacked by the people of the city. ¡°Of course, there have been multiple attempts to cleanse the city. Until now, there have been 30rge-scale attempts at removing the undeads from this city.¡± However, they all failed. This city that regressed back to how it looked on that night was the proof. ¡°I will now announce the details of the group event.¡± Kang Ryun¡¯s voice echoed amidst the undead corpses and gathered the eyes of all the students. ¡°The teams will be as follows, and each of the teams must collect ¡®Moonstones¡¯. You have time until the 3rd morning from now, and you may give up in the middle if you wish to.¡± ¡ºPurple Hawk Academy¡» Group 1: Kang Yuhua, Xin Zhou, Watanabe Jun, Ji Wunyoung Group 2: Choi Sukmin, Han Jin, Jin Hua, Zhuge Sua Group 3: Jin Harang, Lee Hyundo, Jung Sukgwon, Kim Jongin Group 4: Ramlee the Crocodile, Ok Changhwan, Tang Jinsuk, Sukiyama Zenjiro ¡ºMerkarva Academy¡» Group A: Marie Dunareff, Isabelle Kirmin, Russel Crombell, Eristina Rockwell Group B: Reina Adel, Aira Crow, Reune Zellweger, rk Arius Group C: Yuel, Maximus Decimus Meridius, Zabar, Tigris Juelium Group D: Korin Lork, Alicia Arden, Jaeger Hinzpeter, Lark Buhgman After hearing the group allocations, the students were forced out of the hotel with a bit of exnation and a bag with necessities. Nazrea, the City of the Dead. They were isted in the middle of 1.2 million undeads. **** The night began. Cries of the corpses echoed like a song as the paradise of those who deceived death gleamed under the moonlight. The sun set behind the walls and the moon rose up, and the sound of a bell marking the start of the disaster 300 years ago rang all across the city. The name of that haunted wail was Nazrea. The fallen city spread the power of corrupt resurrection and raised its corpses. Arge ritual that began with the super-blue-blood moon¡­ the Immortal Legion rose up from the darkness, taunting the living ones to try to survive if they could. Surviving through this night would mean the victory of those alive, but any other potential oue would result in their defeat in the form of death. The 1.2 million undeads poured their hostility and envy at the 32 living souls. The warhorns marking the start of that hopeless battle were reced by the squeaking noise of dry bones. ¡°Run!¡± ¡°Uahhk¡­! Zombies! There are fucking ghouls as well!¡± ¡°Mr. Lark. There¡¯s a skeleton in front of you!¡± ¡°W, what! What¡¯s wrong with these numbers? This is ridiculous!¡± Skeletons were limping their way forward; ghouls were walking while shedding off their rotten flesh, while evil spirits were gathering for them with gleaming blue eyes. Facing demonic beasts and demonic spirits like these was nothing new as a guardian. They were fairly used to it but the sheer number of them was absurd. Magic was still a study of phenomena, and there had to be a logical process and exnation beforeing to an oue. However, this city was like a cauldron of pure evil that contradicted thew of nature. Without any regard for thew of conservation of mass, the undeads were endlessly pouring out. ¡°Haak¡­! Haak! H, how does this even make sense?¡± Lark Buhgman. He had only just been promoted to Grade 4, but he had more high-quality experience under his belt than others of his grade. He had the precious experience of going against the irrationally powerful Unique Grade enemy, Marie Dunareff, but this time, it was even worse. ¡°S, Soul Warrior!¡± He activated the secret skill that he gained from the hidden grimoire of Merkarva¡¯s Great Library. After quickly creating a phantom knight that could run at a simr speed to all the other knights of the group, Lark made it get down on all fours and rode on top of it. Even though Korin couldn¡¯t perceive spirits due to his special circumstances, he could guess what was going on after seeing his friend floating in the air. ¡°Lark! Do you see that bell tower over there?¡± ¡°Y, yeah!¡± ¡°We have to break through! Cast your strongest-output spell and get ready to run!¡± ¡°O, okay!¡± Lark started casting while riding on the ghost ¡®horse¡¯, and the undeads immediately pounced at them without giving them the time to get ready. ¡°Jaeger. umte your energy without consuming them! Alicia, I leave the right side to you!¡± The three knights started dealing with the undeads that were hoarding in from every direction, but more and more undeads were gathering at a fearsome speed. From alleyways, buildings, and roads¡­ Some of them were even jumping down from the windows of a second floor of a building. There were an unimaginable number of them. ¡°Mr. Korin! Don¡¯t we need Mr. Lark¡¯s help for these monsters?!¡± ¡°Our first goal is to get to the bell tower! We¡¯ll just have one side to defend then!¡± Following Korin¡¯s n, Lark was ignoring all the undeads and was casting the strongest spell he could currently use. ¡°We¡¯re breaking through! Run straight away!¡± Like a leopard, the spearman twisted his upper body. Anyone who knew him knew what he was going to do next. ¨C Kwangg! The spear left his hand in the middle of the air and traveled at the speed of sound. With a sonic boom that erupted the nearby air, it struck the undeads blocking the road like a lightning bolt. The spear carried a bunch of Korin Lork¡¯s aura and created a white gxy that shredded through the undeads. ¡°Lark! Go now!¡± That was when Lark¡¯s ghost horse kicked off the ground. Although all the undeads blocking the road had been caught up in the attack of that raging spear, some of them were still moving like remains and tried to use their arms to interfere with their charge. That was where Lark Bughman added the finishing touch. ¡°Blow them away!¡± The spell he used was the Burning Skull of Kane. It created arge scorching skull in front of his phantom horse that crunched through all the weakened undeads in front of it and raced across. Lark¡¯s talent at magic wasn¡¯t the best but he relied on the power of fire attribute because it was strong against undeads, and it turned out to be very effective. ¡°I will be at the leaaadd¡­!¡± He shouted with a voice that was closer to a scream than a roar, as the ghost horse under him kicked off the ground and marched forward with its four legs. A cavalry charge and its destructiveness was not something half-molten undeads couldpete against. ¨C Trot trot! ¨C Crunch! Kajik! After the scorching skull went by, the melted ghouls and burning zombies tried their best to block the phantom knight, but they flew into the air from the collision and their guts came out after being cut by the swords. ¡°Afterrrrrr! Meeeeeee¡­!¡± Lark shouted with an extremely uplifted voice which his three friends yed along with. ¡°You¡¯re so cool, Sir Lark!¡± ¡°You are very cool!¡± ¡°That¡¯s amazing, buddy!¡± The three knights ran behind the phantom horseman. Running through the cleared passage, they immediately arrived at the entrance of the bell tower. ¡°Open the gates¡­!¡± The four people threw their bodies into the building without stopping themselves. ¡°Close them!¡± Korin¡¯s n was to block the gates to physically stop the undeads from entering the building. Of course, there were some undeads with ridiculous strength so it was just a measure to buy time but he was going to use that time to think ande up with the next n. ¨C Kwarurung! The chasing skeletons and zombies wriggled, pushed and knocked on the closed gates but the steel doors were very tough. It would probably buy a lot of time. ¡°Haah~¡± 35 minutes after the start of the group event, Korin Lork¡¯s Group D finally had the chance to rest and think. **** ¡°They must be crazy.¡± Since the festival was apetition to find the best guardian out of groups of superhumans, they did tend to do some dangerous things despite us still being underage, but I definitely wasn¡¯t expecting them to make us gather Moonstones in this city after leaving us to our own devices. ¡°Damn~. We finally have some time to breathe. Why do we even have to do this?¡± ¡°Is this really okay? What are they going to do if they get casualties from a test like this?¡± I replied to Alicia¡¯s question. ¡°¡­We still do have our HP measuring devices, so they¡¯ll probably force-summon us if it gets dangerous.¡± ¡°Anyway, what even is this Moonstone thing?¡± asked Jaeger. ¡°Do you know anything about it, Korin?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a stone that contains the mana of the moon. It is a fairly rare stone that¡¯s probably about Grade 2. Good ones might be Grade 1 as well.¡± ¡°Hukk! That must be super expensive then. Can you even find that in this city?¡± ¡°Usually you can only find that at the depths of Lake Caldera, which was created by a volcanic eruption but¡­ there will be a bunch of them in this city.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°After all, the mana from the moon gets replenished every night in this ce.¡± Jaeger and Alicia flickered their eyes with expectation while going, ¡®Ohhh~¡¯. It was very obvious what they were thinking so Lark put a stop to their expectations. ¡°You can¡¯t even take out the Moonstones you find in this city.¡± ¡°What? They¡¯re worth nothing then!¡± ¡°Of course you idiot. The rules inside Nazrea are different from the ones outside.¡± Like how you couldn¡¯t intervene in the works of the city from outside, the ones inside also lost meaning as soon as they left the city premises. That was the conclusion made by the Tower of Mages and the religion before the religious revolution, back when they were researching about Nazrea, the City of Undeads. ¡°Hah¡­ there¡¯s no easy way to earn money I guess.¡± ¡°So how do we get those Moonstones?¡± asked Alicia. ¡°Hmm~. ording to what I read in a book, the undeads tend to swallow those Moonstones, and apparently, they glow with a green fluorescent light after swallowing one.¡± ¡°Ah! I think I saw a few of them on the way!¡± By the way, it was possible to get bigger and higher-quality Moonstones by killing stronger undeads. Normally, quality wasn¡¯t important since they couldn¡¯t even be taken out of the city, but higher quality would probably equal higher marks in this group event. ¡°Let¡¯s look around for now. Jaeger and Alicia can stay and protect the 1st floor. I will head to the top with Lark.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ to the top?¡± It might be exhausting for the schstic mage to do something boorish like climbing the stairs, but there was no other way around it. Lark started panting mid-way so I pulled him along as we walked all the way up the bell tower. After going up to the top floor of the bell tower where we could see arge bronze bell by looking up, Lark gasped with a pale face upon ncing around the surroundings. ¡°Uahh¡­ We¡¯repletely surrounded.¡± All the streets and zas near the bell tower were full of undeads that showed off their mighty numbers, which befit their name as the Immortal Legion. Even this was only a small number of them considering the zombie waves that would be happening at Nazrea. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be scared. All these are just Grade 4 and Grade 5 monsters. The real dangerous ones are at the center of the city.¡± We were at the outskirts of the stage called Nazrea, which had a difficulty rating of about D or E. This City of Undeads had a system where you had to progress deeper in after receiving the quest from the Grim Reaper and because of that, the stronger undeads did not show up in the low-level areas. ¡°But like¡­ how do we even leave? Are we staying here until morning?¡± ¡°Of course not. We¡¯llest if we do that. All you need to do is find the brightest Moonstone Undead from here, and use ¡®Fly¡¯ on us.¡± ¡°¡­It won¡¯t evenst 30 seconds.¡± Lark said with a concerned look on his face,menting that it would definitelyst less than 30 seconds if he were to use it on all 4 of us. ¡°30 seconds is enough. That will buy us enough time tond after we jump down.¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s true but¡­¡± I could only hope that there may be no one in our group that was scared of high ces. ¡°Anyway, what do you mean by brightest Moonstone Undead?¡± ¡°The brightest guy with the biggest Moonstone would be one of the elite monsters. We will go kill it.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ Isn¡¯t that just asking for trouble? I guess it¡¯ll be fine with Alicia and you though.¡± ¡°Leave the battle to us.¡± ¡°Let me look around with a telescope spell¡­¡± ¨C Geek! It was then. The sound of something screeching against the pavement reached us from all the way down. Hearing that, we turned to the source of the sound and looked at the group of undeads near the entrance of the city. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Large¡­ wasn¡¯t even enough to describe the sheer size of that thing. An enormous giant was walking towards us while dragging a ridiculously huge 5-meter-long greatsword behind it. The giant was at least 4 to 5 timesrger than me or Jaeger. Its face had crumbled down as if it had been scorched by mes and it was barely keeping one of its eyes open. ¡°K, Korin. That¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Revenant¡­ Titan¡­¡± That was one of the stage bosses at the center of Nazrea. W, what was that guy doing here? ¡°Damn it! We have to run away right now!¡± The doors would be broken in the blink of an eye before that monster. It was a lot earlier than scheduled, but we had to move away from the bell tower as quickly as possible with Lark¡¯s fly! ¡°¡­Huh?¡± That was when Lark turned his gaze towards the sky after noticing a ¡®change¡¯. Before he could even react, the ¡®bell¡¯ brought itself back on its own ord and¡­ ¡°Holy fuck!!!¡± ¨C Kwang! And it blew away Lark. ¡°What?!¡± The bell flicked Lark away. I noticed what it was after seeing the bronze bell move by itself as if it had free will. ¡°A geist?!¡± It was a spirit that possessed objects. After possessing the bell, the ghost flicked Lark off of the top floor. ¡°Uahhkkk¡­!¡± Lark waspletely flung off the tform and was falling to the ground. Before I could even go save him, Lark¡¯s emergency summon device went off. Light gathered in the air before swallowing Lark¡¯s body and making it vanish from sight. He was probably sent to Hotel Kanna already. And what did that mean? It meant that Lark had been disqualified from this group event. We had to go through the group event as a 3-man party without Lark and¡­ ¡°What a way to start things off¡­!¡± I threw my body to the stairs, away from the bell that tried to swing itself again. A geist? That guy¡¯s not supposed to be here either right! ¡°Jaegerrrr! Aliciaaa¡­!¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Run up right now! It¡¯s a Revenant Titannnn¡­!¡± ¡°What do you¡­¡± In that instant, my instincts warned me of the uing danger. It felt like something was digging through the air and as expected, my senses were right on the mark. ¨C Kwaaang! Breaking through the gates, something flew in. ¡°Uooooht?! W, what is this?!¡± ¡°A, a greatsword?!¡± It seemed that the Revenant Titan just threw its greatsword at the gates! ¡°Hurry up ande!¡± The two quickly started climbing up the stairs in a hurry. As soon as they came up to the stairs, skeletons, zombies, and ghouls started hoarding in through the broken gates. ¡°W, what are you doing, Korin! Why are youing down when you¡¯re telling us to go up?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a geist blocking the way at the top!¡± ¡°W, whatt? What about Mr. Lark?¡± I made a cross shape with my arms, after which the two refrained from asking any more questions. ¡°W, what do we do? There are undeadsing from beneath and we can¡¯t go up either!¡± Jaeger shouted with a pale look on his face. If it was just Alicia and me, there was the option of destroying the geist possessing the bell to jump down from the top of the bell tower. However, the issue was Jaeger. Unlike us who were skilled at aura maniption, he wasn¡¯t at the level to jump down from a ce that high. Besides, there was no guarantee that we would be able to escape from the bunch of undeads that were surrounding the bell tower even if we somehownded on the ground. ¡°Alicia! Stop the zombies froming up! Jaeger and I will destroy the bell tower!¡± ¡°What do you mean?!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve cut trees before, right? Same logic! We will destroy one side of the tower and make it fall!¡± ¡°Off to a crazy start, aren¡¯t we!¡± Despite saying that, Jaeger did not raise an objection and made use of his specialty and erupted all the energy he had built up thus far. ¡°Blow them away¡­!¡± Jaeger¡¯s empowered mace crushed a portion of the bell tower with one swing. ¨C Kwaang! Even after his attack, the bell tower remained firm. Jaeger¡¯s attack had created arge hole on one of the walls of the building but that was it. ¡°We will destroy the other parts ourselves! Mace the walls away!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± The bell tower was very tough but it slowly started to sway after receiving several monstrous strikes from us knights. It was then. Alicia was slicing through the undeads that were climbing up the stairs but that was when the Revenant Titan swung its 5-meter-long greatsword at her. ¡°Titan¡­!¡± Alicia jumped back in fright. The greatsword of the Revenant Titan ended up missing its target and instead, itpletely crushed through the walls of the bell tower. In other words, it drove the decisive blow onto the wavering bell tower. ¡°¡­Ohh.¡± Jaegermented as the bell tower then started to lean to one side with a deafening roar. ¡°Run!¡± We started running across the inner walls in the direction it was falling. ¨C Kwaruru¡­! After losing its foundational support, the bell tower leaned to one side and continued to fall down. ¨C Kwarurung!! The fallen bell towernded after crumbling on top of the buildings of the city. ¨C Kuang! From the midst of the fallen bricks, we swam our way through and somehow made our way outside. ¡°Hahaha¡­ Cough! Cough! I¡¯m going through all these weird things after I started hanging out with you!¡± Jaeger said with augh. ¡°Such a nice friend to have. Right?¡± ¡°Is that called¡­ Cough! A nice friend?!¡± Although we ended up being covered in dust, we forged a way through those undeads. While running through the passage created by the fallen bell tower, we burst out intoughter after seeing each other¡¯s miserable states. ¡°Anyway, that was a terrible first day! Lark got disqualified way too early, and we got marked by the wrong guy. Let¡¯s just run for now until the day breaks!¡± ¡°Okay then¡­! It should work out one way or¡­!¡± ¨C Grab! Jaeger stopped in the middle of his speech. Wondering what that was about, I turned around and¡­ noticed that Jaeger was flying in the air after being snatched by an enormous undead bat. ¡°Mr. Jaegeerrr?!¡± ¡°¡­Abyss Shrieker?¡± ¨C KYAAAAAAHKKK¡­! The screaming noise shrieked across the night sky. ¡°Wow~. That¡¯s almost everyone isn¡¯t it?¡± We would have ourselves the 3 big bosses of Nazrea with just the addition of the Wight King! ¡°Mr. Korin. Look at that.¡± Alicia tapped my shoulder before pointing at the other end of the passage of the fallen bell tower. ¡°Right. Of course you were gonna show up as well.¡± An undead horseman wearing a bony imperial crown was ring at us while sitting on its skeleton horse. Revenant Titan, Abyss Shrieker¡­ Andstly, the Wight King. The 3 big bosses of Nazrea had all gathered in one ce. ¡°Mr. Korin¡­ I think we are doomed.¡± ¡°This is indeed quite the problem.¡± In front was the Wight King; behind was the Revenant Titan and above us was the Abyss Shrieker. If this was in the game, the devs would definitely get med for having a trash bncing team. Right when I was pondering whether we should give up and just get summoned back to Hotel Kanna or not, a ray of light struck down from the sky through that vtile situation. A spear traveled all the way down into the ground while leaving behind a powerful silver line of aura that connected the earth with the heaven. That light was iparably radiantpared to my own. ¡°This spear¡­?¡± A thick cloud of dust was created around us due to that javelin toss. Rather than an attack directed at us, it was there to create ayer of dust. ¡°This way!¡± Alicia and I caught sight of the fluttering silver hair and¡­ we desperately ran towards that source of light. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ After running away from the dead for who knows how long, we arrived at the inside of a building that was clearly far from the low-level stages of the city. There, we finally had the time to take a rest. ¡°Haak¡­ Haak¡­! Korin-ssi. Are you okay?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine. What about you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine too. I am worried about Mr. Jaeger but¡­¡± Jaeger had probably been summoned back already. What was more important to me was the person who saved us. ¡°Thank you for helping us but that spear just then¡­¡± ¡°I would have to ask the same question. Howe you are learning ¡®my¡¯ spear, child?¡± Her clear and graceful voice was something I was very used to. Startled, I quickly turned towards her. The woman who saved us was wearing a long robe. Her blue eyes were as clear as pure water while her hair looked like they were weaved with silver. She was a beautifuldy who seemed very mature despite only revealing parts of her body. ¡°Honestly, it was quite a surprise. You are the first child to garner so much attention from the Grim Reaper.¡± Her feet treading across the floor were silent. It was a silent way of walking that tended to be a habit for martial experts through their long years at training to hide their presence. That skill which she must have built up through arduous and repetitive training of fundamental skills without cutting corners was something that I was very familiar with. ¡°Why, are you¡­¡± Why are you here? ¡°Hmm¡­ I see.¡± Leaning her body forward, she observed me for a while. After some time, the corners of her eyes that were gazing up at me nted to the sides and she¡­ caressed my hair with a gesture that had long be a memory. ¡°You must be my disciple from a distant future.¡± Erin Danua. My master from 300 years ago was right before my eyes. Chapter 72: - Nazrea, City of the Dead (3) ? Nazrea, City of the Dead (3) ? It was during the winter holiday of my 2nd year in this world that I met Master Erin. ¡ºBro. Did you still not fix that habit I told you to fix?¡» ¡ºIs there a need to bother fixing it? Now that things havee to this, I just have to stick to the end.¡» ¡º¡­¡» Park Sihu didn¡¯t seem impressed by my reply. He wasn¡¯t the type to overly express his emotions and feelings so I had to rely on the faint frown on his face to tell his mood. ¡ºSihu.¡» ¡º¡­¡» ¡ºYour bro¡¯s talking to you, Sihu. Look me in the eyes.¡» ¡ºBro my ass. You¡¯re weaker than me.¡» Despite his ungentle set of words, he still looked back at me. ¡ºUiguu~. Were you that worried about my injury?¡» ¡ºTch. That¡¯s not it.¡» ¡ºSure, of course. Things turned out well because of that though, right?] ¡ºWe got lucky. You need to realize your own position, bro. If you keep on sticking your nose into other people¡¯s business like that, you¡¯ll die in a sh.¡» ¡ºIt¡¯s all good if there are fewer people dying.¡» ¡º¡­¡­¡» For a very long time, he kept his silence. There was a big difference in values between me and him, and we had several ideological conflicts because of that. ¡ºYou said you wanted to be stronger, right?¡» After a long hesitation, he slowly opened his mouth. ¡ºI¡¯ll introduce you to a master that can make you stronger.¡» The right of a yer. The real identity of the Chairman came to light when clearing the 4th Arc of the main scenario, the ¡®Tower of Mages¡¯ incident, and the yer got to create a connection with her. Even though Park Sihu and I already knew about it, we pretended to be clueless until the right moment in order to follow the original storyline. ¡ºSo you are Korin, huh. I cannot take you in as my disciple but¡­ I can give you some guidance.¡» Later, she chose me as her sessor. **** ¡°That shall do. The undeads won¡¯t be able to enter this building now.¡± The beauty wearing a robe came down from the 2nd floor. Erin Danua, who proved herself by carving all sorts of runes on the building to hide it, was a Rune Mage that was iparably more skilled at it than me. ¡°T, thank you. Umm¡­ Would you like choctes?¡± ¡°Thanks for the offer but I¡¯ll have to refuse it. You can¡¯t consume food from other timelines in this ce.¡± ¡°Ah, right¡­¡± This was the ce where the incident from 300 years ago was repeating itself. One of two things would ur as soon as food from 300 years ago went into our bodies. The food would either go back to its timeline, or the person that consumed the food would be stuck to this timeline. It was a bug and a reaction from the world that urred because of the jumblement of timelines and a paradox of time. Even though we weren¡¯t sure what would happen if things went the other way around, there would probably be some kind of repercussion for them as well. ¡°So, why are you here?¡± ¡°Are you not going to call me master?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Hmm~. I see.¡± She caressed my hair with a warm and knowing smile on her face, but I didn¡¯t reply to her question until the end. ¡°Right! So Mr. Korin¡¯s master is from a super long time ago, right? You must have been in the city 300 years ago when it happened, but¡­¡± This was a ce that reyed the incident from 300 years ago. All the citizens and corpses of this ce were stuck in the prison of time and were going through the same process, so why and how was she able to keep her consciousness? ¡°It¡¯s because I became friends with the Grim Reaper.¡± ¡°Sorry? What do you¡­¡± After that, Erin brought her finger to her lips and said, ¡®Shh¡¯. ¡°Nazrea is a lonely city giving birth to undeads and here, I am stopping the birth of the ¡®Immortal King¡¯.¡± ording to the original n of the ck mage, this spell that isted Nazrea and grew endless undeads was supposed to give birth to the ultimate ¡®Immortal King¡¯. Immortal King was a disaster among disasters that could control every undead of this world. Even in the game, there was a mention that the world would have been destroyed if the Immortal King was born with a million under its immediatemand. ¡°T, then¡­ you mean you were in this city for 300 years doing¡­¡± Alicia¡¯s face turned pale by imagining just how painful and lonely she would have been during all that time. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I am used to hunting monsters.¡± She said with a smile to relieve Alicia. ¡°Erin.¡± ¡°Mhmm?¡± ¡°What are you going to do from now?¡± Erin seemed slightly surprised by my question¡­ or rather by my attitude, but she epted it before long. ¡°The Immortal King is about to be born at the center of the city, and I must stop it.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± I stood up with a stretch as Erin tilted her head in doubt. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°You said you have to stop it right? Let¡¯s go kill the Immortal King.¡± ¡°¡­It¡¯ll be dangerous.¡± ¡°I know. That¡¯s why somebody needs to do it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s also something I have to do.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you need an assistant?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Erin was silent. Right ¨C this was the original main quest of Nazrea. After visiting the City of the Dead, the yer had to help the Grim Reaper and a ¡®mysterious spearman¡¯ to stop the birth of Nazrea¡¯s Immortal King. This was a lot earlier than usual and there was also a group event happening at the same time, but even then, it should be fine for me to rece the yer for this quest. After all, this was one of those quests that could be done at any moment. ¡°Hmm¡­ I see. I would appreciate some help but¡­ there¡¯s no reason for you to¡­¡± ¡°P, please let us help you!¡± Alicia shouted with vigor. ¡°I, it will be dangerous if the Immortal King is born right? Please let me help if I can assist you in any way!¡± Saying that, she flexed her biceps while going, ¡®Hutt!¡¯ to show off that she was also quite strong, even though there was no need for that. ¡°We also have a group event anyway. It¡¯s like hitting two birds with one stone.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Alright. I guess I will ept the help of our young juniors then.¡± Erin epted my offer after a slight hesitation. That was natural, because there was no option for her to ¡®decline¡¯ my quest from the start. That was just how it was. **** ¡°We must defeat three undeads to weaken the power of the Immortal King.¡± Revenant Titan, Abyss Shrieker, Wight King. First off, the three of them headed to the barracks of the town¡¯s security guards, where Revenant Titan tended to appear. ¨C Guwooooooo..!! The giant raced forward. Therge greatsword that could sh through buildings was being swung around as lightly as a twig in its arms. ¨C Kwaang! Kwagang! The houses of the city were being crushed with each of its attacks. With one breath, the monster pounced up like a jet to chase after Korin and Erin. ¡°This way¡­!¡± Two spearmen were at the end of the giant¡¯s gaze. Like a leopard, they skilfully trod across theplicated streets of the city but the roads were soon blocked by the undeads that hoarded in after hearing the roars of the giant. Horizontal Sweep of a Tiger, The swinging form in Six Ways of the Spear. ¨C Vuung! A conjunctive explosion of the mind, the aura, and the body shed through the dimension. The wind merged with the spear and turned into a gust and a tornado of the battlefield that could sweep across thousands of men. When two people simultaneously used that tremendously powerful attack, the legion of undeads copsed like leaves falling in the autumn wind. Erin and Korin ¨C the two of them stopped for a moment to sweep through the legion of undeads using the same skill as if they had decided on it together beforehand, but that short moment was enough for the giant to finish its chase. ¨C Guung! The greatsword traveled across the air. Meeting that violent storm from the front were the thin wrists of Erin. Using a spear that appeared like a twig in front of the greatsword, she disyed the exquisitews of Lan, the outer trap, and deviated the path of the sword. Demonstrating the Demonic Arts of Trap and Stab, she used Lan and Na to save herself from the greatsword. However, the principles of Lan Na Zha did not simply end with altering the path of the enemy¡¯s weapon ¨C it needed the finishing move, Zha, which prated through the opponent¡¯s core to mark the conclusion. ¡°Mhmm¡­!¡± But Erin had to use all her power in just parrying away the giant¡¯s greatsword. Even though she was parrying it sideways instead of blocking from the front, it still took arge toll on her body. Korin made up for the short pause that appeared in her movement due to that impact. Scavenging the Grass for the Snake, The essence of Zha prated through the giant¡¯s chest. One person altered the path of the enemy¡¯s weapon while the other stabbed following the principles of Lan Na Zha. It was abination attack that happened without them even needing to discuss their ns. ¡°Go now, Alicia¡­!¡± When the greatsword pierced through the ground after going astray and the giant faltered after being stabbed in its chest, a new figure was seen racing at the giant¡¯s back. ¡°¡­¡­¡± The swordswoman was deathly quiet as if she forgot how to breathe. The scabbard of her demon-ying sword was rampaging with a shapeless aura. ¨C Flinch! ¡°Grrr?¡± The giant noticed something with its instincts and subconsciously tried to turn its head. However, it was stopped by the runes carved with thin fingers. ¡°Guhk¡­!¡± It was a Rune of Restriction that even suppressed its breath. Seven rune letters appeared in the blink of an eye to form a sentence that bound the giant and bought time for Alicia to arrive and unsheathe her sword. What happened after that was only witnessed by two people in the entire world. Korin and Erin looked at each other as Alicia took a step forward in that suspended world. ¨C Hududuk! The giant¡¯s head rolled on the floor. Showing how even an undead revived from the dead could not live after being beheaded, therge body of the giant fell to its demise. **** Destruction of Merkarva. It was thergest event near the end of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? and one that marked the start of Tates Valtazar¡¯s full-on assault and was not something we could prevent. Perhaps¡­ Park Sihu, who I thought was helping me stop the incident, might have been instigating it from behind. ¡ºKorin. Run away.¡» ¡ºMaster!¡» ¡ºBro! What are you doing!¡» Tates Valtazar was in front of us along with the king¡¯s subjects including Fermack Daman. We had to run away with our party members by breaking through the hordes of monsters but¡­ Master Erin firmly stood her ground with her back towards us. ¡ºSomeone needs to buy time.¡» It was an event that did not ur in the game. The enemy had broken in a lot earlier than scheduled, and things were direr than ever before. Even so, Erin Danua dly decided to stay behind. ¡ºWhy would you do that, Master! It¡¯d be better if¡­!¡» Wiping off the tears in my eyes, Master opened her mouth. ¡ºChild, I am an adult. As long as I am an adult, I have the duty to prioritize your safety as a child.¡» ¡®You don¡¯t know me,¡¯ I wanted to tell her. ¡®I am not Korin Lork. I am also a full adult; not a child under your protection.¡¯ ¡ºEverything will be fine.¡» That was myst memory with Master. It was a chillingly painful memory. **** Usually, when going to sleep during a mission, it was amon principle to create a camp and sleep at night, but you had to do it the other way around in Nazrea. Because this was a strange ce where night was dangerous and the day was extremely safe. ¡°Has Alicia gone to sleep?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± On a rowdy noon, we sneaked into an empty building in the outskirts of the city and decided to take a rest there. ¡°You should sleep with her. No one will touch you even if you sleep during the day.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. A few days without sleep is not going to affect my condition.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not good. Children should go to sleep early and wake up early.¡± ¡°Do I look like a kid?¡± ¡°Of course you are a child; what else would you be?¡± Erin smiled while covering her mouth. Her twitching lips disyed her yfulness. ¡°So, do you think you¡¯re doing well with that test you¡¯ve mentioned?¡± ¡°Yes. I think we should pass without a problem.¡± I replied while picking up the enormous Moonstone from Revenant Titan, which was as big as a rugby ball. The focus of this test was more on quality than quantity. A Moonstone of this size should easily let us pass through the group event. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Erin said after deeply gazing at me. ¡°Anyway, it seems that I have taught you everything.¡± ¡°Six Ways of the Spear, Void, Primal Rune. I learned all that from you. Quite unexpected right?¡± ¡°¡­Yes. I wasn¡¯t even expecting me to choose a sessor, and definitely not someone as normal as you on top of that.¡± ¡°You could say I¡¯m just that special.¡± ¡°Huhu.¡± I didn¡¯t bother mentioning the sessor she chose before me. In this timeline, she had yet to meet Valtazar and there was no reason to tell her about something which she had been regretting and self-reprimanding about for 80 years. She already had way too many things on her shoulders. I didn¡¯t want to add an extra burden to her, who was living a repeating life ever since 300 years ago¡­ ¡°What is it that you are trying to hide?¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± Putting an end to my line of thought, she raised her chin up high and revealed her long neckline as well as a smile, before walking up and sitting next to me. ¡°Huhu. I must be an incredibly blessed woman. To think I¡¯m being loved so much by my disciple.¡± ¡°Where did thise from?¡± ¡°I can see that you have truly loved your master.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She gently ced her soft hand on my palm with a sad light in her eyes. ¡°It seems that my future is not the brightest one the world has seen.¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°You know who I am as my disciple, do you not?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Of course I did. She was an adult who stood against the great evil. She was the benefactor who led me, taught me, and changed me, who also had to lose her life to protect me. That heartrending and chilling memory squeezed my chest. ¡°Tell me. Sometimes, it is a blessing to have someone listen to your story.¡± Erin said while giving me a long hug. Even though she was smaller than me, her hug was so rxing and warm that I couldn¡¯t help but subconsciously fall for itsfort. ¡°Good boy. It¡¯s okay. Everything will be fine.¡± Her consoling whisper tickled my ears. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Like¡­ I was just stupid. There were plenty of things to be suspicious about and yet¡­¡± ¡°I have a different opinion though.¡± Erin replied while gently pinching my nose. I tried to look away but she straightened my head and made me look into her eyes. ¡°You did fail.¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s true but you didn¡¯t have to mention it like that.¡± ¡°Huhu, boy. Fools linger on the failures of others, but the wise know how to linger on their own mistakes. At the very least, you are in thetter, are you not?¡± ¡°I have never considered myself wise.¡± ¡°Were you a hero from the start? Did that child called Sihu, who knew how to avoid failures, seed in the end? No. Heroes are not people that only know how to avoid situations that might cause mistakes and failures. That is already the biggest mistake.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything in detail but after just hearing the bits and pieces I shared, Erin immediately said something that pierced through the core of the whole story. ¡°¡­Would you say the same thing even if you were the one that failed?¡± ¡°Huhu. Child, I have made countless mistakes and failures until now. However, it seems that I wasn¡¯t mistaken at least when ites to you.¡± Like the gift she always gave me, Erin gave me a soft kiss on my forehead. The breath from her lips weighed on my chest. ¡°I, the Queen of Paradise, will dly bless you for your future.¡± That smile was one that I hadn¡¯t been able to see for a very long time. ¡°You can rest for now. Take a short nap. Everything will be fine.¡± Like that, I fell asleep in her arms. **** Gerolge the ck Mage thought to himself, that something was going wrong. ¡°Damn it. How did this happen? And why? This is not it. Was my calction wrong? That can¡¯t be¡­¡± He ransacked through the messy grimoires in his workshop. Relying on the ambient light of themp brightening up the dark and gloomy room, he searched through words with oddlyrge eyes. ¡°Huu, huu¡­ Weird. That was the best timing. That was almost a miracle. So how could this¡­¡± Like a madman, he continued murmuring to himself. The fact that he forgot to swallow his drool made him look all the more like a madman. ¡°Weird. Who. Who is it? Did someone interfere? Why did this happen? How did they do it?¡± Without settling his coarse breath, Gerolge looked for his records that were left behind in a corner of the bookshelf. It was by sheer luck that he saw the uing miraculous celestial phenomenon that had a super moon, a blue moon as well as a blood moon. He realized that it would be possible to create an incredibly enormous ritual that the world had never seen by making use of the mana of the moon drenching the earth, and thus prepared for it. The ritual was sessful and¡­ wait, was it a sess? I didn¡¯t activate the ritual though? No, wait, did I activate it yesterday? But then why is the city so peaceful? Gerolge rummaged through the books again like crazy. He checked the magic circle again even though he had already seen them hundreds and thousands of times. He then slowly started to realize something. With cold sweat flowing down his spine, he came up with a hypothesis. ¡°Witch. A witch. That witch.¡± He tipped themp brightening up the room. It was a very intentional and academic attempt. ¨C Hwaruk! Themp broke. The oil and the ember inside thentern fell as the room immediately turned into a sea of mes¡­ ¡°Ha, haha¡­ Hahaha!¡± ¡­Or at least it should have. He realized it. He ended up realizing it. ¡°Witch. That witch. That ursed spearman. Silver hair. Blue eyes. Monster. Rune Mage.¡± Like a fool, he slowly arranged the pieces of information. No one knew that it was Gerolge the ck Mage¡¯s desperate attempt at regaining his clever intellect. Even Gerolge himself did not know what he was doing. ¡°Witch! Witch! Witch!¡± Gerolge ran out of his dark room and gazed at the city. The City of the Dead that had contained more than a million undeads until the previous night¡­ was way too peaceful and normal. ¡°The Witch! It¡¯s all because of the Witch! That Witch must be the reason!¡± He felt enlightened as life sparked down his spine. The Witch¡­ yes, that Witch was the one who caused all this to happen. His legs lost power. While limping, Gerolge took in the sight of the peaceful city and observed the faint scent of a magic circle hidden in the sky. It was the magic circle he carved into the city with the support of the lunar mana. It contained the purest and most intense form of mana that no other grand spells until now could have possibly possessed. Because of how perfect everything was, it didn¡¯t take long for him to notice that an ¡®irregr letter¡¯ had been carved into the great magic circle. [ n ] At a nce, it looked simr tomonnguage, but it had to be from way back in the past considering its magic meaning. Thenguage of the origin ¨C the special alphabet that was starting to be forgotten and lost 300 years ago. The meaning of this Rune of the Prime thatpleted a sentence with 8 of those ancient letters was¡­ ¡®Paradise continues¡¯. ¡°Uhah, uhahaha¡­! I know it! I know! Witch! I know your secret! I ended up noticing it! Prime! It was the Prime¡­!¡± ¡°Hello Gerolge.¡± He, who had been bbering without even stopping for a breath, finally paused himself for a bit but continued before long. ¡°It was you! You! Time is being repeated! You were the one that made it happennnnn¡­.!¡± His voice lost its shape as his clear vision turned dim. His flesh began to swell and behind his swelling flesh, the ck mage red at the wily blue eyes of the Witch. ¡°Immortal King Gerolge. Stay faithful to your role.¡± As always, the 3,203rd enlightenment of Gerolge the ck Mage was in vain. Chapter 73: - Nazrea, City of the Dead (4) ? Nazrea, City of the Dead (4) ? On the second day, the three of them defeated the Abyss Shrieker and the Wight King. Even though Korin and Alicia were much stronger than average students, each of those enemies was Grade 1 undead boss. Defeating them in a city full of countless undeads was only possible thanks to Erin Danua. As if she had done it hundreds and thousands of times, she gave out a perfect set ofmands. In fact, she even held back for the two young students to build up experience. ¡°The Immortal King is the only one left now.¡± On the night of the third day, the three of them stood before Gerolge the Immortal King. ¡°We are finally going against Gerolge. We must stop him from awakening into the Immortal King.¡± ¡°Ehk¡­ H, he looks very intimidating!¡± Immortal King Gerolge. He was the ck mage behind the Immortal Legion incident of Nazrea 300 years ago, and was a weird man who wanted to be the king of undeads. But unlike his grandiose aspiration and his title, the undead did not give off any dignity nor pressure. Even in terms of appearance, it simply looked like a drowned corpse with unsightly swells all around. Parts of its body were swollen like malignant tumors, whereas some parts had no flesh covering the bones. Fat but bony ¨C it was an imperfect being that could be urately described by that paradoxical set of words. ¡°Did it fail at bing a Lich?¡± ¡°That is the case. He is not a Lich because the soul is still inside his body, and he does not have the wisdom of a mage either.¡± ¡°So he¡¯s just a random guy who couldn¡¯t even be a Lich.¡± Korin said while walking forward. Erin and Alicia were surprised by his sudden movement. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± Erin asked. ¡°Please stay back. I can deal with him myself.¡± ¡°Mr. Korin! Even though it looks like that, it¡¯s still at least a Unique Grade!¡± As Alicia said, even a halfplete Lich was technically the King of Undeads that was born from a grand ritual. It was probably as strong as Marie Dunareff, with no questions about it being a Unique Grade. ¡°Well, just watch.¡± At the center of the city, Korin walked to the wriggling Immortal King by himself. The Immortal King was outside his own workshop which had a panoramic view of the whole city, but was staring at who knows where. ¡°Hello, Gerolge.¡± ¨C Flick! The undead immediately turned its face in response to Korin¡¯s words. And¡­ ?Doom Bolt? It automatically used one of its strongest spells at him. ¨C Kwang!! The Doom Bolt was like a whaling harpoon that was 20 times bigger than its original size and it divided the town into two while prating through the ce where Korin used to be at. ¡°Phew~¡± Despite seeing that overwhelming destruction, Korin nonchntly whistled in marvel. ¡°GUWOOOOO¡­!¡± After noticing that its enemy was still alive, the Immortal King began to gather a dumbfoundinglyrge amount of mana. ?Curse of Time?, ?Wind of Death?, ?Apocalypse? Following that, it started firing all sorts of highest-grade spells. The Immortal King disyed its powerful might as a mage by shooting those absurd spells without any dy. ¨C Kwang! ¨C Kwagagang! Even the ground and the buildings were deformed by its showy attacks and Korin would¡¯ve been reduced to dust by simplying into contact with any of those spells but¡­ ¡°???¡± The Immortal King was confused. Its senses were telling the undead king that its enemy was still alive. ¡°They are quite impressive but¡­¡± And by the time the Immortal King realized it, the spearman was right in front of its face. ¡°If you randomly use big spells like that, you¡¯ll just end up covering your own line of sight.¡± Like a leopard, Korin quickly approached his target and after noticing him, the Immortal King shot the same Doom Bolt ¨C the magic arrow of overwhelming pration that had divided the city into two. ?Demonic Arts of Trap and Stab (Lan Na Zha)? The silver spear gently tapped on the side of the Doom Bolt. That soft touch only ended up altering the path of the Doom Bolt by 1cm, but that was enough to make the Doom Bolt point at the sky instead of the city. ¡°Large spells like these might be effective against armies and demonic beasts, but they¡¯re uselessly big against people. Using dozens of medium-grade spells would be a lot better.¡± ¡°GUAAAAAAAH¡­!¡± The thick and swollen finger pointed at the spearman. Just by pointing, the Immortal King made enough preparations for a Doom Bolt but¡­ what would happen to the uracy if the finger was cut off by the spinning spearhead before it could release the spell? ¡°A mage without guards and intellect is nothing.¡± The spear rotated. It rotated tens of times in less than 3 seconds. There was no way that a mage that wasn¡¯t even a knight ¨C an imperfect and irrational being that couldn¡¯t even be a Lich could ever read through theplex pattern of that spin. The Spinning Heaven of the Void continued its rampage and cut out slices of the king¡¯s flesh with each spin. ¡°GUUU¡ª-?!¡± Gerolge¡¯s doubt couldn¡¯t even leave his mouth. The elerating spear sliced off the Immortal King¡¯s vocal cords and mouth more than ten times in just 0.5 seconds. ¡ª! ¡ª! ¡ª! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!!!! Without any rest, the spear turbulently raged on. That was truly the Spinning Heaven of Void ¨C Turbulent Spear. The boy was slicing away in real-time, and the mage couldn¡¯t even lift a finger to create a spell. ¨C Flop! The Immortal King¡¯s body crumbled down. Its body was sliced down into hundreds of pieces and among them was the Soul Heart which Gerolge hadn¡¯t been able to separate from his body. Soul Heart. That was the biggest weakness and the fundamental core of a Lich. Liches were supposed to extract this Soul Heart from their body and hide it in a safe ce, but the fact that this one couldn¡¯t even do that proved just how imperfect of a being it was. ¨C Kajik! The silver spear pierced down and pulverized the Soul Heart as the surroundings echoed with a bizarre and deathly scream. It was an overwhelming victory. Gerolge the Immortal King couldn¡¯t even retaliate properly and ended up dissipating to nothing. **** Nazrea Field Quest. This quest that took ce inside the infinitely rewinding Undead City was a ¡®repeat¡¯ quest by nature. Three bosses of Nazrea. Wight King, Abyss Shrieker, Revenant Titan. By defeating those Grade 1 bosses to weaken the power of the Immortal King, the yer had to defeat the Unique Grade undead, Immortal King Gerolge. Even though it sounded challenging, it was only slightly difficult which was to be expected from a repeat quest. By clearing it multiple times, the yer could build ¡®Grim Reaper¡¯s goodwill¡¯ to acquire one of the ¡®Treasures of the Underworld¡¯. What that meant was that I, as a veteran yer, had killed Gerolge hundreds and thousands of times. I could tell which spell wasing with my eyes closed. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Alicia said after staring at me funny. ¡°It feels like you¡¯re going further and further away, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°Well, I can tell you that the result wouldn¡¯t have been much different even if it was you.¡± There would have been no need for her to slice like me. If it was Alicia¡­ she would have bisected the Immortal King into two the moment she got close enough. ¡°That guy was nothing. It¡¯s easier than the other undead bosses.¡± ¡°Really?¡± A monster like the Immortal King that had nothing but strength was very easily defeatable for people like Alicia and me. Someone like Marie, who was of a simr type as the boss, would in fact have a harder time beating it, but she would have beaten it regardless with the help of Doggo. In any case, if you had the skills to overwhelm it, the Immortal King was nothing but a weakling that you could one-sidedly y around with. A half-assed Lich that didn¡¯t even know how to effectively use spells like a normal mage. It only relied on the heavily destructive and highest-grade spells, which was exactly why it would never be able to beat Alicia or me. ¡®And that should be the same for Erin Danua.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m going to go to Erin. Stay here and kill any undead thates here for me.¡± ¡°Ah, sure! Mhmm¡­? ¡®Erin¡¯?¡± Alicia tilted her head after hearing my way of calling her, but started vigntly watching out for undeads before long. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Even after defeating the main instigator of Nazrea¡¯s incident from 300 years ago, the city did not change. The Immortal King had the power to control all undeads, but it wasn¡¯t like all the undeads would disappear by themselves just by killing the Immortal King. It wasn¡¯t that simple. The city was still full of the dead that cursed the living. This was where one might raise a question. 300 years ago, why were the undeads of Nazrea unable to leave the city walls? ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good enough sight to gaze at for a long time.¡± On top of a building that allowed one to gaze down at the crumbled state of the entire city, Erin was nkly staring off into the horizon. ¡°There is nothing else to do, you see.¡± I stood next to her. Seeing me stand by her side, ¡®Erin Danua¡¯ casually spoke to me. ¡°That was even better than I thought. I really found myself a great disciple.¡± ¡°You could say I¡¯m just that good.¡± ¡°Huhuhu.¡± I said while triumphantly raising my chin. Her sparkling eyes were still facing me. ¡°This is not the first time Gerolge the Immortal King was born, right?¡± I asked. ¡°How did you find out?¡± Without replying to her question, I wondered. How many times has it been? Instead of asking her, I calcted it out loud. ¡°300 years, 3 months, and 27 days. 109,617 days. A repetition of 3 days so 36,539 times.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Instead of saying anything in response, she simply stayed quiet and listened on. ¡°300 years, 3 months, and 27 days ago, Gerolge the ck Mage used the lunar eclipse to change the entire city into undeads.¡± The city poption of that time and the corpses that were in the cemeteries added up to about 1.2 million. 1.2 million. 1.2 million undeads had suddenly appeared out of the blue. By nature, undeads were corrupt beings that created more and more powerful undeads by gathering together. That was why monsters like the Wight King, Abyss Shrieker, and Revenant Titan appeared from the very first day of the 3-day-loop that this city was going through. ¡°The repeating cycle of 3 days is the time it took for you to defeat Gerolge, right?¡± ¡°Yes. I am sure you know but Gerolge was not in his full Lich form yet. He was in fact easier than the rest.¡± ¡°Right, but even after you defeated the Immortal King, the undeads of the city were still there.¡± ¡°What a clever child.¡± ¡°Then who was it that made this repeating time loop of 3 days? Do you want me to say the rest?¡± ¡°¡­No.¡± Erin heaved a deep sigh with a lonely look on her face. While sending me a reproachful gaze that seemed to be ming me for making her say it out loud, she opened her mouth. ¡°I am the one who made it happen.¡± ¨C I created the loop. Erin confessed her sin ¨C or rather, her sacrifice at saving the world. ¡°If 1.2 million undeads were to leave the city at once, it would have been a matter of time for this continent and the whole world to be destroyed. That is why I used a Primal Rune to interfere with Gerolge¡¯s magic circle.¡± Primal Rune, [ n ] Paradise continues. A set of eight letters that promised the eternal existence of Paradise ¨C by using that, she added a new great ritual to this entire city. The first night when the ritual started, to the third night where she defeated Gerolge the Immortal King. She created a City of the Dead that had to forever go through those 3 days. ¡°But there is a ¡®current me¡¯ in the outside world, right? Don¡¯t worry, ¡®she¡¯ and ¡®I¡¯ are different beings that separated from the turning point 300 years ago. You knew that and that was why you refused to call me ¡®master¡¯ until the end, right?¡± Right. I knew that Erin Danua here was slightly different from my master who taught me everything. ¡°Are you not going to say it until the end?¡± I asked. ¡°¡­What do you mean?¡± She tried to be as carefree as ever but her eyes widened a little and she covered her body with her arms. That was one of Erin¡¯s¡­ master¡¯s habits that she did whenever she wanted to hide something. ¡°I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t lie, but you didn¡¯t say everything either.¡± ¡°What are you¡­ trying to say?¡± ¡°Master doesn¡¯t even know about your existence. She just knows that this city has been repeating itself ever since the incident 300 years ago.¡± Even though they separated from the turning point 300 years ago, how was master unaware of this as the very person who made this 3-day time loop? Why did Erin of this city repeat through those 300 years and continue defeating the Immortal King? How could she be so selfless? ¡ª¡ª¡ª- It was then. Something appeared from the wriggling darkness. ¡¶Clever, are you not.¡· Rather than a voice emanating through the vocal cords, it sounded like it was being forced into the dimension itself. ¡°¡­¡± What appeared from the darkness was a skeleton wearing a bluish-ck robe that had the appearance of a typical grim reaper. Even though its characteristicrge scythe was not something I could see, it was the ¡®one who collected souls¡¯ that had been present both in the game and in thest iteration. Grim Reaper. It was literally the god of death. ¡°I knew it had to be with the help of the Grim Reaper.¡± Despite its menacing ability and appearance, it was just an NPC that gave out quests in the game and hadn¡¯t been any different in thest iteration either. ¡¶How daring, o deceiver. You must know that you are facing death.¡· Grim Reaper approached me in the blink of an eye. In its hand must be the invisible scythe that could cut through my body in an instant. I would definitely die the moment he ¡®harvested¡¯ my soul. That was what a Grim Reaper was ¨C regardless of how strong or weak the person was, they could not defy death itself. However, Erin agitatedly turned her eyes away without even attempting to save me. It was because there was no need to. ¡°Don¡¯t bluff. You¡¯re one who harvests death, not someone who sentences death.¡± Grim Reaper shook its head in response. ¡¶No. That is not it. At least it is different for you, Korin Lork, for you have deceived death.¡· ¡­Did he know that I had regressed back in time? Erin told me that the incident on the first day was because the Grim Reaper had taken interest in me, which was why the undead bosses starteding after me. In other words, Grim Reaper was the one overseeing the deads of this city. ¡°So why aren¡¯t you harvesting my soul then?¡± ¡¶Because it is very ambiguous. The death you deceived is from the future, not the present.¡· ¡°Okay. So you mean you¡¯re still thinking about it. You¡¯ll soon change your line of thought.¡± ¡¶Hoh.¡· Grim Reaper gave an intrigued nod as its blue eyes flickered like mes. ¡°Erin. You made a ¡®contract¡¯ with the Grim Reaper, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Repeating 3 days of a city forever. It sounds like an amazing feat at first, but it means you are ¡®deceiving¡¯ the death of 1.2 million people.¡± Why was Grim Reaper in thisnd? What was the thing that Grim Reaper had to do as a conceptual being that harvested death? Everything was linked to the ¡®3-day repetition¡¯ caused by Erin. ¡°¡­Yes. I¡¯m the one who made the 3 days go on forever. That is why the Grim Reaper came to this ce.¡± Grim Reaper hated undeads, because they were the prime example of ones deceiving death. The souls that were supposed to be harvested were intertwined with the body of the dead and stayed firmly attached to the ground. That was already very unpleasant but that much was okay, because even the unaging undeads would one day be killed by someone; whether it be a soldier, a knight, or a mage. Souls were still in line for the cirction. After waiting for about a century or two, most souls woulde back again. The issue was with the 3 days that Erin had been locked inside the prison of time. In order to stop the destruction of the world under the feet of 1.2 million undeads, she had to make Nazrea unendingly repeat those 3 days. As a result, the undeads started being brought back to life after those 3 days regardless of their death. Their souls stopped going back to cirction. Even though the Grim Reaper couldn¡¯t interfere with most of the works of the real world, it could when it concerned thisw of cirction. The god of death could have used his own authority to separate the Primal Rune from the magic circle cast on this city. ¡°That must be why you requested a contract with the Grim Reaper; one that was needed to continue these three days.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡± After heaving a deep sigh, Erin gave up and started talking about the past. ¡ºWait. Please don¡¯t separate them.¡» ¡¶Erin Danua. Are you even aware of what you have just done?¡· ¡ºI know and I still decided to do it. If the undeads leave this city, they will kill countless people worldwide.¡» She needed toe up with rational and utilitarian arguments to persuade the Grim Reaper. 1.2 million undeads. It was a ridiculous number of undeads and the possibility of defeating them was very questionable. What was even worse was that undeads had the power to turn the living into undeads like themselves after killing them. Zombies, raised deads, skeletons¡­ After all, undeads were the deceased that were made from former living creatures as well. What would happen if humanity had lost to the legion of undeads led by the Immortal King? The discontinuance of humanity and the abundance of undeads would lead to the worst scenario of having zero soul cirction. Erin Danua tried to persuade the Grim Reaper using that possibility. She introduced two sides of the scale: losing the cirction of 1.2 million souls,pared to a possibility of losing the worldwide cirction of souls itself. However, that wasn¡¯t enough to persuade the god of death. ¡¶Very superficial. You are talking from the perspective of humans. It is very unlikely for humans to lose. Several million will die and it might take hundreds and thousands of years but they will survive in the end. Everything will be cleansed again.¡· ¡º¡­¡» ¡¶However, watching on for now as you suggest might not be a bad choice. Because this magic will be dispelled before long.¡· ¡ºWhat do you¡­ mean by that?¡» There was something Erin hadn¡¯t taken into ount ¨C Immortal King Gerolge. As a ¡®long friend¡¯ of hers, Grim Reaper was considerate enough to give her some advice. ¡¶You are not the only one in control of this magic. There is still the mage who made this wicked city. Do you think he will be clueless to the repetition of three days forever?¡· ¡°I had to ponder for a long time. My original n was to leave the city after having it repeat itself for those 3 days.¡± That was exactly what she did, because outside, we still had my master and the Chairman of Merkarva Academy, Erin Danua. ¡ºGrim Reaper. Let¡¯s make a contract.¡» ¡¶¡­Why do you wish to walk the arduous path all the time, Queen?¡· Despite the discouragement of the Grim Reaper, she went through with the contract.
  1. The Grim Reaper overlooks the repetition of three days.
  1. Every time the ¡®Immortal King Gerolge¡¯ is defeated by ¡®Erin Danua¡¯, his memories are to be rewound back by 3 days.
  1. ¡®Erin Danua¡¯ inside the repetition of 3 days is to be separated from the ¡®Erin Danua¡¯ that will be leaving the city.
The above contract willst until ¡®Erin Danua¡¯ is no longer able to kill Gerolge. Like that, those three days started an endless repetition. Defeating the Revenant Titan, Abyss Shrieker, and the Wight King, she had to kill Immortal King Gerolge on the third night. She had been repeating that 3-day story for 300 years. ¡°In fact, it was starting to take a toll on me. Ever since it exceeded the 20,000 mark, Gerolge slowly started to realize the time loop.¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± I did have some guesses but I wasn¡¯t expecting such a backstory. To think that Gerolge was slowly starting to notice the repetition¡­ ¡°There was no need for you to know about this.¡± Crouching down on the spot, she buried her head into her knees, while murmuring that it would have been better if I didn¡¯t know about it. She was probably in the mindset that she was the only one that needed to know about her endless fight where she had to set off to kill the Immortal King tomorrow, in four days¡¯ time and in a week¡¯s time. ¡°How long were you going to repeat this stuff for? How long can you even do this for? How much longer can your mindst, and for how long do you think you can continue killing Gerolge?¡± The most important condition in this contract was that she had to kill Gerolge to rewind his memories to the one he had 3 days ago. Even though Erin had the advantage in terms of skill, it wasn¡¯t strange for her to make a mistake as a living person. It wouldn¡¯t have been strange for her to have failed already. ¡°For as long as possible.¡± Her eyes were already looking beyond me, fixated at a ce that I couldn¡¯t see. It was a helpless future. A repetition of 3 days for 300 years. She had been repeating it for 300 years, which was more than enough time to make every other person give up. The only thing supporting her was duty. Thinking and acting like a machine was the only way she could support herself through those three days. That damn selflessness of hers. I knew about her selfless and self-sacrificial mindset. I had already experienced her dly putting her life on the line to protect children. That was the kind of person she was. I respected her for it but I couldn¡¯t ept it either. ¡°Grim Reaper,¡± I said as the god of death turned its flickering eyes at me. The Grim Reaper was a conceptual being that followed the bnce of causation and cirction. Since that was the case, it should definitely answer my call. ¡°W, wait¡­!¡± As if she realized what I was trying to do, Erin started dashing to me but it was already toote. ¡°Let¡¯s make a contract.¡± A contract with the Grim Reaper. It was the only way to save Erin Danua from the time loop of this city. And besides, it was something I was going to do anyway. Chapter 74: - Nazrea, City of the Dead (5) ? Nazrea, City of the Dead (5) ? A contract with the Grim Reaper. Just like the Precept, it was a setting that was not avable in the game, and that only existed to exin stories about the boss characters. A contract with the Grim Reaper was simr to Precepts, in that they were both high-risk high-reward systems. The moment one created a contract with the Grim Reaper, their soul would get tied to the Grim Reaper, and breaking the contract meant the annihtion of the soul. ¡¶Do you dare try to forge a contract with death as the one who deceived death?¡· Immediately after mentioning the contract, the Grim Reaper and I entered a different dimension that was separated from the real world. ¡°Stop putting on airs. I know you¡¯ll take the offer.¡± In fact, the Grim Reaper was a more flexible being than one would expect. Proof of that was how it epted Erin¡¯s contract after weighing the possibility of cirction being broken forever in the future and 1.2 million souls leaving thew of cirction. At the cost of giving up on 1.2 million souls, the Grim Reaper decided to choose the future. The god of death was flexible enough to weigh the differences and priorities to choose for itself. ¡¶Interesting. Tell me what is on your mind, deceiver.¡· Look ¨C even now, despitebeling me as the deceiver of death, the Grim Reaper was still willing to listen to my words and see if the contract would be a benefit or not. ¡°I want the elimination of the contract you made with Erin Danua, and one of the ¡®Treasures of the Underworld¡¯ as an advance payment. It has to be in the 10¡¯s at least.¡± ¡¶And what will you do?¡· ¡°I will cleanse Nazrea in half a year.¡± ¡¶¡­That will be impossible for you.¡· ¡°That is not up to you to decide. You just have to weigh the points on your scale. How is it; does my contract sound fair?¡± ¡ª-¡ª In silence, the Grim Reaper contemted and stroked its chin before opening its mouth. ¡¶No.¡· ¡°¡­¡± ¡¶Your reward is too little for releasing 1.2 million souls.¡· ¡°You mean¡­?¡± ¡¶Choose a single-digit treasure. Otherwise it will not be bnced.¡· That was the best-case scenario! By repeating the ¡®repeat quest¡¯ of Nazrea and having more and more of the Grim Reaper¡¯s goodwill, it was possible to receive a legendary or an epic item in return. As items from the Underworld, most of them would lose arge portion of their power in the middle world, but some of them were so powerful that it didn¡¯t matter. A single-digit treasure referred to the top 10 epic items under the possession of the Grim Reaper. There was only one chance of getting a treasure from the Grim Reaper, and in the game, those single-digit treasures required the veteran yers to kill the Immortal King hundreds of times but that was only possible in the game because there was no time limit. Even though I tried it in thest iteration, we couldn¡¯t stay here for too long unlike how it was in the game, and thus we could only get ourselves items in the 30¡¯s. ¡°Alright. The treasure I want is¡­¡± **** As soon as I left the alternate dimension of the Grim Reaper, I found Erin looking at me with a pale face. ¡°W, what have you done?¡± She grabbed me with a shivering voice and palms drenched in sweat. ¡°I made a contract.¡± ¡°What kind of contract!?¡± Her eyes quivered and couldn¡¯t stay focused, as she paid close attention to every single word that left my mouth. ¡°I will cleanse Nazrea in half a year. If I seed, the contract you made with the Grim Reaper will also be eliminated.¡± ¡°Y, you¡­!¡± Erin said with a coarse voice and a pale face. Even though she was always generous and kind, this time she was different. ¡°You¡­ You must have gone insane¡­!¡± ¡°I am very sane.¡± ¡°Do you even¡­ know what it means to make a contract with the Grim Reaper? You won¡¯t even have a speck of your soul left if you fail! You are giving up on the cirction and the chance of reincarnation!¡± She said while trembling with anger and confusion. When I gave her a wide smile in return, she seemed even more confused. ¡°Why¡­ exactly are you doing this?¡± ¡°Because that¡¯s what I learned from you.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You know, I was a little kid who was ying a hero game.¡± ¡°Nnn?¡± ¡°This world was like an amusement; everything went the way I thought. I wanted to enjoy it like a game while getting praised by everyone.¡± At the start, I was definitely ying around like it was a game. Before starting to perceive this world as the real world, I was still saving people, but I became quite conceited during that process hearing all their cheers and praises. I became a bit stronger, but also overly arrogant. ¡°I was still a little brat ¨C a kid who thought of himself as a hero.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°That was when you showed up.¡± When it was the most difficult; when it was the most frightening ¨C when I put myself in danger due to being overly conceited by my own ability, she came and created a mountain of corpses before offering her hand. ¡ºAre you okay? Did you hurt yourself?¡» I was saved and met a real adult ¨C a hero ¨C for the first time in my life. I saw the back of an adult who stood for children with dedication without asking for anything in return. Until the very end, all I could do was look at her back. Being a protected kid was¡­ bone-strikingly painful and made me feel extremely powerless. She was someone I couldn¡¯t protect; A hero who died first in order to save me. ¡°This time, I want to be the one saving you.¡± I was standing right in front of her but she couldn¡¯t say anything in response. Instead, she just nkly stood there looking into my eyes. ¡°I won¡¯t fail this time. I¡¯m not the same as the ¡®weak me¡¯ who couldn¡¯t even attempt anything.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± You probably don¡¯t know how big of a presence you have inside me anymore. You probably have no idea how heartrendingly painful it was to see you leave that day, and how much I med myself for being useless. But this time, I won¡¯t let that happen. ¡°Now, instead of chasing after your back¡­ I can stand by your side.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°This is not because of something splendid like saving the world. This has nothing to do with that. I¡­¡± Because I received so many things from her. ¡°I¡¯m just giving them back.¡± The most revered and beloved person whom I still missed to this date¡­ my hero. ¡°I¡¯m just¡­ giving back what I received.¡± **** A few dayster at Nazrea. The life that had continued for 300 years was still going on as usual. On the third night, as always, the silver spearman defeated the Immortal King and safely waited for the new loop to begin. What was slightly different was that she stood at the same ce she had been a few days ago to gaze down at the city ¨C at the same ce where she and the boy shared theirst conversation. ¡°¡­¡± The silver spearman ¨C Erin Danua ¨C gazed down at the city. This city was still like a pandemonium and a scene straight out of hell, just like how it had been for the past 300 years. She had been fighting against this painful reality for 300 years. There was no particr reason; it was simply because she was a hero. She was one of thest survivors of the race of gods that still remained in thisnd. At the same time, she was the Queen of the Kingdom of Shadows, the paradise that now ceased to exist. Erin Danua knew she was a special being and had been doing her best to fulfill her responsibilities as a special person. The choice she made 300 years ago had a simr reason. The ¡®Danu¡¯ could live an eternal life. As thest queen of their race¡­ she had her way of seeing things. Humans died way too easily. In such a savage world, human life was something that was very easy to copse. She didn¡¯t want to turn away from them. She wanted to protect their lives and show them how lives were sad, painful yet happy and bright at times. That mindset was probably the reason she first wanted to be a hero. ¡°Ipletely forgot about it¡­¡± For a long time, she had forgotten about the origin of her story. The things she had forgotten due to being exhausted from all the fights and the endless conflict were re-aroused by her disciple from a distant future. ¡ºThis time, I want to be the one saving you.¡» It was her first time having someone trying to save her. Because she was a hero, it was always a life of saving others. Eventually, after living as a hero for the majority of her life, she started taking herself out of the picture every time. Because it was obvious that she had to sacrifice; because it was obvious that she had to be the one protecting them¡­ There was an unavoidable sense of istion that came at the cost of forever being a protector and never a protectee, but she became way too used to it after a long period of time. ¡ºNow, instead of chasing after your back¡­ I can stand by your side.¡» The fact that people neededpany in life was very obvious. Even though she had forgotten something so obvious due to a long life of istion, the boy enlightened her back to it. He told her he would stand by her side. Reflecting on those words, she couldn¡¯t help but widen her lips and give a big smile like a fool. Her reddened face was as scorching as the summer sun. How could she not find him adorable? The boy who wanted to save her from her life of endless solitude was so loveable that she couldn¡¯te up with any words in response. ¡°Korin. Korin, huh¡­¡± She repeated mumbling that name, which now sounded so pleasantly sweet, without even realizing the identity of the emotion budding inside her. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The Grim Reaper stared at its long friend who had to go through the third night as always. Although the god of death had known her for over 1,000 years, the Grim Reaper had never seen such a girlish expression on the face of its long-time friend, which was why it had trouble getting used to it. ¡¶Well, I guess it is not all that bad.¡· The lethargic expression she used to have while massacring undeads before meeting the boy was definitely not a good thing to look at as her long-time friend. For now, the god of death decided to quietly gloss over the positive change of its friend. ¡¶But what exactly was he thinking? He could have chosen any of the single-digit treasures and yet¡­¡· The Grim Reaper suddenly recalled the choice of that warrior. The treasure he chose while giving up on all the countless Treasures of the Underworld was the worst, and perhaps the most useless item for Korin Lork. [Orb of the Grim Reaper] ¨C The attack will always hit the target. ¨C It will separate the flesh from the soul. ¨C The attack ignores defense. It was a powerful orb that could make any weapon act like the scythe of the Grim Reaper after being attached to a weapon. Any weapon with this attached could twist thews of nature and bring a definite result. But that was only if it was used by the Grim Reaper. When used by a human, it would somewhat maintain its abilities but definitely wasn¡¯t at the level of other great treasures. Let alone knights and mages¡­. Even the souls of normal humans would be able to retaliate against the soul-separating attack when used by a human. It might be insanely powerful against weak golems or low-grade undeads which would have weak connections between the soul and the flesh but¡­ ?I do not perceive spirits.? Because of the power of Precepts which was as firm as the contract with the Grim Reaper if not more, Korin Lork couldn¡¯t interfere with the works of astral bodies. In other words, that meant that using the orb, which was considered a semi-spiritual attack, would make his attacks miss without fail. ¡¶However, the scale did not tilt.¡· It meant that the Grim Reaper had paid enough price for the contract, which meant¡­ ¡¶Interesting.¡· The Grim Reaper admitted that it had met a warrior who was worth expecting things from. If it was that man, he might be able to save its long-time friend¡­ and change the fate of the ruined queen. **** Rewinding the time back by a few days; back to Hotel Kanna near the entrance of Nazrea; Night ended and the day was slowly starting to break as several students started to show up at Hotel Kanna. ¡°About time to end.¡± The one who nned this group event, Professor Kang Ryun, finally announced the uing end of the group event. This group event was about surviving from the undeads for as long as possible for 3 days while collecting as many Moonstones as possible. Survival skills and the agility to escape from the chasing undeads ¨C on top of that, the students had to search for Moonstones from the countless waves of undeads. The resulting marks were to be given while taking all those points into consideration. There were a total of 8 teams and 32 people from Purple Hawk and Merkarva. Only 4 of these 8 groups would be proceeding to the next stage of the group event but¡­ the people from Merkarva didn¡¯t have positive looks on their faces. ¡°Ugh¡­ Our team failed on the first day though.¡± ¡°¡­Most of the guys that failed on the first day are from our Academy.¡± Jaeger and Lark were disqualified due to the sudden gathering of the 3 great bosses of Nazrea, but the problem was that Jaeger and Lark from Group D weren¡¯t the only ones that failed on the first day. ¡°I think we¡¯re doomed.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I guess it was lucky of us to make our way up here in the first ce.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it for us Mandrake Bandits, huh¡­¡± Right. Most of the contestants from Merkarva Academy were from the ¡®Immortan Lork Bandits¡¯ ¨C those who grouped up and viciously attacked other students to monopolize points. What that meant was that although they were skilled at ganging up on others as a group, their individual skills were very subpar. So unlike Purple Hawk who brought the cream of their crop, there were a lot of disqualified contestants from Merkarva Academy starting from the first day. ¡°I guess there¡¯s no hope for Merkarva except for Group A with Marie and Group D with Korin¡­¡± ¡°Two people were disqualified from Group D on the first day as well. We have zero hope¡­¡± Realistically speaking, Group A with Marie Dunareff was the only one they could trust. In other words, the result of this group event was probably going to be 3:1 with Purple Hawk having more groups. ¨C Creak! People came in after opening the main entrance of the hotel. The professors and the priests had dealt with most of the undeads nearby so they were probably going to be students. ¡°Sorry. We were almostte.¡± 6:50 am. The ones that came in were from Group 1 of Purple Hawk Academy, Kang Yuhua, and her team. The group with the strongest student of Purple Hawk Academy, Sword Lord Kang Yuhua, walked in while dragging behind arge pack that evidently contained an enormous amount of Moonstones. The knights, Watanabe Jun and Xin Zhou, ripped the bag after dragging it inside as the Moonstones started crumbling down from inside. ¡°Oops.¡± ¡°Sorry, President. We¡¯ll pick them up.¡± They silently began picking up the Moonstones but the students from Merkarva gasped while talking to themselves. ¡°What the¡­ how many do they have?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like they had a monopoly on them.¡± Kang Yuhua and her Group 1 had brought a ridiculous number of Moonstones. In fact, they did have a monopoly on them to some extent ¨C thanks to her ability that allowed her to walk on the sky, Kang Yuhua focused solely on the Moonstone undeads and was the most efficient of all the students in this group event. Some of the students even saw her fly like an angel above thousands of undeads, beheading some of them on her way. ¡ºGroup 1: 558 points¡» ¡°Highest so far.¡± Kang Ryun said after assessing the quantity and quality of the Moonstones, his assessment appalled the listening students. Even though Groups A and D of Merkarva had yet to return, Group 1 still had an iparablyrge number of pointspared to the current second ce, which only had 160 points. ¡°Good work. President. Your team wille 1st by far in this group event.¡± ¡°We might have to see,¡± said Kang Yuhua. ¡°Hmm?¡± Kang Ryun seemed puzzled after hearing her words. Unlike him, who was staying in the hotel to form a formation that chased out undeads, Yuhua had gone to further ces in search of Moonstones. ¡°There is a monster in Merkarva.¡± ¨C Kung! ¡°Hello~. Ahht! Are wete?¡± Saying that, an amicable girl with water-colored hair, Marie, walked into the building with her group members. The only team Merkarva could believe in, Group A, had finally made their return. ¡°Ohh! It¡¯s Senior Marie!¡± ¡°They brought a bunch of Moonstones as well!¡± Marie, Isabelle, Russel and Eristina. All 4 members of Group A returned at the same time and were carrying a bag that was at least double the size of Kang Yuhua¡¯s Group 1. There were so many Moonstones that Marie was even using her familiar, Doggo, to help them drag the bag across. ¡°There we go!¡± Marie ced the bag down with so much vigor that people seeing her for the first time wouldn¡¯t even consider her a mage. Out of everyone, Senior Professor Kang Ryun was the only one who didn¡¯t lose theirposure. ¡°Wait while I assess your marks.¡± ¡°Okay~. Oh my, you guys are Lark and Jaeger! Where is Korin?¡± [Group A: 499 points] ¡°Huhh? What?¡± ¡°How can this be?¡± ¡°Group A has double the Moonstones though!¡± ¡°Is that measuring machine bugged?¡± Merkarva students created a fuss. Even though 499 points was enough for Group A to proceed to the next stage of the group event, there was still a matter of pride. ¡°Calm down. The device is functioning properly. Look.¡± Kang Ryun immediately settled the students like the veteran he was and showed them the reason why Group A had fewer points. Some Moonstones werepletely crushed, and there was a bunch of powdered Moonstones inside Group A¡¯s bag. ¡°It weighs a lot, but more than half have lost their value as magic stones.¡± ¡°Ahaha¡­ I, I see~¡± ¡°See. I told you Marie. Your spells were too strong.¡± Both Group 1 and Group A knew the reason why there were so many broken Moonstones. Even when facing hundreds and thousands of undeads, Marie relied on her overwhelming mana output to wipe them out with magic, and every time she did that, the Moonstone undeads were also crushed alongside the other undeads. ¡°Well, at least we defeated some elite monsters.¡± Isabellemented how elite monsters in semi-Grade 1 and Grade 2 were in fact easierpared to the low-grade undeads. In any case, the ranking was as follows. Group 1: 558 points Group A: 499 points Group 3: 160 points Group 2: 155 points Group 4: 126 points Group C: 98 points Group B: 55 points It was essentially already decided that three Purple Hawk teams and one Merkarva team would be making their way up to the next stage of the group event. Even though Group D hadn¡¯t returned yet, the students weren¡¯t expecting much from Group D which had lost two of its members on the first day. ¡°Hello everyone! Good morning!¡± ¡°Uhh, I think we¡¯re a bitte, Mr. Korin!¡± Atst, the two survivors of Group D, Korin Lork and Alicia Arden returned to the hotel. The students and professors naturally turned to the bag they were carrying and all thought the same thing. They thought it was to be expected after seeing their bag, which was incredibly smallpared to the other groups. ¡°You were fairlyte, Student Korin. Student Alicia.¡± ¡°59 minutes. Right on the dot, sir.¡± said Korin. ¡°That¡¯s why I told you we should have breakfastter.¡± ¡°It would take ages for us to have time to sit down again after leaving the city. I can¡¯t wait for that long.¡± ¡°Student Korin. Bring me your bag. Let me assess your points.¡± Even though it would probably be meaningless, Kang Ryun still did what he had to do. ¡°Yes sir~. It¡¯s right here.¡± Korin took out a single Moonstone from his bag. ¨C Kung! Arge chunk of Moonstonended on the desk, which gathered the eyes of everyone nearby. That Moonstone, which gained its name for being a stone that harbored moonlight, had a brilliant silver light that made it literally appear like the moon. It was top-notch! That was a perfect Moonstone, both in size and color, that no one could argue against. ¡°T, two hundred and fifty points¡­¡± The students couldn¡¯t help but feel stunned after seeing the number on the disy screen of the measuring machine. With just a single Moonstone, their group sky-rocketed all the way to 3rd ce. What kind of elite monster did they have to defeat to gain such an enormous Moonstone? ¡°Uun? Korin? Weren¡¯t we prohibited from going to the center of the city?¡± Marie tilted her head, seemingly puzzled after seeing this Moonstone which was clearly from the danger zone. ¡°They said it was dangerous, but there was no rule stopping us from going there.¡± ¡°I see!!¡± ¡®I should have gone there as well!¡¯ said Marie while bringing her hands together. ¡°Hmm¡­ Group D. You have 250 points and havee 3rd ce¡­¡± ¡°I have more though?¡± ¡°T, they have more?¡± Korin took out two more Moonstones. The students were shocked after seeing how they looked simr to the one before. ¡°Korin and Alicia, these guys. How far deep did these guys go?!¡± ¡°The center of the city¡­ Maybe they killed the 3 great bosses of Nazrea or something?¡± ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± The two following Moonstones equaled 246 and 272 points. ¡°Now, this is thest one we have.¡± And thest one Korin took out was in apletely different ¡®league¡¯. It had a red luster that was ominously different from the other Moonstones. It seemed so inauspicious that it didn¡¯t even look like a Moonstone anymore. ¡°1,000 points.¡± Everyone was struck speechless. Group D: 1,768 points Group 1: 558 points Group A: 499 points Group 3: 160 points Group 2: 155 points Group 4: 126 points Group C: 98 points Group B: 55 points As such, the four teams that would be proceeding to the next stage of the group event were decided. **** On the way back from Nazrea, I looked at the City of the Dead through the window of the house hanging on the monster carrier. Erin, the one who separated from my master like a clone 300 years ago, was still inside that city. ¡°That was very eventful.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Sitting by my side, Alicia handed over the potatoes steamed by Marie. ¡°You¡¯ll be going there again right?¡± ¡°I need to.¡± Alicia seemed to have realized that I would be going back one day to save the imprisoned Erin. Would she get mad¡­ if I told her I made a contract with the Grim Reaper? ¡°Please go together with Senior Marie and me when you are going there again. I don¡¯t know what you are thinking, Mr. Korin, but let us help you.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Her willingness to help was somendable that I rustled my fingers through her hair and made it into a mess. She went, ¡®Uhk! Ehk! Uhk!¡¯ but that was okay. ¡°The next group event is more important. You have to get to work immediately after going back, Alicia.¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯re really driving me around like a servant. By the way, don¡¯t we have to do the doubles event as well after going back?¡± ¡°There¡¯s that too.¡± Kang Yuhua and Sa Jinhyuk should be participating in a team for the doubles event. Originally, Sa Jinhyuk was attending the individual event so he wasn¡¯t going to participate in the group event but¡­ Kang Ryun had some tricks up his sleeve. Well, I¡¯ll let him do what he wants for now though. ¡°Let¡¯s take a rest for now. We¡¯ve been working too hard.¡± I had to think of ways to make use of the power I got from the Grim Reaper as well. Obtaining a Treasure of the Underworld was slightly unexpected but if everything went well, the ¡®Orb of the Grim Reaper¡¯ might act as a nice hidden card for the 3rd Arc. ¡°I wonder what Hua Ran is up to right now.¡± Thinking about the girl that was at the core of this main scenario, I felt a bit concerned. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The day I returned to Merkarva, I heard some shocking news from Lady Josephine. ¡°Student Hua Ran is in confinement.¡± ¡­¡­¡­Already? Chapter 75: - Hua Ran (1) ? Hua Ran (1) ? There was once a girl called Ran. She was an unlucky girl who couldn¡¯t even walk outside on her two feet due to a long illness of hers. ¡°Dad! It¡¯s been a while! Huh? Sister Yuhua! You¡¯re here as well?¡± ¡°Hi Ran. How have you been?¡± Ran had a family that loved her. She had friends and neighbors. If not for her incurable disease¡­ or in fact, if not for her father never giving up on elongating her life and if he instead stayed with her¡­ Ran¡¯s life would have had a happy ending. ¡°Ahh¡­ Ran. Ran.¡± ¡°D¡­ dad?¡± Over time, the illness restricting her started to rapidly crush the happiness surrounding the girl. Ice Yin Constitution. It was a body constitution type that was only spoken of in the legends. An infinite source of Yin was suppressing the Yang energy inside her body, and was thus creating an imbnce and disharmony. Ran¡¯s father, Kang Yu, looked for all sorts of ways to cure his daughter. However, all the methods known to cure Ice Yin Constitution were close to being impossible, and Ran¡¯s early death seemed unavoidable. ¡°Ran¡­¡± Sacrificing the time he should have spent with his daughter, Kang Yu went around searching everywhere. He went to the mountain peak of a mountain range and requested the help of the lord of the mountains, the Heavenly Tiger, and even gained an elixir after helping the hermits of Mount Tai. Crossing to other continents, he looked for his old friends and received their help to look at regional spells that could cure his daughter. 14 years. Ever since the birth of his daughter, he wandered all around the world looking for ways to cure her body, but none of those were effective on Ran. Slowly, the end was approaching them. His desperate attempts were almost about toe to an end. ¡°D¡­ dad.¡± ¡°Ran. Your father will definitely bring you back to life. I can do anything in the world, if it means I can save you.¡± She had a happy and affectionate family but there were two pieces of misfortune in her life. One was that Ran was born with an incurable disease, And two was the prodigal talent of Kang Yu, who was known as the best spiritualist of the time. He searched everywhere to look for a strong source of Yang that could put a stop to the infinite source of Yin in her body. However, the legendary body constitution that had been told down from times immemorial was too much for a mere human to resolve so¡­ he had to change his line of thought. If he couldn¡¯t find enough Yang to suppress the Yin, maybe he could instead look for ways to consume all that Yin energy in her body. That was why he relied on the organism that was born from Yin. They were beings that he was very familiar with as a spiritualist, whose job was to send poor souls of those who died on a foreignnd back home. Kang Yu turned his alive daughter into a Jiangshi. That was the birth of the living Jiangshi, Hua. **** A small wooden cuckoo made from the country of ice and snow shouted at the world of giants. ¨C Coo! Coo! 9 am. The bird of the vintage clock cried out loud to notify people of the time as Hua Ran instinctively raised her body. Her movement was like that of a creaking machine. Subconsciously, her arms were facing the front in a straight angle as she quickly lifted herself up from the bed. ¡°¡­¡± With a re, she gazed around. Her room was as dark and lifeless as always ¨C the only furniture inside the room was a small wardrobe and arge urn. The urn for gold coins that she brought after selling everything that belonged to her in the eastern continent was being filled up at a rapid speed. That was proof of how the business of the boy who liked poking his nose into other people¡¯s affairs was faring smoothly. Going past the urn full of gold coins which acted like a piggy bank, she walked to the wardrobe. The chains restricting her body jingled with each of her movements. ¨C Creak! She opened the wardrobe, which had nothing but a bunch of ck nun clothes inside. Even though she was a probationary nun of the New Faith, her wardrobe was still way too barren considering how most sisters of the religion had a few modern clothes or two. ¡°Clothes.¡± Her chains loosened slightly as soon as she said that. These specially crafted chains from the chapel of Zeon reacted to her inner energy and she could tighten and loosen them at will. They were there as a restricting device to stop her from having a fit but they did show respect to her daily life through seemingly trivial features like this. It had already been about a year since she had been wearing these nun clothes. After she wore the sparkling rosario as well as the nun headpiece, the chains slowly crawled back up and restricted her body again. They were tight enough to crush a normal human body, but it felt like just another piece of clothing to the Jiangshi with an Unbreakable Vajra Body. ¨C Clomp! Clomp! Climbing down the stairs to the dining room, her nose picked up a faint scent of butter. Today¡¯s breakfast menu appeared to be toasted bread with ham. ¡°Hua Ran.¡± ¡°Josephine.¡± In the kitchen, Senior Professor Josephine of Merkarva Academy was awkwardly toasting bread on a frypan. ¡°¡­What are you doing?¡± ¡°Hmm. I was trying to make the ¡®Isaac Toast1TLN: Isaac Toast: A Korean street food. Simr to the given description.¡¯, which is apparently famous in the east but¡­¡± After putting butter on a heated frypan, all you had to do was put the bread on top and cook it. Even Hua Ran, who was from the eastern continent, wasn¡¯t sure how this had anything to do with the east but simply glossed over it because it was one of the dishes that the pony-tailed boy introduced while saying it was from the east. ¡°That¡¯s too much butter.¡± ¡°Ahht¡­ Really?¡± Unfortunately, Josephine wasn¡¯t the best at household chores. ¡°I want mackerel sandwich¡­¡± ¡°A mackerel sandwich?¡± ¡°He made it. Cooked mackerel.¡± ¡°¡­Student Korin. Where did he learn such entric dishes from?¡± Josephine, who was also repulsed by raw fish, apparently couldn¡¯t understand why you would put cooked mackerel between slices of bread. ¡°Fish is supposed to be cooked and served by itself. It is not supposed to be eaten inside bread.¡± ¡°Booomer.¡± ¡°Booomer? What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°He said that¡¯s what you call inflexible people.¡± ¡°Looks like I must seriously consider the eviction of Student Korin.¡± While murmuring how he was nothing but a bad influence, Josephine flipped the bread on the frypan. Unfortunately for her, it was charred ck. ¡°Anyway, please go wash yourself before we eat.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°Go. Wash. Yourself.¡± Her eyes were very sharp. Washing once in the morning, and once at night before going to sleep ¨C this bothersome routine was a very tedious one to follow for Hua Ran, who used to live awless life. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± There was a PDHPE2Personal development, health and physical education lesson about how washing was to get rid of bacteria or whatever, so that meant the goal was to ¡®get rid of bacteria¡¯ right? Fortunately, the chains and the clothes on her body were all specially crafted items that could hold off against most things in the world. Shortly after that, Hua Ran returned to the dining room with ck ashes all around her body. ¡°W, what have you done?¡± ¡°I burned myself.¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bacteria die from fire?¡± ¡°Go right now and wash yourself. With water.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Now!¡± She was still only 3 years old. Even though Josephine wanted to give her a flick to the forehead, she knew her hand was the only one that was going to suffer so instead, she decided to give more health-rted lessons. **** Annoying. Hua Ran thought to herself. Because of the request of the Old Faith and Senior Professor Kang Ryun of Purple Hawk Academy, she had to unwillingly attend the festival. The one she had to join was the individual event. At least it was better off because it could be done by herself. ¡°Hua Ran. You cannot be serious against them.¡± ¡°¡­I don¡¯t understand.¡± She had read the festival rules already, and also knew how this boisterous festival was a contest forpeting students. ¡°I can¡¯t hit them?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like you can¡¯t retaliate but¡­¡± Josephine reminded her with a serious look on her face. ¡°Most things in this world are weaker than you. Treat them like you would with a little twig, and that would be enough for you to win.¡± Hua Ran reflected on the ones that she had to be a little serious with, like the noisy potato-lover and the spearman who pretended to be an adult. ¡°How weak are theypared to him?¡± Josephine knew that the person Hua Ran mentioned was almost always ¡®that boy¡¯ and easily realized who she wasparing them to. ¡°Right. Compared to Student Korin¡­¡± About 1/10. Thinking that should do, Josephine assigned that as the outline. ¡°Remember. There are a lot of people that are trying to find faults with your existence itself in this ce. Please try to pass this festival as smoothly and quietly as possible.¡± The individual event soon began. ¡°Uaahkkk¡­! Why! Whyy!!¡± ¡°Ah please! I can¡¯t even shake her!¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t I even cut her hair??!¡± The individual event of Merkarva and Purple Hawk¡¯s festival became a pandemonium of chaos. Whenever the rounds began, Hua Ran would stay still without doing a single thing, and simply stood there looking at them. Her opponents would swing their weapons but whether it be a sword, an ax, or a mace, none of those weapons could harm a hair on her body. Even though she was just a small girl, she appeared like arge mountain firmly standing its ground. ¡°I, I give up.¡± Facing the unsurpassable wall, the students couldn¡¯t help but admit defeat. Fortunately, there weren¡¯t any casualties despite Josehpine¡¯s concerns, but there were still a bunch of young teenage girls and boys whose hearts crumbled at the face of an unbreachable wall. However, that was inevitable the moment Hua Ran joined the festival. ¡°Boring.¡± Even the punching lessons she had with the boy were more interesting than this. ¡ºYou start from the small basics.¡» If you give your very best to everything, you¡¯ll learn how to be caring. Learn how to be caring, and it will leave a mark on your personality. If it leaves a mark on your personality, it will show on the outside. And if it shows on the outside, you will be brighter, If you be brighter, you will move other people, Move other people and you will change. And if you change¡­ you¡¯ll be mature. She condemned him saying that he only knew how to talk big but¡­ it might have left a big impression on her. The punching skill that the boy taught her, which she diligently practiced so that she wouldn¡¯t lose again, had be attached to her body after practicing it every day. It went¡­ something like this. ?Eight Poles: Punch of the Descending Dragon? ¨C Boom¡­! ¡­¡­¡­ The stadium immediately turned silent as Hua Ran realized her mistake. She had identally used the punch that she had learned from the boy. As a result, her opponent, who had been swinging a battle ax at her, flew across the venue like a dove andnded in bloody tatters while the weapon got demolished into molecules. ¡°U, uaahh¡­¡± It was her umpteenth opponent. He seemed like one of the famous 4th year students or something, but he was visibly appalled after seeing that only the handle part of his battle ax was remaining after her attack. ¡°M, monster¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± That was nothing new. She wasn¡¯t even upset because she had been hearing it all the time but¡­ for some reason, her chest ached a little bit more than usual. Before long, it was already the 8th round. That was thest round of Group C where she was in, and this time, her opponent was a student from Purple Hawk Academy. She thought it would be the same thing as always but soon, when she saw the boy walking towards her inrge strides, she got a feeling that he looked familiar. ¡°We meet again.¡± The boy with ominously white hair, Sa Jinhyuk, was standing in front of her. **** Thebination of bleached white hair and the ck eyes of those from the east was definitely not harmonious by any means. However, it was still vivid enough to leave a strong impression so Hua Ran still remembered the boy called Sa Jinhyuk. ¡®Doesn¡¯t change anything though.¡¯ ¡°Haak¡­ Haak¡­!¡± Was he strong? Probably. He was about as strong as her unpleasant housemate, and was within the category of ¡®strong¡¯ in terms of humans. However, that was in the standard of humans. A living Yaksha¡¯s standard started from 10,000. Telling the difference between 10 and 100 was¡­ frankly, quite difficult for her. ¡°Doing more won¡¯t change anything.¡± It had been 5 minutes since the start of their fight. Without doing anything in retaliation, Hua Ran calmly epted the opponent¡¯s attacks. Each and every one of those attacks were rapid and heavy. Heavenly Windmill, Killing Moon sh Kick, Battle Hound. Those consecutive kicks were menacingly fast. His legs traveled at the speed of sound and burst the air to attack the Unbreakable Body. ¡°Damn it¡­!¡± However, the unmovable fortress remained firm. It did not move a single inch. ¡°Try stopping this!¡± His left foot rotated in a clockwise direction on the spot as his heel began to face Hua Ran. Rooting that leg firmly into the ground, he twisted his waist and spun with his right leg. ?Spinning Axle? That kick contained even the shapeless form of aura and was almost like a fallinget. ¡°Huh?¡± Even the crowd was befuddled by that attack. Heavenly Yaksha Hua Ran. Some of her contenders mixed in killing moves during the festival but the crowd didn¡¯t think much about it. They had seen over the consecutive rounds of the individual event that no attacks worked on this monster of absolute defense. However, this one was a bit different. Something in it was different ¨C the aura condensed inside his kick even oppressed the atmosphere nearby and was evidently different from other attacks. It was aet ¨C aet that destroyed everything in its path. ¨C Kwaaaaaang!! Theetnded on Hua Ran. Until the veryst second, she did not move an inch and¡­ ¡°¡­Fuck.¡± Theet screamed with a profanity. ¡°Done?¡± Despite seemingly speeding through space and striking at the fastest possible speed, theet lost its power at the face of an immense star. Unbreakable Vajra Body. No de in the world could cut through the skin, nor could fire or water leave any mark on the body. It was on a whole different league to normal defensive spells that were supported by aura and the inner qi. That constitution was the one sitting at the epitome of unfairness, and the ones attacking people with the Unbreakable Vajra Body were the ones that had to suffer damage. Sa Jinhyuk was the one who gained fractures from that attack. ¡°You damn monster.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He uttered the same insult as others but this one was different. Rather than fear, it was backed by rage and hatred¡­ ¡°Give up. Doing more is not going to change anything.¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡± She was trying her best to follow Josephine¡¯s words that she shouldn¡¯t hurt other people, but it seemed to have sounded absurd in the ears of her opponent. ¡°Stop pretending to be nice all of a sudden. It¡¯s toote to act kind and merciful.¡± ¡°¡­What do you mean.¡± ¡°You should have used that mercy of yours before killing my family.¡± ¡ºI will kill you! No matter what, I will definitely kill you with my own hands!¡» His eyes ovepped with the eyes of the person who red at her after losing his mother and sister. It was then. A burning city appeared before her eyes. Corpses were everywhere. That was a scene of massacre. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡ºHua. Kill all the humans of thisnd. There should not be anything living left behind in this ce.¡» ¡°You are a monster, Hua. A monster far from being human. You¡¯re pretending to be a human this far in, and it¡¯s so disgusting I feel like throwing up.¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°And what about your body? You are not Ran. You¡¯re just a monster that stole Ran¡¯s body.¡± ¡°N¡­ no. This is mine¡­ My body¡­¡± The corpses that had been scorched in the pit of mes started to move again. The dead crawled towards her. Corpses with brains, guts, and limbs ripped out hoarded towards her from all around. Thousands and tens of thousands of dead people cursed while approaching her. The hair of the boy which used to be ck turned white as tears of blood flowed down his cheeks. He screamed while reaching his arm out. ¡ºDie, monster. Someone like you shouldn¡¯t have been born!¡» ¡ºDie! You monster!¡» ¡ºPlease die. We¡¯re begging you.¡» ¡ºWe have shredded the limbs of your father to death. We will now subjugate you in the name of the Royal Pce.¡» ¡ª-¡ª-¡ª- mes consumed the air, leaving nothing for breath and the disgusting scent of corpses clogged her throat. More than anything¡­ ¡ºGive me my body back!¡» That voice alone was so frightening and scary, that even the red eyes of the monster quivered after hearing it. ¡°This is mine¡­ Mine! This body is mine!!¡± I have the right. I have the right to have this body! ¡ºYou shouldn¡¯t have been born!!¡» ¡°Be quiet¡­!¡± It was then. Red aura began to soar in all directions with Hua Ran at the center. Crimson aura started to surge through the air, as if it was contending against heaven itself. The aura emanating out of the body of a Yaksha, one that far exceeded the norms of humans, demolished the arena in less than a second and¡ª ¨C Chiriririk¡­! Her chains of restriction swallowed her aura and stretched out to no end. In ce of the scorched talismans, the restricting chains turnedrge enough to cover the arena and suppressed her with their might. ¡°Haak¡­ Haak¡­!¡± Only after being restricted by chains that were now several kilometers long did Hua Ran realize that the things she had been seeing and the voices she was hearing were gone, and that was the biggest relief for her. Thank goodness. I didn¡¯t lose my body. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!! There were a lot of grumbles and noisy chatters all around but the relieved child soon went to sleep. **** ¡°I knew that monster was going to do something like this!¡± At the Chairman¡¯s office of the Academy, Chairman Eriu and Professor Josephine couldn¡¯t do anything but quietly listen to the denouncement of spit-sttering Bishop Renault Lusignan. An incident had urred during the individual event of the festival. Hua Ran going berserk would have led to a huge catastrophe without the chains of restriction, which was why they had no words to say in response. ¡°We will carry out a detailed investigation as to why Student Hua Ran¡­¡± ¡°Investigation! What investigation?! We don¡¯t know when that monster would start going around killing people, so why should we watch that happen from the side? We must kill that monster right¡­¡± ¡°That is way too extreme an argument, Bishop Lusignan.¡± Chairman Eriu said with a sharp re at the excessivement. ¡°Hmph. In the first ce, it was you, Chairman Casarr, that wanted to take in that wicked demon. You will have to take your due responsibility.¡± ¡°Of course. However, we must first observe Student Hua Ran and the state of the restriction spell.¡± ¡°Yes. Looks like those chains made by the protestants worked pretty well, but the problem is that the talismans made by the pagans of the east were burned, is it not?¡± ¡°The talismans that are supposed to settle Student Hua Ran¡¯s mind have been burned. We are nning on inviting spiritualists from the east to create new talismans but¡­¡± ¡°Is there a need to go that far?¡± ¡°¡­What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°Do we not have a spiritualist already? One that came from the renowned academy of the eastern continent.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Chairman Eriu and Josephine thought of the same person. They thought of the senior professor of the eastern academy, the best formation expert of the east who was also a first-rate spiritualist at the same time. ¡°Professor Kang Ryun will be returning soon after the end of the group event, right? Let¡¯s request Professor Kang Ryun to hurry up and create talismans for us. We never know when that evil demon is going to go berserk again.¡± It was something they couldn¡¯t refuse. **** In a dark and small room with no sunlight, all she could see were stone walls and the moss growing on those walls. ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran thought about the things that recently happened to her. She remembered the forgotten past, and the original owner of this body had once again tried to take it from her. ¡ºThis is my body! Give it back! Give it back to me, you monster!¡» Born as the personification of the Unbreakable Vajra Body, she had nothing to fear but that voice was the only one she feared. It had continued from the very moment of her birth and that fear was thus very difficult for her to ovee. ¡°This is mine¡­ This is my body¡­¡± ¡°Is it really though?¡± Someone refuted the mumbling self-justification of Hua Ran. She looked for the owner of the voice with emotional eyes. ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°I am the uncle of Kang Ran, the original owner of that body which you have control of.¡± Kang Ryun. He was the senior professor of Purple Hawk Academy, and the older brother of Kang Ran¡¯s father, Kang Yu. He was most certainly one of the ones who hated Hua the most, since she had taken over the body of his niece, Ran. ¡°I am not¡­ giving it back. This is¡­ mine.¡± ¡°Oh no no. Hua. You¡¯re misunderstanding me.¡± Kang Ryun consoled her with a benevolent voice like an adult dealing with a child. Hua Ran recalled hearing his voice somewhere¡­ It went like¡­ ¡ºHua. Kill all the humans of thisnd. There should not be anything living left behind in this ce.¡» ¡°Hua. Do you want to have full control over that body? I can help you with the process if you want to.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± The whispers of the venomous serpent slithered up the neck of the child. The poisonous apple was too sweet for a child to refuse. ¡º¡­Hua¡» And a girl was silently watching all that happen. ¡ºYou can¡¯t. Don¡¯t listen to him.¡» The girl¡¯s voice did not reach her. From the start, it had never reached her even once. Chapter 76: - Hua Ran (2) ? Hua Ran (2) ? ¡°Student Hua Ran is in confinement.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The first thing I heard aftering back from the group event was that Hua Ran had been confined because of an incident during the individual event. Fortunately, there weren¡¯t any casualties but the problem was that there were a few people there who knew about the restrictions cast on Hua Ran. One of them was Bishop Renault Lusignan, who had been dispatched from the great chapel of Xeruem of the Old Faith. He criticized them, saying that the restrictions put on Hua Ran, which they were so confident in, had been easily broken due to her violent nature. Strictly speaking, the restrictions did work properly. The constraints cast on Hua Ran consisted of the talismans that settled her mind, and the article of the New Faith, ¡®Chains of Zeon¡¯, that devoured and enhanced the restriction if Hua Ran was to go berserk. Even though the talismans ended up being scorched because of her immense aura, the chains had done a remarkable job. ¡°The fact that one of the constraints broke was enough fault for them to nitpick on.¡± ¡°Depends on how you view it I guess.¡± However, their justification was still weak, so they sent her to Kang Ryun under the pretext of recreating those talismans. ¡°¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t make it in time due to the group event schedule. I guess this was another butterfly effect of what I did. My original n was to do something before they could apply the talisman but¡­ Well, whatever. I knew this would happen. After experiencing Marie¡¯s incident and the Tornado Bat incident back to back, I wholeheartedly realized that you always needed a n B. ¡°When are they going to reattach the talismans?¡± ¡°They said they need time to supply materials and create the new restricting talismans at a workshop. There was a request to move Hua Ran over to that ce.¡± ¡°I see.¡± That was a lie. They should be done preparing their talismans. Was it postponed because of the articles I stole? Were they trying to put an end to it inside the Evil Extermination Formation? Whatever the case, they were probably trying to do something before using Hua Ran as the ¡®core¡¯ in the group event. I couldn¡¯t let them go that far without doing anything. I had to do something to Hua Ran before that as well but¡­ ¡°Can I visit Hua Ran?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, the Temr Knights of the Old Faith are watching over her.¡± Being stopped by Temr Knights? As expected, they were making a bold political move, but well, that was also within the scope of expectation. ¡°Student Korin.¡± That was when Chairman Eriu who had been quietly watching until now¡­ or rather, Master Erin, walked up to me. ¡°How many things are you aware of, Student Korin?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± She must have realized that I was hiding something, but that was nothing unusual considering her insight. ¡°Well, I know most of the things I need to know.¡± ¡°¡­As for this incident, we couldn¡¯t stop the confinement of Student Hua Ran but we could have dealt with it ourselves.¡± ¡°Even though Merkarva was being interrogated as the one responsible for it, I¡¯m sure it would have been possible if you were coercive about it.¡± That wasn¡¯t a very good idea though. It was my master Erin, who had to overstep her boundaries to bring the demon behind the Moonlight Castle incident into the Academy. She took Hua Ran in as a student while saying that she was safe thanks to the restriction, and yet this was what happened. What would they say if Merkarva were to try to protect Hua Ran in a situation like that? ¡°I am aware of the risk, but we would have undoubtedly been able to protect Student Hua Ran at least.¡± There was something I knew, which both Josephine and Master Erin were also aware of; it was that Professor Kang Ryun of Purple Hawk and the Old Faith had been up to something behind our backs. Hua Ran had gone berserk during the very fight against the Trampling Warhound, Sa Jinhyuk, after entering the festival as requested by Bishop Renault. It was way too coincidental that it was suspicious. That was all the more the case because we were already looking at them with suspicion. Under the pretext of recreating the talismans, they asked for the momentary control of Hua Ran and were definitely scheming something. ¡°Student Korin. Are we looking at the same destination, I wonder?¡± ¡°I am 100% sure. We are aiming at the same ce.¡± ¡°If so, then why do we have to shoulder so much risk?¡± I knew what she was suspicious about. It was I who requested master and Lady Josephine, that they monitor them for the time being without doing anything. Although controlling every little thing within the process was difficult, the end result had to be the best one that I was thinking of. For that, there was the need to go through a few processes. Since my master wasn¡¯t aware of what I was thinking, it was natural for her to be suspicious. She might even be doubting that I was the type of person who would undertake dirty measures as long as it led to a good oue. I knew better than anyone how I was not a perfect person. Because of my sloppy actions, it might lead to a worse oue than thest iteration. But at least for now, I won¡¯t doubt my actions because this path that I chose was definitely not wrong at the very least. ¡°The oue I¡¯m dreaming of has everyone included, with not a single person missing.¡± ¡ºMain Quest: Hua or Ran¡» ¡ù Difficulty: A+ ¡ù Achievement Condition: Fails upon the eradication of Hua / Fails upon the eradication of Ran The future I¡¯m aspiring for needs to include both Hua and Ran, as well as you, master. **** The boss of the 3rd Arc of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, Heavenly Yaksha, had a slightly different background to all the bosses that appeared before it. Based on the affection meter with the character and the choices leading to the 3rd Arc, the yer was forced to choose between 2 choices. Would you save Hua, or would you save Ran? It was disgustingly annoying, but I couldn¡¯t deny that it was an effective device in adding weight to the story and increasing game ytime. Because of these turning points and choices inside the game, there were multiple users who yed the game several times. In one of the forums of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? that only had veteran gamers, there were oftentimes several discussions of ¡®what ifs¡¯ and how the yer could have ovee those options to lead the story into the happiest ending possible. That was a discussion about the background setting of the story, which was thus impossible to prove in the game. ¡®Honestly, the easiest option would be to choose a single one like it was a game like Park Sihu.¡¯ Whichever option you chose, there would only be 1 sacrifice. It was an efficient method where you simply had to sacrifice one of them. But as I¡¯ve said before. I was not interested in efficiency. **** On the second day after returning from the group event, all the group event attendants were given breaks and were allowed to take a rest from lectures. Because there were a few people in the group that were participating in either the individual or the doubles event, it was a measure for those students to take a good rest and wash out the fatigue built at Nazrea. ¡°Korin! This way!¡± An amicable girl with water-colored hair hopped across the streets while grabbing me with her small hand. The facilities in the internal streets of the Academy were in a festival mood, befitting the name of the event itself. ¡°Korin! Should we get some hash browns?¡± ¡°No. We eat that every day. The number of potatoes I grated would probably add up to a warehouse.¡± ¡°I, I don¡¯t think it was that much!¡± ¡°What if we add the potatoes you grated with me on top of that?¡± ¡°¡­Then, maaaybe.¡± Seriously, what was I supposed to do with this potato-loving princess of the Potato Empire? ¡°It¡¯s a special day so let¡¯s go have some of those chicken skewers or that beef skewer over there that¡¯s 1 silver coin each. But like¡­ 1 silver coin per skewer?¡± They were targeting tourists but that was still too much! Speaking of targeting tourists¡­ ¡°Senior. How are the stalls ced in front of our hotel going?¡± ¨C Munch munch ¡°Oh that¨C cough cough!¡± ¡°Ah. I¡¯m telling you you should stop having so many potatoes.¡± She choked on potatoes so I gave her a drink. Even though we were at the festival, she was still buying a tornado potato¡­ Wait, they have a tornado potato? No wonder I don¡¯t feel homesick¡­ ¡°Ugh. Thank you. I received the overall report for the stalls just yesterday.¡± ¡°Ohh. How big is the profit?¡± ¡°You see.¡± ¨C Whisper whisper! ¨C ¡®What!¡¯ ¨C Nod nod! ¡°Ah¡­ Finally, a day like thises to me as well!¡± ¡°Hehe. Seeing you happy makes me happy too.¡± After the construction of the hotel, we ced more than 100 people from Purple Hawk in there, and installed a bunch of stalls on the street in front of it. We used the ingredient supplies straight from the Dunareff Family, and hired some part-timers to make some cheap skewers with cheap sauces to sell at 3 times the market price. Too expensive? C¡¯mon, we¡¯re targeting tourists!! Those guys from Purple Hawk came from a different continent and didn¡¯t know much about the market prices on our side. And besides, it¡¯s not like they were tremendously expensive, and different prices in trivial things like snacks were very hard to notice. ¡°Senior! I will buy you anything you want today! Do whatever you want!¡± ¡°Waahh~!¡± Both Marie and I didn¡¯t have anything else to do today, so we should be able to y to our heart¡¯s content, but most importantly, I was here because there was something to buy from these stalls. ¡°Korin! Look! It¡¯s a throw-a-manastone!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up and try it!¡± ¡°Nn!¡± Found it. As expected, it was here again this year. Some merchants were running mini-games between the food stalls. We had already done some whac-a-horned-rat, which was this world¡¯s version of whac-a-mole for knights, and had thrown some mana darts, but this throw-a-manastone was a bit unique. ¡°Korin. Do you know how to y this game?¡± ¡°It¡¯s my first time seeing it.¡± ¡°I can exin the rules to you!¡± I saw it in thest iteration so I didn¡¯t count that. Besides, Marie seemed eager to exin the rules so I thought I might as well give her the chance. ¡°Uncle! Give us some manastones please!¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re a gorgeousdy! I¡¯ll give you one extra.¡± After giving the owner a silver coin, Marie received a te with 6 finger-sized stones. ¨C Uncle. Why didn¡¯t you give me an extra one? ¨C Buddy. We have a mirror right there. ¡°Look, Korin. These are chunks of manastones that were deemed faulty at the mines. Touch them. They¡¯re soft right?¡± ¡°Oh. You¡¯re right.¡± Well, her fingers were actually softer than the faulty stones though. ¡°Aren¡¯t these stones? Is it okay for them to be this soft?¡± ¡°Usually, they¡¯re not, but manastones absorb mana easily so it¡¯s easy for their attributes to change. That¡¯s also why we use them often when making staves.¡± Marie said while tapping her jade-like staff, telling me that there was also a manastone inside her staff. ¡°But if they are this soft, they explode easily. Look!¡± As soon as Marie added mana into the stone, it rapidly began to brighten up and expand in size as if it was going to explode any time soon. ¡°You have to throw it before it explodes!¡± She skilfully threw the inting manastone at the target. ¨C Pop! The manastone popped with a loud burst of noise like popcorn in a microwave. Because of its soft texture, the explosion resembled that of a water balloon rather than a grenade as it sttered mana into its surroundings. ¡°Hoh¡­ 80 points. Looks like you¡¯re quite good at this, Miss!¡± The manastone thrown by Marie had a very minuscule amount of explosion range, and the remains of her mana did not escape the boundary of the target. It was like a game of hit-the-target with water balloons. Throw-a-manastone was about how urately and powerfully you could hit the target, while trying to make sure the remains of the mana wouldn¡¯t leave the target area. Well, it was a mini-game with those settings that was yable in the game where the explosion range of the bomb would either increase or decrease depending on the uracy adjustment level of the character. The interesting thing about this¡­ was that the ones thrown by Park Sihu and me in thest iteration had different effects. ¡°Let me try it.¡± I added mana to the manastone I received from Marie. ¡°Korin! It¡¯s about to explode! Hurry up and throw it!¡± ¡°Come on buddy! Throw it quick!¡± Despite the rushing voices of Marie and the boss, I continued concentrating my mana into it. Like a water bomb with too much water, the manastone continued expanding in size. I then tossed it using my fingers. The skills that I gained through my javelin and stone-throwing experiences meant my uracy was close to 100% in a small mini-game court like this. ¨C Kwang! The manastone popped right in front of the target. Even though I put in a lot more mana than Marie, the range of the explosion was even smaller than hers. ¡°9, 95 points¡­¡± Good. This much was good enough. Even though I was just a sub-yer, it seemed that I was still receiving the uracy adjustment of the system. The explosion range of the ¡®festival-use faulty manastones¡¯ would decrease with higher uracy, and the explosion range would expand the lower your uracy rating was. Using this feature, some people even put on all sorts of debuff items and spells to create ¡®0% uracy¡¯ and increase the explosion range to 100 meters. Seriously, gamers have nothing better to do, do they? And yes, that¡¯s right. I had nothing better to do. ¡°Uncle.¡± ¡°H, huh?¡± ¡°Sell all these manastones here to me.¡± ¡°W, what?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give you twice the money.¡± I took out a purse of gold coins on the spot and handed it over to the boss. ¡°Korin. Why did you buy all that?¡± ¡°They¡¯lle in handy one day. And Senior Marie, you said you had to see Ferghus that old man before your individual event, right?¡± ¡°Nn! I have to get my staff and my protective robe repaired.¡± ¡°Tell him Korin Lork is calling him, and make hime looking for me right away. He has work to do.¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°Oh right, and also, the one taking care of carriage transportation in Merkarva is one of thepanies under Dunareff right?¡± ¡°Yes. What about it though?¡± ¡°Can you get me the timetable for carriages?¡± ¡°Korin¡­¡± Marie squinted her eyes after hearing my consecutive requests. ¡°Are you scheming something strange again?¡± ¡°Huhu. How did you figure it out?¡± ¡°I can look at your face and see everything~!¡± ¡°It is time for ¡®him¡¯ toe back.¡± ¡°¡®Him¡¯?¡± She blinked her eyes in puzzlement. **** ¡°Come.¡± Hua Ran slowly lifted her head and looked at her three visitors. Kang Ryun, Kang Yuhua, Sa Jinhyuk. The reason the three people from Purple Hawk Academy were here was to move her to a hotel in the outskirts of the city. With her body tightly bound up in ¡®Chains of Zeon¡¯, she had to go through a humiliating experience where Sa Jinhyuk carried her on his shoulder. The pretext was that Kang Ryun would be making talismans in his workshop that could act as recements for the ones that used to be sealing her. Talismans made to restrict the movement of a jiangshi required the use of several special materials. A yellow paper made with a mix of a jiangshi¡¯s skin, and ink made with the blood of a ck dog. On top of that, the spiritualist had to write a letter on the talisman and cast a spell, so even the first-rate spiritualists had to do it with care under the best conditions. However, he was far away from his actual workshop, so while renting a hotel at the outskirts of the city for the students, Kang Ryun had created a temporary workshop there in preparation for the formation that he would be using in the uing group event. He was trying to take Hua Ran to that temporary workshop using the excuse that he needed to carry out the restricting ritual there after gathering the right materials. ¡°Get on the carriage,¡± said Kang Ryun as Sa Jinhyuk got on the carriage with Hua Ran on his shoulder. Kang Yuhua and Kang Ryun got on after him. ¡°Yuhua.¡± ¡°Yes, Uncle.¡± That was when Yuhua suddenly grabbed the chained and immobilized Hua Ran by the chin and opened her mouth, as Kang Ryun tossed something inside. ¡°Uhhk¡­!¡± By the time Hua Ran realized that it was a piece of wood, her insides started burning from pain. Her body turned powerless and lethargic, like the time when she was ¡®ordered to stay still¡¯. The chains that were restricting every one of her limbs loosened up and started gently resting on her body. Because of her neutralization, the chains didn¡¯t even have enough aura to absorb. ¡°Wow~¡± Seeing that Hua Ran had been immediately neutralized, Jinhyuk curiously asked Kang Ryun. ¡°What was that thing just then, master?¡± ¡°A wooden board made by cutting a peach tree. It is the natural enemy of jiangshis.¡± ¡°So now¡­¡± Can I kill it now then? That was what his eyes were suggesting but after reading that thought of his, Kang Ryun turned to him with a sharp re. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it. Even the peach tree is only going to lead to symptoms of a flu for a jiangshi of this level. Do not look down on jiangshis that have reached the status of a ¡®Heavenly Yaksha¡¯. It¡¯s possible for them to turn into a ¡®Hou¡¯1Hou: A mythical creature that looks simr to xiezhi, haetae and komainu. But unlike the positive notion behind those creatures, a Hou is the evolved version of a jiangshi (Not sure how) that eats humans. at any moment. They might be monsters that are even worse than dragons.¡± ¡°Tch.¡± ¡°Hyuk, remember. Our goal is to take that wicked thing away from Ran, and not kill her,¡± reminded Yuhua. ¡°I know I know.¡± Yuhua said to Jinhyuk, but Hua Ran was the one who reacted the most. She asked with a pale face. ¡°What do you¡­ mean by that?¡± ¡°It is as we said, Hua. Uncle Kang Ryun will rip you away from Ran¡¯s body.¡± ¡°I, if you do that¡­!¡± ¡°You will definitely be eradicated after losing your body, or turn into a demonic spirit at best.¡± ¡°T, this body¡­!¡± ¡°It is clearly not yours. Don¡¯t you know that yourself?¡± Facing Hua Ran who was now sweating profusely due to consuming a part of a peach tree, Yuhua replied with a re that contained not a hint of her usual gentleness. ¡°We will retrieve Ran from you. Do you think you have the right to obtain that body as the one who killed countless poor souls?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Hua Ran was still hesitating about her response as the carriage approached the walls. ¡°Master. We are almost there.¡± ¡°Right. Let¡¯s quickly go to the workshop and deal with¡ª!!¡± ¨C Dung dududu dung dung! Dung dung! ¨C KIYOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTT!!!!! ¨C U, uaahkk! What the heckk! The driver driving the carriage yelled as a massive carriage suddenly drove into the one carrying Kang Ryun and his group. ¨C Kajik! Kajijijik! ¨C Creaaaaakk!! The two carriages crashed into each other at full force, and the one that copsed with a deafening thud was the one carrying Kang Ryun. ¡°That¡¯s right! Boss, what do we do now?¡± ¡°Huhahahaha! Take everything valuable!¡± It was the typical line of bandits, but after an eye contact with the leader of the bandits behind the opened doors, Hua Ran couldn¡¯t help but widen her eyes. ¡°You¡­¡± The man had red eyes and a characteristic ponytail. Even though he was wearing a mask, there was no way she could mistake him as someone else. ¡°Oi oi! We have a bishoujo2Bishoujo: Originally ??? [Misonyeo]. Literally means ¡®pretty girl¡¯, but it¡¯s not a word used often in Korean, and is heavily influenced by Japanese culture so I tranted it to bishoujo considering the yful tone of his remark.¡¯ here!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°We¡¯re in luck today! Boys! We¡¯re taking this girl with us!¡± ¡°Yes! Boss!¡± The masked man quickly picked up Hua Ran and left the copsed carriage. ¡°Yuhua! Jinhyuk!¡± After quicklying to himself, Kang Ryun called his two disciples and the two warriors quickly jumped out of the fallen carriage to chase after the bandits, but¡ª ?Water Bomb? Water Bombs had been installed in front of their path and the overwhelming pressure of water bounced the two back. ¡°Kuhk¡­ a mage? Hyuk! Find out where the mage¡­!¡± ¡°They¡¯re on one of the roofs! I don¡¯t know which building they¡¯re in! First, we have to hurry up and take that bitch¡­!¡± ?Blood Realm? Before the two coulde up with their next course of action, a crimson barrier appeared around them and the Blood Realm sessfully separated the three of them from the mounted bandits. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°A barrier?¡± They did not know what it was. Since it belonged to a vampire, which was already unique among demi-humans, and since a Blood Realm was a skill that could only be used by Vampire Elders and above, they were bound to be unfamiliar with the ability. ¡°Huhahaha! A sessful operation, boss!¡± ¡°This much is enough! Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go!!!¡± That was the mighty return of Immortan Lork. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡®Mhmm¡­¡¯ Marie, who helped Korin by isting the three people from Purple Hawk with her Blood Realm, was caught off guard by the unexpected turn of events. ¡°Wasn¡¯t expecting¡­ someone to be able to break the Blood Realm¡­¡± Her original n was to lock them inside for at least 1 hour, but the three had done something to the barrier. To be exact, it was Kang Ryun who did something. He unfolded his fan with a flick as an article of a tortoise with a snake head on its tail and an article of a white tiger floated out by themselves, as they then created a small hole on the barrier. ¡°Yuhua.¡± ¡°I will go find them for sure.¡± Marie quickly repaired her Blood Realm in surprise but Kang Yuhua was able to escape from the barrier using that short moment. She couldn¡¯t do anything else here, because Korin had made it exceptionally clear that she couldn¡¯t openly do anything to them. ¡®Korin¡­ Be careful.¡¯ **** ¡°What was that?¡± After hearing an urgent report from one of the security officers of Merkarva, Josephine asked with a dumbfounded look on her face. ¡°A, a student has been kidnapped!¡± ¡°¡­Which student, and by who?¡± ¡°About 5 minutes ago, a group of mysterious mounted bandits attacked the carriage carrying the VIPs of Purple Hawk, and kidnapped a student called Hua Ran!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Josephine sent the security officer away and copsed onto the seat of the Senior Professor¡¯s office. ¡°What the hell is he doing?¡± That was her first time swearing in thest 35 years. Footnotes:
  • 1Hou: A mythical creature that looks simr to xiezhi, haetae and komainu. But unlike the positive notion behind those creatures, a Hou is the evolved version of a jiangshi (Not sure how) that eats humans.
  • 2Bishoujo: Originally ??? [Misonyeo]. Literally means ¡®pretty girl¡¯, but it¡¯s not a word used often in Korean, and is heavily influenced by Japanese culture so I tranted it to bishoujo considering the yful tone of his remark.
Chapter 77: - Hua Ran (3) ? Hua Ran (3) ? ¨C Clip-clop! Clip-clop! The mounted bandits were speeding through the road on their horses. On top of the running and wavering horse, Hua Ran had to gasp for breath. The wind was cold to her skin and her hands shivered without moving the way she wanted them to. As a side-effect of swallowing a portion of the peach tree, cold beads of sweat were traveling down her cheeks and she shivered every time those sweat drops came in contact with the chilling wind. ¡°You¡­ What are you doing?¡± Vacantly, she uttered the same cold words as usual but they sounded half-hearted and powerless. ¡°I heard you made some trouble while I was away. I came to save you while I was at it.¡± ¡°¡­You are wasting your time.¡± She said with a gaze that seemed to be asking what the point was. In truth, he had attacked the VIPs from Purple Hawk Academy and had kidnapped an Academy student. He was bound to be caught very soon. Regardless of Josephine and Chairman Eriu¡¯s opinion, it was a matter of time for Korin and herself to be caught again. ¡°¡­¡± Korin was skillfully maneuvering the horse with Hua Ran still in his arms. The bad-tempered gaze and tone he had when attacking the carriage were gone, and Hua Ran could see through the small gap between the mask that his eyes were very calm and poised. ¡°You won¡¯t be going through anything good if you get taken there.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I helped you. Any problems?¡± ¡°You¡­ have nothing to do with this.¡± ¡°I do have something to do with this as someone living under the same roof as you.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran didn¡¯t reply to him. ¡°We¡¯ve arrived, boss.¡± Before long, they were already out of the city and arrived at an intersection that either continued off to another road or the forest. There, Korin carefully ced Hua Ran on his shoulder and got off of his horse. ¡°Don¡¯t forget the contract.¡± ¡°We will leave as many traces as possible and buy time, boss.¡± Korin gave a purse of gold coins over to the mounted bandits. ¡°That¡¯s the remaining half of the payment.¡± ¡°Thanks for the business, Mr. Immortan.¡± ¡°Live a normal life as good people. I hope we don¡¯t cross paths again.¡± ¡°Of course. We usually do legal things for a living, you know.¡± These people were mercenaries that he hired through the Intelligence Guild. Now, they would go as far away from the city as possible and draw the pursuers¡¯ attention. ¡°¡­Do you think that will help?¡± ¡°About half-half, I suppose.¡± Holding onto Hua Ran¡¯s hand, Korin walked into the forest but in less than 10 meters, she fell to the ground. ¡°You don¡¯t look very good. And your chains aren¡¯t really on you either¡­ Did they feed you something?¡± ¡°Peach¡­ tree.¡± ¡°Wood from a peach tree, huh. I guess it¡¯ll be hard for the next few days.¡± It was a powerful sorcery tool that was critical against jiangshis. Evening into contact with it was detrimental and she was only having flu symptoms despite consuming it, because she was Hua Ran. Right now, she was even weaker than girls of her age. Her sweats were falling like raindrops; her shivering hands couldn¡¯t function properly and she no longer had the lofty appearance of an absolute powerhouse. ¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll just carry you then.¡± ¡°What?¡± Without even giving her the time to be surprised, Korin lifted her up into his arms and started running forward. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hua Ran was shocked by his sudden decision. They were running faster than a horse but she didn¡¯t even have the time to worry about her chilly skin. ¡°W, wait¡­¡± If it was Korin, he wouldn¡¯t have trouble running while holding someone as small as Hua Ran. Even though the forest had unpaved and dangerous roads and a misstep could be detrimental, that mattered not to Korin. ¡°Let me¡­ down. I can run by myself¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bluff. I know you can¡¯t even walk properly. Well, you¡¯re as light as a feather so you don¡¯t need to worry about anything.¡± ¡°¡­¡± That wasn¡¯t the thing Hua Ran was concerned about. She was unsettled by the very act of having topletely rely on someone else. ¡°¡­¡± Several emotions were being suppressed inside her throat: her pride that didn¡¯t allow her to fully depend on someone else; hermon sense that told her she should show gratitude at a time like this; as well as her mind that lingered on his mention of her weight. The reason she swallowed all those emotions without letting them out was also in corrtion with her pride. And the reason why she somewhat liked hisst remark about her being as light as a feather¡­ was something she wouldn¡¯t realize for a long time. ¡°¡­Feels unpleasant.¡± With the instincts of a beast, she simply expressed her faint sense of displeasure, but; ¡°You can do whatever you wantter.¡± Korin adeptly dealt with it as always. ¨C Tadadak! His speed as he raced through the forest was already double the speed of a horse. As expected of a knight, even though his physical ability was still below Alicia¡¯s despite being a Grade 1 Knight, Korin was still at the pinnacle of knights nheless. He was already further away from the intersection than the mercenaries on horseback. This was the reason why ¡®knights¡¯ were ssified as living weapons, but¡­ there was someone behind him that was approaching him regardless of his superhuman speed. ¡°Already?!¡± The ck-haired pursuer was wearing the unique clothing of the east. The fairy of swords was running at the same speed as him through the dense woods of the forest with her eyes stuck on him. ¡°Slow, aren¡¯t you.¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t work huh!¡± Korin was thinking how the mercenaries didn¡¯t serve as a good enough bait but by the time he came to himself, a sharp dagger was already flying at him. ¨C Thud! The dagger collided with a piece of stone. The stone with a rune letter carved on it crashed into the dagger at a rapid speed as they both fell powerlessly on the ground. ¡°A dagger from the start? I thought you were a nicer person though!¡± Korin said, even though he had driven his carriage into theirs first. While dashing at a speed faster than a horse through the dense trees, they each prepared daggers and rune-carved stones to throw at each other. ¡ª! ¡ª! ¡ª! ¡ª! ¡ª! ¡ª! The stones and daggers traveled like lightning bolts. ¨C Thud! The one who first allowed an attack in that ranged battle of the forest was Korin. ¡°Kuht¡­!¡± He frowned while looking at the dagger piercing through his shoulder. He had stopped 2 of the flying daggers by matching them with his stones but hisst stone grazed past thest dagger. Even with the assistance of runes, there was a big difference in uracy between stones and daggers. ¡°¡­Are you alright?¡± ¡°She¡¯s not the type to put poison on her daggers so¡­¡± ¡°Do you think that was thest one?¡± Countless daggers were floating behind Kang Yuhua like flower petals blooming in the sky. Those daggers, which had the power to suppress aura, rained down after a prediction of his path. ¨C Pababak! The daggers dug into the thick trees and leaves of the forest. After barely hiding himself behind arge tree, Korin ced Hua Ran down on the ground. ¡°Stay here for now.¡± ¡°Have you finally decided to stop running?¡± Along with the weightless and quiet footsteps on the dry leaves, Yuhua approached the tree as Korin stood face-to-face with Hua Ran behind his back. ¡°I guess so¡­¡± Since it was unlikely that he would be able to run away from her, Korin decided to fight her, as Hua Ran stared at that back of his with a set of absent-minded eyes. **** ¨C Kang! The steel de collided with the steelhead of the spear and created sparks along with various screeches. The spearman carrying a silver spear poured a violent set of spear moves at the sword-wielding fairy. Korin Lork¡¯s spearmanship had a dominating characteristic. His distance control with the spear, constant stabs at the weakness as well as his destructive swings. Each of his attacks was seasoned and menacing. He was an expert of spears, and even Hua Ran could tell that every one of those skills must have required countless repetitions and a back-breaking amount of effort. ¡°Yuhua¡­¡± Hua Ran turned to the blood rtive of the original owner of her body. She was a feeble-looking girl that was at least a head shorter than Korin. It would only make sense for the fairy of swords to barely hold off against the merciless torrent of the spear but¡­ ¡®How¡­¡¯ Parrying the stab away to a side, she easily pushed away the iing shaft of the spear. Over time, it was Korin who had to retreat after every attack. Her attacks were heavy. In terms of appearance, she should be a lot weaker than Korin and yet each strike of Yuhua¡¯s sword was oppressing and pushing him back. ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± After a short breath, Korin took another half a step back. Twisting the spear in his hands into a diagonal angle, he parried Yuhua¡¯s sword to stop her from closing the distance. ¨C Pang! The air popped like a bomb. Sparks erupted from that attack and Korin was pushed back by 10 steps. The identity of that destructive weight was the highly dense aura covering Yuhua¡¯s de. The ridiculous supply of aura made it visible to the naked eye and was powerful enough to push the opponent back from just a short contact. Sword Lord. The strongest knight of Purple Hawk, who was also called the fairy of swords, had the Aura Rank of ¡ºHigh¡». In other words, it meant that she had an Aura Core that she gained through a legitimate method. ¡°You¡­ You should have an Aura Core as well. Why aren¡¯t you using it?¡± But Korin Lork wasn¡¯t too different from her. In fact, he had double the Aura Cores of Yuhua. There was one he gained after consuming the White Silver Mandrake, as well as the Aura Core of a demonic nature that he inherited from Sebancia Duke, the great hero. ¡°It¡¯s not my original one, you see.¡± However, because he didn¡¯t earn them using the legitimate method, the usability of his cores was very limited. The Aura Core from the White Silver Mandrake was his veryst resort that he had to keep until the very end, and the Core of demonic nature was like a treasure box he couldn¡¯t open. Like a closed-off pot, it contained a bunch of aura but he couldn¡¯t open the lid. Well, he might be able to if he wanted to force it open but¡­ he had an instinctive feeling that this core was slightly different and was thus choosing not to. Thus, the only aura he could use right now was that of his own. It was therefore inevitable for him to be pushed back by Yuhua, who was at the level of ¡ºHigh¡» for both quality and quantity. ¡°Well, sure. If you are holding back¡­ that means I just have to force it out of you.¡± Yuhua charged forward like a lightning bolt as Korin activated his secret arts in response. Ominous Snake: Secret Arts ¨C Distorted March The spear carried out three sharp stabs. Like a gymnast, Yuhua dodged those fiendish stabs by jumping into the air on the spot. Her movements were refined and light as if there was no weight to her body. ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± As soon as Yuhua collected her breath and quietlynded behind Korin for an attack¡ª Spinning Heaven: Second Move ¨C Rotating Demon Spear The spear rotated at a tricky path at the foe behind his back. Right when the spear was about to travel up after digging through the dry leaves of the ground, ¨C Pak! ¡°Petty tricks.¡± She trampled on the neck of the spear with her right leg, causing the spearhead to dig into the ground. ¡°¡­?!¡± The spearman¡¯s final resort had been blocked, which meant all that was left was his defenseless back. Yuhua stabbed at his back like lightning. ¡º ? ¡» ¨C Kenaz. But it was then. mes soared up from the ground beneath. The rune stone that Korin had dropped on the ground during their first bout had just then been activated with the silver spear. ¡°Tch¡­!¡± Yuhua had to jump back to dodge the soaring mes. Without letting her distance herself again, Korin chased after her with a sharp stab. But Yuhua was also prepared to fight back as soon as shended on the ground. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!! In that split moment, the head of a venomous snake collided against the sword that threatened to behead a dragon. Two-faced Ominous Snake: Dragon Blood Dragon ying Sword: Second Move ¨C Killing Stab ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª?!! Their boutsted 1 second. Even after the sh of their powerful moves, they passionately continued swinging their weapons and collided 7 more times in just 1 second, as the aftermath of their aura flung the two away. Korin skidded across the ground whereas Yuhua flew off into the air. After barely keeping himself on his feet, Korin gazed up at Yuhua who gentlynded on a twig of a tree that was less than 1 centimeter thick. Both of them had discontent looks on their faces. That attack just then was supposed to be the deciding move for both of them, and they weren¡¯t expecting their attacks to bepletely offset without leaving any wounds on their foe. The spearman and the swordswoman unintentionally ended up creating a distance as they began to quietly re at each other. Eventually, Yuhua couldn¡¯t help but raise a question. ¡°Why are you trying to protect her?¡± ¡°What do you mean, I wonder? I¡¯m just a kidnapper.¡± ¡°¡­ying with words, aren¡¯t you. I am her cousin.¡± ¡°Ohh~. Can I talk about the ransom then? I¡¯ll think about releasing her if you give me 1 billion white gold coins.¡± Ignoring the words of the self-proimed kidnapper, Yuhua continued with a frown. ¡°The one behind you is a demon that stole the body of my younger cousin, my sister. It is not worthy of your sympathy, Korin Lork.¡± ¡°¡­Like I said, I¡¯m a kidnapper. My name is Immortan.¡± ¡°A spearman of your level is not going to be thatmon. Did you really think you could deceive your way through?¡± Korin didn¡¯t reply, suggesting that he wasn¡¯t going to admit his identity ever. ¡°That is a demon, and not a human ¨C a wicked and heartless Yaksha. Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know about the disaster that hit Moonlight Castle.¡± Of course he did. It was the infamous incident where one of the castles of the conquerors of the east, the Empire, was destroyed single-handedly by Hua Ran with tens of thousands of casualties. Sa Jinhyuk was one of the victims of that incident. He lost his sister and mother, and Kang Yuhua lost her cousin due to Hua stealing her body. ¡°The guy responsible for everything is somewhere else, and yet they¡¯re just fighting between themselves,¡± Korin murmured. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Korin wasn¡¯t expecting to be able to persuade her here. Even if he were to share all the things he knew from the game, they would sound like nonsense without any evidence to back them up. ¡°Hey, Miss Kang Yuhua. You know what?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°The dojos in this ce are quite brutal. They challenge other dojos every time, and it¡¯s just crazy!¡± ¡°What are you¡­¡± Fastest sh, Instant sh. An aura shot forward like a de of wind. Yuhua jumped from the twig after noticing the attack but the de of wind had been aiming at the twig beneath her feet in the first ce. ¨C Pagack! The twig fell on the ground. Yuhua gentlynded back down on the ground as if nothing happened, but her face didn¡¯t look very bright. ¡°¡­Alicia Arden.¡± One of the sessor candidates of the Arden family, Alicia Arden, was slowly walking up to her. ¡°Now you¡¯re just tantly trying to¡­¡± ¡°H, Head Instructor of Alicia Dojo, Alicia Arden! Hereby requesting the Sword Lord of Purple Hawk, Kang Yuhua, for a friendly duel!¡± ¡°What¡­?¡± The duel request came suddenly out of the blue. That shameless and brazen statement made Kang Yuhua turn speechless. ¡°Woww~. As expected of elegant sword users, ey! Requesting a duel at a ce like this? You guys are very passionate!¡± ¡°D, do you think this makes¡­¡± ¡°President Kang Yuhua! I, I have been admiring your abilities for a long time! Please teach me a lesson!¡± Alicia said in the midst of her dash after unsheathing her sword. ¡°Do you think something like this is okay!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know who you might be, Mr. Kidnapper, but please continue on with your business!¡± ¡°Oh dear, what a kind and gentledy. I wish the two of you all the best! Farewell!¡± ¡°Korin Lorrrrkkk¡­!!¡± The scream echoed across the forest but it failed to reach the ears of the thick-skinned Immortan Lork. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°U, ughh¡­ I, it¡¯s my defeat.¡± The fight was very one-sided. It was aplete defeat of Alicia Arden. It was partially due to the difference in the two¡¯s capabilities, but the most important factor was that Alicia quickly admitted defeat without even fighting till the end. ¡°W, well then. Let me take my leave!¡± It seemed that Alicia wasn¡¯t as thick-skinned as Korin; she hurriedly ran away after a quick farewell. Seeing that, Yuhua gave a sigh. ¡°Seriously¡­¡± At this point, it was toote for her to chase after him. The forest full of demonic beasts outside of Merkarva City was massive, and she would most certainly lose her bearings if she were to go deeper into the forest by herself. ¨C Kugung! On top of that, a thunderingyer of dark clouds wereing her way. Even though she was a knight, chasing after them through a forest in a weather like this wasn¡¯t a wise option. ¡°Firstly, I should go back to Uncle Kang Ryun¡­¡± ¡ºThe guy responsible for everything is somewhere else, and yet they¡¯re just fighting between themselves.¡» Throughout her way back, Kang Yuhua reflected on that implicative murmur of Korin. Wondering what he meant by that, she started ruminating over those words. **** Darkness befell the forest. ¨C Kugugung! Kugung! Rain fell with a thunderous roar. What was fortunate was that there wasn¡¯t a tornado apanying the storm, but the two civilized people that visited this barbaric forest ended up being drenched by rainwater. ¡°Huu¡­ I have no idea if I should say we were lucky or unlucky¡­¡± This storm was definitely a plus for the escape, because it would y around with the sharp senses of the securities and knights that were chasing after the kidnapper. The sharp raindrops were sttering all the way to my ears so it might even slow down the pursuing process itself. But what was unfortunate was that the kidnapped hostage wasn¡¯t in a good state. ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She didn¡¯t say yes as if that wasn¡¯t an option. Her sweat was mixed with the rain and at this point, I couldn¡¯t even tell which was sweat and which was rain. ¡°Let me measure your temperature.¡± Hua Ran was gasping for breath with a vacant and dreamy look on her face, so I rustled her hair and lifted her fringes to ce the back of my hand on her forehead. It was fairly hot. ¡°You have quite a lot of fever.¡± I took out the ¡®made-by-Marie¡¯ elixir from my bag. ¡°Open your mouth.¡± Supporting the back of her neck with my left arm, I poured the elixir down her throat. Like a baby bird receiving a bug from its mother, Hua Ran barely opened her mouth to swallow the elixir. ¡°Good girl, good girl. Drink it away.¡± ¡°You¡­ Be quiet.¡± She looked a bit better after swallowing the elixir, but this was just a temporary measure. This probably wouldn¡¯tst long if we couldn¡¯t find shelter from the rain. ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°Hmm? Do you want some food?¡± ¡°¡­Blood.¡± Her eyes were on my bloodstained right arm. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s all healed back up now.¡± Regeneration was a really convenient ability after all. ¡°Let¡¯s find some shelter from the rain first. There should be a ce nearby that we can use to hide from it.¡± ¡°¡­Near here?¡± There were a bunch of ancient and old trees in this ce. These old and thick trees were so stubbornly strong that most axes couldn¡¯t even cut through them, which was one of the reasons why Merkarva City was reluctant to deforest this ce. ¡°It¡¯s the habitat of demonic beasts after all. There is definitely going to be one.¡± Carrying Hua Ran in my arms, I continued walking through the dark forest beforeing across a tree I was looking for. The old tree looked the same as other ones but there was a big hole on it, as if it had been eaten by arge bug. ¡°This ce is the habitat of owlbears. When there aren¡¯t any caves nearby, owlbears dig intorge trees like this to create their nest.¡± It was general knowledge that was passed down to guardians that frequented these types of forests. Actually, the reason why that was passed down was to have guardians immediately run away from the spot after seeing an owlbear¡¯s nest but here, we used that knowledge to find a shelter to hide from the rain. ¡°Quite spacious right?¡± Because it was the nest of an owlbear, it was rtively deep. There was enough space even after Hua Ran and I both went into it. ¡°¡­Surprised it doesn¡¯t copse.¡± She said after personallying into therge hole. ¡°The old trees that owlbears use as their nest have long and deep roots going in all directions, so it doesn¡¯t fall even when they dig down this deep. I guess that¡¯s one of the wisdom of animals.¡± The hole was very dark. I wondered if I should create a rune to light up the inside, but decided not to because there was no reason to irritate the beasts of this forest. If we were lucky, the owner of this nest woulde back sometime soon so I chose to wait for the time being. ¨C Pitter-patter! ¨C Kugung! The thick dark clouds and the leaves of the forest were stopping the moonlight from seeping into the forest. The asional lightning bolts were the only source of precious light that allowed us to see the surroundings clearly. ¨C Kurung! Light flickered outside which let me see the look on Hua Ran¡¯s face. It was only for a moment but I could tell that her face still wasn¡¯t looking great. I could also tell from our touching skins that she was shivering heavily from the cold. ¡°This is not good.¡± Saying that, I kicked off the ground when Hua Ran turned her gaze towards me. ¡°Where are you going¡­¡± ¡°To catch a bear.¡± ¡°Why¡­¡± Because I wanted to create a nket out of it for her, of course. There should be a bunch of owlbears nearby so it shouldn¡¯t take long. ¨C Grip. It was then. She tightly gripped onto my pants after seeing me stand up. ¨C Kurung! Lightning struck outside as light seeped into the hole. The girl with a pale face was shivering profusely in fright. ¡°¡­Don¡¯t go.¡± Wearing drenched nun clothes, Hua Ran said while gazing up at me with a desperate look in her eyes. Chapter 78: - Hua Ran (4) ? Hua Ran (4) ? ¡ºAhh, my daughter. My daughter¡­ Finally¡­ You finally woke up.¡» When she first opened her eyes, what Hua witnessed first was her ¡®master¡¯ tearing up while looking at her. Kang Yu called her his daughter, and called her Ran. The newly born jiangshi thought that was the name given to her. ¡ºDad?¡» Even though she just repeated that word like a parrot without knowing the meaning of it, her master was incredibly happy and gave her a tight hug. That was probably the moment when Hua realized that she had to act like Ran. She had a feeling that her ¡®dad¡¯ would throw her away after noticing that she was different. She was scared that he would try to retrieve Ran, and because she imagined a future without the ability to control her body, Hua had to act like Ran. What was fortunate was that the memories of the original body slowly started toe back to her. Although imperfect, she managed to act like Ran and just like that, she stole Ran¡¯s family and her life. ¡ºOh, Ran! Are you well now?¡» ¡ºOh my! Ran? Are you with your dad again?¡» Living as Ran was a sweet experience. She was the beloved daughter of the renowned Kang family, and the health of the unfortunate girl who couldn¡¯t even leave the house due to her illness until 14 years of age was something the entire city was interested in. But Hua knew that they were happy and d for the recovery of Ran, and not herself. That deceitful life crumbled down to pieces due to a small catalyst. ¡ºYou¡­ are not my daughter.¡» ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡ºHow could a jiangshi deal with a Grade 1 youkai1Youkai = Monster; Japanese term. They¡¯re using a term that¡¯s different from demonic beast. this easily?!¡» The first time she saw blood was when she had to save the city from a sea monster that suddenly attacked the city. Because of the request of the castle lord, her ¡®dad¡¯ had to order her to kill the monster and after that, she was visited by her ¡®dad¡¯s¡¯ brother who came to ¡®heal¡¯ her. Caressing her head, he said with a content look on his face. ¡ºHua. Well done.¡» The name, ¡®Hua¡¯ was also the one he gave her. His scorching gaze of greed pervaded into her body. That was the first time she realized she could be ¡®useful¡¯. Added to that was the neglect of his ¡®dad¡¯ who realized she wasn¡¯t his daughter. Her massacre began. The castle lord, the imperial family and the sages gave her requests. Demonic beasts, demonic spirits and¡­ humans. Regardless of the opponent, she killed as they wanted and as theymanded. That was how the Heavenly Yaksha was born. **** ¨C Zaaaah! A heavy rain was pouring down on the forest. Sitting next to therge and heavy raindrops falling endlessly, there was nothing to do but reminisce in one¡¯s memories. However, Hua Ran was not fond of meditations like this. Closing her eyes, she couldn¡¯t help but think back to what happened on that day. Looking back, it had also been raining heavily that day. When she came to her senses, she was standing on a scorched ground. The smell of sulfur was mixed in with the odor of corpses¡­ the once-gigantic buildings were in rubble, and the sky seemed so touched by the soaring walls of mes that it sent out heavy rains in return. She was the only one alive in that ce. nkly walking forward while looking for her disconnected memories, all she could see were people that were now in ashes. ¡®What happened to them?¡¯ was not a question; it was probably her that did it. ¡ºHua. Kill all the humans of thisnd. There should not be anything living left behind in this ce.¡» Thest memory she had was themand of her ¡®master¡¯. Her jumbled-up memories were confusing her mind so Hua Ran decided to stop thinking ¡®as always¡¯. Ever since the talismans attached to her chains had been burned down, the memories of the past constantly started to creep back up. ¡ºHua, just where is my daughter?¡» ¡ºIt¡¯s my body! Give it back!¡» ¡ºYou¡¯re not Ran. You¡¯re just a monster that stole her body!¡» ¡®No¡­¡¯ This body is mine. She wanted to argue that this was her body that she acquired after getting rid of the weaker self. ¡ºIt is clearly not yours. Don¡¯t you know that yourself?¡» Yes. She knew that better than anyone else. Hua and Ran. The two werepletely different beings. In fact, one of them wasn¡¯t even a human. The innate nature of Hua was that of a demonic beast ¨C she was an evil being that was pushed into a dying human; an uninvited guest that entered the body. A body with two souls. She had read countless simr stories where two souls fought for the body and every time, she was closer to the one that always had to lose. Those were themon plotlines of didactic novels where the evil got defeated and eradicated by the good. Despite knowing that it would always be the same conclusion, she looked for simr stories without an end; While hoping, that there could be a story out there where the evil triumphed over the good. However, whenever she found those stories and read their conclusions, she was made to constantly doubt her existence and reject her own self. They made her think that her existence itself as an uninvited guest might truly be a wicked thing. ¡°Let¡¯s see. It¡¯s a bit dark. We can¡¯t make it too strong though, so¡­¡± ¡º ? ¡» ¡ª Sowilo A rune letter was carved into the insides of the old tree. He reduced the mana usage so much that it was too feeble to be that of the sun. But even that was enough to light up the tree. After lighting the surroundings up, Korin started looking around the hole. ¡°Nice. There¡¯s one here.¡± After seemingly finding something, he picked it up and handed it over to her. ¡°Here you go, Hua Ran.¡± ¡°¡­What¡¯s this.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a beehive. Owlbears tend to steal beehives and store them in their nests.¡± He handed her a small beehive with abundant honey as Hua Ran bewilderedly received it from him with a shiver. The wood of a peach tree that she was made to swallow by Kang Ryun was still harassing her body, to the point that she even dropped the beehive immediately after receiving it. ¡°You look even worse than I expected.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. This much¡­ is nothing.¡± Hua Ran ¨C the Heavenly Yaksha ¨C was strong. Compared to Ran who was nothing but a weak feeble girl, she was iparably stronger. That was the only merit she had; it was her pride and the only thing that allowed her to keep her sense of self. There was no way she could possibly admit her weakness, even though it was already very clear that her strength had crumbled down to pieces. If she didn¡¯t even have this, then Hua wouldn¡¯t have the right to control Ran¡¯s body ¨C that was what she was thinking. ¡°Stop pretending to be strong. In times like this, you¡¯re just supposed to say thanks and ept what you get.¡± Korin slowly pushed away the beehive she dropped and brought a new one to her mouth. She had enough power to lick the beehive in her mouth but instead of licking, she munched through the beehive while nkly gazing at him. While receiving that quiet and iprehensible gaze, Korin thought about his two close friends. Despite their individual unique characteristics, both Marie and Alicia had honest expressions and gazes. They were very expressive about their honest emotions butpared to them, most of Hua Ran¡¯s gazes were indifferent without any hint of emotion. Her eyes rarely ever reflected any intense emotion. ¡°What is your objective¡­?¡± She barely forced those words out with a sunken voice. Even that didn¡¯t contain any emotions but Korin noticed that she was fairly serious about this question. Plus, he also realized that the girl was still shivering so¡­ ¨C Flop! He took out a nket and cast it over her. It was something he had prepared beforehand because he was expecting to spend the night outside. ¡°I don¡¯t need¡­¡± ¡°Ehey! Just take it. Or we can do what they do in those books and hug each other naked. That will be more effective,¡± ¡®But you don¡¯t want that, right?¡¯ He added, forcing her to make a choice between those two options. Hua Ran thought about hugging the boy naked throughout the nightpared to just using the nket. She didn¡¯t like either of the options, but had to go with the option that was at least a little bit better than the alternative. Hua Ran just couldn¡¯t guess what he was thinking. Being unable to read Korin¡¯s intention made her very confused, because everyone that she had met until now had been wanting something from her. A lost daughter; A healthier cousin; A weapon that can destroy everything. She could instinctively tell that this boy also wanted something from her but she had no idea what that exactly was. ¡°Do you want¡­ something from me?¡± It wouldn¡¯t be anything like a close rtionship; that was something that was only permitted to Ran. The only value Hua had was in her strength as a Yaksha ¨C an unbreakable body that could crush through everything. If that was what he was after, she could somewhat understand his actions. ¡°Do you remember what I said before?¡± While taking the nket that was about to fall and bringing it all the way to her neck, he opened his mouth. ¡°When do you think was the start of civilization?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bother if you¡¯re going to talk riddles.¡± Even though she remembered his words, she didn¡¯t reply back. It was because she was certain that his statement about the traces of another ¡®person¡¯ waiting until the ¡®person¡¯ with broken legs healed back up, was a story that did not apply to herself. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just normal to help when things are rough.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it is for human civilization. That has nothing to do with a monster like me.¡± ¡°A monster shivering from the cold, huh? So scary.¡± ¡°Stop making jokes and be honest. What do you want from me?¡± Her quiet gaze even contained a touch of killing intent. Those scorching ruby-colored eyes did not permit any lies. There was no way that he didn¡¯t want anything from her; there was nothing more devious than the thoughts of a human who imed they were helping a monster out of goodwill. On the receiving end of that gaze, instead of being scared by them, Korin found her pitiful. Her voice was cold, and she was in self-denial. She was heart-chillingly certain that she was a monster that would never receive any love. Because Korin knew of the story of Hua Ran, the Heavenly Yaksha, and her background¡­ he couldn¡¯t help but pity her. If she was a brazen monster that shamelessly shouted ¡®survival of the fittest¡¯ after taking over another person¡¯s body, would her life have been a lot easier? Such a future would nevere because Hua wasn¡¯t a piece of garbage like that. ¡°Do you remember the first time we met?¡± The conjoinment of two souls inside Korin Lork ¨C after seeing through that, Hua Ran had said something to him, who was in a simr condition to herself. ¡°You said I was not the owner of this body. And that I¡¯m a thief and a robber with no right over it.¡± The origin of her harsh criticism back then was quite simple if you were to link it back to her agony. It was as clear as day that the target of her criticism was herself, and not Korin Lork. ¡°My reply stays the same.¡± There is no sin in being born. Hua Ran still remembered that reply, but there was something she wasn¡¯t expecting. Rather than an insincere remark given to obtain her favor, she realized from his firm and stubborn gaze that it was a serious reply he was giving to her question. ¡°That¡¯s irresponsible,¡± she said. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°That is very irresponsible. Even Josephine and the Chairman know just how dangerous it is to free a monster using those ambiguous words.¡± It was rare for her to talk this much. As if she was throwing herints and her distress at the world, shemented while looking at the boy with condemnation. ¡°Does a monster be less of a monster if you just talk big like that? Does the world change?¡± ¡°It¡¯s true that I am trying to do this stuff to save the world but¡­ that¡¯s a secondary thing.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m simply trying not to ignore the things that are just there in front of me. People with predestined misfortune; because I am the only yer there is for them.¡± ¡°¡­What does that even mean?¡± ¡°If I try a bit harder, they can survive, and they¡¯ll die if I give up. In that case¡­ why not try a little bit more?¡± ¨C I¡¯m a bit of a romanticist, you see. ¡°More importantly, I¡¯m the only one you have next to you right now. That¡¯s why I have to do it. Let me help you. I can carry you around and feed you until your broken leg heals back up.¡± His words with a grin were just things she couldn¡¯t understand. However, she could still tell the sincerity behind his words, which was why her heart stung a little in pain. ¡°You, you¡­¡± Despite feeling the necessity to say something, Hua Ran did not know what she was supposed to say. She couldn¡¯t understand the boy in front of her nor the situation at hand, so much so that she didn¡¯t even know the face she was making. There was probably no way for her to tell just how foolish of an expression she had on her face. ¡°I¡­ am scared.¡± Her following words were her honest thoughts that Hua Ran unintentionally slipped against her will. The scariest thing for the world¡¯s strongest three-year-old child, who was indifferent to most of the things in the world, was that one day she had to give back the thing that was never her¡¯s. ¡°This¡­ is not my body. This is Ran¡¯s, and not Hua¡¯s. It was never mine; and everyone says I must give it back to her.¡± Ran¡¯s beloved family; The enemies that hate Hua; Just like the protagonists of many stories that talked about two souls; The soul of a demonic beast had entered the body of a sick child. There was no need to even bother asking others on who the illegal trespasser was. ¡°I need to return it. I know that, but if I give it back¡­ what would happen to me?¡± Her ¡®master¡¯ was the only one who said she didn¡¯t need to. Would this boy say the same thing? That it was okay for her to live? Would he say it was okay for her to take over this body? Wouldn¡¯t he say that though since he said he would help her? ¡°Tell me. Do I have to give it back?¡± ¡°You do need to give it back.¡± Her eyes widened into circles, before rapidly sinking back down. It was such an honest and reflexive response. It was so evident that that was what he wholeheartedly believed in, so even though it made her feel unpleasant, she understood his point because that was the right solution. In the end, even he was choosing Ran. Feeling like she had lost her one and only ally, her heart felt stifled. ¡°I see. Even you¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be over with you giving it back to her. Things might not work out immediately but it might actually be resolved in the blink of an eye. You can wait and see through the result of your decision.¡± ¡°What do you¡­¡± ¡°Remember the story about Hulk¡­ I mean, the smart green man? There is the possibility of mutual acknowledgement and cohabitation. There are instances like mine as well, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Besides, you are a bit overly frightened by it as well. Your mindset of, ¡®Ran is going to steal this body away from me, but no; it¡¯s mine!¡¯ is wrong. Of course, it¡¯s right to be scared because Hua and Ran are different beings. But you have no choice but to plead and constantly beg for her cooperation. Tell her, ¡®Hey boss. I can pay the deposit and the rent so what¡¯s wrong with living together, ey~?¡¯ and that might increase the likelihood by a little, right?¡± Nonsense. Cheap logic. That was nothing but an overly optimistic view of the future, and there was no way words would be enough to settle this rtionship. Thinking that, Hua Ran raised a rebuttal. ¡°A conversation¡­ is meant to be between people. You¡­ know about my origin as well.¡± ¡°Is that important?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The things that decide who we are are our choices and our actions. Your origin isn¡¯t that important.¡± Your origin as a demonic beast is not that important; your choice is what matters. ¡°There are plenty of people in the world that do worse things than demonic beasts. Some wicked people even pretend like heroes while massacring people in the back. What¡¯s always important is your choice.¡± He could say that because he had suffered from that exact experience. Hua Ran, and the boy who was believed to be a hero. Looking at the two of them, Korin Lork could say without any hesitation that the boy who was acting as the hero was the real ¡®monster¡¯ among the two. ¡°You haven¡¯t made any choice yet. I can help you until you make a decision.¡± Hua Ran wanted to shout out loud that he was wrong, and that everything he said was but a delusion. He was just ignorant and thus kind enough to reach out to the wounded monster who happened to be put in a seemingly pitiful state. But¡­ I cannot concede this body to Ran. That was her intention from the start because she was frightened of the future that was waiting for her if she were to pull herself back by even a little. Despite that, she couldn¡¯t be honest about it to the boy. Because she knew that the one-and-only hand that was being reached out to her would also vanish the moment she said that. ¡­Her heart ached in pain. She couldn¡¯t ept nor reject the hand in front of her. Footnotes:
  • 1Youkai = Monster; Japanese term. They¡¯re using a term that¡¯s different from demonic beast.
Chapter 79: - Hua Ran (5) ? Hua Ran (5) ? The day broke. As if to make up for all the rainst night, the forest was full of sunlight. ¡°¡­Hot.¡± It wasn¡¯t even summer anymore but heat from the dazzling sun on a wet forest after the rain increased the humidity to an incredible level. ¡°Can you get up?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran tried to push herself up from the ground by herself without giving me a response, but soon fell down on the ground like a calf that was just starting to learn how to walk. ¡°Grab my hand. Looks like your muscles still aren¡¯t working properly.¡± She tried to p my hand away but I quickly grabbed onto her hand and pulled her up, as she then began looking at me with a discontent look on her face. It might have been a different story before but the current Hua Ran wasn¡¯t very scary. Holding onto the hand of the grumpy Hua Ran, I headed deeper into the forest. ¡°¡­Where are we going?¡± ¡°Since we¡¯re in this forest anyway¡­ I thought we might as well drop by.¡± We continued walking with no destination in sight but Hua Ran quietly followed after me without raising anyints. ¡°Hua. You¡¯re a jiangshi, right?¡± ¡°¡­Yes.¡± ¡°Jiangshis have several weaknesses; just like how silver is detrimental for werewolves and how you can¡¯t do anything after swallowing a piece of wood from a peach tree.¡± Of course, this also depended on the individual. The peach tree was one of the very big weaknesses of jiangshis. Getting cut by one of those swords would immediately slice their skin apart, but it wasn¡¯t that powerful against someone at Hua Ran¡¯s level. She could protect her skin by using her incredible amount of aura and the innate toughness of her body would far outshine the strength of the peach tree sword. Therefore, even peach trees wouldn¡¯t work on Hua Ran unless it was through special means like making her consume it through her mouth. ¡°So?¡± ¡°Jiangshis are full of the overwhelming aura of Yin. The reason why Kang Yu the Sage decided to make Ran into a jiangshi was because he couldn¡¯t find ways to add enough Yang energy to offset the abundance of Yin.¡± That was why he made her into a jiangshi that could make use of that Yin energy instead; into a demonic organism that could release the infinite amount of Yin built up by Ran¡¯s Ice Yin Constitution with a single attack. How desperate must have Kang Yu been, to the point that he thought of making a living human into a jiangshi? ¡°Now. Since you¡¯re aplete organism of Yin, what are other items that might be critical against you?¡± Hua Ran thought about several items; glutinous rice flour, ck blood of a beast, peach tree, and a sword made of coins backed up by inner qi. She had stood off against all of them and none of them worked against her ¡®Unbreakable Vajra Body¡¯. Only something as deadly as swallowing a portion of the peach tree was able to neutralize her for a small period of time, which she was going through right now. ¡°Yes. Most of your weaknesses are offset because of your body. So swallowing things directly into your body is the only way for them to be somewhat effective.¡± I stopped my feet. We were finally at our destination. ¡°Counterbncing Yin. If you just focus on that part, you¡¯ll actually find several candidates.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Hua Ran and I looked at the tree in front of us; at the dark and charred jujube tree that seemed to have been struck by lightning. It had been struck by lightning justst night; the part at the top of the tree was as dark as charcoal and the lower half, that was at least a bit better, was giving off a strange scent after being burned. ¡°We can only grab a handful, I guess.¡± Taking a few pieces off, I stacked them in my hand. This was the rare item you could find in this forest; the lightning-struck wood. A jujube tree struck by lightning. I said while eradicating the leftover tree after carving a rune. ¡°The lightning-struck wood contains arge amount of Yang energy. Normally, they use it to chase out demonic spirits but¡­ what do you think will happen if you swallow this?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran couldn¡¯t reply to my question with ease, but I knew the answer to that question. ¡°If you eat this, the bnce of Yin and Yang in your body will momentarily return to being stable. Your characteristics as a jiangshi will be neutralized for a short instant.¡± ¡°What do you¡­ mean by that?¡± After seemingly inferring something from my sentence, she asked with a trembling voice. I replied. ¡°If you eat this, you will lose control of your body.¡± 3rd Arc; the turning point of the Heavenly Yaksha. The lightning-struck wood was a momentary buff item of Ran which you had to obtain if you were to choose to save Ran out of the two. I handed that over to Hua Ran. ¡°Why are you¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m supposed to give you the opposite version of this as well but¡­ I¡¯m sure you already know what the opposite version of this is.¡± Her eyes heavily trembled. Dropping the lightning-struck wood, she took several steps back in fright. ¡°I, I¡­ I¡¯m not eating this. I am not going to eat this¡­¡± She stepped back from the piece of wood like it was a bomb but after picking it up, I once again ced it in her hands. ¡°One day, you¡¯ll be forced to make a choice.¡± ¡°Why¡­ Why are you telling me this? It would have been¡­ better if I didn¡¯t know about this.¡± It would have been easier for her if she wasn¡¯t aware of how to return the body in the first ce. ¡°Well, now you do. It¡¯s time to think for yourself between the two options.¡± There were plenty of unfortunate events in the world, and Hua opting for something that benefited her the most wasn¡¯t even among the worst things out there. In fact, since it concerned the very existence of herself¡­ no one had the right to condemn her even if she was to make a selfish choice. It was normal for anyone to choose themselves over other people. However, she still had to be responsible for her actions. Whatever it was that she decided to go with, she had to make a choice and had to shoulder the responsibility that came with it. People weren¡¯t supposed to live an easy life by monopolizing everything, by only making profits without taking any responsibilities. Because I already knew of a person who had been the extreme example of that, I wanted Hua Ran to be different from such selfish people. ¡°I¡­¡± Tightly sping on the lightning-struck wood in her hands, Hua Ran turned silent. That was when someone else¡¯s voice echoed across the forest and stopped her from saying anything else. ¡°You were here the whole time, huh.¡± Around 15 meters behind us, there was a guy staring our way. **** Sa Jinhyuk. The unfortunate victim of the Moonlight Castle incident from a year ago; a fiendish avenger who had been training himself the whole time for nothing but revenge. His lips were crooked in an upward nt and his eyes were giving off a violent and beastly scent. ¡°Aiya~. Look at you, Miss Monster! Somehow you have a boyfriend helping you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still single.¡± ¡°¡­Hmph.¡± Unlike Hua Ran who shrank from the condemnation, Korin rebutted with a nonchnt face. Jinhyuk¡¯s eyes were fierce and ferocious but Korin¡¯s were very rxed. Even though it was clear that this would lead to an inevitable battle, he was looking at Jinhyuk like a man who was meeting his friend for the first time in 10 years. ¡°Korin Lork, huh.¡± ¡°I am not Korin Lork. My name is Immortan Lork.¡± ¡°Yes yes. Let¡¯s just say that.¡± ¡°It is very important, you see.¡± ¡°So, that bitch is mine if I beat you. Right?¡± He said with a light tone that was still overflowing with killing intent. The weight of his revenge, hatred, and killing intent was very dense and heavy. Facing that explicitly dense hostility, Korin Lork took out his spear after sensing that he couldn¡¯t avoid the inevitable. Holding onto his 2-meter-long silver spear, he jumped forward without any hesitation. ¨C Kwaang! A gust raged down as the spearhead destroyed the ce where Jinhyuk used to be standing. ¡°Nice footwork there.¡± Jinhyuk avoided it with ease while showing off his weapon at the same time. His boots resembled simple leather shoes at a nce and what stood off more was his leg that was wearing them. The small gap between his leather boots and his trousers revealed a cold prosthetic leg. It was made using the best of materials but it was far from being enough to be an adequate substitute for the limb he used to have. ¡°Amazing right? That bitch is the one who did this as well.¡± ¡°I like it, buddy. Can I have one too? Or maybe¡­ I should just steal it from you.¡± Korin replied while acting like he was greedy for his prosthetic leg. Jinhyuk seemed to find that shameless and nonchnt attitude quiteughable. ?eleration?, ?Unlimiting Power?, ?Storming Wheel?. He activated the spells cast on his leg. Using those, he was the type to fight using precast buffs that best suited the situation. That was what supported him through battles instead of the usual flesh and muscles. ¡°me yourself for making a bad girlfriend.¡± ¡°Kidnapping is a crime, you¡¯re right.¡± Unlike their casual words, their voices were very serious and grave. As if they had promised on it beforehand, the two knights red at each other¡­ and their fight soon began. **** The spearman called Korin Lork was like a leopard ¨C a fast carnivorous beast that skilfully yed with its prey in the jungle that was always ready to throw out a sharp and unexpected attack. His storm-like stabs had the profound truths of Zha that boasted of being incredibly efficient. ¡°Hmm¡­!¡± Jinhyuk had to retreat with a gasp. His opponent was like an unstoppable torrent. The gap between his stabs due to the rapid retrievals of his spear was too short. The spear constantly tried to stab through his forehead, shoulders, throat, and heart, and knew not how to stop like a zing me. ¡®Damn it. He¡¯s like Big Sister, if not stronger¡­!¡¯ He had the experience of a veteran, and hispetence as a master of spears, which repeated his moves countless times, made each of his basic attacks into killer moves. This man ¨C Korin Lork ¨C was truly strong enough to earn the title of a master. ¡®A swing when I try to get close and a stab when I try to get far. And unconventional tricks don¡¯t work on him either.¡¯ Seeing how he was regrly dropping rune-engraved stones onto the ground implied that he had many hidden tricks up his sleeve. It was only thanks to a preemptive notice from Yuhua that Jinhyuk was able to notice it. He was skilled at tricks, and yet was also simply powerful. Jinhyuk couldn¡¯te up with any negatives from his short evaluation of Korin Lork. Strong. How much work would he have had to put in to push his spearmanship to this level? How many battles did he go through to build such an incredible fighting sense? Jinhyuk would have respected his skills and shown his admiration if they had met under normal circumstances, but in a situation as abnormal as this, Korin was nothing but an enemy that he had to ovee. ¡°Mhmm¡­?!¡± Suddenly Jinhyuk started marching forward like a fool. Korin retaliated immediately by swinging his silver spear with a gust. It was the art of a Tiger¡¯s Gust that threatened to slice Jinhyuk¡¯s body into pieces. ¨C Pabak! Kicking off the ground, Jinhyuk rotated in the air. Using the force of his waist, he spun 540 degrees as his foot then collided with the shaft of the spear. In the end, it was still just a foot against a whole spear. It seemed obvious that the spear would be the oneing out on top but¡ª ¨C Pang! ¡°Uht¡­!¡± A storm erupted out as the shaft of the spear got flung back from the crash. It was by sheer luck that Korin managed to stop the spear from flying out of his grip. ¡°Storming Wheel¡­!¡± ¡°Surprised you know it!¡± That was the skill learned by the monks of the east that allowed its user to control the wind in the atmosphere to form it into a storm. Wind rotating around the leg in a wheel-shape was like them wearing a semi-tornado around their legs. Jinhyuk closed the distance in a sh. Before Korin could swing the spear, he struck down at his corbone with a sharp knife-hand strike. ?Old Ax? ¨C Kahk! The bone cracked out loud ¨C Jinhyuk was certain that it was a meaningful hit. Right as he was about to follow through with another attack, Korin released his spear. ¡°What?¡± A spearman giving up on his spear ¨C before Jinhyuk could even think about what that meant, the thick arms of Korin reached out to his clothes and his left wrist respectively as Korin then pulled him towards himself. In the blink of an eye, Jinhyuk was almost about to fall face-t on the ground. He tried to add weight to his legs to stop himself from falling but his body was already right next to Korin¡¯s waist. There was only enough gap for a single finger between the two of them. At such a close distance, Jinhyuk couldn¡¯t use his kicks nor his powerful punches. But somehow, Korin¡¯s left palm was already next to Jinhyuk¡¯s chest with a powerful force despite the close gap. Eight Trigrams, Three Heavenly Palm Strikes: First Palm. ?Venerating Palm? ¡°Kuhk¡­!?¡± Jinhyuk was pushed back after being struck on his chest. Following that were consecutive palm strikes aiming at his eyes and his nose. ¡°Kuhuk¡­!¡± A spearman wielding a spear. He had been deceived by that preconception. Jinhyuk being pushed back created a distance between them again as the fallen spear immediately returned to Korin¡¯s grip as if it had a will of its own. He then carried out a fierce stab at the stumbling Jinhyuk before he could re-stabilize his body. But it was then. ¡°Huhaha¡­!¡± Korin was charging forward for the stab. After calcting that he would take one more step forward, Jinhyuk bent himself back and readied himself for a back flip. Matching himself with the opponent¡¯s charge, he did a somersault kick along with the back flip. He was intending on crushing Korin¡¯s chin with that attack but Korin dodged it by twisting his head. ¨C Paak! The storm around his leg barely grazed past Korin¡¯s cheeks. Jinhyuknded back down on the ground. ¡°Tch¡­!¡± Jinhyuk clicked his tongue. It was one of the hidden cards up his sleeve but Korin dodged it with rtive ease. From that short bout, Jinhyuk realized wholeheartedly that the opponent was either at the same level or stronger than himself. ¡°But your punches are ticklish.¡± Despite the ferocity of his spears, his physical capabilities were subpar. It ached a little bit after receiving the Three Heavenly Palms from the front but it was still quite bearable. If that was one of his trump cards, then it meant that the oue of this battle would probably be a 50:50. His pride made Jinhyuk want to continue this battle till the end but¡­ ¡°That is enough ying around.¡± Echoing from behind was the voice of Kang Ryun the Taoist Sage. At the same time, talismans floating in the air flew forward and sealed the ce Korin was standing in. ¡°Uhp¡­!¡± Being suppressed by that shapeless force, his knees were forced to the ground. Korin tried to escape from the seal with his strength but for some reason, that made him feel more and more lethargic. ¡°Do not even bother. That is the sealing talisman with fundamentals of the Eight Formations. Your thoughts; signals to use power; cirction of qi ¨C nothing will go the way you want them to.¡± After easily suppressing Korin, he walked to Hua Ran who was on her knees due to being unable to even stand. ¡°N, n¡­¡± Kang Ryun took out a talisman despite her resistance and ced it on her forehead. ¡°No¡­¡± In an instant, her pupils lost light as her head fell straight down. Like a jiangshi obeying the words of the spiritualist, her body became rigid. ¡°Master. So this talisman¡­¡± ¡°Yes. This is the talisman sealing Hua¡¯s consciousness. If we carry out the Evil Extermination Formation with her in this state, the soul will be banished and forever exterminated.¡± ¡°¡­We can finally see Ran again.¡± ¡°Kang Ryun! You bastard¡­!¡± Korin shouted with a desperate and ghastly voice but after being neutralized, he couldn¡¯t even garner a bit of Kang Ryun¡¯s attention. ¡°You will pay the price for bearing a foolish dream. Stay here and be feed for the demonic beasts.¡± ¡°KANG RYUUUUUUNNN¡­!¡± The three of them turned their backs. Following from behind was Hua Ran walking with a lifeless set of steps. ¡°HUA RAN! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO¡­!!¡± The desperate scream of the boy did naught but echo through the dense forest. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ After a while, demonic beasts gathered at the ce that was sealed by the talismans. There were already a bunch of them there. Dozens of low-grade demonic beasts were already surrounding Korin, drooling without being able to hide their desire to dive in. However, the reason they didn¡¯t dare dive in first was that there was a being of higher status near them ¨C the king of beasts. They had vibrant golden fur. They were such beautiful beasts of gold. Ones that shouldn¡¯t exist in this era ¨C they were beings that somehow reappeared through a miraculous process of atavism even though it had been ages since they had gone extinct. Golden wolves. The presence of those absolute existences forced the demonic beasts to step back in quiet resignation. The wolves rushed in. Although they were small, their sharp fangs were more than enough to easily pierce through the defenseless Korin in the blink of an eye. ¨C Rip! However, what the wolves bit on wasn¡¯t his appealing neck but the yellow talismans stuck on the ground. The talismans broke as the formation was then dispelled. Even after being freed, Korin remained standing on the spot while cracking his bones without even bothering to escape from the beasts in front of him. ¡°Ahh, my muscles feel stiff already! So, are they gone? That was decent, right?¡± ¡ºBig Brother. Your acting was great!¡» ¡ºIt felt a bit exaggerated.¡» The ferocious wolves spoke with the voices of kids but Korin glossed over the seemingly incredible phenomenon. ¡°Well, it¡¯s all part of the skill, I guess. Ren. Ron. Have you finished everything I told you to do?¡± ¡ºYes bro! I mean, Big Brother!¡» ¡ºSister Renya said she will take care of the rest.¡» ¡°Huhuhu¡­ It¡¯s up to Brother Bae now!¡± ¡ºBy the way, Big Brother. What did you tell him to do?¡» ¡°Nothing much. You can call it a defense contractor fraud. Maybe it¡¯s a bit different.¡± The voice of the boy echoed across the forest. Unlike the scream of agony and rage that had been echoing until just then, it contained a rtively calm and serious tone. **** Renault Lusignan was the typical image of a prideful religious person. As the elder of a religion that was in a gradual decline, he tended to be overly obsessed with pride and dignity. That was why he tended to be shameless and brazen even if he were to make an evident mistake, without acknowledging his mistake. Before, there was a time when he dered to a dying patient that he should get ready to head to paradise, and when the doctor cured the patient, he burned down the entire vige for a group responsibility of sphemy. Renault himself did admit inwardly that it was an era of madness, but he still couldn¡¯t help but reminisce about his powerful days. The fall of the nobility and his religious group brought about many things. ¡°So¡­ you mean you still haven¡¯t found the bandits, nor the items that can act as substitutes?¡± The insolent pagan of the east who was daring to re at him from the front was one of the reasons behind his sudden reminiscence about the past. If this was in the past, there was no way that such a pagan could have dared to be this impertinent in front of him, the bishop. ¡°Haha. Just wait a little bit more. Unlike you, Student Yuhua and your group, we have limited reach in thisnd.¡± ¡°But you have a few following behind your tail already, do you not?¡± This insolent pagan! Despite thinking that, Renault didn¡¯t show his thoughts on his face. It was because the official and physical powerhouses of the Old Faith, the Temr Knights, didn¡¯t follow them to this secret meeting ce. He did have the Chargers of the Cross but¡­ ¡°They are a shadow. We cannot reveal them with ease.¡± ¡°Looks like you do not understand just how important this is. We need fitting articles to add the profound meaning of Evil Extermination to the Eight Formations.¡± Rather than understanding the importance of that thing or whatever, Renault focused on trying to please Yuhua as much as possible, because he knew that this girl could twist his neck with a few fingers despite being half his size. He was a reminiscer of the past, but wasn¡¯t delusional. ¡°We are in touch with a merchant corporation that can supply the substitutes. They are a group of merchants that have been trading with the eastern continent for a very long time.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Yuhua¡¯s frown eased a little after hearing that and Renault did not miss that opportunity. ¡°Now now. Actually, that merchant was supposed toe today to bring all those items.¡± ¡°¡­I will check them as well.¡± Yuhua was quite displeased by their slow work speed despite being the ones who got the items robbed, but didn¡¯t push them any further because she and her group still needed their assistance. ¡°By the way, what is the name of their corporation?¡± ¡°It is called the ¡®Brite Corporation¡¯. He was a man who was also very knowledgeable about ¡®Guanxi¡¯, which I heard was a culture of the east.¡± Chapter 80: - Hua Ran (6) ? Hua Ran (6) ? Grade 1 youkais1Youkai = Monster; Japanese term. They¡¯re using a term that¡¯s different from demonic beast. were like a disaster ¨C a materialized form of catastrophe that always led to immense destruction even when a bunch of warriors and sages were to group up against them. ¨C Rip! Rippp! ¨C Kaduk! Crunch! That was why Kang Ryun was deeply touched by the scene in front of him. It wasn¡¯t an overstatement to say that he was moved by it. In front of him was a Yaksha ripping a Grade 1 youkai to pieces as if it was a toy. That was the greatest monster created by his younger brother, one who was praised for being a genius spiritualist. Kang Ryun was baffled by his ridiculous idea of turning a living human into a jiangshi, and wasn¡¯t expecting him to actually create such a wondrous thing. ¡ºBrother. We must retrieve Ran¡¯s consciousness. I really need your help for this.¡» The reason he visited was because of the letter he received from his brother but after seeing the Yaksha, Kang Ryun realized just how foolish and irrational that request of his younger brother was. Giving up on such a remarkable weapon!? Giving up on that tool? How could he give up on that unprecedented power just because of one little girl? A jiangshi that was barely 1-year-old was shredding a Grade 1 youkai into pieces. That Yaksha was definitely the seed of a heavenly disaster! It was one of the wonders of the world that had the potential to evolve into a ¡®Hou¡¯ after building enough Karma by being covered by the blood and flesh of others! Thinking of that future possibility made Kang Ryun¡¯s eyes flicker with greed. A mighty youkai that has been told down in legends; the Great Youkai, that can contend even against the almighty dragons. The desire to make that into his was whatpelled Kang Ryun to carry out that long and thorough n, which was finally close to being finished in this foreignnd. ¡°Finally, we have reached the highlight of the festival! The final round of the group event will begin very soon!¡± Sitting in thementary seat, Professor Edgar shouted, as the crowd reacted with a cheer. The individual and the doubles events had all beenpleted the day before and the festival was due to end after this group event. ¨C Clomp clomp! Kang Ryun turned after hearing the clomping sound of high-heels and saw Senior Professor Josephine of Merkarva Academy. ¡°Professor Kang Ryun. Are you finished with your preparations?¡± ¡°I have just finished modifying them.¡± Josephine turned to the right. Next to Kang Ryun was a pattern drawn using the blood of a beast and at the center of that pattern were a bunch of stones with talismans. ¡°Are they the articles for this group event?¡± ¡°That is correct. They should have already been checked by Merkarva though.¡± ¡°Yes you are right, but I am not good with formations you see.¡± cing special articles in designated ces, a formation required the articte use of mana and positioning to create a partially different dimension. ¡°Let me check one more time; the formation that will be used for this group event is the Eight Gates Formation, yes?¡± ¡°Yes. It is a formation where eight gates go through an endless cycle of change to mesmerize the ones locked inside it. They must find the right path inside the bewildering Eight Gates and arrive at the center to retrieve the symbol.¡± After sharing a few more words, Kang Ryun headed to the waiting room and was met by his disciple, Sa Jinhyuk. ¡°Where is the item?¡± ¡°It is here sir.¡± Jinhyuk replied while tapping on a saisen2Saisen box = a box for saisen, which is money offered to the gods or bodhisattvas in Japan. box with the symbol of a dragon that was sorge that it could contain a whole person inside it. ¡°Open it.¡± ¨C Creak! He opened the box and inside was Hua Ran crouching like a newborn baby. Light reflected off of her eyes but the soulless red eyes showed not a single response. ¡°Good. It¡¯s still there.¡± Kang Ryun indifferently closed the box. Inside the box that turned dark once again, Hua Ran was still tightly sping on a small piece of wood. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Sa Jinhyuk carried the saisen box behind his shoulder. Even though he wasn¡¯t among the participants of the group event, he was able to attend with Professor Kang Ryun under the excuse of being his assistant. After reaching the center of the festival arena, Jinhyuk ced down the saisen box. ¡°Good! I believe everything has now been prepared. Everyone; pleasee in!¡± Professor Edgar said in thementary seat as the participants of the group event entered the arena one by one. Kang Yuhua¡¯s Group 1, Group 3; and Merkarva¡¯s Group A and Group D ¨C there should be 16 participants but that won¡¯t be the case anymore because Group D should have been disqualified. Because after all, Korin Lork, the leader of Group D should have long be food for the demonic beasts. He had gone ¡®missing¡¯ and he had also been disqualified from the doubles event yesterday for not making it there in time. That won¡¯t be much different for the group event either. ¡°Hoh. Finally, Big Sister is¡­ing?¡± Kang Yuhua was walking into the arena under the cheers of the Purple Hawk students but the disgruntled look on Yuhua¡¯s face puzzled Jinhyuk. But soon, he realized why. The boy with the sparkling silver spear and the unique wild appearance of his, who had been showing off an incredible presence the whole time over the group event, was also entering the stage. ¡°This is our moment of victory! I shall lead you personally to the gates of Valha! You shall shine with me forever!!¡± ¡°Immortan Lork! Immortan Lork!¡± ¡°Immortan Lork! Immortan Lork!¡± ¡°¡­That madman. He¡¯s still alive.¡± Korin Lork entered the stage with the passionate cries of the bandits before giving a ferocious smile in front of Kang Ryun. ¡°¡­¡± Seeing that, Kang Ryun didn¡¯t say anything. He had no idea how Korin returned alive but he would be paying for his actions soon anyway. ¡°The test will now begin. I am sure you have heard the contents already.¡± However, Kang Ryun couldn¡¯t help but find him annoying ¨C even Kang Ryun had to admit that Korin Lork had an extraordinary presence to him. ¨C Flick! His fan opened at a rapid speed as the arena immediately started to shift. ?Eight Formation Drawings ¨C Eight Gates Formation? That flick of his fan trembled the ground. The articles ced all around in the cardinal and ordinal directions as well as the yellow dragon in the middle heeded to his call. ¨C Kugugugugung!! ¡°H, huhh?¡± ¡°T, the ground is cracking open!¡± Something enormous was soaring up from the crack created in the ground. Even though the students had already experienced the mysterious nature of formations, they were still baffled by how it could shift the actual ground itself. ¡°Hoh~.¡± However, Korin was still full of leisure, and seeing that, Kang Ryun scoffed. The four gods; the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermillion Bird of the South, White Tiger of the West and the ck Tortoise of the North. In the middle of them all was the Yellow Dragon. Kang Ryun was the only one who knew how to reverse the formation; even Yuhua and Jinhyuk were clueless. ¡°Begin.¡± The deployed formation altered the arena as it divided all the participants. Making the inside of the formation into another world, Kang Ryun added the rules he wanted. Everything was over as soon as he activated the formation. No matter what Korin Lork was nning on doing, thepletion of the ¡®Great Evil¡¯ was already inevitable. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!! At the central tform of the deployed formation were Kang Ryun, Yuhua, and Jinhyuk. ¡°I will now start the ritual for separating Ran from Hua. Yuhua and Hyuk ¨C protect the ck Tortoise of the North.¡± ¡°Is it okay to leave all the other ones unprotected?¡± ¡°The ck Tortoise is the most important symbol of this formation. As long as that is protected, it will not matter even if everything else is to be broken.¡± ¡°Okay sir.¡± Jinhyuk couldn¡¯t seem to hide his expectation, and seemed overwhelmed by emotions after finally reaching this moment. Yuhua was the same ¨C she carefully raised a request to her uncle. ¡°Uncle¡­ Please. I will leave Ran in your hands.¡± In order to regain her family that she lost 3 years ago, Yuhua put everything she had on the line. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Yuhua felt a peace of mind after hearing that directly from Kang Ryun, who was also Ran¡¯s uncle, and calmly headed north. Seeing how desperate the two of them were¡­ ¡°Kuhuhuhu, idiots. Although they¡¯re my family¡­ each and every one of them is so foolish and naive.¡± He couldn¡¯t help but scoff at them. Both Kang Yuhua and Kang Yu were way too ignorant of how priceless this was. That was why she would be doomed to the same future as Kang Yu, his foolish and stupid brother. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Huh? What happened to the broadcast video?¡± ¡°What? Why aren¡¯t the screens showing anything?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I believe there were too many mana ripples at the activation of the formation, which was what affected the video-sending tools inside the formation.¡± ¡°Damn it! What kind of newbie mistake is that!¡± After forming a different world inside, the formation severed every connection it had with the outside world and imprisoned its prey. **** The world modified by the formation was slowly bing a different world. Four guardian deities and the yellow dragon. The yellow dragon, sitting in the middle of the 4 guardians, symbolized the emperor and the trespassers of the formation of the 5 gods were the rebels. Right now, the world inside the formation was under an imaginary civil war with stone warriors actively fighting against their enemies. They were the imperial military, whereas the participating students of the group event were the rebels. Despite being attacked by countless stone warriors from all around, the students were still under the impression that this was a part of the test. ¡°Uahhk¡­! I, isn¡¯t this too much?!¡± ¡°This ispletely different fromst time! What is wrong with these guys?¡± Lark and Jaeger shouted in confusion while breaking the stone warriors. They had heard about this beforehand, but the stone warriors were still a lot more powerful than expected. ¡°Ugh, where are the others?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know! I don¡¯t see Korin nor Alicia!¡± Korin had told them to destroy as many articles of the formation as possible but¡­ They were only 2, fighting against hundreds of stone warriors. The only conclusion they could think of was their own defeat. ¨C Kung! Kung! It was then. Jaeger and Lark widened their eyes. While they were in the middle of trying to destroy the stone warriors, a giant suddenly appeared from a distance as it then started trampling its way towards them. ¡°Wait wait wait. What the hell is that?¡± ¡°I, I don¡¯t know!¡± The giant stone warrior was the stone centurion. It was as strong as a semi-Grade 1 demonic beast inside the formation but¡­ ¨C Woof! A dog suddenly prated through it in the blink of an eye. ¨C Kaaaoooo!! The red dog rampaged and destroyed every section of the stone giant. That torrent of violence was an overkill no matter how they saw it. After that, the red beast crushed all the nearby stone warriors, and each of its swings demolished everything nearby including the walls and the ground. ¡°Ugek¡­¡± It was no surprise that even Jaeger was appalled by it. That was no longer even an ally ¨C it was just a catastrophe that destroyed everything nearby. ¡°Bend down!¡± A familiar voice reached their ears. Knowing how the owner of that voice was another person who was far from the realms ofmon sense, the two of them quickly threw themselves onto the ground. ¨C Kururung! Kwagang!! Following that was a squall; or rather, a hail. Arrows of ice fell from the sky and wiped out an entire section of stone warriors. ¡°Are you guys okay?¡± ¡°S, Senior Marie.¡± The one who literally wiped hundreds of stone warriors off the face of the ground was Marie Dunareff; the Alliance-approved semi-Unique Grade mage and an unofficial Unique Grade vampire. ¡°It¡¯s dangerous so be careful! Doggo, let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Woof!¡± Marie started advancing while literally deleting the hordes of stone warriors. She probably got requested by Korin to destroy the stone giants and the articles. There was no doubt that anything would be destroyed as long as she went there; Jaeger and Lark gulped while seeing her back. ¡°Aiya~. So that¡¯s the person we somehow beat, huh?¡± ¡°It¡¯s our lifetime achievement¡­¡± As alpha men who fought for glory and honor, they had something to brag about for the rest of their life. **** Out of the four guardian deities, the ck Tortoise of the North was in the most special position. From times immemorial, it was the job of the ck Tortoise to protect the emperor in the middle. Because it was always standing behind the emperor, it was at a position where it could both protect and attack the emperor at any given moment. That was why the ck Tortoise of the North was always very important. Northern True Martial Heavenly Highest Deity.3±±˜O±wÎäÐþÌìÉÏµÛ = Northern True Martial Heavenly Highest Deity; apparently another name for ck Tortoise. For a long time, the sages had been calling this ck Tortoise with the name, Heavenly Highest Deity and had been honoring it as a martial god. That was why the best method to deal with formations that had the four guardian deities as the basis was to attack from the North. It was because the ck Tortoise of the North was the guardian deity of the Yellow Dragon of the center, who could also pierce the heart of the emperor with a dagger at any time. ¡°You came straight here without even losing your bearings. You¡­ how do you know everything?¡± ¡°¡­That was very fast.¡± On the north of the formation near the article of the ck Tortoise, Sa Jinhyuk and Kang Yuhua had to stand off against the rebels. ¡°Mr. Korin¡­ Is it really going to be okay with just the two of us? Shouldn¡¯t we call Senior Marie¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s fine. Senior Marie needs to break all the remaining 3 for us.¡± Alicia Arden and Korin Lork arrived after defeating the stone warriors with ease. ¡®This is weird. How did they arrive here so fast through the illusions of the Eight Gates?¡¯ ¡®Uncle¡¯s Eight Gates got solved already? Is that even possible?¡¯ Jinhyuk and Yuhua couldn¡¯t believe that the formation of the strongest formation expert of the east, Kang Ryun, had been breached this easily. But their doubt was justified. The Eight Gates Illusionary Formation had mazes,yers of fog and stone warriors ced inside with the paths having the ability to change in 365 different ways. Even a formation prodigy would have trouble leaving one after entering it and yet¡­ ¡°A ceramic pot with an Azure Dragon, a ne made with the fangs of a White Tiger, a painting of the Vermillion Bird, and a carapace with a painting of the ck Tortoise; out of these, you bought two very recently, right?¡± ¡°You¡­ How did you¡­?¡± They originally didn¡¯t need to buy any articles for the Eight Gates Formation, but they had to once the articles that they were trying to smuggle without reporting to Merkarva Academy had been stolen by mounted bandits. Items with drawings of symbolic creatures and special materials might have beenmon in the east, but here, they were very rare. That was why it was hard for them to look for simr ones again but¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­!¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct! I was that mounted bandit.¡± ¡°You bastard¡­!¡± Yuhua and Jinhyuk red at Korin Lork with burning eyes. ¡°I see. So even the Brite Corporation¡­¡± ¡°That was also from me. It was way too perfect of a timing for them to appear, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Yuhua gasped. If it was he who had stolen the smuggled articles and sold simr ones¡­ then it was natural that he would have done something to the articles in secret. ¡°I added some tracking runes to the articles. It would have been hard to detect those because of the innate mana within them.¡± An ancient letter of the past that was hard to even see these days ¨C it would have been hard for them to find a tiny letter of thatnguage system. ¡°They did us dirty, Big Sister.¡± ¡°¡­Shut up, Hyuk.¡± As expected, even the gentle and kind student council president of Purple Hawk gritted her teeth after being yed this hard. ¡°That doesn¡¯t change anything. We will protect the ck Tortoise.¡± ¡°Simple is the best.¡± Yuhua and Jinhyuk readied themselves for battle as Korin and Alicia stepped forward in response. ¡°Alicia. You deal with Kang Yuhua.¡± ¡°¡­Honestly, I am not very confident though.¡± ¡°They are idiots who can¡¯t even look after their own belongings. I¡¯m sure you will beat them in no time.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The two red back with a cold gaze after being provoked. Alicia was flustered by the coldness of their eyes. ¡°Umm, M, Mr. Korin¡­ I¡­ don¡¯t think¡­ a provocation like that is very good.¡± ¡°Ohh~. Look, look. They¡¯re mad. By the way, Yuhua is about two times stronger than you, so good luck surviving.¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?!¡± **** The leg and the spear crashed into each other. Without even the time for a breather, the silver spear and the leg were shot at their opponents. It was a desperate battle with neither pauses nor intervals. They were as vigorous as the boiling steam that threatened to burn the opponent even at the cost of turning themselves into gas. ¡°¡­Uhk!¡± It was definitely Sa Jinhyuk who was being pushed back in that fight. The silver spear was entrically fast and was bing even faster over time. Each and every one of those menacing attacks were suppressing the area around Sa Jinhyuk and limiting his movement. ?Eight Trigrams Spearmanship: Double-headed Serpent? ¡°Kuhk¡­?!¡± The pointy stab of the spear was aiming at the center. The moment Sa Jinhyuk tried to defend himself from the stab, Korin¡¯s hands twisted and suddenly changed the direction of the spear. It then led to another sharp stab that aimed at his vitals, but Jinhyuk rotated his body like the turbulent waves and dodged it. Ominous Snake: Secret Arts¡ª That was when Jinhyuk¡¯s eyes stopped in bewilderment. The spear was pulled back faster than Jinhyuk could re-stabilize his posture after the dodge¡­ and was now speeding at a speed that was iparably faster than the previous stabs. ¡ªDistorted March Jinhyuk swung his leg in response but it was flung away like it was nothing. Even his left leg that was firmly rooted on the ground wobbled as his body turned numb. ¡°Huu¡­¡± An agonized sigh left his mouth. Even though he was confident in his dynamic vision and reflex skills, Korin¡¯s spear was difficult for him to see through. He couldn¡¯t help butment after being pushed back by the iprehensible 2-strike and 3-strikebos of the divine spear. The owner of the spear gazed at him like a predator looking at its prey. ¡°A bit different from before, right? I couldn¡¯t use everything I had back then, you see.¡± ¡°¡­You mean you were going easy on me or something?¡± ¡°No. This is not something I can use that often either. I can¡¯t even get any support against you, so I¡¯m going full-on from the start.¡± His spearmanship and his strength were onpletely different levels from before ¨C the identity of that jump in power was the Sixth Style, Shura, that Korin was using. It was the final resort of the Sixth Style that consumed a tremendous amount of aura in exchange for power and speed. It was thus normal for even Jinhyuk, a Grade 1 Knight, to be pushed back due to that ability. ¡°Sorry, but I can¡¯t waste my time going against someone like you either. So¡ª¡± Korin¡¯s body suddenly vanished from his sight. Like a ck leopard pouncing after a short preparation, he easily and naturally disappeared from his sight before reappearing with a daring frontal stab. ¨C Flinch! It was a bold attack that took advantage of Jinhyuk¡¯s breathing pace. Korin skillfully aimed for the moment between his breaths; his most vtile moment. The only reason Jinhyuk was able to respond to that in time, although barely, was because of his innate instincts that allowed him to notice that cold killing intent. ¡ª The sharp silver spear gleamed and flickered before Jinhyuk as his eyes desperately alerted the brain of the iing danger. ¨C Swish! Jinhyuk barely dodged it as the stab grazed past his cheeks. His excessive dodge messed up his posture, and taking advantage of that gap, Korin trampled down with his right foot. ¨C Kajik! Korin literally trampled on Jinhyuk¡¯s chest. On his shadow-cast face, his crimson eyes were gazing down at Jinhyuk. ¡°It¡¯ll be over in no time.¡± The spear in his right arm pierced down. Right before Jinhyuk was about to be impaled by the spear, he kicked Korin¡¯s back with his right foot. ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± It was a kick from an unstable position, and was thus less effective than nned, but created enough gap for Jinhyuk to escape. After desperately escaping from that predicament, he wiped the blood flowing down his cheeks. ¡®Should I try to buy time?¡¯ He wasn¡¯t sure what trickery Korin was using, but his strength had taken a massive leappared to the one he had in the forest. It was probably a skill that required arge sum of aura for a momentary enhancement. Even if he couldn¡¯t beat him, Jinhyuk thought that Yuhua should be done in a breeze and that she would being to his help as long as he could buy some time. ¡°Kang Yuhua can¡¯t help you,¡± said Korin. ¡°What?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s just a simple duel, she¡¯s half-assed and clumsy, but when ites to a fight for life and death, Alicia Arden¡­ is a real ¡®fiend¡¯.¡± ¨C Kuhk! That was when a groan echoed from behind. Hearing the rushed voice of his martial sister which he had never heard before, he subconsciously turned around. Instant sh, Advancing Fang, Reverse Kill, Soaring Heavens, Lightning. The Demon-ying Sword raged on the double-sided sword of the sword fairy. The one carrying out the attacks was so relentless and fierce that it reminded one more of a fiend than a human. ¡°Big Sister¡­ is being pushed back?¡± Unfolding there was a beautifulbination of sword moves. Even Yuhua, who was praised as the Sword Lord, couldn¡¯t do anything but focus on defense the whole time. Fiend. It gave Jinhyuk the illusion that he was looking at the Sword Fiend. Drenched in sweat, Yuhua took arge leap to the back. Korin and Alicia began a stand-off against Jinhyuk and Yuhua. ¡°Haa¡­¡± Alicia focused on limiting her breath to the bare minimum. Her eyes were solely focused on Yuhua and her extreme concentration made her lips turn crooked as if she was an evil viin. She was smiling. Despite the fight for life and death with her own life on the line, the Sword Fiend was instead floating a crooked smile on her lips. ¡°We¡¯ll finish it in one strike¡­ I guess she can¡¯t even hear me.¡± Canceling Shura, Korin tightened his grip on the spear. What did that mean? Alicia was the only one who knew what that meant apart from him in this ce, but even Alicia waspletely indulged in her own world that she couldn¡¯t even spare him a nce. ¡°They¡¯reing. Hyuk.¡± ¡°¡­I know.¡± Realizing that their next move would be the finisher, Yuhua and Jinhyuk each prepared their strongest moves. Their bodies were the first to shoot across the ground. Jinhyuk elerated using his fastest and strongest skill. ?Storming Wheels Final Move: Trampling Kick of Destruction? At the same time, Yuhua also used the strongest move of her Void Dragon ying Swordsmanship. ?Dragon ying Swordsmanship, 7th Form: Light Dragon yer? Their attacks marched forward but their targets, Alicia and Korin, were calm and still as if nothing was happening in front of them. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª From utmost concentration came tranquility and calmness. The world stopped. In this ce, even the strongest of storms lost its vigor and even the thunderous roars lost their sounds. It was a blessing that was only permitted to the ones that were aware of this ce; a silence permitted only to the ones with preposterous talents. Trampling Warhound, Sa Jinhyuk. Sword Lord Kang Yuhua. In some ways, they were stronger than Korin Lork and Alicia Arden, but those that had been to the Domain even at least once, were in a different timeline to the average warriors. The sword left its scabbard. The spear traveled forward. Singr Sword of Arden: Domain Severance Ominous Snake: Extreme Arts Soaring Snake, Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon The magic sword and the demonic spear overwhelmed their two prey. **** Yuhua and Jinhyuk weren¡¯t dead. However, Alicia¡¯s Demon-ying Sword and Korin¡¯s Silver Spear respectively destroyed Yuhua¡¯s double-edged sword and Jinhyuk¡¯s prosthetic leg. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Despite that, the two of them didn¡¯t give up. Even though their defeat was already set in stone, they continued because their lifelong aspirations had nothing to do with the oue of their fight. ¡°Let me tell you the truth.¡± If not for Korin saying that to them, they would have proceeded on even if they had to crawl with their nails and teeth. ¨C Kajik! Korin threw the spear as it destroyed the carapace with a painting of the ck Tortoise. When the crumbled pieces fell to the ground, it revealed something inside it. ¡°Huh?¡± Yuhua, who was the mostprehensive when it came to formations out of the group, gasped in utter confusion. Carapace with the ck Tortoise. Inside that was something symbolic thatpletely went against the nature of ¡®Evil Extermination Formation¡¯ which was supposed to consist of the four guardian deities. ¡°¡­Taotie?¡±4Taotie: One of the 4 perils (4 monsters representing chaos): Taotie, Qiongqi, Taowu and Hundun. Originally it was Dochul because Taotie is called ¡®Dochul¡¯ in Korea. A strange monster with the fangs of a tiger, horns of a ram, and the face of a boar. Taotie, one of the four perils in line with Qiongqi, Taowu and Hundun. In stark contrast to the four gods that symbolized order and protection, they were the four great monsters that were symbolic of chaos and destruction. ¡°Why¡­ is there an armor with Taotie¡­?¡± Did Korin Lork do this? No; that can¡¯t be. There was no way someone at his level could have done something so immacte and besides, there was no way that Kang Ryun wouldn¡¯t have noticed it as the one using these articles. ¡°Kang Yuhua, Sa Jinhyuk. You guys must be thinking that this Evil Extermination Formation is to separate Hua from Ran¡¯s body, but it¡¯s the opposite.¡± This wasn¡¯t a ritual to separate Ran from Hua. It was the ritual topletely eradicate Ran and have Hua takeplete control over the body. ¡°Kang Ryun wasn¡¯t interested in Ran in the first ce. From the very start, all he wanted was Hua.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ In the middle tform where the ritual was taking ce, Kang Ryun looked at the talisman on Hua. Yuhua and Jinhyuk must be thinking that it was a talisman to seal Hua but in fact¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t me your uncle too much, Ran. Small sacrifices are inevitable for the greater good.¡± It was a talisman that sealed Ran and not Hua. Besides, the ultimate objective of this formation was theplete eradication of Ran. ¡°Ao Guang, Ao Qin, Ao Run, Ao Shun!¡±5Dragon Kings of the four seas in China. Eight Gates and four guardian deities ¨C those were nothing but supplementary. The real one was the jiangshi locked in this saisen box. ¡°ept it. Take the challenge. ept thepletion of the ck Dragon that shall steal the throne of the Yellow Dragon.¡± The birth of ¡®Hou¡¯ was drawing near. Footnotes:
  • 1Youkai = Monster; Japanese term. They¡¯re using a term that¡¯s different from demonic beast.
  • 2Saisen box = a box for saisen, which is money offered to the gods or bodhisattvas in Japan.
  • 3±±˜O±wÎäÐþÌìÉÏµÛ = Northern True Martial Heavenly Highest Deity; apparently another name for ck Tortoise.
  • 4Taotie: One of the 4 perils (4 monsters representing chaos): Taotie, Qiongqi, Taowu and Hundun. Originally it was Dochul because Taotie is called ¡®Dochul¡¯ in Korea.
  • 5Dragon Kings of the four seas in China.
Chapter 81: - Hua Ran (7) ? Hua Ran (7)? Standing on the central tform of the formation, Kang Ryun gazed down at Hua Ran, who was looking at the sky with a pair of unfocused eyes. The ritual was well underway with the formation of the four perils disguised as the four guardian deities. On top of that, the articles installed on the outside were also promoting the removal of the ¡®restriction¡¯ he wanted to remove. There were two things he was forcing on Hua Ran right now using this formation. One was the deactivation of the sacred item of the New Faith of the West, ¡®Chains of Zeon¡¯, and the second one was theplete eradication of the soul of the original version of Hua Ran, Ran. The reason why Hua was in the form of a human despite being a Yaksha was because the soul of Ran, the original owner of the body, was a human. The moment Ran¡¯s soul was eradicated, that body would be a full belonging of Hua and she would awaken as the true Yaksha. If the restriction cast on her was to get dispelled on top of that, then there would be nothing else in the world restricting her as a jiangshi. And after that, if she were to eat the Concoction of the Flesh of a Thousand Men, given by that man, Tates Valtazar, Hua Ran¡¯s status would go through an immediate transcendence. In turn, that meant she would turn into a Hou. ¡°Huhahahaha¡­!¡± 3 years. It was both long and short depending on how you saw it. After seeing Hua, created by his younger brother Kang Yu, Kang Ryun had been immediately mesmerized by her strength. After that, he used the pretext of youkai subjugation to cover her with more and more blood and in the end, he even caused the Moonlight Castle incident to make her umte the karma of tens of thousands of people. His stupid younger brother, who had his eyes set on retrieving his daughter, didn¡¯t even notice that Kang Ryun had taken over the control rights of Hua Ran. In the end, he wasbeled as the main culprit behind the Moonlight Castle incident, was caught by the imperial army and got his limbs ripped to pieces. How could Kang Ryun not feel grateful to him? Not only did he give birth to the Heavenly Yaksha called Hua, but he also died in his stead as the culprit behind the Moonlight Castle incident. The only thing he wasn¡¯t expecting was that Kang Yu had requested the chairman of Merkarva Academy to take Hua Ran under their protection. Kang Ryun¡¯s original n was to quickly retrieve the owner-less jiangshi to build greater karma but Chairman Eriu Casarr had snatched Hua Ran away from him before he could. Despite being the Senior Professor of Purple Hawk and the greatest formation expert of the east, even Kang Ryun had no way of knowing what was happening in the other continents. He was in despair, not knowing even the whereabouts of Hua Ran when a man visited him. ¡ºI will give you a chance to obtain that jiangshi, as well as a pill to increase its status.¡» The man introduced him to the Old Faith. Thanks to the influential and financial power of the Old Faith, he was able to prepare all sorts of articles and set up this stage. Tates Valtazar. The legendary Spear Saint from 80 years ago. There was only one thing that the man had requested of him. ¡ºGo berserk. Kill as many humans as you can and crush the shell of the chairman. Force her to leave the pce.¡» It was nothing inparison to him obtaining a Hou. Hua Ran had the power to demolish an entire castle as a Unique-Grade jiangshi before the restrictions were in ce. Her strength was bound to reach an unimaginable degree after awakening into a Hou. A mere city like this could be destroyed hundreds of times. ¡°Huhahahaha¡­! I will obtain Hua and be a god! Live an eternal life and defy the heavens!¡± ¡°Nope. That is not happening.¡± A short sentence brought him out of his maddenedughter. Hearing that insolent voice, the old sage clicked his tongue and heaved a sigh. ¡°Korin Lork. You again, huh.¡± ¡°The man~ is back at it again~¡± Kang Ryun red at Korin Lork and his yful attitude, before turning to Yuhua and Jinhyuk who were behind him. ¡°Can¡¯t even do what you are told properly.¡± ¡°Uncle! Please tell me he was lying! Is it true that this ritual is not to save Ran but to eradicate her? Why are you using an article of one of the four perils instead of the gods?!¡± ¡°I heard that the Moonlight Castle disaster¡­ was because youmanded Hua Ran. That it was amand, and not because of her going berserk. Is that true?¡± Yuhua and Jinhyuk shouted desperately at Kang Ryun, with eyes eagerly hoping for his denial. It had be apparent from the point that he was using the article of one of the four perils instead of the guardian deities that Kang Ryun¡¯s goal was different from the rest of them. But even so, the disciples wanted to believe in him but Kang Ryun scoffed and betrayed their hopes with ease. ¡°Huhuhu¡­ You foolish idiots. It would have been better off for you if you died a clueless death.¡± ¡°Uncle¡­?¡± ¡°You bastard¡­¡± Looking down at his disciples whose faces were crumpled from confusion and rage, Kang Ryun stroked his beard with leisure. His eyes were too cold to be that of a master gazing at his disciples. ¡°Well. You are worthless now. Stop being a bother and be one with everything within this formation to be fodder for the ascendance of the Yaksha.¡± Flick! The old sage opened his fan and activated another formation. ¡°Did you get cocky from destroying a few of the inner articles? Whether it be on the outside or the inside, the Evil Extermination formation willst as long as there is one of them left. And the target of this ¡®extermination formation¡¯ is you.¡± The formation wobbled. As nned by the creator, the evil intricacies of the formation were now starting to melt everything inside itself. ¡°I wonder if you¡¯ll be able to evenst 10 minutes.¡± The evil intricacies were powerful enough to have a huge impact on all the organisms inside the formation. Besides, this formation was being supported by the articles outside, which meant there was nothing they could do from the inside! ¡°You know what, a military contractor fraud is a huge problem.¡± Tung! Korin Lork smacked the ground with the silver spear immediately after saying that and¡­! ¨C Kuuuung! The Eight Gates Formation started to wobble. Things shattered all around as the core ley lines of the formation suddenly disappeared. It was aplete nullification, so perfect that even the evil intricacies were disabled as a byproduct of it. ¡°W, what in the¡­!¡± ¡°Now, let me take the honor of exining what happened there!¡± Kang Ryun gasped from the mind-numbing turn of events but the three people apanying Korin instead shook their heads with a sigh. ¡°The articles Old Man Kang Ryun was trying to smuggle through the Old Faith? I stole them! The merchant corporation that supplied the new items? Ah, it was me that introduced them!! Who supplied them with the items, you ask? Wait, that was me!? And who carved rune letters on those? Of course, that was also me!!¡± ¡°D, don¡¯t tell me you¡­¡± Korin drove in thest wedge to Kang Ryun, who was murmuring in disbelief. ¡°You should be wary of scams at all times! And don¡¯t forget to check your items! That¡¯s it from me, Immortan Lork!¡± Seeing Kang Ryun stumble on the spot, Korin gave him a wicked smile. ¡°Why? Did you think you were the only one who knew how to lie and scam?¡± ¡°Y, you bastarrddddd¡­!¡± He shouted with veins popping up on his neck. His fury was evident from his clenched fangs. ¡°Now what do you think will happen if Senior Marie destroys all the articles inside the formation on top of that?¡± ¡°Kuuk¡­!¡± There was no need to even say that out loud. Hua Ran¡¯s ascendance was out of the equation and the Evil Extermination Formation would bepletely undone. ¡°It¡¯s all over, Kang Ryun.¡± The conclusion was already set in stone, but Kang Ryun couldn¡¯t ept it. ¡°No. Not yet! The articles outside are still sustaining the formation and the inside is still holding on! All I have to do is kill you all before they get destroyed! After all, corpses cannot speak!¡± ¡°You want to kill us all? How?¡± ¡°Huhuhu¡­ Did you forget it? I have the strongest jiangshi under mymand!¡± ¨C Flick! He spread his fan as a humanoid figure left the saisen box. Afternding on the ground, Hua Ran gazed at them with unfocused eyes. ¡°M, Ms. Hua Ran?¡± Alicia gulped in shock but she felt relieved after seeing the chains that were tightly restricting her body. ¡°T, thank goodness. The restriction is still¡­¡± ¨C Charuruk! Kang Ryun waved his hand once as the chains then fell to the ground. ¡°Huh? T, the chains¡­!¡± The holy artifact of the New Faith used to be restricting her and the deactivation of that¡­ meant the resurrection of the Unique-Grade living jiangshi, the Heavenly Yaksha. ¡°Don¡¯t be scared. It¡¯s a temporary thing. He used the remaining articles of the four perils to undo Hua Ran¡¯s restrictions. Looks like he gave up on her ascendance.¡± ¡°Huhahaha¡­! You¡¯re right, but that doesn¡¯t matter! As long as I kill all of you and take Hua Ran, I can restart the ritual whenever I want!¡± Seeing himugh like a lunatic, Jinhyuk bit his lips. ¡°Damn it¡­ He¡¯s actually controlling Hua Ran.¡± The only person that could control a jiangshi was the spiritualist that was linked to it as the master. In other words, that proved how it was Kang Ryun who had given Hua Ran themand to burn the Moonlight Castle down to ashes 1 year ago. ¡°Fuck¡­ This feels shit.¡± The battle began. ¡°Alicia. Stay back. Our base n is the same as when we were going up against the King of Iron Mountain.¡± ¡°¡­Okay.¡± Korin and Alicia walked up to the battlefield. Jinhyuk was inwardly burning with fury when Yuhua tapped him on his shoulder. ¡°Hyuk. We have things to do as well.¡± **** ¨C Kwaang! Kwagang! Alicia was baffled by the things happening before her. Even though his growth was exceptionally fast, the Korin Lork she knew had still been within the category of a ¡®Knight¡¯. Despite the ridiculous level of perfection and mastery he had over his techniques, there used to be a clear limit to his physical strength. Of course, she knew that he had a hidden technique called ¡®Shura¡¯. That explosive burst in power was so strong that even she could barely follow what was happening with her eyes. After all, it was an absurd ability that increased his ability by threefold at the cost of consuming thousands of Aura for a single minute of use. ¡®There¡¯s something else?¡¯ However, Alicia¡¯s eyes that could even gaze between the boundaries of the world spotted an exponential increase that was even greater than usual. The amplification of his stats thanks to the Precept was beyond belief. Under the back-up of the Precept,?I will save the world.?, he was rampaging like aet that just broke through the atmosphere. In less than 1 second, he was hundreds of meters away and was pouncing from all sides. How many people would be able to hold off against him? Alicia wondered, because she was certain that she wouldn¡¯t be able tost any more than 30 seconds. It was impossible for a human to withstand the overwhelming storm of meteorites. Korin was attacking with the mighty force of a meteor but¡­ there was an inexplicable monster who could calmly block his attacks with no words to describe it. The most fitting word might perhaps be a ¡¯. Even if Korin were to heat up the entire surface of the by causing arge explosion, it was nothing but a rtively big event in the eyes of the. It was no different from sitting inside a sauna. Heavenly Yaksha Hua Ran. It wasn¡¯t an overstatement to call the living jiangshi with an Unbreakable Vajra Body, that allowed no des to go through, as a. ¡°Kuhk¡­ Damn it¡­!¡± Even Korin, who was always rational during a fight, unconsciously let out profanities. That was nothing unusual though. An attack after an attack after an attack. It had already been 1 minute and 20 seconds since the start of the battle. He wasbusting forth with himself as the fuel and yet the opponent wasn¡¯t even moving in the slightest. He was the one who had to suffer more as the attacker. There was no way he could stop himself from swearing out loud at the face of such an unfair reality. Even after a sessful attack, he had to run away immediately. Sticking to her for a second attack was not even a consideration. But despite him attacking as safely as possible without getting greedy for attacks, her following attacks were always a threat to his life. ?Demonic Aura: Poisonous w? It seemed like such a light swing of her nails and yet it contained an unbelievably enormous amount of condensed aura behind it. Each of her swings sliced the ground apart like tofu. Korin Lork¡¯s most powerful skills were casually blocked by her waves. The sheer difference in strength; The amount of leftover aura; And the bodies they were born with. Everything about them was way too different. ¡°Mr. Korin¡­ is already nearing his limit.¡± Getting grazed by Hua Ran¡¯s inexplicably wide-ranged attacks was enough for bones to be crushed so Korin had to put in a lot more strength as the one avoiding those attacks. In other words, Korin Lork was overworking his body and was slowly crumbling down from the inside out. ¡°¡­¡± On the other hand, there weren¡¯t any wounds on Hua Ran¡¯s body. She was relying on her superhuman dynamic vision to block the attacks from a supernova, and was even fighting back and yet was showing no signs of running out of stamina. Korin was beingpletely overwhelmed. At this rate, it was questionable if he could even wear her down like their original n. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± He paused on the spot after having his ears sliced by the aftermath of a missed w-attack. Despite knowing that his enemy would pounce at him the moment he stopped, he still halted his feet. ¡°¡ª!!¡± Hua Ran pounced forward. The shockwave caused by her kicking off the ground sounded like the roar of a beast. ¨C Kwang! Her fist came flying down. Contending against that was the Demonic Arts of Trap and Stab. ¡°Kuhhkk?!¡± Veins popped all across his body. Like a man hit by a fallinget, his body got ripped just by trying to defend against her attack. Demonic Arts of Trap and Stab¡ª-!! Using the ultimate move of the Third Style of the Six Ways of the Spear, he deviated the path of Hua Ran¡¯s fist. After missing its target, her fist crashed into the poor ground and caused an aftermath that resembled the explosion of a missile. ¨C Kugagagak! Pebbles and dust floated into the air. Korin jumped back to avoid it but the Yaksha did not watch him without doing anything. ¨C Grip! ¡°Shit¡­!¡± She grabbed onto his ankle. In the next instant, his vision turned by 180 degrees and he was made to face the sky, as he fell on his back after drawing the outer line of a semicircle. ¨C Kung! ¡°Ugh¡­!!¡± His organs got damaged just from that one attack. In fact, it was painful to the degree that he wondered if his organs had been shifted out of ce or not. He was neutralized in just one move as the Yaksha raised a fist above his defenseless head. It was a crimson fist swelling with a horrendous amount of aura. ¡°Fuck.¡± That would kill him. Regardless of his regeneration and whatnot, that attack was enough to erase his entire existence without leaving anything behind. It was right when Hua Ran was about to drive her right fist into him, ?Domain Severance? Her fist was parried up with a screech. After blinking his eyes, Korin noticed that Alicia was standing in front with her back towards him. ¡°You¡­!¡± She had been watching them fight from a distance until now. She didn¡¯t have any skills that could allow her to close the distance of hundreds of meters in less than a second. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡­!¡± Korin was shocked after realizing the only possible method she could have used. There was a skill that allowed its user to take a step forward in a suspended world. In other words, Alicia Arden, she¡­ ¡°I understand¡­ the n but¡­ I was worried you might die, Mr. Korin¡­¡± She had taken dozens of steps inside the Domain, just to block one attack. ¨C Pajik! Pajijik! The price she had to pay for that was atrocious. Her entire body got sliced apart as blood spurted out from everywhere. The fact that she had taken dozens of steps inside the Domain had put a massive burden on her body, even more than Hua Ran¡¯s attack. Alicia¡¯s body crumbled down to the ground. Korin barely supported her from falling down. ¡°Haak¡­ haak¡­!¡± She gasped for breath but the Yaksha wasn¡¯t kind enough to wait for them. Demonic Aura¡ª The Yaksha raised her arm once again in order to get rid of the cumbersome Alicia. In that instant, Korin used his Shura to its extreme limits to snatch Alicia away from her line of attack. ¨C Kwaang! The swing destroyed the earth behind them and sttered rocks everywhere. The only downside to her ridiculous attacks was that each of her attacks created a cloud of dust that messed with her vision. Hiding behind a pile of rubble, Korin carefully ced Alicia down on the ground. ¡°Ah, you idiot. You should¡¯ve just taken care of your own body. Why did you push yourself so hard?¡± ¡°Hehe¡­ My body moved before I could even think¡­¡± ¡°Open your mouth.¡± He quickly took out an elixir from his pocket. It was a specially-made elixir that he had prepared as thest resort but if he didn¡¯t use it on Alicia right now, it wasn¡¯t strange for her to die from blood loss or have a total paralysis for the rest of her life. ¨C Gulp gulp! Thanks to the special medicine injected into her body, Alicia quickly regained her breath. ¡°Uahh¡­ I, I thought I was going to die there.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The original n was to hold off as much as possible until Marie destroyed all the articles of the four perils. And using a small gap that would be created by that, they would do damage with Alicia¡¯s Domain Severance, which boasted of 100% resistance pration and use their hidden trump card. That was the n he had been keeping in mind ever since his return from Nazrea, but there were now 2 variables to his n. One was that Hua Ran was a lot stronger than he expected after being unsealed, And two was that Alicia had been wounded after trying to save him, who had been put in a vtile situation due to the first misassumption. ¡°Damn it¡­¡± Fortunately, her life wasn¡¯t in danger thanks to the elixir, but after doing something as crazy as running through the Domain, Alicia was unable to participate for the rest of the fight. ¡®Is Senior Marie¡­ not done yet?¡¯ At this point in time, she was probably destroying numerous stone warriors and making her way to the second article after destroying the first. The problem was that they might not be able tost until she broke the third article. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped.¡± ¡°¡­Sorry.¡± He couldn¡¯t me Alicia for going against the n though. If he allowed a direct attack from that fist, it was highly likely that he would have died on the spot despite his regeneration ability. ¡°There¡¯s nothing for you to be sorry for. Thanks for saving me.¡± Using the cloud of dust as a cover, he ced Alicia down in a safer area. During the process, he ended up stumbling due to the deactivation of his Shura buff. ¡°Mr. Korin¡­ Are you okay?¡± ¡°No¡­ I¡¯m not okay.¡± He had used up all the aura inside the Aura Core as well as his body. The consecutive fight against Sa Jinhyuk and Hua Ran had cost him way too much aura. ¡®Do I have to use Sebancia Duke¡¯s core?¡¯ Like a magic sword choosing its master, the demonic core he received from Sebancia Duke had been rejecting him the whole time. It would be possible to use it by force but¡­ the power inside the Aura Core of a demonic nature was hard for him to withstand with his current body. Despite the back-up of the Precept, he still wasn¡¯t confident. ¡°Mr. Korin¡­¡± That was when Alicia spoke to him while gasping for breath, hoping that her sentence might help him in any way. ¡°Ms. Hua Ran¡­ has never used her left hand until now.¡± Korin had unconsciously glossed over it at the start, but noticed how implicative of an action that was. ¡°Hah¡­¡± After realizing what that meant, he smiled despite the hopeless situation at hand. He stubbornly stood up, telling himself that he had no choice but to do this. Chapter 82: - Hua Ran (8) ? Hua Ran (8) ? cing Alicia down on the ground, I walked to Hua Ran. Meanwhile, I aroused the other core sleeping dormant inside me. The Aure Core of a demonic nature that supported the myths of the great hero, Sebancia Duke ¨C although it was too much for me and it was like a pig wearing a pearl ne1Pig wearing a pearl ne: A famous saying in Korea about someone having an item of an unsuitably high value. Usually used as a derogatory phrase., I was ready to swallow all that shame and pain. ¨C Tuuuung¡­ The silver spear twitched. As I created a path from the Core to the dantian, and from the dantian to the weapon, the silver spear reacted with an echo. A tremendous amount of aura was flowing through my dantian and pounced at my heart before making their way to the spear. ¡°Very violent.¡± On top of that, it was painful. However, even though my body was nearing its limit from the previous fight, I hadn¡¯t used everything just yet. I remembered Sebancia Duke¡¯s demonic sword that he showed at Castle Duke. ¡ºLook. This is the heaven-defying power ¨C the one I used in my youth to kill a dragon.¡» I couldn¡¯t perform the exact move he showed me; at least for now. But it was nheless true that his demonic attributes had been passed down to me. I had inherited his experiences and skills. That demonic sword of his¡­ I shaped it into the form of a demonic spear. Instead of swordsmanship, it was like making use of the innate power of a weapon, which meant I could apply that to my spear. Ever since I returned from the south, I had never beenzy even when it came to practicing with this demonic spear. It was just that, this was way too risky of a skill to use in real life. But actually, it was obvious that a prototype or a new skill had to be properly used for the first time in an actual battle, right? That¡¯s what happens in every show or movie, after all. ¡°Sorry for the wait.¡± I looked at Hua Ran, the focal point of the battle. I could see that she was looking at me with caution. It was the first time that this girl with an Unbreakable Vajra Body had be wary of me. That must be proof of just how intimidating of a change my spear had gone through. Right. There were only few people in the annals of history that could stand off against the Heavenly Yaksha. Sebancia Duke, the greatest hero from 800 years ago was one of them. Now, it was my time to re-enact that myth. ¡°1st Demon Spear¡± ?Darkness? I let the turbulent aura flow into the weapon because without that, it would have been difficult for me to withstand the sheer density of it. The silver spear roared, as if it was excited by the higher-quality aura that was at a different leaguepared to my own. Demonic Aura¡ª A ridiculous amount of aura gathered at Hua Ran¡¯s fist. Our next course of action was very simple. Hua Ran threw a straight fist with her right hand, while I thrusted the silver spear that was now tainted in darkness. It was a head-to-head contest to see who was the stronger one out of the two. ¨C Kukakakakakakakak!! A single sh of the two deadly weapons resulted in an intense impact. This, here, wasn¡¯t a sh between me and Hua Ran. It was the frontal collision of two pure forces ¨C the Heavenly Yaksha was contesting against Sebancia Duke himself, allowing a glimpse into the mythology of the hero. Resulting from that was a storm so violent that getting caught up by it could only mean being shredded to death. Before long¡ª ¨C Kang! The two bounced off and fell back. That was the first even oue ever since the start of the battle, and I could tell that she was confused. I didn¡¯t stop. In fact, I couldn¡¯t pause here. ¡°???¡± Befuddled, the Yaksha swung her right hand once again but was yet again blocked by the ck glister of the demonic spear. The one gasping in disbelief was in fact Kang Ryun, who had been fully focused on controlling Hua Ran. ¡°T, that¡¯s impossible.¡± He was right to be surprised. Without the restrictions in ce, Hua Ran could destroy mountains with a punch. That was just how absurdly nonsensical her aura was both in quality and output quantity. The only person inside this formation that could contend against Hua Ran by sheer force was Marie Dunareff, and definitely wasn¡¯t me. ¨C Kaang! And yet for the third time, Hua Ran¡¯s demonic aura was nullified after crashing into my demonic spear. ¡°This can¡¯t be! How could someone like you! How could someone like you be on equal grounds with the Heavenly Yaksha¡­!?¡± Now that his 100% trust in the absolute power he had was being pushed back, Kang Ryun anxiously ndered him with a scream. ¡°What are you doing?! Hurry up and kill him! Get him out of my sight!¡± Kang Ryun ordered her through the talisman on her forehead. His restlessness seemed to have been transmitted to Hua Ran, and she gathered a terriblyrge amount of aura on her right hand, which probably equated to about 1,000. She was spending that much aura with just one punch, but in response, I also readied myself for an equal amount of 1,000. ?Demonic Spear of Darkness ¨C Ominous Snake? ¨C Kung! A mind-boggling aftershock trembled the ground but my body was still in one piece. It meant that I had fully offset her fist. ¡°How¡­ how!!?¡± I ignored his scream. Right now, I had neither the physical stats nor the speed of back when I was using Shura. But even so, each of my attacks was a definite reenactment of Sebancia Duke¡¯s myths. The logic behind that was simple. Even though Hua Ran might have hundreds of thousands of Aura, the only amount she could spend at once was limited to 1,000. It was shocking enough that she could use her mountain-crumbling fist a hundred times, but the point here was that she could only use 1,000 every time. If I could use 1,000 at a time myself to offset her attacks¡­ that meant I could disy a miraculous scene of fighting against Hua Ran on equal grounds. That was only possible thanks to the Aura Core left behind by Sebancia Duke, who was of the equal Aura Rank as Hua Ran the Heavenly Yaksha. Of course, there was an incrediblyrge difference between my and Sebancia Duke¡¯s aura capacity. I probably won¡¯t be able to parry more than 6 attacks from now. ¡°Ugh¡­!¡± Hua Ran parried my spear away with her fist. It was powerful enough to send the world home crying, but the silver spear withstood the impact. The resilience of the magic stone Marie gave me, the Unbreakable Stone, was standing firm despite the earth-shattering battle. Therefore, the spear wasn¡¯t even a problem and the only question here was whether my body wouldst or not. My body was shrieking and being torn apart with each and every attack, but I held on by relying on my resilient willpower and the Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior. ¡°Kyaaaaahh¡­!¡± She seemed so bothered by the inability to beat me that her demonic aura kept on getting more and more violent. Every time, my spear was either blocked or parried. This miraculous feat was taking a massive toll on my body but I did not stop. In fact, I couldn¡¯t because¡­ Hua Ran still wasn¡¯t using her left arm. ¡°You didn¡¯t throw it away.¡± Hua Ran might have dyed it, but hadn¡¯t made a choice yet. She still hadn¡¯t made the choice of bing the original owner of the body after chasing Ran out. Her left hand which was most certainly still holding onto the lightning-struck wood was the proof. I had to grab that hand of hers, and that piece of wood that she was still holding onto even after reaching this point. I had to lead her forward until she could make a decision. ¨C Kaang! However, my arms reached the limit first. After swinging the demonic spear several times, they couldn¡¯tst anymore and ended up dropping the spear. ¡°It¡¯s over!!¡± ¨C Kaaaaakk!! Hua Ran¡¯s demonic aura was swung but I didn¡¯t have the spear to oppose it. Without releasing enough power to offset that move, I would probably end up dying here. There was no need to hesitate on what to do. My next course of action was very simple. I moved the channel connecting to the spear into my right arm. ¡°??!¡± The power of darkness enshrouded my fist as the two fists then shed against one another. ¨C Kaaaaang¡­! Her aura was canceled. Unlike the unbreakable spear, my hand ended up being crushed and the opponent was still unscathed. She started emanating aura once again, and it was again through her right hand. Taking half a step back, I twisted my back and met the downward strike with an upward kick of my left leg. ¨C Kaduk¡­! It resulted in the sound of something cracking as well as a hail of blood. My left leg didn¡¯tst against her punch and made it rain with flesh and blood. ¨C Kwaang! But thanks to that, Hua Ran was pushed back. She stumbled back from the force of the attack. ¡°??!¡± I could see the confusion on her face. Looking at her arm, she seemed unable to believe that her arm had been pushed back. However, she was fast at emanating her demonic aura once again. As if to make up for the mistake and as if to get rid of the nuisance in front of her, she swung her poisonous ws at me with speed. There and then, I took a step forward. It was a step with my life on the line. That step forward wasn¡¯t to avoid her attack. All I wanted was a newer position and a better posture with that one step. Putting my right foot in front of me and firmly rooting it down like Mt. Tai¡­ I pulled my left leg back as if it was a javelin. With the sheer concentration of my consciousness, breath, and muscr movement, I aimed for half a step more. That instantaneous fissure of time was only allowed once, and missing it wasn¡¯t an option. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The world stopped. Ripped and scorched. My fist, that wasn¡¯t even steel, was nothing but a chunk of meat exposed in a turbulent tornado of des. However, I was certain. I was certain that this fist¡­ would at least maintain its shape until it could reach her chest. Eight Trigrams Extreme Fist of Darkness, Mixed Origin Like a short spear, it prated into her chest as the Yaksha coughed and gasped for breath. The status of her Unbreakable Body quivered. Thatst attack with my life on the line made the Heavenly Yaksha fall to one of her knees. But that was it. Her life was still there. ¡°Huuu¡­¡± I took a deep breath. My hands and legs were destroyed beyond repair, showing no signs of movement. ¡°Cough¡­¡± Hua Ran was the one who coughed out blood. Despite still being under control, the Yaksha looked down at her own blood as if she couldn¡¯tprehend what was happening. But that was all there was to it. The extreme fist of Mixed Origin might have been able to pierce through Hua Ran¡¯s unbreakable defense, but that was it. Before long, Hua Ran recovered from the shock and it looked like my impending death was only 1 second away. ¡°You¡­¡± But for the first time, she let out the voice of intellect. She asked as a human and not as a beast, which allowed the uing death to be dyed. And during that short period of time¡­ ¨C Guuuuung¡­! The Eight Gates Formation started to tremble. Things cracked and shattered all around as¡­ the chains started to move. ¨C Charuruk! The sacred artifact of the New Faith immediately wrapped themselves around Hua Ran¡¯s body. ¡°¡­It worked out it seems.¡± All that hard work just to buy even 1 more second of time had been worthwhile. Senior Marie¡­ along with Kang Yuhua and Sa Jinhyuk who were no longer in this ce must have destroyed all the articles inside the formation. Destroying the articles of the four perils, that had momentarily removed Hua Ran¡¯s restrictions, made the chains work again. ¡°T, this can¡¯t be¡­! This can¡¯t be right!!¡± Kang Ryun screamed and doubted his eyes at the unbelievable sight before him. However, his desperate shriek was suppressed in an instant. ¡°¡­You better stay still. Professor Kang Ryun.¡± After theplete nullification of the formation, a witch entered through the gaps in the dimension ¨C Lady Josephine overpowered Professor Kang Ryun in the blink of an eye. That side was also done, it seemed. Dragging my leg behind me, I walked towards Hua Ran, who was vacantly standing there staring at me with a nk look on her face. It was dangerous. One more fist from Hua Ran would probably blow me away in an instant. However, I had faith. I wouldn¡¯t die and Hua Ran wouldn¡¯t kill me. Her left hand that was still refusing to open up was the proof. ¡°This is not good on a child.¡± ¨C Chaak! I took the talisman off her forehead. That removed the connection forged between Kang Ryun and Hua Ran. ¨C Flop! Her body immediately crumbled down on the spot. Fortunately, I was somehow able to support the small body of the girl and stop her from falling down with my broken arms. **** On the other side of the surface of consciousness, she was deep underwater. It felt like someone was shouting at her. Rather than the usual shout of hatred and rage¡­ it was warm¡­ It was based on an emotion that seemed so far from her that she felt ticklish at heart just from hearing it. ¡°Ah¡­¡± The warmth being conveyed directly to her skin made Hua Ran realize that she was in the arms of someone else. ¡°Ohh¡­ You¡¯re awake,¡± said her unpleasant housemate. ¡°You¡­¡± Her red eyes picked up the state he was in. Her eyes failed to take in anything else¡­ after seeing the miserable condition Korin was in. Despite that, all she could see on his face was a wide smile. ¡°Why¡­¡± He was in a horrible state. His right arm was crushed and his left leg was twisted beyond belief. His left arm was severed and a part of his fractured bone was poking out of his flesh. He no longer even looked like a proper human. That was the final state of the man who had put his life on the line to buy even 1 more second of time. ¡°Is this¡­ because of me?¡± Seeing his horrid condition aroused despair and guilt inside her heart. Even she could tell that this had to be the result of him throwing his body just for her sake. ¡°I told you.¡± With a constant shiver, he stretched out his demolished hands with visible bones, muscle tissues, and fibers, and tightly held onto her left hand. ¡°I told you I¡¯ll help you¡­ until you can make a decision for yourself.¡± She couldn¡¯t even ask him any questions because she realized that for him, talking right now was just asking for pain. Hua Ran had no way of returning the favor to this hero of devotion. ¡°Make¡­ a decision you can be proud of. So that¡­ you won¡¯t regret it.¡± He talked of choices and not about one¡¯s birth. Even though she was born as a monster and a Yaksha of a demonic nature¡­ he still emphasized the importance of making decisions. Hua Ran immediately opened her left hand. She wanted to show him ¨C she wanted to repay him and prove that she wasn¡¯t a monster. ¡°Ah¡­¡± However, there was nothing remaining in her left palm. Her superhuman grip had long crushed the lightning-struck wood into ashes. ¡°What do I do¡­ What should I do¡­?¡± There was nothing she could do. Nothing happened despite her making a choice. She wanted to show him right now and repay him for all his trust but¡­ ¡°Huhahaha¡­¡± And yet seeing that, the boy in tattersughed out loud. He was satisfied by just seeing her choice. ¡°Well, we have other ways¡­¡± He said while turning the silver spear stuck in the ground. His hypothesis of using his favorite spear with the ¡®Orb¡¯ in ce was still valid. ¡°¡­Thank you, for responding to my trust. I knew it. You¡­ are a very nice girl.¡± After saying that, Korin copsed on the ground with Hua Ran still in his arms. Raising him back up, she asked with warm drops of tears leaving her eyes for the first time in her life. ¡°I¡­ am a monster. I hurt you. I killed many people. I stole Ran¡¯s body.¡± ¨C Can someone like me, still be forgiven? The boy hesitated for a bit as to what to say in response. It was because he couldn¡¯t give her a definite answer to that question; he didn¡¯t have the right to reply to that. All he could do was use his ruined arm to tap on the back of the crying girl. ¡°We¡¯ll look for ways together.¡± All he could do was assure the child that she was not alone. Footnotes:
  • 1Pig wearing a pearl ne: A famous saying in Korea about someone having an item of an unsuitably high value. Usually used as a derogatory phrase.
Chapter 83: - Reunion of Sisters (1) ? Reunion of Sisters (1) ? Hua Ran¡¯s ascension ritual to Hou by Purple Hawk Academy¡¯s Senior Professor Kang Ryun ended as a failure. As for our next course of action, it was as we had always done. I had already been notified by Lady Josephine and Master Erin on how they were going to deal with this if everything was to go well. Long story short, it was concealment again. It was a big problem that the senior professor of Purple Hawk Academy had attempted such a disastrous ritual, but spreading news of that had chances of increasing the public¡¯s wariness or interest in Hua Ran even though she was the victim of this incident. The former would be people condemning Hua Ran from fear while thetter would be people interested in the potential of Hua Ran¡¯s power. That was why Lady Josephine, master, and I had been nning on concealing this matter from the start. And everything had gone ording to n. ¡°Professor Kang Ryun returned first and got caught up in an unfortunate event¡­ is what we will be announcing to the public. We have already discussed this with the chairman of Purple Hawk Academy.¡± ¡°They¡¯re pretty cooperative, aren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Because that is probably the best-case scenario for Purple Hawk as well.¡± That made sense ¨C their senior professor, student council president, and their highest-achieving student of the 2nd grade had wreaked havoc at another academy. Although Yuhua and Jinhyuk had been used without realizing the true purpose of the agenda, Kang Ryun was a senior professor, and Purple Hawk couldn¡¯t just gloss over the issue by saying they didn¡¯t know. ¡°You didn¡¯t forget to charge them for the repairs and stuff, right?¡± ¡°¡­Mister Chairman wanted to let it slip but well, I am of the same opinion as you, Student Korin, when ites to that.¡± ¡°Right? Chairman is a bit too naive¨C. Oops~. Very kind is the word I was looking for.¡± ¡°Everything went well¡­ thanks to you again. Korin Lork.¡± Lady Josephine said while deeply staring at me. She still had a strict pair of eyes, but that was only because her default gaze was a bit on the harsher side, and in fact, this was quite warm for her. ¡°Thanks for your work.¡± She said while looking at the bandages that were wrapped all over my body. Despite the regeneration ability, the recovery was very slow which was most probably because of me over-using my aura. ¡°Feels a bit embarrassing to hear that.¡± ¡°We¡­ are in a position where we cannot trust other people with ease.¡± 80 years ago, Master had been betrayed by her trusted disciple; by her sessor, Tates Valtazar. The shock of that betrayal left a lot of scars in her mind and she became a lot more prudent than before. It was obvious that she couldn¡¯t readily give her trust. ¡°There wille a day when we can trust each other.¡± ¡°¡­I hope so.¡± Josephine slowly stood up, and said onest thing while dropping off her get-well gift. ¡°Please look after your body. The festival is not over yet.¡± They must be very busy considering all the things that happened. I¡¯m sure the busiest person right now was Master Erin, who still had to discuss and negotiate with Purple Hawk. As soon as Josephine left the room, Marie hopped inside from the door. ¡°You¡¯re awake!¡± Marie pretty much threw her body onto my bed for a tight hug. As if she wanted to confirm that I was alive, she rubbed her cheeks and checked the warmth of my body. ¡°Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere? Look at your nails; they¡¯re all gone!¡± ¡°Ohh¡­ No wonder it was feeling empty there.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe it! Seriously, every time! Korin, you overwork yourself every time and you always end up in hospital!¡± p! Marie pped my shoulders on repeat but was controlling herself so much that I could barely feel her skin touching my shoulder. ¡°Seriously¡­ seriously¡­¡± She couldn¡¯t find the right words to say and gave me another hug and stayed that way for a long time before finally letting go of me. Tears were budding beneath her eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t cry. It pains me to see you cry.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly why I¡¯m crying!¡± ¡°Were you fine, Senior? You had to fight all the stone warriors and destroy all the articles by yourself, right?¡± ¡°President Kang Yuhua and that student called Sa Jinhyuk did destroy one but¡­¡± I knew it. That was why they weren¡¯t there, huh. It was thanks to them that I barely made it in time without being bashed to death. ¡°But if you think about it, it¡¯s their fault that this started in the first ce,¡± grumbled Marie. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that. They¡¯re not bad people. Things were just¡­ a little bit unlucky for them.¡± Jinhyuk, who had been wanting to avenge the death of his family, and Yuhua, who was trying to save her cousin ¨C the two of them were just desperate in their own ways and the real viin was Kang Ryun, who had manipted them by making use of their desperation. We had to avoid hating the wrong people. ¡°You always speak like an adult. Even though I¡¯m older than you¡­¡± ¡°How about you call me ¡®oppa¡¯?¡± ¡°You¡¯re doing that again! Trying to be called ¡®oppa¡¯! Sometimes, it feels like you have an obsession with being called oppa!¡± Marie pped her arms around and gave a cute outburst but before long, she turned dejected and murmured after lowering her head. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t want you getting hurt all the time, but¡­ You will continue doing things like this in the future, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t say no to her question. I was someone who had the duty of saving the world, who in spite of that grand aspiration, was weaker off than most other yers. Since I was nothing but a sub-yer with some spearmanship skills, my body was bound to suffer during the process. ¡°You¡¯re not saying ¡®No¡¯. Korin, sometimes¡­ it feels like you¡¯re living in a different world.¡± Tightly holding onto my fully-bandaged arm, she pleaded with her eyes fixed on me. ¡°I¡­ can fight with you. Please let me stand by your side. I can help you anytime.¡± ¡°¡­You are already helping me so much.¡± Both in the King of Iron Mountain incident and this time around, I was receiving more than enough help from Marie. In fact, I even thought I was being too rough with people. ¡°Senior. I¡¯m a weak person.¡± ¡°No, Korin. You¡¯re not weak.¡± ¡°Things like that are subjective. Inparison to the uing evil, I am way too insignificant of a person and I cannot ovee them without receiving help.¡± ¡°Anything¡¯s fine. No matter what you are fighting against¡­ I will stand by your side.¡± I felt extremely grateful. And I felt so blessed to be able to hear something like that. All the enemies standing in my path were tough and powerful viins. Some wanted to satisfy their wicked greed, some for their incorrect convictions and some only wanted to destroy the world. What was the way for me to save the world against these powerful enemies? The answer to that question was always very simple. ¡°Together.¡± Please fight together with me. I requested the girl whom I had once saved. ¡°Un!¡± She replied with clear teardrops flowing down her cheeks. Even though I was the one making the request and even though I was the one that was supposed to thank her for everything, she was the one crying instead of me. ¡°What is this; you¡¯re ruining your beautiful face. Smile. It¡¯s all done and dusted in a good way. Smile and you¡¯ll be happy.¡± ¡°How can I smile! When you¡¯re in the hospital like this!¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking you as the patient! Smile. Just smile! When beautifuldies smile, everyone gets double the happiness.¡± ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± We continued talking for a long time. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¨C Slip! After organizing her loosened clothes, Marie stood up from the bed. Her reddened eyes and the tiny beads of sweat all over her body attested for the things that had been happening until just then. ¡°Oh right.¡± Straightening out my hospital clothes that had drooping cors, Marie summoned Doggo. ¡°I¡¯ll leave Doggo behind, so he will look after you! My parents said they¡¯ll be sending some medicine from home and Doggo will bring them to you when they¡¯re here.¡± ¡°Ohh~. Is Doggo going to look after me? What a good boy~¡± ¨C Kiing! Unlike what Marie was saying, Doggo didn¡¯t seem too keen. He liked his mother but was very rude to his father. Of course, he might take his revengeter on if I said this out loud so I swallowed those words instead. ¡°No! Doggo, listen to me! You need to be nicer to your daddy!¡± Marie started preaching like an actual mom that was scolding their infant. She was definitely quite abundant with maternity. Yes¡­ Ah I mean her personality of course. ¡°Ah, and you know that Guardians Guild thing? I¡¯ll apply for that soon,¡± said Marie. ¡°Already?¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to be time for harvest soon. With all the holidaysing up, we need to do it now or everyone will be busy taking a rest at home.¡± ¡°Oh~, you¡¯re right. Thank you.¡± ¡°Un. Korin you¡¯re the Guild Master¡­ and I¡¯m the Deputy. What about the rest?¡± The ¡®Guardians¡¯ was essentially a fixed party of the core members that would be moving with me outside for external matters. Not everyone would bebatant, and there would be some who would be helping me in various ways. I had already gotten several confirmations and acquired the three core members so it was probably okay for me to tell Marie their names. ¡°First off, Alicia Arden and¡­¡± ¡°Hnnn¡­ I knew it. She¡­ Well, I guess there¡¯s no helping it.¡± ¡°And Renya ire.¡± ¡°Oh~. A female?¡± ¡°Yes. She¡¯s a prettydy working in intelligence.¡± ¡°I see~. Pretty?¡± ¡°And next up will be Ren and Ron.¡± ¡°Who are they?¡± ¡°They¡¯re a sibling of wolf beastmen. Ren¡¯s a girl so just make sure you check Ron as a boy.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¨C Crack! ¡°I¡¯m thinking about recruiting Yuel but I¡¯m not sure yet. Well, but we¡¯re close so I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll help out for the most part.¡± ¡°That druid girl¡­ Are you guys very close?¡± ¡°We¡¯re close enough to joke around and have some meals together.¡± ¨C Crack! ¡°Lastly, Hua Ran is a must so don¡¯t forget to write her down. Professor Josephine allowed it as well.¡± Just like what happened after Marie¡¯s incident, it looked like it was pretty set in stone that Hua Ran would be under my care from now on. ¨C Kajik! That was when the sound of something breaking reached my ears. Turning around, I noticed that the pen in her hands was now in two pieces. Why did that pen break, I wonder? ¡°¡­Senior?¡± It was strange that Marie was staying silent so I spoke to her, but she didn¡¯t say anything for a long time and instead, she quietly and slowly walked towards me. ¡°¡­¡± Her clear eyes that used to glisten in gold had turned into red by the time I noticed it. Umm¡­ that¡¯s probably because she just recently sucked blood, right? ¡°Korin.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Senior?¡± ¡°Are you trying to drive me crazy?¡± Wat? **** After my body recovered enough for me to move around, I visited Alicia who was in the same hospital as me. By the way, Doggo was driving the wheelchair for me. ¡°Ehew, little Doggo. Great work helping out with your daddy.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He turned his head away with a flick. ¡°Buddy¡­ You¡¯re not really liking this, are you?¡± I¡¯m sure you want to be with your mommy. How unfortunate that you have to stick with your daddy but you know what? You have to listen to your mom! What can you even do huh? ¡°Woof!¡± After seemingly reading my impure thoughts, Doggo furiously flipped the wheelchair. ¡°Huhu¡­ It¡¯s things like that that give away your feelings. You immature little kid¡­!¡± ¡°Kaoooooooo¡­!¡± ¡°Mister Doggo! Please do not howl in the hospital!!¡± ¡°Woof¡­¡± Due to moving around everywhere across the campus ever since the start of the semester, everyone seemed aware of how Doggo was a slightly special dog. He was going around running errands for his mom every time so that wasn¡¯t anything strange. ¡°Ugh¡­ What are you doing?¡± Alicia seemed to have heard the ruckus from inside her room and she asked that as soon as we entered the room. ¡°We¡¯re here for a visit. Are you feeling okay?¡± ¡°Ughhh¡­ Do I look okay?¡± Lying down on the bed with bandages wrapped all around her body, she moved her chin slightly to face our way. Leaving behind Doggo, I sat on the chair that was ced next to the bed. ¡°Wow~. You look like a mummy.¡± ¡°Uguk¡­! Whose fault do you think it is?!¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Huh? Nn¡­ Well, you are wee, I guess.¡± Because she had to take dozens of steps through the Domain just to save me, her entire body was in tatters. Her bones were back together thanks to the made-by-Marie elixir, but apparently she still needed to rest for at least 2 weeks in the best medical facilities. There was only about 1 week left of the festival so she probably wouldn¡¯t even be able to make it to the closing campfire. ¡°I¡¯m probably going to be leaving soon, but I guess you need to stay hospitalized for a bit more.¡± ¡°Hing¡­ I wanted to go to the campfire though!¡± ¡°You can wait until the winter banquet.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s different from this.¡± She was right. Besides, even though I had experienced them multiple times in thest iteration, this was the first one for Alicia and I felt a bit guilty considering how she was in this state because of me. ¡°I will get you a Ghesquiere dress for the winter banquet.¡± ¡°Hukk¡­! Really? Y, you mean that super expensive brand?¡± ¡°Tell me anything else you need. This oppa here is loaded with money now~¡± ¡°You¡¯re not an oppa! We¡¯re the same age okay? ¡­Oh right! What about your hotel? Did you earn a lot?¡± ¡°Huhuhu. We do have enough to buy our esteemed investor a dress.¡± ¡°A, am I going to be rich now as well?¡± ¡°You can fill a bathtub with gold coins¡­! Okay, maybe not, but you can probably fill them with silver coins.¡± ¡°Uwahh!¡± ¡°Yayy~!¡± We, who had been petit bourgeois until just yesterday, danced despite having bandages all over our bodies. ¡°Flex¡­!¡± ¡°Flex¡­!¡± ¡°¡°We¡¯re rich~!!¡±¡± Discussing what to buy with Alicia was a very fun conversation topic. ¨C Woof! That was when Doggo took out a bill from his furry coat. The name of the store was Puppy Coat Manufacturing Salon, or something like that. ¡­I feel like there was a white gold coin written on the bill, but that was probably me seeing things, right? **** She ended up hurting Korin. She was close to hurting a bunch of people again just likest time. After that incident, Hua Ran spent the next few days nkly staring at the white wall from her bed. Her memories of that time were still vivid. Despite having his limbs crushed and wrecked because of her, he didn¡¯t me her and instead reached out for her hands to soothe her mind. ¡ºI told you I¡¯ll help you¡­ until you can make a decision for yourself.¡» His words touched her soul. He told Hua, that the important one was not the nature of one¡¯s birth but their choices. He told her that how and what she was born as didn¡¯t matter. She wondered. How could he say such a thing? Everyone was afraid of Hua. They were wary of Hua and condemned her. Screaming at Hua that she was a monster that shouldn¡¯t have been born, they threw stones at her. ¡°Korin¡­ was different.¡± He called her a child, and said he will help her¡­ Why did he do that? She used to hate this world. She hated Ran who used to have happiness that never belonged to her, and the world was full of people that wanted to use her to suit their needs. Everyone and the world hated her which was why she hated them back, and yet¡­ Strength was the only value she used to have. Using strength as an excuse was the only way she could justify herself for pushing away the original owner of the body to take control of it. That was why she didn¡¯t want to show anyone her weak side. She did not ask for anyone¡¯s help. ¡ºI can help you.¡» His kindness stung her heart. His consideration and concern pierced her heart like a sharp de. Korin was thinking that Hua would make the right choice. Why was he certain when even she herself didn¡¯t know what she was supposed to do¡­? Even though she didn¡¯t want to make that choice as ¡®Hua¡¯¡­ ¡ºMake¡­ a decision you can be proud of. So that¡­ you don¡¯t regret it.¡» How was she supposed to do that¡­? What did she have to do¡­ to make a decision that she could be proud of¡­? What should I do? The only path in front of her was a cliff going straight down. The only future she could see by taking a step forward was dropping down the abyss¡­ How was she supposed to even face her own sin? What are you¡­ telling me to do? ¡ºWe¡¯ll look for ways together.¡» ¡°¡­¡­¡± I hate you, Korin Lork. You¡­ make my heart ache all the time. ¨C Tap tap! It was then. Hearing the sound of someone knocking on the window, she opened the curtain and found Korin Lork waving his hand while dangling on the windowsill of the second floor. Ever since her birth, Hua had been alone the whole time. Deceitful rtionships had always been broken down in an instant and she had been used the whole time. That was why she didn¡¯t allow people to enter her boundaries until now, but¡­ ¡°But¡­¡± Korin Lork was crossing her fences as if they were nothing, while reaching out to her with his hands. **** There was a short quarrel but Hua Ran let me into the room before long. ¡°¡­You recovered.¡± That was the first thing she said out of the blue. It was a cold statement, but I could tell that she had been very concerned about my well-being. ¡°Were you worried?¡± ¡°¡­No.¡± Ohh, I could now tell albeit by a little. Although Hua Ran rarely showed any expression on her face, it was exactly because of that that I could tell her emotion based on the small changes of her expression. ¡°How have you¡­¡± ¡°Hurry up.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a way to change to Ran, right? Do it quick.¡± Hua Ran rushed me as if she wanted to get it over and done with. Even though¡­ she really might vanish if Ran couldn¡¯t ept her existence and rejected her. Did she give up? No, that was probably not it. It¡¯s just that¡­ this child had made a decision. She must have decided not to run away from the responsibility of her choices anymore. ¡°What a good girl.¡± I caressed her hair. Usually, she would have flicked my hand away but she obediently let me stroke her hair and closed her eyes as if this was herst moment. She seemed determined. ¡°Then¡­¡± ¡°W, wait.¡± It was then. Hua Ran suddenly held onto my hand and fidgeted her fingers while hesitantly looking for words. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°¡­Fish.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I want fish.¡± Thest lingering attachment stopping her after she resolved herself was my cooked fish dish. **** ¡°¡­Get rid of the bones, please.¡± I came back after cooking a mackerel in the kitchen. Calmly, Hua Ran waited for me to debone the fish and slowly put them into her mouth. She loved fish so she used to munch through them in one go but this time, she was slowly consuming them as if she wanted to buy even a little bit of more time. It was natural for her to be anxious. It was normal for her to be scared. There was no guarantee that she would be able to regain control over her body after changing the owner once. Despite resolving herself, the child was still very scared. Although it took quite a long time for a single meal, I patiently waited for her regardless. ¡°I¡­ am done.¡± ¡°Let me wash the dishes first.¡± After cleaning up everything, we went to the backyard. ¡°¡­Start.¡± Hua Ran resolved herself and looked at me with aposed pair of eyes. However, she still couldn¡¯t hide the tension on her face. Things like this actually made her look quite cute. ¡°Stay still.¡± I took out the silver spear that I was carrying behind my back as she watched me while vacantly blinking her eyes. ¡°That¡­¡± She mumbled while looking at the ferocious-looking gem that was stuck on the spear. [Orb of the Grim Reaper] ¨C The attack will always hit the target.- It will separate the flesh from the soul. ¨C The attack ignores defense. It was the 100%-uracy soul collecting ability of the Grim Reaper that only existed as a concept. Of course, the effectiveness would be greatly reduced when used by a human but¡­ it would be infinitely different when I was the one using it. ?I do not perceive spirits.? Because of the absolute rules of the Precept, as soon as I used the power of this Orb which counted as a spiritual attack, the uracy would be multiplied negatively by an infinite amount. As a result, it would be a nevernding spear that couldn¡¯t kill people. ¡®But there¡¯s a catch.¡¯ I took out a blue stone from my pocket that resembled a gem. It was a manastone carved by a first-rate cksmith into the perfect size. That was one of the manastones I purchased in bulks at the festival, which was then polished by Ferghus. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a faulty manastone used in the festival. When I take this to the Orb¡­¡± ¨C Sururuk! The manastone was then absorbed into the Orb. Strictly speaking, it was closer to the manastone burrowing into the Orb of the Grim Reaper. Now, let¡¯s think this through one more time. Adding mana to the ¡®festival-use faulty manastones¡¯ made them explode from overload. In the game, the explosion range decreased with higher uracy rating to make it easier to clear the mini-game, and a lower uracy increased the explosion range. No matter how low your uracy rating was on the system, the maximum range limit was 100 meters. It was a decent AOE skill that was often used in the game. Now, what would happen if the manastone was absorbed by the Orb of the Grim Reaper, when it has the same rules of the 2nd Precept applied to it? ¡°Watch. I¡¯m going to do some magical stuff.¡± Jumping onto the tree in the backyard, Inded on one of its branches. The explosion of mana wouldn¡¯t go through the wall and wouldn¡¯t reach the sky either, so staying here should keep me out of the range. ¡°I¡¯m going to throw it!¡± Either because of her trust in her Unbreakable Vajra Body or me, she didn¡¯t even blink her eyes after I tossed the spear at her. The spear that was traveling straight at Hua Ran suddenly turned its direction in mid-air andnded on the ground. ¡°???¡± It was a strange phenomenon that didn¡¯t abide by the originalws of physics, but that wasn¡¯t the end. ¨C Boom! The manastone absorbed by the Orb of the Grim Reaper led to a small explosion that dispersed the mana inside it. In the blink of an eye, the backyard was filled with the Grim Reaper¡¯s mana. Yes, this was it. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± After a single groan, Hua Ran immediately fell on the ground. It was simple. The Orb of the Grim Reaper was one that targeted the soul. After absorbing that specific trait of the orb, the manastone exploded and applied the power of the Grim Reaper to Hua Ran who was within the range of the explosion. ¡®A little trick people found by ying around with these niche items.¡¯ When used by a human, the Orb of the Grim Reaper wasn¡¯t a strong weapon but whenbined with these festival-use faulty manastones, they were surprisingly quite effective. It was effective to the point that they could make me indirectly have an impact on spirits despite my inability to affect them due to my Precept. Strictly speaking, it was not me that touched Hua Ran¡¯s soul and it was the exploded manastone so I wasn¡¯t going against the Restriction. ¡°I was going to use it inside the Evil Extermination Formation if necessary but¡­¡± It was a shame that I couldn¡¯t use it there, but it was still okay since I got to use it here. ¡°Hua Ran. I only used a little bit of mana this time. How do you feel? Are you okay?¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± She opened her eyes. After rubbing her eyes and looking around her surroundings with unfocused eyes, she turned to me and opened her mouth. ¡°Hello oppa.¡± Hua Ran, or rather, Ran said with a bright and refreshing smile on her face. Chapter 84: - Reunion of Sisters (2) ? Reunion of Sisters (2) ? She was like an elegant orchid blooming with a bright light. The atmosphere around her gave off the feeling that she was so fragile that an idental touch might snap her. It was definitely the same face and body as before and¡­ the only difference was probably that her red eyes and the inside of her hair had both turned blue. That was somehow enough to change her atmosphere entirely, which was very intriguing. ¡°Hello, oppa.¡± ¡°Exceptional.¡± Right there and then, my affinity meter for Ran straight-up hit the maximum. Finally, I was called oppa¡­ someone called me oppa instead of Uncle!!1Oppa(older brother)- is used by women toward their elder brother or a close elder male friend in a friendly manner(usually up to ~30 y.o) while Uncle(Ahjussi) is used toward older men (~30+), it¡¯s considered rude referring a young man like that ¡°You really like hearing that, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I get told very often that I look old.¡± ¡°I figured, because it seemed like you wanted Hua to call you oppa all the time.¡± So she was indeed watching all that, huh. Back in the game, Ran joined the party when the yer decided to save Ran. At one point in the story, the yer would hear from her that she had been watching all the actions of Hua for the past 3 years. But in the game, she didn¡¯t talk about her feelings for Hua, who ended up being eradicated after failing to ascend to Hou. And I didn¡¯t get to hear it in thest iteration either because Ran had been the one who vanished back then. So this was the only chance for me to hear about her thoughts. ¡°Don¡¯t you resent her or anything?¡± ¡°Resent?¡± ¡°Because you had your body taken for 3 years, right?¡± I wanted the two of them to resolve their rtionship. Both Hua and Ran were good and gentle kids, so I couldn¡¯t help but hope for their happiness. But of course, it was up to Ran whether she would forgive Hua or not. ¡°At the start, I didn¡¯t like her. Sometimes, I shouted at her, telling me to give my body back,¡± she said. She then talked about the time when her voice reached no one, and how all she could do was watch someone else control her body. I couldn¡¯t even imagine just how frustrating and painful that would have been. ¡°My voice never reached Hua. Sometimes she would talk to herself, but that was never a reply to what I said.¡± That sense of guilt that made Hua hear voices in her head was probably a proof of how good-natured she was. ¡°Have you ever seen someone who¡¯s always anxious? Hua gets frightened by things she can¡¯t see, and she¡¯s scared by things she can¡¯t hear.¡± Ran exined that she started to find her sympathetic and pitiful over time. Even though she had her body stolen by her, Ran began to empathize and understand her. ¡°That¡¯s why I don¡¯t hate her anymore. Hua even decided to return the body to me.¡± Looking at the flowers blooming in the backyard, she hopped around and danced with a spin. ¡°This is the first time in my life that I¡¯m walking and running around like this. I had been lying down on the bed the whole time.¡± Ice Yin Constitution. She had the illness where she couldn¡¯t bnce out the Yin and Yang inside her body, which therefore made her have an overwhelming abundance of Yin. ¡°Like this¡­! And this!¡± Hopping around on the spot, she threw her arms wide and jumped around. Those were things that were so normal for most people, and yet it was the first time this girl was experiencing them. ¡°It is definitely thanks to Hua that I can move like this, because she is using the Yin energy built up in my body. That¡¯s why I decided to look at the positive side of things.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impressive.¡± ¡°I had a lot of time to think during those 3 years, you see. And Korin-oppa? It¡¯s partially thanks to you as well, you know? ¡°Huh?¡± While passing the credit to me, she hopped her way across and opened her mouth. ¡°You gave her a choice. You didn¡¯t want Hua to disappear; you wanted her to look for ways to live with me, right?¡± ¡°Yeah. I feel like you guys can live in a symbiotic¡­ I mean, whatever it is, I think you can live together. And that¡¯s what I¡¯m hoping for as well.¡± ¡°Is that because you don¡¯t want Hua to be unhappy?¡± That was probably one of the reasons. I had failed in many ways in thest iteration. There were many things that I couldn¡¯t do, and among them was Hua. Looking back, I could perhaps give various excuses as to why I failed in all that I did but¡­ that wouldn¡¯t change the fact that I had still failed. That was why I wanted to seed this time around. ¡°Do you remember what I said to Hua? How you have to give your very best in everything?¡± ¡°I do. Hua even wrote that down in a notebook, you know?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ quite touching actually.¡± Give your very best, learn how to be caring, move other people, be mature and¡­ ¡°Change the world. That¡¯s what I heard from my master. For me, the starting reason is that I don¡¯t want to miss the things that are in front of me, and I¡¯m trying not to ignore them even if they happen to be just small sources of misfortune.¡± Last time, it was because I missed too many of them without even realizing that I had missed them. So this time, I wanted to make sure that I wouldn¡¯t miss them. ¡°So all I did¡­ was try to pick you guys up. You were out in the rain, so I was just supporting you guys a little.¡± ¡°But what if you get your hands full in that process? You got greatly hurt when you were helping us, right?¡± ¡°Welp~. In that case, you guys can help me.¡± Marie, Alicia and Hua Ran. Not a single one of them was worse than me. They were all amazing, clever, nice, and capable people. ¡°I trust you. If I have my hands full, then you and the other people will probably help me.¡± Together. Just like Marie and Alicia did, I had no doubt that Hua Ran would help me as well. Because goodwill had a contagious nature. Kindness had the power to create a chain reaction. ¡°Can you help me out a little? It¡¯s a bit difficult for me to do alone.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something you would have to speak to Hua about,¡± said Ran. She was pretty much forgiving her and permitting Hua to share the body with her. Even though Hua had stolen her body for 3 years, this girl was still taking Hua under her arms. ¡°Very mature, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I stopped turning older past 14 but¡­ Hua is 3 years old, right? I¡¯ve been wanting to have a younger sister for a long time.¡± Technically, she wasn¡¯t wrong but¡­ a sibling sharing one body, huh. ¡°By the way¡­ if I¡¯m in danger, will youe to my aid in that awesome manner like you didst time, Korin-oppa?¡± ¡°Anytime. Call me whenever you need help.¡± ¡°I knew you would say that. You¡¯re¡­ so cool.¡± Ran took a step closer towards me. After lowering her head, she called me with a whisper. ¡°Korin-oppa.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I like fish.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Hearing that sudden shift in topic, I was tilting my head when Ran slightly raised her head to gaze up at me. ¡°You see, Hua and I have the same tastes. Whether it be food, music, books¡­¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s good.¡± After staying silent without saying anything for a long time, she brought her face closer to my ears and softly whispered. ¡°And men.¡± She then gave a cunning smile. ¡°H, huh?¡± ¡°If you be my husband, oppa, that means you can legally have two wives, you know?¡± ¡°No, wait wait wait¡­¡± W, what¡¯s wrong with her? What¡¯s with this straightforward appeal? A, are kids all like this these days? Am I an old man who can¡¯t follow the trend? ¡°Y, you can¡¯t tease your elders like that!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not joking.¡± She chuckled while covering her mouth with her hand. T, this was bad for the heart. While I was standing there frozen, Ran wrapped her white and thick arms around my neck and stood on her tippy-toes to whisper into my ears. ¡°In my hometown¡­ there are a lot of people that get engaged and married at my age.¡± Lifting the corners of her lips, she gave a bewitching smile that contained a strange hint of¡­ maturity. ¡°Thank you, oppa.¡± ¨C Chu Then, Ran gave an audible chu on my cheeks. This kind of ¡®oppa¡¯ with a slightly different rtionship in mind wasn¡¯t what I was trying to hear though¡­ ¡°Y, you see¡­ when ites to¡­ rtionships, it¡¯s not that simple. Besides, if you¡¯re going to live with Hua, you have to ask her for her opinion as well¡­¡± ¡°I think Hua is already¡ª¡± It was then. Even though there was no sound, it felt like I heard a sudden click. ¡°Ran?¡± ¡°You¡­¡± It seemed that Hua was in control of the body again. Both the eyes and the inner portion of the hair returned to red. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ misunderstand. She was just babbling nonsense.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ o, okay?¡± That was quite an easy change, wasn¡¯t it? ¡°So¡­ Do you think it went well?¡± ¡°¡­Be quiet. No, wait¡­ I wasn¡¯t saying that to you.¡± So this is that famous ¡®conversation with the inner self¡¯ that teenagers can do, huh? For a while, Hua Ran continued saying, ¡®That¡¯s not it. You¡¯re wrong. Be quiet. Why are you the older sister¡­?¡¯ and wrestled with her inner self. Only after she was somewhat done did she turn her gaze back towards me. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Did you have a nice chat with your older sister?¡± ¡°Why¡­¡± ¡°She¡¯s 14 and you¡¯re 3, so you are the younger one there.¡± ¡°I¡¯m 17.¡± ¡°No, but it¡¯s only been 3 years since you¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m 17.¡± The three-year-old baby was asserting that she was 17 years old. Well, I guess I didn¡¯t have the right to say anything because I was also considering myself 30¡­ ¡°Why are you still here?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I replied. ¡°Do you have a lot of free time? You should go.¡± Where would I even go though? Despite having nowhere else to go, I was pretty much chased out of the dormitory. ¡°For dinner¡­ meet at 7. At the usual ce.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ sure.¡± She turned around and returned to the building without saying anything. The dinner cost was probably going to be on her, right? This was most likely Hua Ran¡¯s way of asking for an apology. Apologizing with food? She was still a kid. ¡ºAnd men.¡» ¡­Right? *** Holy fuck. The captain of the Old Faith¡¯s Chargers of the Cross, Laurent Sarkozy, swallowed his swear word, which was unbefitting of a cleric like himself. Ever since his birth, he had been raised as a member of the Old Faith¡¯s secret ops. Killing pagans and guiding the traitors that went by the name of New Faith down the correct path, his etiquette naturally turned worse. The amount of manpower and money invested by Xeruem for this festival was not small. Smuggling extremely rare articles, adding in people to incite criticism against the demon girl, and even making an extremely politically radical movement to guide the demon girl to the pagans of the east ¨C they were all part of therge investment they put in. However, the result was a total failure. Kang Ryun was arrested, and even their n of making Hua Ran the enemy of the entire continent after her ascension in order to create a negative public perception of the protestants, that talked about embracing demi-humans, failed. In the first ce, the one that installed the restrictions on that demon girl was the saintess of the protestants, the 1st Princess. If Hua Ran had gone berserk, people would talk about asking the 1st Princess to take responsibility, which would support the 2nd Princess, who had the same goals in mind as Xeruem. And yet all of that had crumbled down, all because those stupid pagans of the east did things like idiots! ¡ºYou will be our never-forgotten martyrs. My brothers.¡» That was what Renault Lusignan said after gathering all the members of the Chargers of the Cross that had infiltrated the city. ¡ºThrough your courage, you will show what true faith is to the protestant traitors.¡» ¡ºEvery breath taken by that wicked thing threatens our faith and the peace of our continent. Through your blood and flesh, you will be creating a foundation as firm as a rock.¡» In other words, he was telling them to attack Hua Ran and prove how dangerous and violent she was by shedding their blood and flesh. Chairman Eriu Casarr of Merkarva, and the 1st Princess of El Rath Kingdom, who was at the same time the saintess of Zeon, had worked in cooperation to put a restriction on the Heavenly Yaksha and admit her into the academy. That was in alignment with the New Faith¡¯s stance of having a social harmony with demi-humans, but the fear and wariness against demons were still very prominent in this world. Taking a demi-human into the academy despite the negative social perception of the continent was definitely a risky move. What would happen if news spread about how Hua Ran had massacred more than a hundred people? Whether she was acting in self-defense or not didn¡¯t matter. The important thing was that a demi-human had brutally killed people. As long as they could spread a notorious news about the New Faith, one secret squad of the Old Faith was a cheap price to pay. Besides, the Chargers of the Cross was a secret organization that consisted of unidentifiable people. After they were all dead, some might realize their connection with the Old Faith but there was no way of proving that to the public. But all of that would only work out if all the members of the Chargers of the Cross were to die. In order to avoid being tortured, they even had tomit suicide with a hidden poison if they somehow initially avoided death. ¡°Fuck¡­ fuck¡­¡± And the captain of the Chargers of the Cross, Laurent Sarkozy, was a bit too old to walk the path of a martyr. ¡ºBrothers, your names will be forever etched into the Temr Archives as honorable martyrs.¡» Laurent wasn¡¯t interested in etching his name or whatever. You had to die the shittiest of deaths to have your name written there, did you not? That was the archive of names that old men read through over a hundred-year-old wine, while reminiscing about the young fanatics that they forced to death. The most disgusting part was how Laurent couldn¡¯t even refuse the order. He had grown up as a part of the secret organization and knew what not to do better than anyone else. Even if he were to run away after ignoring themand, he would only get assassinated by a different organization and die a worse death. In the end, he had no choice but to charge towards his death as the so-called martyrs. ¡°¡­Fuck.¡± It was in the middle of the night with shadow crawling up the buildings when a bunch of people with impure motives appeared on the empty fields of Merkarva Academy. They appeared from underground, which had been dug next to a fake set of shops owned by the Old Faith. Through the old hole, which they had dug out in order to one day attack the education facility of knights and mages that had fallen out of the religion¡¯s influence, the 100 men led by Laurent infiltrated the academy and made their way to their destination. ¡°We are all here Captain.¡± Hearing the words of his vice-captain, Laurent looked at his men that were wearing ck robes over their faces. They were the young fanatics that could sacrifice their lives anytime for their faith, and seeing them made him wonder if that was how he had been in his own youth. ¡°Take out your holy swords¡­¡± he said as the hundred Chargers each took out a dagger from their clothes. Those daggers, which were quite shabby for holy swords, were painted in darkness and were giving off an evil aura of a cursed dagger. In fact, the method of manufacturing these cursed items that the Old Faithid their hands on after dealing with the wicked sorcerers hundreds of years ago, was re-framed as Xeruem¡¯s secret skill after the witch hunt and the religious revolution. It contained a curse of mental aberration. Even though it was a low-grade curse that wasn¡¯t very effective on its own, it was one that amplified itself after being used multiple times. ¡°One strike per person. We will stab with these daggers. Let¡¯s move.¡± Right when Laurent was about to lead forward the fanatics that were ready to sacrifice themselves¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t think this is a good time for a walk.¡± A bold voice of a different person echoed across and halted their feet. ¡°¡­!¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Laurent immediately lifted his head and turned to where the voice came from. On the rooftop of a building that was close to their destination, the special dormitory, at around 40 meters above ground-level¡­ ¡°It¡¯s time to sleep so let them rest. They¡¯re tired from all the festival and stuff.¡± ¡­A wild beast wearing the robe of darkness was gazing down at them. He was smiling but the viciousness of his eyes couldn¡¯t be concealed and the dense killing intent and the violent, oppressive aura of a carnivorous beast suppressed them. Even though his tone of voice was very nonchnt like someone meeting an old friend, his eyes were burning as if he would rip them to pieces. ¡°ept your loss. What you¡¯re doing now is ambushing the winner after their ceremony of victory. It is neither elegant normendable. In fact, that¡¯s what rats would do.¡± ¡°Bastard¡­!¡± Despite the nature of the action itself, the fanatics had pride in themselves for doing this so they were enraged by hisment, but none of them stepped forward. They all instinctively realized that fighting against that man here was not an option. ¡°100 Chargers of the Cross, huh. If you really wanted to go all-in, you should have brought the Temr Knights as well.¡± He immediately saw through them. More importantly, how did he even know they were going to infiltrate tonight in secret? ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª A spear came flying from somewhere andnded in the man¡¯s hand as the silver spear then chillingly gleamed under the moonlight. The chargers flinched upon seeing a 2-meter-long weapon suddenly appear from nowhere. ¡°A, attack¡­!¡± In spite of realizing that he sounded like a third-rate viin, Renault still shouted that out loud. Even the man standing on the roof seemed to have heeded to his call ¨C after jumping up from the building like a high-jumper, he pulled his spear back with the moon behind him. The spearman flying in the sky pulled his right hand back as the dimensions started to crack around his spear. Orb of the Grim Reaper. His mana activated and gathered the demonic mana of the underworld through the orb as the spearman then tossed it with force. ¨C Kwang! The javelin struck down and Laurent assumed that the spear would pierce through one of them. There were a hundred of them there and someone was bound to get hit by it. But what woulde after that was more important. Afternding on the ground without his spear, the defenseless spearman would definitely be stabbed multiple times with the cursed daggers. The silver spear flew down in a straight angle. It was one that would definitely take away the life of one of his men¡­ ¡°Huh?¡± It suddenly twisted in the air. The spear suddenly started twisting and snapping at an unbelievable angle for a thrown weapon as it then drove straight into the ground. ¨C Kwack! ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Zero casualties. He must be incredibly unlucky or something to hit no one with a hundred men clustered in one ce, but regardless, the spear ended up in the ground without hitting anyone. ¡°Hah¡­¡± Scoffs echoed from everywhere. Seeing the nonsensical and unlucky turn of events for the spearman, the Chargers of the Cross mocked him and sneered in scorn. ¡°You fool. Where do you think you¡¯re throwing that¡ª¡± ¨C Boom! It was then. A shapelessyer of mana exploded out with the spear sitting at the center and traveled faster than they could perceive it. When Laurent came into contact with that outburst of mana¡­ ¨C Kung! His heart dropped an inch. It felt like his soul had been sliced apart by that burst of mana. ¡°Kuk¡­!¡± It was an unblockable attack that didn¡¯t even give them any time to respond but somehow, Laurent remained on his feet. As a veteran with plentiful experiences and as the only person in the Chargers of the Cross that was at the level of a knight, he managed to withstand the feeling of his soul being hacked and sliced to pieces. ¡°Kuhum¡­?!!¡± Laurent was shocked after looking around. Not a single man was standing behind him. ¡°What the¡­¡± In just one move, a hundred of them were neutralized. ¡°Magic?¡± ¡°Fainting for non-knights, huh. This is actually not that bad.¡± ¡°¡ª¡ª-??!¡± ¨C Kwack! The spear traveled down like a mace. Laurent quickly blocked the attack but the turbulent ck aura of the spear suppressed him. ¡°Kuuuukk?¡± It was the simultaneous activation of Shura and the Demonic Spear of Darkness. The force behind the attack was so immense that Laurent fell down despite sessfully blocking the attack. He was gasping for breath with his back feeling like it was being crushed when the man walked up and ¡®scoffed¡¯ like a longtime friend. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Try a bit harder. Go on! You can do it¡­!¡± Suddenly, he trampled down on his face with his boots. Along with a deafening thud, the ground split open. ¡°I am done with them.¡± After kicking Laurent so hard that his face might have crumpled inside, the man, Korin Lork, turned around and gave a shout. In response, Lady Josephine slowly walked towards him. ¡°I could have dealt with them myself though.¡± ¡°There was something I wanted to test out,¡± I replied. ¡°You mean that skill just then?¡± ¡°It¡¯s great for dealing with weaklings, right?¡± ¡°¡­Anyway, thanks for your work, even when you haven¡¯t fully recovered yet. We will arrest them now.¡± Securities of the Academy suddenly appeared from the darkness all around, and began tying up the unconscious Chargers of the Cross. ¡°Oh right. They have a capsule of poison instead of their right back teeth for suicide, so please get rid of those.¡± ¡°¡­¡± There were a lot of things Josephine wanted to ask him, ranging from how he knew about the hole the Old Faith had dug out over a hundred years ago, to the reason why he requested her to observe the Old Faith. ¡°Huu¡­¡± For now, she just decided to be content with the fact that the boy was their ally and proceeded with arresting the unconscious Laurent. The moon began to set over the horizon. Night wasing to an end, and the unending heat of the festival was about to pick up once again. Footnotes:
  • 1Oppa(older brother)- is used by women toward their elder brother or a close elder male friend in a friendly manner(usually up to ~30 y.o) while Uncle(Ahjussi) is used toward older men (~30+), it¡¯s considered rude referring a young man like that
Chapter 85: - Reunion of Sisters (3) ? Reunion of Sisters (3) ? Hua Ran was on a rtivelyzy side. Her birth as a powerhouse and her body that made it so that she couldn¡¯t get hurt by anything in the world made the living jiangshi girl slower than others. It probably wasn¡¯t a wrong expression to call thatzy. ¡®Wake up, Hua. It¡¯s morning!¡¯ The faint source of light shining in through the curtains told her that the sun hade up. Opening her eyes a little, she checked the intensity of the light and noticed that the room still wasn¡¯t that bright. It meant that it wasn¡¯t time to wake up yet but¡­ ¡®You¡¯re awake, right? Hurry and get up!¡¯ ¡°¡­So noisy.¡± ¡®Excuse me! How can you say that to your older sister?¡¯ ¡®Why are you the older sister?¡¯ She wanted to ask but decided against it, because she was bound to get caught up in the opponent¡¯s pace when talking to her new roommate. In the end, Hua Ran didn¡¯t want to continue listening to the noisy chatterbox so she had to get up from the bed. ¡°¡­7 am.¡± The rm of the cuckoo clock was 9, which meant that she had woken up 2 hours earlier than usual. ¡®Let¡¯s have breakfast! Breakfast!¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Without replying to her, Hua Ran slowly finished her preparations. The chains slowly crawled back up with hints of yellow talismans. They were quick, improvised versions but were enough to stabilize her mind as long as Hua Ran didn¡¯t pull up the abundant aura inside her. Leaving the room, she walked down the corridor and the staircase. On the first floor was the sunroom with a view of the garden, the kitchen, and the dining room. Hua Ran was about to head to the dining room straight away, but was stopped by a loud ¡®Kung!¡¯ that echoed from the sunroom. ¡®What was that? What was that? Hua, let¡¯s go! Let¡¯s go!¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran didn¡¯t like the fact that she had to listen to each and everymand of the noisy roommate, but was also curious about the sound so she headed to the sunroom. This wasn¡¯t because Ran told her to go there; this was purely based on Hua¡¯s own choice. ¨C Creak! Opening the door, she found the backyard garden and the recreation area connecting to it. The room containedrge ss doors with wooden floors and walls, with asional sofas and tables for a small chat and a morning tea. Hua Ran had never used this ce though. Usually, it was Marie and Korin eating baked potatoes here after baking them at the backyard, or Josephine for a tea-time by herself. On one of the sofas of the sunroom was Korin Lork¡­ but actually, his body had fallen off of the sofa onto the floor. The loud thud just then seemed to have been the sound of him slipping from the sofa. Considering how he was still fast asleep despite that, he seemed to be in a very deep sleep. ¡®It¡¯s Korin-oppa!¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Leaving behind the noisy Ran, Hua Ran headed to the sleeping Korin and crouched down next to him. ¡°¡­¡± ¨C Poke! She poked his cheek. Her finger went straight in as if she was poking through water. ¡°Kuhang¡­¡± The boy let out an inelegant snore. He appeared very exhausted and didn¡¯t seem to be waking up any time soon. ¨C Pinch! Pinch! Pinch~! ¡®Hua?¡¯ Withte autumn on its way, the sunroom was quite cold and refreshing. Her heart beat slowly and was far from warmth, but then¡­ ¡°¡­¡± What was this warm feeling in her heart? She wondered. ¡®I knew it. Hua, you like him too, right?¡¯ ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know.¡± Without even noticing the wide smile on the face of her self-proimed older sister, Hua Ran slowly continued her words. ¡°He always acts as he pleases, does stuff for me even though I didn¡¯t ask him to and always works hard. I just can¡¯t understand.¡± ¡®Do you hate him?¡¯ ¡°¡­No I don¡¯t.¡± ¡®Then do you like him?¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran didn¡¯t respond, not because she didn¡¯t want to fall for Ran¡¯s tricks. Despite her knowledge and physical appearance, the jiangshi girl was still only 3 years old and had trouble understanding the nature of the emotion she was feeling. All she knew was that looking at Korin¡­ would make her heart ache every time. Seeing him in bandages made her heart feel like it was being stabbed. Even though des couldn¡¯t pierce through her skin, the sight of the tattered body of the boy pierced through her unbreakable skin with ease. That was why she hated him. Like a hammer striking an iron ingot, he constantly banged at her heart. ¡°He¡¯s annoying.¡± But I don¡¯t hate him, she thought. The jiangshi girl didn¡¯t have a wide enough vocabry to be able to exin her emotions. ¡®It¡¯s okay. I will help you learn what that is as your older sister.¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Without replying to Ran¡¯s words, Hua Ran continued fidgeting with Korin¡¯s cheeks. After continuing that meaningless action for a long time, the girl was about to get up from either boredom or satisfaction, but it was then. ¡°What are you doing?¡± A familiar voice echoed from behind. It was the voice of her other housemate who always had a bright smile on her face. ¡°¡­¡± As expected, she found the vampire girl with water-colored hair after turning around. Marie Dunareff was gazing down at Hua Ran. Usually, she looked so kind and generous that it was annoying but her current expression wasn¡¯t gentle in the slightest. In fact, it even seemed to contain a faint aura of dreariness. ¡°You woke up earlier than usual, didn¡¯t you?¡± Marie asked. ¡°¡­It was noisy.¡± Although Hua Ran had never talked about Ran to her, Marie nodded after being convinced and walked past her. ¡°Korin.¡± She then stopped next to Korin. As if Hua Ran wasn¡¯t even there, she spoke to him. ¡°Korin, wake up. You¡¯ll catch a cold if you sleep here.¡± However, the boy, who hade back after helping the securities of the Academy deal with the fanaticsst night, needed more sleep. ¡°Can¡¯t be helped. Doggo.¡± A 2-meter-long dog revealed itself from her shadow. Without even needing to listen to hermand, the dog immediately started to lift Korin up. ¡°Looks like he fell asleep here without even changing his clothes. Take him to his bed for me.¡± Doggo was about to leave the sunroom carrying Korin, but that was when Hua Ran opened her mouth. ¡°¡­Sofa.¡± ¡°Hnn? Did you say something?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it¡­ better to leave him on the sofa?¡± She was asking if there was a need to bother taking him to his bed, out of concern that he might wake up in the middle. What Hua Ran didn¡¯t know was that no one had ever seen her show consideration for other people. ¡°¡­A bed will be softer than the sofa.¡± ¡°He might¡­ wake up.¡± ¡°There aren¡¯t any nkets here. It¡¯s autumn, so it might be cold for him.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran couldn¡¯te up with a logical rebuttal and in the end, she couldn¡¯t stop Marie and Korin from leaving the sunroom. ¡°There are steamed potatoes in the dining room so have them! I can have breakfast together with Korin so feel free to have everything there!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Seeing her back, Hua Ran felt slightly ticklish at heart and scratched herself. The word, ¡®together¡¯, which she normally would have ignored remained vividly as an echo in her ears. ¡®Hmm~. I knew it; she¡¯s our enemy, huh.¡¯ Despite not really understanding why, Hua Ran inwardly agreed with Ran¡¯s words. **** The festival wasn¡¯t over but the lectures were back. Even though they were rtively tolerant with lessons¡­ It was in fact because of that that students weren¡¯t exempted from lessons even during the festival. Besides, the lessons were only in the morning and most of the afternoons were free. ¡°These are ingredients you can gather anywhere during emergency situations¡ª¡± The tender voice of Professor Lrabined with the boring lesson content inevitably ended up resulting in students dozing off. Her voice and the sound of scribbling pens were the only sources of sound in the lecture room. Since it was something I heard in thest iteration, I decided to ignore it and instead focused on something else. ?Korin Lork (Hero)? Aura Rank: { Lower High (8,130) } Mana Rank: { Upper Low (6,770) } Specialty: { Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior, Pain Tolerance, Domain Comprehension, Triple Core, Demonic Aura Release } Strength: 111 Agility: 107 Vitality: 114 Aura: 104 Mana: 104 After Hua Ran¡¯s incident, my overall stats went above 100. Huu~, I still remember them being around 20s and 30s like a trash mob, and being able to reach this far in less than 1 year was extremely moving. All the hard work I put in to diligently train my body instead of solely relying on the stat amplification of Precepts wasing in handy. ¡®With this, I should have exceeded the initial stats of Alicia and¡­¡¯ My stats were probably higher than the current Alicia¡¯s stats as well. It was nothing new at this point that Alicia was also a tremendous genius and she had been growing exponentially after the fight against Lunia through constant practices. However, my current growth speed was even faster than the yer of the original game. I was confident in beating the game yer as long as it wasn¡¯t likest iteration¡¯s Park Sihu or something. ¡®I even got the 3rd core and the new skill, Demonic Aura Release.¡¯ Apart from stats, there were two things I gained as rewards of the Precept, and they were the increase to my Aura and Mana Ranks, as well as the new skill. Now, my Aura Rank was at Low High, where knights first gained their cores. It was the official stairway to bing a superhuman. However, I had the core from the White Silver Mandrake as well as the one with a demonic attribute that I inherited from Sebancia Duke. In other words, all the other knights were getting their first Aura Core while I was in possession of three. This difference should be massive. Even aside from how the demonic core contained ridiculously high-quality aura, a simple calction meant that I had 3 times the aura of others. ¡®¡­Alicia even gained hers as well.¡¯ It seemed that taking dozens of steps in the Domain had exponentially helped with her growth and her Aura Rank had also gone up to Low High ording to her. She had already been Upper Medium from the start, which was only one step away, but that was still half a year faster than her progress in the game. Her future was looking very promising. Next was ¡®Demonic Aura Release¡¯. ¡ºDemonic Aura Release¡» ¨C Pull up aura, and amass it into high pressure. ¨C You may build up and release up to 20% of your total Aura and Mana. It was an incredibly useful specialty. That much was clear and straightforward but it was rather difficult in terms of use. My current aura capacity was 8,130. 20% of that meant an instantaneous release of 1,600 aura. That would lead to a ridiculous one-off output. The problem, however, was that I had no idea how to use it despite carefully testing it out at the hunting grounds. ¡®I feel like this would allow me to do something simr to what Sebancia Duke did with his demonic sword¡­¡¯ Damn¡­ Am I going to be able to cut the sky and kill dragons with one sh of the spear? ¡°Now~. 5 minutes before the end of the lesson, I will go around looking at what you wrote~~¡± Professor Lra said, which surprised quite a few students including myself. Checking what we wrote? She wasn¡¯t the type to do that though¡­ Ah, was she mad because everyone was sleeping in her lesson¡­? This was bad. Judging based on her personality, which I had been seeing for the past 4 years or so, she would probably make us clean the ssroom or something. The problem was that this ssroom was solely for alchemic studies, and all the old stains built up from experiments were nothing to scoff at. ¨C Hey, can I look at what you wrote? ¨C What? No. I haven¡¯t even finished mine yet. The students buzzed from everywhere. This lesson with Professor Lra was the end of morning lectures for most people. Most of the students, including me, were eagerly waiting for the free sessions in the afternoon to enjoy the festival. I threw my hand to the left and quickly looked for something to write with when my hand ended up touching something soft. ¡°Umm¡­¡± What I identally grabbed was the soft hand of a girl. Jaeger was sitting on my right and on my left was¡­ ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran was nkly gazing at my hand. ¡°Oops. Sor¡ª¡± ¨C Grip. Before I could pull my hand out, her small hand dug deeper into my grip. When I turned and faced Hua Ran, I saw her float a faint and yful smile. ¡°A, are you Ran?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± With blue eyes and a bashful smile, Ran gazed back at my eyes. ¡°Umm, your hand¡­¡± ¡°Would you like to look at my notes, oppa?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ that would be great.¡± While still tightly holding onto my left hand with her right hand, she used her remaining left hand to pass her note. ¡°Thanks. By the way, your hand¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s starting from that page on the right, oppa.¡± Oppa¡­ how sweet was the sound of that word? ¡ºUncle Knight. Please find Navi! Please!¡» ¡º¡­It¡¯s oppa ¨C oppa. Miss Anna? You can call me Knight-oppa.¡» ¡ºUncle Knight! Good luck!!¡» ¡ºMr. Korin. You¡­ are more like, umm¡­ a father or a mother I would say.¡» ¡º¡­Why can¡¯t I just be an oppa?¡» ¡ºWe¡¯re the same age though?¡» ¡ºUmm hello? This is not making any sense. So you mean mom¡¯s okay but oppa isn¡¯t? Just call me oppa, and I will seriously buy you a meal.¡» ¡ºMaybeter!¡» Those were the moments of humiliation and agony. The times of being called an uncle, mom, and old man were all gone. Now¡­ I was finally also an ¡®oppa¡¯! ¡°Uhuhu¡­¡± If you think about it, I was still only 17, you know? Physical age is also very important, yes? Even a sword empress after going against the flow of time to look younger again would prefer ¡®Sister¡¯ than being called ¡®granny¡¯, right? ¡°Hehe¡­¡± I had no idea what was making her so happy, but Ran continued fidgeting with my hand with a wide smile on her face. She was holding my hand with quite a lot of force but I could still pull it out if I wanted to. However, seeing how she was enjoying it that much, I felt too guilty to pull my hand away. ¡°K, kuhum¡­ thanks.¡± ¡°Yes~ oppa.¡± In the end, Ran continued holding my hand all the way until the end of the lesson. **** After the lesson was over, I was packing my bag when Hua Ran handed me my pencil case. ¡°Oppa, would you like to have lunch together?¡± ¡°Ehew, sure. I will buy it for you. This ¡®oppa¡¯ will buy you anything you want.¡± I knew I was being pulled into her pace but¡­ I still couldn¡¯t turn her down. That was just how powerful ¡®oppa¡¯ was. I was wondering what I should buy for this beautiful junior to make her happy when I realized that everyone was looking at us funny. ¨C What is with that fucker? ¨C Was he always that close to Hua Ran? ¨C No. Well, Korin was the only one that would start a conversation with Hua Ran but¡­ ¨C What happened during the festival¡­? ¨C T, that freaking gold-digger. ¨C Chill. What¡¯s he done to you? Not saying he¡¯s not though. Hmm, these days, I had a feeling that people tended to stare at me with a weird look in their eyes. It was especially from the boys. Jaeger, who was sitting next to me, ced his hand on top of my shoulder. ¡°You sinful bastard.¡± ¡°¡­Huh?¡± ¡°Ima head to the cafeteria with Lark. You guys should go by yourselves.¡± ¡°How nice of you~.¡± Ran and Jaeger looked at each other andmunicated using unidentifiable signals. Jaeger left the ss first, and the two of us walked out after finishing packing up. ¡°What would you like for lunch?¡± asked Ran. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything on apart from an exchange meeting with Purple Hawk in the afternoon. Do you want to head outside the Academy and go to an eastern restaurant?¡± ¡°You mean the ce Hua always goes to? I wanted to try that ce out!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go then. By the way, what happened to Hua?¡± ¡°She was dozing off so I sneaked out. She probably won¡¯t wake up anytime soon.¡± ¡°So you can change like that as well, huh?¡± It was only recently that they started changing so the conditions weren¡¯t clear, but that would probably be clearer over time. While walking out of the building, Hua Ran and I talked about what happened after the incident. ¡°Have you met President Kang Yuhua and Sa Jinhyuk?¡± ¡°Yes. Hua and I both did.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Those two were fairly responsible for what happened this time around. Of course, it was definitely true that they had been taken advantage of, and it would be slightly unreasonable to make them take responsibility for their actions. All the negotiations with Purple Hawk regarding this incident were unofficial and we promised to spread the news of how Kang Ryun died on the road after setting off before others. Since he was going to be killed, it wasn¡¯t right to ask Kang Yuhua and Sa Jinhyuk to take even more responsibility. ¡°Apparently Uncle Kang Ryun would go through an unofficial execution. In secret by the royal family of this kingdom.¡± ¡°That would be the best solution, yeah.¡± There was nothing to gain by leaving that person alive. The Moonlight Castle incident where Hua Ran destroyed the castle by going berserk was known to be due to Kang Yu, her father, controlling her, but the real culprit behind that incident was Kang Ryun. ¡°Both Sister Yuhua and Hyuk must have had a hard time because of me.¡± Apparently, Yuhua was deeply moved by the fact that she could meet Ran, her younger cousin, despite everything that happened and Hyuk seemed to have turned himself away from the path of revenge. Thanks to Ran¡¯s testimony and Kang Ryun¡¯s confession, he found out the truth behind the matter and seemed less upset by Hua, who had been used as a tool. ¡°Oh right, did you know? Now that uncle is no longer here, Sister Yuhua is the family lord of our Kang household.¡± ¡°Family lord? Like the head of the family, is it?¡± ¡°Yes. She takes care of everything ranging from small things¡­ to household marriages.¡± ¡°¡­Is that so?¡± ¡°I got her permission already.¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± I let out an empty cough as Ran giggled with a wide smile on her face. ¡°What should we do, hubby?¡± ¡°E, ehem¡­!¡± Hua, when are you waking up? It¡¯s not easy for this oppa to handle Ran¡­! ¡°Ah, you¡¯re here.¡± It was then. A green-haired girl wearing a robe hopped her way across from the other side of the corridor. The girl, who had green hair that appeared to be full of vitality and an old oak staff, was none other than the Druid of the Avelorn Forest, Yuel, who was a freshman just like us. ¡°Did you finish your lesson just then as well?¡± ¡°Mine was over a long time ago.¡± ¨C Grip! Ran added more power to her hands that were holding onto me. ¡°Mr. Korin. A spirit came looking for me this morning.¡± ¡°A spirit?¡± ¡°Yes, it came from the eastern forest.¡± ¡°From the east? That far?¡± The spokesperson of the forest and nature, druid. Druids, who were always loved by spirits and elementals, were always apanied by spirits regardless of who they were. However, it was still rare for spirits to leave the forest they were born in and travel that far. Why would a spirit visit her from all the way there? ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°We found it. The druid called ¡®Uzkias¡¯ and ¡®Findias¡¯ that you were talking about.¡± ¡°¡­Really?¡± Findias. That was the mysteriousnd hiding one of the 4 great treasures, the Sun, iomh Sis, and Uzkias was the druid protecting thatnd. 3 months ago, before the start of the holidays, I had requested Yuel to look into it. The mysteriousnds of the four great treasures had only existed as a background setting in the game. ording to the original plot of the story, Tates Valtazar and the king¡¯s subjects would retrieve them before the yer could even have the option to take them. If I could¡­ take even at least one of them before they could¡­ ¡°Both Findias and Uzkias are at the east of the kingdom. To be exact, they are across the borders¡­ inside the Great Forest.¡± I would be able to screw up the very foundation of Tates Valtazar¡¯s ns. Quickly, I looked back at my memories, at the reward I gained after defeating Fermack Daman ¨C the only method of obtaining the Sun of Findias. Sr Eclipse. The weakest moment of the power of the sun was the only chance to obtain iomh Sis. And going through the memories of the past iteration, I realized that there had been only one sr eclipse during those three years. ¡®8th of February next year. During spring holiday, huh.¡¯ It seemed that the uing holiday was going to be quite the spectacr one. Chapter 86: - Start of Winter (1) ? Start of Winter (1) ? ¡ºI saw it! It¡¯s 100%!¡» The words weren¡¯t fully conveyed because of the turbulent wave of emotions but the important part had definitely gone through. Normally, Marie would have rebuked him saying, ¡®How can you say things like that about your daddy?¡¯ but now wasn¡¯t the time for that. ¡°Doggo.¡± ¡º!!!!¡» As expected of a beast, the 1-year-old Mr. Doggo Kim instinctively sensed the chill concealed behind her low voice and shrunk. ¡°Slowly. Tell me. Everything. From the start.¡± It wasmon for children to often stand on the side of their mother in a quarrel, and in Doggo¡¯s case, that applied even more and he had not a single integer of n on siding with his father. Excitedly, Doggo babbled about everything he saw as Marie boiled the potatoes with a shiver. ¡°I, I see. I seeee¡­¡± It was a shocking ount of the father¡¯s affair. Well, it was pretty much forced onto him, but he didn¡¯t seem to hate it all that much¡­ was the impression Doggo received. Of course, Marie Dunareff was quite a rational person and knew that she and Korin Lork weren¡¯t in an official rtionship. ¡®But! But¡­!¡¯ Although they had never decided to start an actual rtionship, they had already done some very extreme things hadn¡¯t they? Even though it was just a slightly erotic action of having a meal¡­ sucking blood meant a lot to Marie. She had never sucked the blood of another person apart from Korin nor did she ever want to. He was the only one that didn¡¯t make her feel physiologically repulsed when thinking about sucking blood. That was why she naturally put a lot of meaning into this action which regrly took ce. ¡°I was too careless¡­!¡± It was a bitter mistake. Just like how he was special to her, she had been arrogant, thinking that she was also special to him. There had always been a lot of girls next to Korin, but she had never considered them herpetitors. Alicia Arden was obviously harboring goodwill towards Korin but that was more in the realm of friendship, and Hua Ran had also been staying calm until now. Korin Lork had a broad rtionship, but her superior position should have been firm there. Besides, seeing how she was the one he relied on the most, the future should have been pretty much set in stone if everything went the way they did and yet¡­ ¡®To think Hua Ran¡­ Hua Ran would suddenly do something like that¡­!¡¯ She had been under the wrong impression that a goalkeeper could stop goals. But who could have expected her to suddenly gain a second personality¡­ and one that was so adamant and proactive at approaching Korin at that? ¡ºHello oppa.¡» It seemed that he hadpletely dropped his guard from that one sentence. There was an extremement from Doggo about how his disgusting grins were a shocking sight. Forgetting to evenment on Doggo¡¯s violent use of words, Marie focused more on the words of their new housemate that was as sly as a fox. ¡°Oppa¡­¡± Yes. Korin did have the tendency of being obsessed with the word, ¡®oppa¡¯. He seemed very mature and that was a plus in Marie¡¯s eyes, but in any case, he had been very far from hearing that long-aspired word because of his face and actions that seemed a lot more mature than that of his peers. But to think he would bepletely mesmerized by that single word! Her shoulders trembled from the overwhelming sense of betrayal. After oppa was ¡®hubby¡¯, and what? Two legal wives? Marie was baffled by that expression. Marriage wasn¡¯t a 1+1 promotion of a dor store, was it? It wasn¡¯t supposed to be like that. ¡°I¡­ can give him a potato farm and a diamond mine though¡­¡± There were probably like 3 diamond farms under her name or something. And this year, the best one out of them had returned a profit of about 97 times the gross ie of the hotel he ran this time around. From what Marie could tell, he did have some level of interest in money. If she were to give him this as a present¡­ ¡°No no no no. That¡¯s way too much about money¡­!¡± The rtionship she wanted to forge with Korin wasn¡¯t something as calctive as that. It was more of a sweet romantic one that palpitated her heart. She would have had it if not for the suddenpetitor sprinting like a cheetah! ¡°This is not good. I need to take some special¡­ very special means¡­!¡± Should she be as proactive as Hua Ran? That could be an option but she had been doing something that was even more explicit than that for a long time. Would being more proactive be a good choice? She needed help. Marie Dunareff. For the young maiden who had never even held onto a boy¡¯s hand apart from her father and her brothers, romance was a very difficult problem to tackle. ¡®¡­Should I ask?¡¯ Fortunately, she had a lot of friends. Even though she recently started being especially nicer to one specific person, by nature she was a very kind and generous girl that was loved by others. Finding a person to consult with wouldn¡¯t be that difficult. ¡°No! I don¡¯t want them to find out though!¡± However, the sensitive feelings of a maiden did not allow her to do that. Actually, many of her close friends had already noticed signs of her standing on the battlefront of romance, but Marie was still caught up in her groundless assumption that no one had figured it out. That was why she had to avoid any leakage of information. Then who was she supposed to consult with? Now that her friends weren¡¯t an option, who was she supposed to go to? The first candidate she thought of was Lady Josephine ra, who was also the dorm master of their current dormitory. That beautiful professor who was full of the mature appeal of an adult might be able to give her some perfect pieces of advice, but¡­ ¡®Hmm¡­ Probably not.¡¯ However, thedy, Josephine ra, who had been living healthily until she was 17 years older than the age limit of 100 that was predestined by the heavens, was a great figure that even came out in history books but the students of the Academy called her using a different title behind her back. Old Maiden. The legendary golddy who never even touched a man¡¯s hand in her life. She was definitely not someone she would consult with for matters regarding romance. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Then who was she supposed to ask? Her parents? No; absolutely not, because there was already a precedent during the summer holiday. Her father had wreaked havoc while her mother only told her thatying him down on the bed would solve all problems. Those two pr opinions weren¡¯t very helpful. ¡°Someone¡­ with a lot of experience¡­ that knows how boys think¡­¡± Suddenly, an incredible candidate appeared in her mind, but she shook her head and decided against it. No, that¡¯s¡­ not going to work, right? ¡°No but, this¡­ this is a bit¡­¡± Anyone listening to her grumble would wonder just how shocking of a candidate she was thinking of. It was one whom she had to lower all kinds of pride and dignity against, but at the same time, he was the yer of the century with a lot of experiences that would never lead to any leakage of information. ¡°Woof?¡± Mr. Doggo Kim, aged 1. He was leading such a debaucherous and youthful life with the dogs of the inner streets of the Academy that people wereining about all the sounds. Marie turned to her biological child, who had taken after the bad side of his father to live a disordered life. ¡°Umm¡­ Doggo?¡± ¡°Woof?¡± ¡°D, do you know what males like?¡± ¡ºSegg¡ª¡» ¡°Not that! Something morally healthy! Something more normal!¡± ¡º¡­¡» Hearing that, Doggo pondered a little before going, ¡®Ah!¡¯ and immediately sharing the thing that he came up with. ¡ºBones¡» It wasn¡¯t long until Marie could find an opportunity to make use of that advice. **** The eventful festival came to an end and the Academy returned to its everyday life. ¡°Huu¡­¡± On a certain weekend morning, I was eating with three of my housemates in the dining room. Lady Josephine ra, Marie Dunareff, And Hua Ran. The reason I started living in this special dormitory that was made separately for the Unique Grade demi-human, Hua Ran, was because I was supposed to help look after Marie. These days, I also had to look after Hua Ran and I became like a semi-deputy dorm master in this dormitory of 4 people. ¡°Should I clean the backyard today?¡± Since I was getting 5 extra gold coins per month, I decided to disy my diligence. ¡°Clean the backyard¡­?¡± Lady Josephine seemed puzzled so I returned a reply. ¡°There are a lot of leaves on the ground. We can get rid of them and while we¡¯re at it, maybe we can cook some sweet potatoes using those leaves.¡± ¡°Yes! Potatoes taste amazing when you cook them using dry leaves!¡± ¡°I said sweet potatoes, Senior.¡± ¡°Potatoes are delicious as well!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Lady Josephine pondered a little, and she seemed to be wondering whether she should make students do something as tedious as removing leaves or not. Ever since this ce was built, Lady Josephine appeared to have been the one taking care of everything before I came in. There were a lot of things that had to be hidden in this special dormitory. Because it was essentially a dormitory built for a Unique Grade demi-human, it didn¡¯t allow strangers to enter. There were a few olddies that asionally came in to clean the rooms but making them clean dry leaves was a different problem altogether. ¡°¡­I have a staff meeting now and can¡¯t help you. How about we do it next weekend?¡± ¡°Making them pile up even more over the week is not going to be that good. I can just do it.¡± ¡°I can help!¡± ¡°¡­Me too.¡± ¡°Hua Ran, you cannot. After my staff meeting, you need toe with me to meet the spiritualist guest. We need to strengthen your talismans.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Wow, it can¡¯t be helped then. It will be just the two of us, Korin and me!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to do it with me, Senior Marie.¡± ¡°No no no. I can¡¯t do it! I would feel bad making you do all the work by yourself! And Doggo can help us out as well!¡± Doggo alone would be fine but¡­ well, having more manpower was never a bad option anyway. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¨C Shiik, shiik. The straw broomstick raked across the leaves of the ground. Those leaves, the symbols of autumn that used to show off their crimson colors, were now filling the ground like desert sand. I couldn¡¯t get rid of them no matter how many times I raked the ground. However, that didn¡¯t mean we could afford not to do this. It was already November; it was starting to get cold and winter was just around the corner. If we hit winter, we would have to rely on mittens to do any level of work outside, and it was questionable if it would even be possible to rake the ground and remove the dry leaves while wearing mittens. ¡°Huu~¡± At least it was great that I had someone working with me. Despite having tiny hands, Marie was gathering the dry leaves and collecting them with skill. For about 2 hours starting from 10 am, Marie and I had been diligently on task. ¡°Doggo! You can¡¯t eat the carps in the pond! Don¡¯t make me get angry at you!!¡± One unprincipled member of our group was trying to eat the carp in the pond that would freeze in winter instead of saving it, so we had to stop him from doing so. ¡°Woof¡­!¡± Seemingly discontent by the fact that he couldn¡¯t bite into the fresh, hopping carp, Doggo howled out loud. ¡°I will buy you tunater.¡± My miraculous negotiation skills let the carps survive yet another day. After putting them into a pre-prepared water tank, I came back and found Marie standing in front of the pond. ¡°Are you going to clean the pond as well?¡± ¡°Un. I thought, ¡®Why not?¡¯¡± ¡°It¡¯s not going to be easy though¡­¡± ¡°Not really!¡± Without even using a staff, Marie used magic with a simple uplift of her hand and made all the water inside the pond surge into the air. The pond that had been filled with water until just then was now empty with not a hint of water inside. ?Water Maniption?, was it? ¡°I used to help with connecting the reservoirs to our farms. Did you know? When you lift all the water of a reservoir, you actually find that there are all sorts of fish inside!¡± The girl shared her experience, talking about how the nearby towns would have a feast of fish on such days. ¡°Huu~. Are we done now?¡± It took about 3 hours. Thanks to the reliable help from Doggo, we were done cleaning the pond as well as the garden. ¡°Well then¡­¡± ¡°Un. They¡¯re ready.¡± Next to us was a basket full of potatoes and sweet potatoes. As if we had decided on it beforehand, we quickly got prepared; I gathered leaves while Marie lit them up on fire. ¡°Hehe. They¡¯re going to be delicious.¡± ¡°Woof!¡± Crouching around the campfire made with dry leaves, we enjoyed the warmth of the me. ¡°Should we call Alicia, Lark, and the others?¡± ¡°Uun¡­ I think they¡¯ll be in the middle of a meal already though.¡± ¡°I guess so, considering the time. Oh yeah, potatoes are nice and all, but should we have a proper meal as well?¡± One might say that we were eating too much, but we were superhumans with metabolism rates that were on a whole different scale from normal humans. Even a slenderdy like Marie ate twice as much as a normal person. Her appetite grew even more after bing a vampire. ¡°And as for Doggo¡­¡± ¡°I will give somemb neck bones to Doggoter. He loves them. Anyway, let me go cook a meal right now!¡± Marie sprinted off with a hop. Watching that, I ced a few potatoes and sweet potatoes in the fire. ¡°Woof¡­!¡± Doggo and I nkly watched the dry leaves burning with a crackle. ¡°You want some salt?¡± ¡°Woof!!¡± It seemed that he wanted sugar instead of salt. Even though I didn¡¯t have a magic connection with him like Marie, for some reason I could still understand what he was saying. Although I was calling myself his dad as a joke, I actually did feel some level of connection with him, which was probably because most of the blood forming his body was from me. ¡°Oh right, Doggo. Howe you¡¯ve been wearing clothes these days?¡± Even now, he was wearing an oddly cute piece of clothing with the words, ¡ºI LOVE POTATO¡» written on it that was from Montijo¡­ ¡°Wait, Montijo?!¡± They¡­ were a luxury brand like Gi back on Earth. Why was he wearing one from Montijo?! ¡°D, Doggo¡­? Where did you get that from?¡± ¡°Woof?¡± There was no way they would be selling dog clothes that were big enough for Doggo to wear. In other words, they had to be order-made but¡­ w, was that even possible? It was the same as going to Gi and telling them, ¡®Hey. Make me one that says, I love Potato¡¯¡­ How expensive would it have been¡­? That was the initial thought in mind but after remembering the richness of Marie¡¯s family, I realized that it would have been like a few pennies to them. ¨C Tadak! Tadak! The potatoes and sweet potatoes were slowly being baked when a familiar voice echoed from behind the fences. ¡°Hey~! Are you there?¡± It seemed that Lark had dropped by to say hi. ¡°Yo. Come in! I can give you a few baked potatoes and sweet potatoes!¡± After a few seconds, I saw a boy with disheveled hair walking in through the main entrance. ¡°Did you clean? Looks a lot better. And did you say sweet potatoes?¡± ¡°There are potatoes as well.¡± Lark nonchntly walked up to the campfire and greeted Doggo, but Doggo curtly flicked his head away. As if he was worried about getting his bum dirty, Lark gathered a few leaves and ced his robe on top to sit on it like a cushion. ¡°Did you have lunch?¡± ¡°Yeah. I ate with Jaeger.¡± ¡°Oh okay. What¡¯s happening with Jaeger these days?¡± ¡°Apparently he¡¯s close to dating someone.¡± ¡°Really? Who?¡± ¡°Miss Meia. Well, I think he¡¯s the only one thinking that though.¡± ¡°How young.¡± It seemed that Jaeger was at least trying to date someone, but Lark didn¡¯t look too keen. ¡°Anything going on for you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m busy studying.¡± He was a nerd after all. Even though Lark did tend to go around with the proactive knights, he still spent most of his time reading and studying. ¡°What about you?¡± he asked. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You¡¯re living under the same roof as girls. Isn¡¯t that pretty much decided then?¡± ¡°That is a very old way of thinking.¡± It was true that the two girls were very attractive, and seeing Ran proactively appealing herself these days did make my heart beat but¡­ ¡°You see, I have too many things to take care of right now.¡± Although I was interested in dating, now wasn¡¯t the best time for it, especially when there was a time limit of 3 years. While looking at me, Lark heaved a sigh and shook his head. ¡°Very ethically healthy, aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Very healthy indeed.¡± People might say otherwise if they saw the process of Marie sucking my blood, but that was just an emergency measure rted to her survival. ¡°Do you really not feel anything though?¡± Lark asked again. ¡°¡­Of course not.¡± There was a strange sense of arousal whenever Marie bit my neck. In the first ce, the surface area of our body contact was a bit too much. It was inevitable for my body to react whenever the excited Marie pressed her body tightly against me. ¡°You look pretty close to Hua Ran as well these days. Well, I guess you were the only one who really talked to her in the first ce, but still, you look a lot closer than before.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± The story of another soul existing in her body was not publicized. There was no need to hide about Ran¡¯s identity per se, but I couldn¡¯t reveal it on my own ord either. ¡°Well¡­ Looking at you, I guess you really wouldn¡¯t have time to date people.¡± Lark seemed convinced after thinking about my schedule again. After all, he also knew how I spent most of my free time practicing spearmanship in the training rooms. Because of various reasons, I didn¡¯t have time to date anyone. I was about to hand him the baked potatoes and sweet potatoes when Marie came in after opening the ss door of the sunroom. ¡°Korin~. The meal is ready¡­ Huh? Lark?¡± ¡°Good afternoon, Senior Marie.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to be that polite. Did you have lunch?¡± ¡°Yes, I already have. Can I take a few potatoes and sweet potatoes though?¡± ¡°Of course! I can give you some bags of fresh ones if you want!¡± ¡°No, that would be a bit¡­¡± After turning her down, he took the small pack of baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes and left. ¡°Doggo, you can have potatoes and sweet potatoes first! Korin, let¡¯s eat our lunch first!¡± It was slightlyte, but we decided to have our lunch in the sunroom. ¡°What¡¯s for lunch today?¡± At the dormitory, it was always me or Marie that took care of cooking. Lady Josephine was so busy that she could only rarely ever help for breakfast and as for Hua Ran¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure about Ran but I just couldn¡¯t imagine Hua cooking anything. ¡°Right! You said you like eating anything, right? So this time, I brought a special Eastern menu¡­!¡± Oh right, she did ask me in the past whether I could eat the so-called ¡®disturbing¡¯ food like insects or not, and I told her the only reason I wasn¡¯t eating them was because I couldn¡¯t find them. I loved having baked locusts and pupae, but I just couldn¡¯t find them here. ¡°You see¡­ I was researching this for a long time, just to give it to you Korin!¡± ¡°What is it¡­?¡± ¨C Kung! A ck stone pot with soup inside was ced on top of the table. It was a spicy soup made with chili powder, beef stock, and all types of vegetables¡­ that could only bepleted with the addition of a special ingredient. It was something I hadn¡¯t seen for a long time. ¡°Umm¡­ all the old workers of our farm love this, and I thought you might like it, Korin¡­¡± Of course I did. I had been going to a special Korean BBQ ce for 20 years, and they always gave me this soup as a side instead of soybean soup. ¡°H, how does it look? It¡¯s a super-healthy special-made, ¡®Coagted blood soup¡¯¡­¡± 1Coagted blood soup. Raw = ???, Seonji-guk: Made with many ingredients, with the most notable of them all being the coagted blood. Some love but some hate it. Personally, I have never eaten it and that would most certainly stay that way. Marie said while twirling her body. Even she didn¡¯t seem very confident about this but¡­ ¡°I love coagted blood soups. How did you even know!?¡± I raised the Eastern-style spoon that came out with the soup and scooped up a spoonful, as the red and clear soup of beef stock immediately warmed me up after entering my body. ¡°Kaa~. This is it!¡± The spicy soup stimted my throat. The pieces of coagted blood floating in the soup looked like ck jelly. ¡°Uhh¡­ I made them by solidifying blood but, I¡¯m not sure if you would like them.¡± ¡°Aye~. The only reason I don¡¯t eat them is because there is none out there. It¡¯s the softness of these jellies that are just unbearably tempting.¡± ¡°R, really? Thank goodness! Hurry up and try them!¡± I was already mesmerized by the dish without even her needing to rush me. The slippery texture unique to blood jellies was amazing. They were well seasoned with salt and pepper, and the intense vor was supplemented by the beefy soup. ¡°This is amaz¡ª¡± ¨C Diring! ¡ºYou have consumed an elixir made of Unique-Grade blood¡» ¡ù The elixir contains a special ingredient. ¨C You have acquired Herculean Strength. ¨C Your strength has increased by 30 points. Huh? What? Why was this popping up now? The soft texture of the coagted blood was still in my mouth. When I swallowed it, the scent of ginger that was used to erase the rust-like smell of blood soared all the way up to my nose. ¡°Senior¡­¡± ¡°Un?¡± Her deeply flushed cheeks were awkwardly twitching up and down. Seeing that, I immediately realized it. I ended up noticing that the blood used to cook this dish wouldn¡¯t have been from a normal animal like a pig or a cow. But at the same time, the system message in front of my eyes was¡ª ¨C You have acquired Herculean Strength. ¨C Your strength has increased by 30 points. Holy shit¡­ holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit¡­! I love you noona!!! ======================== ¡ºHerculean Strength¡» ¨C Momentarily increase your ¡®Strength¡¯ by 200% ¨C Cannot be amplified by other buffs Footnotes:
  • 1Coagted blood soup. Raw = ???, Seonji-guk: Made with many ingredients, with the most notable of them all being the coagted blood. Some love but some hate it. Personally, I have never eaten it and that would most certainly stay that way.
Chapter 87: - Start of Winter (2) ? Start of Winter (2) ? ¡°Hua Ran. Looks like you would have to go back first.¡± The meeting with the spiritualist ended earlier than scheduled. The spiritualist ced the prepared talismans on the chains and that was it. Thanks to Ran, there was no need to put that many stabilizing talismans anymore. In the first ce, the most crucial factor of the restriction was the chains of the New Faith, the Chains of Zeon that were forced by the prayer of the Saintess. ¡°Conference?¡± ¡°Yes. Do you want me to drop you off?¡± ¡°¡­Un.¡± The normal Hua Ran would have replied to Josephine that she would go back by herself, but for some reason, today, she wanted to go back to the dormitory as quickly as possible. ¡®If we go back now, we might be able to have lunch with oppa!¡¯ Ran hurried her but that had nothing to do with the actual decision ¨C at least that was what Hua believed. ¨C Jiiing! In front of the dormitory, Hua Ran jumped out of Josephine¡¯s dimensional spell. ¡°Bye.¡± ¡°I should be back by dinner.¡± The dimensions cracked open once again as Josephine disappeared into the fissure. ¡®Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s go!¡¯ Even though she wasn¡¯t being chased by anything, Hua Ran walked at a speed that was 1.3 times faster than her normal speed. Opening the front entrance, she was met with a savory fragrance that was permeating from the backyard. ¡°¡­Potatoes.¡± ¡®Let¡¯s go!¡¯ She walked across the grass to the backyard that no longer had any leaves. It seemed that Korin and Marie had finished cleaning up the yard. After arriving at the backyard without going through the building, Hua Ran found arge dog cooking potatoes using a campfire of dry leaves. ¨C Woof. Seeing her, Doggo gave a short bark. Before long, Hua Ran reached far enough to see what was happening inside the sunroom. ¡®¡­¡¯ Through the ss, she saw the silhouettes of the two familiar people. Korin Lork and Marie Dunareff ¨C they were tightly hugging each other. ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran nkly watched that happen from the backyard. Their chests were aligned together and were so close that they would be able to hear the heartbeats of one another. Burying her face into his neck, the girl with water-colored hair gasped for breath while craving the boy¡¯s neck. Meanwhile, the boy repeatedly tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a tight hug. How special and unique of an action was that? How much bond and connection did they have to build up to do such a thing without any hesitation? ¡®¡­She¡¯s just drinking his blood. It¡¯s nothing strange.¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran already knew that Marie Dunareff had to drink blood due to the characteristics of her race. The act of drinking the fresh blood of a human was linked to her getting stronger, and Hua Ran could also understand why she would specifically borrow the blood of that boy, considering how he excelled in regeneration. But¡­ Understanding was different from eptance. Despite the necessity of the action itself, she found it to be very unfair, but had no idea about the reason herself. ¡°¡­¡± Vacantly, Hua Ran watched the two of them. She couldn¡¯t take her eyes off of the girl who was indulging herself in the boy at a very close proximity. Didn¡¯t he say he will look for ways together? Didn¡¯t he say he would help and stay with her¡­? A myriad of emotions budded inside her¡­ but she knew. She knew that she wasn¡¯t the only recipient of the goodwill of this boy who liked to stick his nose into other people¡¯s business. That vampire girl was one of the other recipients. She thought she knew it already, but her heart was still in pain. Was she too arrogant, thinking that she was special? In the first ce, why was her heart in pain just from looking at the two of them? She couldn¡¯t understand. Unable to find answers to all the questions in her mind, Hua simply watched them like a candle in a blizzard. And, Their eyes met. The crafty reddened eyes of the vampire girl turned towards her. Marie had already noticed her presence. Her red eyes were showing off to her that she was ¡®already different¡¯ from her. Licking the remaining blood off of her lips, she then licked the side of his neck that was still dripping with blood. The two pairs of red eyes looked deeply at each other. Their sharp and squinted gazes were clearly not that of a person looking at their senior or a junior. **** When ites to intelligence, people might link them to a group of well-educated elites, but that couldn¡¯t be any further from the truth. In this world, the only source of long-distancemunication was themunication spell between priceless mages, so most news had to be shared through people¡¯s hands and feet. The primary collectors of such pieces of information weren¡¯t elite agents but the hostesses and bartenders. Even determined people tended to lower their guards around hostesses when drunk. ¡°Sister¡­!¡± A fountain pen paused from its rhythmical pace. ¡°What is it?¡± Asking that, was ady who seemed overly intelligent to be working at a bar. Renya ire looked at the barmaid that barged into her office. ¡°We have a pushover! He¡¯s loaded!¡± Pushover was a term they used to refer to people with a lot of money that wasted a bunch on gambling. By nature, bars tended to have all sorts of things, so brothels and gambling dens were nothing out of ce. However, bars in the backstreets were sometimes far from the reach of legal measures so wealthy nobles and merchants generally stuck to their own home grounds. In other words, the only group of pushovers that would tantly use a lot of money at a backstreet bar instead of a bar for aristocrats would be¡­ ¡°A guardian?¡± ¡°He looked like a knight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s going to be annoying. Don¡¯t make him lose too much money.¡± Knights were literally superhumans. A single punch from them could blow away human heads. If he decided to go on a rampage after losing money, the backstreet ruffians wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to him. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°We already ate up a purse of gold coins.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Okay. At this rate, they could only hope that the pushover was someone with a gentle personality. ¨C Kwang! Kajik! ¨C Get your boss out right now¡­! Damn it. It seemed that she wasn¡¯t in luck today ¨C heaving a sigh, Renya walked out of her office. ¡°Bring the siblings, Ren and Ron, just in case.¡± She had been teaching a sibling of wolf beastmen for a ¡®long-termmission¡¯ that she recently undertook. She was told to teach them how to sneak in and gather information, but she still called them, thinking that this much should be okay. Renya headed to the illegal gambling den underground and found the knight that was wreaking havoc there. ¡°Who do you think I am, huh?! Do you know me!? Listen¡­! I am friends with your boss, you know that!!¡± ¡°Ahhk. Sir! First off, please let go of your¡­!¡± He indeed was a knight ¨C a knight that Renya was very familiar with. The boy with a wild appearance had his hair in a ponytail. He looked so mature at a nce that no one seemed to have asked him for an ID card. ¡°¡­What is he doing here?¡± Korin Lork, a student of the Academy, was going on a rampage while grabbing onto the wrist of the professional cheating dealer that Renya put in the gambling den as a fake customer. ¡°Haa¡­ Guide him to my office.¡± ¡°Umm, Sister? What if he punches me to death?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine so just go. Tell him I¡¯m calling him.¡± After a little while¡­ ¡°Yoo~ Miss Re. Faring pretty well, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Haa¡­ this is not a ce for underage students, boss.¡± Renya ire; she was one of the executive officers, despite being a low one, of the intelligence guild that was now climbing up thedder to around the middle in the list of executives. The only person she should be calling as her ¡®boss¡¯ was the guild master of the intelligence guild, but Korin Lork wasn¡¯t even an executive nor a worker of the intelligence guild. He was nothing but a named knight that was doing decently at Merkarva Academy and yet Renya was calling him ¡®boss¡¯. ¡°I heard you started a business so I came to have a look. How were the things I told you; pretty decent, right?¡± ¡°Yes. Things like the secretive cross-dressing hobby of Count Maniosika of the west and the equipment honing fraud of the famous master craftsman, Kiri the Ladybug¡­ They were quite nice.¡± Korin Lork, after contacting her around August, had given her an offer. It was about how he would give her valuable pieces of information that would make her rise to the top position of the intelligence guild in return for working under him for 3 years. Buying information with information. It was a strange concept but there was something else that was puzzling for Renya. Every piece of news shared by Korin Lork was so priceless that they would be ranked at either Grade 1 or Grade 2. With so many of them under his belt, he would have been able to strike a deal with the higher executives of the intelligence guild from the start, so¡­ she couldn¡¯t understand why he would try to raise someone like her up to the top in the first ce. ¡°How much authority do you have as a medium-level executive?¡± ¡°I can ess pretty much every piece of information rted to this city. For example¡­ like the teddy bear craftsman that Josephine ra is sponsoring in secret.¡± ¡°I know that already.¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s semi-Grade 1 information by the way.¡± It was rted to the privacy of a semi-Unique Grade mage, the Dimensional Witch, who even appeared in textbooks. Renya had no clue how he even knew about that. ¡°This is something that will increase your contribution. ording to your standard, it would be at least Grade 1, and it might even be a semi-Unique Grade info.¡± ¡°¡­Are you serious?¡± ¡°Royal Courtroom¡¯s Grade 4 public officer, Edna. Herst name is Ilusan.¡± ¡°Just a normal officer, no?¡± ¡°What if that officer was the SM Queen with dozens of higher officers and even nobles under hermand?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± The silence went on for a long time. It was easy toe across pieces of information that were rted to inexplicably odd sexual orientations of nobles but this was in a whole different league. A dominant that whips nobles and high public officers? This was an astounding scandal that had all sorts of possible uses depending on the approach. If this was true, that meant there would be all sorts of ways to threaten those higher-ups. ¡°If this is true¡­¡± ¡°Of course it¡¯s true. I experienced it myself.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She was like a leopardess. Even I almost got ¡®eaten¡¯.¡± ¡°¡­Seriously, what kind of person are you, boss? If you can even find out things like this, do you even need me?¡± ¡°I only know some stuff.¡± For now, Renya engraved that shocking piece of news into her mind. Something this big was better monopolized ¨C instead of reporting it to the upper executives, she was going to swallow it and digest it alone. ¡°You should officially report this to your higher-ups,¡± said Korin. ¡°¡­Why is that? It would be more beneficial to swallow this by myself.¡± ¡°No. You should just get your contributions acknowledged for reporting this. Someone else can use this for themselves.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a shame¡­ And why is that?¡± ¡°She¡¯s a literal queen that can whip the proud officers and nobles. If you approach them from the wrong direction, you would just get destroyed by them.¡± He shared a spooky prediction, that there was a high chance of the intelligence guild being half-demolished due to their greed. ¡°I see. If something like that happens, most of the higher executives would be wiped and¡­¡± ¡°And you will be taking their spot.¡± ¡°What a crazy boss. So¡­ what are you trying to find out after making me the highest executive?¡± ¡°It¡¯s something you can¡¯t even ess right now. Just do what I tell you to do for now.¡± ¡°Okay. Also, I did receive the official application form of the ¡®Guardians¡¯.¡± ¡°I told you to make a fake merchant group right? Officially, you¡¯ll be the one in charge of supplying our Guardians with munitions.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t they be suspicious about our connection though?¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly why we¡¯re doing it. I¡¯m telling them that you are officially under my protection. Honestly, it wouldn¡¯t have been enough with just me but¡­¡± ¡°Marie Dunareff ¨C the oldest daughter of the Potato Empire of the south. There¡¯s no idiot in the world that would touch one of the members of her guild of guardians.¡± ¡°Damn it. Why was I the only one that didn¡¯t know about it? This is why relying on only one source for information is terrible¡­¡± Her bossmented by himself. There¡¯s no way that he wouldn¡¯t have known about Marie Dunareff being rted to the Dunareff of the Potato Empire so it must be about something she didn¡¯t know about. ¡°¡­What do you mean?¡± ¡°Nothing. My next request¡­ is about the east.¡± ¡ª- After a while, Korin stood up to leave the office. Renya would organize all the information he shared with her and faithfully abide by hismands. ¡°Oh right.¡± ¡°What now?¡± ¡°You need to train your dealers again. They were way too obvious with their moves.¡± ¡°Just go.¡± ¡°And you can use the money you got from me for the repairs!¡± ¡°¡­¡± **** Late at night, Josephine changed her clothes for bedtime. Undoing her hair, she changed to afortable set of lingerie and removed her makeup at the dressing table. It was when she was about to finish her day off. ¨C Knock knock. Someone knocked on the door of her room. Hearing how rigid the sound of the knock was, she thought it might be Korin Lork but soon remembered that he had requested for an overnight stay this evening and was currently out of the Academy. ¡°Student Marie?¡± ¡°¡­It¡¯s me.¡± It was a very unexpected guest, because this girl had never visited her room this year. ¡°Pleasee in.¡± Considering how they were both female, Josephine didn¡¯t feel the need to hide her bare skin and let her in. Even a strict dorm master like her was a lot more ck at night. ¨C Creak. Hua Ran walked into the room inrge strides after opening the door. She was wearing cute pajamas that were vastly different from her normal nun clothes. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you to visit thiste at night. Did Ran request something from you?¡± ¡°¡­No.¡± Was it based on Hua¡¯s own intention then? Josephine was bing more and more lost over time. ¡°So what brings you here?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran didn¡¯t reply for a long time. She was silent as always, but what felt out of ce was that her mouth kept on opening and closing while her eyes constantly rolled and gazed across the room. ¡°¡­¡± Josephine had been a professor for a long time, and therefore had a lot of intuition and experience. When students came to discuss and consult about difficult topics, they tended to find it difficult to open their mouths even after taking the courage to visit her. Even though it was verymon for other students to do so, it was very surprising that Hua Ran was doing that herself. But despite her surprise, Josephine acted as the mature professor she was to make it easier for her to start her story. Softly walking on the carpet with her bare feet, Josephine sat down on the side of the bed and tapped the mattress next to her. ¡°¡­¡± Understanding that signal, Hua Ran carefully walked up and sat next to her. ¡°Are you here for a consultation? Don¡¯t worry and let it out.¡± ¡°This is about my friend.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Josephine wasn¡¯t cold-blooded enough to stop her and say, ¡®You don¡¯t have any friends though¡¯. ¡°Right¡­ and what did your friend say?¡± ¡°Apparently¡­ staying with someone makes their heart feel light.¡± ¡°I, is that so?¡± The steel-blooded hero, Senior Professor Josephine ra, maintained her poker face that didn¡¯t crumble even during the witch hunt and focused on her story. ¡°Un. It¡¯s as light as if they¡¯re riding on clouds. Hugging him makes their heart beat fast and sometimes, her heart aches and it feels like she¡¯s in a quagmire.¡± ¡°I¡­ see.¡± It was a very serious consultation. Well, it was obviously going to be serious considering that Hua Ran was the one consulting but in any case, it was so unexpected that Josephine couldn¡¯t even find the right words to return her with. The image of Hua Ran in her mind was still that of a Unique Grade demi-human; a time bomb that could explode at any given moment. But here, looking at the girl who finally met her first love, Josephine realized that even Hua Ran was just a young girl. ¡®I have no right to be an educator.¡¯ Josephine noticed that she was still far toocking to be a proper educator. Removing the preconception in her mind and calming herself down, she tapped Hua Ran¡¯s shoulders with a warm smile on her face. ¡°I see. Hua Ran, you¡­ I mean, your friend has such concerns in their mind, is that correct? So, she doesn¡¯t know what to do about that person¡­ Am I right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­Un.¡± She was looking for dating advice. A request for help that was painstakingly raised by a girl who finally found her first love. In order to best decorate the first page of the girl¡¯s youth, Josephine used 100% of the knowledge she umted over her 100 plus 17 years. ¡®The person¡­ well, it¡¯s probably Korin Lork.¡¯ That spear-wielding boy who was mysteriously popr with girls was the only one Hua Ran had any interaction with. Despite being a mature and diligent student, that freshman student was an innate yer, and there had even been a report from a female 2nd year student that he might be a gold-digger and a scammer. Of course, even Josephine acknowledged his morals and ethical personality but the wolf-like boy probably had a lot of experience with girls, and for a new baby-chick-like girl like Hua Ran, he would serve to be a very tough nut to crack. ¡°And that person that your friend likes¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say she likes him.¡± ¡°Anyway, that person probably has a lot of girls around him, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran recalled through her memories. Even after putting aside the shocking scene she saw during the day, she remembered him having a lot of female acquaintances everywhere regardless of what lesson they were listening to. During cooking, he would nonchntly talk to girls and take a bite of their results and in the city, he would be amiably greeted by young and maturedies. She couldn¡¯t really remember him¡­ spending time without any girl next to him. ¨C Nod. As expected. Even though Josephine was somewhat expecting it, it seemed that Korin Lork was indeed a yer. Josephinemented at the fact that she was sending a furry kitten to a wolf, but focused on the task at hand. ¡°This is important, Hua Ran. Opportunities won¡¯te by that often. Males with a lot of females next to them don¡¯t tend to approach girls themselves, because girlse to them without them having to do anything.¡± About 100 years ago, the young witch aspiring for youth had read the popr romance novel, ¡º101 Ways to Capture that Man¡» which had been the go-to textbook for girls back then. ¡°You must be daring, bold, and fiery. Otherwise, you will not be able to attain love. Get rid of all the hindrances and march forward.¡± What was unfortunate for the two young girls in their youth, was that the ones they were asking for advice from were a debaucherous dog ying around with the female dogs of the town and a 117-year-old witch who had no experience whatsoever except for the book she read 100 years ago. Both Hua and Ran were girls with ridiculously little experience so they believed everything they were told, even though it was based on a very questionable novel. ¡®You heard that right? Romance is about being straightforward. Straightforward!¡¯ ¡°¡­Romance?¡± Hua tilted her head and asked what she was talking about. Ran beat her chest out of frustration, but all she got in return was Hua asking her if her chest was in pain just like hers. ¡®Look, look. Read through the 101 Ways to Capture that Man, that we borrowed from Professor Josephine¡­!¡¯ ¡°¡­ ¡®Capture¡¯?¡± It¡¯s not like she wanted to punch him or bash him up. Besides, she didn¡¯t even need more than 100 ways to beat him. ¡°I can just go and push him down. I¡¯m stronger than Korin.¡± ¡®Push him down?¡¯ ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡®Hmm¡­ that might not be a bad option either. Turn the page to Page 117.¡¯ After hearing that from Ran, Hua turned the pages of¡º101 Ways to Capture that Man¡»that they borrowed from Josephine to Topic 33. ¡ºIf you must, then be coercive. Push him down on the bed.¡» That was the text written under the topic title. ¡®But we can¡¯t be hasty with this.¡¯ ¡°Why?¡± Wasn¡¯t their goal to capture the castle called Korin? All she needed to do was push him down with force, so what was the problem? During their group assignment, she had already pushed him down on the bed once. Her memories of the time were hazy but she remembered Korin caressing her hair in joy. ¡®Look look. The female protagonist is saying it¡¯s forst resort.¡¯ ¡°¡­Last resort.¡± ¡®So let¡¯s leave this till the end. I will leave it to you when the timees.¡¯ ¡°¡­Okay.¡± After reading through the book, Ran said after raising her nonexistent sses. ¡®When capturing a castle, we must first go for the walls. And Sister Marie is the gatekeeper.¡¯ ¡°¡­Gatekeeper.¡± In order to capture a castle, they had to defeat the gatekeeper and the gatekeeper was Marie Dunareff. ¡°Should I punch her?¡± ¡®Oppa will hate it if you do that.¡¯ ¡°Then what do we do?¡± ¡®Leave it to me. I will deal with her.¡¯ The decisive moment wasn¡¯t that far off. ¡°Sister. You don¡¯t like me, do you?¡± That was the start of the 1st war. Chapter 88: - Start of Winter (3) ? Start of Winter (3) ? Merkarva had two exams: the interim and the end-of-the-year exam. People might say two exams a year was a very forgiving schedule but this was because the students of a guardian academy tended to do a lot of practical work outside. Exam results didn¡¯t matter much to the grade promotions as a guardian, so most of the students that cared about studying were those from the Magic Department that wanted to do things other than fighting. ¡°It¡¯s finally going to be a holiday again.¡± ¡°Before that would be the final exam though. Maybe you guys should study.¡± ¡°Nah. Tests are there to judge your average ability, not your procrastination skills.¡± Lark and Jaeger were the same as always. Well, considering how Jaeger was a Grade 3 Knight who was more than likely to reach Grade 2 by graduation, he probably didn¡¯t care too much about test scores. ¡°Didn¡¯t you get pretty much full marks in your interim exam apart from the prac test?¡± I asked. ¡°Ahk¡­ d, don¡¯t remind me about Miss Lunia¡­! Uhk!¡± On the other hand, Lark was applying for the Tower of Mages. Rather than the prac tests that assessed one¡¯s skills as a guardian, he was the type to focus more on written exams. ¡°What about you, Korin?¡± ¡°Me? Well¡­ I guess I¡¯m simr to Jaeger when ites to tests.¡± ¡°Kuhahat! Right? I¡¯m telling you, tests are supposed to assess what we know already. There¡¯s no need to study for them!¡± ¡°You say that, but you both got stomped in your previous test didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°If you bring that up¡­ I guess there¡¯s nothing for me to say in return.¡± I was overly reliant on my memories of the previous iteration when sitting thest exam and went horribly. It was only thanks to getting full marks plus some extra points during the prac test against Lunia Arden that Inded somewhere between average to high-performing students. 60 out of 400 or something like that. The prac tests were definitely very important. I was wondering who the prac test instructor would be for this exam when Alicia spoke to me after packing her bag. ¡°Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°Oh, hey. You look nice in that coat.¡± ¡°Uhihi, right? I made up my mind and went for it. It¡¯s winter after all.¡± Alicia was wearing her martial uniform with a coat on top, and honestly, it looked pretty sick. ¡°I¡¯m going to get some desserts. Would you like toe with me? It¡¯s a new ce but it feels a bit weird to go there by myself.¡± ¡°Are you buying it?¡± ¡°Do you want me to?¡± ¡°Nah, don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll buy it.¡± Although it was very sudden, there weren¡¯t any things scheduled for today, so I decided that having a meal downtown wouldn¡¯t be a bad option. While I was at it, I could also check how the hotel was faring in the auction. ¡°Korin-oppa. Can Ie with you?¡± That was when Hua Ran in her Ran mode expressed her will to enter the group with a smile on her face. ¡°The more the merrier.¡± It seemed that Alicia wasn¡¯t against it and said that without raising any objections. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Jaeger and Lark, who had been chatting about holidays and final exams, suddenly started gazing at me with squinted eyes. They were my friends but sometimes, I had a feeling that their eyes were a bit too cold. ¡°Huu¡­ I know this is not that nice of a thing to do but¡­¡± ¡°Yeah. This is getting a bit annoying.¡± The two of them came to a mutual understanding without even saying anything and raised their hands up at the same time. ¡°We want to go as well.¡± ¡°We can pay for ourselves¡­!¡± ¡°I told you it¡¯s on me already.¡± After Hua Ran was Jaeger and Lark, but that wasn¡¯t even the end. ¡°Korinnn~. Are you done with your lesson?¡± Another celebrity hopped her way into the lecture room. Marie came immediately after her own lesson and approached us while waving her hand. She appeared very regrly in our sses these days so the other freshmen students didn¡¯t seem to think much of it. ¡°Senior Marie. We¡¯re going to go downtown to a dessert store called¡­ What was it called again?¡± ¡°Belzeana? Something like that! I only saw the flier this morning as well.¡± ¡°Yes. Anyway, we¡¯re going there. Would you like toe with us?¡± ¡°Of course! Doggo likes cakes as well!¡± There were six people now including Marie. Everything was good because there was nothing bad about having more people. ¨C I¡¯m so jealous, man. ¨C Dude, let go. Shit, let go¡­! ¨C Hold your horses buddy. You know you¡¯re just gonna get demolished anyway. ¨C Sometimes¡­! There are times when we, men, just have to go in even if we know we¡¯ll lose! My peers that were looking at our group¡­ more like me, had deep frowns on their faces. Kuhum¡­ I know, guys. I know. **** Even though we were out for dessert, it was about to be winter very soon so we had to look for winter equipment as well because the road back home without coats and winter clothes was going to be hellish. Naturally, our group went shopping together as well. ¡°Korin-oppa. Korin-oppa.¡± Hearing the word, ¡®oppa¡¯ that sounded delightful no matter how many times I heard it, I had to force my lips to stay down. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I have a question. Knights and mages use aura and mana to protect their bodies all the time, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°So why do you need to use winter equipment? Like, I¡¯m not feeling any cold.¡± Hua Ran, who was wearing nun clothes of the New Faith, probably couldn¡¯t expect much protection against the cold from her clothes either, because the sides of her clothes were open for air to seep in. ¡°It takes aura and mana to block the heat and the cold, and those get consumed as well. When it¡¯s fully winter, the consumption rate would skyrocket.¡± ¡°Aha~ I see. There are a lot of different coats, right?¡± ¡°Generally we use the hides and furs of demonic beasts. The cheap and cost-efficient ones are the ones from hounds but I don¡¯t really rmend them because they stink. I would rmend these ones here.¡± ¡°Wahh~. You¡¯re so knowledgeable, oppa!¡± She smiled and reacted to every single sentence of mine, and made it extremely fun to exin things to her. ¡°¡­¡± Meanwhile, Marie stared at her with a strange look from the side. Jaeger and Lark also added a few sentences. ¡°Oh right, Hua Ran. Have you bought a hat?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a new night vision tool that the Tower of Mages put on the market. That¡¯ll be a good buy.¡± ¡°Ah, okay. Mister Hinzpeter. Mister Buhgman.¡± She looked a bit cold when talking to the two of them, but maybe that was just me. ¨C Nom nom. When we went to the dessert store, Alicia finally sparked back to life while focusing on the dessert. She was probably the one who was living a life that was closest to peers of her age. ¡°T, this chocte mousse is remarkable!¡± ¡°Have you never tried it in the east?¡± ¡°It¡¯s in the countryside after all! There weren¡¯t any dessert stores in our town so we had to make them in our kitchen!¡± How countryside was it¡­? I had gone to the east a few times for several quests, but the Arden household itself wasn¡¯t rted to the main scenario so I wasn¡¯t that familiar with them. ¡°Korin¡­! Have a try of¡ª-¡± ¡°Oppa, try this. Looks like they put honey on a thinyer of flour and cooked it!¡± ¡°Ohh. Is that a crepe?¡± ¡°Looks like a rolled omelette, right?¡± ¡°It does.¡± I scooped up a part of the cake rmended by Hua Ran. After eating it, I turned to the side and asked. ¡°Senior Marie. Were you about to say something?¡± ¡°¡­Nothing.¡± She replied while fidgeting with the strawberry cake in front of her. That was when Hua Ran stood up from her seat with a smile and reached out to Marie with me in the center. ¡°Unni. Can I try that strawberry cake?¡± Hua Ran then lowered her head as her nape almost grazed past my nose. A nice fragrance of lc seeped into my nose. It seemed that she was wearing perfume. ¡°U, un¡­¡± With a poke, Hua Ran picked up a tiny piece of the cake with her fork, that was as small as a grain of rice. Was there even meaning in eating just that much? ¡°Hehe.¡± While Hua Ran was going back, she looked at me and gave a bright smile. After some time, a beautiful array of desserts was carried to our table on a 3 tier trolley. ¡°Huh? Who ordered a freaking mint chocte cake?¡± ¡°Me.¡± ¡°Ah, Senior Marie. Here you go.¡± Marie picked up the mint chocte cake from the tray before putting it in front of me. ¡°Korin. You like mint chocte, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Mint chocte¡­ was the best. It was a shame that there were some evil forces that defamed something this tasty and called it toothpaste-vor. There was a time when I had gone to an ice cream store with Marie and mentioned that I had been eating nothing but mint chocte ice cream for over 20 years. It seemed that she still remembered that. ¡°¡­¡± Everyone looked at me after Marie said that but she continued on by putting a mint chocte vored macaron in front of me. She knew me too well. ¡°Hmm¡­ Korin-oppa likes mint chocte, huh.¡± ¡°Yeah I do. What about you, Hua Ran? Do you want to try? It does depend a lot on your preference, but there are a lot of people that love it.¡± ¡°I do want to try.¡± Despite saying that, Hua Ran stayed still while deeply staring into my eyes. Without even touching her fork, she stared at me with a wide smile on her face. Was she¡­ asking me to feed her? It didn¡¯t feel right to leave her be so I sliced a part of the mint chocte cake as Hua Ran went, ¡®Ah~¡¯ while adorably opening her small lips. Right when I was about to move the fork, a mint chocte macaron entered her mouth. ¡°¡­!!¡± Hua Ran, who had been waiting for my mint chocte cake with her eyes closed, immediately opened her eyes. The one who shoved macaron into her mouth was none other than Marie. ¡°This one¡¯s also mint chocte vored.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Tasting the mint chocte macaron in her mouth, Hua Ran returned a smile. ¡°It¡¯s very delicious, Sister Marie.¡± ¡°Right? Do you want more? Sister Hua Ran?¡± ¡°Haha. I¡¯m okay.¡± ¡°What a shame. Did you not like it?¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± They were both smiling¡­ but their eyes weren¡¯t. Those cold smiles stayed on their faces for numerous seconds until I raised a teapot and filled up their empty cups. Naturally, the two of them turned towards me. ¡°Kuhum. Looked like your cups were empty.¡± ¡°Thank you, Korin.¡± ¡°Thank you so much, oppa.¡± ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± I then realized that Jaeger and Lark were staring at me with a strange look in their eyes so I jokingly told them off for a change of mood. ¡°It¡¯smon sense to fill these up whenever possible, guys. Don¡¯t you know the etiquette of a gentleman?¡± ¡°¡­ Right.¡± ¡°Very smooth, I see.¡± I was born and raised in a Confucian society, so setting up cutleries and filling cups with water was a part of my everyday life. In any case, although we all came to the dessert store together, there were 6 of us so it was natural for everyone to chat about different topics with the people sitting next to them. ¡°Dude, look at my arm.¡± Pulling back his sleeve, Jaeger bragged about his full biceps as Lark eximed in admiration after touching it. ¡°That¡¯s quite impressive actually.¡± ¡°I am a knight after all. You should work out as well.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m a mage.¡± ¡°Stamina is key to everything! Don¡¯t you know?¡± ¡°And actually¡­¡± Lark added. ¡°I do have a fair bit of muscles as well, okay?¡± Lark pulled back the sleeves of his robe. Jaeger was about to sneer after seeing those measly muscles but that was when Hua Ran suddenly grabbed onto my wrist. ¡°Wow. Oppa, your arm¡¯s so hard.¡± Her soft palms traveled across my arm. ¡°Haha, I¡¯m d you found out. This is the type of muscle you get after training for 8 hours every day. Huaahp¡­!¡± I flexed my arms, allowing Hua Ran to touch the bulky biceps and triceps. ¡°Wahh~ this is amazing! It¡¯s as big and tough as a piece of rock!¡± Unlike Hua, Ran had exceptional reactions and it felt great to show off to her. ¡°Kuhk¡­ I do have to admit that stupid Ko does have better muscles.¡± ¡°¡­Maybe I should work out as well.¡± The two of them epted their defeat. Putting aside Jaeger, Lark really did need to do some exercise. He wasn¡¯t even going to be able to climb the stairs of the Tower of Mages at this rate. ¡°Wow~. Your muscles feel like a piece of rock with steel imnted inside.¡± As if deeply intrigued, Hua Ran stroked my arm all the way from my wrist. I was confident that I would immediately get shit on if we did arm wrestling right now, so it felt kind of odd to hear that from her. ¡°K, kuhum¡­!¡± Someone gave an empty cough from the side ¨C it was Marie. ¡°H, Hua Ran? Umm¡­ don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being too improper as a girl? And Korin seems troubled as well.¡± Hearing that, Hua Ran seemed surprised. After carefully letting go of my arm, she asked with an extremely apologetic look on her face. ¡°Really? Was it annoying for me to touch you, oppa?¡± ¡°H, huhh? No? Not¡­ really.¡± ¡°Thank goodness! I was worried that might have put you in a bad mood.¡± She started stroking my arm again with a faint smile on her lips but for some reason, it felt like she was staring past my face¡­ ¡°Umm, do you like muscles?¡± ¡°Yes. I ¡®love¡¯¡­ them.¡± ¡­We¡¯re talking about muscles right? I could feel a piercing gaze staring at the back of my head. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ We had ourselves the third dessert as well as a new type of ck tea and yet the air around our table was still very heavy. ¡®Why?¡¯ one might ask. Why was it so heavy? ¡°You have a potato farm? Do you have potato cakes as well then?¡± ¡°We do. We put them in a pan and bake them in the oven.¡± ¡°Ah~. But that¡¯s a bit different from actual cakes, no?¡± ¡°We call that a cake though! So it¡¯s a cake!¡± ¡°I guess, if you say so~¡± ¡°Eeek¡­!¡± At this point, even I could tell that there was a war of nerves happening between Marie and Hua Ran, which had started from who knows when. ¡°K, kuhum¡­ let me go to the bathroom real quick.¡± ¡°Oh yes. Me too¡­!¡± ¡°Ah, I have a stomachache¡­¡± When I started it off, Jaeger and Lark nonchntly stood up to follow me to the bathroom. I sent a gaze to Alicia but she hesitated between me and the new cake and ended up missing the golden opportunity. After leaving the table, we stopped at the corridor of the building for a chat. ¡°Hah~. Did they fight or something?¡± ¡°I swear, you are the worst fucking person out there.¡± ¡°I agree. You freaking gold-digger.¡± What is wrong with you guys now? **** ¡®¡­Heavy.¡¯ Alicia soon regretted not following the boys. She, who had been too focused on the new cake, btedly noticed that the air had shifted tremendously. ¡°Heeh~ I see. So your house is in the countryside with a lot of fresh air, huh? Very different from us.¡± ¡°Of course. A forest with great water and a nice view is much better than a ce reeking of domestic animals, right?¡± They were clearly chatting with a smile but their eyes weren¡¯t smiling. ¡°Unlike Hua, you¡¯re very cute aren¡¯t you, Ran?¡± ¡°Really? Oppa often calls me cute as well.¡± ¡°Is that so? Ahaha~ I¡¯m so jealous. He only tells me I¡¯m pretty and beautiful.¡± ¡°Hmm~.¡± ¡®S, somebody. Please get me away from this ce!¡¯ She couldn¡¯t even swallow the cake anymore so instead, she used her trembling pair of hands to drink some tea. Even aftering this far, Alicia still didn¡¯t know why the two of them were on their toes, having a sharp war of nerves between them. ¡°Haha¡­¡± How many times have they stabbed each other with words? Without showing any of her discontentment on her face, Marie tilted the teapot over her cup. ¨C Crack¡­! ¡°Huahk¡­¡± The stream of tea froze in real-time in front of Alicia¡¯s eyes. It appeared like a frozen waterfall. ¡°Oh my, Sister. It¡¯s not going to taste nice if you drink it that cold.¡± ¡°What do you¡­ uht?!¡± Marie was surprised upon seeing that the tea had frozen in her grip. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡®Ah¡­ no more cake nor tea.¡¯ Alicia sweated profusely while tapping her empty te. Their tongues and eyes were sharp like des for some unknown reason. ¡°L, let me go to the bathroom as well¡­¡± ¡°Alicia, sit.¡± ¡°Sit down, Alicia.¡± ¡°Yep, okay.¡± After Alicia sat back down on her chair, Marie and Hua Ran looked at each other for a very long time. It was Hua Ran who broke the silence. ¡°Sister. You don¡¯t like me, do you?¡± Ah¡­ so the real sword wasn¡¯t even out yet, huh? ¡°Hnn. Of course not. I like all of Korin¡¯s ¡®friends¡¯. Maybe you were misunderstanding something.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great. I thought you hated me, Sister.¡± So heavy. In Alicia¡¯s mind, both Hua Ran and Marie were like small and harmless animals. Hua Ran was an indifferent type whereas Marie was a 2nd-year Senior that was kind to everyone. They were like a lofty cat and an energetic dog respectively. But now, it felt like a battle between a panther and a wolf. ¡°What do you think, Alicia?¡± ¡°Yes? Sorry? Me? I, is this about the desertification of the east?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°B, because I don¡¯t think it will turn into a full desert until the day of my death.¡± ¡°Alicia.¡± ¡°S, seriously! I¡¯ve been to a ce that was already turning into a desert butpared to that ce, the east isn¡¯t that warm!¡± ¡°Alicia. Please focus.¡± ¡°O, okay¡­ Umm, how about we be nice without fighting¡­¡± ¡°¡°We¡¯re not fighting though?¡±¡± ¡°¡­I think you are.¡± ¡°Alicia¡­!¡± ¡°Yes¡­! Of course! Of course you¡¯re not fighting!¡± They were smiling while stabbing each other with invisible swords. What were they doing if not fighting? Sweet words were leaving their mouths but there was a serpent waiting inside their bellies. ¡°Besides, why would I not like Hua Ran? It¡¯s all thanks to you anyway.¡± ¡°¡­What do you mean?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you remember what happened at the hunting grounds? You pushed me back right? And I couldn¡¯t do anything because I was limited to ¡®elemental spells¡¯ only.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran couldn¡¯t catch on to what she was trying to say but regardless, Marie continued with a bright smile. ¡°It¡¯s because of that that I awakened into a vampire you see. Thanks to that, Korin came to help me and our rtionship developed this much thanks to that so¡­ Yep! I would have to thank you for what you did!¡± ¡°¡­¡± A crack appeared on Hua Ran¡¯s smile. ¡°It¡¯s thanks to you that ¡®our¡¯ Korin also came to my house and greeted my parents! Thank you!¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t thank me for that. That¡¯s far from having your marriage permitted right? I already have the permission from the family lord of our household to marry Korin ¡®oppa¡¯.¡± ¡°Eeek¡­!¡± ¡°¡­Tch.¡± Alicia had trouble breathing properly. What was wrong with the two of them? Why couldn¡¯t they be nice to each other? ¡°Hmph. Well, I will go to the south again with Korin this winter. I have a few hot springs. Korin needs to have some rest at a good hot spring.¡± ¡°Really? I¡¯m going to invite Korin-oppa out to Chapel Zeon. There, he can get blessed by the Saintess. A blessing from the Saintess is going to be a lot better than a stinky hot spring.¡± ¡°Umm, Mr. Korin said he would being to my house though¡­¡± ¡°¡°????¡±¡± Their eyes turned with a frightening flick, as Marie and Hua Ran red at Alicia with a zing pair of eyes. ¡°Alicia. What did you say?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ M, Mr. Korin said he had something to do in the east¡­ He said we would form a party¡­ and watch the Sr Eclipse together¡­ Did he not say anything to you?¡± Facing the burning eyes of the two people who felt like they had been dogs barking up the wrong tree, Alicia wanted to faint if possible. Chapter 89: - Arden, the Renowned Household of Swordsmanship (1) ? Arden, the Renowned Household of Swordsmanship (1) ? Nothing big happened after the final exam until the start of the holiday. The only thing rted to the main scenario in the 2nd semester of the 1st year was the festival and a few small quests from the mission board. A few of those missions were in corrtion with my Precepts so I cleared those and focused on training. In the end, I couldn¡¯t reenact the Demonic Aura release and Sebancia Duke¡¯s demonic sword but¡­ Regarding that, there was no choice but to meet the old man from the east and ask for some advice. ¨C Knock knock! ¡°Senior. I¡¯m here.¡± Marie had told me toe to her room on the day before the end-of-the-term ceremony so I went and knocked on her door. It was right after dinner so it shouldn¡¯t be discourteous of me to visit her room. ¡°Come in.¡± I opened the door after receiving her permission and walked inside. The girl wearing casual clothes handed me a small golden board with an engraving of a potato flower as soon as I walked into the room. ¡°This¡­ is the emblem of your family, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I had seen the emblem of the Dunareff family a bunch of times during the summer holiday so I immediately recognized what they were. ¡°We are¡­ still a duke, so as long as you have this board, you should be able to ask almost anyone for cooperation.¡± ¡°¡­That is a very valuable item then.¡± The emblem of a noble was the symbol of the household and its power. It was pretty much a license saying that I was under the protection of the dukedom that reigned over the south of the country. In thest iteration, I had received an emblem of the royal family so I knew just how powerful these were more than anyone else. These didn¡¯t exist in the game, and yers had to follow the right procedure for every quest. If the Quest NPC went, ¡®Good sir! Please harvest some of the crops we are growing in our front yard!¡¯ then the yer had to crouch down and harvest them regardless of whether they were a hero or not but¡­ In the real world, it was possible to use power and authority to say, ¡®Shut up! Just give me the information I need!¡¯ and press them on. ¡°Is it okay to give something this precious to anyone?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not ¡®anyone¡¯, Korin.¡± She said while cing the board firmly in my grip. ¡°Korin, you are the benefactor of our family. You really need to think through on who exactly it is that you have saved.¡± ¡°Of course. I did save the imperial princess of the Potato Empire after all, right?¡± ¡°You¡¯re teasing me again! At least treat me like a princess if you are going to say that all the time!¡± Marie said with a big pout as if she was upset but when I tapped her back with a smile, she quickly returned to her original expression. ¡°You¡¯re going straight after the holiday ceremony tomorrow, right?¡± ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re going back home as well, right Senior?¡± Because Marie was the oldest daughter of that Dunareff family, she had to return home and show her face every holiday. From what I heard, it seemed that there was a winter festival that was hosted by the Dunareff which she couldn¡¯t miss as the sessor of the household. ¡°I, I will quickly go after you! Go and wait for me there!¡± ¡°Sure and thanks for your help. As I¡¯ve said before¡­ there might be some dangerous peopleing there as well so I really need your help.¡± ¡°Yep yep¡­! I will definitely go and help you, Korin!¡± Since Park Sihu, the yer, wasn¡¯t here, the strongest powerhouses of our group were Marie and Hua Ran. I hoped they could make it there before the Sr Eclipse. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt yourself! Don¡¯t forget to take the bag of potatoes that I gave you! And don¡¯t follow strange women even if they lure you with potatoes!!¡± ¡°Am I a kid?¡± It was just going to be a slight farewell during the holiday and yet she was being way too serious about it. ¡°I¡¯ll go back to my room then.¡± ¡°K, Korin¡­¡± I was about to turn around and leave the room but that was when she held onto my sleeves. Her skin which was as white as white jade was flushed in red ¨C it was something we were both very used to. ¡°B, before you go, onest time¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hold back and suck as much as you want. You would have to live on blood packs for a long time.¡± ¡°Nn¡­ Thank you.¡± On the day before my departure, I left Marie¡¯s room right before the dates changed. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Returning back to my room, I washed myself and was about to go to sleep. ¨C Knock knock! Right as I was about to fall asleep, someone knocked on the door. I had just gone to Marie¡¯s room so it could only be one person but¡­ why? ¡°Coming.¡± I opened the door and as expected, outside the room was Hua Ran in her pajamas. It waste at night in the special dormitory. Even though there was no rule stating that you couldn¡¯t go to the room of a different gendered person at night, it was stillmon sense was it not? Well, I guess there was nothing I could say as someone who had been in Marie¡¯s room for a very long time. ¡°Come¡­¡± Before I could even tell her toe in, Hua Ran walked forward inrge strides and did something strange. She suddenlyid herself down on my bed. ¡°I¡¯m sleeping here.¡± ¡°How could ady in her marriageable age¡­¡± The east should have a Confucian doctrine though¡­ A boy and a girl shouldn¡¯t sleep in the same room after turning 7; have you never heard of that? ¡°Not going to sleep?¡± ¡°You think I would?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Hua Ran asked while looking at me with blinking eyes. She was already under the nket. ¡°Umm¡­ You see? Society hase to amon agreement that it¡¯s a little weird for a grown-up male and female to sleep in the same room.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. And we slept together before.¡± Look at thisdy. Excuse me! Others are going to misunderstand if they hear that. We did spend the night together, but that was in an emergency situation where we had to hide from the rain. That wasn¡¯t anything normal. But in any case, she had a memory of spending the night with me, and seemed unable to understand why there was something wrong with doing the same thing again. ¡°Okay. Fine¡­¡± I was a bit scared of what would happen if Lady Josephine was to find out about thister on but¡­ there was nothing I could do when she wanted to sleep together. It should be okay as long as we didn¡¯t get busted. Ever since the festival, Hua also became a lot more open just like Ran. Shouldn¡¯t she be the one with a more Confucian mindset? ¡°Huu¡­¡± I took off my gown to go to sleep. It was then. ¨C m! A pillow flew towards me. Of course, that was the only pillow I had on my bed. ¡°Why¡­ are you taking your clothes off?¡± ¡°¡­I usually take my clothes off when going to sleep.¡± ¨C Kung! ¡°Ahkk¡­!¡± A shapeless burst of demonic aura struck my chest. This girl¡­ she learned how to shoot aura from a distance! Well, considering her strength, she probably could have done the same thing by putting a little bit of strength into her punch. ¡°That was a joke but I can¡¯t sleep in a gown can I? I have my pajamas as well!¡± ¡°¡­Turn around and change.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ wait what?¡± What was this about? I¡¯m the one changing so why do I have to turn around? Shouldn¡¯t she be the one turning around? I turned back to her for an obviousint but was met with another shapeless ball of aura. ¡°¡­My fault for being weak.¡± I was already in my pants anyway, so I quickly took out a T-shirt and put it on. ¡°Move to the side will you.¡± What was fortunate was that it was a double bed. Back when I was going to college on Earth, all my beds were single or bunk beds so they had been tiny but I didn¡¯t have to worry about that now. In any case, I pushed her to the side andid down on the bed. But of course, there was only one pillow and one nket in my room. ¡°¡­¡± Turning her body towards me, Hua Ran silently looked at my face. A stubborn ray of moonlight seeped through the curtains and her red eyes sparkled under it like rubies. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Pillow.¡± She returned the pillow that I gave her after picking it back up from the floor. ¡°This is your room.¡± ¡­I couldn¡¯t understand her standards of respect. ¡°It¡¯s okay, don¡¯t worry about it. I don¡¯t need a pillow to sleep.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this my room?¡± Why was she refusing my offer after acknowledging that this was my room? ¡°Just use it.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll take one for the team then.¡± Resting my head on the pillow, I stretched out my right arm. ¡°It¡¯ll just be a little numb tomorrow morning. Use this as your pillow.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± This time, Hua Ran rested her head on my arm without turning me down. ¡°It¡¯s stiff.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to use it if you don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean.¡± I had no idea what I had to do to please her. Maybe I had to buy another pillow or something¡­ wait, couldn¡¯t she just bring a pillow from her room? ¡°Are you¡­ leaving straight away tomorrow?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I¡­ am going to Zeon.¡± ¡°I know. You have to meet the Saintess right?¡± Hua Ran also had something to do. Every holiday, she had to return to the Great Chapel of Zeon that was located in the west to meet the Saintess. It was partially to reinforce the restriction cast on her, but it was also for an attentive test of her mental stability. Well, since it was that princess, she wouldn¡¯t do anything bad to Hua Ran. I remembered them being kidnapped whenever they were too careless, and wondered if that was still the same. The fight between those siblings was a bit extreme after all. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you there, and don¡¯t forget to eat your meals in time and listen to your elders.¡± ¡°Okay. Ran¡­ asked you to think about her even when you¡¯re away.¡± ¡°¡­I would have no choice but to.¡± Ran had the ability to make other people¡¯s hearts beat fast in a way that differed from Hua. ¡°Is Ran not going to say goodbye? I thought she would jump out and say a few things though.¡± ¡°¡­Because Ran was up all morning.¡± Today was thest day of the final exam so that made sense. Ran was sitting the tests huh? Wasn¡¯t this¡­ cheating? I was wondering if that was okay but that was when she turned her head towards me with her head still resting on my arm. Her soft cheek was pushed in by my wrist and made her look chubby yet cute. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt yourself.¡± ¡°Hoh. Are you worried about me?¡± Hearing my prankish question, she looked back at me with a sad look in her eyes. Ever since the festival, she had been very sensitive about me getting injured. It seemed that seeing me in tatters wasn¡¯t a very good experience. ¡°My heart stings when I see you injured.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She appeared to be ming herself for the thing that happened that day. Because of that sense of guilt, these days she was very concerned and worried about me despite being cold as always. Despite others calling her a jiangshi and a demonic beast, she was still a very kind girl at heart and seeing changes like that made me feel proud for protecting her. ¡°You¡­ will probably continue to fight. Just like how you did for me.¡± A sense of duty flickered in her eyes. I wasn¡¯t sure if that stemmed from the desire to repay her debt or from a different emotion but¡­ ¡°I will protect you. So please don¡¯t get hurt as much.¡± Regardless, I could feel her sincerity and that was a verymendable sight so I stroked her cheek and gave her a smile. ¡°Thank you. Thanks to you, I now have the power to try harder.¡± ¡°Wait for me. I¡¯ll make it quick.¡± ¡°Alrighty. You will be of massive help when youe.¡± After that, we chatted untilte at night. Sometimes, she even conveyed the words of Ran. ¨C Huu, huu¡­ Closing my eyes, I whispered to Hua Ran who buried her head into my chest in her sleep like a kitten that found a warm ce to rest in the middle of winter. ¡°Good night.¡± The right side of my body felt extremely warm to the point that it was even hot but¡­ well, it was a more pleasant night than usual. **** The group heading east this time around wasposed of 3 people. First off was Alicia and me. Alicia was the sessor candidate of the Arden family, the renowned household of swordsmanship that was in charge of the east all the way to the borders, so she was a must-bring. Although her position inside her family wasn¡¯t very stable, it still meant that I might be able to rely on Arden¡¯s forces when push came to shove. The other member of the group was Yuel, who would be guiding us to the secretnd of the druids, ¡®Findias¡¯. I had requested her to look for Findias and Uzkiasst holiday, and she was the only one that could guide us to thosends as the only one that had the blessing of spirits. We had to cross the borders and it would be very rough without her help. ¡°You¡¯re very early Mr. Korin.¡± We had promised to meet at the wyvern dock after each taking care of what we had to do. I was the first to arrive and following that was Alicia. ¡°Is Ms. Yuel not here yet?¡± ¡°She said she¡¯ll drop by the library. It shouldn¡¯t take too long so I guess we can wait at a cafe.¡± ¡°Okay~.¡± Heading to one of the nearby cafes, we walked up to the terrace on the second floor which had a brilliant view of the vige for a cup of coffee. ¡°Here you go, Mr. Korin. It¡¯s today¡¯s newspaper.¡± ¡°Ohh, thanks.¡± I started reading the newspaper, looking for anything noteworthy. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The first thing entering my eyes was the main article and a massive headline on the first page of the paper. ¡°Alicia. Isn¡¯t this you?¡± ¡°Huah?¡± Alicia, who had been munching through a cake after handing me the newspaper, raised her head and asked with a mumble. ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°This here.¡± ¡ºSword Emperor Garrand! Leaving the 5th Sword Squad to his granddaughter¡­! An ever-so fiercepetition between the sessor candidates of the Arden Family!!¡» ¡°T, this is my first time hearing this though?¡± ¡°It was pretty much set in stone already.¡± After the Sword Challenge with Lunia, Alicia¡¯s position in the household had be firmer than ever before. For the Ardens, strength was justice. As the one who enacted the greatest ability of their lifetime pursuit, ¡®Domain Severance¡¯, Alicia couldn¡¯t avoid bing a powerful sessor candidate. ¡°I guess you won¡¯t be treated as a nobody anymore.¡± ¡°¡­I guess so.¡± As if she wasn¡¯t that happy about it, Alicia cut her cake with a bitter expression on her face. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Yuel arrived right when I was pretty much done with the newspaper. We called her as loudly as we could from the terrace, and she soon climbed the stairs to our table. ¡°Do you want any drinks?¡± I asked her. ¡°Water is fine.¡± ¡°Excuse me. Can you get us a green tea frappino please?¡± ¡°¡­Well, I can have that too.¡± After having a short morning tea break, I asked the two of them just in case before departing. ¡°Did you guys all bring your cold-resistant equipment and belongings?¡± ¡°Yep! Look! I have a coat here with food as well as a bag with a bunch of clothes!¡± Alicia was carrying a jam-packed bag like an adventurer character that came out in cartoons. ¡°What about you, Yuel? Doesn¡¯t look like you have much with you.¡± ¡°Nature is already like a shield to me, after all.¡± ¡°Huu¡­ You guys. You¡¯re showing off your newbieness too much.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°We are going to be getting on a wyvern to head straight to the east. Do you know what this means?¡± ¨C ??? They really seemed clueless but that was understandable, because it was one of themon newbie mistakes. ¡°Do you think you can ride a wyvern 1 km above ground with a single coat and bare eyes?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± It would be tremendously cold at a higher altitude and the violent gust would make it impossible to open your eyes. Regardless of the season, it was necessary to wrap yourself with cold-resistant clothing and goggles. ¡°Here it would be 1.5 times more expensive than in the city but they do sell them here so hurry up and go get them!¡± ¡°Y, yes sir!¡± ¡°¡­Okay. Hopefully they will ept ginsengs in exchange.¡± ¡°Yuel, give me that ginseng and buy it with Alicia¡¯s money! Don¡¯t even think about giving away something so precious!¡± After confiscating the ginseng from Yuel, I sent the two of them to a store that sold flying equipment. **** The journey to the east wasn¡¯t that bad. Going through the unpaved roads of the east would have been quite the arduous task but it was over in a sh thanks to riding on a flying beast. Sometimes, we came across mail riders that posted mails and the royal military that patrolled the air but they went their way immediately after seeing the golden board I received from Marie. We could even stay the night at docks that were only for the military and mail riders for free thanks to the board. Just like that, we arrived at Takan of the east in just 1 week. ¡°MR. KORIIIINNNN¡­! OVER THEREEEEEEE¡­!¡± Because we were on a wyvern, it was hard tomunicate with words. Proper wyvern riders with adequate training wouldmunicate through gestures and signals but unfortunately, I was the only one here who knew how to use them. But looking at where Alicia was pointing, I could tell that something was happening over there. ¡ª-¡ª-¡ª-¡ª-!! On the grasnd were rampaging demonic beasts. Oliphants ¨C they looked simr to elephants but they were so massive thatparing them to elephants didn¡¯t feel very reasonable. They were semi-Grade 1 demonic beasts taller than 20 meters that were bigger than most buildings. ¡°Those demonic beasts¡­ are heading for the vige that we just went by.¡± ¡°At this rate, the vige will be devastated.¡± Two oliphants. They were monsters that were unstoppable without guardians or military. A vige would be reduced to rubble in less than 5 minutes. ¡°We will stop them here. Yuel, grow roots in front of them. Whether it be vines or thorns, just make sure to slow them down.¡± ¡°Okay. Please go closer to the ground.¡± I drove the wyvern down and closed in on the oliphants. The n was to dive down like a bomber and drop Alicia. ¡°Alicia. Can you do it?¡± ¡°I, I will try¡­!¡± When we were about 100 meters away from the ground, light started leaving from Yuel¡¯s oak staff. At the same time, vines emerged from the earth and wrapped themselves around the two oliphants. ¡°¡­!?¡± The monsters seemed confused by the sudden emergence of vines that stopped their feet but their confusion didn¡¯tst long. ¨C Kajik! ¨C Kaduduk! After easily breaking themselves free from the vines, they resumed their march. ¡°Uhk¡­ they¡¯re too heavy¡­!¡± ¡°Focus on stopping the one at the front!¡± ¡°Okay¡­!¡± Yuel once again used her magic as the blessing of spirits and every organism of the earth replied to her request. Vines soared up again and this time, they secured themselves around one of the two oliphants. ¡°Now! Jump¡­!¡± With the Demon-ying Sword in hand, Alicia jumped down from the wyvern but the oliphant noticed her as well. ¨C Kwagack! The sword was stopped by the oliphant¡¯s ivory. Alicia wasn¡¯t expecting the beast to raise its head to stop her attack and was caught off guard. ¡°T, that got blocked?¡± ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ª¡ª¡ª!! The roaring oliphant began marching at Alicia the moment shended on the ground. Sliding under its belly, Alicia sliced at the thick ankles of the monster. ¡°Uhk¡­! They¡¯re too thick!¡± ¡°Focus on keeping it busy! Big monsters like this will go down eventually without smaller mobs protecting them!¡± It¡¯s not like Alicia didn¡¯t have the strength to beat it so the monsters were bound to go down with time. The problem was that there were two of them. ¨C Beeeeeeeeep¡­!! It was then. A loud whistle echoed from a distance along with the appearance of a group of horsemen. The group of light-armored cavalry that amounted to 30 at the very least charged across the field. ¨C Click-ck click-ck¡­! The sound of four-legged animals crushing through the grass was multiplied by 30 and filled the wide grasnd with a harmonious rhythm. Marching against an enormous elephant with horses seemed reckless at a nce but they weren¡¯t normal humans either. Right before closing in on the vined-up oliphant, the cavalry scattered. When the enormous monster lost track and was confused as to where to look, one of the horsemen marched under the oliphant and unsheathed their sword. ¨C Pak! Pabak! The first horseman sliced at the ankles, followed by another horseman attacking the exact same ces. Each of their shes were weak and seemed futile but when tens of people shed at the same part on repeat, even the thick legs of the oliphant had to spurt out blood. They were very experienced. They specialized in hunting demonic beasts, and were masters at group battles. The oliphant toppled after having all of its four legs cut off by their seasoned attacks and after that was a one-sided ughter. ¡°Demon hunters of Arden, huh.¡± Right, they were the swordsmen of Arden, the household of swordsmanship. They were noble fighters that guarded these far-offnds and the borders from demonic beasts. ¡°Uahkk¡­! Mr. Korin!¡± That was when the oliphant Alicia was keeping at bay started marching towards us. It seemed that it decided to ignore Alicia to help its monster friend. I picked up my spear to kill the charging monster but¡ª ¡°Let me use this as a foothold.¡± ¡°Aht. Kyaakk?!¡± Yuel screamed as someone suddenlynded on the wyvern, but even the wyvern was used as nothing but a foothold. The swordsman pounced at the oliphant after kicking off of the wyvern. The sword pierced through the oliphant¡¯s forehead like a lightning bolt. Despite being tougher than steel, the skull of the oliphant was like tofu before the swordsman¡¯s sword. ¡°H, huh? Unni?¡± Lunia Arden. The Sword Master of the contemporary times. She, who was also Alicia¡¯s older sister from a different mother, gazed down at Alicia while standing on top of the dead oliphant. ¡°Still pathetic as always. Can you not even kill a fat pig like this?¡± ¡°¡­S, sorry.¡± She looked down at Alicia as if she was pathetic. After a while, she threw her hand into her pocket and picked something up. ¡°Catch it.¡± ¨C Tap! She flicked it with her fingers. After catching it, Alicia scratched her head with flushed cheeks. ¡°T, thank you.¡± Taking her eyes off of her younger sister that she met for the first time in a while, Lunia turned to me as I got down from the wyvern. ¡°Korin Lork.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been a while, Miss Lunia.¡± She walked to me inrge strides before simrly flicking something at me. ¡°This¡­¡± It had the unique packaging of a chubby bee ¨C it was Alicia¡¯s favorite honey bomb candy. ¡°I heard you got promoted to Grade 1.¡± ¡°Ah, yes I did.¡± ¡°That is a magnificent progress. Keep it up.¡± ¡°T, thank you.¡± Her attitude was dry as always. Thisdy didn¡¯t seem to hold anything against me even though I had interfered with her session by nning the Sword Challenge. Well, she was a cool person after all. I had spent quite a lot of time with her in thest iteration asrades so I already knew how she wasn¡¯t the type to hold grudges. After all, there was only one person in the world that could make her hold an extreme grudge. ¡°More importantly, Korin Lork.¡± ¡°Yes? What is it?¡± ¡°¡­¡± After standing right in front of me, she scanned me from top to bottom before mumbling something iprehensible like, ¡®Not bad¡¯. ¡°Umm¡­ is there something wrong?¡± I asked an obvious question but Lunia replied with an extremely dry and business-like attitude. ¡°Korin Lork. How about you marry me?¡± ¡­¡­¡­What? Chapter 90: - Arden, the Renowned Household of Swordsmanship (2) ? Arden, the Renowned Household of Swordsmanship (2) ? The most influential household of the south was the Dunareff, whereas the representative one of the east was the Arden, without any question. They were the guardians of the far east. In the west of the El Rath Kingdom were both Xeruem and Zeon, the two sacred chapels of two religions, while the south had fertilends as well as a trade route with the archipgo underneath. On the other hand, the east and the north were the cause of distress for the kingdom, but werends that had to be protected. In the north was the North Kingdom, the union of barbarians, as well as wicked demons. The east had touching borders with the empire of pagans, but the biggest problem was the endless horde of demonic beasts that tended toe from the barrennds of the far east. The north and the east of the kingdom had never been peaceful since the establishment of the kingdom. Not a single time. And if the citizens of the kingdom were asked about why that was possible, they would all shout out the name of the Arden family. ¡°Captain Lunia has returned!!¡± The front gates of the main family opened along with a sonorous roar as hundreds of Arden¡¯s disciples weed us in. ¡°Wee, Captain!!¡± ¡°Wee back, Captain!!¡± Seeing hundreds of people bending their backs at once was an impressive sight that you wouldn¡¯t even see in movies. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Even though I said hundreds, that was only when I was counting the ones wearing ck uniforms. There were workers repairing the buildings and roofs as well as servants which added up to an incrediblyrge number. The one that spoke to Lunia before anyone else was an old man who looked like a butler. Despite his slim body, he was definitely not a normal person which could be proven by the Chinese war sword hanging on his waist. ¡°Captain Lunia. Thanks for your work in hunting demonic beasts.¡± ¡°How are the other groups?¡± ¡°All the groups have returned except for Groups 13 and 19.¡± ¡°Send a messenger hawk and see what is going on. Have groups with fewer casualties on standby.¡± ¡°Yes Captain. And¡­¡± The old swordsman wearing butler clothes turned towards us. To be exact, he was looking at Alicia who was standing right next to me but Lunia opened her mouth before he could say anything. ¡°They¡¯re her friends. Guide them to a ce to stay at.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Alicia. Youe with me.¡± ¡°Aht. Okay¡­¡± With an intimidated look on her face, Alicia followed after Miss Lunia who was still giving off a chilly aura. Yuel seemed bugged by that sight, and asked after tugging at my sleeves. ¡°Where is Alicia going?¡± ¡°This is her house so she probably has her own room.¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± ¡°Esteemed guests, please follow me.¡± We followed the butler to the guest rooms and unpacked our belongings in our designated rooms. Two hourster, I was resting at the given room when the same butler came looking for me. ¡°Mister Korin Lork. Captain Lunia is looking for you.¡± Right, I was waiting for it. There was the talk about marriage, and there were a lot of things I wanted to ask her. ¡°This is Captain Lunia¡¯s building.¡± Her house was as tranquil and rigid as herself, but the garden, ponds, and the antique pieces of artwork decorating the corridor indicated the position she had in the Arden family. She was one of the sessor candidates. If Alicia wasn¡¯t there¡­ no, even with Alicia there, Lunia was pretty much already set in stone as the future family head. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± Lunia was standing firmly and behind her was her house that woulde out in a pce in Korean historical dramas. As always, she was a very upright person. Her long hair was falling down in a straight line as if they were being supported by metal frames, and despite the abundant lines of her body that couldn¡¯t be hidden with a martial uniform, she still reminded others more of a grand general ruling over the world than a softdy. ¡°Why don¡¯t we sit.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I sat down on a cushion in front of a small table and so did she, before picking up a teapot and pouring its content onto the pre-prepared cup. ¡°So, I heard you¡¯re almost 18.¡± ¡°I am the same age as your sister.¡± ¡°I will ask just in case. Are you married?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Of course not.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Picking up her own cup, she drank her tea. It was such a simple set of movements but even that was void of any noise. ¡°If you do not have a partner yet, what do you think about marrying me?¡± ¡°¡­Are you serious?¡± ¡°Do I look like someone that would spout falsehood?¡± She wasn¡¯t¡­ I had known this person for over 3 years and I had never seen her tell even the smallest of lies. ¡°Objectively speaking, you are a magnificent seed. Your martial talent, as well as your hard-work are exceptional. And your face, well, I would say it¡¯s not bad ording to my standards.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know you cared about appearance as well.¡± ¡°I am also a woman. Of course I would be interested in the face of my spouse that would embrace me at night¡­ Do you by any chance have sexual dysfunction? That would be slightly problematic.¡± ¡°Please¡­!¡± Noona! Aren¡¯t you a bit too straightforward? ¡°What exactly is your intention? If you are suddenly asking for marriage, you should exin the reason to me at the very least.¡± ¡°Hmm. I thought boys your age are so healthy they think about marriage just from touching hands. If a woman at my level asks for your hand in marriage, I believe it would be normal to ept it at once.¡± ¡°Most teenage boys are stupid, but they are not stupid enough to decide about marriage just like that.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°¡­For the most part.¡± Well¡­ Lunia was indeed a beauty. Her body resembled that of a top-notch model and the abundant feminine lines of her body made her both cool and beautiful. However, this was different from that. Marrying into the family as the son-inw was a totally different story. ¡°Have you heard about Alicia bing the Captain of the 5th Sword Squad?¡± ¡°Yes, I did.¡± That was in the newspaper that I read before getting on the wyvern. Even Alicia didn¡¯t know about her own promotion but she had to be one because it was personally dered by the Sword Emperor, the previous family head, who still had an absolute position in the Arden family. ¡°That senile old man suddenly showed up and dered to make Alicia captain over the 5th Sword Squad.¡± I had a rough understanding of the situation after hearing that. ¡°Well, it was only a matter of time after beating me in the Sword Challenge. I was going to make her go through a procedure and let her take over the 2nd or the 3rd Sword Squad, but¡­¡± It was unfortunate timing ¨C Garrand the Sword Emperor, who lived by himself in seclusion away from other people, suddenly showed up and appointed Alicia as the captain of the 5th Sword Squad. And that just happened to be when there was a reporter in the Arden family. ¡°But how is Alicia bing a captain rted to you proposing for marriage?¡± ¡°The old man left immediately after saying that, so my supporters started fretting over it. I¡¯m sure you would understand as the one who gave advice to Alicia and came up with that cheeky n.¡± I had a rough idea of what was going on. Before, Lunia¡¯s position in the Arden family was matchless. Even though both Lunia and Alicia were sessor candidates, Alicia was far from her level in both legitimacy and skill. However, Lunia¡¯s social position must have started wobbling after her defeat, because she, the alpha of her group, had lost and was no longer at an advantage in terms of skill. ¡°Political marriage¡­ is it?¡± ¡°Exactly. Currently, there are many ongoing talks and proposals with the rich families of the east and famous swordsmen.¡± ¡°Recovering the previous position with a political marriage. It is definitely a strong political move.¡± ¡°However, I do not like that. I am too good to be treated like an item in the marriage market.¡± ¡°Is that why you want to fake a marriage with me?¡± ¡°That is exactly correct.¡± I understood what was happening, but there was still an unresolved question in my mind. ¡°But who would dare force you, Lunia Arden, to marry someone?¡± How could there be someone who could coerce that heaven-defying Lunia Arden to have a political marriage? ¡°My mother.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Although there was the saying that no parents in the world could win over their children, the opposite was also the same. **** Alicia was stormed by visitors immediately after she unpacked her belongings in her room. ¡°Miss Alicia! I am h h h and I run a dojo in the vige under Octagonal Mountain!¡± ¡°Miss! Do you remember me? I saw you back when you were very young; you have grown so much!¡± It was her first time seeing all their faces and she was also very unfamiliar with the expressions on their faces. Alicia was the result and proof of an illicit affair that wasn¡¯t even from a concubine. That was why her presence was barely ever acknowledged in the Arden family. The atmosphere changed ever since the Sword Challenge with Lunia, and even in the summer holiday, she had seen a few expectant people but it wasn¡¯t to this degree. As for why they were being so explicit with their approach, she could only think of one reason. ¡°It¡¯s probably¡­ because of grandpa.¡± He was like the emperor of the Arden household. Sword Emperor Garrand ¨C it was by his sudden demand that she had been appointed as the captain of the 5th Sword Squad. ¡°What is he thinking¡­?¡± It had been like that from the past. Garrand had ignored all the objections and had forced Alicia to be a sessor candidate. It was ever since that day that she, the nuisance of the family, had turned into more of a nuisance that was ignored and disregarded. ¡°Miss. This is a sword we made at our smithy¡­¡± ¨C Thud! It was then. Someone walked into her room after pushing the door wide open. She was a beautifuldy with jet-ck hair and a sharp pair of eyes that resembled obsidian, who gave off a simr aura to Lunia. ¡°L, Lady Sophia¡­¡± Sophia red at the merchants and dojo instructors that were visiting Alicia. She, the blood-rted mother of Lunia Arden, was thewful wife of the current family head, Jade Arden. ¡°Do you have any more business?¡± ¡°N, no we do not!¡± After receiving a re from her, the uninvited guests hurriedly left the room. Before long, it was only Alicia and Sophia that were inside the room. ¡°M, mother¡­¡± ¡°Right. It has been a while.¡± Her dark eyes turned to Alicia and she spoke with a voice that was as apathetic as her eyes. Ever since the past, Alicia couldn¡¯t help but shrink tremendously when being on the receiving end of her gaze. ¡°I am sure you have heard it. Father has appointed you as the captain of the 5th Sword Squad.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ but I¡­!¡± ¡°Father¡¯smands are absolute in Arden. It will not be reversed by something as trivial as your opinion.¡± There was no hint of condemnation nor criticism in her voice. Sophia simply stated facts with aposed voice. ¡°As the captain of the 5th Sword Squad, you shall push yourself for the glory of the family and the protection of humanity.¡± After saying that, she ced down a sword. ¨C Clink! It was arge single-edged sword that was so long that it was only a little bit shorter than Alicia herself. ¡°That is the Commander¡¯s Sword, the symbol of a captain. Choose members of the household at will;mand them and distinguish yourself during your stay.¡± ¡°¡­Okay.¡± Alicia didn¡¯t refute. Or rather, she couldn¡¯t. The attitude of obedience and submission that was engraved into her from childhood was always there. In spite of knowing that these people would never ept her until the end, she still obeyed them. **** Alicia stumbled out of her room. Staying in her room would only make her meet more uninvited guests, and she thought training with Korin would be a better option. Walking out of her building, she was headed to the guest rooms when a familiar voice echoed from somewhere nearby. ¡°Good. I will be waiting for a positive reply from you then.¡± ¡°Well¡­ sure. I guess it¡¯s not a bad thing for me.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Those were the voices of two people she was very used to. After realizing that it was a conversation between her older sister and Korin, Alicia quickly hid herself unconsciously. She then carefully looked at Lunia. Despite her usual cold and indifferent expression, the corners of her lips were faintly pointing up and her dry voice seemed more excited than usual. That was the slight show of emotion that Lunia showed very rarely when talking to someone she was fond of. ¡ºKorin Lork. How about you marry me?¡» Alicia suddenly remembered what her sister suddenly said. That sentence which suddenly came out of context seemed just like what Lunia would say. Was there a reason? Probably, because there was no way her older sister would have talked about something as serious as marriage without any proper reason. But did that mean she didn¡¯t have goodwill for Korin? That was probably not true. Something Alicia felt during the prac test of the interim exam was that Lunia was harboring both curiosity and goodwill for Korin. Respect for a warrior who reached a certain threshold as a swordsman, as well as her long-time wish for the Domain. Putting aside all that, Lunia wouldn¡¯t have given such a proposal if she wasn¡¯t interested in the man called Korin. ¡°¡­That¡¯s fantastic.¡± Alicia liked both of them. Lunia was her older sister of admiration, who had been like a mother to her when she was young. Although there was an unwanted conflict between them right now, she sincerely hoped for her happiness. Korin was also a special person to Alicia. He had trusted her talents, pushed her forward and helped her survive from her older sister¡¯s followers. A marriage between the two of them, meant that her two favorite people would be bing closer than anyone else. ¡®They look good together as well¡­¡¯ Lunia was the future sessor of the family who led forth the swordsmen of Arden with her innate leadership and charisma, whereas Korin was an exceptionally skilled warrior and a good person. Unlike herself who waszy and cowardly. Those two were an amazing pair and it was abination of her favorite and respected people. It was great that the two of them would be forging a deeper bond. Should she support them then? She wasn¡¯t sure. It was probably either because she was too happy or because of how sudden everything was, but Alicia was feeling restless and fidgety. **** 3 days went by after our arrival at Arden. Meanwhile, Yuel was busy collecting information about the ¡®Forest of Demonic Beasts¡¯ beyond the borders of the kingdom from the spirits, and Alicia was busy running around greeting everyone. It seemed that there were a lot of things for her to do like finding members and other administration work. What was I doing in the meantime, you ask? ¡°Was today an enjoyable day? The actor¡¯s voice was even better than I expected.¡± ¡°The catchphrase that it was the voice of heavens wasn¡¯t that much of an exaggeration, was it?¡± ¡°More importantly, Korin. I want to know if you enjoyed it.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ yeah. It was a new experience and it was fun.¡± ¡°Hmm, that is good then. All that matters is your enjoyment.¡± ¡°¡­¡± On the way back to the main buildings, we were walking past the servants that were sweeping the gardens. They stole nces at us but Lunia didn¡¯t care a single bit about them and kissed the back of my hand. ¡°Today was another enjoyable day.¡± ¡°¡­Isn¡¯t kissing on the back of the hand something I have to do as a man?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I guess I did what I usually do todies as a habit. I will lend the honor to you next time.¡± As expected of a renowned hero; she was closer to a gentleman than ady. ¨C Oh my oh my¡­! The people nearby created a fuss after seeing that but Lunia didn¡¯t seem to care. ¡°I will see you tomorrow. There are a lot of things I have prepared for you.¡± 3 days aftering to Arden; I was being fervently seduced by Lunia. Chapter 91: - Arden, the Renowned Household of Swordsmanship (3) ? Arden, the Renowned Household of Swordsmanship (3) ? ¨C lllla¡ª-!! The horsemen raced across the grasnd while whistling out loud. ¨C Kuwaaahkk¡­! Chasing behind them were packs of wolves. Stimted by the noisy sound of whistles, the groups of ck beasts pounced through the grass at their prey. ¡°32 enemies in total: 300 meters away. Will reach us in 20 seconds.¡± Another group ¨C our group was watching them from afar. It was when the horsemen looked like they were almost going to get caught by the wolves. ¡°Can you use it again?¡± ¡°Yes. Do we start?¡± I asked. ¡°Go.¡± Immediately, I kicked off the ground and jumped off the hill. The horsemen were starting to merge with the pack of wolves and it looked impossible to shoot arrows without the fear of friendly fire. ¨C Kwang! In spite of that, I unhesitatingly tossed my spear, which started piercing through the wind with a shriek. The spear looked like it would prate through someone but that was when it suddenly twisted and changed its direction mid-air. ¨C Pababak¡­! Despite being already out of my control, the thrown weapon went against thew of physics following an entric trajectory. Due to the Restriction, it became a ¡®nevernding spear¡¯. It was only possible because I was Korin Lork, with a contract forged with the world that ¡®I do not perceive spirits¡¯. My silver spearnded right in the middle of the group without hurting any of the horsemen or the demonic beasts. That immediately activated the effect of the Orb of the Grim Reaper x Festival-use Faulty Manastone. ¨C Pakk! Mana erupted around the spear. It reached out by 100 meters in all directions and struck all the demonic beasts in the radius. ¨C Woof? ¨C Plop! The monsters, that had been kicking off the ground at full force without any ns to stop, all plopped down at the same time. ¨C Woof? ¨C Kuwaahh¡­! Half of the entire group fell in the blink of an eye. Despite being beasts, they were puzzled at the turn of events and confusedly looked at their fallenrades. ¡°Unsheathe.¡± Dozens of swordsmen unsheathed their swords at once. The sharp sound of des scraping out of their scabbards had a terrifyingly uniform sound that gathered the eyes of the demonic beasts. ?Marching Swords of Arden: Vigorous Tiger? The first person to charge out was Lunia Arden. Her sword, which was raised up high, sliced through the head of one of the beowulf that were in the mix, in a sh. ¨C Kuhk! The beowulf copsed with a single cry which marked the start of the battle. ¡°Charge¡­!¡± ¡°Follow the captain¡­!¡± A huge number of swordsmen dashed towards the faltered demonic beasts. Their difference in spirit was already a tell-tale sign of who woulde out on top. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Report.¡± ¡°Yes captain! We have defeated five Grade 2s, thirteen Grade 3s¡­! And twenty Grade 4s! For a grand total of 38 demonic beasts!¡± ¡°Report our casualties first.¡± ¡°Ah, sorry captain! We have four lightly injured, and no one with severe injuries¡­! There are no fatalities!¡± ¡°Good. For those injured, let them return on their own horses if they can, and if not, let them ride with the reserve troops.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ Understood, captain!¡± It was quite sudden, but the reason I hade out to kill demonic beasts with Lunia was because a fair few of them had broken through the borders. Lunia had to scramble out because of that so I came with her. Yuel and Alicia were busy, so I at least wanted to do something instead of doing nothing as the guest. ¡°Let us return.¡± After everything was over, we rode our horses to head back to the main headquarters. ¡°Good work. We have greatly reduced our casualties thanks to you.¡± ¡°All I did was throw my spear though. I didn¡¯t do much.¡± ¡°No, there are fewer injuries thanks to you. That matters a lot.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t turn it down if you want to put me up on the pedestal.¡± Lunia gave a rare smile after hearing my reply. ¡°A wide-range attack that immediately neutralizes lower grade demonic beasts, huh¡­ when did you learn that?¡± ¡°Through good luck back when I went to Nazrea.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Nazrea. I believe that was where the 2nd group event of the festival took ce.¡± ¡°Oh? How did you know?¡± Did she watch it through a broadcasting stone or something? Or maybe¡­ ¡°More importantly, Korin. Do you have time tomorrow?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have anything in particr but¡­¡± ¡°I see. Then make sure you keep it free.¡± ¡°???¡± Wondering what this was about, I tilted my head as Lunia continued with a faint smile on her lips. ¡°We will go on a date.¡± On the 4th day after arriving at the Ardens, I had a date scheduled with Lunia. **** Lunia wasmonly acknowledged as the maiden of steel. She started carrying a sword ever since her childhood, began hunting demonic beasts at the young age of 15 and at the age of 20, she became renowned as the greatest young swordsman of the east. That was the life of the Sword Master, whose life started and continued with nothing but the sword. A great crisis struck her, who had been following the way of the sword for her entire life, because of the sudden uncertainty of the next sessor. ¡ºWhat is all this, mother?¡» ¡ºThey are the famous swordsmen of the east as well as sons of renowned families.¡» Political marriage. It was a way to recover the stability of her wavering status. If they were a normal household, it might not have been a bad choice, because interconnections with other families weren¡¯t things that could be easily ignored when considering the future of the family. However, in the Ardens, the one who decided the next family head was Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor. Would that fiend crazy for the sword even care about the bnce of the east or interconnections? Lunia thought it was meaningless. Her idea was that swordsmen had to prove themselves through the sword. However, she couldn¡¯t ignore the opinions of her mother, Sophia. Many of her supporters were from Sophia¡¯s family and her subordinates, and besides, trying to force her to marry wasn¡¯t anything new. ¡®Korin Lork.¡¯ In order to avoid the consistent arranged marriage meetings and pressure for marriage, she unconsciously blurted out the name of the Academy freshman. Objectively speaking, he was a good man. He looked fairly good on the outside, and his aspiration to improve himself in martial arts was so immense that it even stimted herself. During the interim exam, he was only barely in the realm of the Domain but how far in would he be now? At the very least, it would be enough topel her grandfather to ignore every opposition. And most importantly¡­ ¡ºAh¡­¡» Lunia recalled her younger sister from a different mother who unconsciously hid herself after seeing her talk with Korin. How big of an emotion did she have for him? It was at least certain that she had a favorable impression of him. ¡®Everything that belongs to my younger sister is mine. I have the right and authority to take it.¡¯ It was such a horrid way of thinking that every younger sister in existence would harden their fists upon hearing it, but the contemporary female hero did not care. ¡°Captain.¡± ¡°Jennie, is it?¡± That was the elite swordsman of the 1st Sword Squad. Jennie was a knight at the level of an instructor but she grew together with Lunia like sisters, and thus, she volunteered to take the role of her maidservant. ¡°Are you going out on a secret love affair with Korin Lork?¡± ¡°A secret love affair does not sound very pleasant. I am simply proposing marriage.¡± ¡°Well¡­ maybe that wasn¡¯t the best way to put it.¡± ¡°Do you not like him?¡± The reason Lunia lost at the Sword Challenge was because of the ridiculous strategy of Korin Lork. Newly Founded Alicia Dojo. Fruit Knife-style Instructor Hua Ran, ive-style Instructor Korin Lork, Gandalf-style Instructor Marie Dunareff, Flying Sword-style One-day Instructor Dorron Warsky¡ª- Head Instructor of the Newborn Alicia Dojo, Alicia Arden. It was based on that nonsensical excuse that they defeated the Five Swords, and it was only thanks to his cleverness that Alicia was able to win the Sword Challenge. ¡°He is objectively an excellent man, if we take away the fact that he stood on the side of Miss Alicia. At least he is better off than the males proposed by Lady Sophia.¡± ¡°What an ungenerous evaluation. Each and every one of them are famous leaders of their region and renowned swordsmen.¡± ¡°They are nothing inparison if we consider the future possibility of Korin. He is less than 20 years old and yet he still overpowered Lena and is also a natural genius that entered the Domain. There is nothing hecks to be your spouse, Miss Lunia.¡± ¡°Hoh¡­¡± As expected of Jennie, her eyes for men were very good. ¡°But captain. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to leave wearing that, are you?¡± ¡°¡­What is the issue?¡± Lunia was wearing the same tuxedo and a coat as always. Considering herck of casual clothes, this was her one-and-only default clothing. ¡°Haah¡­ What kind ofdy in the world would go on a date wearing a suit? It¡¯s even worse than wearing a formal dress for a date.¡± ¡°Is that¡­ so?¡± ¡°Captain, this¡­ is just not right.¡± ¡°¡­Is it that bad?¡± ¡°Yes, captain. Do you trust me?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Lunia scanned Jennie¡¯s clothing from top to bottom. Even though she was wearing the same martial uniform as everyone else, she supplemented it with leather boots, a wide-brimmed hat and a coat to add vibrance to her clothing. Lunia had often heard her being referred to as the Fancy Jennie of the 1st Sword Squad. She couldn¡¯t deny the fact that she was more skilled than her at least when it came to fashion. ¡°We can¡¯t get new clothes but¡­ Right. You still have the traditional clothing that was tailored for youring-of-age ceremony, yes?¡± ¡°It has been 7 years since I wore it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. Add a few small decorations and it will be as good as brand new.¡± 1 hour before the date, Lunia was suddenly forced into decorating herself. **** For thest few days, Alicia had been extremely busy. Because of the unexpected appointment as the captain of the 5th Sword Squad and to get trained as a squad captain, she had to meet various administrators and other people. It was something that was supposed to be done after hering-of-age ceremony, and yet it was forced onto her by Garrand. Originally, Alicia wouldn¡¯t have been that motivated to be the next captain, but there was a reason why she had to be overly zealous. ¡°Why is it right in front of the ce Mr. Korin needs to go to¡­?¡± Each sword squad of Arden was a military force that represented the Ardens, but at the same time, they were the protectors of the eastern front. The 5th Sword Squad that Alicia had to lead was in charge of the forest beyond the borders, where Yuel said was the hiding ce of Findias, the secretnd of druids. In other words,pleting her work with the 5th Sword Squad and stabilizing the forest past the borders was the same as making way to Findias. ¡°Haa¡­¡± Along with her session work, Alicia was also busy because of the constant guestsing to her house. That was proof of the increasing instability of her older sister and the solidification of her own position but that didn¡¯t make her very happy. Although her older sister was a target of fear, at the same time, she was her ideal image of a swordsman and her idol. Since Alicia wasn¡¯t even interested in taking over therge swordsmanship household of Arden, that was a burden that she was willing to throw away at any moment. ¡°I wonder what Mr. Korin is doing¡­¡± She wanted to introduce him to the famous ces of the east aftering here. It was a shame that she couldn¡¯t because of all the sudden things that she had to do. ¡®Mhmm¡­ But I¡¯m almost done with all the urgent matters! So I should invite Mr. Korin out and go around the town tomorrow!¡¯ It was a bitte for dinner. Heading to the kitchen, Alicia wanted to grab a few boiled corn but stopped after seeing Lunia walk towards her from the other side of the corridor. ¡°Hmm, Alicia huh. Are you done with your work?¡± ¡°S, Sister¡­¡± Alicia couldn¡¯t continue her words. It wasn¡¯t because of fear and instead, it was because she was dumbfounded by her appearance. Rather than her usual suit, she was wearing the fancy traditional clothes that she wore during hering-of-age ceremony. That was the same clothing that sheined about for limiting her movement and speed. That dress which had a jet-ck color throughout with ornaments of golden lines was the same one Lunia wore 7 years ago during the ceremony, which had stolen Alicia¡¯s eyes. Because that was when Lunia was beingmonly viewed as the future sessor of the family, Sophia had invested white gold coins and left it at the hands of a master artisan to create that masterpiece. Why was she wearing that now, Alicia wondered. Suddenly, she remembered that this was the one and only luxurious clothing Lunia had. It meant she had been at a very important ce where she had to wear a dress this luxurious¡­ ¡°Are you¡­ing back after seeing Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Mhmm? Right. I just came back after enjoying the visit downtown with him.¡± What Alicia didn¡¯t know was that this was Lunia¡¯s n to stop the political marriage proposals. Although her status in the household was getting better over time, she was still practically by herself in the family. There was no one around her who would share sensitive news about Lunia to her. ¡°H, hope you had a very fun time.¡± ¡°I did.¡± Seeing the fidgety Alicia, Lunia gave a visibly wide smile before raising an offer. ¡°Let¡¯s have a spar. Wait for me to change my clothes.¡± Alicia couldn¡¯t turn her down. **** In the Arden family, there was a training area that could only be used by the direct descendants of the Ardens. The barren arena that couldn¡¯t be essed by anyone except for a few maids had two rare visitors. ¡°There is no one around us. Attack as you wish.¡± ¡°¡­Sister.¡± Unlike before, they weren¡¯t using real swords. The sword in Alicia¡¯s hand was a single wooden sword, reinforced by embedding steel inside the de. ¡°Singr Sword of Arden, Head Disciple, Lunia Arden.¡± ¡°Singr Sword of Arden, Grade 1 Swordsman, Alicia Arden.¡± Moonlight shone upon the dark grounds of the arena. A wooden sword suddenly scraped across the pebbles as they responded with a cloud of dirt. ¡®Huh?¡¯ It was a trick to create a cloud of dust that Alicia was very familiar with. Ignoring the dust, she focused her eyes and saw Lunia holding onto the handle of her sword in a low posture. Was she trying to pounce at her or do an upward sh? They were 15 meters away though. From behind theyer of dust, Lunia¡¯s wooden sword struck the nearby pebbles and made them fly towards her. ¡®I have to focus on her!¡¯ They were far away, and it was just a weak ranged attack to test things out. Focusing on the flying pebbles would make her unable to retaliate against Lunia¡¯s sh Step! ¨C Kwack! Lunia dashed forward after the pebbles crashed into Alicia. However, Alicia was prepared for the attack and reacted in time with a block. ¨C Kang! Kagang! Just like the battle Alicia had seen in the past, two wooden swords collided against one another ever so fiercely. ¡°Surely you still remember this. You better react in time.¡± Next, Lunia took half a step back, raised her sword into an upward stance and shed down. Furious Tiger, Golden Pheasant, Horizontal sh, Pure Light. The sword flowed like water in a mesmerizing path, connecting from upper-level to middle-level to lower-level stanced attacks, and went back up like a piece of artwork. ¡°Uht¡­!¡± Alicia barely managed to block the iing attacks. She had the Eyes of the Boundary that allowed her to see through the gaps of the world, so perceiving the path of the sword itself wasn¡¯t a problem. However, her body and her muscles couldn¡¯t react in time and in the end, she couldn¡¯t stop Lunia¡¯s sword from scraping past the tip of her nose. ¡°¡­¡± In that instant, Alicia read through Lunia¡¯s pace of breath. Next, her eyes picked up the path Lunia would take to continue her sword to the next stage. Therefore, Alicia raised her sword to pierce through and stop thebination of attacks. Instant sh, Advancing Fang, Soaring Heavens, Lightning. Putting a stop to her opponent¡¯s set of attacks, Alicia continued forth with her ownbination of attacks. Lunia reacted and in response to the torrent of Alicia¡¯s attacks¡­ ¡°¡­?!¡± She dodged by a hair¡¯s breadth without even protecting herself with the sword. Alicia felt stifled seeing her sword traveling 1 mm away from Lunia¡¯s eyes even though she was the one attacking her. ¡°You must always be in control of your breath.¡± ¨C Pakk! Lunia then gave a sweeping kick to Alicia¡¯s belly. Somehow, Alicia managed to keep her back straight, thanks to which she avoided having her chin disjointed by the next upward sh. ¡°Haak¡­¡± With a deep breath out, Alicia jumped back. Lunia¡¯s ability to read the flow of the battle was as terrifying as always. It¡¯s not like she had a special set of eyes like Alicia. That was a miraculous level of insight which she developed through endless hard work and training. Those were the eyes of a master that could read through everything objectively even in a life and death battle. That allowed her to dodge the opponent¡¯s attacks using the minimum amount of movement, which in turn allowed her to attack at the fastest possible speed. This was why she was called the Sword Master. This was why she was at the top of knights. Even Korin Lork, who had fought against her hundreds of times, couldn¡¯t best Lunia Arden in terms of skill mastery. ¡°You have gotten better than before. Looks like you have not beenzy with practice.¡± ¡°¡­Yes.¡± ¡°I assume your change of mind is thanks to my fianc¨¦.¡± Fianc¨¦. For some reason, that noun irked her a little. ¡°Do you know what he and I have inmon?¡± ¡°¡­What is it?¡± After saying that herself, Alicia was surprised by just how curt she had been with her reply. ¡°We do not waste any power. Our philosophy when ites to skill is the same.¡± Lunia said while pointing the tip of the sword at Alicia. The single-edged wooden sword still had a pointy tip that was as sharp as a real sword. ¡°You do not need any magnificent techniques against humans. Everything is within the distance of an inch. The goal is to simply close that inch and kill your opponent.¡± She vanished. Using the fastest straight-line footwork technique of Arden, Lunia carried out the fastest stab. ¨C Pak¡­! ¡°Hahk¡­!¡± Alicia gasped for breath after barely stopping the attack. She was close to death¡­ In fact, even though she saw it with the Eyes of the Boundary, she still would have died there if not for Lunia slowing down before the sword came into contact with her neck. ¡°Next will be a stab. Dodge it.¡± Immediately, the wooden sword rapidly came piercing at her. Those stabs rather than swings reminded Alicia of Korin¡¯s terrifying stabs. The sword wasn¡¯t as fast as the spear but they were still horribly fast. After being tired of the consecutive stabs, Alicia tried to retaliate but¡­ ?Falling Fist? Her attacks were easily mitigated. Just like how it was natural for raindrops to travel down the roof without hitting the walls of the building, her attacks could not reach Lunia. ¡®I will be pushed back at this rate¡­! I need to use the Domain¡­!?¡¯ That was when Lunia disappeared in the blink of an eye. By the time Alicia noticed it, Lunia was already standing further away with a ck luster emanating out of her dantian. She was releasing her inner qi through the Aura Core. After boiling to its maximum threshold, the aura flowed out and melted into the darkness. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Alicia couldn¡¯t help butment at the sight of ck light that somehow lit up the dark night skies of the wintery midnight. Condensed forms of swords with a ridiculous amount of condensed aura were floating around Lunia. There were a whole 20 of them. Each and every one of those appeared like lightning bolts of ink that would fall with a tempest. Thebination of those attacks would be enough to blow away an arena of this size. No matter how fast Alicia was to run, and even if she was to take a step forward in the Domain, she figured that she wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge the lightning bolts of swords to reach Lunia. In fact, she probably wouldn¡¯t even be able tost against the shockwaves created by the swordsnding on the ground. ¡°I, I admit defeat.¡± Alicia dropped her sword and admitted defeat. She thought she had closed the gap a little bit. After defeating her at the Sword Challenge, she thought she had be a proper swordsman that at least had something to be proud of. However, she realized just how arrogant she had been. The victory back then was just a result of sheer fluke, and there still existed an unclosable gap between herself and Lunia Arden. An unfathomable sense of defeat and frustration pressed down on her. ¡°Try harder. Otherwise, you would look at nothing but our backs for the rest of your life.¡± For some reason, herst words felt sharper than any of her previous attacks. **** After about a week or so, I was in a cafe in the town of Takan. ¡°Here.¡± At a corner of the cafe, a beautifuldy with a gray bob cut and a tall, thin body, was waiting for me while taking a sip of her coffee. ¡°Wasn¡¯t expecting you toe here in person,¡± I said. ¡°It is very important after all. I don¡¯t have any connections in the east so I had to do it myself.¡± Renya ire. The mid-grade executive of the intelligence guild gave a sensual smile while sipping her coffee. ¡°How¡¯s everything going with work?¡± ¡°Faring smoothly thanks to you. There are some guys that run away without paying their money back, which is a bit of a bother.¡± ¡°Ohh, you¡¯re even lending money now?¡± ¡°A must when running a gambling house.¡± ¡°What if they just give up and say they have no money?¡± Renya smiled viciously like a leopardess while returning a cold-hearted reply. ¡°Squeeze a dried squid and you¡¯ll still get some water.¡± ¡°¡­Oh damn.¡± The world of gamblers was very scary indeed. ¡°Don¡¯t be too cruel though.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t be helped if that¡¯s your policy, boss, but can I ask why?¡± ¡°Everything wille back to bite you if you do something wrong. Make sure you don¡¯t cross the line.¡± ¡°¡­I knew you were a needlessly nice person, boss, but seriously¡­¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s mainly for you to decide anyway. What about the thing I asked you about?¡± ¡°Here.¡± Renya gave a set of papers as the report. The thing I asked about before didn¡¯t require too much of a detail so I checked the information on the spot. ¡­Damn it. I knew it. So it is here during this time frame, huh. It seemed that the Sword Emperor, that old bastard, wasn¡¯t lying. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you knew about things happening in the far east when you were in Merkarva the whole time, boss, but¡­ be careful. ording to our agents, this guy¡­ is no normal monster.¡± ¡°Hah~. Yeah.¡± Of course I knew it. ording to the original scenario, it wasn¡¯t an enemy I was supposed to fight just yet but considering just how unlucky I was, there was more than enough likelihood of me having to go against that guy. Estimated Rating: Semi-Unique Grade Demonic Beast, ¡ºSword Fiend¡». Thest disciple of the Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden. It was the named monster that wouldter appear as one of the King¡¯s subordinates. Chapter 92: - Arden, the Renowned Household of Swordsmanship (4) ? Arden, the Renowned Household of Swordsmanship (4) ? Beyond the borders being protected by the Ardens was thend of tall mountains and forests inhabited by numerous demonic beasts. Denseyers of fog would travel down the mountains that were as tall as the clouds and drenched thends with the aura of Yin that attracted the demons. The mountain ranges used to have a harmonious bnce of territories, starting from mere beasts to the demonic monsters that ruled over their regions. But from a certain point in time, that bnce had been broken but that wasn¡¯t because of the old swordsman living on top of a tall mountain, who was using the bones of a demonic beast as a toothpick. He didn¡¯t bother tidying up his long but unkempt jet-ck hair, and his martial clothes were in tatters without the semnce of their previous dignity. The old swordsman, who was walking on his bare feet in the forests filled with sharp twigs, poisonous nts, and venomous serpents, said after opening his mouth. ¡°No matter how tall the mountains are, they are still lower than the heavens; how can you dream of swimming through the sea of skies without even climbing the mountains?¡± ¡°¡­¡± While stroking his shortened beard, the old man gazed down at the fiend that was staring back at him with a ferocious pair of eyes. The monster¡¯s legs were as thin yet muscr as a leopard¡¯s, and its bones were protecting its shoulders like ted armor. Meanwhile, its arms each had five fingers. It was a rare humanoid demonic beast, that looked more like a human than a beast. The reason they weren¡¯t called demi-humans was that, unlike demi-humans who were born as humans, they were born as a beast with beastly instincts and tendencies. However, their wisdom and adaptability were no different from a human¡¯s. ¡°Tch tch. Pretending like a real human now, aren¡¯t you.¡± The monster was holding a longsword with a cold de. Despite having its weapon broken time after time, it somehow seemed to have an endless supply of swords, which was probably because it raided a weapon merchant or something. ¨C Click! Even though it was acting like a human, the fiendish monster moved with a noise that was far different from those made by humans. ¡°So, did you heal your corbones back up?¡± The old man, Garrand Arden, asked while using the corbone he took from the fiend to scratch his teeth. Then, he picked up one of his own swords. That sword was called the Mountain-Crushing Sword, a heaven-defyingly excellent sword that could crush through everything in existence. When used by the swordsman who was stepping into the realm of gods, it resulted in a marvelous oue that was soon revealed for the world to see. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ A cluster of dirt drenched by the fog crumbled down the crevice. The magnificently clean cut created in the middle of the forest continued all the way down to the next mountain. The sh created a wound on the world that was as straight as if it had been drawn with a ruler, and cut not only the mountains but also the sky. It was just from one attack. The fact that this was the result of one swing of a sword was impossible to ept with themon sense of normal people. They would be too dumbfounded to exin that the reason there was only one mountain remaining behind in the mountain range was because of the sword shes of one swordsman. ¡°Tch tch tch. I ended up destroying nature again.¡± The old man acting like a mysterious hermit clicked his tongue at the sight of the crack in the sky and the mountain range. Instead of looking back at his own actions however, he inwardly med the weakness of nature. ¡°What a stubborn fellow.¡± There was a new monster who appeared like a supernova and crushed all the harmonious bnce of the mountain range. He had been expecting many things from the new monster after seeing it kill all the so-called rulers of the forest one by one. If not for the request of the druid he was long acquainted with, he would have dly watched over the growth of this fiendish demonic beast. However, no matter how strong of a demonic beast it was, it didn¡¯t stand a chance before the Sword Emperor Garrand Arden, who had stepped into the realm of gods. The first time he realized its talent was when he fought against it with a light heart and took one of its bones out. Talent. The inborn talent of having the ability to take a step forward in a suspended world. Seeing that unpolished gem that had so much potential, Garrand Arden was awestruck and ended up letting the monster go. He was in the middle of ming himself for being too old but that was when the demonic beast picked a fight with him again. Despite constant repetitions of defeats and escapes and defeats and escapes, the monster did not give up. Sitting on the hills of countless bones, the old man was reminded of his granddaughters after seeing the unending challenges of the fiendish monster. One of them was talented but didn¡¯t have the spirit, while the other had the spirit but no talent to back it up. And after seeing the perfect form of talent that had both the spirit and innate talents, he couldn¡¯t help but eye for it. ¡°Kukukukuk¡­ No wonder it looked different today.¡± Turning around, he looked at his swords that were sticking into the hill. Out of the five heavenly swords, the dual sword ¨C Dual Dragon Sword was gone. He did think that the monster looked slightly different today, and that must have been because the swords had been its objective from the very beginning. ¡°I see. The reason it was twitching all the time whenever I used my dual swords was because of its interest in those swords, huh.¡± It was very interesting to see that a demonic beast was showing intrigue in swords. That was probably because of the Sword Emperor himself though. After hundreds of consecutive defeats, the monster must have realized that it needed a better tool to kill the Sword Emperor. ¡°Right. Swords¡­ Swords, huh. A demonic beast learning swordsmanship.¡± A proper guardian with a sense of duty would have beheaded the monster immediately to get rid of any future trouble. However, he was the Sword Emperor; a fiend of swords. He naturally couldn¡¯t make himself kill a demonic beast that was rapidly bing stronger through swordsmanship. The challenges and defeats continued without an end. Several days went by with the Sword Emperor being the only one who thought of their rtionship as that of a master and a disciple. He personally gave a name to the demonic beast and called it the ¡®Sword Fiend¡¯. ¡°Make Alicia Arden the captain of the 5th Sword Squad. No objections will be permitted.¡± That was before he came down the mountain. **** It was already the 9th day after we arrived at the main headquarters of the Arden family, which in turn was the start of a new year. ¡°Huaaahm~¡± A green-haired girl gave a big stretch with an exhausted look on her face even though it was already past noon. ¡°You look tired.¡± ¡°It was a while ago that Ist attended a new year¡¯s event.¡± Last night, we attended the New Year¡¯s Ceremony that took ce at the Arden family. It was simr to the ones that you saw on Earth. ¡°Both of your clothes looked nice. I guess it was worth spending money for them,¡± I said. ¡°Really? It felt a bit heavy for me though,¡± replied Yuel. By the way, the traditional clothes of the Arden were the same as Korean ones, except they were fancier and had more skin exposure. Thank you Korean Devs! I know it¡¯s just a strategy to make yers buy transmog1Transmogrification monly referred to as transmog, tmog, xmog or simply mog) provides the ability to rece the appearance of your armor and weapons with those of other items, or to hide certain pieces of armor packages, but still! ¡°More importantly, Yuel. Did you hear something from the forest?¡± ¡°I was actually just about to talk about that. A spirit came over just today.¡± The reason we hade to the east in the first ce was to visit Findias, the secretnd of druids. However, Findias was past the borders that were under Arden¡¯s jurisdiction, and we had to go through various procedures before crossing borders. ¡°Mr. Korin, we are almost finished with all the preparations. I said to the Eastern Guardian Alliance that we were going there to investigate the organisms of the mountain ranges beyond the borders!¡± Thend past the eastern front of the kingdom was a broadndscape of nothing but nature. They were untouched pieces ofnds with a bunch of demonic beasts and mountain ranges that rarely saw any human visitors because of just how dangerous they were due to the sheer number of monsters there. We had to cross the borders though, so we needed to receive permission from one of the border ministers of the kingdom or the one in charge of this side of the kingdom¡¯s border. ¡°Our family is in charge of looking after this side of the border after all! All we need to do is get our permission slip signed!¡± ¡°Oh, really? Who do we need to get it signed by?¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°No you cannot.¡± It was rejected immediately. ¡°Uh¡­ umm.¡± The one in charge of the eastern border was none other than the strongest contemporary knight of the east in front of us, the likely future sessor of the Arden family, Lunia Arden. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were in charge of the borders as well.¡± ¡°This royal family does not like looking after these bothersomends of demonic beasts; not that they can either.¡± The royal family took charge of normal borders but it was a different story for this side, because the eastern front was directly connected to hordes of demonic beasts, and was one of the only two ces in the entire continent that had a risk of ¡®monster waves¡¯. They were so tough that the yer even had to protect the Northern and the Eastern front from monster waves with all their fully-nurtured party members near the end of the main storyline. ¡°Why are you even trying to cross the border in the first ce?¡± Lunia asked. ¡°U, umm¡­ To investigate the life-cycle of demonic¡­ beasts?¡± Seeing Alicia reply with hesitation, Lunia heaved a sigh before tightly pinching her by her cheeks. ¡°If you are going to tell a lie, straighten your back and be proud like you are telling the truth. If you cannot, then make it into a situation where they have to ept it even if they know you are lying.¡± ¡°Auhh, okayy¡­!¡± Her hands rose up so high that she almost picked Alicia up from the ground. She soon let her go but Alicia still looked like she was about to tear up while patting her swollen cheeks. ¡°So Korin, why are you trying to cross the border?¡± As expected, she had figured it out. ¡°There is the hiddennd of druids beyond the border. My n is to go there and as for the objective, that will have toe with a fair bit of cost.¡± Considering her dry and business-like personality, she probably wouldn¡¯t mess with us but we were still trying to get our hands on one of the 4 great treasures. Besides, there was no telling that her subordinates would stay quiet even if she herself didn¡¯t mind. ¡°Well, fine. However, you are still underage and you need 2 more years till you turn into adults. Although you are guardians, it is not right to send teenagers across the border without any supervision.¡± ¡°Are youing with us?¡± ¡°Well, my fianc¨¦ is the one going, so there is nothing stopping me from being the guardian.¡± ¡°What about your subordinates?¡± ¡°Hoh. Did you want it to be just the two of us?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not bad either, but what I¡¯m trying to say is that I don¡¯t want our numbers to go up unnecessarily.¡± It wasn¡¯t a bad story for us. Hua Ran and Marie had yet to arrive, so having Lunia, who was almost around their level, joining us would be a huge plus to ourbat potential. Most half-assed guardians would only drag us behind in the mountain range of demonic beasts though, so it was better off for us to keep our numbers low. That was something I realized through first-hand experiencest iteration when going out on expeditions. ¡°Then that will be the¡­¡± ¡°S, Sister¡­!¡± ¡°Mhmm?¡± It was rare for Alicia to raise her voice, but she carefully continued her words while unconfidently keeping her eyes low as usual. ¡°I think you should¡­ avoid using words like a f, fianc¨¦.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Like, umm¡­ the people around you might not like that¡­¡± ¡°The opinions of other people do not really matter to me.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll put Mr. Korin in a tough spot as well¡­¡± ¡°That is not for you to worry about.¡± ¡°I¡­ am his friend though. There are strange rumors spreading about Mr. Korin already¡­¡± Well, even though I wasn¡¯t really going to marry Lunia, there were talks about how I was a smooth-tongued gold-digger who deceived Lunia in a sh. That might be nothing strange though, because the story of an Academy freshman suddenly seducing the future sessor of the Arden family was an appealing story for many. Alicia seemed to have been discontent by such rumors. She was a very nice girl as always. ¡°S, Sister¡­! Y, you¡¯re not going to take responsibility for him anyway, so I think it¡¯s not right for you to interfere¡­ with his marriageeee¡­¡± For a split second, Lunia¡¯s eyes flickered with a sharp light. Instead of hostility, those looked like the eyes of a predator that was seeing something unexpected. ¡°Sure, I shall refrain myself. More importantly, ready yourself for the journey. We will cross the border with a small number of us.¡± In spite of promptly following her suggestion, Lunia was wearing a rather¡­ crooked smile on her face. **** Inside a building located at the center of the Arden¡¯s headquarter, an elegantdy sitting on the floor of the living room poured tea from the teapot to a cup ced on the small table. Sophia Arden, the wife of the current family head, Jade Arden, who was famous as the greatest swordswoman of the east during her youth, offered tea to her one and only daughter. ¡°There you go, Lunia.¡± Unlike her, who was sitting down in afortable posture, Lunia Arden was sitting on her knees as she carried her cup of tea to her mouth. After taking a small sip, she slowly put it back down on the table. ¡°I heard you are spending a lot of time with a certain boy these days.¡± ¡°He is someone I have fortunatelye across.¡± ¡°You could have left the night amusement forter.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Sophia scolded her for finding someone early before getting herself a marriage partner. It was questionable whether that should be called an open or a wrong view of marriage. She seemed to have pretty much given up after the extramarital affair of Lunia¡¯s father, Jade Arden. The undeniable proof of dishonesty ¨C Lunia¡¯s younger sister was like a thorn in the eyes of Sophia. Although her father never had any other illicit affairs since that incident, it was such a shocking event to Sophia and one that crumbled all the trust she had in her spouse that it ended up changing her entire view of marriage. ¡°Lunia. A man is nothing but a tool that increases the status of the family. You must pair yourself up with the one who will give you the most in return.¡± ¡°I am somewhat in agreement with your words, mother.¡± ¡°Somewhat?¡± ¡°Yes. Surely you would not have been so overconfident that I would be 100% in agreement with your opinion.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Sophia indifferently epted Lunia¡¯s argument. That was her opinion and the wisdom of an adult as one who wished the best for her daughter, but also understood that it was possible for her daughter to have a different opinion for herself. Even so, the one thing they had inmon was that both of them were extremely certain that they were more correct than the other. ¡°You do not need to worry about it. I am certain that he is a lot more valuable of a warrior than the random nobodies on the pamphlet of marriage partners.¡± ¡°Hoh¡­ Is he that much better?¡± Sophia was also one of the strongest swordsmen of the east in her era. Her standards weren¡¯t too different from Lunia¡¯s either. ¡°He entered the Domain at the mere age of 20. His talent as a warrior does not fall short even whenpared to grandfather.¡± ¡°¡­Lunia. Your grandfather¡¯s talents¡­¡± ¡°Yes. I am aware that his talents are otherworldly, but that is the same for him. His skills are not only limited to destructiveness and have reached the Domain¡­ Most importantly, he has a miraculous talent for leading fights to victory. That is the type of talent he has.¡± Sophia was sincerely moved by Lunia¡¯s acknowledgement. She wasn¡¯t expecting there to be another one with such talents in this world. Garrand Arden had an exceptional talent that was iparable to anyone despite Sophia having seen countless warriors during her 50 years of life. He was the pinnacle of a generation who had even stepped into the realm of gods. Sophia also had a great amount of trust in Lunia¡¯s eyes and if Korin Lork really had that level of talent, she wouldn¡¯t even care about families that could give diamond mines for Lunia¡¯s hand in marriage. ¡°And¡­¡± ¡°And?¡± It was very rare for Lunia to slur her words so Sophia focused on her uing words. Those next words, however, made her doubt her ears. ¡°He is handsome.¡± ¡°¡­Sorry?¡± ¡°I like his face. And besides¡­ there is also the excitement of stealing what my younger sister wants.¡± ¡°????¡± Sophia was puzzled and confused after seeing this side of her daughter for the first time in her life and didn¡¯t know what to say in response. ¡°Umm¡­ I do not believe it is morally correct to steal someone else¡¯s lover.¡± The words that she barely managed to forge out were extremely sensible words as a parent. **** Yuel, Alicia, Lunia who was here as our guardian, and me ¨C the four of us crossed the border and headed into the mountain range but the journey through the mountains wasn¡¯t as bad as I thought. ¡°Thank you. Would you like some snacks?¡± Yuel said while carrying a cookie in the air. The cookie disappeared as if it had been eaten by a spirit as Yuel shed a faint smile in response. ¡°It is surprising that we are not losing our bearings in this sea of forests. It is definitely very convenient with the help of a druid,¡± remarked Lunia. Wherever Yuel the druid was going, even the branches made way by moving out of her path. The dangerous roads weren¡¯t even in consideration, and the spirits guided us down the safe path. That was truly the one who was loved by nature from birth, but that goodwill of nature was only because they were grateful for the consistent hard work of druids to protect and maintain nature. ¡°I am only being guided and it is thanks to the spirits. We¡¯ll be there very soon.¡± After walking for who knows how long, we made our way into ces that normal people wouldn¡¯t even be able to find, and finally¡­ ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª For a split second, I felt something off. It was clear that I had entered through some sort of boundary. ¡°¡­I see.¡± Turning around, I couldn¡¯t see Alicia, Yuel, or Lunia anywhere. ¡°It is amon trick, but¡­¡± It was an illusionary trick that dazed and confused people upon entering it, and it was simr to the Eight Gates Formation that we experienced at the festival. I guess it was natural for there to be a deterrent spell like this for a secretnd that was being protected by a druid sage. Even demonic beasts would probably be dazed and returned to other ces. However, this was probably a different application of that same formation. As proof of that, my party members were nowhere to be seen. If their n was to simply daze us and make us go away from their vige, there was no reason for them to mess with our sight. This was a kind of test ¨C one that tested whether those apanied by a druid had the right to enter the secretnds or not. ¡®I believe these generally test one¡¯s fear, trauma or conviction¡­¡¯ Since I had gone through several simr experiences in thest iteration, I steeled myself and looked around. I didn¡¯t rely on my five senses. The only thing I could trust was my sixth sense ¨C instinct was the only thing I could rely on. ¡°Come. I will be fine with anything, whether it be illusions or monsters or¡­¡± Bro ¨C Holy shit! I felt goosebumps immediately crawling up my skin. Footnotes:
  • 1Transmogrification monly referred to as transmog, tmog, xmog or simply mog) provides the ability to rece the appearance of your armor and weapons with those of other items, or to hide certain pieces of armor
Chapter 93: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (1) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (1) ? Bro The shock was so great like a stake stabbing through the heart, and I almost fainted. ¡°H, haak¡­¡± Evidence was being shown by both my eyes and my ears. I couldn¡¯t breathe properly and it felt like my heart was traced out of my chest as my eyes closed by themselves to turn away from reality. ¡°L, like¡­ isn¡¯t this way too much?¡± I wanted to refuse the thing in front of me. Despite knowing that it was fake, I still couldn¡¯t look at it. ¡°Hey, bro. It¡¯s been a while.¡± ¡°Oh shitttt¡­¡± He was an Asian-looking guy with jet-ck hair, unlike me who had slightly navy-colored hair. He was the real yer of this game, whose name I was afraid of calling out. ¡°Park Sihu¡­¡± ¡°Yes. I am Park Sihu, the one you killed.¡± ¡°You are a fake.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± He walked up to me with a grin. That intense appearance of his alone was enough to send my heart beating like crazy. ¡°Saving the world, huh. What an interesting thing you have created. But bro, are you confident? Do you think you can do better than I did?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I failed after monopolizing everything I could. Who do you think you are, bro? What can you do with that half-assed system window? Do you think you can really beat Tates Valtazar?¡± Right. That was something I wasn¡¯t sure about either. Park Sihu. Main yer. The rightful protagonist of this world. Although his ways were evil, the power in his hands was definitely real. He had the might to flip the world upside down just by himself. Before the final battle, he was so powerful and out of this world, that it wouldn¡¯t have been strange for others to revere him as a god. And yet even he failed. Park Sihu failed to save the world and was defeated by Tates Valtazar. He probably based it on our experience with the game to tackle his precepts and weaken Tates Valtazar back to the realm of humans and yet¡­ ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have killed me, bro. What you should have done is persuade me. You should have tried your best to tag along with me and give it another shot.¡± ¡°My chastity would have been at risk though.¡± ¡°And how is that important? Bro, don¡¯t you like saving people? You easily sacrifice yourself trying to save other people, so howe you can¡¯t even do that?¡± With a wave of his hands, the world changed. The changed world¡­ looked extremely peaceful. It was the scene at the ending credit of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?¡­ which told of the world retrieving its peace after the failed attempt at bringing the Paradise of Shadows. ¡°You see this? This is the world we could have had, bro, if only you didn¡¯t kill the main yer.¡± You will fail. Miserably. ¡°Who cares about the deaths of a few NPCs huh? It¡¯s nothingpared to the grand goal of saving the world.¡± ¡°Look at you talk.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°An illusion based on my memories, huh. It¡¯s quite interesting but¡­¡± I activated the demonic core of Sebancia inside me, and focused the power of darkness on my right arm. ¡°I don¡¯t know what this is trying to test, but you won¡¯t get a different reply from me.¡± Demonic Spear of Darkness. The aura was supposed to stay within a weapon, but right now, I felt like hurling a fist regardless of the bacsh. This time, the opponent didn¡¯t have an Unbreakable Vajra Body like Hua Ran, so I would probably only have some fractures that would heal in a day¡¯s time at worst. ¡°Oi you fucking son of a bitch. Who the fuck do you think you are to put arbitrary values on people¡¯s lives? What tells you this is a game and not real life? And how can you possibly do things like that?¡± Even if I were to go back in time, I would most certainly repeat what I did. ¨C Kwang! Cracks appeared in the dimension as the tangible world in front of me started to crumble down. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was because of my reply or because of the fist I hurled with all my power, but what I did know was this. ¡°I am going the correct way.¡± There won¡¯t be any regrets. Marie Dunareff. Alicia Arden. Hua and Ran. They were the people I had saved, and there were still a lot more people that I will save regardless of inefficiency. ?I will save the world.? The world I save must contain everyone. **** I used to think of Park Sihu as a good guy. He was pulled into another world against his will, and had to act as the hero that will save the world. Even though he was a bit rude and was like a snobby brat, I let it be. What that meant was that most of my memories were good evaluations of Park Sihu. The shocking twist at the end was only 10 minutes long. ¡°No wonder he had no toxicity in his eyes.¡± Hearing that voice calling me ¡®Bro¡¯ gave me goosebumps, but that illusion of his was nothingpared to the one before. It fell shortpared to the expression he had when talking about his hundred thousand kill log. That was probably the limit of an illusion that was formed based on my memories. ¡°You are out.¡± When I woke up, I found Yuel and Lunia standing in front of me. Yuel was a druid so that was normal but Lunia¡­ ¡°How did youe out so quickly?¡± ¡°Something in the form of the old man was talking gibberish so I cut it down. He was way too weakpared to the real one.¡± By ¡®old man¡¯, she was probably referring to her grandfather, the Sword Emperor. As for me, I was like that because I knew it was an illusion but it seemed that Lunia wasn¡¯t even sure whether it was an illusion or not when deciding to cut her grandfather, which¡­ might be slightly questionable. ¡°What about Alicia?¡± Lunia turned her gaze behind me. Looking back, I saw Alicia standing still with unfocused eyes. That seemed to be how it looked on the outside when under the effect of the illusion. ¡°Nothing strange considering she is the weakest to illusions like these.¡± ¡°¡­I suppose so.¡± Turning back to the front, I walked up to Yuel, who had been fidgety for a while. ¡°S, sorry. I didn¡¯t know¡­ this existed.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your fault so calm down. Anyway, what happens when you don¡¯t wake up from this?¡± ¡°I think¡­ you¡¯ll be expelled to the outside.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± ¡°Anyway, it will take some time for Alicia to wake up so let us carry her and move on.¡± Saying that, Lunia helped close the vacant eyes of Alicia while carrying her on her shoulders. ¡°She should wake up soon, right?¡± Yuel asked. ¡°All we can do is trust her. Which might be a little challenging,¡± I replied. ¡°Alicia will be mad if she heard that.¡± After going a bit further in, we finally arrived at the secretnd of druids. ¡°Wow~.¡± ¡°Hmm. So there was a ce like this in this mountain range¡­¡± Laid out before us in a slight distance was a city. The mystical scenery of nothing but nature looked breathtakingly magnificent. ¡°Are they all residents of the forest¡­ druids?¡± ¡°Yes. This is a city of druids after all.¡± It was then. After sensing a nearby presence, Lunia and I immediately brought out hands to our weapons. A beast appeared from a ce that would most certainly be the entrance of the secretnd of Findias. ¡°To think you would break through the fog this fast. Looks like we have some extraordinary guests.¡± A beautiful leopard with a lustrousyer of ck fur spoke in humannguage while gazing down at us. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like a demonic beast.¡± ¡°A hidden technique of a druid, I suppose.¡± It seemed that our assumptions were correct, judging from how Yuel opened her mouth trying to say something, only to close her mouth again after hearing our guesses. ¡°That should be everyone. Excuse me for my bad manners.¡± The leopard soon changed into a humanoid figure. Its appearance changed in the blink of an eye into an old druid who appeared so old that it looked like he would need a walking stick no matter where he went. ¡°Nice to meet you, young druid and fellow friends. I am the druid protecting this Findias, and my name is Uzkias.¡± Uzkias. He was the protector of Findias, the hiding ce of one of the four great treasures, iomh Sis, the sun. Atst, we finally met him. **** Following Uzkias, we entered the mystifyingnds of Findias. There was not a single man-made building, and the entire city was filled with tall trees with deep roots. Every one of the citizens looked elegant and mysterious. ¡°Yuel. Are they all¡­¡± ¡°Yes. They are all my kindred.¡± Their eyes were on us outsiders. However, there was no hostility in their eyes and they simply seemed intrigued by our presence. That was the same look I saw on Yuel¡¯s face when we sometimes went downtown for a meal. ¡°Interesting. A city made only of trees.¡± It wasn¡¯t surprising that Lunia was impressed by it because this ce called Findias was literally a naturally made city with nothing but tall and thick trees. Each of the trees looked as if the branches intertwined with themselves to form a shelter. It would definitely be on the Top 15 list of most interesting houses on SNS. ¡°Are all the houses like this for druids?¡± ¡°Yes. Well, the trees and spirits just make our houses for us.¡± ¡°Damn. Can I have one if possible?¡± ¡°It¡¯s what people would call as ¡®green belt1 Green Belt: A real estate terminology about an area in a city where building is prohibited.¡¯ though. Is that okay? Don¡¯t you like money, Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Real estate¡­ is a long-term investment.¡± That was unfortunate. My mind was already off thinking about building a resort here with a bunch of stores and developing it into a tourist attraction but¡­ that seemed impossible. ¡°This way.¡± Following Uzkias¡¯s lead, we went into a small and tidy tree house and sat down for a talk. ¡°It is my first time actually seeing you. Nice to meet you, Sage of Findias.¡± ¡°Right, young druid of Avelorn. I am sorry for the tragedy that took ce there.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Yuel was one of the druids living in the forest of Avelorn, which was now destroyed by hordes of demonic beasts. Even though they were from totally different ces, Uzkias weed Yuel as if she were his distant rtive. ¡°Right. I have heard from the spirits that a young druid was looking for this ce. From the request of a fellow called Korin Lork, if I recall correctly.¡± ¡°I am Korin Lork.¡± ¡°So you are Korin Lork. The karma you have on your shoulders is truly one worthy of a saga.¡± Uzkiasmented while looking at me. Despite the wrinkles near his eyes, the vitality in his pupils was no different from that of a young man. ¡°So, young hero. What brings to a remote area like this?¡± ¡°Sword of the Sun.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°I havee to find one of the 4 great treasures left behind by the Danus, iomh Sis, the Sword of the Sun.¡± ¡°How do you¡­¡± He looked at me with a piercing gaze, scrutinizing me despite his puzzlement. ¡°I do have the right, because I am here as the first spear of the Queen of Paradise, Erin Danua.¡± It was a lie but at the same time it wasn¡¯t. I was the rightful sessor of Erin Danua, my master. This alone was a never-changing fact even after meing back in time. It was right when I referred to myself as the first spear of my master. ¡°Kukh, hahk! Hahk! Kya, ha, he, hi¡­ Ho.¡± Along withughter that was hard to forget after hearing once, a man wearing a duster coat walked in after opening the wooden door. The thin man was as long as a snake. His body was covered with the long duster coat, which thus emphasized his eyes. His eyes were slit open and thin like those of a snake. Those purple eyes contained a different notion of venom to those of a vampire, and seemed to contain a lethal dose of poison. ¡°Hello, kids.¡± He greeted us like we were friends, but did not conceal the ferocious light in his eyes. I knew who this person was. ¡°I was expecting someone toe, but wasn¡¯t expecting that to be the craziest person.¡± ¡°Do you know who I am, o loyal watchdog of the queen? Kuhihih¡­!¡± ¡°What brings Mr. Dun Scaith, the king of beasts, to this ce?¡± ¡°The same reason as you, young friend who killed Fermack.¡± King of Beasts, Dun Scaith. The monster of ¡®Murias¡¯, and the king of dark shade. He was known worldwide as a famous beastman terrorist but¡­ ¡°Kill Fermack? What? Do you know our professor?¡± Just like Fermack Daman, he was one of the subjects of the King of Paradise, Tates Valtazar, who would have be the master of the mid-bosses, Ren and Ron. ¡°Don¡¯t y the fool with me, kid. I can smell his blood from you; and the smell of an intense fight to death. How did someone as weak as you kill him?¡± ¡°Maybe he was just even weaker than me.¡± ¡°Ku, kuhuk! Kuhuhuhk¡­! Wea¡­ weak! Kukukuk¡­!¡± Scaith giggled while grabbing his belly. After suddenly stopping his smile, he looked at me with the eyes of a serpent. ¡°There is only one throne in the Shadow Paradise, kid. An era of darkness will devour the world and the chosen gods will descend personally onto the world. I, Dun Scaith the king of beasts, will lead all the beasts to eat up your goddess, leaving not a single bone behind¡­ When that timees, I shall cut your head and serve it on the prettiest of tters. ¡°Look at my eyes, kid, and remember it. These are the eyes of a man telling the truth.¡± I could hear people gasping behind me, but I wasn¡¯t inexperienced enough to fall for such tricks. ¡°Your breath stinks. Get rid of your mouth.¡± ¡°Kuhihirk!¡± He started grinning like a madman. He giggled while looking at me, before suddenly turning to the side with a flick. ¡°Stop calling me! ¡°I told you not to call me!¡± Scaith showed his temper. There was no one at the end of his gaze but his outburst was definitely targeted at someone. ¡°Oh, sorry friends. There was a noisy buddy you see. Kuhihihik¡­!¡± He took a few steps back with a giggle, sat down on the other side, and joined our conversation as if it was the most natural thing in the world. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? I¡¯m here for the sun as well.¡± ¡°Yeah. I figured.¡± This was thend of druids. The druids were in a neutral position, and were a separate force from both me and Tates Valtazar. Causing ruckus here would only lower our chances of getting the iomh Sis. ¡°You have quite the unusual enemies, Korin.¡± ¡°Hope this shows how rough my life is.¡± After we were done with a short war of nerves, Uzkias continued from where he stopped after an empty cough. ¡°Although both of you want the iomh Sis, I do not have the right to give it to you. All I do is test whether you have the right toy your hands on the sun or not. As such, I Uzkias, the protector of Findias, will give you an appropriate test.¡± ¡°Test?¡± ¡°Hihihi. Test¡­ I love tests.¡± A test huh. That¡¯s probably what they didst time as well. Most of the protectors of the secretnds were alivest iteration, and were all neutral. They were protectors of nature that followed neither the queen nor the king. That was why Tates Valtazar didn¡¯t bother messing with the druids either. It still should have been Scaith that came here in thest iteration, and the problem was that Valtazar had possessed all 4 treasures near the end. In other words¡­ that meant that Scaith had passed this test. ¡°Please wait at your respective amodations. I will tell you the content of the test after a discussion.¡± This was different from the main scenario. It wasn¡¯t included in the original storyline of the game, and was an incident that happened outside the experienceable scope of the yer. ¡°I¡¯m expecting many things from you, killer of Fermack.¡± I was expecting toe across the King¡¯s subjects quite soon, but what I wasn¡¯t expecting was that I would be contending against them in this manner. **** At night, I visited Alicia¡¯s bedroom to see how she was. My n was to invite her out for dinner if she had woken up from the illusion. ¡°Alicia. Did you get up?¡± Opening the door, I looked at the bed of druids inside the room that contained no light source at all apart from the moonlight. There, I could see that Alicia was still fast asleep. Did she still not wake up from her illusion? Hopefully, she won¡¯t stay like that until the end. ¡°Ehew. Please wake up by tomorrow¡­¡± It was when I turned my back to go have dinner. ¨C Tuhp! A hand suddenly grabbed my sleeve and stopped me from leaving. Did she wake up? ¡°Alicia? Are you¡­ uahhak?!¡± She suddenly pulled me in. It happened so abruptly that I ended up being pushed down onto the bed without having any time to defend myself. ¡°Shhh¡­¡± ¡°A, Alicia?¡± A pair of vague eyes were gazing down at me. Her face under the moonlight was giving off a red flush. ¡°¡­Brother-inw.¡± ¡°Huh? What?¡± Alicia gently whispered into my ears. She then pretended to take something out from my left ring finger¡­ and continued her whisper. ¡°Brother-inw¡­ Sister is noting home tonight.¡± ¡°Huh? Sorry? What?¡± It was so dumbfounding that I had trouble breathing properly. What in the hell was going on? Despite my fluster, Alicia continued looking at me with a sensuous gaze. Her clothes slipped past her skin and¡­ she suddenly fell on my chest with a flop. ¨C Zzzzzzzzzz She fainted into a deep sleep and did not wake up again. ¡°?????¡± What just happened? **** At dawn, Alicia opened her eyes. Her back ached and her head was ringing in pain due to sleeping on a bed that didn¡¯t have a mattress. Actually, that was just an excuse, and she knew better than anyone the reason behind her headache. ¡°¡­¡­¡± Her entire body was heavy but without caring about that, Alicia nkly stared at the ceiling. The ck ceiling with nothing on it acted as a disy screen that reyed the illusion she saw at noon. What she saw was a happy and harmonious family. The two people of her admiration made a lifetime pledge and shared love. She had twelve nephews running up to her while calling her ¡®aunty¡¯. That was a form of happiness that should never be broken. Her older sister was an extremely diligent person, and Korin wasn¡¯t the type to bring tears to the eyes of his spouse either. Thus, this was the happiest ending possible that everyone should be happy with. So¡­ why was it that she didn¡¯t feel veryfortable? Why¡­ ¡ºBrother-inw¡­ Sister is noting home tonight.¡» ¨C Slip¡­! ¡°UGYAAAAAKKKK!!¡± Why did I do that? Why did I say that? Like, why? Why? Why? WHY?! ¡°I, I¡¯m sorryyyy¡­ I¡¯m sorryyyyy Sister. Mr. Korinnn¡­¡± The girl gained another secret that she couldn¡¯t share with anyone else. Footnotes:
  • 1 Green Belt: A real estate terminology about an area in a city where building is prohibited.
Chapter 94: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (2) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (2) ? The next morning, we gathered at Uzkias¡¯s house. Me, Yuel, and the Arden sisters. On the other hand, along with Scaith were a bunch of people wearing gloomy-looking clothes. They were probably monsters rted to the ¡®Shaded Vige¡¯, considering how Scaith was taking them around with him. There was an old man in the group who was definitely unlike the rest of them. It was annoying, but it seemed that Tates had also sent this old man with Scaith. ¡°I will now announce the second test.¡± ¡°Second? Was there the first test?¡± Alicia asked while tilting her head. She seemed tired as if she didn¡¯t have enough sleepst night, making me wonder whether she was okay or not. ¡°You have already taken your first test when entering the city.¡± ¡°When entering the city¡­ Are you referring to the illusion formation?¡± In response to Lunia¡¯s question, Uzkias replied with a nod. ¡°That was a test of your qualification, seeing how much you can do to fight for your conviction¡­ and whether you have an unshakable perception of justice or not. All of you have proven your conviction already.¡± I see. That seemed to have been a test of how much trust we had in ourselves, and how we would act in certain situations. Looking at how both Lunia and Alicia had also made it through, it seemed that all of us were confident and unhesitant in whatever we had to do. ¡°Umm¡­ I, I don¡¯t think that was the case for me¡­¡± Alicia hesitantly raised her hand and an objection. ¡°Alicia.¡± ¡°Y, yes? Brother-inw¡­ I mean, Mr. Korin!¡± ¡°Hmm? Anyway, there¡¯s no need to be that self-deprecating. Be proud, because you have carried through with your conviction and values.¡± ¡°U, uhh¡­ t, the thing is¡­¡± She was sweating profusely from her forehead. It seemed that she really was tired fromck of sleep. Aliciacked so much confidence in herself that even Lunia tried to lift her mood while tapping on her head. ¡°Whatever your actions and your cause may be, fight for your conviction. We, as humans, tend to be stronger when fighting for a cause.¡± ¡°I, I don¡¯t think I should though¡­¡± Her eyes dizzily rolled around in circles. Maybe we had to let her rest. ¡°Alicia. Maybe you should take some rest if you¡¯re tired.¡± She looked so out of it that even Yuel stepped up to make her rest. ¡°I, it¡¯s okay. A sinner like me has no right to rest¡­¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± I had no idea why she was like that, but in any case, Uzkias added something before introducing the test to us. ¡°The druids that havee with you will be helping out with your test. For Korin Lork, it will be Yuel the druid of Avelorn, and for Dun Scaith, it will be Dumnorix, the representative of Esus.¡± Hearing that, I turned to the old man who was standing next to Scaith with a robe on. In some ways, he was a more intimidating opponent than Scaith. Lawmaker, Dumnorix. He was a Druid Elder, who was a right-hand man of Tates Valtazar unlike most druids that kept a neutral position. He was the druid who wholeheartedly supported the usurpation of Tates Valtazar. In other words, he was someone who wanted the Advent of Paradise. I had to put shackles on him first. ¡°Sage Uzkias. There is something we would like to make certain before we begin.¡± ¡°What is it, young hero?¡± ¡°For these tests, let¡¯s make it so that we can only receive assistance from the druids, and keep them from participating in battle.¡± ¡°Kuhihihilk! Did you hear that, Dum?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The old man wearing a ck robe, Dumnorix, turned towards me. His eyes with an arcus senilis threatened to pierce through me. ¡°The tests will involve no fighting,¡± Uzkias replied. ¡°What about after the tests are over? Whoever it is, the one who didn¡¯t get it is going to attack the one who did for sure, so it would be problematic for us if the druids don¡¯t maintain a neutral standpoint.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Uzkias pondered, contemting about the neutrality of druids and whether he should force it onto others or not. Although they were amunitarian society, that didn¡¯t mean they outright denied the individual rights of their people. Whether it be Yuel or Dumnorix, Uzkias was probably thinking that he had no justification to stop either one of them from supporting different people. But at the same time, he was probably thinking about how Yuel was a normal druid while Dumnorix was a Druid Elder. There would inevitably be problems with fairness. ¡°Let¡¯s make a vow with a geass. On how we will both ept the result of the test and refrain from attacking each other for the next 60 days.¡± ¡°Huhihi?¡± In an instant, Scaith¡¯s eyes glistened. Right, I knew he would find that offer very appealing for himself. ¡°What do you think, Dum? ¡®I¡¯ think it¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°¡­Alright.¡± Before starting our test, we made a geass under the supervision of Uzkias. The content was as I said, about me, Lunia, Alicia, and Yuel not attacking Scaith¡¯s group, as well as Scaith and his group not attacking us. It was a simple contract of restriction which was therefore more powerful. The moment we went against this vow, this vow would take our lives for it. ¡°That should be enough. I will now announce the second test. Your task is to make a staff out of wood that has had a connection with the gods.¡± ¡°I understand the staff part¡­ but what do you mean by having a connection with the gods?¡± ¡°You shall listen to the advice of your druids for that because they have the knowledge. The deadline is tomorrow before sunrise.¡± Hmm. In the first ce, this hiddennd was impossible to enter without the help of druids, and it seemed that we would need the help of druids from the first to thest test. What was fortunate was that I had been somewhat aware of this from the Precepts¡¯ reward that I received after killing Fermack. After all, the reward itself was about the existence of Findias and its rtion to the ¡®Sr Eclipse¡¯. ¡®In other words, this would be a part of many tests that will allow us to reach the sky, or the sun for that matter. The problem is that I don¡¯t know the individual tests inside but¡­¡¯ ¡°This test is not for deciding the victor. Just find it. After a rightful procedure, you will gain the chance to arrive at the Sun.¡± After Uzkias was done with hisst sentence, we gathered together and the first one to open their mouth was Alicia. ¡°Ms. Yuel! What does it mean to find wood that had a connection with the gods?¡± ¡°Druids that be the sages of forests make their staffs using a special tree.¡± I looked at Yuel¡¯s staff. Her staff was made out of an old oak tree, and was a considerably good one. However, it was different from the final weapon you could get for Yuel in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. That was¡­ ¡°We need to look for an oak tree with a parasitic mistletoe, right?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes¡­ How did you know that?¡± ¡°I found it in a book when I was reading about Ogham letters.¡± I used Ogham letters as an excuse because I couldn¡¯t tell her, ¡®I had to go through a quest to get you that final weapon in the game¡¯, and Yuel seemed convinced by it. ¡°If I remember correctly, for druids, a mistletoe and an oak tree represents death and resurrection; and are special ingredients that are symbolic of amunication with gods. Is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why we say an oak tree with a parasitic mistletoe is the trace of amunication with gods. Plus, they are very powerful magic mediums as well.¡± Thanks to Yuel¡¯s exnation, everyone understood the content of the test but our next question was how we would find the said tree. Lunia shared her concerns. ¡°This will not be very easy.¡± ¡°What do you mean, unni? Weren¡¯t there a few mistletoes near our house as well?¡± ¡°The important part is that the mistletoe must be on an ¡®oak tree¡¯.¡± ¡°Mistletoes grow on all sorts of trees including apple trees and lime trees. It won¡¯t be easy finding a mistletoe on an oak tree,¡± Yuel added from the side. It will definitely be easier than finding a jujube tree that was struck by lightning, but finding an oak tree with a mistletoe in this ocean of trees won¡¯t be that easy either. ¡°But if I ask the spirits, that should increase our chance at finding one.¡± Fortunately, we had a druid in our group, the representative of nature that was loved by the forest itself. They were so loved that the trees and spirits even made them houses and a city. ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s first head into the forest.¡± However, waiting for us was a very rough start. The spirits did not listen to Yuel¡¯s request. **** ¡°T, this is bad.¡± Yuel said with an apologetic and troubled look on her face. ¡°Are the spirits not listening to you?¡± ¡°Rather than that¡­ most of them¡­¡± ¡°Most of them went to Scaith, huh.¡± That was out of our control though, because Dumnorix was a sage of another forest whereas Yuel was just a young druid who learned a few hidden skills. Spirits naturally had no choice but to prioritize the forest sage who had dedicated himself to nature for much longer than she did. ¡°I know it¡¯s not a contest of whoes first but¡­ Will we even be able to find a mistletoe by tomorrow morning at this rate?¡± ¡°We would have to be¡­ very lucky.¡± It waspletely like a lottery. Finding an oak tree in this dense forest was already a chore and finding one with a mistletoe was close to impossible, unless we received the help of a bunch of spirits through the druid. ¡°Mr.Koriinnnn~!¡± It was then. Alicia came running at us while carrying arge branch that was bigger than her own body. ¡°A mistletoe! I found a mistletoe!¡± She seemed to have run around looking for one while we wereing up with a n. ¡°That¡¯s atle tree, Alicia.¡± ¡°Ehk? But the mistletoe¡­ I made sure to cut it nicely though.¡± Alicia nted the branch of thetle tree with a mistletoe into the ground with a disheartened look on her face. As if she couldn¡¯t let go of her hope, she looked back and forth between the branch and Yuel, before carefully sharing her opinion. ¡°Umm, maybe there¡¯s¡­ a different way?¡± ¡°Speak, Alicia.¡± ¡°For example, we can pop the mistletoe into an oak tree¡­¡± ¡°That will get rid of its magical significance though,¡± Yuel replied. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± This time, Lunia raised a different n. ¡°I heard there was a secret technique among druids that can immediately grow a nt. Can you not grow a mistletoe along with an oak tree?¡± ¡°A nt that grew rapidly is just expanded with mana and has no nutrients so it will go back to its original shape. It won¡¯t evenst until tomorrow.¡± Rapid growth¡­ hmm? ¡°Yuel, can you find an oak tree for us?¡± I asked. ¡°That¡­ shouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡± ¡°That will be more than enough then.¡± I said while shaking the ss bottle that I took beforeing to the east. It contained something gleaming in gold, and was the hidden card up my sleeve that was supposed to help us reach the sky. It was time to take a glimpse at a portion of that power. **** Next morning, Dun Scaith giggled while looking at the thick oak wood staff in his hands. ¡°So pretty~. Right?¡± ¡°Yes, it certainly is, Mr. Scaith.¡± His subordinates enthusiastically agreed to his words. Most of his men couldn¡¯te into Findias through the first test and even the few that did were quite useless. It was Lawmaker Dumnorix who did most of the work, but¡­ ¡°Who¡¯s the little friend that made this staff?¡± Scaith praised the one who made the staff regardless. ¡°Little friend! Buddy buddy! Let me give you apliment.¡± ¡°Ah, ahh¡­¡± Despite being praised for his work, his subordinate wearing a robe had a pale look on his face. He tightly gripped on the silver rosario hanging on his neck and gulped. He knew how Dun Scaith had ¡®devoured¡¯ his fellow priest after calling him a ¡®friend¡¯. That was why his face turned pale from hispliments. ¡°P, please do not kill me sir.¡± ¡°Nnn? What is wrong, little buddy?¡± ¡°I, I do not want to die yet.¡± ¡°EVERYONE DIES¡ª!!¡± Scaith roared out loud with a sonorous voice. His eyes were tainted in purple as something started wriggling beneath the hems of his coat. ¡°Little friend. Don¡¯t you want to ascend to heaven? We can help you ascend¡­ The world is very cruel and there is a limit to how big it can go, okay?¡± The tongue of a serpent licked the priest. Right when Scaith¡¯s duster coat was wriggling and about to change into a different form¡ª ¡°Scaith. Uzkias the sage is watching us.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Dun Scaith stepped back down. Before long, Korin and his group came towards them. ¡°Hello, little Korin. Is your rod also as thick and hard as mine?¡± ¡°You should be careful with your word choice.¡± ¡°Huhihirk¡­!¡± Scaith was fond of that boy. What face would the goddess make if he were to take that pretty head of the boy and put it on a tter? What would the pitiful queen, who was sealed by the king 80 years ago and forced to move around the world with a fake body, look like if even herst disciple were to return in a miserable state? ¡°So, have you made a good staff? I couldn¡¯t really see any spirits next to you.¡± It was hard for Scaith to approach them in secret because of Lunia¡¯s acute senses but even without going closer to them, he still knew that there were less than 10 spirits helping Yuel. On the other hand, there were a thousand spirits helping them, and finding a suitable tree had been very easy. ¡°Yuel. Show them what we got.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Yuel took out arge staff from her robe. It was a huge staff made of an oak tree with a parasitic mistletoe. ¡°Their rod is bigger and harder than ours!¡± With a flick, Scaith immediately turned his face to his subordinate who made the staff for them as the priest shuddered in response. ¡°How did you do it? You shouldn¡¯t have had enough time to find one.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think you should put something on the line when you want to know what your opponents did?¡± ¡°Huhihihik¡­! You¡¯re right! What do you want?¡± ¡°I can tell you if you give me either the Spear of Light or the Stone of Destiny.¡± ¡°They¡¯re at home.¡± ¡°Too bad, then.¡± After we had a short verbal quarrel, Uzkias walked to us in the form of a leopard. ¡°You have both marvelouslypleted your second test. You have all passed.¡± Without any further dy, Uzkias announced the third task. ¡°In the forest north of this ce is a magic rowan tree that bears red fruits. Your task is to bring those fruits.¡± We knew there would be more to the task than what he implied. **** There were so many demonic beasts in these forests that this ce was called the Mountain Range of Demonic Beasts, but there were certain areas that were avoided by those monsters. One of those was Findias. Because of magic barriers around the city, demonic beasts couldn¡¯t enter them and had to retreat back out. And¡­ another example was territories of absolutely terrifying entities that demonic beasts did not dare trespass. ¡°This way.¡± Outside the secretnds of Findias, Yuel, and Dumnorix were in the lead with Dun Scaith and my group walking awkwardly side-by-side. ¡°Little kid, little kid. Do you like toads?¡± ¡°I like bullfrogs. They taste like chicken.¡± ¡°Uhihih¡­! I¡¯m not liking you as much anymore!¡± Do you think I ever did? It was when I was about to walk away from him. ¡°I told you not to call me!!¡± Scaith screamed as if in a fit and almost grabbed me by the neck but¡ª ¡°Huhi? No no no. I can¡¯t break the pledge. Huhihikk¡­!¡± ¡°Ughkk?!¡± In the blink of an eye, Scaith reached his arm back at one of his robed subordinates. The man was immediately thrown onto the ground after having his neck crushed. ¡°I! TOLD YOU! NOT TO CALL ME¡­!¡± Like a madman, Scaith punched the man in a robe with his fists along with a maddenedughter. It took less than 3 seconds for the robed person to be crushed to smithereens by his insane strength. I was wondering why he was taking around so many men for no reason, but it seemed that they were there as scapegoats for whenever he had a fit like that. A time bomb at least had a timer, but this guy was like an unexploded mine that was already stepped on. You never knew when this guy would explode. ¡°We are almost there.¡± Dumnorix said as we then turned our eyes to the other side of the dense forest. At the end of the forest was a massive empty plot ofnd. We immediately spotted a rowan tree with red fruits and also discovered the one behind it. ¡°T, this can¡¯t be. How did we not notice this until now?¡± Beyond the tree was a cliff ¨C or rather, something that had appeared like a cliff until now. ¨C Crack crackkkk! A disharmonious and jittery noise echoed across the forest from something moving after a long time of staying still. Using that as soil, trees, fruits and dust had all been built up on top of it to form a mountain. How long would that have taken? ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± We were all shocked to a stop and that was when ¡®that thing¡¯ opened its eyes. ¡°¡­A giant.¡± I identally let out a snicker after hearing Alicia¡¯s remark. That was no giant ¨C even giants were like newborn babies in front of that thing which was taller than 70 meters. They were beings that existed even before my master¡­ Erin Danua and her race ruled over the world. They were the gods of the first era of this world, that only existed in storybooks and rarely appeared to show off their might. Sky Titans. The one before me was a named character of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, who was of the same race as the Sky Titans that protected the Sun of Findias. ¡ª My name is Searbhan. Those who crave the fruits must prove themselves. A majestic voice weighed down on the world. Chapter 95: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (3) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (3) ? How many times has it been, he wondered. Garrand clicked his tongue, seeing the Sword Fiend challenge him time after time whenever he was about to get bored. ¡°What a remarkable tenacity.¡± Over time, it was taking more and more time for him to beat the monster because of its ridiculous growth speed. The Sword Emperor was very much impressed while watching the fiend learn skill after skill. ¡°Huhahaha¡­ Just like my granddaughter.¡± An overwhelming talent. The demonic nature of being bewitched by the action of cutting others. He wondered who would be on top whenparing them based on their madness. ¡°That does make me curious.¡± From the sage that he got to know in the mountain range, Garrand had heard news about the visit of his granddaughters, and that they were here to meet the giant nearby. ¡°Hmm¡­ Maybe it¡¯s time to gauge their abilities again.¡± The Sword Emperor knew just how absurdly powerful the Sword Fiend was and was aware that there was a chance that his granddaughters would all be annihted just from him trying to test their abilities using the monster. However, for the old man who was crazy with the sword, he cared not for the likes of familial affection, and was more intrigued by the appearance of another swordsman that would be on the same level as himself if not higher. If his granddaughters were to die here, that would just mean that they hadn¡¯t grown enough. ¨C Kwang! With that thought in mind, the Sword Emperor kicked off the hill and chased after the Sword Fiend, while forcing it into a certain direction. **** A mountain was speaking. The sonorous voice of Searbhan echoed the ground and even the forest quivered from his voice. At times, size alone was more than enough evidence. It was clear just from looking at him that his strength would be on another level. ¡ª Answer me, little ones. Are you here for the fruit? There were a few people who couldn¡¯t even dare stand before the one who could oppress others with nothing but his voice. ¡°That¡¯s a very big fellow, Dum.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Looks like defeating it will be quite a challenge.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it, Miss Lunia. Whether we win or not, we won¡¯t be able to obtain the iomh Sis anymore.¡± Searbhan the Sky Titan was looking at us with an apathetic look on his face. ¡°My name is Korin Lork sir. I would like to receive some fruits.¡± He looked down at us without a word, and nced across everyone with his eyes filled with rocks. A giant had a slow-working brain because there was no need for him to think faster than the little ones. However, the silence of an overwhelming giant gave rise to a bunch of doubts, and most of Scaith¡¯s subordinates took several steps back in fright. ¡°Huik¡­!¡± In the end, when one of them turned around trying to run away¡­ ¨C Kaduk! Scaith punched the man with his fist as his neck rotated 960 degrees beforeing to a stop. After a gruesome execution, Scaith walked up to the giant as if nothing happened. ¡°You see, very very big friend~. I need to take your little fruits~. Can you give them to me?¡± Despite rotating the head of another person just then, he nonchntly let out an amicable voice. ¡ª The red fruits of the rowan tree are what the Goddess of Danu has assigned me with. Those without qualification cannot take the fruits. ¡°How do I earn that qualification?¡± ¡ª I will now test your wisdom. Alicia, who had been shivering from the side, rejoiced in the fact that it would end without a fight. ¡°I, it¡¯s great that we don¡¯t have to do any fighting. But how is our wisdom going to be tested?¡± ¡ª I will give you riddles. Solve them. ¡°Sorry?¡± Tilting her head, Alicia vacantly stood there blinking her eyes. ¡°Monsters in all sorts of mythologies love riddles. Didn¡¯t you know?¡± ¡°¡­No.¡± ¡°Uwahh¡­! Scaith loves riddles! I wanna do it! I wanna do it!¡± Sky Titans loved precious treasures and riddles. I could remember reading a line in the game that talked about how any other form of entertainment ended up breaking the world apart which deterred them from doing them. ¡°Well, I guess we will do it as well.¡± ¡ª Good. The enormous giant exined the rules with arge voice that would immediately bring aboutints in an apartment. For fairness, only two people from each group was allowed to participate with the exception of druids. Apparently, the druids had been doing riddles with the Sky Titans so much that it wasn¡¯t fair. And the other rule was that the first side to answer 5 questions would be the victor. ¡°Anyone here confident with riddles?¡± Yuel couldn¡¯t participate because she was a druid so it was only me and the Arden sisters. Honestly, anyone should be better than someone with a strange mind like Scaith. ¡°Do you think I would have anything to do with riddles?¡± Lunia asked. ¡°You really don¡¯t. You don¡¯t even look like the type to invite clowns to any ceremony.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I, I did solve a few riddles that came out in magazines.¡± In the end, it was me and Alicia on our end whereas¡­ ¡°Hihit¡­! Scaith loves riddles!¡± For the other team, it was Dun Scaith and someone wearing a robe that was trembling next to him. ¡ª We will begin. Although we were suddenly made to solve riddles, it was certainly the most peaceful option out there. ¡ª It bes big during the morning, gets smaller again at noon, and bes bigger again in the afternoon. However, it disappears at night. What is it? ¡°¡­¡± Searbhan¡¯s thunderous voice echoed the world and certainly reached our ears, but I couldn¡¯te up with an answer. Big during the morning, but smaller at noon¡­ bigger in the afternoon and disappears at night? ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Alicia was also deeply pondering to herself next to me. I had a feeling that I was very close to the answer but it was then. ¡°I can say with certainty that ¡®Shadow¡¯ is the answer.¡± The one who answered the question was someonepletely unexpected. Scaith, who looked thoughtless and stupid, changed in the blink of an eye like he was a totally different person. Like an old sage, he gazed at Searbhan with a serene gaze. ¡ª Correct. Everyone turned their eyes to Scaith. We thought he would be the weakest one at riddles here but he had solved it all too easily and proved everyone wrong. Wait¡­ ¡°Did he¡­ get it right by chance?¡± Alicia murmured as if she couldn¡¯t believe it either. It might be a prejudice, but no one could me her for it because Dun Scaith didn¡¯t look like a riddle genius in any way. ¡°¡­¡± His original impression was so strong that I had forgotten about the uniqueness of the ¡®entity¡¯ called Dun Scaith. That was no coincidence. ¡ª This exists but cannot be seen. Even the strongest of beings cannot beat it. It alwayses to you but stops forever once past. ¡°Time. If you may excuse me,dies and gentlemen, the answer is time.¡± ¡ª At times, this is happiness and at times it is pain. Sometimes it isedy but at times it is tragedy. Everyone alive is the protagonist of this y. What is it? ¡°Life! That has both the names Comedy! And Tragedy¡­! To live or not to live! That is the question¡­!¡± Going back and forth between all sorts of personas, Scaith solved the riddles. It felt like I was going against hundreds and thousands of people at once. ¡°Huhihi¡­! Scaith is too good at riddles! This is too easy!¡± There were only two questions left. We hadn¡¯t even solved one and yet Scaith had solved three of them already.¡± ¡°Oi, Alicia. Try doing something. You read a bunch of kinky magazines, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°What do you mean kinky? I only read the ones that all the teenage girls read!¡± ¡ª Fourth Question. This is beautiful to me but sometimes, it cannot be understood by others. It could be violence to some but could be a way out for others. What is it? The question was again very difficult. Was I this bad at riddles? ¡°Uhh¡­ umm, can I¡­ try¡­ saying something?¡± Alicia said with her hand up. ¡ª Speak. Even after a reply from Searbhan, Alicia hesitantly fidgeted with her fingers and wavered before finally opening her mouth. ¡°A, adultery?¡± ¡°Hn?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Eyes gathered to the source of that voice, not because they thought it was a wrong answer. After hearing that and linking parts of the riddle to it, it did sound like a reasonable answer, but a few of us still doubtfully gazed at Alicia foring up with an answer like that. ¡°D, doesn¡¯t that make sense as well¡­ if you think about it?¡± ¡ª Interesting. That is also correct. ¡°Umm¡­ W, wait. Please just tell me it was the wrong answer. I¡¯m sorry. Let me take back what I said¡­!¡± ¡°Alicia, you¡­ what in the world do you think about all day long?¡± ¡°Y, you¡¯re wrong! That¡¯s not it!!¡± We tried our best but that question seemed to be the limit of our beginner¡¯s luck. Scaith answered the following two questions in a row and we lost the riddle just like that. ¡°Huhihihi¡­! Pretty fruits! I did well! Did I do well?!¡± ¡°C, congrattions, Mr. Scaith!¡± ¡°Congrattions sir!!¡± ¡°¡­¡± It was ourplete defeat. **** After the riddles were over, we were trudging our way back to Findias. ¡°Uhihirk¡­! Very pretty!¡± The wise look he showed during the riddle was long gone and Scaith remarked while staring at the fruit like a child. ¡°I suppose you are not too good at riddles,¡± said Lunia. ¡°¡­I guess so.¡± Looking back, I was never the type to rely on my brain. Even when ying the game, I had relied on the Inte for all the puzzles. ¡°Umm¡­ What do we do? Didn¡¯t we just fail?¡± Alicia seemed restless so Yuel carefully shared her opinion to give her peace of mind. ¡°I don¡¯t think the tasks¡­ will end just like this. We are probably just missing one of the materials.¡± ¡°That would be nice but¡­¡± ¡°We, druids, don¡¯t usually decide things just from one failure so¡­¡± It was then. Yuel stopped her feet after seemingly sensing something and so did Dumnorix. Seeing their abnormal reactions, Lunia ced her hand on the sheathed sword. ¡°Is it an enemy?¡± ¡°¡­There is none.¡± ¡°Ms. Yuel?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t see¡­ a single spirit near us.¡± ¡°Now that you mention it, we didn¡¯t see any demonic beasts on the way either, did we? I remember seeing a few when we were going to the tree though.¡± No spirits and demonic beasts? This ce was the so-called Mountain Range of Demonic Beasts. There were only two possible reasons why those would both be nowhere to be seen. One was if someone killed all the spirits and demonic beasts¡­ And two was if they ran away from the presence of an overwhelming powerhouse. ¡°Uhihi¡­! Are we in too deep?¡± Before Scaith even finished his nonchnt remark, Dumnorix raised his oak staff. ?Oath Lauvre ¨C Dentata? All the nearby trees immediately formed a fortress. It took 2.3 seconds for the walls to bepleted under his rapid growth spell and the assistance of nature. It was very fast, as expected of the greatest Druid Elder, Lawmaker. And as soon as the fortress wasplete, a crescent light shed it apart. ¡°Dodge¡­!¡± As soon as we scattered to dodge the ¡®condensed aura¡¯ that immediately shed through the fortress created by the Lawmaker, ¨C Trod¡­! Something came in and stood at the center. ¡°U, uhh¡­¡± The one who appeared while stepping on the rotting leaves had a humanoid figure. However, the red demonic beast had a gleaming pair of purple eyes and a muscr body that was definitely not that of a human. ¡°¡­A humanoid demonic beast?¡± It was one of the rare demonic beasts that was in the shape of a human. In its hands were two swords. ¨C Kaduduk! The monster struck down as one of the robed men got sliced apart like a piece of paper. The bisected body of the man falling on the ground marked the start of its onught. ¡°Step back¡­!¡± With its two swords, the beast created a slicing tornado. The des shredded everything from the ground up like soaring dragons and immediately hacked thirteen people. ¡°Hukk¡­!¡± In that instant, I blocked the rampaging swords of the monster and retreated back after grabbing the defenseless Yuel. If not for the fiend attacking everything around itself, I wouldn¡¯t even have had the time to take her to safety. ¡°T, thank you.¡± ¡°Stay back¡­!¡± Damn it, why was this guy here? Like, I knew it was around here but why now, and why was it attacking us? ¡°Bind it.¡± Nature immediately responded to Dumnorix¡¯s call as tree roots soared up from the ground and restricted the monster. Both the size and strength of the grip were iparably better than Yuel¡¯s. ¡°Uhihilk¡­!¡± Scaith reached his arms out at the restricted monster as dozens of vipers jumped out of his hands. Each and every one of those snakes had a lethal dose of venom that were even effective against demonic beasts. ¨C Saak! Despite having its feet rooted in ce, the humanoid monster still managed to swing its des. Those attacks that had the power to prate through the dimension bisected the snakes along with Scaith. ¨C Thud! In the blink of an eye, half of Scaith¡¯s head disappeared elsewhere. Without even realizing what happened to him, Scaith tilted his head in confusion. ¡°Oing?¡± Flop! He powerlessly fell down as the monster then swung its des at Dumnorix. At a nce, it seemed futile to cut through the air but the sword aura embedded in his des shot through the air and headed to the old druid. In response, Dumnorix quickly defended his body. Oak trees surged out of his body and covered him like ted armor but¡­ ¨C Pajik! Blood spurted diagonally from his shoulder. The oak armor that got separated along with the surrounding dimension sttered down onto the ground. Sword Fiend. Right now, the only ones that were aware of that name were me and the Sword Emperor, that crazy old man who gave that name to the monster. At the same time, that was the name of the strongest swordsman of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? that would make the world tremble with its name. ording to the original game plot, the Sword Fiend was supposed to go under Tates Valtazar¡¯s banner some time soon, and yet right now, it had just cut the King¡¯s subjects, Dumnorix and Dun Scaith, its future allies. However, I couldn¡¯t exactly be happy because we were going to be next. ¡°You damn beast¡­!¡± Lunia pounced at the monster with a sharp ambush, but the fiend reacted in time. ¨C Kaduk¡­! Her fastest sh was mitigated by the monster¡¯s swords letting it flow elsewhere like the turning current of water. A demonic beast was using swordsmanship. That alone was already shocking but there was something else that was even more surprising than that. That parrying posture and the following counterattack¡­ ¡°Arden Style?¡± The demonic beast blocked Lunia¡¯s sword and wrapped its body inside for a following stab. It was definitely the swordsmanship of Arden. A defense using Falling Fist, followed by a counterattack. ¡°Bastard¡­! Where did you learn that sword!¡± With her immacte sense of distance and her perception, Lunia dodged the counterattack with a hair¡¯s breadth and struck down with a rapid sh. What came in response was not a sword but ws. After blocking her sword with its sharp ws, the monster immediately swung one of its tough legs like a de. As a monster, every part of its body was a weapon and even aside from its hands, even its legs were as powerful as des. With only one sword to fight against those, Lunia didn¡¯t force her luck and retreated back. ¡°Impudent beast.¡± Next, their swords crashed into one another¡¯s. Lunia¡¯s strikes collided against the Sword Fiend¡¯s swords, creating terrifying storms of des around them. ¨C Kagack¡­! Every time, their attacks turned more and more intense. The two longswords shredded through the dimension with less than 1 meter between them. After a consecutive set of shes, the Sword Fiend tried to take half a step back but was forced to an unnatural halt. ¡°¡­?!¡± Lunia was stepping down on the Sword Fiend¡¯s foot. That short moment of failed retreat was a detrimental gap. ¡°Go.¡± Now that Lunia and the Sword Fiend were stuck in ce at a distance so close that they couldn¡¯t even attack each other at full strength, we obviously didn¡¯t stay still doing nothing. Two-faced Ominous Snake: Dragon Blood Crushing Steel, Three Paths of One Sword Alicia and I attacked from both sides but¡ª ¡°Kuhk¡­?!¡± The monster jumped back in an acrobatic movement while seemingly kicking off the air. However, we didn¡¯t let it escape. We might have been caught off guard by that circus-like movement but that was only for a bit. The moment it barely distanced itself from us, the three of us immediately pounced at it without giving it time to recover. And¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The world paused. And there, we saw it. The two swords of the monster moved four times inside the Domain. ?Domain Severance ¨C Eight Dancing des? Eight dancing trajectories were carved onto the Domain. Chapter 96: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (4) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (4) ? Domain, The dream and aspiration of every warrior that allows you to take a step forward in a suspended world. In thest iteration, I wasn¡¯t even able to set my foot in that realm but I had entered it quite a few times in this iteration. However, mine was still not a perfect form of Domain whenpared to Alicia¡¯s. I could only enter the Domain after my body was warmed up by the heat of battle or with the help of my survival instincts. Apart from the likes of Alicia who were born with an extreme level of concentration along with the Eyes of the Boundary, it was nigh impossible for anyone to enter the Domain without any preceding signs. And even after entering the Domain, they were limited to one step and one attack ¨C at least that was what I had been thinking. ?Domain Severance ¨C Eight Dancing des? Eight trails of swords were unraveled onto the suspended world. It allowed us to take a glimpse at just how monstrously talented the Sword Fiend was. We retaliated at the same time. ?Singr Sword of Arden, Domain Severance? ?Soaring Snake, Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon? Domain against the Domain. My survival instincts sensed the life-threatening risk of the fight and allowed me to enter the Domain. ¡ª! ¡ª! The weapons crashed into one another inside the Domain. Fortunately for us, the opponent didn¡¯t have perfect control over the Domain either ¨C the weight behind his swords had beenpromised to make up for the numerous swings. Calcting the best trajectory possible, we tried to fend off the eight sword trails pouncing at us, but we could only offset five of them. The rest were going towards Lunia. In that instant, my eyes picked up Alicia¡¯s pupils. I could tell that those vertically-slit eyes of hers were crumpled from astonishment. We couldn¡¯t stop it. Lunia¡¯s Domain was far from perfect. Although she could perceive the Domain, she was half a step slower than the Sword Fiend¡­! That was why the only future I could imagine was Lunia falling down in tatters. ¨C Kaang! ¡°??!¡± It was then ¨C the fiend¡¯s swords were blocked by a ckyer of aura that was floating around her. They stopped the Sword Fiend¡¯s swords from reaching Lunia. ¡°¡­Compressed condensed aura?¡± Compressed Aura of Self-Defense. That was the powerful hidden skill that Alicia would learn at the very end of her growth. It was a technique that covered for the previously terrible defense level of Alicia, a powerful attacker. That made up from Lunia¡¯s dy of half a step and allowed her to strike down at the Sword Fiend with her own oppressive attack. Singr Sword of Arden, False Domain Severance. Kaduduk! Her sword prated down from the right shoulder of the monster, but it wasn¡¯t deep enough. By twisting its body slightly at thest second, the Sword Fiend managed to escape from her vicious attack. ¡°Tch¡­!¡± Lunia clicked her tongue after noticing that her violent attack that she had been trying to settle things with wasn¡¯t as satisfactory as she would have liked. Meanwhile, with one of its shoulders crushed, the monster stared at us. ¡°KUKI¡ª¡± It then started tough. ¡°KUKIKIKIKIKIKI¡ª!¡± That wasn¡¯t a propernguage. The monster was expressing its horribleughter to us using its vocal cords. It seemed bewitched by the way of the sword and reminded me of someone. ¡°It is a dangerous monster. We must kill it here.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± I said in agreement with Lunia¡¯s words. The Sword Fiend had yet to reach the level of a Thousand Dancing des. That perfected skill of his allowed it to cut anything in existence that was inside the radius of 1 kilometer. In other words, now was one of the only chances we had to kill this monster. Although it wasn¡¯t a part of our n, it would be worth it as long as we could defeat the Sword Fiend here even if that meant we had to give up on the Sun. Round 2 of the battle was about to begin. Right when the Sword Fiend was about to pounce at us¡ª ¡°How are you, friend?¡± Dun Scaith suddenly appeared behind the Sword Fiend with a grin. ¡ª!! The right and the left swords of the monster danced in order to cut the sudden yet defenseless enemy that appeared behind itself. ¨C Kahk¡­! Scaith got sliced like radish and chunks of his body fell on the ground. It should have meant an instant death but¡­ his body suddenly melted down as hundreds of serpents slithered out of his innards. ¡°¡­!?¡± Even the Sword Fiend was baffled by that bizarre turn of events. It swung its swords to cut them down again but slicing apart the hundreds and thousands of snakes was not an easy task. In the end, the Sword Fiend decided to retreat but¡­ sharp branches of wood soared out of the ground and raged at it from all sides, stopping the monster in its tracks. ¡°¡­¡± Dumnorix, who should have been sliced by the Sword Fiend, was standing up again while disying his upper body which had trees recing bones and flesh, that had been hiding behind the robe. Apparently, some Elder Druids became one with nature after living a long time and were said to turn into that form. In other words, druids were one with nature ¨C as long as he was on the ground next to spirits, Dumnorix was impossible to be killed. King of Beasts, Dun Scaith, and Lawmaker Dumnorix. Even from the King¡¯s subjects, they were the two with incredible vitality that were close to being unkible. They were terrible foes for the Sword Fiend to go against, as someone who only excelled in physical abilities. ¡°¡­Monsters.¡± Luniamented, seemingly appalled by the strange abilities of the two of them, but that was probably a normal reaction. Unlike Fermack who couldn¡¯t receive ¡®godship¡¯ because of his infiltration mission, those two were future gods of the Paradise who were given ¡®godships¡¯. They weren¡¯t beings that could be understood with themon sense of humans. ¡°KRRRRRR¡ª¡± It didn¡¯t take long for the monster to retreat aftering to the decision that it would be impossible to beat us. **** ¡°¡­¡± After being healed at the infirmary of druids, we came out and met Yuel, who was waiting for us outside with a darkplexion. ¡°¡­Sorry. I couldn¡¯t do anything.¡± That seemed to be the reason behind her gloominess but that wasn¡¯t her fault. Our sh with the Sword Fiendsted less than 20 seconds. Besides, her main source of power ¨C the spirits were already being used by Dumnorix so there was nothing Yuel could do there. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. There wasn¡¯t much else that could have been done.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay! None of us were seriously hurt anyway!¡± The fact that none of us died even after an encounter with the Sword Fiend was already a miracle in itself. But honestly, it wouldn¡¯t have been strange for at least one of us to have died there if not for Dumnorix and Dun Scaith. ¡°That demonic beast¡­ used the swordsmanship of Arden.¡± Lunia stated while gnashing her teeth. After throwing a nce at her older sister, Alicia carefully opened her mouth. ¡°Maybe¡­ it read our books?¡± ¡°That is ridiculous. Those skills were definitely polished through real battles. It didn¡¯t show the standard movements that we teach; it probably learned by itself by going against an expert swordsman.¡± ¡°Sorry? Y, you mean¡­¡± ¡°There is only one person that could have fought against a demonic beast of that caliber on repeat.¡± It was then. ¡°Hohoho. Looks like you girls have noticed it.¡± That was the voice of a considerably old man. However, his voice wasn¡¯t dry like Dumnorix¡¯s and was instead full of viciousness and power. ¡°¡°¡­¡±¡± Everyone turned towards the owner of the voice and found an old man with ck hair, standing there with an irritating smile. ¡°G, grandpa¡­¡± His unkempt hair and tattered martial uniform made him look more like a wild beast than a civilized human. Sword Emperor Garrand Arden. He was standing in front of us. ¡°What preposterous thing have you done, old man?¡± Despite facing the Sword Emperor, the psychological pir of the Arden family who still had an absolute status in the household, Lunia was relentless. But even that must have only appeared as a cute trick of his granddaughter for the Sword Emperor. ¡°Just a pastime activity of an old man.¡± ¡°Teaching a demonic beast the sword? Do you still call yourself a guardian?¡± ¡°Hohoho. You have to phrase that properly, my granddaughter. I have never taught him the sword; he learned it by himself.¡± ¡°What kind of¡­!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you find it intriguing? A demonic beast wielding swords? Most importantly, he even has the unprecedented talent of entering the Domain after seeing me enter it myself.¡± The madness of the Sword Emperor, this mad swordsman, was something I had known already. He was someone who didn¡¯t care about anything else as long as he could reach or see someone else reach the pinnacle of swords. Both the world and his family had little significance to him, and the only thing that mattered to him was seeing the pinnacle of swordsmanship. ¡°You crazy old man¡­¡± Lunia growled in fury but Alicia had a slightly different reaction. ¡°Grandpa. Please teach me the sword.¡± As if she had been stimted by something, her pupils were the same as the ones I saw back when she was using the Domain. ¡°Sure. Of course I can.¡± Sword Emperor. Sword Fiend. Alicia. The lunatics that could be bewitched by the sword stirred each other forward. It was her moment of enlightenment. **** ¡°I will now announce your final task.¡± Inside the room of the sage, along with Uzkias were me, Yuel, Scaith, and Dumnorix. The two of them looked as nonchnt as ever with not a hint of the battle that took ce with the Sword Fiend remaining, sitting carefreely on the other side. ¡°We failed to earn the rowan fruits though. Is that okay?¡± What I heard from Yuel before was that Uzkias still wouldn¡¯t stop us from continuing with the final task. That was why I was here, waiting for him to talk about the content of the task which was in fact already embedded into my brain by the quest information. ¡°That does not matter. Having a rowan fruit is a great advantage for Mr. Scaith and Mr. Dumnorix, but not having it does not necessarily remove your chance of acquiring the Sun.¡± As expected, Uzkias didn¡¯t fail us for failing one of the tasks. ¡°This is your final task. After you are done with that, you are free to acquire the Sun however you wish.¡± The final task¡­ ¡°Grow the staff you have made during your second test and make it reach the heaven. There, you are to meet the giants protecting the Sun.¡± There were 3 weeks left until the Sr Eclipse. Until then, we had to grow a tree that was tall enough to reach the skies. **** On the western side of the kingdom were two sacred chapels. One of them was the Chapel of Xeruem. It was the sacrednds of the Old Faith, the religion that fell out of the trend of time and was in a steady decline. Leaving their sacrednds and traveling for a day on a carriage would lead one to the second one, the Chapel of Zeon. They were like a self-proimed ¡®original¡¯ restaurant that was made by sneaking out the recipe and the workers of the previous restaurant right when they started to falter from cost and bacsh of monopolization. The New Faith, which followed the trend of time and shifted their doctrine away from the nobles and the higher-ups and sang of equality, absorbed a bunch of various believers and gathered arge amount of wealth and people. Their sacred Chapel of Zeon, which was built shortly after their foundation, boasted of incredible holiness and fanciness despite a short history. The sparkling Zeon city surrounding the chapel, which was created by gathering all the best constructors of the times, looked like a rather snobbish city of the wealthy. It was quite paradoxical considering how they used to condemn the first Chapel of Xeruem and its surrounding city for its luxuriance and extravagance for being a corrupt city of filthiness. ¡°¡­¡± Walking all the way down the artistic streets and the sewage systems through the shopping district and residential areas; one would find the Grand Chapel at the end of all that. ¡°Wee to the Grand Chapel of Zeon.¡± The Grand Chapel which was decorated with expensive marble and gems was filled with believers who were here to visit the holy city. It was very crowded because there were not even any security guards, for they might be considered too oppressive considering their catchphrase, ¡ºThe god epts us all.¡» That was why even a demi-human like herself was able to step on thends of the Grand Chapel ¨C at least that was what Hua Ran heard. ¡°Hua Ran. Are you going to go in straight away?¡± ¡°¡­Un.¡± Her supervisor, Senior Professor Josephine ra, was quite confused by how much of a hurry she was in. It was true that there was a long way to go for her, considering how her next destination was the east side of the kingdom which was in apletely different direction. However, thinking about her slow and carefree personality, Josephine couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised by the mere fact that she was in a hurry. ¡°We have to wait 2 days¡­ if we miss today.¡± ¡°You need to realize just how remarkable it is that you can even meet her as a probationary sister.¡± Josephine grumbled but Hua Ran pretended like she didn¡¯t hear it. Soon, one of the maids outside the door alerted the person inside the room of their arrival. ¡°Saintess. Probationary Sister Hua Ran has arrived.¡± ¡°Really? Tell her toe in.¡± It was atst, time for an audience. Waiting at the end of the corridors full of white marbled walls, a red silk carpet, and tapestries was the Saintess. ¡°Pleased to see you, Saintess.¡± ¡°Sister Josephine¡­!¡± The Saintess of the Grand Chapel of Zeon, with her gorgeous pink hair fluttering behind her and a white robe that only she could wear, had both a mysterious and a divine aura to her. ¡°Wow~. It¡¯s Hua Ran!¡± She ran up and gave Hua Ran a wide hug. Her beautiful face would have ended up in the silk carpet beneath had she dodged the hug. ¡°You grew taller, didn¡¯t you? Are you drinking a lot of milk? What about anchovies?¡± The Saintess said while affectionately fidgeting with her cheeks like rice cakes. ¡°¡­Get rid of your hands.¡± ¡°Are you embarrassed?¡± Estelle Hadatha El Rath. She was the 1st Princess of the El Rath Kingdom, as well as the Saintess of the New Faith¡¯s Grand Chapel of Zeon. She was a symbolic religious figure that even the queen couldn¡¯t mess with but¡­ ¡°I heard you had to go through a bunch of trouble at the festival. Are you alright?¡± On the outside, she was an untouchable symbol of royalty and divinity but to the people close to her, she was like one of the amicable neighbors. ¡°Restriction first.¡± Hua Ran didn¡¯t feel veryfortable around this Saintess and asked to go straight to the topic. As a demi-human and the main culprit behind the Moonlight Castle incident, she needed something to freely move around in the El Rath Kingdom, and that was the restriction sealing her to this date. However, she was here to adjust the restriction. ¡°Please lift the restriction.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± Estelle tilted her head in response to Hua Ran¡¯s request, and looked back and forth between her and Josephine. ¡°What do you mean by lifting your restriction, I wonder?¡± ¡°At least the 1st seal¡­ please.¡± Hua Ran was requesting her to alleviate the intensity of Chains of Zeon that were restricting her but it was a very short request. Josephine tried to step up to exin in her stead but was stopped by a wave of Estelle¡¯s hand. ¡°And why is that?¡± ¡°¡­It¡¯s stuffy.¡± ¡°If that is your reason, then I won¡¯t cancel it for you.¡± Without any hint of her previous gentle attitude, Estelle adamantly refused her offer with a stern look on her face. Seeing that, Hua Ran hesitated before opening her mouth. ¡°¡­It¡¯s because it¡¯s stuffy for me. But¡­ you do the rest.¡± The change happened in a sh. Hua Ran¡¯s crimson eyes and hair suddenly turned into a gentle blue color. Estelle had already received a report about it and knew who that was. ¡°So you are Ran, is that correct?¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, Saintess.¡± Unlike the curt attitude of Hua, Ran was a lot more gentle. However, her stubborn and straightforward approach was still the same. ¡°I need power.¡± ¡°Hmm? Let me ask you the reason. Why do you need power?¡± In response to her question, Ran replied with a cunning wink. ¡°Because I would like to be a nice wife who can help her husband.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ After Hua Ran left the Grand Chapel, Estelle murmured to herself while looking at the now-empty seat. ¡°Very interesting.¡± Estelle recalled the moment Hua Ran first entered the Grand Chapel. A demi-human child brought by Chairman Eriu and Professor Josephine from a continent in the far east ¨C most people found her red eyes to be ominous and frightening, but what she saw from her eyes was a young and wounded beast. She was just a young and anxious girl¡­ who was frightened by things she couldn¡¯t see and things she couldn¡¯t hear. The moment she saw her, Estelle chose to follow her duty as a Saintess of Zeon, and not as a princess of the El Rath Kingdom. At the cost of confronting her younger sister, the 2nd Princess, she epted Hua Ran under the name of New Faith. She let her enter the academy to learn and in hopes of people calling her a hero instead of a monster. However, even she wasn¡¯t expecting Hua Ran to learn the heart of a human this early. She had been hoping and wishing her a great future for her but the young girl grew even faster than she expected to the point that she was now talking about love. The wounded girl was now seeing a bright youthful life and had be a romantic girl. ¡°Korin Lork.¡± And the one at the center of that change was a freshman boy of Merkarva Academy. Saving Marie Dunareff who had be a vampire, he fought against Lunia Arden the Sword Master and helped his peer Alicia Arden, and even subjugated the unsealed King of Iron Mountain. He was a young hero that could most definitely enter the Hall of Warriors, that was told of in the scripture. What was it about him that had melted that iceberg of a girl? ¡°He really is involved in every matter, isn¡¯t he, that ¡®Junior¡¯?¡± Estelle whispered with a rather cunning yet gentle smile on her face. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Are you serious?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Josephine was appalled after seeing Hua Ran pack her belongings straight away after a new ¡®prayer¡¯. It was because she was saying she would immediately leave Zeon. ¡°Without a supervisor¡­¡± ¡°The Saintess lifted the seal.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t out of the question. Now that Ran was here, Hua wasn¡¯t as unstable as before and Josephine was indeed thinking about lowering the supervision but¡­ ¡°It is 2,400 km from here to the Eastern border. Are you¡­ telling me you are going to run the entire way?¡± ¡°I can.¡± ¡°No. Let¡¯s go together on a wyvern. I cane with you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m faster.¡± ¡°¡­¡± That might be true in a straight line but there werendscapes and other potential problems. Josephine even wondered if she should let her move using her super-long-distance dimensional travel spell, but a super-long-distance travel rune was something that could only be generated once a year. It wasn¡¯t something that could be used lightly but¡­ ¡°Why is that? Is there something serious?¡± She was ready to use it if that was rted to a very serious matter. ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran turned silent. It wasn¡¯t strange for her to turn silent but what was rare was that her ears were slightly flushed. It was as if she was embarrassed about sharing her honest thoughts. ¡°Ran¡­¡± ¡°What about Ran?¡± ¡°Ran said I can¡¯t be slower than that woman¡­ Not me, that¡¯s what Ran said.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Just some love-rted stuff, huh. ¡°Let¡¯s just¡­ go on a wyvern. We will get there in 3 weeks.¡± ¡°I can¡­ run there. It will take less than 2 days.¡± ¡°There is no way it will.¡± What if you lose your way? Josephine persuaded her over the span of 2 hours while teaching her a lesson about Geography. Chapter 97: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (5) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (5) ? South of El Rath Kingdom, The granary and the most important ce of the kingdom in terms of economy that connected trading routes to the archipgoes as well as the inds beneath was under total control of the traditional Dunareff Family. That was why it wasmon for therge festivals of the south to be hosted by the Dunareff. After the Winter festival and the praying ritual of a good harvest was the Spring social meeting. Wearing the new dress she got for this Spring, Marie was getting a shoulder massage from one of her maids. ¡°Egogo¡­ my shoulders.¡± ¡°Hmm? My dear daughter, does your shoulder hurt? Do you want your daddy to give you a massage?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯m fine!¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± Marie was already an adult at 19 years of age. She was more than old enough to feel slightly ufortable by her dad¡¯s touch but Duke Marde was nheless shocked. ¡°T, this has never happened untilst year and yet¡­!¡± ¡°Oh my. Come on dear. Marie is old enough to know men already.¡± ¡°Honey? W, what do you mean by that?¡± Hearing the words of his wife, Duchess Elencia, the duke widened his eyes in shock. ¡°It¡¯s been half a year since our Mari has been going out with Young Lord Korin. I¡¯m sure they have already¡ª¡± ¡°Mom?!¡± Despite Marie¡¯s attempt to stop her, Elencia said things that normally shouldn¡¯t be said to a daughter with a bright smile on her face. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about contracepti¡ª¡± ¡°Come on! Don¡¯t say that mom! I, I am not¡­ like, in that kind of rtionship with Korin yet¡­ I mean¡­!¡± In order to fight against the senselessments of her mother, the blushing girl constantly poked her on her sides. However, Elencia wasn¡¯t the only enemy she had. ¡°What? Sister. Are you still not going out with him?¡± Second daughter, Yennefer Dunareff. ¡°Big Sister. I thought we were expecting a cousin already.¡± Oldest son, Eric Dunareff. ¡°Huh? Weren¡¯t there stories about how they had done everything already?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t she getting married immediately after graduation?¡± The twins, Lily Dunareff and Robert Dunareff. ¡°Sister¡­ Are you marrying the Knight?¡± Third son, Barg Dunareff. ¡°Kyaha!¡± Last one was the 2-year-old fourth daughter, Hilia Dunareff. They were a friendly family of 3 sons and 4 daughters of the harmonious Dunareff Family but the only downside was that Marie had to be bombarded by questions and attacks from all sides whenever certain topics were brought up. ¡°Ahkk, be quiet! Korin and I are gradually climbing up in an ethical¡­ maybe not that ethical¡­ but still, we are slowly advancing our rtionship!¡± ¡°Marie? Why can¡¯t you say ¡®ethical¡¯? Didn¡¯t you promise your daddy?¡± ¡°Mari, my cute girl. Look at your mom.¡± ¡°Y, yes?¡± ¡°You need to have as many children as me. I am looking forward to having a bunch of grandchildren.¡± ¡°W, we have Doggo already¡­¡± ¡°Doggo is cute too. Come here, Doggo.¡± Elencia called Doggo, who had been drinking from the wine fountain, dashed up on its four legs. When she reached out, the dog-human wearing a tailor-made 2.4 meter-long branded coat rested its chin on her hand. ¡°Hurry up and make siblings for your Doggo.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­!¡± ¡°H, honey? What are you saying?¡± She immediately gave him a p to the mouth as Duke Marde then shut his mouth. ¡°You won¡¯t find many boys like that. If you stay still doing nothing, you never know when someone will snatch him from you.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­!¡± Marie was rather convinced by her words because there was already a very strongpetitor. Hua Ran. She was a living Jiangshi girl, who was a demi-human just like her. Despite being aloof and seemingly uninterested in all the happenings of the world, she suddenly started roaming around Korin. It was probably because of that incident just like herself. ¡ºSister. You don¡¯t like me, do you?¡» That was an open deration of war. After an intense battle of nerves, Marie and Hua Ran perceived one another as an enemy. ¡®Wait!¡¯ The Spring meeting would end in another 3 days. Korin had left a mark of his position while telling her toe find him by the Sr Eclipse on the 8th of February, so she had to depart some time soon. Of course, it would only take 2 weeks on a wyvern so there was plenty of time left but for some reason¡­ she was struck by an ominous feeling. After bing a vampire, Marie had gained a sixth sense that far exceeded the capability of a woman¡¯s intuition. Her senses were warning her that something bad was about to happen ¨C to her romantic battlefront that is. ¡°M, mom¡­!¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Can I leave now?¡± ¡°Good luck, my girl.¡± Elencia waved her hand with a wide smile on her face, and Marie sprinted off. She was already far away before Duke Marde could even say anything. ¡°Let me borrow a wyvern¡­ No! Actually, I¡¯ll use a Hresvelgr!!¡± ¡°Sure. Go ahead.¡± ¡°N, no! Where are you going, Marie! Holidays are supposed to be spent together with your family!¡± Marie¡¯s brothers and sisters chipped in after Duke Marde¡¯s scream. ¡°It¡¯s fine~ dad. She can just make a new family there.¡± ¡°A Grade 1 Knight brother-inw huh¡­ I¡¯m going to brag about it to my friends.¡± No one was on the duke¡¯s side. Under the full support of her mother and her siblings, Marie jumped onto Doggo. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Doggo¡­! Time to go find your daddy!¡± ¡°Knn¡­!¡± Even though she had wasted some time because of the Winter Festival and the Spring ceremonies, she would be there in no time on a Hresvelgr. ¡°Alicia¡­ is the only one in the East so it should be okay! Korin said he was busy too¡­!¡± What Marie hadn¡¯t expected until then was the engagement of the oldest daughter of the Arden Family. **** When was the time Alicia was motivated to learn the sword? At the start, she was just following the steps of her admired older sister, and next, she was bewitched by the sword. On the first day she cut a human, she found herself smiling. That gave her goosebumps. She was afraid of herself ¨C she remembered the time when she was floundering her arms inside a ck and tranquil ocean. Just like that, she had been turning away from her talents and she only opened her eyes back up because of the advice and assistance of a boy. After picking up her sword again, she was in the process of slowly understanding and epting the fiendish nature of her talent. ?Domain Severance ¨C Eight Dancing Swords? ¡ºKUKIKIKIKIKIKI¡ª!!!¡» That was when she came across another being who had talents that were as fiendish and frightening as hers. It was a demonic beast and yet¡­ it was well-versed with swords. Unlike those that recklessly swung their weapons around, that monster clearly knew and understood the way of the sword. Sword Fiend. With just one encounter, she understood that that monster was a fiend of the sword just like her. That wasn¡¯t the end ¨C that beast was stronger than her, and was at a level she could not reach. ¡®¡­Scary.¡¯ She was scared of that talent. Because she knew about the evil nature of that talent more than anyone else, she was all the more frightened by it. Since the monster was one that would be bewitched by the act of slicing things apart, Alicia instinctively realized that it would be inevitable for them to have another sh. Despite not being fond of fighting, even she drooled just from imagining about a battle to the death against that monster so there was no way that a mere beast would be any less expectant of it than herself. ¡®We will definitely try to kill one another¡¯ She had to learn how to cut that monster down, because otherwise, she would be the one ending up dying. ¨C m¡­! ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± A sharp sword grazed past her side. Pressing down on the bloodstained uniform, Alicia took a step back. ¡°Is that everything you have?¡± The old man with a wild appearance gazed down at her with a haughty expression. Alicia looked back at her grandfather in fear. He was as enormous as Mt. Tai that was too much to fight against. Even though he was her family member who cared for her the most when excluding her older sister¡­ and was even kinder than her at times, sometimes, she still got goosebumps when interacting with him. ¡°Your basics are as awful as always, my granddaughter.¡± ¡°I got¡­ a lot better though.¡± ¡°Do not ever think that your standards are the same as mine.¡± The Sword Emperor said while gazing at the horizon. The scope of his vision was already different from that of normal people. ¡°However, that was a lot faster than I thought. To think you would ask me to teach you the sword.¡± ¡°Grandpa. That demonic beast¡­¡± ¡°In my heart, I consider it as my disciple. Huhu, but it probably thinks of me as a stepping stone.¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t you killing it?¡± ¡°Because it is one that can reach the level of Thousand Swords.¡± ¡°¡­It¡¯s my first time hearing about that level.¡± ¡°Of course, because I made it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Those who reach that stage will easily cut the heavens and the world! The literal god of swords! I want toy my eyes on such a swordsman.¡± The more she heard about his worldview, the harder it became to understand him. Was he leaving a monster like that aside just because of something like that? ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t really understand what you¡¯re thinking, grandpa.¡± ¡°You do not need to understand it. It is just an obstinate wish of an old swordsman¡­ that cannot be understood by anyone whether it be family orrades.¡± The Sword Emperor then pointed his sword at his granddaughter. His sword had just shed past his grandchild¡¯s thighs and waist and was dripping with the blood of his own family. ¡°What is there to question? The world is a survival of the fittest. Even ignorance can only be permitted for the strong.¡± ¡°Uhk¡­¡± Alicia stood up with a grumble. Although she couldn¡¯t understand the madman in front of her eyes, she still needed his help with the sword. ¡°I shall make you into a fiend yourself. A fiend of swords! Kill the monster, use it as a stepping stone and reach a higher level. Be my true sessor¡­!¡± ¡°You senile old man¡­!¡± ¡°Hoho. Taking after your sister now!¡± The fight continued. From the side, it looked more like a battle of life and death than a simple duel. **** On a starry night, Alicia carried her exhausted body and headed to the empty plot ofnd where the final task was taking ce. ¡°It grew a lot,¡± she said. ¡°Yeah.¡± Korin Lork replied with his eyes still on the oak tree that was growing in that vacant plot ofnd. It had been 4 days since the final task had been announced. Just like what Uzkias said, the oak staff that they buried as a sapling was growing at a rapid speed to reach the heavens. ¡°But it¡¯s not fast enough. I¡¯m sorry to say this to Yuel, but our speed is nothing inparison to the one being grown by Dumnorix.¡± ¡°Then¡­ what¡¯s going to happen then?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s going to be fine. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Korin said while munching on a beef jerky that he received after asking the druids of Findias. He nonchntly offered her one. ¡°Aht. Thank¡­¡± ¡°Sword Emperor that old man is not going easy on you, is he? You¡¯re going to bleed to death before we even get to climb the tree.¡± ¡°¡­¡± While looking at the side of his face as he munched on a beef jerky, Alicia pondered to herself. What exactly was this person fighting against? Why did he bother crossing the border to carry out the tests and trials of druids? She had no idea what the ultimate goal he had his eyes set on was, but one thing was certain when looking back at everything he showed her over the past year. Everything was about helping people. Even when he was stopping the enormous boar from escaping, and even when he was alone fighting against Professor Fermack who infiltrated the Academy¡­ Also, when he was standing off against the undefeatable demi-human of an Unbreakable Vajra Body. In the end, none of those were for himself and were all a part of a process of him trying to help other people. He was like a hero of justice that could only be seen in fairy tales these days. How¡­ and why was he so tenacious? He was someone she couldn¡¯t understand, just like her grandfather the Sword Emperor. ¡°I see you are hard at work, thiste at night.¡± That was when a cracked voice echoed from behind. Surprised, Alicia quickly turned around. Behind was an old man with a gloomy countenance that was wearing a robe over his entire body. Unlike the Sword Emperor who was like a scorching active volcano, he was like the tranquil forest of dawn. ¡°Dumnorix.¡± Lawmaker, one of the top elders of druids, who was currently acting as Dun Scaith¡¯s assistant ¨C he looked directly at Korin with old murky eyes. ¡°Korin Lork. The Spear of the Queen. I wanted to have a conversation with you at least once.¡± ¡°Why, to persuade me into bing your ally?¡± As if he was talking to a 10-year-long friend, Korin started talking to his enemy. That strange social skill of his was another element of Korin that Alicia couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°Of course not. I am here to etch into my eyes the foe that we will have to go against some time in the future.¡± The old druid gazed up and down as if he was intrigued by the human called Korin Lork. Alicia wondered, how would Korin appear in the eyes of this druid who was as old as an ancient tree that was about to rot away? ¡°Really? Then as someone with the exact same thoughts about how we will be killing each other soon, let me ask you a question.¡± ¡°Please do speak. O Queen¡¯s Spear.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t druids like, environmentalists that love the forest and spirits? Why are you helping with the ¡®Advent of Paradise¡¯ when it¡¯s going to kill countless people?¡± It was her first time hearing it. Alicia was shocked by their extraordinary goals as well as the fact that Korin Lork was trying to fight against them. ¡°The word, ¡®love¡¯, is a bit misleading. We druids are just one with nature.¡± ¡°Then why would you¡­¡± In the middle of her speech, Alicia instinctively realized after receiving the ancient-tree-like gaze of Dumnorix. Even though he didn¡¯t do anything, she still felt her life being threatened. ¡°So tell me, why can¡¯t one, that loves the forest and spirits, wish for the death of humans?¡± ¡°??!¡± She felt a chill running down her spine. Korin seemed to have felt something simr as he gave a frown from the side. They could not feel any emotion from Dumnorix. The man who was as old as a rotting tree had an iprehensible aura to him. ¡°Humans are beings that destroy nature, and that will only elerate over time.¡± ¡°¡­Sounds exactly like what a normal environmentalist would say.¡± ¡°You are not wrong. I might perhaps be just a little bit more extreme and wicked though.¡± His lips contorted in a strange and unbefitting manner. ¡°It is okay for there to be less humans.¡± Alicia gulped from his spookiness. It was a very simple solution to protecting nature that even he himself considered wicked. Maybe it wasn¡¯t iprehensible that bards singing about harmony with nature and the spirits would hope for the downfall of humans. Even though her grandfather was a madman, these people were worse. They were continuing on with their evil deed despite being aware of its wickedness. Right when Alicia was feeling repulsed and even frightened by Dumnorix¡¯sments, Korin said after grabbing onto her trembling shoulders. ¡°Watch me, Alicia. I am going to kill all these evil bastards.¡± ¡°M, Mr. Korin¡­¡± Despite his murderous deration, Dumnorix chuckled as if he was looking at the cute tricks of a young grandson. ¡°However, that won¡¯t happen just yet. And at least for now, you are destined to fail.¡± ¡°How confident.¡± The two of them nced at one another¡¯s staff sapling. In spite of Yuel¡¯s continuous and heartfelt care, Korin¡¯s staff only grew by about 10 meters. That was magical enough already, butparisons were subjective as always. ¡°¡­¡± Dumnorix¡¯s staff was already 30 meters tall. It was roughly 3 times faster than their own already, and that pretty much exined how thispetition was going to end up. ¡°It is a huge problem that you do not have the red rowan fruits but more importantly, will you even make it in time for the Sr Eclipse in 2 weeks?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to even wait for the Sr Eclipse. It¡¯s about time to climb up.¡± ¡°Mhmm?¡± Korin said while confidently standing up. Under the skeptical gaze of Dumnorix, he took out a bottle from his bag. It was a bottle¡­ that contained some finely ground specks of gold. ¡°Uhh, Mr. Korin? Is this the same as the one you used during the staff task?¡± Alicia asked while recalling their second trial. Korin had taken out his hidden move back then when they were struggling to find an oak tree with a mistletoe. ¡°What¡­ is that?¡± Even a druid who had been living with nature for centuries could not recognize it. That was nothing strange though, because the original form of this golden powder was the one and only hidden piece in the world that never existed before, and will never exist again after this. ¡°Watch on. Now this is magic.¡± Opening the lid of the bottle, he poured a generous amount on the sapling like a farmer pouringpost on his crops. ¨C Kuruk! Kururuk¡­! The staff sapling reacted immediately. After absorbing the golden fertilizer, the sapling wriggled and¡ª ¡°Let us watch the miracle brought forth by the fertilizer made with a Yellow Gold Mandrake.¡± ¡ªAlong with arge shriek, the tree began to rapidly soar towards the sky. ¡ºYellow Gold Mandrake Fertilizer¡» -> Assists with the growth of magic nts. -> Creates a circr field of mana regeneration, recovering 185 per minute. Chapter 98: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (6) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (6) ? Next morning, we witnessed an oak tree that quite literally reached the heavens. Each and every one of its branches were thicker and longer than thousand-year-old trees as they all reached out to the sky. ¡°U, uahhh¡­¡± Alicia had already been impressed by the 10-meter-tall oak tree. After seeing it reach all the way to the sky, she even seemed a little horrified by it. ¡º?¡» ¡ª Sowilo I carved a rune on the ground as the rune of the sun immediately emitted light. Rune Magic wasn¡¯t a very efficient way of using magic but¡­ ¨C Suruk¡­! My body rapidly absorbed the aura bursting out from the ground. The AOE mana regeneration field was also working properly. ¡°W, what in the world happened?¡± ¡°This is the true might of a veteran yer.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± There were a few hardcore fans of the game that even went through the source code to analyze the game. After acquiring the Yellow Gold Mandrake and the White Silver Mandrake using the god of theke hidden piece, a few of those hardcore fans wondered if this would connect to other hidden secrets or not. Lo and behold, to their surprise, there really was an item that was rted to the Yellow Gold and White Silver Mandrakes! One of them was the Mandrake Fertilizer. It was something that could only be made by mixing a bunch of special materials along with a unique dirt, a very potent fertilizer that was overpowered in the ¡®farming content¡¯. ¡®I wasn¡¯t expecting it to be this OP though.¡¯ I did test it a few times on the way here. Using a little bit of the golden fertilizer, we tested it on a few different nts and we even proved its usability by using it during the oak tree and mistletoe trial but¡­ I still wasn¡¯t expecting it to be this powerful. The oak staff that sucked in all the nutrients from the remaining fertilizer was as tall as the sky and was literally touching the heavens. ¡°I do not know how you managed to do it, but nheless, you have done a magnificent job.¡± Uzkias remarked in awe while looking at the oak tree that was as tall as the heavens. The oak tree that was being grown by one of the strongest druids, Dumnorix, was barely reaching 300 meters in height. Compared to that, ours was at least 1 kilometer tall already, and besides, it was still in the process of growing in real-time and it probably wouldn¡¯t take that long until it would actually reach the heavens. ¡°Hmm. If you are going to depart now, let me give you my final advice as the Sage of Findias.¡± ¡°Please do, sir.¡± ¡°As I have said before, the Sr Eclipse will being soon. That will be the weakest moment of the Sun, and will be the only instance where you would be able toy your hands on it.¡± In other words, the Sun, iomh Sis was only obtainable during the Sr Eclipse. ¡®Are there no restrictions after you obtain it once?¡¯ In thest iteration, it used to be in the possession of one of the King¡¯s subjects, the King of Beauty, Eochaid Bres1 Eochaid Bres: Previously Ohad ¨C https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bres, and he had been using it regardless of whether it was the Sr Eclipse or not. ¡°Everything is now in your hands, young hero.¡± With thosest words, Uzkias went back to his house as if he had done everything that needed to be done. ¡°Mr. Korin. Are we setting off immediately?¡± ¡°Yeah. It won¡¯t end in just a day or two. We need to grab some rations and clothes before we start climbing it.¡± ¡°Uhh, I will go tell Sister to get ready.¡± What was unfortunate was that my strongest members weren¡¯t ready yet. I roughly knew how to obtain the Sun, but the problem was the Sky Titans protecting it, as well as things I was unaware of. It would have been reassuring to have Hua Ran and Marie with us, but¡­ if the two of them didn¡¯t arrive in time, we would have no choice but to set off by ourselves. ¡°We need to depart in a week at thetest. Hopefully they¡¯lle by then.¡± **** Night. Under the moon, Alicia was swinging her sword. While waiting for Marie and Hua Ran to arrive, she learned the sword from the Sword Emperor during the day and repeated what she learned at night. Her n was to continue it until Korin said it was time to leave. ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­!¡± Ever since the Sword Challenge, Alicia had broken away fromziness and began to seriously train in the way of the sword, but that was not because she was sincerely intrigued by the sword. She was more focused on following Korin Lork to the training rooms and spending time with him while training together. This was the first time she was training for the sole purpose of increasing her skills with the sword. It reminded her of her childhood days, back when she chased after the steps of her older sister and got absentmindedly absorbed into swordsmanship. Alicia had never been so immersed in the sword ever since she first cut a person. As someone who was afraid of herself using the sword, she wasn¡¯t used to this feeling. ¡°Haa¡­¡± Her entire body was drenched in sweat. Despite her trembling hands, Alicia desperately held onto her Demon-ying Sword while wiping the sweat off of her forehead. Right when she was about to continue swinging her sword, a cold voice reached her ears from behind. ¡°Stop there. You will simply end up ruining your body.¡± ¡°¡­Sister.¡± Lunia Arden ¡ªher older sister from another mother¡ª walked up to her while giving her a bottle of water. ¡°Training is about forcing yourself to your limits and slowly exceeding it over time. Any more than that right now for you is torture, not training.¡± ¡°¡­Okay.¡± Alicia agreed and sat down on the chair that Yuel left for her. ¡°Have you had dinner?¡± ¡°¡­Not yet.¡± Hearing that, Lunia picked something up from her pocket and tossed it at her. Without even seeing it, Alicia knew what it was. Honey bomb candy. It was Alicia¡¯s favorite candy that was so sweet that it numbed your tongue. ¡ºYou carry that around the whole time. Do you like it?¡» ¡ºYes¡­ Sister. I love it.¡» ¡ºI see.¡» Looking back, that was probably when Lunia started to carry these candies around in her pocket. Remembering that tickled her heart in a pleasant manner, but it also put her mind in dismay. She had been having a myriad of contrasting emotions whenever looking at her older sister these days, ever since she returned home for the winter holiday. ¡°Sister. Do you like Mr. Korin?¡± Huh? Alicia was surprised after saying that. Why did I say that, she asked herself. That came out of nowhere, didn¡¯t it? ¡°L, like, I mean¡­¡± ¡°Well, he is not a bad man.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± Seeing the shivering eyes of her younger sister, Lunia floated a rare smile on her lips. ¡°Objectively speaking, he is an outstanding man, whether it be appearance or talents.¡± In the quiet secretnds of the druids, Lunia¡¯s voice reached her ears all too well. Alicia wanted to say something back, but her lips refused to part. She hesitated and tried to look for the right words to say, but in the end, the only thing that left her lips was a half-assedint. ¡°Y, you can¡¯t decide marriage just from¡­¡± ¡°Naturally, I too am ady myself. I would not have asked for his hand in marriage just for external reasons.¡± ¡°T, then¡­¡± ¡°He is a kind-hearted man. If it is him, I am sure the marriage life in the future will fare smoothly. He is someone who will try his best to satisfy his wife.¡± ¡°B, but¡­¡± Alicia felt the need to say something back. Even though she didn¡¯t know why, she had the urge to say something, and¡­ ¡°Your ¡®age¡¯ gap is quite big as well¡­¡± She unconsciously put emphasis on the word, ¡®age¡¯, as a sharp look immediately appeared in Lunia¡¯s eyes. ¡°It is true that there is some difference in experience, but that is precisely why I have abundance in things that he would not be able to experience from young ones.¡± ¡°I, I wonder if that¡¯s true.¡± After that, the two sisters silently gazed at each other without saying anything else. Strangely enough, Alicia used to be so intimidated by Lunia that she couldn¡¯t even look into her eyes for an extended period of time, and yet here, their eye contactsted more than 10 seconds. Their eyes were so fiery that they were even giving off sparks. Anyone seeing it would have screamed out loud in shock. Despite seeing that rare side of her younger sister, Lunia inwardly gave a sneer. It was clear that she didn¡¯t want to have him taken away ¨C Lunia long knew about the nature of the emotion she had for Korin. However, Alicia wasn¡¯t explicitly revealing it. In fact, she would have done something already if she even knew about it. Alicia had yet to even realize the nature of her own emotions. Otherwise, there was no way something trivial like this was the only objection she would give despite hearing about his engagement. Lunia was someone who had to immediatelyy her hands on something she decided to have, or at least try to. Therefore, the fact that Alicia wasn¡¯t even aware of the emotion she was feeling for the first time in her life was so naive of her that Lunia couldn¡¯t help but look down on her and sneer. That naivety and indecision was Alicia¡¯s shoring. Lunia felt the need to provoke her regardless of how cheap it may sound. Fights had to be fair. Since that was her lifelong conviction, Lunia wanted to make her younger sister stand on the starting line at the very least before the start of the battle. She had to stand at the same starting point as her and set off with the same re signal. There, Lunia woulde out victorious and gaze down at her younger sister with triumphant eyes. Telling her, that she lost; And that he was taken from her. The wine in that chalice of victory would most certainly be the sweetest of them all. ¡°He has already agreed that he and I will have an engagement ceremony after this is over.¡± Even though that was a false engagement tied by a contract, Lunia didn¡¯t bother revealing that. ¡°T, that can¡¯t be¡­¡± Oblivious to all the inner workings of their engagement, Alicia was enveloped in an overwhelming sense of defeat. At the same time, her mind brought her back to the illusion she saw when first entering the secretnds. ¡ºBrother-inw¡­ Sister is noting home tonight.¡» She recalled that treacherous act that she had fervently denied while screaming to herself. And then, she ended up imagining that delusion that should have been forever kept a secret. If that same situation were to unfold, would she do the same thing? Why was it that she couldn¡¯t say no to that straight away? **** Marie went past the Arden headquarters in the East and headed straight to the border. In order to meet Korin as quickly as possible, she rode the Hresvelgr and relied on Doggo¡¯s senses to fly through the mountain range of demonic beasts. ¡°Doggo. Where is daddy¡¯s smell headed?¡± ¡°Woof! Woof woof¡­!¡± Doggo pointed at a direction with its long hands as Marie quickly pulled the reins of the Hresvelgr to slightly modify the direction. In the middle of a long flight, a sudden thud echoed across the mountains all the way to the sky she was in. ¨C Kwaang! Kwang! Kwaaaang¡­! ¡°W, what is that?¡± Hearing that horrendous noise of nature being destroyed, Marie turned her eyes and was baffled by the unbelievable sight. ¨C Kwang! Kwagang! Kwaang¡­! Something was racing through the forest in a straight line. There were no paths in the woods. Roads weren¡¯t developed and traveling through an ocean of trees was supposed to be extremely tiring. However, that thing that was running through the forest was speeding in a straight line as if it was running on a wide plot of barrennd. Everything in its path was being destroyed. ¡°H, Hua Ran?!¡± The one crushing through the hundred-year-old trees with their bare body was a small girl wearing nun clothes. There was only one person she could think of that could pull that off. ¡°W, what is she¡­?!¡± It was then. In the middle of her non-stop dash, Hua Ran looked up at Marie¡¯s eyes. Their eye contact, however,sted only a split second. ¡°Huh? She¡­ disappeared?¡± Hua Ran suddenly vanished from her sight in the blink of an eye, but that was when something else entered her sight which grabbed her attention even more. At the end of her gaze was an enormous tree that was so tall it was about to reach the sky. ¡°I, is that it?¡± That was also in the same direction as the ce Doggo was pointing at, as well as where Hua Ran disappeared. It was an incrediblyrge tree so Marie decided to look for Hua Ran for starters andnded on the ground. ¡°Hmm¡­ Daddy is nearby, you say?¡± ¡°Woof!¡± Her argument was supported by Doggo¡¯s bark. Marie turned to the Hresvelgr and said while feeding it a bag of potatoes. ¡°For now, stay in the sky and follow us from behind. I will call you if something happens.¡± ¡°Krrrhk¡­!¡± Therge eagle, Hresvelgr, understood humannguage and flew up into the sky. ¡°The ce where Hua Ran disappeared is¡­¡± Relying on the enormous oak tree as andmark, Marie began searching the forest. After taking a few steps forward, as soon as she arrived at the ce where Hua Ran had disappeared¡­ ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡°Huh?¡± Everything suddenly turned dark. Or did they? When Marie dizzily came to herself, she was sitting inside a chapel. ¡°The bride and the bridegroom just graduated from the Academy, right? I heard they did the deed during enrolment!¡± ¡°Oh my oh my! Was it a shotgun marriage? Just what I would expect from such a wonderful couple! Hohoho!!¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± A peaceful melody from the organ was echoing across the chapel with kids dozing off. Unlike the calm and simple performance, the chapel was fancy and well-decorated. It was rare for chapels to be decorated like this, considering how religions usually talked about frugality, harmony, and mercy. This was something that could generally only be seen at sacred chapels like the Grand Chapel of Zeon. Thanks to that, Marie realized that she was in someone else¡¯s marriage. ¡°The bride will now be entering.¡± Along with the sonorous voice of the priest, therge main gates of the chapel opened as the bride then walked in. The wedding dress of the bride had a white background with fancy golden strings and hundreds of embedded diamonds. That was the wedding dress of her dream. At times, she used to imagine wearing a dress like that and walking down the red carpet of a wedding hall with a specific boy. ¡°Ugh¡­ Whose marriage was this again?¡± In the middle of her attempt to remember what she had forgotten, Marie was shocked after seeing the bride. ¡°Hua Ran?!¡± The bride was walking in with a flushed and embarrassed look on her face, and was led down the red carpet by Josephine. ¡°Wow, so pretty.¡± ¡°What a beautiful youngdy.¡± The olddies sitting next to her were giving Hua Ranpliments, and created a fuss while saying both the bride and bridegroom looked wonderful. However, none of that reached her ears. ¡°A, ahaha¡­ Hua Ran is getting married, huh? W, why did I not know about this? Ahahahaha¡­¡± She was hit by an incredibly ominous feeling. Who was Hua Ran? She was like a boulder who always had an indifferent and carefree attitude to whatever happened in the world, was she not? Who would a girl like that get married to with such an embarrassed look on her face, one that had the same shade as the red carpet beneath her feet. There was only one person she could think of. ¡°I, it can¡¯t be¡­ There¡¯s no way. Surely¡­¡± ¡°The bridegroom will now enter¡­!¡± The priest¡¯s voice, however, mercilessly trampled on the girl¡¯s wish as the boy appeared from behind the opened doors of the chapel. Wearing a ssic southern-style suit with obsidian buttons and a luxurious watch on his wrist, the boy nervously walked inside. After arriving next to the bride, he received her hand from the bride¡¯s guardian as the two of them walked to the hosting priest of the ceremony. ¡°¡ª¡ª¨C¡± Light shone through the stained sses on the ceiling and the walls, brightening up the bride and the bridegroom as if blessing their future¡­ and Marie sat there nkly watching the two of them. All she could do was vacantly sit there and watch them. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ There were two people who looked extremely happy and harmonious. Anyone looking at the two of them would smile from how wonderful they looked together, but that did not apply to Ran. ¡°¡­¡­Oppa.¡± A boy was giving a wide smile to the girl with water-colored hair who did not even bother trying to hide her flushed cheeks. Facing each other with deeply affectionate eyes, they smiled brightly like fools. It was clear from their eyes that they loved each other a lot. Seeing them cherish each other like lovers, Ran bit her lips. ¡°¡­We lost.¡± He was taken from her. He was stolen. Ran knew that wasn¡¯t the right way to think about it, but she couldn¡¯t stop herself froming up with such negative thoughts. She couldn¡¯t help but find it very unfair. Even though she had everything; A happy family, wealth, and status¡­ Compared to that, all she ever had was her oppa, and that was the only person she had ever wanted. She had everything, so why couldn¡¯t Marie give him to her at the very least? Ran couldn¡¯t stop those greedy thoughts andints. She was too young and inexperienced to hide and settle those negative thoughts. In the end, her jealousy and hatred even headed toward the one she loved. ¡°It was my first time though¡­¡± It was her first time giving her heart to someone, and it was also her first time touching a boy¡¯s hand. ¡°He took all of my firsts¡­¡± So¡­ why aren¡¯t you with me? I gave you my everything, and can give you everything¡­ So why did you throw me away, oppa? She felt upset, sad, frustrated, and clueless from that sense of betrayal. The ideal image of happiness in front of her was at the cost of her own happiness. **** Uzkias, the guardian of Findias, curiously asked while gazing at the two girls that had been taken to the town hall. ¡°So, did you say they had been like that for a ¡®few days¡¯?¡± ¡°Yes, sage.¡± There were two more outsiders who visited the secretnds of Findias, who lost their consciousness aftering in contact with the illusionary fog surrounding the city. Normally, they would have sent them back for being unable to beat their illusions, but they couldn¡¯t dare do that to those girls. ¡­¡­¡­!!! A frightening aura was being emitted by them. The outburst of energy from their unstable emotions were so immense that they were blocking anyone from touching them. ¡°They weren¡¯t like this when we first brought them here though¡­¡± ¡°I wonder what they are seeing in their illusions.¡± The druids of the secretnds were appalled by the ridiculous amount of their aura and mana. The emotions of these transcendent beings were threatening to break the barriers of the city. ¡°Haa¡­ At this rate, they are about to create cracks on our barrier. I will personally go into their illusions and guide them outside.¡± ¡°Do you need our help, sir?¡± ¡°No. I will divide my consciousness into two to lead both girls out at once.¡± Interfering with another¡¯s mind was a very risky task. Using the hidden technique of druids, Uzkias separated his consciousness into two and entered the illusions of the two girls. ¡º¡­¡­What?¡» After entering the illusions of the two girls¡­ Marie Dunareff and Hua Ran, Uzkias was utterly shocked. ¡ºWhat has the worlde to? How could these young girls be so¡­¡» One thing was certain, the two girls were soon to wake up from their illusions without Uzkias having to guide them out. Footnotes:
  • 1 Eochaid Bres: Previously Ohad ¨C https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bres
Chapter 99: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (7) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (7) ? ¡°¡­They¡¯re noting.¡± ¡°Like, what is going on¡­?¡± The druids of Findias did not know that the two girls stuck in their illusions were a part of Korin¡¯s group. That was why they hadid them down at one of the city¡¯s halls, thinking that they would wake up sometime soon. ¡°Korin. Anyter than this and there will be no advantage to our previous lead.¡± ¡°Sister, but¡­¡± ¡°No, Miss Lunia is right. If we wait any longer than this, our advantage over Scaith¡¯s group will turn meaningless.¡± In the end, Korin decided to start climbing the oak tree. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Korin, Alicia, Lunia and Yuel. The four of them started climbing the enormous oak tree. Meanwhile, Scaith and Dumnorix were ring at them with a sharp look in their eyes. **** Marie silently watched over the two happy people. Guests congratted them; the choir sang songs and the priest blessed their future. Everyone in the chapel was happy except for Marie. 1 year went by. Hua Ran gave birth to a child. Watching the two of them buy baby clothes together, Marie unknowingly bit her lower lips, not knowing that her lips were turning red with blood. Another year went by. The child turned 1 year old. Seeing the baby toddle forward reminded her of Korin. Another year went by. She saw Korin preparing an event for the wedding anniversary. He didn¡¯t prepare much, but it still allowed her to see just how considerate he was. If only she was the one instead¡­ Another year went by. ¡°¡­I wish you all the best, Korin.¡± She decided to ept it. Marie decided to wish the best for her loved one. It seemed that they weren¡¯t meant to be ¨C they weren¡¯t lovers, and it was already toote for her to do anything. That was why she chose to bless them. For their happiness. Another year went by. ¡°Here you go, Hua Ran. A birthday present¡­!¡± She became friends. Hiding her inner turmoil and as a senior and a friend, she congratted them on several anniversaries and went out together. However, she couldn¡¯t stop her eyes from going to the husband of her junior. No, no no. She had to hope for their happiness. She had to wish for their best. Another year went by. ¡°Korin. Isn¡¯t that¡­ the same clothes asst year?¡± ¡°Yeah. Well, they are expensive, right?¡± Marie said while ncing at the suit with obsidian buttons. That was the same suit he wore in the wedding ceremony that was being worn again and again. Although the two of them were happy, they were leading a very poor and impoverished life. Even the baby¡¯s nanny was from a humble background with nothing special. Even those meals, clothes, houses, andnd¡­ ¡®If it was me¡­¡¯ she thought to herself, thinking about all the things she would have done for him. Another year went by, followed by another year. Time flew like an arrow. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Marie still couldn¡¯t ept it. Looking at the family, her eyes gleamed with unsightly jealousy and greed. I liked him first. I met him first. I can give him more things. Land, mines, treasures, status, everything. He doesn¡¯t need to do anything. All he needs to do is wait at my home and smile at me when I¡¯m back. That was all he needed to do. As long as he could do that, If only he did that for me, I would have given my everything¡­ ¡®Ah, I see¡¯. That was when she realized it. She realized that she could never ept this defeat. Marie admitted the terrible and evil emotion inside her. That was also when she noticed that her first love hadn¡¯t failed. It was just that it hadn¡¯t seeded just yet. In that case, all she had to do was make it seed. The world might tell her she was toote; that it was her loss and that she had to acknowledge her defeat but Marie did not care about any of that. All she needed to do was change it to the reality she wanted it to be. Defeat was not an option. That was the road she chose. Tricks, strategies, wealth, and authority. Marie thought about all the means she had under her belt, but it was destined to turn into a horrible and long battle if she were to use everything she had in her kit. Would Korin hate it though? Would he start hating me? That was the only thing she couldn¡¯t allow; his opinion of her was the thing that mattered the most to her. Her tricks and strategies had to be carried out in secret, and she had to use her power and wealth behind his back. She considered all of her options and that was when she noticed the wrinkles near Korin¡¯s lips. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Seeing his grown-up child who was now old enough to enter the Academy, Marie recalled that Korin Lork was just a normal human. As a vampire, it was possible for her to live forever as long as she had enough blood. Vampires in general could live almost forever except for the fact that they had to be away from sunlight but Marie was at the level of a Vampire Elder who had even ovee sunlight with her innate talents. Compared to that, Korin was just a normal human who would live 100 years at max. His life was destined toe to an end one day. Right, that was a good approach. Why didn¡¯t she think about that till now? 100 years. Korin was a healthy knight so he would probably live 100 years, which was yieldable. It was uncertain how long Hua Ran would live for, but that didn¡¯t stop Korin from having a life limit. 100 years would be a long-enough wait. After that, all she had to do was take him away after Hua Ran had her fill. She could then make him into hers. It was easy for a higher-status vampire like her to make someone into her familiar. What would happen after that? Hua Ran might chase after them but it was okay. Lower vampires were subordinates to higher vampires. Hierarchy was immensely important, especially for direct links like Korin who would turn into a vampire from her own blood. Korin would have no choice but to listen to hermands. He might be against it at the start but that was okay. As long as she honestly told him about how she didn¡¯t want him to die, and that she was hoping for him to live forever, he would probably understand her. Lastly, if she could help him ovee sunlight¡­ Throughout that process which would take centuries for a normal vampire, Korin would be hers and hers alone. Like that, the traces left behind by that woman would be worn down and weathered away into nothing. He would turn back to his clear and untainted self and live with her forever. ¡°I¡­ am the only one that can give Korin eternal life.¡± 100 years? She could yield that much, but he would be hers after 100 years. Those unpleasant decades would bepletely erased away by her. The Vampire Elder girl gave a crooked smile, telling herself that that conclusion would bring happiness to everyone. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ There was a time when she saw a beautiful artifact made of ss. It was a ss doll that her father got for her from a farawaynd from his acquaintance when she was lying on her bed, too ill to even move an inch. The doll was so beautiful and pretty, but appeared so fragile that it would break from a single touch. The days of the boy and the girl were so beautiful and colorful like that ss doll. ¡®What are you doing?¡¯ ¡°¡­Watching them.¡± For no reason, she kept watching the two people. It might have been better if the two sisters hadn¡¯t been sharing a body. Their emotions were being shared, so Hua and Ran were able to feel each other¡¯s displeasure. Because of that, their displeasure was multiplied twofold and their minds led to worse and more vicious thoughts. They watched the two of them hold each other by their hands. They watched him debone the fish for Marie. It was the same thing as the thing he had done for both Hua and Ran, but it was clear that his actions now meant a lot more. It made them feel very unpleasant. Ran couldn¡¯t take her eyes off of their interlocked fingers. For a long time, she had no choice but to watch them. Their happiness and their beautiful harmony of emotions were so terribly unpleasant to see that she couldn¡¯t bear it, but even so, she continued looking at them. She just couldn¡¯t take her eyes off of them. That meant that Hua also had to look at the same thing, as one who shared the vision with her. ¡®What do you want to do?¡¯ ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know. Failure¡­ wasn¡¯t a part of my n.¡± ¡®n?¡¯ ¡°Un. My n was to love like normal, have a normal rtionship, a normal family and children¡­ and call him with every title possible.¡± Oppa, honey, love, hubby, darling. The girl had a very strong desire for the ¡®norm¡¯, due to lying on the bed the whole time with the thought that she wouldn¡¯t be able to live for a long time. She had been hoping to share that with her oppa. ¡®Why can¡¯t we do that now?¡¯ ¡°Obviously because¡­¡± Ran stopped and didn¡¯t bother exining it to Hua. Her younger sister, who was barely 3 years old, did not know about themon sense of human society and its rules. Because she tended to solve her immediate wishes whenever possible, she couldn¡¯t help but have a very simple way of thinking. ¡®Do you need help?¡¯ ¡°Help? What do you mean by that?¡± ¡®I mean I can help you get what you want, Ran.¡¯ After hearing Hua¡¯s words, Ran tilted her head. Unfortunately, she had no other choice but to rely on her help, even if that meant crushing the perfectly-crafted ss doll. ¡°Been a while. Have you been fine?¡± The boy acted like usual. His kindness tickled her cheeks and made her feel feverish on her face but Hua Ran pretended indifference while gazing at him. Then, she grabbed onto his hands while locking her fingers with his. ¡°¡­Hua Ran?¡± ¡°Try to escape.¡± Her hands were tinypared to therge hands of the boy. But when she added power to her locked fingers, the boy cried out in pain. ¡°Ugh¡­!¡± Then, he tried as hard as he could but could not escape from her grip. The stubborn boy tried to use his own weight by leaning back, but even after falling onto the bed behind him, he still couldn¡¯t escape from her grip. Hua Ran got on top of him, but still kept her fingers locked in his. ¡°¡­Hmm.¡± One of her red eyes turned blue. Seeing that the boy couldn¡¯t escape from her grip no matter what he did despite her loose fingers, Ran realized something. ¡®Huh? He is¡­¡¯ ¡°Look. He¡¯s weaker than you think.¡± He was weak. Despite his stubborn attempt, the boy just couldn¡¯t escape from her hands. It was shocking how Korin, who had looked so reliable and enormous in her eyes, was this weak. ¡°Hmm¡­ You are weak, huh. Hehe, oppa is weak, huh.¡± Afterying him down on the bed, Ran licked the cold sweat falling down his cheeks. It was salty. ¡°You are¡­ in the wrong, oppa¡­ ¡°It¡¯s because you keep on looking at someone else and not me¡­¡± With a rugged breath, she gazed down at the boy beneath her. On his corboneing down from his shoulders was a trace left behind by that woman. ¡°Horrible¡­¡± Recalling those disgusting red eyes of the woman as she openly sucked his blood for her to see made her feel unpleasant again. She must have used oppa¡¯s kind heart and begged for blood, and used that to threaten him into going out with her. ¨C Kaduk! Ran bit into the fang marks left behind on his neck. She covered up the other woman¡¯s teeth marks which made her feel a little better. ¡°Haa¡­¡± Their faces drew closer in, to the point that their breaths were blowing into each other¡¯s face. Those pretty sunset-colored eyes of his were shaking from a myriad of emotions, but that didn¡¯t stop her. She wouldn¡¯t have even attempted anything if she was going to stop there. ¡°Oppa¡­¡± Her lips twisted in a bewitching manner. Guilt and hesitation¡­ All of that crumbled into nothing in front of her greed. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault.¡± I took his first. Just like how he took all of my firsts. His first is also mine. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The next morning, Hua Ran gave a benevolent smile while looking at the little baby in her arms. After all, it wasmon sense that a stork would deliver a baby when a pair of male and femaleid down on the bed and spent the night with their fingers locked. **** By utter coincidence, or perhaps because of a prank of a god, or even fate, the two girls woke up at the same time. ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± Marie and Hua Ran nkly looked at each other on top of the beds ced by the druids. Their cheeks blushed in red as they then realized what they had been doing until now. ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± Everything was so silent that even the crawling noise of a worm would echo inside the room. In the midst of that silence, the two girls silently shared a knowing gaze and nodded at each other. Let¡¯s forget it. Let¡¯s forget everything that just happened. The two of them immediately realized that they had just experienced the most embarrassing moment of their life which only they were aware of. ¡°¡­Looks like you woke up.¡± However, there was another person in the room. ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°W, who might you be?¡± ¡°I am Uzkias, the guardian of this ce, Findias. Uhh¡­ Kuhum!¡± He was about to give some advice as an adult that something like that was no good no matter how strong of a conviction they had but¡­ he soon decided to gloss over their embarrassing memories because if the two girls started a rampage out of embarrassment¡­ Findias might be reduced to rubble. ¡°If you are here to see Korin Lork, you were a littlete.¡± ¡°What do you¡­ mean?¡± ¡°They have already started climbing the tree to reach the sky. That was 3 days ago.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°W, we werete, huh.¡± Marie was in the middle of wondering whether they would be able to make it in time even if they started chasing after him now, but that was when she tilted her head after noticing something. ¡°How did you know we were here to see Korin?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Uzkias was not inconsiderate enough to tell the two girls that he had taken a glimpse into their illusions and had seen how the cause of their shady, treacherous and extreme decisions had been the same boy. ¡°¡­ I heard from Korin Lork and was waiting for you to arrive.¡± He decided to forget the embarrassing memories of the two girls¡­ or rather the three girls and live on without questioning it. ¡°Tch tch. What has the worlde to. Kuhum¡­!¡± **** Climbing a mountain wasn¡¯t easy, especially when climbing an unfrequented mountain with no roads. So how hard would climbing a tree be? How would you climb up the steep slope of a trunk? Normally, the idea of climbing a tree all the way to the sky would sound very ridiculous and impossible. ¡°Thank you for your kind help, spirits.¡± Climbing the tree was actually not as hard as one would expect. Thanks to the help of the spirits guiding the way for Yuel and the oak tree twisting its own body to create a path with its branches, we were able to climb up an endless spiral staircase and reach the pinnacle where we were just below the clouds in just 3 days. ¡°We are still not there, it seems.¡± ¡°But looking at the speed, I think we should be there in another 20 or 30 minutes,¡± I replied. ¡°Ugh¡­ It¡¯s very cold.¡± We were right beneath the clouds so we were probably about 8 kilometers aboveground, and it was thus very normal for her to be cold. I took off one of the coats I was wearing and threw it over Alicia. ¡°We¡¯ll be there in a bit. Hold on just a little bit more.¡± ¡°Aht¡­ t, thank you.¡± ¡°Korin. By the way, do you know what it is that¡¯s on top of the clouds?¡± I was in the middle of carving rune letters onto the tree with my spear when Yuel asked a question. Even though she was a druid, she was still young and had been living elsewhere so she didn¡¯t seem very familiar with the secrets of Findias. ¡°All the tests and trials we went through were for us to reach the sky. It sounds straightforward but ambiguous at the same time.¡± ¡®Reach the sky¡¯. Then what? Is it really possible to just pick up the Sun with your hands? That might be the case if we were talking about a mythological story but this was different; we were talking about real life. Considering the distance between the and the sun, it was impossible to reach the Sun just by climbing up to the clouds. ¡°iomh Sis is referred to as the Sun of Findias. You know that, right?¡± ¡°I heard in fairy tales that it was one of the treasures of the old gods.¡± ¡°The 4 great treasures of the Dananns do exist.¡± The 4 great treasures that would have all ended up in the hands of Tates Valtazar were as follows: The Magic of Murias, the Cauldron of Dagda. Destiny Stone of Falias, Lia Fail. Spear of Light of Gorias, Areadbhair. Andstly, the Sword of Light, also known as the Sword of the Sun, iomh Sis of Findias. Back in the original plot of the game when chasing after the final boss, Tates Valtazar, and his subordinates, the yer would visit Gorias and Murias where all the treasures had already been taken out of. But by going through the puzzles and solving the hidden pieces of information, it was possible to figure out where the treasures had been sealed. The magic cauldron of Murias was sealed deep underground, in a dark and bottomless pit filled with slithering snakes, whereas the Spear of Light was recorded to show itself along with the emission of light that came from the sessful analysis of an old mechanical device, hidden deep inside a cave. Those were just bs of text that yers would normally skim through during the game, but judging based on those points, it was possible to assume that the legends of iomh Sis were slightly exaggerated, and that it was within reach. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s normal for treasures to hide in secretnds, whether it be underground, aboveground¡­ or even above the clouds.¡± Soon, the oak tree soared through the clouds. Following the branches, we walked up to the world above the clouds and¡­ ¡°Wahh¡­¡± In front of us was a floating ind. This was the true secretnd of Findias, hiding in the clouds. ¡°Attention customers. We are about to reach our final destination, the floating ind of Findias. The weather is looking very fine today but unfortunately, the natives of thisnd will be very hostile to us.¡± It was arge rocky ind. Jumping off of the oak tree that was touching the ind, I continued while giving a deep gentleman bow. ¡°We do not have any visas, so it is time for us to smuggle inside.¡± On therge ind of rocks was a castle of giants. Chapter 100: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (8) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (8) ? The gates alone of the enormous castle reached 30 meters in height so it was natural for us to immediately think about another species. ¡°Is it a castle of giants?¡± ¡°Seems so.¡± ¡°Do we have to solve riddles again?¡± ¡°Hopefully not.¡± All of us here would fail if we had to solve more riddles or something. Aside from Alicia and Lunia, even Yuel seemed quite unfamiliar with riddles. ¡°It would probably be hard for us to enter through the main gates. Because the red rowan fruits are supposed to act as the entry ticket,¡± said Yuel. Unfortunately, we had failed at gathering the rowan fruits. Thus, the normal approach would be to give up on entering through the main entrance but¡­ there were other ways around it. ¡°In any case, the walls¡­ are really high.¡± ¡°Wow¡­ It¡¯s at least 50 meters tall.¡± The walls were just as enormous as the huge gates. Besides, they were maintained so well that I couldn¡¯t see any holes in them. Well-maintained 50-meter-tall walls, huh. That at least told us something. ¡°Seems it does not have Sky Titans inside at the very least.¡± Lunia appeared to have caught on the same points as me. Hearing that from her sister, Alicia also noticed something. ¡°Uhh, that¡¯s true. It¡¯s a bit¡­ small for it to be a castle for Sky Titans, right?¡± It was definitely a gigantic castle, but wasn¡¯t big enough to hold Sky Titans. ¡°But didn¡¯t Mr. Uzkias say there would be giants protecting the Sun here?¡± ¡°It is most certainly just as he said. There are giants, but they are not Sky Titans.¡± ¡°Then?¡± ¡°Well, I guess we¡¯ll find out after knocking on the gates.¡± I walked up to the castle gates while saying that. We weren¡¯t the invited guests and we didn¡¯t have the important rowan fruits either, but¡­ ¡°ANYONE INSIDEEEEEE¡­!!?¡± I shouted as loudly as I could. It was an extremely loud voice for a human, but it was probably just slightly on the louder side for them. Right ¨C for ¡®them¡¯. ¨C Creakkk¡­! My voice seemed to have reached the inside of the castle, as the gates started creaking open. ¡°M, Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. We are ¡®rightful¡¯ guests.¡± ¡°What is your n?¡± Lunia asked. ¡°We are going to be winging everything from here onwards. Just don¡¯t get too nervous.¡± I was not aware of the background story of this ce. It was an unexplorednd of mystery that hadn¡¯t been visited both in the game and in my previous iteration. Everything here was outside the yer¡¯s cognition and the only option for us was to wing it. But fortunately¡­ing up with random things on the spot was my forte. ¡°Who are you all?¡± It was a loud voice, but wasn¡¯t sonorous enough to shake the pebbles and rocks on the ground as we had been expecting. The owner of the voice soon appeared along with tens of simr humanoid figures. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Giants?¡± Giants that were all taller than 5 meters were gathered together as a crowd. It was a phenomenal and rare sight of a bunch of mid-boss-level entities, that were at least semi-Grade 1 or above, inrge bulks. ¡°Korin¡­ Are you going to fight them?¡± ¡°Of course not. I am not stupid enough to go for a frontal fight against dozens of giants.¡± Fighting wasn¡¯t an option; at least until the Sr Eclipse in 2 days¡¯ time. ¡°Humans? Humans!¡± ¡°Ohh. Four humans? Looking very juicy.¡± ¡°A stew! We are having a human stew tonight!¡± The giants surrounded us while shouting out terrifying sentences. One of the special traits of giants was that they could eat everything including ¡®humans¡¯. Cannibalism was the worst trait of giants, and was one of the reasons why giants were still treated as demi-humans by humans. ¡°U, uaahhh¡­ Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We have Yuel on our side!¡± ¡°Huh? Me?¡± ¡®I don¡¯t have any means to stop dozens of giants though?¡¯ was the look on her face. ¡°Wait! We have been personally sent by the Sky Titan, Sir Searbhan, and the Sage of Findias, Uzkias!¡± ¡°???¡± After shouting that, I could feel my party members sending me puzzled gazes. ¡°Searbhan? Uzkias?¡± Hearing those names, the leader of the giants halted his feet. As I expected¡­ there seemed to be not only a connection between Findias and the floating ind of Findias, but also a regr exchange. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°Speak in more detail, human.¡± Now, this was where I had to be very careful with my replies. Why did Uzkias set the red rowan fruits as the objective of one of the trials? That was most likely a ticket or a necessary device ¨C without that, we couldn¡¯ty our hands on the Sun, at least not in a valid manner. Currently, we had two things that were going well for us. First was that we managed to arrive ¡®before¡¯ Scaith thanks to the fertilizer made with the Yellow Gold Mandrake, And second was that we had information about Uzkias, Searbhan, and the red fruits of the rowan tree, thanks to attempting the trial. Adding those two points resulted in the following. ¡°We have been sent beforehand by the honorable hero, Mr. Dun Scaith!¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± Lying. ¡°Dun Scaith? Who is that?¡± ¡°Yes, let me exin sir! He is our lord and the great hero who haspleted all the trials! He will be making his way very soon with the red fruits of the magical rowan tree!¡± If these giants were the ones protecting the Sun, there was no way they wouldn¡¯t have any connection with Findias. In other words, it would be impossible for them to ignore the importance of the names, Uzkias and Searbhan. ¡°Boss! Does that mean these guys are guests from Sir Searbhan and Uzkias?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Red rowan fruits, Uzkias and Searbhan. Those were all names that the natives of the floating ind of Findias should be aware of. Now, it was time for the finishing blow. ¡°And you see, Miss Yuel here is the druid who hase instead of Mr. Uzkias!¡± ¡°Ehk? Korin?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ How could I have possibly missed a druid. But, did you say this little girl is here instead of the sage?¡± ¡°Yes sir! Miss Yuel is the future guardian of Findias that will be seeding Mr. Uzkias! Mr. Uzkias has been very ill and Miss Yuel here has been chosen as the future sessor!¡± Of course, it was another lie, but there was something we had that could add credibility to that falsehood. ¡°O, Miss Yuel! Please show us your marvelous power!¡± ¡°H, h, huh? O, okay¡­!¡± Yuel, who had been in a stupor from my constant lies, replied with her strongest spell. ? (Sail) ? (Ifin) ? (Ur) ? (Uath) ? (Straif) Twigs and branches gathered to form the shape of a giant ¨C a wooden doll that was evenrger than the giants. Wickerman. That was the greatest spell of druids that were only inherited by the sages of each forest. A Wickerman summoned with pure mana without a single sacrifice wouldn¡¯t evenst more than a minute, but that was more than enough to prove something to the giants. The fact that she could raise a Wickerman, which was only permitted to the chosen few druids, was the same as saying that she was a sage of a forest. ¡°Hmm¡­ She really is the sage of the forest.¡± Since the giants couldn¡¯t leave the ind, Findias on the ground was probably the only ce they could interact with. In other words, the only things they could possibly be aware of were the names of the Sky Titan and the druids of this forest. Everything I said made some sense and as expected, they were soon convinced that I was telling the truth. ¡°Good. We will treat you as guests. However, unless you have the red fruits of the rowan tree¡­¡± ¡°Yes of course. Sage Uzkias has told us that we must hand them over to you, wise giants, for your permission toy our hands on the Sun!¡± ¡°¡­You will not be able to take the Sun without the fruits.¡± ¡°Of course! Our lord Scaith will be here very shortly! He considered it respectful to let the great giants know beforehand about his visit!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I see.¡± The giants looked quite happy after hearing good things about them. Just like that, we openly entered the castle under the warm wee of the giants. ¡°How was that? Super easy, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Myment was met by three pairs of squinted eyes. In any case, we arrived at the guest room built for giants under their guidance. Sitting in front of the milk andrge chunks of pork that were served to us, I gave an open announcement. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°G, go where?¡± ¡°To the treasures of giants.¡± **** I know it¡¯s nothing to be proud of but in ourst iteration, we were pretty much living as thieves, because Park Sihu the yer had an overpowered tool called the ¡®Inventory¡¯. Whenever there was a treasure, all we had to do was sneak it into the Inventory and no one was able to find it. Therefore, it becamemonce for us to sneak expensive-looking things into the Inventory and pretend like nothing happened. ¡­I only helped a tiny bit though. In the game, they were simply pictures in the background so it was impossible to take them but in the real world, all we had to do was pick the treasures up one by one, no? I¡¯m sure there were many gamers out there who saw those pixels of incredible treasures during the campaign, and thought to themselves, ¡®Wow, how nice would it be to take a few of those for myself!¡¯ In any case, because of that, we took in the habit of looking for treasures first whenever we arrived at the boss stage, huts, or whatever. At night, 30 minutes into my search for the room of treasures with Alicia, with Lunia and Yuel staying back just in case, we arrived at arge hall that most certainly contained a bunch of treasures. ¡°Mr. Korin¡­ Why are you so good at this?¡± ¡°Of course it¡¯s from¡­ experience.¡± ¡°It¡¯s your first timeing to a giant¡¯s castle¡­ and yet you find the storeroom with a few guesses¡­ You must have done this quite a lot¡­¡± ¡°W, wait a second. Are you doubting me right now? M, my hands are clean, okay?¡± At least in this iteration, they were very clean! ¡°Hold on, Mr. Korin. ¡®Immortan Lork¡¯¡­ and the Mandrake Bandits¡­ Are you perhaps very experienced?¡± Her eyes were very cold when saying that. B, but¡­ Most of the time, treasures and storerooms are generally very easy to find! You just have to do it a few times to get the hang of it! ¡°That¡¯s not important so let¡¯s put that aside¡­ and look for the Sun first.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ By the way, there¡¯s absolutely no one here.¡± ¡°I know right.¡± It was great that we located the room of treasures, but the strange thing was that there was not a single giant protecting the treasures. Did they not even have any guards? Despite our doubt, we walked into therge hall of treasures. ¡®Large¡¯ was not enough to describe just how enormous it was. There was a time when I watched a fantasy movie¡­ about the nest of a dragon that was filled with treasures of gold and silver that had been taken from the dwarves. The treasure room of giants was so gigantic and remarkable that it reminded me of the one I saw in that movie. ¡°H, how are we supposed to find the Sun from here?¡± ¡°It should look like a sword so¡­ Ah.¡± Inside the room were a bunch of swords along with other treasures. I could already see more than a hundred swords. ¡°¡­They are too small for giants to use.¡± ¡°Besides, these have so many jewels attached that they are practically useless.¡± There was literally a mountain of treasures inside the treasure room; there were so many of them that it was impossible to tell which was valuable and which wasn¡¯t. What was especially strange was that there were a bunch of gold eggs rolling around the room like trash. Even if I was here with stupid Mr. Park, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to grab one-thousandth of what was in here because of the weight limit of his Inventory. ¡°I was wondering why there weren¡¯t any guards, but I guess it makes a little bit of sense,¡± said Alicia. It seemed that they were certain that it would be impossible to find the Sun from this gigantic pile of gold and obtaining it wouldn¡¯t be as easy as it was in certain movies. ¡°Not like we can go ask them either¡­¡± It was when we were in the middle of searching for iomh Sis. ¨C Cluck! Cluck cluck! For some reason, there was a chicken roaming around the room. ¡°A chicken?¡± ¡°Do giants have chicken farms or something?¡± ¡°But that one¡­ looks a bit too small for giants to eat.¡± Treasures were lying around like trash in the same room as a chicken. It was hard to tell why. For the time being, we ignored the chicken and continued with our search. After spending a while looking for the Sun, we were about to go back to the entrance but it was then. ¨C Kung! Kung! Kung! The footsteps of a giant echoed from near the entrance of the treasure room. ¡°H, hide!¡± ¡°W, where?!¡± The best ce to hide in a ce filled with treasures¡­! ¡°Come here!¡± ¡°Uahht?!¡± Grabbing her by the hand, I dug through the treasures and threw ourselves into therge pile. Treasures fell on top of us and created a curtain for us to hide behind. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was a small gap in the pile of treasures we were hiding in. Naturally, we peeked through the gap to the outside and¡­ ¨C Cluck cluck? What we found was that same chicken tilting its head while looking at us. ¡®T, that bastard¡­!¡¯ ¡®Shh! Be quiet, Mr. Korin!¡¯ Please don¡¯t cry at us, and please just go past us Mr. Giant¡­ Despite our earnest prayers, our hope was crushed by the iing loud footsteps of the giant. ¡°Ohh~ my cute little baby. Here you are.¡± The 7-meter-tall giant trampled on the treasures with his feet while reaching out for the chicken. For a split second, our eyes were on the same level as the giant¡¯s. ¨C Gulp! Even a gulp felt as loud as a lightning bolt. Fortunately, the giant did not notice we were there. ¡°Huhuhu. My cute little chicken.¡± The giant stroked the chicken by its head like it was his favorite pet. It was then. ¨C Pop! The chickenid an egg with a loud ¡®Pop!¡¯ on top of the giant¡¯s enormous palm. What was surprising was not the act itself but its egg. ¡®What the¡­¡¯ What came out was a golden egg that sparkled so brightly that it appeared like the materialized form of the word, ¡®sparkle¡¯. That¡¯s right ¨C that chicken was a chicken thatys golden eggs! ¡®Y, you¡¯re not even a goose¡­¡¯ ¡®What do you mean?¡¯ ¡®N, no¡­ It¡¯s nothing.¡¯ ¡®A chicken thatys golden eggs¡­ Don¡¯t tell me all the golden eggs here are¡­¡¯ ¡®They¡¯re all from that little guy¡¯s ass!¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s a rather¡­ unrefined way of saying that.¡¯ Stealing that one chicken was probably enough to let you live without worrying about money for your entire life. ¡®S, should we take it?¡¯ ¡®Wake up, Mr. Korin. What are you going to do if it starts crying?¡¯ ¡®¡­Right.¡¯ It was a shame but I decided to hold myself back as the giant started walking away with the chicken in hand. ¡°Huu¡­¡± ¡°That was a close call.¡± We both heaved a sigh of relief. Her exhale of breath touched my lips and mine must have done the same ¨C we both raised our eyes and looked at each other. Buried in a pile of treasures, it somehow made me remember what happened on that night. ¡ºBrother-inw¡­ Sister is noting home tonight.¡» Under the moonlit sky, I recalled the girl with a sensuous blue light in her eyes saying that after pushing me down on the bed. She had a very seductive gaze that slithered up my body, which I had never seen before on Alicia. Why was it¡­ that I was suddenly remembering the things that happened on that night? ¡°A, Alicia.¡± ¡°W, what is it?¡± ¡°When you first came here, what illusion did you see?¡± ¡°?!!¡± Inside the heap of treasures, a red flush faintly appeared on her cheeks. ¡°W, where did thise from?¡± ¡°Like¡­ I just became curious.¡± ¡°I, I would rather not say it.¡± ¡°But why? Did you see something embarrassing¡­?¡± ¡°Whatever you say, it¡¯s a no. I won¡¯t say it even if it¡¯s to you, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°Well, alright then¡­¡± The room turned silent again. A faint scent of sweat was starting to float up when Alicia broke the silence. ¡°Umm, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°¡­Yes?¡± ¡°What do you think about Sister?¡± ¡°Miss Lunia? Well¡­ she¡¯s a great person. I do like her as a person.¡± Lunia was a very honest person, and that was something I realized all the way back when we were fighting together in thest iteration. Even when looking at theplex nature of her rtionship with Alicia, it was possible to see just how upright and righteous of a person she was. ¡°¡®Like¡¯¡­¡± ¡°She¡¯s a good person, right? She¡¯spetent, gentle, and pretty. I¡¯m sure she won¡¯t be hated by any guys.¡± ¡°Is that¡­ so?¡± For some reason, Alicia turned sullen. She used to like hearingpliments about her sister though¡­ What was wrong with her all of a sudden? ¡°¡­I see.¡± Not knowing the reason behind thatst mutter, we soon escaped the pile of treasures. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Going around the castle with a circr moon in the night sky, we came across a few giants and every time, we gave the excuse that we were out on a walk. There was not a single light of caution in their eyes, as if anything we try to do would be meaningless. ¡°The day after tomorrow is the Sr Eclipse though. Isn¡¯t this bad?¡± ¡°¡­Yeah.¡± ¡°It ends in 2 hours, right? Maybe we can try to look for it then¡­¡± ¡°But by then, Scaith would receive the Sun following the rightful procedures.¡± It was impossible for us to attack him. Although it was a different story for Dun Scaith, we were still under the constraints of the geass. We had to apply that geass to stop the greatest threat from entering the fight, which was Dumnroix, but because of that very pledge, we couldn¡¯t strike them at the back of their head in an open manner. ¡°Huu¡­ Let¡¯s think about it for now. Uzkias said the iomh Sis could only be acquired during the Sr Eclipse. Why do you think that¡¯s the case?¡± ¡°He said the power of the Sun gets weaker, right?¡± ¡°Yeah. Even though it¡¯s not the same as the real Sun, it contains the power of the Sun which is why it¡¯s impossible to even touch it.¡± ¡°So¡­ is it only possible during the Sr Eclipse because that¡¯s the magic period where the Sun loses its power the most?¡± ¡°Simr to the story with Nazrea.¡± A Sr Eclipse might be a simple astronomical event but in this world, a Sr Eclipse had the power to carry out a magic phenomenon alongside a Lunar Eclipse. ¡°But this means that the iomh Sis must be at a location that is exposed to sunlight to absorb it.¡± ¡°In that sense, the treasure room with all of the sides walled up would be¡­ Ah.¡± Remembering that the ceiling of the treasure room was open, Alicia closed her mouth. ¡°Then maybe we have to go there during the day?¡± ¡°¡­Maybe.¡± Something¡­ something wasn¡¯t right. Why was no one guarding the treasure room? Was it because they had been protecting the Sun for too long that they found it bothersome to allocate guards there? No. It was a bad idea to look at it from that perspective. ¡°Is it because the giants do not even need to protect the room?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Approaching from that perspective allowed me toe up with a few other possible locations for the Sun to be hidden in. What about the roof of the castle? No, that would be way too open. What about the za of the giant¡¯s castle? No, that would be too close. Considering how it was a treasure that was so powerful that you had to wait till the Sr Eclipse to even touch it, it was hard to assume that they would put it somewhere that was so close to their everyday life. ¡°If only we had a tiny bit of clue¡­¡± I became more and more anxious over time. There was ast resort in my mind but that was a very extreme method that had to be kept at bay until the very end. For now, I decided to go back to our room for another nning session but it was then. ¡°Mr. Korin. I¡¯m not¡­ sure if this could be counted as a clue but¡­¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± I raised my head in response to Alicia¡¯s words. Her face was shining brightly under the full moon. ¡°What is it? Did you find any clues?¡± ¡°¡­Actually, it¡¯s been weighing on my mind for a while now.¡± She whispered after carefully drawing her face closer to my ears. ¡ª¡ª!!! Holy crap. That certainly was an incredible ce to hide the Sun in. A ce that was constantly exposed to sunlight during the day, that was unreachable during the night. At the same time, if it was there, the iomh Sis would most certainly lose its power during the Sr Eclipse. But if it really was that ce¡­ ¡ºIt¡¯s supposed to be a New Moon today.¡» Hanging above the clouds was something in the form of a ¡®Full Moon¡¯. That was where uninvited guests would never even be able to reach. The ¡®Sun¡¯, iomh Sis, was hanging above the floating ind in the form of the ¡®Moon¡¯. Chapter 101: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (9) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (9) ? iomh Sis was under the disguise of a Moon. My mind turned nk for a second aftering up with that hypothesis. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¡°Sun during the day¡­ and Moon during the night¡­?¡± Lunia and Yuel seemed just as confused as I was after hearing our spection. ¡°I would assume it is not as distant as the actual Sun or the Moon. Reaching that far would be impossible in the first ce, so there is no reason to even worry about that possibility.¡± ¡°There¡¯s probably a magical barrier cast around the entire floating ind. To activate that and keep such an enormous spell up forever¡­¡± ¡°iomh Sis itself is probably acting as a catalyst of that spell,¡± I replied. After being in this fantasy world for about 4 years, it wasn¡¯t hard toe up with such spections. This was a grand spell in itself. It was in apletely different league to simple destructive spells. ¡°Is there a way¡­ to even obtain it?¡± ¡°Probably, but it¡¯s¡­ going to be impossible for us.¡± Everyone except for Yuel was a melee Knight. Plus, Yuel was also not going to be able to use much of her potential in a ce like this with no forests around. ¡°¡­The Sr Eclipse will be in 2 days. Let¡¯s think of a method until then.¡± ¡°Sure. There are probably some options that we haven¡¯t covered.¡± It was too early to give up. We tried looking for options but¡­ something big happened on the afternoon of the next day. Lunia cut off one of the arms of a giant. **** ¡°Kuaaaahkkk¡­!¡± A scream echoed across the ind. We, who had been searching through the castle of giants, immediately raced to the source of that sound. ¡°Tch¡­¡± By the time we sprinted our way there, we found tens of giants standing in a circle, and at the center of them all was¡­ ¡°Sister!¡± Lunia was standing tall and proud, while trampling on an enormous giant that was at least 3 times bigger than herself. ¡°Human¡­! How dare you!¡± ¡°We will kill you!¡± ¡°I will not stop you if you wish to die.¡± Even in the face of tens of giants, Lunia wasn¡¯t intimidated in the slightest. I quickly squeezed my way through the giants. ¡°Wait wait! Let¡¯s just confirm what happened before we do anything!¡± When I asked her, ¡®What¡¯s going on?¡¯, she started exining the situation with a calm tone of voice. ¡°That thing tried to eat me. He said anyone except for the druid would be okay to eat, so I gave him something to eat.¡± That something seemed to have been the arm of the giant. It was an act of self-defense no matter how you saw it but¡­ ¡°Insolent humans! How dare you do this at our castle!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll boil you alive!¡± The greedy giants did not care about that in the slightest. It was because of this savageness of theirs that they were pretty much imprisoned in this floating ind. Each and every one of the giants was at the level of a mid-boss and were at semi-Grade 1 at the very least. Fighting against tens of such giants head-on was the same as asking for death. ¡°Wait! Please listen to me for a second, brothers!¡± ¡°Shut your¡­!¡± ¡°Our master, Mr. Dun Scaith will being here with a bunch of presents for you! Thousands of snakes and hundreds of toads!¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°Snakes?¡± ¡°Toads?¡± Some of them appeared puzzled as to what those were, while others were intrigued by it. In any case, I managed to gather their attention. ¡°Mr. Dun Scaith is more than aware of how much hard work you have gone through! He will be bringing to you so many snakes and toads that you will be able to fill your bellies forever!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¡°As long as you show your benevolence and mercy to us, our master will surely provide you with infinite meat!¡± The rest will be up to you, Dun Scaith. Good luck! After my consistent rambling about empty pacts, all the giants were convinced and went back, including the one whose arm was cut off. They weren¡¯t very intelligent to start off with, but it was still quite surprising how foolish they were to believe in everything I said. ¡°Miss Lunia. Let¡¯s go back for now.¡± ¡°¡­Sorry for creating a fuss.¡± ¡°No, it was thanks to you that we realized that we have to be on guard at all times.¡± We stopped searching during the day and decided to move only at night. And¡­ ¡®These fuckers. I knew it.¡¯ **** Inside the castle was arge dining room that was big enough to amodate the huge giants. There were several traces of civilization in the form of furniture and cooking utensils that were brought by the druids when the castle was first built. However, for the wild and savage giants, the dining room was nothing but a big conference room where fifty of them could gather for a chat. ¡°Boss. You know the one that¡¯sing to take the Sun?¡± ¡°Right right. Dun Sukiyaki? That guy.¡± ¡°His little buddy said he will be bringing snakes and toads, right? Enough for us to eat forever?¡± ¡°Yes yes.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s attack that guy! There should be even more meat in his house right?¡± ¡°Yes yes.¡± Unfortunately, the giants were unaware of the concept of ¡®trading¡¯. Even though there were so many treasures inside the castle that they could monopolize all the meat and crops of the kingdom, they just didn¡¯t know about the concept of giving their own to get something in return. Their thinking process was justpletely different from a human¡¯s. ¡°But that¡¯s someone sent by Uzkias¡­¡± ¡°When he takes the Sun, that will mean the end of themand given to us by our forefather, Searbhan, right?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Searbhan told us to give the Sun to whoever brings the fruits of the red rowan tree.¡± ¡°Yes. I heard that from my grandfather¡¯s grandfather.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean we are free after we give the Sun?¡± ¡°Are we?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go down to the ground and eat all the humans! It will be fine as long as we don¡¯t eat the druids!¡± ¡°But how do we go down¡­?¡± ¡°There¡¯s the tree they used to climb up. How about we climb down using that tree?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do that! Do that!¡± ¡°Right right!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s feed on all the humans! Steal all of Sukiyaki¡¯s meat!¡± The giants screamed out loud all at once. They were excited by the thought that they will gain freedom after resolving the responsibility etched into their body through the blood of Searbhan. To be exact, they were excited more by the future pleasure than freedom. **** In the end, we couldn¡¯te up with any ways for us to approach the Sun. Even though it wasn¡¯t as distant as the actual Sun, it was still incredibly distant from us. The conclusion we came to was that ¡®We cannot obtain iomh Sis¡¯. ¡°Alicia, are you ready?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ I am.¡± However, that didn¡¯t mean we didn¡¯t do anything for the past few days. Hiding next to the giants, we figured out what their most-beloved treasures were. One of them was the ¡®chicken thatys golden eggs¡¯ that I saw with Alicia during the night, and the other one was¡­ ¡°A harp that ys by itself¡­ It¡¯s very interesting.¡± Those were the two cherished treasures of the giants; the chicken thatys golden eggs and a harp that ys by itself. ¡°Cock-a¡­!¡± And right now, those treasures were in the hands of Alicia and me. Why were they here, you may ask? Of course, it¡¯s because we stole it! ¡°How is it, Yuel? Did you get a report from the spirits?¡± ¡°Yes. And the Sun¡­¡± We turned our eyes to the sky at the same time. Shadow was slowly being cast on the iomh Sis, which was currently disguised as the Sun. Along with the start of the Sr Eclipse, the iomh Sis was also starting to be covered with shadow. ¡°Good. Everything¡¯s going just as we predicted. It was worth paying the astronomers.¡± The full Sr Eclipse in the east was quite a famous event in thest iteration. Apparently, it was the first time this had happened in 99 years, where the Moon hadpletely covered the Sun for 2 hours. As soon as I defeated Fermack and acquired news about Findias, I contacted the astronomers of the city through Renya of the Intelligence Guild to figure out the timing of the Sr Eclipse. Originally, Dumnorix and Dun Scaith were supposed to acquire iomh Sis through the rightful process but here, my strategy was to crush their ns to pieces. ¡°Let¡¯s start.¡± ¡°I did hear about the n but¡­ it seems that my fiance is clever in very unorthodox ways.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take that as apliment.¡± Yuel stayed behind, while the Arden sisters and I proudly left the castle, with the chicken thatys golden eggs and the harp that ys by itself in our hands. ¡°Take a deep breath and¡­¡± ¡°¡°THIEEEFFFFF¡­!!¡±¡± It was time for the grand return of Immortan Lork. **** Dun Scaith and Dumnorix were able to reach the floating ind ording to schedule. It was a shame that they arrived 2 dayster than Korin¡¯s group, but unlike them, they had the red rowan fruits. They were at an overwhelming advantagepared to Korin, who hadn¡¯t gone through the rightful process. ¡°Hihi. Big.¡± Facing the mighty appearance of the castle of giants, Scaith hopped around like a little kid. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± muttered Dumnorix. It was his first timeing to this floating ind. Although he had been to Murias before to acquire the Magic Cauldron, that ce waspletely different from the floating ind of Findias. This ce, which was made by the Sky Titans and the druids, was the hiding ce of the treasures of the Danaans and was unreachable without following the correct steps. ¡°Is there going to be a buddy like Searbhan here?¡± ¡°There is not going to be any of them here. It is too small for Sky Titans to reside in.¡± Even the magnificent castle in front of them was probably nothing but a toy castle for Sky Titans who were all taller than dozens of meters. ¨C Kugugung! Kwang! ¨C Catch them! ¡°Nnn?¡± For some reason, the castle seemed to be in an uproar. It was when the robed men alongside Dun Scaith were surprised by all the noise happening inside. ¨C Creak¡­! The gates of the castle were pushed open, but what came out weren¡¯t giants. ¡°¡­Wickerman?¡± An enormous wooden doll reaching 14 meters in height suddenly appeared from behind the gates. That was the forest giant, that could only be made with the secret skills of a Druid sage¡­ So why was such a thing opening the gates of the giant¡¯s castle? ¡°Ohhh. You are finally here, my masterrr¡­!¡± Someone raced out of the castle with a full smile on his face. It was the boy with a wild look on his face; Korin Lork. ¡°My master! My magnificent lord! I have done everything you havemanded us to do!¡± ¡°N, nn?¡± That excessively polite manner of speech made Scaith blink his eyes in doubt. He had no idea what was going on. ¡°Ahht! Master Scaith! Your faithful servant, Alicia, has done what you havemanded us to do!¡± It wasn¡¯t just Korin Lork; Alicia, Lunia, and Yuel all sprinted out of the castle before suddenly kneeling in front of Dun Scaith. In their hands was a chicken pping its wings. ¡°Umm¡­ Little friends? What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°¡°Here you go, sir!¡±¡± Korin and Alicia handed over the items at once. Dun Scaith, who was suddenly made to carry a chicken and a harp, was still confused by everything happening to him. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± Dumnorix was the first to realize what was going on, but it was already toote. ¨C Boom! One of the giant¡¯s hands pierced through the chest of the Wickerman that opened the castle gates. Due to being made with pure mana and no sacrifice, the wooden giant was easily defeated. ¡°These damn thieves! How dare you steal our treasures!¡± ¡°We will crush you¡­ Hooh?¡± After dashing across the castle chasing after the thieves, what the giants found was the sight of 2 thieves kneeling in front of the one who appeared like the ¡®boss¡¯ with the stolen treasures in hand. ¡°Ohh mighty Scaith! Our one and only hero!¡± ¡°We have stolen the treasures of the foolish giants as you havemanded!¡± ¡°Ehng? Me? When did I do that?¡± ¡°Now, let¡¯s kill those giants together!¡± ¡°YOU DAMN HUMANS¡­.!¡± The giants poured out their wrath at the humans ¨C more specifically, at Dun Scaith, who was the master of those thieves. ¡°Umm¡­ big friends? I think there might be a misunderstanding¡­¡± ¨C Kwang! Without waiting for Dun Scaith to exin himself, one of the giants smashed down at him with their enormous ax. ¨C Crack! Scaith was cut into halves in an instant, but that didn¡¯t quench the burning fury of the giants. ¡°Kill all the humans! Eat every one of them alive!¡± The fury of the giants was then pointed at the robed men that hade after Scaith. One hundred of those enormous semi-Grade 1 or above demonic beasts pounced at them. ¡°Kuaaaahk¡­!¡± ¡°H, help!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t eat me! Please don¡¯t!!¡± The men wearing robes were massacred one-sidedly. It was when the giants were wiping their lips off their innards after crunching through the bodies of the humans. ¡°Uhhp!¡± One of the giants wretched as if feeling unwell, but that was only the beginning. ¡°Uhhkk?¡± ¡°Uweeekk¡­!?¡± Thousands of snakes simultaneously slithered out of the giants¡¯ mouths, eyes, and nostrils. Seeing those snakes wriggle on top of the corpses of the fallen giants, the rest of the giants were infuriated. ¡°Those humans are using ck magic!¡± ¡°Kill them! Kill them all!¡± The giants then began a fight against thousands¡­ or rather, tens of thousands of snakes. Standing behind that unsightly fight, Dumnorix faced Korin whose lips were titled into a wicked smile. ¡°You bastard¡­¡± ¡°Huhahahahahaha¡­¡± The main culprit behind this devious set of ns carefreely gazed at Dumnorix, who couldn¡¯t attack him because of the restrictions of geass, and casually went over his evil strategy. ¡°Nobody can stop me. Whether it be you, Dun Scaith or even Valtazar! No-one! If I can¡¯t take Koprulu¡­ I mean, iomh Sis for myself, then I will burn it into ashes instead¡­! Wahahahahahaha!!¡± ¡°Mr. Korin. I think we look more like viins.¡± ¡°¡­We do.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡± **** Leaving behind Dun Scaith and his group that were still fighting against the giants, Korin and his crew immediately began running to the oak tree. ¡°Huhuhu, let them fight between themselves. It would be even better if they all die in the process!¡± ¡°Do you have no sense of shame, Korin?¡± ¡°There is nothing shameful under the name of Immortan Lork¡­!¡± ¡°¡­And what is this Immortan Lork?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Don¡¯t worry about it, Sister.¡± Cowardly, underhanded, crafty yet proud¡­ That was the perfect description of Immortan Lork. ¡°Haa~. Looks like there are many things about my fiance that I need topromise with¡­ I cannot help butment at that fact.¡± ¡°By the way, Mr. Korin. Isn¡¯t it bad if they subjugate the giants and obtain the Sun?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°When we get down to the ground¡­ I¡¯m going to cut off all the trees.¡± ¡°Uahh¡­¡± Evil and cowardly. It seemed that Korin wasn¡¯t interested in the orthodox and rightful approach in the first ce. ¡°History is written only by the victors. Guhyahyhyahya¡­!¡± ¡°Please stop with that weirdugh.¡± In any case, the n was a sess. Acquiring iomh Sis would have been the best, but exiling two of the King¡¯s subjects on the floating ind forever was an incredible benefit regardless. ording to his first n, Korin started looking for the branches of the oak tree that he and his group used to climb up to the clouds. ¡°It¡¯s over there¡­!¡± There were a few other branches next to it, which appeared to be the branches of the tree Scaith and his group used to climb up. However, that didn¡¯t matter because the n was to cut both trees down immediately after going down. ¡°Wait¡­!¡± That was when Lunia stopped her feet. The other three stopped their feet with her but it was Yuel who first noticed why. ¡°Wickerman?¡± Next to the branches of the oak tree was arge Wickerman, taller than 20 meters, gazing at them. ¡°Did they climb up using a Wickerman?¡± ¡°That¡­ can¡¯t be.¡± Lunia¡¯s assumption was denied by Yuel the druid. Essentially, a Wickerman was a hidden skill that made a wooden doll move using a burning sacrifice as fuel. A Wickerman summoned with nothing but mana shouldn¡¯t be able tost more than a minute. Even if it was Dumnorix, it would have been impossible for him to climb all the way up here from the ground on a Wickerman. And even if they were trying to use a sacrifice, finding one that allowed them to climb all the way up from the ground should be impossible¡ª ¡°Dodge¡­!¡± It was then. Their incredibly threatened survival instincts tried to force them into moving their bodies but before they could even react; ¡°KII¡ª¡± A demonic beast carrying two swords; a swordsman with purple-colored eyes pounced at them from the front. ¡°Sword¡­ Fiend?¡± ¨C KIAAAAAAAAAAAA¡ª!!! A fiendish roar echoed across the floating ind. Chapter 102: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (10) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (10) ? ¡°¡­¡± Silence. No one was able to move. Pressed under an extreme sense of tension, their survival instincts rang rm bells in their heads. ¡°KI¡ª¡± There was a smirk on the monster¡¯s face. The appearance of a fiend smiling with its head tilted to a side¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Darkness was cast on the world. The world with its light reduced by the Sr Eclipse was soon drenched by the wave of darkness that was brought by the Sword Fiend entering the Domain. Like that, the world turned dark once again. Eight Dancing des. ¡°Kuhk¡ª?!¡± The Domain ended in a sh. Blood spurted out from the shed wrists and knees. ¡°Mr. Korin?!¡± In that split second, the Sword Fiend started off by cutting Korin Lork inside the Domain. Crushing Korin¡¯s Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon that he used to fight against the Eight Dancing des, the Sword Fiend twisted its arms to sh at his wrists and knees, the two important parts of his body. ¨C Kaduk! Following the end of the Domain was a wide kick. The demonic beast smacked Korin on his chest after shing him with its swords. Korin swallowed his scream while allowing his body to be pushed back by the kick. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± His chest, wrists, and knees were all heavily hit in that short moment. Alicia was about to run to him to help but was stopped by him before she could. ¡°Don¡¯te here¡­!¡± ¨C Cough¡­! ¡°Look forward¡­ and only forward when you¡¯re fighting!¡± ¡°Uht¡­!¡± After being scolded by him, Alicia turned back to the monster, who immediately pounced at her, punishing her for looking away for even a split second. Meanwhile, Lunia, who was protecting her body with her protective aura, noticed that none of the attacks had been facing her. ¡°Bastard¡­!¡± She was beingpletely looked down on. After realizing that she was half a step slower than itself inside the Domain from thatst fight¡­ the demonic beast didn¡¯t even see her as a target worth attacking. That was a wrong judgment on its part though. Although she might be slow inside the Domain, Lunia was stronger and faster than both Korin and Alicia when outside. ¡ª False Domain Severance. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The thing that happened next gave chills to everyone that perceived the Domain including Lunia and Alicia. The Sword Fiend entered the Domain again. ¡®¡­Second Domain?¡¯ They were lost for words. Entering the Domain once was already a marvelous feat that almost no one in the world would be able to do, so¡­ how could a mere monster enter the Domain again on repeat? Although they knew it had incredible talents that the world might not have seen for the past 1,000 years¡­ they weren¡¯t expecting it to be this much. ?Domain Severance ¨C Eight Dancing des? The two arms traced 8 lines once again, but this time, it was slightly different. All of those eight attacks¡­ were facing Alicia. Even though Lunia was using her False Domain Severance¡­ the Sword Fiend focused all of its attacks on Alicia without bothering about Lunia. It was going for Alicia even at the cost of allowing an attack. ¡®It¡¯s trying to deal with all the actual Domain users¡­!¡¯ The purple eyes of the monster were facing Alicia Arden from the start to the end. The Sword Fiend seemed to have realized from the previous battle that Alicia was the most threatening Domain user out of all of them. Despite trying to fight back inside the Domain, Alicia¡¯s eyes were filled with shock and fear. With her current ability, she could only fend off 3 of those 8 attacks, which meant that the remaining 5 attacks wouldnd on her body. The only one that could change this flow of battle was¡­ ¡°¡­¡± Lunia Arden had half a step of room to y with. She had to choose between two options. Either attack the demonic beast with the sword or¡­ ¨C Chaak¡­! What echoed at the end of the Domain was Alicia¡¯s ear-splitting shriek. ¡°S, SISTER¡­!¡± Blood sttered from Lunia¡¯s body after being cut along with her sword. She staggered after allowing a bunch of attacks to her body but even then, she clenched her teeth and reached out. ¡°You think something like that is enough!!¡± She grabbed onto the Sword Fiend¡¯s neck with her left hand enveloped in aura and pierced the broken sword into its neck. ¡°¡­?!¡± It was a shocking disy of pure willpower but the beast still retaliated. Eye for an eye, neck for neck. After being stabbed in the neck by Lunia¡¯s sword, the demonic beast crunched on Lunia¡¯s corbone with its teeth. ¨C Kaaa¨C ¡°Go awayyy¡­!¡± Dodging the rushed and sloppy stab of Alicia, the Sword Fiend stepped back. ¨C Ptui! It then spit on the ground a piece of Lunia¡¯s bone along with some of her flesh. ¡°Cough¡­!¡± Lunia fell powerlessly while coughing out blood but was supported by Alicia before shended on the ground. ¡°¡­Let go.¡± ¡°S, Sister. We should¡­¡± ¡°Once you¡¯re in battle¡­ don¡¯t look back¡­ you stupid little sister of mine.¡± Korin was neutralized with his arms, ankles, and chest crushed down, whereas Lunia¡¯s entire body had been hacked with her sword broken. The Sword Fiend did not sit there watching Alicia be perturbed by everything going around her. Even after a sword stab to its neck, the monster was still keen to fight. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Death was nearing her. Right when she was thinking it was toote to react; ¨C Bam! Arge fist came flying from somewhere and struck down on the Sword Fiend from above. ¡°Wicker¡­man?¡± A wooden doll, Wickerman, was raised by Yuel and was smacking down on the Sword Fiend. ¡°Alicia¡­! Step back!!¡± She had summoned a Wickerman the second time without even using a sacrifice. The toll of that spell was therefore ced on her body, and Yuel screamed at her with blood flowing down her lips. The druid was desperately putting everything on the line in order to protect herrades but even that act of desperation was nothing but a way to buy time. Duel Swords of Arden, Demonic Sky of Twin Dragons, Twin-fanged Beast. Like tofu being cut up by a knife, it only took 1 second for therge Wickerman to be silently divided into 3 pieces. The deactivation of the spell following straight after its activation caused Yuel to fall on her knees while grasping her chest. ¡°KUKIKIKIKIKIKI¡ª!!¡± The demonic beast closed in. With a sword still stabbing into its neck, it stared at Alicia. Realizing that she was the only one that could fight against the Sword Fiend, Alicia started to shiver. By herself, she had to fight against the monster who had neutralized both Korin and Lunia in the blink of an eye. ¡°Uhht¡­¡± She shivered in fear. It was scary and frightening. She wanted to run away. The fact that she had to fight against that monster without a single ally made her want to give up. Because the one in front of her was so powerful¡­ she immediately thought to herself that there was no way she would be able to beat it. However, she couldn¡¯t turn around. Taking a step back here meant the death of everyone else. If so¡­ ¡ºBe a fiend, Alicia. Focus and indulge yourself in nothing but the act of slicing. Indulge and indulge yourself. Look for every method possible.¡» She opened her eyes. Her trembling legs were back to being stable. The razor-sharp edge of her de was facing her enemy. ¡°I have to do it. I have to do it. I have to do it¡­¡± In the darkness cast by the Sr Eclipse, ?Eyes of the Boundary? Her eyes gleamed and looked into the purple eyes of the Sword Fiend. The two of them walked towards each other in silence and¡ª Heavenly Strike Reverse Kill ¨C Kaang! They swung their swords at each other without any warning. Twin swords against a single sword. Power against the softness of waves. The two swordsmen with nothing inmon created embers and sparks in the darkness under the hidden Sun. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Damn it¡­¡± Korin, who had been neutralized from the first Domain use of the Sword Fiend, continued coughing out blood in pain while supporting his crushed sternum. ¡°Korin¡­ Are you okay?¡± Leaving the heat of the battle, Yuel came to him while dragging the injured Lunia behind her. ¡°I¡¯m fine¡­ We need to heal Miss Lunia first¡­¡± He had yet to lose his fighting spirit. As long as he didn¡¯t give up, the regeneration of his would make its warrior back into a fightable state. However, with his current body, he couldn¡¯t even move his body properly. Therefore, Yuel took out the elixir from Korin¡¯s inner pockets and fed it to Lunia, who was in a much worse state. ¡°Kuuh¡­¡± Barely keeping herself conscious, Lunia gasped for breath and Korin gritted his teeth while seeing that. ¡°Damn it¡­ The Precept doesn¡¯t really activate against that guy yet¡­¡± Sword Fiend. That monster was the strongest swordsman of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? who wouldter join the King¡¯s army but right now, it was just a simple demonic beast with little rtion to the end of the world. With his current body and without much backup from the Precept, Korin couldn¡¯t react to the monster¡¯s speed. ¡°Alicia. Please hold on for just a little bit more¡­¡± ¡°Hello? You seem very hurt!¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± Korin immediately turned his eyes towards the source of the sound and standing there was a tall man¡­ Dun Scaith was looking at them with a mischievous look on his face. ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­ Did you kill all the giants already?¡± That didn¡¯t make any sense. There were more than 50 giants with every one of them being semi-Grade 1 at the very least. How could Dun Scaith possibly deal with all of them in that short period of time? ¡°Hihihi. Not really; I just brought them here with us.¡± Hearing that, Korin turned his eyes to the distance and saw giants sprinting forward with their footsteps shaking the floating ind. ¨C Kill them! ¨C Eat them all¡­! ¡°Sword Fiend¡­ this bastard!¡± They had been hindered for too long. When the giants enter the fight¡­ unlike Scaith, everyone in Korin¡¯s group was bound to end up trampled on the ground. ¡°Hihi. Now¡¯s not the time for you to worry about them.¡± ¨C Kwack! Dun Scaith reached out towards the immobilized Korin. Grabbing him with his hand, he tossed him away over the ind. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Thrown out of the floating ind in the blink of an eye, Korin started falling endlessly towards the ground. ¡°Huhihihihi¡­!¡± In order to not let him get away, Dun Scaith jumped down after him. ¡°You fucker¡­!¡± ¡°Little kid who killed Fermack! Let me have a look at your skills!¡± ¨C Kururuk! Scaith¡¯s arms suddenly began to wriggle as tens of snakes emerged from it. He swung his arm and tossed the snakes. It was a battle in mid-air with no footholds beneath. Korin¡¯s body used to be powerless because of the injuries caused by the Sword Fiend but¡ª ¡ºStarting System Back-up. Reviewing the Precept.¡» His body began to move again. During his descent without anything to rest on, Korin started rotating his spear. ?Void Spinning Heaven, Turbulent Spear? Chajajak! The silver spear immediately sliced apart the snakes. After punishing all the snakes, he stepped on the silver spear with an acrobatic set of movements. ¨C Pang! Kicking off the silver spear, he jumped forward at the oak tree 50 meters away from him. At the same time, he reached his hand out towards the Silver Spear without even looking at it and the spear, which had acted as the foothold, replied to the call of its master and returned to his hand. After flying in a straight line, itnded in Korin¡¯s hand and Korin immediately stabbed it into the oak tree to create another scaffold. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± ¡°Wow~. That was a great performance!¡± Korinnded on the Silver Spear and gazed up at Scaith, who had changed his arm into arge snake and made it bite into the oak tree. ¡°I thought we couldn¡¯t attack each other because of the geass.¡± ¡°Hihihi! You¡¯re right. You¡¯re right. So¡­¡± ¨C Boom! Suddenly, his head exploded due to going against the vow of not attacking each other, but¡­ Dozens of toads jumped out of the hole in his head beforeing together like y to form a new head. ¡°Well, something like that.¡± Dun Scaith. He was one of the King¡¯s subjects but at the same time, he was the King of Beasts. And¡­ the Fort of Shadow (Dun Scaith). An assembly of tons of snakes, toads, and three dragons¡­ ced inside Undry, the Magic Cauldron of Dagda. Being both an individual and a legion at the same time, a restrictive pledge for individuals like a geass were meaningless against him. ¡°You had no ns of epting your defeat in the first ce, did you?¡± ¡°Hihi. Isn¡¯t that the same to you?¡± Naturally, neither of them was interested in a fair fight from the beginning. ?Blood Spear? That was when a red spear emerged from underneath and pierced through Scaith¡¯s body. ¡°Korin¡­! Are you okay?!¡± A familiar voice reached Korin¡¯s ears from beneath. ¡°Senior Marie? Hua Ran?¡± Below him, Marie and Hua Ran were climbing the oak tree. Because they didn¡¯t have a druid to guide them along the way and because of the barrier of the floating ind that stopped flight in its nearby regions, they were in the middle of climbing up the tree. ¡°Ahah. Are they your friends? That¡¯s not good. No interruptions!¡± Dun Scaith was quick. Ignoring the icy spear piercing through his body, he marched forward for a physical fight. After getting a hold of Korin, Dun Scaith fell further down from the sky. In that instant, Korin came to a quick judgment. He was at a disadvantage in an aerial fight. He needed support. With the help of Marie and Hua Ran, their chance of victory would rise all the way up to 60%, but¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me and hurry up and go up! Quick¡­!!¡± If he were to get their help here, Everyone else would end up dead. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ After falling for about hundreds¡­ or even thousands of kilometers, the two of themnded on the oak tree once again after a few aerial bouts. ¡°Hihihirk¡­! We¡¯re by ourselves now! What will you do?¡± ¡°I know right.¡± Korin had to go back up but there was no way that Dun Scaith would sit there watching him do that. In the end, there was no other option for Korin but to stand against a legion by himself. ¡°You see. I have a question for you.¡± ¡°What is it? I¡¯ll be killing you soon, so I guess I can spare some of my time to listen to yourst words.¡± ¡°Hihihik¡­! My question is¡­ why do you oppose us?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°As the Spear of the Queen, you should know the truth better than anyone else. You can be a god in this world if you just stand on a slightly different side. Hihik¡­! My master will definitely give you some divinity if you join.¡± ¡°And here I was wondering what you were going to ask¡­ God of the new world, huh? That¡¯s gotten pretty old now buddy.¡± ¡ºStarting System Back-up. Reviewing the Precept.¡» ¡°Fermack, Dumnorix, you¡­ and even Valtazar; your method is horribly wrong. Did you ask why I¡¯m going to shit on you now? It¡¯s very simple.¡± ?I will not disregard the misfortune of the good.? ?I do not perceive spirits.? ?I will save the world.? ¡°I hate you guys. You freaking psychopaths that think of humans like ants. I hate you guys so fucking much¡­¡± ¡ºDun Scaith: Corrtion A+ Back-up: 120% Increase in Stats¡» ¡°That I just have to beat you up.¡± ¡ºHero Korin Lork. Defeat all evil and save the world.¡» Chapter 103: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (11) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (11) ? The Sr Eclipse was here. The Moon covered the Sun; light was erased and reced by darkness. With nothing but faint humanoid figures and des being reflected off of the limited source of light, the Sword Fiend¡¯s swords ripped through the darkness. One of the Five Heavenly Swords that used to belong to Garrand Arden, Twin Dragon des. The two swords that remained firm despite entering the Domain on repeat gleamed in ck like the original luster of the Unbreakable Stone. Down came the Heavenly Strike. It was a light swing of the swords but was a life-threatening one for Alicia. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Unable to block everything, she opted to dodge. Acknowledging the overwhelming difference in their ability, Alicia tried to create a gap between them but the Sword Fiend didn¡¯t allow that. Alicia escaped by a sword¡¯s breadth; she ran away, dodged, and even stumbled but was still unable to fully run away from the Sword Fiend. Once again, one of the swords came flying down. Blocking the attack, Alicia let it flow to the side and followed through with a stab. It was the typical trade of attacks but the Sword Fiend was bored by it. That old monster¡¯s attacks were much faster and sharper! ¡°Uhht?!¡± The Sword Fiend swung its sword and easily flung off her stab. Without even taking into consideration her technique, Alicia was simply too weak inparison. With her strength, she couldn¡¯t even fight against the Sword Fiend on equal grounds. Oveing the momentum, the Demon-ying de was once again swung at the monster, but the Sword Fiend didn¡¯t even see the need to block the attack with its swords. Each of its arms and legs was as sharp as des ¨C the beast¡¯s leg pounced at Alicia¡¯s sword like a serpent whichnded on the blunt edge of the de and kicked it into the ground. The demonic beast was overpowering Alicia in every way possible. In both ability and strength, the Sword Fiend realized that it was on top and didn¡¯t even see the need to use its swords. But that carelessness got the best of it. In a split moment, The monster got a chill down its spine. Its purple eyes flickered and noticed btedly that Alicia¡¯s sword was flying at itself. Pushing the opponent¡¯s weapon down towards the ground was essentially what Lan Na Zha was about. Due to experiencing that first-hand plenty of times, Alicia instinctively reacted with a counterattack of her own. ¡°¡­¡­!!¡± With a deep breath in, Alicia attacked with a sharp, piercing stab that was going straight for the heart of the demonic beast. The Sword Fiend took half a step back and locked its swords in a cross shape. ¨C Kagagak!! In that split second, the monster calcted the length of the opponent¡¯s sword, took half a step back, and crossed its swords to block Alicia¡¯s Demon-ying Sword. Alicia¡¯s sword was 0.5 centimeters away from reaching the monster¡¯s chest. ¡°?!!¡± ¨C Takk! But it was then. Surprisingly, the de went deeper than what the monster thought. It moved half an inch forward and stabbed into the Sword Fiend¡¯s chest. ¡°KRrr¡ª!!¡± Infuriated, the Sword Fiend swung its dual des and flung Alicia away. Her small body couldn¡¯t fend off the powerful attack of the monster and rolled across the ground. ¡°Uhhk¡­¡± Her body rolled and bounced up and down the ground, which was also as tough as a mace. Blood flowed from her nose but in spite of that, Alicia quickly turned her gaze to the Sword Fiend. ¡°Ah¡­¡± However, she was still toote. Clusters of aura were shining brightly in a shade of red through the darkness of the Sr Eclipse. That furious surge of aura was so threatening that it pricked at Alicia¡¯s skin despite being quite distant from it. ¡°Sword¡­ Orbs?¡± They were slightly different from the ones that Lunia had made during their duel. Unlike those, the orbs made by the Sword Fiend were rampaging about, threatening to explode any time soon. But trying to tell those apart was meaningless because either one of them had the power to nuke Alicia down in an instant. ¡®Didn¡¯t¡­ grandpa say the Sword Fiend had only trained for 1 year¡­?¡¯ It was truly a shocking level of talent. An incredible level of growth. The fiend of swords. What would happen if those dozens of Sword Orbs were to copse on her at once? Each of those orbs was so powerful that they could blow away an entire training dojo, so the mere thought of those orbs pouncing at her at once gave Alicia goosebumps. ¡°Tch¡­!¡± She started to run. Fortunately, the trajectories of the Sword Orbs were unchangeable after being set once, so the only way out she could think of was to run and run and run. ¡°KIKI¡ª¡ª¡± As if making fun of her attempt, the demonic beast smirked and swung its sword down, as dozens of Sword Orbs fell at the same time. Without differentiating humans from demons, the Sword Orbs destroyed everything in its path. Like dancing lightning bolts and storms, they destroyed everything nearby. It appeared like the end of the world. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The Sword Fiend had been finding it annoying for a while. Those diamond-shaped eyes had always been looking at it inside the dimension that should belong to no one but itself¡­ and those eyes had been piercing sharp, as if trying to see through everything in existence. Annoying. Very annoying. The monster was filled and controlled by an unknown sense of hatred, and even started to be obsessed by it. That was why it epted Dun Scaith and Dumnorix¡¯s offer and volitionally became the burning sacrifice of the Wickerman to arrive at the floating ind. However, those eyes would be no more. It was an overwhelming barrage of Sword Orbs. The demonic beast thought to itself that it was worth stealing the skills of that old monster. Dozens of Sword Orbs exploded bits of the ground. Parts of the floating ind of Findias were crumbling down. The monster was about to turn away from it but¡­ ¨C Pababak! A girl dashed out of the smoke. After a miserable roll across the ground, the swordsman stood back up. Still alive? Even after this barrage that the old monster used? The Sword Fiend gazed at its opponent. She was evidently in a terrible state. Her entire body was in tatters and every one of her limbs were trembling. She looked so fragile that it seemed like she would bleed to death even if the Sword Fiend didn¡¯t do anything and yet¡­ ¡°Heh¡­¡± In a twisted manner, she lifted the corners of her lips while drooling. It was that thing ¨C that smile was what the Sword Fiend had been annoyed by. Even though every opponent must be a prey that screams and shivers from fear, shock, and confusion, Alicia was smiling as if she was enjoying the process of being hunted. ¡°You¡­¡± She was nothing but a mere prey standing before a predator and yet¡­ ¡°Do you think I can¡¯t cut you apart?¡± ¡­Her eyes were that of a predator. Besides, there was also that crooked smile on her face. It was annoying. That reminded the Sword Fiend of that old monster. In fact, its current opponent was even more iprehensible than that old monster. ¡°KIIIII¡ª¡± The monster howled but this time, it was calm and contained. The dense killing intent of the demonic beast slowly but surely pervaded through the area. It signified that the monster had also be serious. Facing the Sword Fiend, Alicia raised her sword again, oblivious to the warped smile on her face. The two fiends that were equally crazy for the swords were bewitched. As if possessed by one another¨C Singr Sword¡ª Duel Swords¡ª They danced, shed and pounced at each other to crush their opponent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª!! Her sword shed through the ce where the Sword Fiend was once at, as the monster excessively bent backward to dodge the attack. It would be a misunderstanding to say that it had lost its sense of bnce. Using that backward motion as momentum, the monster did a backward somersault. In a sh, the cold and sharp ws of the Sword Fiend shed past Alicia¡¯s chin. Twisting her lips further up, Alicia tilted her head. That previous attack of the demonic beast had resulted in a red line that went all the way up from her chest to her neck. However, even that attack was just a prelude to the real dealing after it. The real threat was the two swords shing up. It was an unbelievably acrobatic movement but Alicia¡¯s eyes didn¡¯t miss it. Twin Dragon des, Skies Descent Horizontal Strike The two lightning bolts of the monster¡¯s des were blocked by the Demon-ying Sword. The Sword Fiendnded back down on the ground as Alicia pounced deeper in. Lightning fell down. It was met by a soaring Reverse Kill. The two-handed lightning bolt of the Demon-ying Sword was blocked by the Reverse Kill of the right sword, which was followed by the Sword Fiend stabbing with its left sword. ¡°¡­!¡± The beast¡¯s left sword grazed past her cheek. Without any hesitation, Alicia closed the gap even further by charging forward with her entire body. Due to being weaker and less skilled than the Sword Fiend, Alicia focused on marching forward and putting everything she had to each of her strikes on repeat. ¨C Kagak! The demonic beast blocked her attacks all too easily. Her power and momentum were both meaningless in front of the monster. The Sword Fiend had been facing the strongest swordsman of the entire generation like a zing me for the past year, and knew how to alleviate the pressure of the opponent¡¯s attacks by using the feet, right bnce, and posture. In the end, Alicia had to retreat again despite charging in for the attack. As soon as she tried to retreat, a cross-cut of the dual des threatened to hack her to pieces so she had to desperately block them with her jet-ck de. ¡°Ugh. Kuhk¡­!¡± The shock was so intense that her feet were pushed away from the ground. Even with her putting everything on the line, that was all she could achieve. In both strength and technique, she was far worse than itself. Her entire body was in tatters and her shivering legs were so weak that they could fail her at any time, and yet¡­ Why was she not getting cut? Why wasn¡¯t she in pieces already? How was she alive and not dead? Most importantly¡ª ¡°Heh¡­¡± Why was she still smiling? The Sword Fiend couldn¡¯t understand. Alicia Arden. A normal girl who was easily frightened, who was scared of changes. A beast that was lying dormant inside that shell was about to wake up. Facing an overwhelmingly strong and fiendish monster¡­ she smiled as if it was adorable; as if she wanted to give it a tight hug, and her instincts that had been suppressed until now broke through the cage. Fastest sh: Instant sh. Faster than before; even more precise than ever before. Taking a step further than the Sword Fiend, who had been controlling the pace and their distance with better perception of distance and strength¡­ ¨C Kaduk. She swung her sword as the shoulder bones of the Sword Fiend fell after being sliced by her sword. Her sword reached it even though it shouldn¡¯t have. Her attacks were getting closer. She was getting nearer. She was trying to reach the monster¡¯s level. ¡°You¡­ feel a bit slower now.¡± ¡°KIKIKK¡ª!!¡± Alicia dug in deep. She postured herself and struck her sword down. ¨C Kaaaaang¡ª!! The Sword Fiend blocked the attack, as well as the following one that normal people wouldn¡¯t even dream of blocking. Their miraculous bout of swords continued on and on somehow. ¡°¡­?!¡± The demonic beast realized that every single attack of the opponent was heavy. It was turning increasingly heavier over time. With speed and power, Alicia was pouring out everything she had at the unbreakable and tough fortress. Putting her own life on the line, she threw her body forward and charged towards the pit of destruction herself. Because she was worse off than the Sword Fiend in ability, technique and power, there was only one thing she was relying on. ¡ºLook forward¡­ and only forward when you¡¯re fighting!¡» Forward. ¡ºOnce you¡¯re in a battle¡­ don¡¯t look back¡­ you stupid little sister of mine.¡» Forward. ¡ºBe a fiend, Alicia. Focus and indulge yourself in nothing but the act of slicing. Indulge and indulge yourself. Look for every method possible.¡» Forward¡­! ¡°KRrrrr¡ª!?¡± The Sword Fiend was flustered. Even though it was clear that the opponent was at her limit, she was getting faster and faster over time; and her attacks were getting heavier and heavier. Dual Swords of Arden. Falling Heaven of Dual Dragons. Singr Sword of Arden, Falling Fist, Falling Strike Parrying the two swords away, Alicia stabbed in a sh. Her unguarded counterattack let her sword graze past the Sword Fiend¡¯s ribs but in return, Alicia allowed a cut to her shoulder. Even so, she didn¡¯t stop nor hesitate. The Sword Fiend then realized that it needed a finisher move to stop its opponent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ?Domain Severance ¨C Eight Dancing des? Entering the dark ocean once again, the Sword Fiend swung its des 8 times. It suppressed the Demon-ying Sword with three of its attacks as the remaining five headed at the neck, shoulder, chest, ribs, and thighs of the opponent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The Domain ended, leaving the Sword Fiend to be greatly confused because none of its attacksnded on the opponent. After some time, it noticed what happened. Alicia had taken a step back simultaneously with the activation of the Domain. Because of that precise understanding of space and control of distance, all of the Sword Fiend¡¯s attacks missed because of half a step¡­ or rather, an inch of a gap. It was as if¡­ she had seen it with foresight. Alicia Style, Lunia¡¯s False Domain Severance. She shed down, all the way from the right arm to the thigh. Taking just half a step forward, she shed down in the fastest and most efficient method possible and managed to create a big wound on the Sword Fiend¡¯s body for the first time. ¡°KRrrr¡ª!¡± Alicia didn¡¯t give the Sword Fiend time to look after its body. The monster unknowingly stepped back to create a gap but Alicia chased after it; she took a big stride forward and postured herself for a stab. The fastest stab she knew was that of the Spear of the Void. Arranging that into her own weapon¡ª Alicia Style, Korin¡¯s Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon. It reached forward. The stab replicating the spear, that was faster than the speed of sound, was almost certainly going to reach the demonic beast. ¡°¡ª!!¡± Realizing that the sword was about to hit itself, the Sword Fiend pondered to itself. Did it fail to control the distance? The answer it came to was a ¡®No¡¯. This was outside of its control. The speed of Alicia¡¯s growth was just way too rapid and absurd. Right when her Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon was about tond on its body¡ª ?Dual Swords of Arden, Overturning Charge? Pakang¡­! The Demon-ying Sword bounced up. The demonic beast reacted just in time at a miraculous speed. At the same time, the two of them looked into each other¡¯s eyes with their swords still aligned. They gave one another a contorted smile. Finally, the Sword Fiend noticed it. It realized why this specific enemy had been annoying and getting on its nerves the whole time. Kindred. The two of them were one of a kind. This female human was a fiend just like itself ¨C one who had the fiendish talent of being able to be bewitched by the act of killing. They were killing partners destined to raise one of their calibers with the death of the other. ¨C Kwaang! Something soared onto the floating ind. What surged up in the middle of the two of them was a huge dragon. The appearance of that uninvited guest inevitably made the two create a gap between themselves but even so, they didn¡¯t stop looking at each other with a deathly gaze. Awaken. Awaken. The two partially-broken entities acknowledged each other¡¯s presence and considered the other as a stepping stone for greater achievement. ¡®I¡¯ will kill ¡®you¡¯, Defeat ¡®you,¡¯ And ¡®I¡¯ will ascend to greatness. ¡®Your¡¯ birth, ¡®your¡¯ life, ¡®your¡¯ hard work. All of that was destined to help ¡®me¡¯. Nothing else entered their sight. The jiangshi girl striking the nearby giants with her chains; the vampire girl jolting the floating ind with a bombardment of ice; therge snake pouring out mes from its mouth as well as the spearman going against it. Nothing entered their eyes except for each other. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö Sword Fiend Style, Heavenly Sword of Arden: Twin Dragons Climbing the Heaven. The sky and the ground; The air, the wind and the clouds; The castle, the giants, bugs and beasts; All of them were cut. With the swordsman at the center, sword auras were shot to all sides. The Heavenly Sword of the monster reached everything in creation. It was truly an astronomical move that had the power to crush everything within a radius of 1 kilometer. Forward. Alicia walked through the Domain. One step was generally the limit of what was possible within the Domain but¡­ she ran. She ran deeper and deeper into the Domain. Forward. Common sense had been rendered useless a long time ago. It seemed that the miracle in the past of the girl walking through the Domain to save the boy wasn¡¯t a coincidence. Forward¡­ Her body disappeared even from the Domain itself¡­ and disappeared from the cognitive area of the Sword Fiend before reappearing in front of it. ¡°¡­?!¡± An incredible realm that should have been otherwise unreachable was achievable only now¡­ after being stimted by the one and only contender of her lifetime. It was truly a miracle. And that miracle¡­ Alicia Style: Thousand des¡ª It divided the world into two. ¡ªInfinity. Exceeding the Domain Chapter 104: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (12) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (12) ? An oak tree with a height of 10 km was standing tall. Most superhumans would have to slowly climb the tree sitting perpendicr to the ground without the help of a druid, but there were 2 people that were running up the tree. Korin Lork. Dun Scaith. Unfazed by the situation where they would fall endlessly towards the ground with a single misstep, they sprinted towards the clouds. Kicking off the tree, they jumped higher and higher. With extreme levels of concentration, the two of them focused on each and every step and their feat of sprinting up the tree appeared like a challenge to the limits of a two-legged animal. But in the midst of all that, their eyes were fixed on one another. ¡°¡­¡± Although they were both heading to the pinnacle, the floating ind¡­ they were evidently in very different states. Korin was running up the enormous oak tree with his bare body, showing off his concentration skills. One misstep would make him fall and lose everything, and he couldn¡¯t even allow a single pause. In the middle of all that, he also had to deal with Dun Scaith¡¯s attacks. ¡°Hihit¡­! You look tired!¡± On the other hand, Scaith was extremely rxed unlike Korin, who had to rely on his skills and concentration to stay up. His legs had turned into the sharp talons of a reptile and allowed him to easily climb the tree. The legs of a beast were iparably more flexible than a human¡¯s. Unlike Korin and his desperate and linear dash, Dun Scaith slithered all across the oak tree. He appeared like a snake climbing a tree. ¡°Let¡¯s not rush things¡­!¡± Kicking off the tree, Dun Scaith jumped diagonally at Korin. His legs were that of a reptile, while his arms had changed into the head of a snake. The snakes with triangr heads opened their mouths and revealed their venomous fangs. Korin Lork used his spear to slice apart the venomous snake that was pouncing at him from the front. But that was when another serpent sprung at his ankle from a blind spot. ¡°Got you¡­!¡± ¡º ? ¡» ¡ª Kenaz. Resonance. It was then. mes soared from the tree, startling Dun Scaith who was right next to it. ¡®He¡¯s a Rune Mage!¡¯ thought Scaith after seeing the residue of a letter carved on the oak tree. ¡°Very fast!¡± Dun Scaith wondered when exactly Korin wrote the letter but didn¡¯t think much because it was nothing strange for experienced Rune Mages to be able to write Rune letters at a super rapid speed. Besides, it was even less surprising because Fermack, who had been killed by Korin Lork, had also been a master at Rune Magic. ¡°Hey. Do you want to see something exciting?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that¡­!¡± ¡ºUndry ¨C Infinite Snakes¡» Countless snakes started pouring out from a pit underneath his feet. Even with just a nce, it was possible to tell that there were at least hundreds of snakes there, and their numbers kept going up with every second. A bunch of snakes slithered across the tree. Korin stopped his feet for a second and used the spear as a scaffold to keep him up while looking around for a way out, but he realized that he was surrounded by waves of snakes from all sides. ¡°Hoping these guys won¡¯te out in my dreams.¡± Despite saying that, Korin showed no signs of running away. With his spear stuck in the tree, he was leisurely sitting down on it. ¡°Hihi. Did you give up?¡± Dun Scaith chuckled with a vile smile on his face. He smirked as thousands of snakes pounced at Korin. ¡°Mere souls of lowly beasts are worthless against me.¡± That was when the orb engraved into the Silver Spear let out a ck wave of mana. Ayer of mist immediately spread out to all sides in a radius of 100 meters. The fog didn¡¯t have the power to physically remove the waves of snakes but¡­ ¡°What¡­?¡± The snakes started falling to the ground at once. Innumerable snakes popping out endlessly like an ocean wave was very unreal, but the sight of thousands of snakes falling at once was just as surreal as that. ¡°What did you¡­ do?¡± ¡°As if I¡¯ll tell you. It¡¯smon sense that you need to put something on the line to find out your enemy¡¯s skills, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Dun Scaith sent out another wave of snakes. Although thousands had been killed at once, he still had a lot more snakes. In order to see through the opponent¡¯s moves, he dly sent arge number of the remaining snakes to their death. ¨C Paaaa¡­! Anotheryer of fog pervaded through the air. More than a thousand snakes had been killed yet again, but this time, the Beast of the Shadow noticed the nature of the skill. ¡°Hihi, Soul Collector¡­!¡± ¡°That was fast.¡± Orb of the Grim Reaper ¨C a treasure that had the power to separate the spirit from the body to collect the soul. It was unknown how he was borrowing the power of the phenomenon of death as a mortal, but regardless, what was important was that that ability was aplete counter to his. Unlike intellectual beings like humans, beasts and animals didn¡¯t have the power to hold onto their souls because they had less of a sense of self, identity, and desire to survivepared to a human. Even if there were infinite snakes, each and every one of them still only had the soul of a beast. There was no way they could handle the power of the Grim Reaper, no matter how weakened it may be. ¡°But let¡¯s see¡­ Do you have enough mana?¡± ¡°I could do this all day.¡± Because of the backup support of the Precept, right now, Korin had more mana than most Grade 2 mages, but there was more. ¡°The area around this oak tree is mynd. And mynd gives out a generous amount of help to everyone inside.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Hearing that, Scaith realized that oddly enough, mana had been surging out from all around. What he hadn¡¯t noticed until then¡­ was that the mana recovery speed was incredibly higher than usual. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± Unbeknownst to Scaith, thend around Korin¡¯s tree had be simr to a leyline. After consuming the one and only fertilizer in the world, thisnd became so abundant with energy that it even managed to grow an oak tree that was tall enough to reach the sky. So how much mana would there be in thend where that very oak tree had its roots in, after consuming an immeasurable amount of mana? ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how many beasts you have. This is my territory that I have grown and created.¡± He already had a ridiculous amount of mana thanks to the amplification from his Precept, and supplementing that was the endless supply of mana in the area. ¡°Indeed, I guess I won¡¯t be able to beat you in my current state.¡± Dun Scaith said, before lifting the corners of his lips. His humanoid figure melted down and changed into something else yet again. Snakes weren¡¯t enough, so he turned into a much¡­rger, more frightening and powerful colony of a legion. ¨C Kuduk, kududuk¡­! His body expanded and echoed in resonance with the surroundings. He then turned into something gigantic ¨C flesh got intertwined with flesh in an attempt to turn into something much greater. Great Serpent The Snake of Falga It was toote for Korin to do anything. The change happened in a sh. Resulting from the fusion of the citizens of the shaded world was the evil legion of snakes and toads added into one. ¡°Guhihihi¡­!¡± The resulting form was that of a massive snake with an overwhelming length. It was literally 1 km long. It was one of the final forms of Dun Scaith alongside the Toad form. ¡ºO¡­ First Spear of the Queen, Korin Lork.¡» Resonating across was a wicked voice that sounded totally different from that of a human¡¯s. Meanwhile, the snake wrapped itself around the oak tree and made it tremble. ¡ºYour scent excites me, and I can feel every exhale of yours.¡» ¨C Kaduk! Kaduduk! The oak tree screamed. Branches as well as the trunk got crushed and caved in after being wrapped by therge serpent. ¡ºThe Queen locked me in the shadows. She forced me into a tiny cauldron.¡» ¡ºs, the Queen has been exiled and the throne is now empty. Thanks to that, I devoured to my heart¡¯s content a bunch of humans that she had been so wanting to protect. Just like how a wolf would prey on the fenceless sheep.¡» The powerful voice of Dun Scaith quaked the tree and the air. ¡ºThose filthy usurpers of the world. Those damn rats. I will eat up every human alive along with the flesh of thest queen of thisnd, Erin Danua.¡» ¡°Who says you can?¡± Despite facing arge mythological creature, arge snake hissing its tongue from the shadows, Korin stayed firm. ¡°Also. Who told you you can stretch your body like that?¡± ¡ºWhat?¡» ¡°As I¡¯ve said, thisnd I am standing on, and every foothold going all the way up to the sky is a part of mynd.¡± Standing on the Silver Spear, he gazed at the evil snake with his orange eyes. Rather than a hero standing off against their foe in a myth, he sounded and looked more like the lord of a city, arrogantly sentencing a trespasser. ¡ºWhat do you¡­¡» ¡°You deserve punishment for entering another person¡¯s house with your shoes on¡­!¡± ¨C Kaang! The Silver Spear quivered. Resonant Activation. It was the most simple feature of the Silver Spear, which at the same time led to the strongest Rune Spell possible. ¨C Hwaruruk! Kenaz, Sowilo, Berkana. All the runes that he had been diligently carving onto the tree ever since he started climbing it were activated all at once with the support of the abundant mana in the area. ¨C Kwarururuk¡­! The soaring mes and the level of heat immediately changed from that of a campfire tova, and began scorching the entire tree. ¡ºKUAHHHHH¡­!¡» Scaith had been wrapping his body around the oak tree and squeezing it so naturally, the terrifying heat began to scorch the leather all around his body. ¡ºYOU BASTARRDDD¡­! HAVE YOU GONE MAD!?¡» However, the mes weren¡¯t targeting Scaith alone and they were burning thend proimed by the lord as well as the lord of the city himself. It was a massive disaster. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll die before I do.¡± Korin had already put his life on the line. Since his life had always been at risk ever since he started climbing this tree, he poured oil and threw a lighter to put both of their lives at risk. ¡°Chase me to the sky if you want to live!¡± Despite being enveloped in mes, Korin Lork stepped on the burning oak tree and raced towards the sky, after speeding past Dun Scaith. ¡ºIt is a huge misunderstanding if you think this is my only form¡­!¡» Scaith¡¯s body underwent another shift. His long body contracted; wings popped out of his back and his legs protruded out to be longer than before. His massive wings wererge enough to cover the skies once open and each of its flutters created a tempest. Chasing after the dashing Korin Lork, the dragon pped its wings. They went higher and higher and were just about to reach the sky once again. **** ¨C Kwaaang! Dun Scaith soared up after crushing through the floating ind. Breaking through the middle of the two swordsmen and their battle to death, the dragon opened its wings out wide. A mythical and legendary creature, dragon. It wasn¡¯t an overstatement to call it one of the grand final forms of Dun Scaith, and despite having a bunch of animals inside, he still only had three dragon lives. ¡ºI am the snake whispering in the shaded darkness; a toad swallowing the reflected sce of light¡­! I am the shadow of this world¡­!¡» Out of every animal under hismand, it was the most violent and arrogant form. The dragon looked down on the world with the concealed sun behind its back. Standing before its gaze was a feeble human with nothing but one spear. And yet¡­ ¡°Huu¡­ It¡¯s doable.¡± The man still confronted the monster. In spite of standing in front of a literal disaster that humans shouldn¡¯t be able to do anything against, the spearman waited for a chance to strike back. ¡ºNot bad for a mere human.¡» The dignified voice of the dragon echoed from above, as it continued gazing down at the spearman pointing his spear. ¡°Time to end it.¡± Six Ways of the Spear, Sixth Style, Shura. That was thest resort skill of Korin Lork. Bursting forth every aura residing in his body, he used the finisher move that would transition all of his aura into power and speed until its depletion. ¡°Huuu¡­¡± Taking out a deep breath, he lowered his back and liberated the power lying dormant in his third Aura Core. ¡°First Demonic Spear, Darkness.¡± The ck demonic spear began giving off an ominous and chilly aura. It was different from thest time he used it; thanks to the acquisition of ¡®Demonic Aura Release¡¯, he was able to easily umte a tremendous amount of aura inside the spear. His spear was bound to be able to harm that heavenly dragon. The dragon attacked first with a tornado created by its wings, followed by a zing breath. In the blink of an eye, however, Korin disappeared from sight. ¡º¡­¡­?!¡» It was an explosive jump that even the dragon couldn¡¯t keep track of. By the time the dragon realized it, the spearman was already in the air. ¡ºYou bastard¡­!¡» ¡°Die.¡± Jumping into the face of the dragon, the spearman thrusted his spear. It had definitely caught it off guard, thought Korin, but right as the spear was about to pierce through the dragon¡­ Dun Scaith returned to his human form with just the minimized form of a dragon¡¯s wings. ¡°Got you.¡± ¡°What¡­?!¡± Scaith reached his ¡®arm¡¯ out. The mouth of arge snake recing his hand crunched into the spearman¡¯s shoulder, who became momentarily defenseless after missing his attack. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± By immediately rotating his spear, Korin sliced the neck of the snake biting into his shoulder. While falling onto the ground of the floating ind, he saw something. ¡°You know what? The Sr Eclipse isn¡¯t over yet,¡± said Dun Scaith while reaching out with his other hand. In that hand were the red fruits of the rowan tree. ¡ª¡ª¡ª!! Within the darkness was a fair amount of Yin aura, which had naturally bloomed from the reduced aura of Yang due to the weakened Sun. The rowan fruit immediately started sucking the aura of Yin and¡­ turned into a sapling. Falling down while bleeding from his shoulder, Korin saw it. A tree emerged out with Scaith at its core. It grew at an absurd speed, reached the Sun and¡­ ¨C Kaduk! Kadududuk¡­! It started crushing the Sun. The rowan tree soon swallowed iomh Sis, which was under the disguise of the Sun. ¡°Hihi. So this is the Sun that Dum had been talking about!¡± Afterying his hands on iomh Sis, the Sun, hended back down on the ground and went through another metamorphosis. From a snake, to a toad and a dragon to¡­ the final shadow, a ck bull. ¡°¡­¡± Korin Lork squinted his eyes. It would have been better if Dun Scaith had chosen the dragon form. Because Korin knew the power of the Sun, he had been wanting to avoid the worst-case scenario of going against ¡®that form¡¯. ¡°KUHAAAAAA¡­¡± In front of Korin¡¯s eyes was arge and muscr humanoid figure with the head of a bull, and its 2-meter-tall body was covered with a lustrous ck mane. It looked like a minotaur from the Greek myth, but this one here was the ck bull of the great ocean; the king of all bulls. 1AI made A countless number of snakes; enough toads to fill a whole mansion; three furious dragons and three bulls with the power of magic. That was what Dun Scaith was ¨C abined legion of the beasts of shaded darkness; monsters that were sealed in hell. And in his hand was the Sword of the Sun, iomh Sis. ¡°¡­To think I have to go against the Sun twice. I must be very unlucky.¡± That was the treasure that used to belong to one of the King¡¯s subjects, Eochaid Bres. The greatsword breathing out mes scorched the air nearby and oozed out a horrifying haze of heat. ¡°Huu¡­¡± Korin collected his breath. Unlike him who was restraining himself and saving his breath, Dun Scaith erupted with an overflowing amount of fighting spirit. ¡ºUWOOOOOOOOOOO¡­!!¡» The roar of the King of Beasts soared all the way into the skies. It marked the true beginning of the battle. Chapter 105: - Sun - Claiomh Solais (13) ? Sun ¨C iomh Sis (13) ? A rampaging train crushed apart every organism on the ground as well as the ground itself, breaking, destroying, and pulverizing everything in its path. The unfortunate giants that were in the path of the rampaging truck were ground to pieces. Even Marie and Hua Ran, who were fighting against dozens of giants which was worth being written down as a mythological event, were dumbstruck by the might of the ck bull. ¡°K, Korin¡­!¡± So how was Korin Lork, who had to fight against that berserk monster? Without even having the time to reply to the desperate call of the girl, his body flew off after being smacked by the greatsword. ¡°You damn monster¡­!¡± he shouted. His body drew arge parab and went over the castle walls of the giant. Without waiting for him to get back down, Dun Scaith marched towards where he wouldnd. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Despite his unstable posture, Korin threw his spear. Instead of trying to hit his enemy, it was to have the nevernding spear of the Grim Reaper scatter ayer of fog at where he was going tond. The Silver Spear was hurled towards the ground but before it evennded, Dun Scaith raced at an insane speed, went past him and grabbed the spear right as it was about tond. ¡°What¡­?!¡± Then, he firmly held onto the shaft of the spear. Aftering to a rapid stop with his feet crashing through the ground, Dun Scaith rotated his body like a man doing a discus throw. ¡°¡­Shit.¡± ¨C Kwaang! The Silver Spear soared into the air. It was literally faster than the speed of sound and it seemed that getting grazed by it could only mean death. ¡°Come¡­!¡± Korin¡¯smand altered the path of the Silver Spear that had been thrown by Dun Scaith. Recognizing the voice of its master, the spear slightly changed its path and barely managed tond in his hand but¡­ ¨C Kajik! The cost of grabbing with his bare hand the Silver Spear, which had been racing faster than the speed of sound, was big. His palm got crushed by the momentum. ¡°You¡¯re too slow¡­!¡± And by the time he came to himself, he found Scaith gazing down at him from above after jumping who knows when. ¨C Kwang! Along with the great shock of the impact was a massive shockwave. Korin¡¯s body flew off like a cannonball, breaking through several buildings inside the castle on repeat. ¡°Uguk¡­!¡± Korin stood back up from the immenseyer of dust, but by the time he was standing on his two feet, Dun Scaith was already in front of him. ¨C Vuung! A greatsword sliced through the air. While looking at the greatsword striking down at him, Korin realized that he was inside the food storeroom of the giants. Silver Spear, Resonant Activation. The oak tree wasn¡¯t the only ce he had engraved rune letters into. Just in case, he had used thest 2 days to carve runes in various other ces. ¨C Hwaruruk! mes soared up. Dun Scaith was immediately swallowed by massive mes but¡­ ?Sun ¨C iomh Sis? The violent gush of mes were immediately devoured. Like an anglerfish swallowing fish, iomh Sis rapidly devoured all the mes. ¡°Shit¡­ It can¡¯t even buy me time¡­!¡± Now, the greatsword even had the mes of Kenaz swirling around it as it struck down on Korin. Lan Na Zha¡ª Parrying the greatsword, he shoved it into the ground. It was a perfect defense measure but¡­ ¨C Jijijik¡­! The scorching heat of the Sun zed out of the greatsword, burning the air and evaporating the moisture in them, while also melting the skin. ¡°Huup¡­!¡± Ignoring the intense burst of heat, Korin pressed down on iomh Sis and finished his move with a stab. ¡ªScavenging the Grass for the Snake Right as the Demonic Spear of Darkness was about to pierce through Dun Scaith¡¯s head, he tilted his head and blocked it with one of his oxen horns. ¨C Kuung! Then, Scaith threw a wide hook with his left. The punch dug into Korin¡¯s ribs, making him gasp for breath. ¡°Kuuhk¡ª!!?¡± Before he could even collect his breath, Dun Scaith kicked him and made him fly like a harpoon, crashing through the walls again and again. ¡°Kugh¡­!?¡± By the time Korin came to himself, he found himself buried in a pile of rubble after breaking through several walls with his entire body hacked and shed. Korin turned to therge hole he had created in the stone walls. Before he could even get back up¡ª ¨C Kwaang! A ck bull prated through the broken walls at an absurd speed. Without even giving him the time to run away, the two horns of the bull stabbed forward. ¡ª¡ª¡ª!!!! Echoing after that was a thunderous roar as Korin widened his eyes. Sitting in that denseyer of dust, he realized that the only reason he was still alive was because the horns of the bull identallynded right above his head. ¨C Grip! Without caring about the fact that his reckless charge had missed, Dun Scaith grabbed Korin by his cor. Dragging him along the stone ground, Scaith tossed him into the air. After breaking through two pirs in a random corridor, Korin finally came to a stop. ¡°KUWOOO¡­!¡± The bull marched forward once again along with a violent roar. In his right hand was iomh Sis, which could melt everything in existence. ¨C Kajik! Kaduduk! Kajiik¡­! The bull charged in. Korin Lork ran down the corridor running away from the mighty bull chasing after him. As expected of a castle of giants, even the corridor was on a different level. The pirs that were there to support the roof of the gigantic buildings were as thick and heavy as small houses. ¨C Kwang! Kwaang! Kwagang! Walls and pirs were broken, crushed, and demolished. Charge after charger after charge¡­ Even after breaking through the stone pirs, Dun Scaith didn¡¯t slow down. ¡°KUAHHHHHH¡­!¡± The ck mane of the bull gleamed brightly. Before long, the bull managed to catch up to the man; the spearman reacted by hiding behind a pir but the mighty bull crushed the entire pir itself. ¨C Kwaang! After crushing the pir, Dun Scaith swung iomh Sis to cut the one hiding behind it. The sword shed apart the stone debris, came into contact with the pir and scorched everything in its path. Later, what was revealed in front was¡­ nothing. ¡°???¡± There was no one there. Korin, who had definitely concealed himself behind the pir, was nowhere to be seen. ¨C Huup¡­! Hearing a short gasp, Dun Scaith turned his gaze down and found Korin bending his back all the way down to the ground behind the pir, looking straight at his face. While leaning down, he was fully ready to stab his spear at him. Flinch! Dun Scaith¡¯s instinct as an organism warned him, but it was toote. Time couldn¡¯t serve as a restraint to those that set their foot into the Domain. Soaring Snake, Rearing head of the Venomous Dragon. In the blink of an eye, the spear pierced through the heart. It was a killing move in the Domain that Dun Scaith couldn¡¯t react to but¡­ ¡°Kuhaha¡­!¡± ¡°??!¡± Dun Scaith returned augh despite having a hole in his chest. Losing one life meant nothing to him. Vuung! iomh Sis struck down, slicing the air apart. Korin knew the terrifying result that would bring if he were to let itnd. Immediately taking out the Silver Spear from the heart, Korin blocked the iing attack. ¨C Kajik! The sudden shock of receiving Dun Scaith¡¯s downward strike pushed Korin¡¯s feet into the ground, all the way up to the ankles, but that wasn¡¯t the end. ¨C Pakk! At first, it was the wrist that was holding onto the shaft of the spear. From that, it went all the way down the shoulders, ribs, and legs to the Achilles tendon. Blood oozed out from all of his wounds. ¡°¡­!!¡± Every part of his body was letting out a voiceless scream. His body hit its limit and had to stay still like a red-carded yer. ¡°Die.¡± Pressing harder down, Dun Scaith tried to pressure him down to death. Korin¡¯s knees failed him as his back thennded on the ground. Due to being pressed down by the immense strength of the bull, the ground beneath Korin was also being cracked in real-time. ¡°Kuuuhpp¡­!¡± His strength was about to run out. His body was reaching the end. His aura was being reduced rapidly and mana was the only thing he had in abundance but something like Rune Magic¡­ ¡°Hah¡­!¡± An ability he gained in the past at the end of an endless battle went past his head. Using one of his hands that used to be holding the spear, he grabbed onto Scaith¡¯s arm. ¡®Is he trying to get away from me with pure strength? Laughable!¡¯ thought Dun Scaith. It was going to be a futile attempt. There was no way grabbing onto his arm instead of the spear could possibly lead to any¡­! ¡°What¡­!?¡± Scaith was appalled to find out that his arm was slowly being lifted up. It was by a very miniscule amount but¡­ his arm still went up a little. ¡°How could this be¡­!¡± It was a tremendous show of ¡®Herculean Strength¡¯. In that short period of time, Korin¡¯s other hand touched iomh Sis. He forcibly pushed his fingers through the zing heat and started writing. ¡º?¡» ¡ª Raidho A rune of eleration was engraved onto iomh Sis. Using the same trick that had been done to himself, Korin made the greatsword elerate out of Dun Scaith¡¯s hand. ¡°You bastard¡­!¡± However, every part of Scaith¡¯s body was already a weapon in itself. After grabbing Korin¡¯s face and squeezing him as if he wanted to burst his head to pieces, Dun Scaith lifted him up into the air and smacked him down onto the ground face-first. ¨C Kwaang! A thud echoed across the castle, but that wasn¡¯t the end. With Korin still stuck in the ground, the bull started racing through the corridor and started a rampage while crushing the stone floor beneath. ¨C Kwaruru! Kwarurung¡­! After creating ayer of dust and scattering the stone debris, Korin was thrown onto the empty plot ofnd inside the castle. ¡°Kuk¡­?!¡± As soon as he came to himself, the first thing he saw was Dun Scaith falling from the sky. Korin desperately rolled across the ground, as the heavy body of the ck bull crashed into the ground next to him and caught him up in the aftershock. ¡°Kuhup¡­!¡± Gasping desperately for breath, Korin stood up. After they both stood back up, the two warriors looked at iomh Sis that was stuck in the ground. ¨C Kurung. Sensing an ominous killing intent, Korin retrieved his gaze from the treasure. He then found the bullying low with its arms and legs on the ground, with its back as well as its head leaning low. It was a killer move of utmost destruction which made the most out of the horns, the greatest weapon of a bull. Facing that, Korin Lork pulled his arm back. His spear was out of reach, and two of his Aura Cores that had been pushing him through the explosive use of aura of Shura were also nearing their limit. The only thing remaining was the core that inherited the demonic nature of Sebancia Duke. Korin moved that power into his left arm. Eight Trigrams: Extreme Fist of Darkness. That was the piercing strike that had broken through even the defense of the Unbreakable Vajra Body. It was a reckless and self-destructive attack. After sensing the extraordinary aura behind it, Scaith realized that his enemy was putting everything on the line. ¡ºKUWOOOOOOO¡ª!!!!¡» The beast let out arge roar. It was a massive howl that incited primal fear in all the organisms of the ind. ¡ªHe ¨C Korin Lork ¨C started to run. Korin was the one to start running even before the powerful roar of the monster came to an end. The ck bull matched him with a furious charge. Fighting spirit and killing intent intertwined and so did the orange eyes and the ck murky gaze of the monster. Immediately, the two cannonballs collided. Crushing through All Evil: Mixed Origin He hurled a fist. His seemingly reckless punch crashed into the horns of the bull. ¨C Kajik! It cracked. Aftering into contact with the fist, one of the horns of the bull crashed and scattered. It looked like the victor had been decided for a second, but the bull continued its charge nheless. ¡°Kuhak¡­!¡± The single-horned bull pushed its horn into his ribs and raised its head at the same time. ¨C Pang! Korin got flung into the air with a loud thud. Meanwhile, Dun Scaith changed his body once again. From a standing bull with a broken horn, he changed into arge dragon. ¡ºGet scorched to death by the breath of cosmos!¡» Dun Scaith pointed his mouth at Korin and opened it. That was when Korin reached his arm out towards the ground. ¡°Come¡­!¡± Scaith knew what he was trying to do. He was retrieving the Silver Spear using the Rune of Return that was engraved onto the spear. It was the traditional method used by Rune Mages to retrieve their weapons. But what about that? What could someone like him ever do even if he were to retrieve his weapon? However, breaking through his expectations, what soared towards Korin¡¯s hand wasn¡¯t the Silver Spear. ¨C Pakk! Forcibly lifting itself from the ground where it was stuck in, the ¡®greatsword¡¯ soared into the air. ¡ºiomh Sis¡­!?¡» Back when engraving the rune letter on the Sun, Korin had written 2 runes. One was the Rune of eleration and the other was the Rune of Return. ¡°You are terribly worse than Eochaid Bres at using the Sun.¡± Eochaid Bres was the owner of iomh Sis in thest iteration but there was no one in this current era who knew the proper way to manipte that power. Soon, the Sun entered the hands of the only human who knew how to use it¡­ Korin Lork. Dun Scaith doubted his eyes. The 2-meter-long greatsword, which had been enveloped in mes until just then, suddenly gotpressed into a tiny sphere that looked like a small version of the actual Sun. Sensing that something was not right, Scaith immediately let out a breath at Korin. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Kwaaaaa!! The zing breath soared all the way up from his chest and left through his mouth. Meanwhile, while staring at the breath that was threatening to destroy him, Korin Lork swallowed the Sun. ¡ºYou have consumed the Sun, iomh Sis.¡» ¡ù iomh Sis is choosing its owner. ¡ºThe Sun, iomh Sis, has acknowledged you as its Champion.¡» ¡ºDivinity of the Sun ¨C Korin Lork Airgem.¡» ¨C You have acquired the Light of the Sun. ¨C The Sun will protect you while it is up. ¡°Second time using the Sun, huh.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± What happened next made Dun Scaith¡¯s eyes contort from shock. The breath that had been shot at the sky towards Korin Lork had all been swallowed by his finger, just like how iomh Sis had swallowed up all the mes of Kenaz that had burned down the food storeroom of the giants. Instead of falling due to the force of gravity, Korin Lork slowly descended onto the ground like a descending god andnded on his two feet. After his descent, the Divinity of the Sun called his cherished weapon from a distance. In the blink of an eye, the Silver Spear was in his hand. The air boiled from the heat and the stone floors melted but the Silver Spear remained glistening in its shiny magnificence. ¡°I told you.¡± ¡°???¡± Holding onto the Silver Spear, he arrogantly gazed at Dun Scaith with a burning pair of orange eyes. ¡°Both here and where you are standing ¨C they all belong to me.¡± Silver Spear Resonant Activation. ¡º?¡» ¡ª Kenaz ¡º?¡» ¡ª Sowilo A sudden burst of mes and a radiant heat covered the castle of giants. But before long, all those mes were removed from the castle and gathered at the Silver Spear. Every speck of heat and mes gathered together. Everything. ¡ºBastard¡­! That belongs to me¡­!¡» The evil dragon lifted up its enormous hand but that was when Korin Lork¡¯s inner qi gathered into an orb. Hepressed the power of the Sun which then suddenly turned into arge sphere covering Dun Scaith and¡­ ?Concentrated Sun ¨C iomh Sis? All the way from the sky to the ground, the portable Sun pressured the dragon. ¡ºGUWOOOOOKK¡­?!¡» Everything under the Sun melted. The evil dragon got scorched down into molecules. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you have thousands, or hundreds of thousands of lives.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The descent of the Sun scorched everything nearby with its horrendous yet mighty heat. Chapter 106: - Engagement Ceremony (1) ? Engagement Ceremony (1) ? Giants. These entities were one of the strongest demi-humans, that would be at least semi-Grade 1 as soon as they became an adult. Even though they weren¡¯t as intelligent as humans, their innate physical capabilities and magic resistance were incredibly high and were difficult foes for both knights and mages. Fifty giants. Each and every one of them was semi-Grade 1 or above, and the captain was a monster who was definitely of semi-Unique Grade. While holding off against the bombardment ofrge-scale spells from the Unique Grade demi-human, Marie, the captain relied on tools to also somewhat fend off Hua Ran¡¯s fists. ¨C m! ¡°Kuhuk¡­!¡± The giant fell back after allowing a fist from Hua Ran to its jaws. After readjusting its jaws back into ce, the giant let out an infuriated roar. ¡°¡­¡± It was rare for Hua Ran to see enemies that survived after receiving a direct hit from her. She even wondered if she unconsciously held herself back or something. While Hua Ran was gathering the eyes of the giants, Marie activated a grand spell to support her from the back. Countless arrows appeared in the air, and they were so densely packed that it looked like each of the giants would have to tank a few dozen of arrows with their bodies. ¡°Kuum¡­!¡± The giants relied on their innate magic resistance, shields, and the corpses of their fallenrades to block the downpour of arrows. ¡°Die!¡± It was then. One of the giants threw a harpoon at Marie without caring about the arrowsnding on its body. ¨C Kwang! The harpoon flew forward, leaving behind a terrifying aftershock in its trajectory. ¡°Woof!¡± Doggo jumped towards the flying harpoon. He crashed into the harpoon and flew it away. ¡°Huu¡­ It¡¯s not easy. One or two would have been alright but it¡¯s my first time going against so many of them at once.¡± Marie, Hua Ran, and Doggo still couldn¡¯t break through the wall of giants. It had already been 5 minutes since Korin had been dragged away by the oxen monster. The consecutive deafening roars had died down but that made the girls even more worried than before. They were incredibly frustrated, and decided to break through even if it meant pushing themselves. ¡°Hua Ran. Doggo and I will create a path¡­ You¡­¡± GOOOOOOO¡ª!!!! That was when everyone in the area noticed the appearance of something foreign. An intense heat was threatening to melt their backs, and a dazzling light was breaking through the shadows of the Sr Eclipse. The overwhelming presence of that thing made everyone turn around. ¡°¡­Hot.¡± ¡°Wahh¡­¡± Even the living jiangshi with an Unbreakable Vajra Body was affected by the heat while the vampire, who should have ovee her weakness to sunlight, instinctively flinched from that radiant light. ¡°This¡­¡± In the blink of an eye, the ground started to boil and evaporate, and the giants were appalled by seeing the light and heat of the great Sun. That was the pinnacle of untouchable greatness. Walking out of the crumbling and half-demolished castle of giants was the Champion of the Sun. Like a god descending onto the ground, the knight walked with the Sun manifested behind his back, which entranced the giants, let alone the jiangshi and the vampire. ¡°Ughh¡­ Ooohhhh¡­¡± There was no mistaking it. That was the materialization of the myth and stories told down to the giants from times immemorial; and was the fundamental reason why they were locked up in the sky. That was the proof of the magnificent Divinity belonging to the god, Airgem; the light which had been shining upon Paradise a long time ago. The captain of the giants fell on its knees. ¡°B, boss!¡± ¡°That¡­ is the divinity of the Sun. We cannot fight against it.¡± The scene of the omnipotent being cleansing the world of its former wickedness was deeply engraved into their blood. Despite the humiliation and their hatred, they couldn¡¯t help but bow before the Sun. Feeling the humiliating memory rising up inside its blood, the boss of the giants obeyed just like its forefathers. Following that, the rest of the giants kneeled at the same time. They trembled in fear, watching the Sun approaching them. After putting the Sun in front of the giants to intimidate them, Korin leisurely walked towards the girls while locking his hands behind his back. ¡°Korin!¡± ¡°¡­You.¡± Marie dashed forward and gave him a hug, but Hua Ran didn¡¯t tell him she was worried because she was too embarrassed to say that. ¡°Why are you in tatters again!? Every! Single time!¡± ¡°Are you guys alright?¡± ¡°Un¡­ But what happened to you, Korin? And what is that thing that looks like the Sun?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a long story. Let¡¯s¡­ go down first.¡± ¡°Okay okay¡­!¡± They were done with everything they had to do on the floating ind. All that was left was to go back. ¡°What about the giants?¡± ¡°They won¡¯t be able to attack us as long as the Sun is here. It¡¯s linked to their racial trauma.¡± ¨C Pajijik! It was then. As soon as he said that, the Sun that had been threatening the giants got extinguished. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Huu¡­¡± ¡°Korin? Umm¡­¡± ¡°Aiya~. That was a lot earlier than I thought.¡± In thest iteration, there was a time when Korin had acquired the power of the Sun after oveing it in a battle, and the same thing had happened back then. This item was limited to boss fights. It was like a finisher attack that couldn¡¯t be activated for long even with the ridiculous mana regeneration ability giving him a lot more mana than a normal yer. ¡°¡­Should we kill him?¡± As expected, the giants started a frightening discussion as soon as the Sun disappeared. ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Now¡¯s the chance. We have to kill him now.¡± ¡°K, Korin?¡± ¡°Run!¡± They were quick ating to a decision. Korin and the rest of his group immediately started sprinting to the oak tree that Dumnorix and Dun Scaith had used to climb up! They had to get down first and cut down the oak trees. ¡®Hopefully we¡¯ll be able to make it.¡¯ Unless they were to jump down the oak tree, there was no guarantee that they would be able to run faster than the giants. Hua Ran and Marie might be able to outrun the giants, but there were two injured people on their side and Korin wasn¡¯t well off either. It was when they were desperately running to the tree. ¡°Hoho. Looks like this old man was a bitte to the party.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª? Everyone halted their feet. For some reason, the group of giants, which weighed more than a thousand tonnes in total, couldn¡¯t move their feet. Their eyes turned towards one person. His unkempt hair was extremely messy, and his martial uniform was so rugged that he appeared like a savage man living in the wild. The strange old swordsman was carrying a massive sword that was much longer than his own height in his hand. The Twin Dragon des, that he had retrieved before anyone realized, was hanging on his waist along with two other demonic swords. ¡°¡­Don¡¯t you think you are a bit toote, sir?¡± ¡°It was not easy climbing a tree with this old body of mine.¡± Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden. The previous head of the Arden Family; the one sitting at the pinnacle of the generation. ¡°It had quite a nice echo, the fight between my granddaughter and the Sword Fiend.¡± He hadn¡¯t witnessed the life-and-death fight between Alicia and the Sword Fiend, but just from hearing the echoes of the fight, he knew what kind of battle the two had gone through. ¡°Go, young man. I shall protect my granddaughter and will protect you as well while I am it.¡± ¡°Sure. Good luck.¡± Korin epted his help without any hesitation and started climbing down the oak tree. The giants couldn¡¯t do anything but nkly stand there watching them leave. They instinctively realized that the old monster in front of them wouldn¡¯t let them go past him. ¡°A shame that I missed that fabulous sight. But I guess witnessing a world higher than Mt. Tai is worth the trouble.¡± After a discussion, the giants came to a decision. Whoever it was that was trying to stop them didn¡¯t matter. They had finally been freed from the restrictions of the Sun and were eager to advance into the wider world beneath. That was why they slowly approached the one in front of them, despite the rm bells of their instincts. The only future they could imagine was defeat but the slim chance that they might be able toe out on top pushed their feet further toward their aspiration for freedom. ¡°So. Although the Sword Fiend was still a bit inexperienced¡­ she killed him, huh.¡± The old man didn¡¯t move, nor did the 5-meter-long greatsword he was holding with one of his hands. As if the giants in front of him weren¡¯t even there, Garrand remained there looking at the traces of the fight between the two swordsmen. ¡°Guhaha. Guhahahaha¡­!¡± He let out a heartyughter which made the giants flinch. Hisugh soon turned into an explosiveughter of utmost joy. ¡°I have surely yed more than a hundred thousand beasts! Protectednds going far beyond the horizon! Saved millions of humans! ¡°Through all those battles, I had never ever seen anyone use the Heavenly Sword and yet here I am, seeing two of them in one day! ¡°Right. So my granddaughter was the one who survived, huh. Very good. Very good indeed¡­! Finally, a swordsman who can stand with me shoulder-to-shoulder has been born from my bloodline. How can this not be a pleasant surprise!¡± His remarks were followed by a childishughter that didn¡¯t suit his age. None of the ones present could guess the types of emotions embedded in his rejoice. ¡°Go away you peasants. The path behind me is the staircase of the young ones heading to the future. How dare you filthy demons try to trespass with your dirty feet?¡± The Sword Emperor¡¯s arrogant deration was met with a strong retaliation from the giants. ¡°I see. If you so desire to die to my sword¡­ I will not stop you. Try your best though. I hope you canst half an hour.¡± The mountain-crushing greatsword shed through the air. It destroyed the ground and left a wound on the clouds. With that came the end of the story of the floating ind. The desperate struggles of the unrelenting residents would soon breathe itsst and the old man would leisurely climb down the tree¡­ ¡°Senior. Cut the tree down please.¡± ¡°N, nn? Korin¡­ Isn¡¯t there someone still up there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s fine. He¡¯s totally useless and beyond help. Let him stay up there for about a year.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ If you say so.¡± ¨C Kugugugugung! Kwang! Unfortunately, not everything in the world had an elegant ending that some people might hope for. **** Moonlight shone gently through the leaves as Alicia slowly opened her eyes. ¡°Ughh¡­¡± Her entire body was in pain as if all of her bones had been crushed. The fact that she was alive like this¡­ probably meant that she had returned alive from the floating ind. ¡°Sister¡­¡± Aftering to herself, she started wandering through the vige of druids, looking for her older sister from a different mother who had blocked the des of the Sword Fiend with her body to save her. That was when she came across someone else. ¡°Ah¡­¡± On top of arge and ancient tree in the middle of the city of trees, a boy was gazing down at the world with a wide smile on his face. She started climbing the tree to get to the boy, who casually asked a question after noticing her presence. ¡°Are you feeling alright?¡± ¡°No. Not really.¡± ¡°Same here.¡± Alicia had been looking only at the Sword Fiend and missed Korin¡¯s fight despite it happening right in front of her, but could still assume that Korin must have had a hard fight as well. ¡°Looks like we both did okay,¡± said Alicia. ¡°We did great. Ugh¡­¡± ¡°Aht. Are you oka¡­ Uahkk!¡± She tried to support Korin, who was falling to the side, but ended up being pushed back by his weight. She was still standing on her feet, but was barely holding on. ¡°Y, you¡¯re heavy.¡± ¡°I¡¯m dead tired¡­¡± On top of the moonlit tree, the boy and the girl supported each other to finally return to their original positions. ¡°Miss Lunia should be healed back up very soon. She¡¯s a strong person and she also had an elixir so she should be okay.¡± ¡°Haa¡­ that¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Everything¡¯s fine.¡± With this, Alicia realized firsthand just how dangerous and scary a life-and-death battle was. Seeing the unperturbed Korin, she wondered how many of these battles he must have gone through. How big was the burden on his wide shoulders? All of his enemies were wicked and evil, and the weight weighing down on the shoulders of the boy her age appeared to be ridiculously heavy. ¡°What about you?¡± he asked. ¡°Umm¡­¡± Alicia nervously exined everything she went through. She talked about how she felt joy at the fight against the Sword Fiend, as well as how she swallowed the monster as a sacrifice. She also talked about the strange experience of crossing the Domain inside the Domain. ¡°Must have been rough.¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯m scared of me as a person.¡± Alicia was a civilized human. She knew that cutting people was wrong. She also knew that smiling while cutting people was even more wrong. After noticing her ¡®true nature¡¯, she had been busy trying to suppress and turn away from it. But the fight against the Sword Fiend ended up releasing the beast lying dormant inside her. She was made to face her true nature and her instincts. ¡°I wanted to be normal though¡­¡± Hearing her grumble about her wish to be normal, Korin scratched his cheek and opened his mouth with a nonchnt voice, as if her concerns were unwarranted. ¡°There are a bunch of strange people in the world. What is important is the choice you make.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°Have a look at Senior Marie and Hua Ran. There are plenty of people that say they are dangerous, but what have they done wrong?¡± ¡°But¡­ it¡¯s true that I get bewitched by the sword, and the act of cutting people.¡± ¡°And what¡¯s wrong with that?¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°Your mind and your conviction are much more important. You need to have more pride in the power you have.¡± While aligning his hand with hers, Korin gave her a smile. ¡°If you really can¡¯t handle it, you have me by your side. I can listen to you if you have concerns, and if you can¡¯t fall asleep, we can have a little chat until you do. And if you¡¯re feeling down, we can go grab some meat.¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡± Despite the yfulness of his tone of voice, the firm grip of hisrge hands was so reassuring to the girl that it was even hard to believe. ¡°Actually, when I first came to the Academy, I was nning on enjoying my campus life.¡± ¡°You looked like it.¡± ¡°But I have no time for that when I¡¯m going around with you, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Nn¡­ I wanted to pull an all-nighter ying around, take a nap during lessons, spend time on the roof for no reason, think about whether I should have tonkatsu or udon¡­ Or you know, go to the city on the weekends, buy snacks, watch the recent shows, go shopping, have desserts at a nice cafe and go on a walk. All those normal things.¡± ¡°I can do that with you.¡± ¡°Hehe¡­ That sounds good.¡± Korin wasn¡¯t sure why she was so happy, but she leaned her head on his shoulder with a bright smile on her face. ¡°It¡¯ll be¡­ very fun if we do that together.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a promise okay? I¡¯m¡­ a strange person, so you need to look after me. You never know what will happen¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯ll handle it well. I know it.¡± ¡°Hmph¡­ You¡¯re all talk every time.¡± ¡°If you can¡¯t trust yourself, trust me. I can assure you. You won¡¯t go the wrong way, and you¡¯ll do everything fine. Everything will be okay.¡± ¡°Alright¡­ I trust you.¡± The night went on. Realizing that the boy¡¯s shoulders were very hard and wide, Alicia felt good, because it felt like she had gotten herself a very reliable ally. While hoping¡­ that he wouldn¡¯t pick up her heartbeat that was going on a rampage for some reason, she continued watching the stars with him over the night. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Ah.¡± That was when she suddenly remembered something. ¡®It¡¯s going to be¡­ the engagement ceremony of Sister and Mr. Korin soon.¡¯ After remembering that, she felt strange again. It was a very unpleasant and annoying emotion. The identity of that emotion which tended to climb up time after time was¡­ ¡°Aht. Ahh¡­¡± She felt goosebumps appearing on her skin. The scenes that she had seen during her illusion soared back up in piles. Although the great turmoil of Findias was over, not everything was over just yet. An earthquake was bound to be followed with an aftermath, and the great turmoil of the winter holiday was still just around the corner. Chapter 107: - Engagement Ceremony (2) ? Engagement Ceremony (2) ? After everything was done at Findias, Korin and his group returned to the Arden Family. Although Korin quickly got better thanks to his regeneration ability, Alicia and Lunia required some time to recover their health. ¡°By the way, you are really terrible at cutting apples.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯m trying my best.¡± Three days after returning to the headquarters of the household, Alicia was looking after Lunia. There was supposed to be someone else looking after her but Alicia volunteered for the task, saying she wanted to do it herself. ¡°Sister¡­ How are you feeling?¡± ¡°I can handle it thanks to the elixir. Where exactly did you get something so precious? Even we only have a few in our household.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ I think it¡¯s better for you to not know that.¡± She couldn¡¯t tell her that it was made by refining the blood of the girl with water-colored hair who was staying behind in the guest room. asionally, Alicia had to taste-test a few things that were made from her blood, and was thus aware of the true identity of the elixir. ¡°More importantly, I saw you have had quite the improvement.¡± ¡°R, really? Hehe¡­¡± Alicia felt good after hearing apliment from none other than her sister. ¡°You were inexperienced in many aspects during the festival but it looks like your foundations are getting more and more solid. Keep it up.¡± ¡°Thank¡­ Huh? Festival?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Sister. Were you there at the festiva¡­¡± ¡°The apple¡¯s very salty.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°Cut them again.¡± ¡°O, okay¡­ By the way, Sister, did youe to the fes¡­¡± ¡°Hurry up and cut them. What are you doing?¡± As if she wasn¡¯t keen on replying to her question, Lunia kept changing the topic. Seeing that resolute attitude of hers and a slight flush in her ears, Alicia gave her a calm smile for the first time in a long time. ¡°Umm¡­ Sister. Thank you.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Thanks for saving me, and blocking the attack¡­¡± She carefully showed her gratitude to her sister, which she hadn¡¯t been able to do until now. ¡°So that is what you were talking about.¡± However, what she got in return was a cold response. Alicia was about to shrink from her cold attitude as usual but¡­ ¡°You do not need a reason for an older sister to save their sister.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What is yourst name.¡± ¡°A, Arden.¡± ¡°Right. And what is mine?¡± ¡°Arden¡­¡± ¡°What is our rtionship?¡± ¡°¡­Sisters?¡± ¡°Do not cower when telling the truth. Make your back straight and open your shoulders out wide. You are saying the obvious, so what is there to not be confident about?¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Alicia had been a sinner from birth. She was the proof of adultery. She was the nuisance of the family and an illegitimate child threatening the position of the rightful heir. By what right could she talk about them being sisters? Alicia thought that everything had changed when she first cut a person and was named as one of the sessor candidates by Garrand Arden. ¡°I am your older sister, and you are my younger sibling. That is an unchanging fact that will stay true no matter what happens.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡ºNo, it won¡¯t. The bond between you and Lunia won¡¯t be severed even if you die.¡» Hearing that from Lunia reminded her of something Korin had said in the past. Although they weren¡¯t true blood-rted siblings, and even though they werepetitors trying to steal something from one another, Lunia was telling her that their rtionship would never change, and that she would stay as her sister no matter what. ¡°Are you¡­ alright, though? I might steal from you, Sister.¡± ¡°Huhu¡­ Huhahaha¡­!¡± Instead of the serious reply that she was expecting, Lunia returned a heartyughter which was rare considering how level-headed she usually was. ¡°S, Sister?¡± ¡°So you have finally reached a point where you think you might steal from me, huh. What an incredible improvement.¡± Hearing that made Alicia realize something. Alicia had never been confident in herself. Even after being named as a future sessor candidate alongside Lunia, she didn¡¯t dare assume that she could one day be the head of the family. It was because Lunia, her sister, was like a heavenly being far out of reach. That was what everyone told her and that¡¯s what she had believed in as well. ¡°Of course, I have no ns of simply watching mine get snatched away. But what if I do get mine stolen? That just means I was not good enough.¡± Like the heroic person she was evaluated to be, Lunia did not hide herpetitiveness. The fact that she was able to see such a side of her sister was surprising but at the same time, it made her happy. It made her think to herself that she had grown to a point where her older sister was considering her a worthy foe. ¡°However, I will not be losing to any immature kids. After all, it looked like he was fond of mature women.¡± ¡°Huh? Who¡¯s he?¡± What was she talking about? Alicia wondered for a bit, but after quickly realizing who she was talking about, her cheeks started to turn deep red. ¡°N, no! That¡¯s not what I meant!¡± ¡°Well, good luck. Just letting you know, the ceremony will be in a week¡¯s time.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not joking! That¡¯s seriously not what I was trying to say!¡± The older sister leisurely ignored the frantic denials of her younger sister. **** It was in the middle of a meal with Marie and Hua Ran, while enjoying the great reception of the Arden Family. ¡°Oh right. I¡¯m getting engaged by the way.¡± I said that during the meal after realizing that I should probably tell them that. ¡°W, what¡­ What did you just say, Korin?¡± ¡°Engaged¡­?¡± One of them dropped the boiled potato in their hands while the other crunched the fish bones in their mouth. ¡°I¡¯m going to get engaged with Miss Lunia. In about a week¡¯s time, I believe.¡± ¡°W, wait. Korin? You¡¯re getting engaged? With Miss Lunia?¡± ¡°This person that¡¯s getting engaged with oppa¡­ Miss Alicia¡¯s older sister, right?¡± ¡°Yeah. We were all busy so I don¡¯t think we had a chance to introduce ourselves. Well, now¡¯s the chance.¡± The door creaked open to the side, as a beautifuldy wearing a martial art uniform walked into the room. ¡°Lunia Arden.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°..¡± The two of them nkly gazed at Lunia. They all¡­ looked awestruck but that was nothing strange, because Miss Lunia was quite a cool-looking person after all! Despite her injuries, Lunia walked in a straight posture before gently sitting down next to me. ¡°I heard you are the peers of my partner.¡± ¡°P, partner¡­?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Lunia deeply gazed at them before letting out a grin and pulling me closer towards her. ¡°¡­Ah.¡± Marie dumbfoundedly looked at me as if genuinely hoping for an exnation. ¡°Umm. You see¡­¡± ¡°After a week, there will be an engagement ceremony between my fiance and I. If the oldest daughter of the Dunareff Family and a sister of the Grand Chapel of Zeon are willing to serve as the bridesmaid or the best man, the Arden Family will dly wee your attendance.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was a deathly silence filling the room. What was going on? I didn¡¯t even do anything wrong but I had a feeling that I had to get up and apologize for something. However, I also got a gut feeling that doing that would only make things worse¡­ ¡°S, since when¡­¡± ¡°As for that, I can exin.¡± I then started talking about the story that Lunia and I had settled with. On the outside, we were known to have fallen in love at first sight and in the middle of a heated rtionship. Of course, I had to tell them the truthter on but a little joke couldn¡¯t hurt. I was looking forward to their dumbfounded expressions. Hehe. I guess you can say this is a type of prank! ¡°That was when it all began. Miss Lunia and I fell in burning love.¡± ¡°Seeing his upright personality in spite of his young age, I could not help but fall in love.¡± After seemingly seeing through my intention, Miss Lunia helped out with my prank. She really did have a slightly mischievous side to her, didn¡¯t she? ¡°¡­¡± Marie and Hua Ran were turning more and more stiff. Ahh. My acting skills were something to be feared. Maybe I had the talent of a prank youtuber. If only I realized my potential back on Earth! ¡°And on that night of full moon, we confirmed our feelings for each¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m leaving.¡± That was when Marie suddenly stood up from her seat. It was strange, considering how she was usually always polite and rxed. ¡°Huhh? Senior, where are you going?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She turned around with a chilly gaze. It was when I was standing there, slightly bewildered from seeing such a cold look in her eyes for the first time. ¡°¡­100 years.¡± After saying something that was difficult to understand, Marie walked out of the room. ¡°What?¡± What in the hell was the problem in our conversation just then? I was going to continue the prank for just about 5 minutes before saying, ¡®Tada! That was a joke!¡¯ but the actress suddenly left the filming site! I wasn¡¯t sure what was going on but I had to undo the misunderstanding at least. I had to tell her it was all a joke and that it was because of an engagement contract to help Lunia¡ª ¡°Uhk¡­ Huhuk¡­!¡± ¡°R, Ran?¡± Oh no. Ran had a look on her face that was on the verge of breaking out into tears while forcing herself to congratte me. ¡°C, congr¡­ Oppa¡­ Umm¡­ Congrat¡­ Why¡­ I hope you¡­ Huuk¡­¡± In the end, she couldn¡¯t continue her words properly and her words ended up being squashed down to pieces. ¡°W¡­ why¡­¡± Seeing the drops of tears flowing down her cheeks, I suddenly realized what I had done. It was very inconsiderate of me to do that. Ran was a girl who had been telling me that she liked me, and that she sincerely wanted to marry me. Because of her childish impression, I thought it would just be a passing memory of first love, but talking about engagement right in front of her eyes was still way too inconsiderate of me!! No no no! It was a prank ¨C a prank! Sorry, it¡¯s my bad! ¡°Ran. That was just a¡ª¡± She vanished from the ce without leaving anything behind. Because of the physical capabilities of a Heavenly Yaksha, I didn¡¯t even have the time to chase after her. ¡°¡ªPrank¡­ I was joking¡­¡± ¡°What a sinful man my fiance is.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ How do I fix this?¡± ¡°Who knows.¡± Lunia returned nothing but a mischievous smile. **** In the end, I couldn¡¯t find both Marie and Hua Ran until nighttime. I was going to undo the misunderstanding immediately aftering across them, but the problem was that I had no idea where they were. ¡°Haa¡­ I¡¯m going to do a ¡®dogeza1 Dogeza: Getting down on one¡¯s knees and driving one¡¯s head into the ground in a show of apology.¡¯ first thing when I see them.¡± They probably weren¡¯t going to stay outside forever, so I had to wait until I saw them tomorrow during mealtime and talk it out. For the time being¡­ I put that aside and opened my system window with limited ess. ¡ºDivinity of the Sun ¨C Korin Lork Airgem.¡» ¨C You have acquired the Light of the Sun. ¨C The Sun will protect you while it is up. The Sun, iomh Sis. It was the weapon that Eochaid Bres, one of the King¡¯s subjects, had been using in thest iteration. King of Beauty, Eochaid Bres. It had been a very drawn-out battlest time. A battle against iomh Sis was one of the climaxes even back in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. The three phases of Eochaid Bres¡¯s boss fight went from Concentrated Sun to Materialized Sun and Compressed Sun. The power of the mighty Sun was essentially the greatest of all time. If not for Park Sihu, who monopolized all the hidden events and exceeded the limitations of a normal yer, no one would be able to fight toe-to-toe against the Sun. However, even iomh Sis had a detrimental weak point and that was that it was way too powerful. Just like what happened on the floating ind, even the Concentrated Sun had been swallowing mana up like crazy. As expected from an item for boss fights, it was a challenge to use properly without connecting it to a specific leyline and having almost an infinite mana supply. ¡®Well, that¡¯s fine. iomh Sis is powerful enough with just the passive blessing alone.¡¯ ¡ºBlessing of the Sun¡» ¨C As long as you are under sunlight, no mes and heat of the world will be able to injure Airgem. ¨C You umte Power of the Sun proportional to your mana capacity (Current Mana Capacity: Lower Medium 7,320) The key power of the Blessing of the Sun was theplete resistance to heat and mes. It wasn¡¯t an overstatement to say that any fire attack would be meaningless as long as I had iomh Sis and I would never feel hot again either. Considering the amount of heat that was being emanated out of iomh Sis every second, it was a necessary blessing to have. The key was to umte Power of the Sun. I had long tested in thest iteration the potential of the Power of the Sun with a nigh-infinite amount of mana to y with. ¡®Compared to thest iteration, Valtazar has lost a great number of his minions.¡¯ I had dealt with Fermack during the incident of King of Iron Mountain and although it was by pure coincidence, killing the Sword Fiend here was the best result I could have ever hoped for. And finally, even the Sun that was supposed to belong to Eochaid Bres was now in my hands. Without the Sun in his possession, Eochaid Bres would be a much easier foe to defeat. Besides, even though we didn¡¯t have the yer, I now had incredibly reliable teammates by my side. Alicia had be stronger much faster than in the original storyline. In fact, she became even stronger now and Marie, who was supposed to have disappeared from the annals of history, was also with me. On top of that, there was even the boss character that was on the same level as the Sword Fiend¡ª ¨C Knock knock! ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s me, oppa.¡± Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran. She was also on my side, which made for an outstanding lineup. First, I had to clear up the misunderstanding though. ¨C Creak! The door slid open and Ran walked inside while wearing Arden-styled pajamas. Hua Ran always wore ck nun clothes and they looked great on her but now that she was in her Ran-mode, she also looked nice in this type of white traditional pajamas. ¡°So, what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Without replying to my words, the blue-eyed girl quietly walked into my room before lying down on my bed. ¡°I¡¯m sleeping here,¡± she said. ¡°¡­Are you the same as Hua now?¡± Just like what Hua did before, Ran did something as audacious as sleeping in the same room as a man, which went against Confucian teachings. ¡°¡­Alright.¡± I had to resolve the misunderstanding and coax the two girls so I tried to have a chat with them. ¡°Ran. I have something to¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to speak with you, oppa.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± I was momentarily struck speechless by her cold tone of voice but¡­ that was natural considering how I bragged about my fiance in front of a girl that sang songs about marrying me¡­ ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s lie down first.¡± The coldness of the winter had yet to go away. After giving her a thick cotton nket, Iid myself down on the bed. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± We shared a moment of silence on the bed. In this dark room where the moonlight was the only source of light, we gazed deeply at each other, so much so that we could spot every twitch of our lips. The first one to break our silence was Ran. After running her thin fingers through my hair and lifting them up, she heaved a deep sigh. ¡°You had a lot of injuries. Are you okay?¡± ¡°I have regeneration. Look. I have the same skin as before, don¡¯t I?¡± ¡°¡­No, it¡¯s different. Completely different.¡± With a sad smile on her face, she gently stroked my fringes. ¡°I told you to not get hurt.¡± ¡°Huh? Y, yeah you did.¡± ¡°When you get hurt, oppa, it hurts both Hua and me. If you waited until we came¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t have time. Sorry.¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s our fault for beingte. If not for that illusion¡­¡± ¡°Illusion? Oh~ right. What did you see?¡± ¡°It was an illusion of you marrying someone else, oppa.¡± ¨C Cough! What kind of illusion was that¡­? ¡°In there, you looked very happy, oppa. As if there was no room for me to do anything¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Despite being the Heavenly Yaksha and a jiangshi, in the end, Hua Ran was just a young girl in her puberty. There was no way seeing that inside the illusion would have been a great experience. And since she saw the person she liked marrying someone else in the illusion, the news of the fake engagement must have been all the more shocking. ¡°Oppa.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± Closing the distance between us on top of the bed, Ran came dangerously close. She then wrapped her arms around my neck and locked her fingers behind my nape, before raising the corners of her lips. ¡°Do you know what I thought going through that illusion?¡± ¡°W, what kind of¡­ things did you think about?¡± Flexing her fingers, she brought her face closer. Her cheeks gazed past mine as she whispered into my ears. ¡°You are mine, oppa. I am not going to give you away to anyone.¡± She had a gentle tone of voice but that was one scary deration, stating that she would never give up even if I were to date someone in the future. ¡°Umm¡­ I, is that so?¡± Ran responded with a sensuous grin. Unlike the indifferent Hua, Ran was¡­ really talented at jolting a male¡¯s heart. ¡°So oppa.¡± Unlocking her fingers behind my neck, she pulled her arms back and opened her palms. There was a slight flush on her cheeks and she seemed rather embarrassed. ¡°Can you¡­ hold my hands?¡± ¡°T, that much I can do.¡± I pushed my palms into hers. When she locked her fingers, I could feel that the power of her grip was far stronger than mine even though my hands were double the size of hers. ¡°You allowed it, okay?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Suddenly, she stood up from the bed and jumped on top of me. W, what was she doing? ¡°I¡¯m not going to let your hands go the whole night.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ okay?¡± Won¡¯t they get sweaty then? ¡°It¡¯s toote. Toote for you to say no¡­¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°You brought this upon yourself, oppa.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­?¡± After tightly sping her fingers into my hands, Ran buried her head into my chest, and because of that, I couldn¡¯t really tell but it looked like she was also quite embarrassed judging from how her ears were colored in deep red. Unlike Hua, who was calm no matter what happened around her, it was quite normal for a girl from a refined household like Ran to be embarrassed by the act of sleeping on the same bed as a man. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ all your fault, oppa.¡± ¡°Okay okay. My bad. You do whatever you want.¡± Her eyes slowly came to a close. She had the resolute face of a warrior who had readied themselves for death so I couldn¡¯t really say anything to her. Like¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure why we had to hold our hands to sleep though. Footnotes:
  • 1 Dogeza: Getting down on one¡¯s knees and driving one¡¯s head into the ground in a show of apology.
Chapter 108: - Engagement Ceremony (3) ? Engagement Ceremony (3) ? When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I saw was Hua Ran staring outside the window. ¡°Ran¡­ no, it¡¯s Hua huh. What are you doing?¡± ¡°¡­Noting.¡± ¡°What is?¡± ¡°The stork¡­ isn¡¯ting.¡± Hua Ran mumbled about some things that didn¡¯t make much sense to me. Maybe there was a legend in the east about storks flying around in the morning or something. ¡°Stop looking outside the window. Wash yourself and let¡¯s go grab some food. There¡¯s something I need to tell you as well.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what was going through her head, but in any case, I stood up from the bed to head to therge bathroom. ¡°Are you not going?¡± ¡°¡­Maybe it got eaten.¡± ¡°Which one; you mean the stork?¡± ¡°¡­Nn.¡± ¡°You are not going to see any storks near this ce. Theye out more north of here. I think I heard about there being some habitats of storks near the North Kingdom.¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± Hua Ran looked greatly shocked as if that was something she hadn¡¯t been expecting. I wonder why she wanted to see them in the first ce. ¡°Whatever. Let¡¯s go have some food.¡± I dragged the disappointed Hua Ran and took her to the bathroom. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Fake engagement?¡± ¡°Shh. It¡¯s a secret so make sure you don¡¯t tell anyone.¡± ¡°¡­Okay.¡± That morning, I exined the situation to Hua Ran after she was done washing herself. ¡°It was just for a little tease but that was very inconsiderate of me. Can you say that to Ran?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I should have been more considerate of her feelings. I¡¯m sorry for making you guys sad.¡± Without saying anything, Hua Ran looked at me and raised a fist. ¨C Bam! ¡°Ugyak¡­! That hurts!¡± ¡°¡­¡± I, I did do something that deserved a beating but that didn¡¯t feel like the only reason there! ¡°Eat.¡± After saying one word, she started staring at the chopsticks that were ced next to the fried mackerel. She then looked back and forth at the fried mackerel and me. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­Alright, I¡¯ll get rid of the bones for you.¡± After a long silence, I began to debone the fish for her. ¨C Nom nom. Like a cat munching on fish, Hua Ran indulged herself in her meal. Around the time she was done with the food, she opened her mouth. ¡°You¡­ You¡¯re always busy.¡± ¡°Hnn? Oh, yeah I am.¡± ¡°If something like this happens again¡­ go with me.¡± ¡°Huh? Sure. That would be awesome.¡± ¡°¡­Awesome?¡± Of course it was. Considering her strength, that was an offer I would wee with wide open arms. ¡°Yeah. Thanks.¡± I stroked her head. From the faint change in her expression, I could tell that she was in a better mood. **** I had to find Marie. Even though I tried asking the maids and butlers of the Arden Family, they didn¡¯t have any clue either so the next one I had to rely on was¡­ ¡°Woof!¡± He was in the backyard of the Arden headquarters. Wearing a Montijo t-shirt that was worth 2 gold coins and pants that cost 5 gold coins, Doggo was wearing a leather jacket and a pair of sunsses with his legs crossed as he arrogantly greeted me. ¡°Woof woof!¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I get that you¡¯re busy but¡­¡± He, the fruit of Marie and my blood, had called all the female dogs of the area and were making themy down on top of a discarded couch and his knees. Why the heck was this guy so popr? ¡°Do you know where mommy has gone off to?¡± ¡°Woof!¡± ¡°Huh? You little brat! Who told you to use suchnguage to your daddy?¡± ¡°Woof woof!¡± ¡°But I¡­ I wasn¡¯t intending¡­ on making mommy cry but¡­ N, no. That would just be another excuse. Sorry. It is your daddy¡¯s fault.¡± I sat down next to him on the couch. The desperate eyes of the female dogs staring at Doggo were extremely burdensome but I somehow made them go down. ¨C Nghhh nghhh (Mr. Doggo¡­ Do you have no need for me anymore?) ¡­¡­ Was there something wrong with my ears? Why did I get a feeling that I could hear what these moaning dogs were trying to say? ¡°Anyway, Doggo. Your daddy has something to talk about with mommy. Can you tell me where she is?¡± ¡°Woof!¡± Damn it, it wasn¡¯t working. This guy¡­ he was going to swear at me when he¡¯s grown up at this rate! No wonder they say raising a child gives you nothing in return! He¡¯s only standing on mom¡¯s side!! ¡°One cow.¡± ¡°¡­Woof?¡± ¡°When we go back¡­ I will get you one of the top-notch ck cows of the south, delivered straight to you raw.¡± ¡°Woof woof woof¡­!!¡± The guy suddenly started tough. What was going on? The ck cows of the south were his favorite type of meat. There was no way he would¡ª ¡ºStorage Statement: Doggo (Guaranteed by Dunareff)¡» Remaining Money: 2,956 gold. Thank you very much for using the gold coin storage of the Grand Chapel of Zeon. ¡­The gold coin storage of the New Faith was like the bank of this world. There was nothing wrong with that but¡­ Why was this kid more loaded than me? Wait a second. How did Doggo have enough money tough at the building fees of the hotel that I tried my ass off to protectst year? ¡°S, son¡­? Can you give your daddy some pocket money¡­?¡± ¡°Kukwekwekwekwek¡­!¡± **** Despite being mocked and looked down on a whole lot, in the end, Doggo told me where Marie was. ¡°Senior.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She was in one of the guest rooms located in a corner of the Arden household. Because it was supposed to be inhabited, even the windows were closed and the only source of light inside the room where Marie was was the lighting in from the door I slid open. ¡°You¡¯re here,¡± she said. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Nothing much.¡± ¡°Like, about the thing yesterday¡­¡± It was then. Marie tookrge steps towards me before lifting her head. ¡°Senior?¡± Her red eyes had a sharp glimmer. Just from looking at her eyes, I could tell that she was thirsty and she pounced at me before I could even do anything. Pakk! Her fangs dug deep into my corbone. She had been doing this so much that it wouldn¡¯t have been strange for me to have gotten a scar there, but there were no problems thanks to my regeneration ability. ¨C Gulp¡­! In times like this, Marie was almost like a baby. Desperately, she would cling onto my neck refusing to let her lips fall apart. Although I was supporting her by the back so that she wouldn¡¯t fall back, she was so indulged in sucking my blood that she didn¡¯t even need that extra support. ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± After drinking my blood without any rest, she started gasping for breath. She tended to be overly excited in times like this so I settled her down while tapping her on her back. ¡°Take your time. I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡± ¡°¡­Un.¡± I stepped back andid myself down on the bed behind me as Marie started pressing down on me from above. It was a simr posture to what happened with Ran yesterday but¡­ the density and stickiness of the air inside the room were iparably different. ¡°Delicious.¡± She dug deeper and deeper into me. Our hearts aligned as the sound of her thumping heartbeat reached all the way to my ears. After craving blood for who knows how long, she parted her fangs and licked my neck to clean up the blood before raising her head back up. Her hair slid down and tickled my lips. ¡°Korin. Can I have a bit more? I was¡­ hungry for a long time.¡± It had been about a month. Ever since we parted, Marie must have been relying only on blood packs, and because it was rare to see her being this dependent, I couldn¡¯t turn her down. Considering all the help she had given me, turning her down wasn¡¯t an option. ¡°Sure.¡± Like a baby, she once again dug into my chest. Her sharp fangs pierced through my skin once again, not allowing them the time to regenerate back up. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Because of her long starvation, she ended up sucking his blood too much. There were a myriad of emotions on her face as she gazed down at Korin who was sleeping on the bed due to nausea. His blood that she finally got to taste after a long separation was sweet and captivating. His wide shoulders and resilient muscles; tall corbones, tough traps, and chest muscles. The tasteful blood flowing down her throat past her tongue as well as the remainder next to his corbones¡­ Everything. Everything; every single one of them is mine. Those are mine and mine alone and no one else will be able to reach them. The mere thought of having these stolen by someone else made her furious. The Dunareff princess, who was kinder and nicer than anyone else, couldn¡¯t stop her killing intent from rising up. The fact that Korin didn¡¯t choose her was a very depressing and sad event, but she still had to wish for their happiness. After all, she wanted him to be happy. She wanted him to have a happy ending after living a joyous life with his loved ones. ¡°You see, Korin¡­ I can wait.¡± 100 years. That wasn¡¯t going to be that long for her anymore. As long as she could obtain everything that belonged to him after waiting for that long¡­ ¡®It¡¯ll be my win.¡¯ So what if her precious treasure would get touched by someone else? After a short time, it would be sent back to her, never leaving the treasury ever again. That was why everything was fine. She could wait, but¡­ And yet¡­ ¡°Uhk¡­ Huhuk¡­!¡± Even so, she didn¡¯t like it. She hated the idea of having him stolen away for even a second. She became greedy, hoping he would stay with her from the start to the end. ¡°He¡¯s mine¡­ he¡¯s mine¡­¡± Why did I have to watch him form a bond with someone else? How was I supposed to wait 100 years by myself? The girl turned teary. She couldn¡¯t stop her tears from falling down her cheeks. The first loss of her life was extremely bitter and spicy. ¡°¡­Senior?¡± That was when some thick fingers went past her eyes. ¡°Why¡­ are you crying?¡± As if he was still half-sleepy, Korin couldn¡¯t continue his words properly but Marie could still tell that he was greatly concerned about her. ¡°Come here and lie down.¡± Tap tap. Korin invited her down while tapping on the bed. His actions had a magic charm to them or something; as if being absorbed into the bed, sheid herself down and rested her head on his arm. ¡°Are you okay now?¡± ¡°Un¡­ Sorry.¡± ¡°Who made my little Senior cry?¡± It¡¯s because of you; you¡¯re hurting me like this ¨C Marie couldn¡¯t say that to his face. She found it disgraceful to rely so much on someone who was about to be engaged very soon. Korin had a troubled look on his face, seeing that Marie was still looking extremely dejected, and decided to share his honest thoughts despite them being slightly embarrassing to talk about. ¡°I told you, didn¡¯t I. You are a nice person, Senior. And I want you to be happy.¡± ¡°¡­Why?¡± ¡°My arms are short and I can only reach the ones in front of my eyes but¡­ at the very least, I want everyone within my reach to be happy. Because they all have the right to be so.¡± ¡°Everyone¡­¡± That was a repeat of what she heard when she asked him why he had saved her, but it sounded slightly different this time. She noticed that she¡­ was just one person among ¡®everyone¡¯ for the hero, Korin Lork. ¡°I¡­¡± I want to be your one and only special person, and not just a part of everyone though¡­ Because he was a kind-hearted person who could empathize, be considerate, protect, and help others, Marie Dunareff liked him. She liked him, adored and loved him, and will continue to even if that love remained going in one direction. However, she couldn¡¯t stop her tears from falling down. Her sorrow and dejection constantly tried to pour out of her. ¡°Korinnn¡­¡± In the end, a wave of sorrow left through her neck and started to swirl. ¡°Ehew¡­ Don¡¯t cry. You¡¯re ruining your beauty.¡± ¡°Huguk¡­! Stop¡­ treating me¡­ like a kid¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m not. Seriously though¡­ if you¡¯re like this, how are you going to congratte me during my engagement ceremony?¡± Why should I!? Why would I even do that!? I¡¯ll never do it! It was when Marie was about to pour out her emotions at this clueless boy. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a fake engagement though.¡± ¡°Hunng?¡± Her tears came to a sudden stop as she then asked with doubt in her eyes. ¡°Fake¡­ engagement?¡± ¡°Yes. I made a deal with Miss Lunia.¡± As if she had been struck by a 100-meter-long chunk of ice, her face went through a rapid change. ¡°Aiya~. But seriously, as soon as she saw me in the east, she suddenly asked if I wanted to get married. Some family circumstances I guess.¡± Now that she finally seemed to be in the mood for a conversation, Korin started rambling on and on. And the more she listened to his words, the redder her ears turned. Her cheeks which were wet from her tears turned red and steamy. Everything had been fake, and everything was a prank. ¡°I, I see! So that¡¯s how it was¡­!¡± Looking back, it really was strange. It had only been one month since Korin hade to the east. How could they fall in love and talk about engagement in just a month? Even if that was possible, Korin was a very busy person. He had talked to Marie about his enemies who were plotting schemes all around the world regardless of the time. Marie had personally even volunteered to join his guild of guardians to be his partner, did she not? So how could such a busy person like Korin Lork volitionally tie himself down to the eastern side of the continent? Just a little bit of thought would have allowed her to notice all the contradictions. ¡°U, uiikk¡­ Uuiik¡­!¡± Her fists shivered as her mind brought back up all the delusions and vile ns that she had been going through. Wait for 100 years? Don¡¯t want to get him stolen? ¡°UGIYAAAKK¡­!¡± Marie pped her legs and arms on the bed. ¡°Here¡¯s a nket. Take a nap; you must be full.¡± ¡°Eeek¡­ Eeeeek¡­!!¡± She iled around while panting for breath while Korin watched over her like an adult looking at an adorable child. After about 10 to 20 minutes, she finally settled back down so he asked her while giving her a tap on the back. ¡°So¡­ Why was it that you were so sad?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ nothing!¡± ¡°Well¡­ alright. Let¡¯s just say that then.¡± With a mixture of embarrassment and anger, Marie pinched his cheeks while still lying down sideways on the bed. ¡°Ayayaya¡­¡± ¡°Korin,¡± she said. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Please¡­ don¡¯t lie to me.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Korin returned her a serious gaze that contained a bit of guilt, apology and¡­ a firm resolve. ¡°Alright. I won¡¯t.¡± ¡°I¡­ believe everything that you say, Korin. I don¡¯t doubt anything. Even if you say you will multiply gold coins by threefold, I will trust you and I won¡¯t doubt it even if you tell me there will be a meteor strike tomorrow. So¡­¡± Revealing a tip of herplicated emotions, Marie said with teary eyes. ¡°So please don¡¯t ever lie to me, Korin.¡± ¡°Okay. I won¡¯t lie to you even as a joke.¡± ¡°Nn. I trust you.¡± After wiping off the beads of moisture from her eyes, the girl smiled like a fully-bloomed flower, as if she gained a never-lying lover that will stay with her for the rest of her life. ¡°No matter what happens¡­ everything will be mine after 100 years.¡± ¡°And what do you mean by that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a secret¡­!¡± That was most certainly going to be kept a secret from him for the next 100 years. Chapter 109: - Engagement Ceremony (4) ? Engagement Ceremony (4) ? Ever since thest day at Findias, Alicia spent every day feeling uneasy and distracted. It was partially because her body had yet to fully recover, but the other reason was that it was easy for her to be immersed in imagination when lying still, staring at nothing but the ceiling. ¡°Ah¡­¡± These days, her emotions had been following a certain pattern over and over again. It was a peculiar rtionship starting from the start of the semester. After the Sword Challenge against Lunia, her heart would oftentimes turn warm and her face tended to turn hot on top of that. ¡ºYou can do it. You can do a lot better than what you¡¯re doing right now.¡» ¡ºI will protect you, so you focus on one thing.¡» Even when she was up against John Doe the Murderer of the City of Fog. ¡ºAlicia. You¡¯re a lot stronger than someone like me who used to be a powerless kid back then. I want you to be someone who can be proud of themselves all the time.¡» Also when she was trying to ovee Lunia in her Sword Challenge. ¡ºTrust me if you can¡¯t trust in yourself. I can assure you¡­ You will do a great job. Everything will be fine.¡» He had always been there, cheering and supporting her, while also telling her that she could do everything and that she would never go astray from the path, and¡­ ¡°He said¡­ he¡¯ll be with me the whole time.¡± A person who trusted her for no reason. A person who supported her without anything in return. A person who will dly help her whenever and wherever. That was who Korin Lork was. Coming across someone like that was a once-in-a-lifetime miracle. And a person like that¡­ ¡ºWhat do you think about marrying me?¡» Was getting engaged to her older sister. She was going to be a family with him as an inw. That was something to be happy about. Korin was a great person, so Lunia would probably lead an immensely happy life after getting married to him. It was something to be happy for; she had to cheer for them so why¡­ ¡ºBrother-inw¡­ Sister is noting home tonight.¡» Why was it that she had done something like that inside the illusion? That was¡­ It¡¯s probably because¡­ ¨C Alicia. Are you there? That was when the familiar voice of the boy echoed from outside the door. Alicia tried to immediately stand up from her bed but stumbled and ended up rolling on the floor. ¨C Kuguguugung!! ¡°Yess? Yepp! I, I¡¯m here! Mr. Korin¡­!¡± ¨C W, what was that noise? Did you fall? ¡°Ye-no!¡± -¡­ What does that even mean? As she was about to quickly leave the room, Alicia realized that she had just woken up and that she had yet to take care of her hair and clothes. ¡°W, wait! L, let me wash¡­! I mean, I¡¯ll be out shortly!¡± In a hurry, she stood in front of the mirror, tidied her disheveled hair with ab, and applied makeup to hide the bags under her eyes. And in case she smelled, she took a bottle of hair oil and applied a thinyer of it on her hair. The gentle fragrance of her hair seemed enough to hide any unpleasant scent. ¨C Alicia¡­ Are you there? I¡¯ve been waiting for over 30 minutes now. ¡°I, I¡¯ming out now! Sorry!¡± She was trying to get herself ready as perfectly as possible and took a bit of time in the process. She quickly slid the door open and weed the guest. Waiting in front of the door was the boy whose wild appearance was as attractive as always. ¡°What took you so long?¡± ¡°Haa, haa¡­ Sorry. The room was a bit messy.¡± ¡°Really? Hoh? Do you usually put your hair down like that at home?¡± She was in so much of a hurry that she even forgot to tie her hair into a ponytail. ¡°I, it is a lot morefortable this way.¡± ¡°Is that so? By the way, why are you wearing perfume? Or is this hair oil?¡± ¡°N, no? I¡¯m not wearing any perfume!¡± ¡°What do you mean no? Anyone would say this smells like some flowery oil.¡± ¡°T, this is my body scent!¡± ¡°¡­Really now?¡± The boy asked with a mean smirk that reminded her of Immortan Lork. ¡°A, anyway¡­! Why are you here?¡± ¡°Oh yeah. I¡¯m going to the town right now, and I wanted to know if there¡¯s anything you want me to get.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ How about we go together?¡± ¡°Nah. I have a date with Miss Lunia from now on.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Date. Hearing that word made her head turn nk. Right. She remembered that Mr. Korin was¡­ the fianc¨¦ of her older sister. **** ¡°Goodness. Looks like I had you waiting already.¡± Most of our regrly scheduled dates, which were in ce to deceive the eyes of those around us, started like this. ¡°I¡¯m thinking we should ride horses to the city. What do you think?¡± ¡°Sounds a lot more intriguing than getting on a carriage. By the way, what is that in your hand?¡± Lunia asked while looking at my right hand. In my right hand was a ranunculus that was as red as a rose. ¡°Is that not one of the flowers in the garden? Why do you have it?¡± ¡°It was pretty so I took it. Would you please ept it?¡± ¡°Hmph. It belongs to our household in the first ce though.¡± ¡°I heard there¡¯s nody who does not like flowers.¡± ¡°30 out of 100. That is very much outdated.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I ced the flower in her hair, while being conscious of the eyes around us. ¡°Do you know what it means?¡± ¡°Huhu. Although I do, I will wait for the gentleman to finish his words.¡± ¡°¡®You are charming¡¯.¡± ¡°60 points. That is a pass mark.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the other 40?¡± ¡°I might give it to you depending on how you perform today.¡± Getting on our horses, we slowly rode towards the town. ¡°By the way, where have you learned such things?¡± ¡°From a book.¡± ¡°That is a nice teacher to have.¡± What I realized by going on dates with Miss Lunia a few times was that she was more fond of quiet ces than loud ones, and that she preferred simple over fancy. She was the exemr of a typical proud and traditional beauty. She was such a wonderfuldy in all aspects that she was awe-inspiring. After having a meal at a traditional eastern-style restaurant, we drank tea in an open room of a teahouse. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± She elegantly raised the cup of tea like the refineddy of a renowned household she was. ¡°Why are you looking at me and not the tea? Does it not suit your tastes?¡± ¡°No, I was just thinking you were very cool.¡± ¡°Hopefully the date was not too boring. It is rare for me to go out on asions like this with a gentleman, you see.¡± ¡°It¡¯s my honor.¡± Something I noticed even back in thest iteration was that she had no rtionships with men nor the desire to have one. Unlike thest iteration, the survival of Alicia caused pressure from the family which led to the threat of a semi-forced political marriage. If not for that, Lunia wouldn¡¯t even be here going out on dates. ¡°I like spending some leisure time like this as well. Honestly, I would have enjoyed anything whatever they were.¡± ¡°I respect your positive mindset towards everything.¡± ¡°Or more like, it¡¯s important who I am with. I¡¯m sure any man going on a date with you would think the same, Miss Lunia.¡± ¡°Huhu.¡± As if she was pleased by that, Lunia let out a gentle chuckle. Then, she gazed at me for a while before slowly resting her head on my shoulders. ¡°Miss Lunia?¡± ¡°There are still eyes on us. Let us put on a show for them to see.¡± Was there someone from her family looking at us? In that case, there was a need to put out a better act for this fake engagement. ¨C Tap Putting my hand on her shoulder, I pulled her towards me until we were so close that we could feel each other¡¯s breath. ¡°Right. Great work. If this engagement goes through, I will surely repay the debt by fulfilling your side of the contract.¡± ¡°You¡¯re ruining the mood by saying that.¡± ¡°Goodness. It seems that it was inconsiderate of me to say that.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s good that we are talking about something at least.¡± After simrly wrapping her arm around my back to my shoulders, she also pulled me in towards her. This in fact suited her a bit more. ¡°I assume your conditions are probably rted to ¡®those guys¡¯. Is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Haa~. Seriously, I wonder what kind of enemy my fianc¨¦ has.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not doing this for myself. It¡¯s something that has to be done for everyone.¡± ¡°What kind of people are they? I can tell just by looking at them that they are very powerful.¡± What kind of people, huh. How should I reply to that question? Their existence itself was so nonsensical in the first ce that it was hard for me to exin them. However, the most urate description for them would probably be¡­ ¡°Evil. Absolute evil.¡± ¡°¡­Considering how that ising from someone like you, I suppose they are not your run-of-the-mill foes.¡± ¡°If I have your help, Miss Lunia and the Arden Family¡­ or even just the Sword Squad that is directly under yourmand, it would alleviate a lot of my burden.¡± ¡°There is no need for you to worry. I will certainly help you without you even having to say that. However¡­ I definitely was not expecting you to go against the ¡®Royal Family¡¯.¡± ¡°If you think that¡¯s crazy, you don¡¯t have to be a part of this. I don¡¯t want to cause you that much trouble either.¡± ¡°Indeed, going against the 2nd Princess who has deep connections with the Old Faith is very concerning. Although they have fallenpared to the past, they still have a great amount of support both in the kingdom and continent.¡± My side of the contract that I introduced during the talk about the fake engagement with Lunia was this: a military movement of Lunia and the Arden Family when I called for it. Before bing the family head, all she could mobilize were probably the 1st Sword Squad that was directly under hermand and a few demon-hunting troops that were a lot weaker than sword squads but¡­ those would be plenty of help already. ¡°Is that perhaps¡­ because of the 2nd Princess and her supporters¡¯ hatred against demons?¡± Lunia knew that Marie and Hua Ran were demons and that the Royal Family of this kingdom¡­ especially those on the 2nd Princess¡¯s side would feel threatened by it. There were a lot fewer than before, but the reason why the old-fashioned Old Faith still had support from so many people was because of their consistent oppression against demi-humans. Except for unique cases like Marie, demi-humans were all ostracized and hated. People considered demi-humans to be a part of demons just like demonic beasts and spirits, and the consistent demi-human oppression of the Old Faith in contrast to the standpoint of the New Faith made faithful believers stand against one another. ¡°Something I heard from the Guardian Alliance is that the Tower of Mages will soon start to move. They are one of the powerful sponsors of the Old Faith and the 2nd Princess. If you truly wish to protect your friends, you will need to keep an eye out for them,¡± said Lunia. Of course. I knew about that already. The main story of the 4th Arc ¨C the stir in the Tower of Mages and the murder of Chairman Eriu Casarr. The incident caused by the Red and ck mage factions of the Tower of Mages led to the official death of Chairman Eriu Casarr. Following that were serial attacks of demons, and the actions of the incited group of werewolves from the demi-human vige resulted in a terrible public perception of demi-humans. What I had to stop was the death of Chairman Eriu Casarr. To be exact, I had to stop Master Erin¡¯s clone from being crushed. Originally, it was an unstoppable event in the main scenario. The game had certain scenarios that could only be attended by the permitted party members but¡­ as long as I had Lunia Arden and a group of elite swordsmen, modifying the scenario would no longer be impossible. The stir in the Tower of Mages would be the first ce where I gather all the connections and forces that I had built up over the past year. In return for bing Lunia¡¯s fake fianc¨¦, I would receive military support from her, under the pretext of her helping out her fianc¨¦. No matter how I saw it, that was way too good of a story for me. ¡°Korin. Someone I know is very close. We need to be closer.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Grabbing my arm, Lunia brought her face towards mine. Depending on the angle, some might even think that we were sharing a kiss. Although I was slightly surprised by it, I gave a natural and fitting response. ¡°Hmm. That was a good response.¡± ¡°Well, I believe I am quick-witted enough.¡± ¡°Quick-witted? Not sure about that.¡± ¡°Huh? Is there something I missed?¡± ¡°Nothing. Looks like there¡¯s a long road ahead of my sister.¡± Lunia muttered while ncing somewhere. She was still tightly holding onto my arm so I gently tapped hers. ¡°Miss Lunia. Your hand.¡± ¡°Ah, my apologies. Did that hurt?¡± ¡°You have calluses on your hands so it did hurt a bit.¡± ¡°I apologize. And I know they are unsightly for a woman to have.¡± ¡°What do you mean? They¡¯re cool.¡± There were a lot of calluses on Lunia¡¯s hands. These took a lot more than a day or two to form. Those hadyers andkers that were formed by her continuing to push herself beyond her limits consistently for a very long time. The training I had done for 3 years in thest iteration added to 1 year in this iteration was still far from reaching all the hard work Lunia had gone through. ¡°Open your palms for me.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Despite her doubt, Lunia obediently opened her hands. While touching her hands, I stroked the thick and rough calluses. ¡°As I said, these are awesome.¡± ¡°Is that¡­ so?¡± ¡°When you look at someone¡¯s hands, you can tell how diligent they have been.¡± That was the case even for students studying with a pen, let alone warriors. Having this many calluses would require an unbelievable amount of hard work. ¡°Each and every one of these calluses prove your hard work and experience. What¡¯s the reason you should be embarrassed by them?¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°If someone says something about them, that just means they are narrow-minded as heck. This is a beautiful charm that only you have.¡± ¡°Huhu. You are very smooth with words, are you not.¡± She seemed pleased by mypliments. Both in thest and this iteration, there were a bunch of things I had learned from her. How could I not respect this master of swords, who endlessly trained herself despite never being able to fully reach the Domain? ¡°Well. That was very sweet of you. So sweet¡­ that it even made me ponder whether I should take you as is.¡± ¡°Aye~. Now that¡¯s an overstatement.¡± ¡°Huhu,¡± she chuckled before opening her mouth again. ¡°You should go home first for today. There is a ce I need to be.¡± ¡°Sending thedy off home is the duty of a gentleman though.¡± ¡°I will dly ept just your thoughtful consideration.¡± Saying that, she stood up and left first. It seemed that she really did have a ce to be at. Just like that, ourst date before the engagement ceremony came to an end. Soon after, we had a very simple engagement. Since this was, after all, just a means to officially state that Lunia had a fianc¨¦, the ceremony was held with very few members of the household. ¡°Are you ready, my fianc¨¦.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± When my engagement partner walked into the venue, I was so shocked that I was momentarily lost for words. Because she always wore suits and martial uniforms, I had rarely ever seen her all dressed up beautifully. Her bare face was already beautiful enough and even when counting all the years I had spent with her in thest iteration, I had rarely seen her dress up like this in the span of 4 years. Starting from the fancy decorations and a hairpin on her hair to a traditional costume of red silk and golden strings. Ayer of lipstick was faintly brightening up her reddened lips. ¡°You look beautiful.¡± ¡°Huhu. You are indeed a gentleman who knows how to make ady happy.¡± ¡°I am not joking. You are truly and seriously¡­ beautiful.¡± Even she seemed embarrassed by my straightforwardpliment and her cheeks turned red. She then opened her mouth and started speaking as if it was a shame. ¡°How unfortunate. I have actually started to think that taking you for myself would not be a bad option.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± Before I could even fully understand her words, Alicia appeared from the other side of the hall. ¡°What the heck is she doing there?¡± Alicia Arden ¨C she was Lunia Arden¡¯s younger sister, who should be helping out and putting a crown of flowers on her head as the bridesmaid¡­ So why was she here without even wearing a suit? As if she resolved herself for something, Alicia resolutely lifted her head and¡ª ¡°I, I am against this engagement¡­!¡± W, what? Chapter 110: - Engagement Ceremony (5) ? Engagement Ceremony (5) ? Lunia had been walking the way of the sword for the whole 28-year period of her life. She had been called a prodigy of swords ever since a young age and not only was she the target of everyone¡¯s expectations as the only sessor candidate, but she also answered their expectations with hard work. One day, the house was in an uproar. ¡ºAre you¡­ telling me to raise an illegitimate child?¡» ¡ºWhat else can we do about it? It is still an offspring of Arden.¡» Illegitimate child. Although she was only 10 years old back then, Lunia still understood what that meant. ¡ºThis is your sister.¡» She was then introduced to a baby who had yet to even hit their first birthday. The baby covered in an old and ragged piece of cloth was rejected and pushed away by everyone else. In the end, the young baby ended up in her hands. ¨C Baaa! Even so, the baby had a bright smile on her face, oblivious to everything happening around her. Looking at the little thing in her hands, Lunia found her so adorable that she unconsciously showed her off to her parents. ¡ºLook. Father. Mother. She just touched my cheeks.¡» ¡º¡­¡­¡» Her words were met with a long and arduous silence, as well as a discontent gaze. Lunia btedly realized something. The baby was an illegitimate child made due to the family head¡¯s affair. Her mother died during delivery and in the Arden Family, she couldn¡¯t be weed by anyone as an existence that could mess with the session process. After thinking of all that, Lunia realized that this baby in her arms wouldn¡¯t be weed by anyone no matter where she was. She would be condemned at the vige of her mother for being a child that devoured her mother; the father who provided the seed refused to look at the proof of his dishonesty; and the only victim of this incident ¨C Lunia¡¯s mother ¨C was disappointed and silent. Seeing the poor and crying baby that couldn¡¯t even swallow baby food yet, even the servants treated her with contempt and didn¡¯t acknowledge her, talking amongst themselves about how dirty the nature of her birth was. Lunia understood there, that she was the only one who cherished this little baby. ¡ºMama¡­ Hug!¡» ¡ºSistaa. I¡¯m biggaa! Look look. I¡¯m over one meter!¡» ¡ºSister! I¡¯m going to be an awesome knight just like you!¡» ¡ºS, Sister¡­! I¡­ will be going to the Academy tomorrow.¡» She watched over everything that the child went through; she watched over the feeble girl who couldn¡¯t even take what was rightfully hers without her help. ¡ºA, as an instructor of a newly founded Arden-style dojo¡­ I request the Captain of the 1st Sword Squad, Lunia Arden, for a practice duel.¡» In less than half a year after being sent off to the Academy, the child went through a change. Korin Lork. He was a Knight with excellent talents and hard work, and was the one who had changed the girl. With just a nce, Lunia noticed that he was the one who changed her sister and that Alicia was interested in him. ¡®Doesn¡¯t even know how to be proactive. Still just as dull and slow as always.¡¯ She had been the one watching over her growth for 17 years. She knew exactly what kind of personality Alicia had. That was why she started to think that¡­ maybe snatching the boy away from her would make that dim-witted girl wake up. And watching that happen wouldn¡¯t be a boring experience either. ¡ºWhat do you think about marrying me?¡» Because of the consistent and annoying pressure for a political marriage, Lunia went for it and saw the face her sister was making, which had been a sight to behold. The fact that she was making such a face without even noticing her own emotions felt even more absurd. It was just a fake engagement though. After some time, the engagement would be renounced and Korin Lork would be free again. It was just a contract that they forged with both sides having conditions they were after, and Lunia was simply trying to stimte her sister in the process but¡­ ¡ºEach and every one of these calluses prove your hard work and experience. What¡¯s the reason you should be embarrassed by them?¡» ¡ºIf someone says something about them, that just means they are narrow-minded as heck. This is a beautiful charm that only you have.¡» As she continued spending more and more time with him, she noticed that there was something about this boy that touched her heart. An innately nice person who volitionally chose to walk theborious path. That conviction of his and his manliness made her heart throb, to the point that she even wanted to turn this fake engagement into a real one. However, she knew that would be a cowardly thing to do. Their engagement had to stay fake, because she, the strongest Knight of the East under the name of Sword Master, was always proud of her words and actions. ¡ºWhat are you doing here?¡» ¡ºS, Sister¡­¡» Gazing down at her younger sister who had chased after them on their date, what she saw was a fighting spirit zing in her eyes. ¡ºHah¡­¡» It seemed that she was finally ready to stand on the starting line. Lunia thought to herself that taking him away just like this would be a shame. Stealing him away in a more straightforward and frontal manner would probably be even better. ¡ºDo you like him?¡» ¡ºS, sorry? W, who? Who likes who?¡» ¡ºAlways make sure to enunciate your words properly. You are already almost 20 years old.¡» ¡ºS, sorry¡­¡» ¡ºHmph.¡» While facing Alicia who had her head lowered to the ground, Lunia opened her mouth and muttered what seemed like a monologue. ¡ºThe core purpose of this engagement is to escape from a political marriage ¨C a means to buy time. In other words, as long as something can buy time, it does not have to be in the form of an engagement.¡» ¡ºS, Sister?¡» ¡ºRight. If someone were to suddenly appear during the engagement and run away with my partner in hand¡­ I probably wouldn¡¯t feel like meeting anyone for the time being due to that shock.¡» ¡º¡­¡­¡» A fight had to be fair. Lunia¡¯s mindset was that a proud victory of a fair fight would taste the sweetest out of every fruit in the world. ¡°I, I am against this engagement¡­!¡± She deemed it okay to concede for now, while looking forward to the day she would steal him from her little sister, who had finally gotten to the starting line after realizing her feelings. ¡°A, Alicia? W, w, what are you?¡± ¡°C,e with me!¡± ¡°Huh? Huuhhh?¡± Korin Lork was grabbed and dragged by her. He was so dumbfounded that he couldn¡¯t even think about resisting that pull. ¡°W, what are you doing? Chase after them right now!¡± Sophiamanded the warriors of the household but that was when an enormous shadow was suddenly cast on top of them from the sky. ¨C Kwaang! The identity of the shadow descending to the ground was the Hresvelgr, arge-type monster carrier from the South. ¡°Korin! Alicia¡­!¡± The oldest daughter of the agricultural empire in the south; the girl with a unique water-colored hair and the probationary nun from the Grand Chapel of Zeon reached their arms out as if they had been waiting for it. ¡°Ehk? Ehh?? Huhh???¡± Without even knowing why, Korin was made to get on the Hresvelgr, which was followed by Alicia. ¡°Let¡¯s go¡­!¡± The monster carrier pped its massive wings and floated back into the sky. The unprecedented event of the engagement partner being kidnapped by the younger sister from another mother made Sophia, the guests and everyone present turn pale. Lunia was the only one smiling while watching all that unfold. ¡°Huhahahaha¡­!¡± ¡°L, Lunia?¡± ¡°Goodness. Mother. Your daughter is feeling greatly shocked.¡± ¡°Oh no. B, but why were youu¡­¡± ¡°Haa~. My shock is so great that I do not feel like seeing any men for a while.¡± ¡°Sorry? Wait. Wait, Lunia?¡± She walked out of the hall withrge strides, gathering the eyes of everyone inside. Just like that, the small engagement ceremony of the renowned Arden household of the East ended up being annulled. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Umm. So what is going on right now?¡± Korin Lork dumbfoundedly raised a question. Hearing that, Alicia took out a letter from her pocket and handed it to him. ¡°Uhh¡­ Mr. Korin. Sister wanted me to give you this letter.¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± ¡ºI shall pay an official visitter to take you in. My dear fianc¨¦.¡» ¡°Oh damn¡­¡± ¡°W, what does it say?¡± ¡°¡­You don¡¯t need to know.¡± **** Ady raced through the night. She was surrounded by an army of undead on all sides in the city filled with screams. By nature, the dead loathed and were envious of the living; thus, they pounced at the lively and fresh meat in front of their eyes. They all pounced at once from the streets, alleyways, roofs¡­ and even from the skies. A silver figure drew lines on the night sky, followed by ink-ck maggots. ¨C Kwack! ¡°That¡¯s not good¡­!¡± The undead bat, Abyss Shrieker, rapidly descended towards the ground from the clouds, which it had been using to hide itself. Therge wings of the bat raged on the silver humanoid figure. ¨C Kwaaack¡­! Her body fell down. The gravitational force added with the eleration caused by the impact made her fragile body speed into the rough ground. ¡°Kugh¡­!¡± On the third night, hordes of undead were forming legions in ranks, moving in alignment just to swallow one living person, creating an extremely surreal sight. s, tens of thousands of undead managed to surround the spearman. ¡°Haa~. If only I found that guy earlier on.¡± She muttered while looking at therge flying undead monster that attacked her from above, Abyss Shriker. Because it was a winged monster without as many restraints, it was hard to find and track it down, which was why she had been hunting it at the end all the time. And this time around, it had been roaming around so freely that it took much longer than usual. She had to hurry up and defeat the Immortal King on top¡­ ¡°Can¡¯t be helped.¡± The silverdy¡­ Erin Danua grabbed onto her spear and lifted her mana. The Rune Letters engraved into the shaft of the spear brightened up and became visible again after being supplied with mana. At the same time¡­ ¨C Kwaa! ¨C Kwaaang¡­! ¨C ??!!! The undead were puzzled by the sudden storm of tempest and mes that started rising from everywhere around them. ¡°I hadn¡¯t been doing nothing for 300 years.¡± The only privilege Erin had as the only one who went through countless repetitions was that she could freely move around the city during the day while the undead could not. The Rune Letters that she had carved all around the city during the past 300 years had been for times like this. In an instant, thousands of undead were wiped out. It was a miraculous feat that would be difficult even for the greatest of mages but without sparing a nce at the burning corpses, Erin jumped from the scorching zes and approached the flying bat. ¡°The end of your short life had been decided the moment you showed yourself.¡± Her silver spear soared into the sky, piercing through the entire body of the Abyss Shrieker in the blink of an eye. That was the secret art of Crumbling Mountain. The killing javelin toss shot down the emperor of Nazrea¡¯s skies. ¡°Huu~. Let me take a short rest.¡± There was still quite some time left, so she decided to recover her stamina first before striking the Immortal King. She avoided the meddlesome undead and hid herself in the alleyways when the Grim Reaper appeared before her. ¡¶You look like you are enjoying yourself.¡· ¡°Does it seem that way?¡± Erin didn¡¯t deny the words of the Grim Reaper. Others might be curious about the reason but the Grim Reaper wasn¡¯t. 5 months ago, a boy had appeared at Nazrea, making a bold im that he would stop the 3-day repetition of Nazrea while taking one of the treasures from the Grim Reaper in return. Korin Lork. A disciple of the original ¡®Erin Danua¡¯. That was the man who dered that he would save her, who had been left inside the town ever since the Lunar Eclipse 300 years ago. The Grim Reaper gazed on at the same scenery it had been seeing for 300 years. What changed after that day though, was that Erin would always go to the same ce and look down at the whole city after everything was over. ¡°And you know what? The thing that Korin said after that is more important¡­!¡± Her excited voice made her sound slightly silly even. ¡¶I have heard this several times already¡­¡· There was a slight sense of irritation in the Grim Reaper¡¯s voice, because Erin tended to repeat the same thing over and over again only when it concerned the boy. Although it was a long friend of hers¡­ the Grim Reaper couldn¡¯t help but think that she didn¡¯t seem as dignified as before. ¡°He said, ¡®This time, I want to be the one saving you.¡¯¡± Did she have any idea? That she would give a wide smile with flushed cheeks whenever she was talking about her disciple? She, who had been living for 300 years in a pit of darkness, now gave off so much light like a goddess of the Moon. ¡°Ahh~ I miss Korin so much.¡± The Grim Reaper had known her for over a thousand years, but hadn¡¯t ever seen thest queen of the fallen gods show such a foolish smile like a maiden in love. ¡¶You will see him soon. The promised date is about toe very soon.¡· ¡°¡­Right.¡± Even though she was chirping and singing about how she wanted to see him, she turned dejected whenever that topic was brought up. Cleansing 1.2 million souls of Nazrea in half a year. It was an impossible feat for a mere human, and yet he had made a contract with the Grim Reaper on that with his soul on the line. ¡°Reaper¡­ How about¡­¡± ¡¶I have told you many times and it is still a no. Once made, you cannot cancel or edit the contents of a contract¡· Despite knowing very well that it would be impossible to change the cost of the contract to her own soul, she continued trying to persuade the Grim Reaper again and again. ¡°He is¡­ still a young child. Taking his reincarnation from him¡­ is too brutal.¡± ¡¶That was the choice made by that deceiver, Queen. You are one who encourages, teaches, trains, and presents wisdom and ns to heroes. Do not try to do any more than that. Ensure that you do not forget the reason why the spear of Goidel is not pointing at you.¡· ¡°Are you telling me¡­ that that boy will be walking the path of a hero?¡± ¡¶That is not even a question as he already is one. The world has prepared its hero already.¡· ¡°¡­I see. So the world will be in danger once again, huh.¡± The appearance of a hero meant theing of a disaster. The Grim Reaper and Erin, who had been living for a very long time, both knew about that concept better than anyone else. ¡°How pitiful¡­¡± She had taught countless heroes and sent them off. She was the master of heroes; the Queen of the Kingdom of Shadows, who bestows wisdom and magic. It was only because she was such a being that the Grim Reaper offered to create a clone of her to stay behind at Nazrea in the first ce. After all, the Grim Reaper knew how important her role was as the Queen teaching the protectors of the world. ¡°Reaper¡­ What will happen to me once Nazrea gets cleansed and I leave the restraints of this ce?¡± ¡­¡­¡­ The reply she heard was a rtively short one. Hearing that concise response, a sorrowful expression appeared on her face. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a bit of a shame.¡± ¡¶This too cannot be avoided.¡· ¡°I know. I know but¡­ I still do think it¡¯s a shame.¡± After some time, Erin lifted her body up from the bed of a random house that she had been resting on, and gave a long stretch. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s about time to go.¡± The night was about to end. All that was left was to defeat Gerolge the Immortal King and finish thest night as it was supposed to. Erin started heading to the residential area where Gerolge was staying. She slowly climbed down the stairs and headed to the residence of the ck mage but¡­ ¡°That was slightlyter than I thought. Have you had dinner?¡± Korin Lork. Erin was met by the young hero and his characteristic wild appearance. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°That¡¯s all? I was expecting you to be a bit more weing than that.¡± Erin shook her head as she couldn¡¯t believe what she was seeing. Korin, who was standing on the roof of the house at the end of her vacant and disbelieving eyes, jumped down and leisurely walked towards her. ¡°I¡¯ve already dealt with Gerolge.¡± ¡°Huh? Huhhh?¡± Unlike her, who was extremely dumbstruck, Korin Lork gave a smile while caressing her cheeks. His natural gesture made her heart beat fast, amplifying the rate of her heartbeat. ¡°I told you; I¡¯ll definitely save you this time.¡± Seeing the smile on the boy¡¯s face made her heart go on an unbelievable rampage. Whenever the thick calluses on his hands grazed past her skin, her skin throbbed as if they were being electrified. She knew he wasing. Even though she knew he would being¡­ ¡°I¡¯m here to save you, Erin.¡± For some reason, she was still getting chills down her spine. Chapter 111: - Erin Danua (1) ? Erin Danua (1) ? **** ¨C m! ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± My body rolled across the dirty ground. I immediately stood back up, but the silver spear still ended up barely grazing past my neck. Her sense of distance was as beautiful as a piece of art but there was still aint I had to raise. ¡°You said you were going to show me spearmanship; why are you suddenly starting off with a kick?¡± I couldn¡¯t believe that her thin legs pushed me back by at least 3 meters, but while paying little regard to myint, Erin replied with a smile. ¡°A fight is about using everything in your arsenal. Why did you assume I wasn¡¯t going to use my legs?¡± ¡°You said spearmanship though¡­¡± ¡°An excuse like that is not going to work in a real battle. Spears, swords, fists, legs¡­ You must make use of everything that you can.¡± She walked up and reached her arm out, suggesting that she would help me back up. After pretending to ept her help, I quickly threw a punch. ¡°Fu¡­¡± As if that looked like the retaliation of an adorable little child, Erin received the attack with her palm, and I was the one who actually ended up being pushed back. ¡°Uaht?!¡± My body was rammed back into the ground with my back first. It wasn¡¯t that painful physically, but the mental pain and embarrassment that came with a failed surprise attack were a lot harder to bear. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± ¡°Student Korin. Your Eight Trigram needs to be supported by footwork and an active body. If you want to use that with your dantian not even fully nted into the ground, you are better off not using it.¡± It was myplete defeat. Raising both of my hands into the air, I showed my unwillingness to continue and obediently stood back up. ¡°I lost.¡± ¡°Huhu. But I can tell that you have been going through a lot of practice, and you have a fabulous foundation. It seems that you have based your learning on the Eight Trigram, but is there a reason for that?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I was looking for books rted to martial arts in the library and that was the first one I found.¡± ¡°Oh? And why did you choose the spear?¡± ¡°¡­I heard it was easier to use than a sword.¡± Erin returned a warm smile, while saying that was a rather simple reason. ¡°Eight Trigrams is not bad. It has been there for a long time, and has gone through plenty of modifications. However¡­¡± She raised her spear and postured herself. Her stance looked simr to one of the ones showcased in the spearmanship of Eight Trigrams, but the resulting attack waspletely different. ¡°Aht.¡± Pabak! The sharp tip of the spear quickly grazed past both sides of my head, which I only managed to realize due to the following gush of wind. I couldn¡¯t even sense the attack let alone react to it. ¡°Looks like the one you learned was for normal civilians.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ That just then¡­¡± ¡°It is the Double-Headed Snake of Eight Trigrams. That wasn¡¯t included in the book, was it?¡± ¡°I was learning that for over a year though¡­¡± ¡°But in turn you have gained a great foundation, so it won¡¯t be hard to learn them. I will now teach you all the secret moves of the Eight Trigrams spearmanship.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Secret moves of the Eight Trigrams¡­ Although learning those would be great, there was something else I was after. ¡°Teacher. Instead of Eight Trigrams, can I learn your¡­¡± ¡°We can¡¯t do that. Because that¡­ will surely swallow you up from the inside out.¡± It had already been 1 month since I got introduced to the named NPC of this world, Erin Danua, thanks to Sihu¡¯s help, but I couldn¡¯t even learn her unique spearmanship. Six Ways of the Spear. Those were the super killer moves that were in the possession of one of the strongest named characters of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, Erin Danua. One of the super techniques that you could gain in the game when going down the spearman route was this ¡®Six Ways of the Spear¡¯. I was hoping I could learn the spearmanship of the final boss, Tates Valtazar, from his master Erin Danua but¡­ ¡°Well. I guess it can¡¯t be helped then.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t feel down. It should still take at least half a year to learn all the secret arts that are in Eight Trigrams.¡± In this world which had now turned into the real world, it was impossible to learn skills just by allocating skill points. It was times like this when I felt jealous of Sihu. After all, all he needed to do was open his skills window and allocate points to use incredible and magical spells. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Tai Chi Eight Formation, True Tai Chi, La Zha Formation, Advancing Snake, Double-headed Snake¡ª. That¡¯s all for the eight secret formations including Zha, Lan, Na.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Erin deeply stared at me after I was done with the spearmanship demonstration. She stayed like that for a while before suddenly walking up to me and grabbing onto my wrist. ¡°T, teacher?¡± She then started fidgeting around with my palms. There were so many calluses on my palms that they looked horrendously uneven, but what left her mouth wasn¡¯t a negative remark. ¡°You worked hard.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Well, of course.¡± ¡°Although the secret moves of the Eight Trigrams spearmanship are not hard¡­ they require tons of endless training to master them. When I said half a year¡­ that was already a very ambitious estimate.¡± It took me 2 months. Reducing my sleep time, and turning Sihu down even when he told me to take a rest, I continued swinging my spear. Even on the bed, I ran simtions of the spear until I fell asleep, because that was the only way that a mere side character like Korin Lork could ever survive. ¡°Let¡¯s take today off.¡± As if she could see through all that, Erin proposed that we take the day off. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I can recover my stamina with the potion, and a little bit of gel will get rid of all the blisters so¡­ Uaht!¡± She forcefully pulled me by the arm. ¡°Now! Sleep here,¡± she said while tapping on the bed. ¡°I have something to do with Sihu in a bit. I don¡¯t have the time to train today if we don¡¯t right now¡­¡± ¡°You need to listen to your teacher! Now, shall I sing you a luby?¡± ¡°How old do you think I am?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you still a baby?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I guess I am when you are the one I¡¯m beingpared to.¡± ¡°Zero out of one hundred. Aren¡¯t you going to the royal court very soon? You better learn some etiquette on how to treat ady.¡± ¡°Actually, Sihu said he¡¯ll go there alone and told me to stay out of it.¡± That bastard was literally trying to hog everything! I wanted to have a look at the princesses of the game in real life, and one of the things on my bucket list was to kiss a real princess on the back of their hand but¡­ ¡°You should take a rest for today. You need one.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Now. Feel free to put your head on myp.¡± ¡°Like, isn¡¯t that a bit¡­¡± Without caring a single bit about my objection, Erin continued tapping herp while tempting me with a coy voice. There wasn¡¯t anyone nearby anyway, so¡­ I went andid my head on her thigh. She was the living proof of history who had been alive for a thousand years, and yet her thighs behind my head were still very soft andfortable to rest on. Erin calmly gazed down at me as I rested my head on her thighs. ¡°Do you wish to be stronger?¡± she asked. ¡°Well¡­ yeah.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°What do you mean why¡­?¡± There was no reason for wanting to be stronger. The only reason there was, was that we needed a great amount of force and power to clear the scenario. ¡°If it is simply about needing power¡­ Isn¡¯t it sufficient enough already with that child called Sihu?¡± ¡°¡­Actually, not really.¡± It had been roughly 2 years since we entered this game, and Sihu was already even stronger than Erin Danua, one of the strongest powerhouses of the entire world. He was so strong that he could even hunt alone the King¡¯s Subjects, even though they were supposed to be defeated in a raid with the aid of other party members. This world was one with the yer at the center and a side character like me might be unnecessary but¡­ ¡°Even though he acts tough and strong all the time, he¡¯s actually quite sloppy.¡± I had seen how Sihu almost died while clearing the scenario multiple times. He also made mistakes quite often, such as allowing the opposing knight to approach him too easily. That was most certainly because we weren¡¯t people that were supposed to be fighting. Even if we were to increase our stats and get better gear, we were normal civilians that used to live peacefully on Earth. It was inevitable for our mindsets to be different from our enemies, who had been living a life full of struggle. ¡°That guy will be a hero that saves the world, but even a hero needs a sidekick. At least I should drive the carriage for him and stuff, right?¡± ¡°Looks like you cherish him quite a lot.¡± She was right and obviously so, because Sihu was the only one here who hade from the same ce as me. Plus, he was a newbie who didn¡¯t even know the game called ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, so it was obvious for me to help him. ¡°And besides¡­¡± ¡°Besides?¡± ¡°If I get stronger, there will be fewer people dying.¡± Marie Dunareff, Alicia Arden, Hua Ran¡­ I was unable to save any of them. The people of this world were NPCs. They were characters in a game, but¡­ even so, it was still painful for me to see them die. Dorron, Beazeker, and Kranel¡­ although they were NPCs of a game, the connection and bond I had carved with them had be precious to me by the time I noticed it. So¡­ it would be very sad to see them die. Sihu told me I was way too emotionally invested in a game, but what can I do about it? I had already started to consider them precious. ¡°It will be great if there are fewer people dying.¡± ¡°¡­You are a very kind-hearted boy.¡± ¡°Pretty normal I would say.¡± ¡°Very different from that boy called Sihu. If it¡¯s you¡­¡± ¡°Sorry? What was that?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± After mumbling something, she began pinching my cheeks. ¡°Let me tell you an old and boring story to help you go to sleep.¡± Erin started a story from a long time ago; from the time of gods. The time when everything was in harmony and peace. ¡°A long, long time ago, there used to be a race called Danaans.¡± They were the race of immortals, who used to look after the world after the Sky Titans who had pretty much gone extinct. Their job was to make the world beautiful and harmonious. Although they did not call themselves gods, they were powerful enough to be so. In peace, they decorated the paradise, T¨ªr na n¨®g, and did everything for the good of the world. ¡°One day, a group came to the paradise of gods. They were a race called Goidels.¡± Everything was abundant in the paradise with nothing they were short of, so the Danaans dly epted them in. They taught them civilization and spread magic. ¡°We used to have a connection that was beneficial for both of us.¡± At a nce, it looked like the Goidels and the Danaans would live in harmony. However, I already knew about the history of this world; the background story of the game, ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? as well as its tragic nature. The Goidels gradually increased their numbers and started ruining the paradise. They cut down trees where the spirits and druids used to stay; in greed, they hunted the fruits of nature and even started killing each other. ¡°It didn¡¯t take long for their spearheads to start pointing at us.¡± What happened next was quite straightforward. The Danaans lost, and the Goidels took possession of thesends. Before me was thest Danaan survivor carrying their legacy. Erin Danua. The Queen of the Shadow Kingdom of the Paradise, asked me once again. ¡°Do you wish to be stronger?¡± ¡°¡­Yes.¡± I replied without any hesitation. **** ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Erin raised herself from the bed with a long stretch. It seemed that she had gotten so used to this city full of zombies and ghouls that she could nonchntly fall into a deep sleep like that. ¡°Good morning.¡± ¡°Yes. Everything should be over today, yes?¡± ¡°Yep. I worked on this side overnight.¡± The building we were in was filled with a bunch of runes, most of which were the same. ¡º?¡» ¡ª Sowilo. Sun. Runes of the Sun were filling the entire building. We were in a room with engravings of thousands of Suns. ¡°With this, we are done with everything including the Eastern District.¡± ¡°That was quite fast.¡± ¡°Thanks to all the runes you carved, Erin.¡± Over the period of 300 years, Erin Danua had carved various rune letters across the City of Nazrea. Most of them were Sowilo and Kenaz, because those were the best runes when fighting against the undead. Thanks to that, the strategy to engrave runes all across Nazrea was finished a lot quicker than nned. In just 10 days, we were ready to use a massive grand spell despite not even being a mage ourselves. ¡°Wasn¡¯t expecting you toe up with an idea like this. You seem experienced as if you¡¯ve done it already.¡± ¡°I had this idea for a while, actually.¡± In fact, this was something we had used in thest iteration. After defeating the Divinity of the Sun, Eochaid Bres, we used the Sun we obtained to cleanse this city. The reason for that was obviously because we wanted to take treasures from the Grim Reaper. ¡°All that is left is the Central District.¡± ¡°Tonight is going to be thest night. Let¡¯s carry out the ritual after getting Gerolge.¡± We had killed all the stage bosses already. Erin used to be doing it all by herself, so it wasn¡¯t difficult now that I was with her on top of that. ¡°Sure. Then during the day¡­¡± ¡°Erin. Erin Danua.¡± Standing up, I walked towards her; to the clone of my Master¡­ who I would only have business rtions with after tonight. ¡°Hnn?¡± She took a small step back after seeing me approach her. However, she didn¡¯t tell me to stop and instead, she simply tilted her head with doubt in her eyes. ¡°Would you like to go on a date with me?¡± ¡°Hnnn?¡± Her eyes turned intorge, blinking circles. **** ¡°Damn it. How did everything turn out like this? Just why? This isn¡¯t right. How can my calctions be possibly wrong¡­ ¡°Huu. Huu¡­ Weird. That was the best timing; a miracle, even. So how could this¡­ ¡°Strange. Who is it? Who interfered? Why has ite to this? How has ite to this? ¡°Witch. A witch. A witch. The witch. ¡°Witch! Witch! Witch!¡± A Rune Mage with a silver spear and a ck mage who brought a nightmare unto Nazrea. After a long fightsting 300 years, ¡°Everything is being repeateddd! You are the one who made that happennnnn¡­!¡± Despite the tongue failing to enunciate words properly; and despite his vision turning blurry; Despite being buried in a swelling chunk of flesh, the rationality of the ck mage stayed clear as he continued staring in a certain direction. ¡º?¡» ¡ª Oth. The letter looked way too utterly crooked for it to have been written by the only Rune Mage of this city, and instead, it looked like it was forced onto the wall by a thick and chubby flesh. Such runes were all over the ce¡­ Right before the rationality of the great magepletely disintegrated to nothing, after thousands of enlightenments and hundreds of attempts, the ck mage finally perceived all the letters thatpleted a sentence. ¡ºConnect to Prime¡» His gaze turned towards the sky. The grand magic circle that should have been cast by himself contained a pollutant, the rune, ¡ºn¡». That was the proof of the fragmented paradise. He reached his fingers out at that first and primalnguage. ¡°Huhi, huhihehehe¡­ It will be different¡­! This time, it will be different¡­!¡± 3,209th enlightenment. 897 strokes. After a 300-year-long history of strife, things were about to hit a new turning point. Chapter 112: - Erin Danua (2) ? Erin Danua (2) ? **** ¡°This way.¡± Erin and I went down to Merkarva City. Excitedly, she went around the town like a young vige girl. Surprisingly, she was more interested in recent and new books, but maybe that wasn¡¯t all that surprising considering how she had already read most of the old books. ¡°So this is the trend these days in theaters, huh. Back in my days, the general consensus was that violent topics like these were harmful to the traditional customs though.¡± ¡°How long ago was ¡®back in your days¡¯?¡± ¡°I would rather you didn¡¯t try to pry into my age.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to.¡± She, thedy with a pout on her face, was quite sensitive when it came to her age. Even though her exact age wasn¡¯t mentioned in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, I still knew that she was at least 1,000 years old. ¡°Honestly, I wasn¡¯t expecting you to invite me out for a y,¡± I said. ¡°ra brings in a lot of things from the outside for me, but she can¡¯t do that for things like ys, after all.¡± Senior Professor of the Academy, Josephine ra. Erin said with a smile that she would have died of boredom, if not for her, who could teleport to various ces. The reason why she was able toe out into this world, even though she should have stayed confined in the pce, was because the mages of the Tower had broken the chains restricting her, called ¡®Eriu Casarr¡¯. The Tower of Mages Commotion of the 4th Arc. Essentially, it was the terrorist attack of the ck and red mages of the Tower, along with the support of the traitor who caused the King of Iron Mountain Incident, Fermack Daman. Now that the outer shell called Eriu Casarr was broken, Erin Danua had no choice but to reveal her true body in order to protect this world. ¡°¡­¡± This wasn¡¯t good. ording to the original scenario, Erin Danua would die in the following plot development, while assigning the legacy of protecting the world to the yer. At the start, I simply considered her a bigshot named NPC. This was different from what happened with Marie Dunareff as well as the Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran. The enemy that I had to fend off to save this NPC was way too superior and powerful. Besides, it was through her death that the hidden piece, Treasury of the Danaans, would be essible. The uing incident was impossible to stop even with the power of a yer so I had internally given up on it, but¡­ ¡°Now. Let¡¯s go try that one next.¡± Her hand leading me forward was warm; and her voice tickled my ears. With a panorama of the entire city below us, she turned to me with a wide smile blooming on her face, but I couldn¡¯t return her an honest and suitable smile. I felt rushed. The plot was about to hit the 3rd year. There will be a fight against the Frost Giant, the guardian deity of the Northern Kingdom to the north, followed by a massive monster wave and the fall of the Academy. Multiple preluding omens to the final arc of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? were on the way. Therefore, now was one of the fewer opportunities for the yer and their party members to build up their strength. Besides, I was starting to have trouble keeping up. During both the werewolf terrorist attack of Dun Scaith and the subjugation of the demon vige under Dumnorix¡¯s jurisdiction¡­ I had been utterly close to death. I wouldn¡¯t be standing here if not for the elixir that Sihu gave me. I needed strength. And the strength I wanted was the ¡®Six Ways of the Spear¡¯. There was no time for me to waste like this¡­ ¡ª!! Bam! A loud p echoed in front of my eyes. The hands blocking my vision retreated back, revealing a smile on Erin Danua¡¯s face. ¡°Student Korin. Do you know about the importance of motivation?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Motivation?¡± ¡°Yes. That is very important. Having a reason to be stronger is crucial.¡± The reason why I had to be stronger. Although very ambiguous and broad¡­ it was for survival. But at the same time, I couldn¡¯t think of a better reason than that. ¡°Survival; to help Park Sihu, and to make sure there are fewer casualties.¡± Erin stated before I could. ¡°Those are excellent motivations and you must be beautifully honest. However, people that pursue their goals with a strong motivation tend to have little regard for themselves.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You said you wanted strength, and that was the only element of greed I found in you.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that the same for everyone?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a different story, however, if that is linked to the inheritance of my ¡®spear¡¯.¡± Six Ways of the Spear. The secret moves of Erin Danua. Ominous Snake, Tiger¡¯s Gust, Lan Na Zha, Spinning Heaven, Crumbling Mountain, Shura ¡ª andstly, the Domain of Void. Those were the refined techniques under the possession of the strongest spearman of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, Tates Valtazar. If I couldy my hands on that power¡­ ¡°You know about the story of me and Tates, yes?¡± ¡°¡­Yeah.¡± She had been betrayed by her disciple, in the worst way possible. After teaching him the Six Ways of the Spear and inheriting the Void, she tried to impart everything she owned to him. However, after realizing that Tates Valtazar¡¯s goal was the ¡®Advent of Paradise¡¯, she refused to carry out thest phase of the inheritance. Choosing Valtazar in the first ce¡­ was probably the worst and most terrible mistake she had ever made in her life. ¡°I was hesitant and very concerned. I had gone through way too many failures, and not all of my decisions had been right.¡± The tragic ending of one of the most crucial NPCs of this world, Erin Danua; her past and her sincere hope. Everyone who yed ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? knew about the degree of her sincerity, which she had only shown the yer in the game. ¡°I can¡¯t trust that boy, Park Sihu, but you are different, Korin Lork. I am certain that you will not be a part of all the mistakes I have made. So¡ª ¡°Korin Lork!¡± She suddenly shouted. ¡°Will you serve me, Erin Danua, as your master?¡± ¡°U, umm¡­¡± It was so sudden that I was momentarily lost for words, but I immediately went on my knees. Those were the exact words that came out during the scenario event of the character, Erin Danua of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. That was an event only permitted to the yer, after he met all sorts of conditions and built up a positive Karma. ¡°Ye, yes! I will serve you as my master¡­!¡± ¡°I have epted you. I, the Queen of the Shadow Kingdom and the Danaan of Justice, Erin Danua, hereby im that I will teach the ways of the Six Spears to Korin Lork.¡± ¡°T, thank you!¡± Finally! As long as I could obtain the Six Ways of the Spear¡­ I should have enough power to fight against the King¡¯s Subjects. ¡°I shall guide your heart down the righteous path, and thus, Korin Lork,¡± Erin continued after a pause. ¡°You shall pursue justice. Justice and justice alone.¡± ¡°I will swear¡­ upon my life.¡± As I was on my knees, Erin Danua looked down at me with a stern look on her face. She continued looking at me for a while with her clear, crystal eyes and¡­ ¡°Come here.¡± Suddenly, the atmosphere around her changed as she opened her arms out wide. ¡°Huh, sorry?¡± In the midst of my confusion from the sudden change in atmosphere, Erin walked up and buried me in her chest. I was¡­ actually quite surprised. Like an adult soothing a baby, she tapped me on the back. Her arms were warmly wrapped around my body, as a soft and ticklish whisper flowed into my ears. ¡°It¡¯s okay to stumble. You can get back up. ¡°It¡¯s okay to fail. You can do better next time. ¡°It¡¯s okay to cry. You can smile a lot moreter. ¡°Stay true to your justice and your convictions. Walk the correct path. As long as you do that¡­ ¡°No one can tell you otherwise. You will be a hero.¡± Although it wasn¡¯t even a tight hug, it was so full of warmth that I just¡­ couldn¡¯t make myself leave her embrace. After staring at my face, she pushed the little strands of hair off my forehead and¡­ ¡°Let me imbue into you, the blessing of a goddess.¡± As proof of her affection, she kissed my forehead. I probably won¡¯t be able to forget that warmth from back then ever in my life. **** ¡°That was fun.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been watching the same thing for 300 years though. Weren¡¯t you bored?¡± ¡°It was a lot different from watching them by myself.¡± It had been 10 days and another 2 days ever since I arrived in this city. We were currently into the third night of the repetition. We had a date. We enjoyed ys, reading books and watching a circus. It was a normal thing people would do, but it was undeniable that it meant a lot more to both me and her. ¡°I am d you enjoyed it. It¡¯s a shame that we couldn¡¯t go to a nice restaurant though.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t always need to have good food for a memory to be special. Everything was a delight when I was with my dear disciple of the future.¡± Even though I had to eat rations while sitting on the dirt and small patches of grass, it was still very fun. ¡°It¡¯s about to be night very soon.¡± The night wasing. Thest night of the third day. Tonight, we would defeat Gerolge the Immortal King and¡­ ¡°Tonight, we will end this eternal night and cleanse Nazrea.¡± ¡°¡­Right. It shouldn¡¯t be impossible ording to your theory.¡± It wasn¡¯t just a theory; this had already been proven. Park Sihu and I had nned and proven that it was possible topletely cleanse Nazrea. This would seed 100%, as long as there weren¡¯t any outside interferences. ¡°There are a lot of questions on my mind but¡­ let me just ask one of them.¡± ¡°Ask away.¡± ¡°Was it very hard?¡± This person¡­ was very mysterious. Even though I hadn¡¯t even mentioned it, she read through me with her overwhelming insight and said the things I needed the most. She was a considerate, warm, and soothing person. ¡°Yeah it was. I stumbled, failed a lot, and cried a few times.¡± However, I stood back up. This time, I was doing better and there would be more smiles waiting in the future. ¡°I told you, didn¡¯t I. I¡¯m simply returning the favor.¡± I walked up to her. Resting my arm on the wall behind her, I quietly gazed down into her eyes like what she had done to me in the past. ¡°Ah¡­¡± She seemed a little flustered. Right; this was a sentiment that she wouldn¡¯t know, because this was rted to a memory of me and my master from a different timeline. ¡°Right.¡± We continued looking at each other. After settling herself down, Erin gave a kind and benevolent smile. ¡°I am very resentful of my foolish future self.¡± ¡°You were by no means foolish.¡± I stroked her cheek. This person with the white and delicate face of a baby was still the same as the one in myst iteration¡­ She was still my master and supporter, who always supported me without asking for anything in return. ¡°You can¡¯t even possibly imagine all the things I received from you.¡± I wrapped my arms around her body. It was disrespectful, and I knew it would throw her off but¡­ now was the only chance I had. ¡°M, Mr. Disciple?!¡± Erin was befuddled by my sudden act, but as always, she was considerate of saving my face and only gently pushed me back. After letting her go, I created just a tiny bit of distance between us. ¡°K, kuhum¡­¡± Unable to look into my eyes, she stayed there scratching her cheeks. Looking at her, I raised a straightforward question. ¡°Erin.¡± ¡°H, huh? Hmm. What is it?¡± ¡°Can I kiss you?¡± ¡°Huhh??!¡± I had been forever wanting to return it to her; to my beloved master. ¡°W, why?¡± She fidgeted and mumbled, not knowing what was going on. Right ¨C I was¡­ seeing her as a substitute for my master. The current Erin was probably slightly different from my master, but¡­ ¡°Because I want to.¡± ¡°Uhht¡­!¡± Erin took a step back, but she was at the wall already. There was no more going back. ¡°Umm¡­ By the way, Mr. Disciple¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°W, were we¡­ in this and that kind of rtionship? Like umm¡­ a very deep one?¡± ¡°I can assure you. Except for my parents, you were the one I had forged the deepest rtionship with.¡± She was a true adult and a teacher in my attitude towards life, who protected me by sacrificing her own. She was most certainly the most precious person to me in this world which I had been forced into. ¡°I, I see¡­ What in the world was the future me thinking¡­ He¡¯s a thousand years younger than you¡­!¡± Erin mumbled with such a tiny voice that I couldn¡¯t really hear her words. However, she soon looked straight at my face with a stern look in her eyes. ¡°Umm¡­ This is superrrr unprecedented, okay? I, I have never allowed anyone to do this to me before.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°O, of course.¡± She would have been close with Valtazar as a master and disciple, but the Erin of this city had yet to meet Valtazar, so it did make sense for me to be the first. Pushing up the hair from her forehead and wiping the small beads of sweat from it, I said with a smile full of joy. ¡°You are such a special person to me.¡± I returned the proof of affection that she had been gifting me all the time as she stayed there nervously closing her eyes by¡­ giving her a kiss on her forehead. ¡°Please, this time, let me be the one standing before you.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡°¡­Uhht?!¡± Her voice was so loud that I could tell how flustered she was. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. Erin opened her eyes which had been sealed shut. Her cheeks were slightly red, which was probably because of the setting sun. ¡°T, this will do for today. This¡­ is not good for my heart.¡± What did she mean by that? Although I wasn¡¯t sure about the meaning behind her words, what I could tell was that her lips were shivering from nervousness. ¡°Are you sick?¡± Wondering if she had a fever or something, I was about to ce my hand on her forehead but she pped it away before I could. ¡°I, I told you that will do for today!¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± She suddenly let out a shout, which also ended up surprising me. What did she want me to do¡­? ¡°Y, you are the disciple, and I¡¯m the master!¡± What was with that sudden outburst? That sounded like something that woulde out in old romance dramas. Anyway, more importantly¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t think of you as my master though, Erin.¡± ¡°Haht¡­?!¡± The Erin in front of me wasn¡¯t my master ¨C she was like the distant past version of my master. Even though technically they were the same people¡­ I had to differentiate them in some way or another. ¡°A, ahh¡­ What kind of forbidden territory have I entered with my disciple¡­?¡± She trembled while mumbling indecipherable words. ¡°A, anyway, Mr. Disciple. Letting you know, when you are done with cleansing, I¡­¡± Right when she was about to finish her words, a sudden sh prated through the darkness and¡­ ¨C Kwaaaaang! It crashed through where we were standing. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°GU, HI, HA, HO, HA, HI, HOHO¡­¡± Gerolge grinned with entric scoffs. There was no sign of flesh on his body, let alone the swollen flesh he used to have. Inside his body was the Soul Heart which hadn¡¯t been fully extracted before. In other words, it meant that he had sessfully turned into a Lich. The Lich turned to the sky. He looked at the grand magic circle he cast onto this city by relying on the power of the super-blood moon, as well as the Primal Rune of ¡ºn¡» which contaminated his perfect spell. By nature, runes had meaning in itself that turned into magic. So what would happen if another rune was to be carved onto the existing rune? ¡ºParadise Continues¡» That was the original meaning of the rune, but if other runes were to be carved before and after the word to alter its meaning¡­ Depending on how that was used, it was possible to absorb the power of the engraved rune and make it one¡¯s own. ¡°I have connected to the prime. I, Gerolge, will now have absolute reign over the mana of the moon.¡± He had carved several runes before and after the Primal Rune. As a great mage himself, adding runes to the sky, next to the existing rune, was nothing difficult. Now, the Rune Magic enveloping this city would lose its original meaning and have it altered to ¡ºThe Paradise of the Dead will Continue¡», and thus, the demonic nature of the city was amplified severalfold. In other words, 1.2 million undead of Nazrea would turn much stronger, and heed themands of the Immortal King who had finally gone through a proper evolution. ¡°I will kill you, Witch. This time, I will surely tear down that body of yours, insult your dead body and rape your soul!¡± The maddenedughter of the Immortal King enshrouded the city. Thus began the third night; a night where the undead would hum in joy and the living would scream in fear. Chapter 113: - Erin Danua (3) ? Erin Danua (3) ? The building we were in copsed from a single attack. Removing the rubble and stone debris, we stood up from the pile of dust. ¡°That just then¡­¡± ¡°That was Gerolge¡¯s Doom Bolt.¡± ¡°I thought he always stayed inside a certain area, though?¡± I asked. ¡°There are times when something different happens, but¡­ this one is definitely a first.¡± Even though I was asking questions about the situation at hand, I was actually more aware of what was happening right now than Erin. Nazrea was a field that gave out repeat quests where you built up ¡®favor points¡¯ with the Grim Reaper and traded them for treasures. In the game, however, there was a more difficult method that allowed the yer to build the Grim Reaper¡¯s favor level a lot faster. That was the so-called Nazrea Nightmare mode. An infinite resurrection of lower-grade undead as well as the three bosses of Nazrea, as well as the unlimited teleportation of Gerolge, who was usually supposed to stay in his own area. That was what this was; a battle against Gerolge, the True Immortal King. ¡°Haa¡­ Looks like we picked the wrong day.¡± In fact, this was a random high-difficulty quest event that popped up in the game after several repetitions of Nazrea. It was only by clearing this event that the yer could freely choose between the normal and the nightmare mode. ¡°Korin. We are in a pretty ce right now. We need to find a ce to hide ande up with a concrete n.¡± ¡°Yes. For now¡­¡± ?Doom Bolt? ¨C KWAAAAAANG!! **** ???????????¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!! ???????????¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!! ???????????¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!! Storm, tempest, blizzard. The torrent of corpses filled the ground. The howls of the dead and the screams of the corpses trembled the city and everything in it. A city of 3 days. The world of the undead had been following a regr set of rules until now. The first rule was that everything would return to the first day after the third night, and the second rule was that the undead of each region tended to stay where they were. Because of the ruination of Nazrea notsting for over three days, the actors of the short and repetitive act had no room for any improvisation. However, they were clearly going against that second rule; they were all leaving the stage. 1.2 million undead. Human eyes couldn¡¯t possibly count the sheer number of them, and it was therefore not an understatement to say that there were an infinite number of corpses. ¡°W, what in the world is going on?!¡± A battle priest who had been stationed at Nazrea, Priest Kroos, was appalled at the sight of all the undead of the area of his supervision moving at once. He spotted at least 10,000 undead going in the same direction, and so did the other priests of the Old and New Faiths, from the several observatory camps that had been set by the two religions. ¡®They are all heading to the same ce?¡¯ Every single one of them was facing the same way. They were all headed to the most dangerous area of Nazrea ¨C District A of the Immortal King. After evolving into the True Immortal King, Gerolge was gathering all the undead of the city into one ce. It was an infinite wave of monsters; a march of 1.2 million undead. **** ¡°Kuhup¡­!¡± ¡°Korin! Are you okay?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a little graze.¡± After the ray of light devoured the building, all the debris that managed to survive from being disintegrated was melting from the heat. Thanks to his instincts, it took him 0.1 seconds to dodge the attack. It was a wonderful dodge and he wasn¡¯t even hit by the ray of light, but the heat still managed to tear at his skin. That was the strongest spell of Gerolge the Immortal King, ?Doom Bolt?. This magic spell that was as powerful as a grand spell had the ability to disintegrate everything in its linear path. ¡°I wonder what¡¯s stronger between this and the Sun.¡± ¡°Now¡¯s not the time for that! There is another oneing¡­!¡± ¨C Kwaang! Down came another Doom Bolt. Korin somehow managed to dodge it thanks to anticipating the attack this time, but the aftershock sweeping past his body was still as mighty as a medium-grade spell. The two of them immediately started racing down the back alleyway of Nazrea in an attempt to get away from Gerolge¡¯s sight. ¡°In this city, Gerolge has close to an infinite amount of mana. He can shoot hundreds of them and will still have mana until sunrise¡­!¡± ¡°Seriously¡­ That¡¯s even more than what Park Sihu had in his prime¡­!¡± ¡°And who is that?!¡± ¡°Just a random guy!¡± Doom Bolt wasn¡¯t the only spell flying at them. The Lich was also using a wide-area attack spell, ck Cloud, and one that amplified the movements of undead by an enormous margin, the Land of Death. Each and every one of those spells were at the level of a grand spell, and yet he was casting them one after another. It was to be expected of a great mage from 300 years ago. Korin thought to himself that it was ridiculous that Gerolge¡¯s body was able to keep up with so much output, regardless of whether he had the infinite amount of mana supply or not. ¡°Let¡¯s hide for now¡­! We need to aim for a surprise attac¡ª¡± ¡°Korin. Under you¡­!¡± Before Erin even finished her warning, a rotten corpse sprinted out of a building wall. An undead with a rotten face, melting eyes, and a disoriented tongue scraped at Korin¡¯s chin with its sharp ws. ¡°Tch¡­!¡± It was a medium-level undead called Hunter. It was a monster that only excelled in surprise attacks and Korin could easily deal with one, but the problem was that his feet had been forced to a pause. ¨C Kugugung¡­! ¡°A lightning bolt! Watch out!¡± In that split second, Erin moved her fingers and wrote a Rune of Defense on Korin. At the same time, Hunter dashed at them along theplex walls of the back alleyway. The monster was extremely fast. Because of the AOE buff spell, Land of Death, the monster¡¯s physical stats had been amplified to the level of a semi-Grade 1 demonic beast. ¡°Kaaaahk¡­!¡± ¡°You might be stronger and all but¡­!¡± ¨C m! In the blink of an eye, Korin kicked Hunter up with his foot. It was a miraculous feat that was only possible because he had read the exact trajectory of the monster. ¡°It¡¯s still the same pattern as always though!¡± Floating up to the air, the Hunter was ced right beneath the lightning bolt falling from the ck Cloud. ¨C Kugung! The lightning strike turned the Hunter into ashes and demolished the defense spell that Erin had carved on his body. It only managed to buy him a split moment but that was more than enough for him. Sixth Style, Shura. Using the sudden increase in physical stats, Korin sprinted out of the range of the lightning bolt. ¨C Kwagang! The lightning struck down onto the ground and covered the surrounding area with its aftermath. The explosion of air that threatened to destroy everything nearby pushed Korin¡¯s body away. Kajik! He crashed into one of the buildings with his back. He was about to stand back up and collect himself but Erin shouted a piece of advice into his ears. ¡°Don¡¯t stop your feet! Move in three dimensions¡­!¡± Following her words, Korin kicked off the walls of the back alleyway and jumped left and right, and up and down. ¨C Kwang! Kwaang! Kwagang! ¡°He knows where we are way too well. Do you think he has a way to see through walls?¡± ¡°There are hundreds of buildings between us and Gerolge. Most spells won¡¯t allow you to see through so many walls like that!¡± ¡°You mean¡­¡± Soon, the two of them came to the same conclusion. ¡°¡°Witchers¡­!¡±¡± They were lowest-grade undead, but these demonic beasts with bat-like wings attached to a big eyeball had the power to see through walls as well as the ability to share their sight with a necromancer. There were thousands of those witchers filling the skies of Nazrea, which meant that we would not be able to hide from Gerolge¡¯s sight no matter where we were, as long as we were to stay within the city. ¡°We won¡¯t be able to run away as long as those guys stick around.¡± ¡°Right¡­ In that case,¡± Discarding the n of hiding themselves, the two of them jumped onto the rooftop of a building. ¡°Let¡¯s break through from the front,¡± said Erin. ¡°Yeah. The undead haven¡¯t really gathered yet either.¡± Things would turn even rougher over time if they let the hordes of undead close in. Even in the original game, the only option was to kill as many undead as possible while focusing on defeating the Immortal King. Since there were only two of them here, they had to start before therge hordes of undead approached them. ¡°I will be at the lead. Stand diagonally back from me, and please maintain a distance of 15 meters.¡± ¡°An order from Mr. Disciple, huh. That¡¯s refreshing.¡± ¡°Trust me.¡± ¡°I will.¡± At the same time, the two of them started a sprint. Dashing in a straight line, they aimed for Gerolge the Immortal King. Normally, people would aim at the one in the lead but the Immortal King did not prioritize the young brat. ¨C Kwaang! A Doom Bolt ¨C a ck ray of light prated through the city towards Erin. ¡°How annoying¡­¡± With a flick, Erin rotated her body around her spear like a spiral staircase to dodge the ray of light. She appeared like a feline animal. In that split second, she had reinforced her body with a stiffening rune to resist the heat, and had also used a rune of the breeze to rotate her body like a falling leaf. That was the reaction of a proper Rune Mage who had ess to a real arsenal of skills unlike Korin who only learned bits and pieces of it. Seeing her set of moves, Korin was genuinely in awe. However, that wasn¡¯t the end of Gerolge¡¯s attacks. ¨C Pababak! A ray of light that had been traveling in a linear line suddenly separated into tens of little strands. In response to that sudden divergence of the spell, Erin had no choice but to jump into the air. And when she jumped into the air and was left with no other ways to dodge, Gerolge fired another Doom Bolt. ¡°Catch it!¡± That was when Korin threw his silver spear at Erin. The Doom Bolt began flying at her the moment she caught onto it. At once, Korin recalled his silver spear, making Erin fly towards him like an arrow. It was something they had done tens of times in the previous iteration, and Korin was fully experienced in how to y around Erin. ¡°Hmm¡­!¡± After a short flight, Erinnded in his embrace as a faint flush bloomed in her cheeks. ¡°N, now is not the time for this. It¡¯sing!¡± ?Doom Bolt? ¡°Like, did he swallow an entire dragon or what¡­¡± Right when the ray of heat was about to swallow the two of them, Korin released mana through the Sun. ?Concentrated Sun: iomh Sis Temporary Activation? What came out was a tiny sun that was iparably smallpared to the one during the fight against Dun Scaith, but that was still enough to devour every hint of heat from the Doom Bolt. ¨C ¡­?!! No matter how powerful an attack, they were powerless in front of the Sun as long as they contained the power of heat and mes, or so Korin thought, but¡­ ?Re: Doom Bolt? ¡°Huh?¡± It was immediately followed by a second Doom Bolt, which was different from before. The ray of light was much bigger than the size of the Sun and the aftershock of the radiation pounced at him even after being affected by the Sun. ¡°What the¡­¡± Korin somehow managed to dodge the attack thanks to the physical reinforcement of Shura, but that didn¡¯t make him happy in the slightest. He was more focused on the fact that his opponent had immediately modified his approach. ¡°Can¡¯t believe he just modified a spell of this degree in a split second.¡± ¡°Quite different from his usual parade of brute force,¡± Erin remarked in response. It seemed that blocking the Doom Bolt with the Sun wouldn¡¯t prove to be effective anymore. ¨C KUAAAAAAAA¡ª!! Gerolge roared with its gleaming blue eyes but it failed to intimidate the two marching spearmen. Fifth Style, Crumbling Mountain. ¡°¡­!¡± The Lich reacted promptly to the textbook javelin toss. The spear engraved with the Runes of the Sun and mes showed off its magnificent brilliance as it pierced through the darkness of the city. ¨C Kagang! However, the spear was soon forced to a stop by a condensedyer of tens of high-grade barriers, backed with a ridiculous amount of mana. It was so resilient that it wouldn¡¯t allow most skills to even leave a scratch. Secret Arts of Crumbling Mountain¡ª The same ce in the barrier that had blocked Korin¡¯s silver spear was attacked yet again by a different spear of the same color. And this time, it led to a different result. ¨C Kakang! The shields shattered. The Secret Arts of Crumbling Mountain, which was in a whole different league to Korin¡¯s disy of the same skill, prated through Gerolge¡¯s defensive spells and crushed through his right shoulder bones. ¡°Kugh¡­ You damn witch¡­!¡± ¡°Your spells might be bigger, but they are still just as sloppy as always.¡± Erin said while retrieving her silver spear. Looking straight into her eyes, Gerolge let out a gloomyughter in his skeleton form. ¡°Hu, hi, ha, hi, haha¡­ Do you think you stand a chance? I have transcended already. The infinite mana of the Moon has sheltered me under its blessing.¡± ???????????¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!! Countless corpses were hoarding in from all sides. There were literally an infinite number of undead troops, and it looked like a scenery straight out of a nightmare. After 300 years of a long and dragged-out animosity, Gerolge was ted after finally holding an edge above his long nemesis. ¡°How high is your chance of victory? 10%? 1%? Or perhaps 0.1%?¡± ¡°100%.¡± ¡ª¡ª!! Hearing that overly arrogant remark, Gerolge turned his eyes to the sky. Descending from the sky¡­ was one single spearman. ¡°I already knew you were aiming for a surprise attack!¡± The male spearman had suddenly disappeared from his physical sense of sight, but Gerolge had been tracking his presence with all the eyes scattered around the city. The only reason he was pretending to be ignorant was because he wanted to drive a further sense of despair into his enemies, who were foolish enough to believe that their surprise attack would end in a sess. ?Doom Bolt? He let out the strongest ray of inkish-ck light towards the sky as it rapidly began flying at Korin Lork. Right as it was about toe into contact with his body¡­ ?iomh Sis ¨C Sun Manifestation? A sun appeared in the sky. Super moon. Blue moon. Blood moon. Thends that had been flooded with the infinite supply of mana from the moon after concealing itself from the presence of the Sun was ced under the glorious light of the dazzling sun. ¡°A, a sun¡­!?¡± A 300-year-long history of dark nights was broken by an iprehensible descent of the Sun. The scorching heat of the sun pierced into the bodies of the Immortal Legion as they simultaneously let out a deathly scream. ¡­¡­¡­!! ¡­¡­¡­!! Everything started to melt. Everything was scorched, and cleansed. It was an unbelievably enormous cleansing miracle that wasn¡¯t possible no matter how many priests were to be allocated. Before the pure divinity of mother nature, those who marched through the nights were unable to evenst a single second. ¡°This can¡¯t be! How can a mere human hold so much power¡­!?¡± Gerolge noticed after his remark that there were countless Runes of the Sun and mes etched across the entire city. They were erupting out with their zing heat, which was then being absorbed by the Sun. He realized that he wasn¡¯t the only one benefiting from an infinite amount of supply in energy. ¡°You bastard¡­!¡± The Lich poured out every mana he could manage to create a defensive barrier. Normal people would praise that to be the pinnacle of magic after seeing the sheer size, density and speed of the activation, but right now, his opponent was the Sun. He was nothing but a cockroach ced under the mercy of shoes. The denseyer of mana from the Moon couldn¡¯t stand a chance against the Sun; they melted down and were suppressed. ¡°Ah, ahh¡­ Uahh¡­ Thi, this can¡¯t be¡­ WITCHHH¡­!¡± He screamed and retaliated like a lunatic. His life vessel that he formed bypressing the mana of the moon and his immortal bones that should be able to regenerate more than 10,000 times started turning to dust aftering in contact with light. It was an inevitable concept and principle of the world. It was an absolute and conceptual rule, and even a Lich at the level of the Immortal King couldn¡¯t stand before it. 1.2 million undead of Nazrea as well as the city itself started turning to ashes and returning to dust. ¡°The Sun is aplete counter against every undead. It doesn¡¯t matter whether you are the Immortal King or not; you stand absolutely no chance.¡± 300 years. 1.2 million evil souls¡­ None of that was able to even contend against a star. That day, a sun descended onto the earth and swallowed every hint of darkness, leaving behind not even a speck of a shadow. **** Grand Chapel of Zeon, Audience Chamber of the Saintess. The 1st Princess of the El Rath Kingdom and the Saintess of the New Faith, Estelle Hadassah El Rath, was confused by the priest who had rapidlye seeking for her. It was just 30 minutes when she heard the news of the Holy Knights and Battle Priests rushing to the Pope. It seemed that it was such an important matter that she had to take charge over it. ¡°Tell him toe in.¡± A priest walked in through the opened doors. Without the normal dignity of a priest that they were educated to maintain, the priest walked down the red carpet with a set of rushed and impatient steps. He was a priest whom Estelle was familiar with. ¡°Priest Kroos? I believe you were stationed at Nazrea, is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes, Esteemed Saintess¡­ I am Kroos from the 3rd Holy Knight Squad. O Starlight of the New Faith.¡± As always, he was well-mannered and very polite but he seemed unbelievably shocked; so astonished that his lips were trembling without a stop. ¡°I heard you rushed here using the fastest wyvern. Did something happen?¡± ¡°I, it was cleansed.¡± ¡°Cleansed?¡± ¡°Nazrea¡­ the city of a million undead¡­ was cleansed over one night.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­!¡± That shocking news made Estelle shoot out of her seat. Nazrea had been a source of a long-time nuisance for humanity. It didn¡¯t cause them any harm, but they were a bit reluctant and afraid to leave it be. Every kingdom of this continent had been on the same page only when it came to the desire to wipe out the city of 1.2 million undead and the Immortal King. Despite several crusades of knights and priests, Nazrea had remained contaminated forever. No matter how many corpses they were to cleanse and scorch, that horrendous nest of demonic beasts tended to bring them all back from the dead in just 3 days. Who could possibly clean a ce like that over a single night? ¡°Tell me the details please. What exactly happened there?¡± ¡°¡­A sun. W, we witnessed the true Sun.¡± A radiant and glorious light of the Sun had dazzled down on the entire city, removing every form of impurity from the city of the dead. The priest testified that it looked ever so holy yet frightening like he was witnessing a divine punishment. ¡°¡­Good work, and thanks for your report. You deserve some rest.¡± After dismissing the priest, Estelle plunked down on her chair. Normally, she would have been scolded by the nearby sisters for the frivolity of the action, but they were just as stunned as her and did not have the room to point anything out. ¡°It¡¯s good news for humanity¡­ to have Nazrea cleansed but¡­¡± The question was why. Why now? And who did it? Besides, how could there be such a divine power that could let one cleanse the evil and demonic nest called Nazrea? 4 years ago, she had visited the city and had carried out a ritual but in the end, Nazrea returned to its original form after 3 days. Even the powerful Saintess, who was said to be the strongest saint of all times, had been unable to cleanse Nazrea, so who in the world could it have been? Who could possibly have so much divinity in them? ¡°Ronya.¡± ¡°Yes, Saintess.¡± ¡°We need to look into it. We need to find out who cleansed Nazrea.¡± ¡°I will immediately have the observers moving.¡± Because of the special traits of Estelle the Saintess, and thanks to the absolute power of her prayers, Estelle herself did not need any guards. After all, she did not need the help of other people to protect herself. Therefore, instead of keeping her bodyguards there just for the sake of having them, she moved them around the continent as informants to gather and analyze all sorts of information, and her n was to utilize them to find out the identity of the saint who cleansed Nazrea. ¡°Please make it quick. My adorable little sister¡­ is probably on the move already.¡± ¡°The¡­ 2nd Princess?¡± ¡°And it will be a big problem if the Tower or the Old Faith gets hold of them.¡± ¡°Yes, Saintess.¡± Watching the sister leave the audience chamber, Estelle let out a long sigh on top of her throne. ¡°Looks like there will be a big turmoil this year.¡± She wasn¡¯t the only one with that idea. The entire continent was about to enter a period of unrest. Chapter 114: - Erin Danua (4) ? Erin Danua (4) ? A never-ending repetition of 3 days. The city of unending darkness was now unbelievably bright. The Sun which had descended while pushing back the power of the Moon was showering the city with a radiant light. A bright sun had forced the night away. Soon, the Grim Reaper appeared in front of me as I watched that divine miracle unfold. ¡¶You have done it.¡· The Grim Reaper residing in the City of Death smiled faintly as it gazed at the bright city that had been cleansed in the blink of an eye. His smile resembled that of an office worker, who finally had an end to a 300-year-long overnight shift. ¡¶Impressive. Was not expecting you to do something like this with a leftover treasure of the Danaans. Perhaps you will be the next sessor the Divinity of Nuada.¡· ¡°Well, it¡¯s just a once-in-a-lifetime trick. It was only possible thanks to all the Rune Letters that were carved across the city over the past 300 years.¡± With my current pool of mana, it was still hard to concentrate the power of the Sun let alone manifest it. There was no way I would have been able to manifest a Sun that wasrge enough to cleanse the whole city without the help of Erin. ¡°More importantly, does that count as me fulfilling my side of the contract?¡± ¡¶I do acknowledge it. You have definitely kept your word.¡· ¡°Then it¡¯s time for you to do the same.¡± ¡¶There is no need to remind me. Well then, Queen.¡· ¡°¡­¡± The Grim Reaper turned to Erin, who was nkly watching the city turn brighter behind me. She sat there and murmured to herself. ¡°It, really is over. Finally¡­¡± For 300 years, she had been tied to the city of the dead. Was she happy to be released from that curse? I wasn¡¯t sure, but nheless she nkly continued staring at the white city. ¡°Thank you Korin. Thanks to you, I was finally released from my contract, which I thought was going tost forever.¡± ¡°I was simply doing what had to be done.¡± ¡°Korin. Once this contract is over, I¡­¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°You¡­ know?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Intentionally, I avoided her eyes and also turned to the city. I felt her eyes staring at me from the side but I continued looking forward. Soon, she returned her eyes to the front and looked at the same ce I was staring at. ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard,¡± she said. ¡°I did work hard.¡± ¡°Did you stumble a lot?¡± ¡°Quite a few times.¡± ¡°Did you cry?¡± ¡°Always.¡± ¡°Even if you don¡¯t see a path in front of you, I want you to stay proud of yourself. Hold onto your conviction and go straight. If you do¡­¡± You will be a hero. It was funny. The current Erin obviously had different memories and a different set of experiences and yet she was consoling me with the same words as my master from that time. At the same time, that wasn¡¯t anything strange. She was just that kind of person, and that was why she could nonchntly decide to die for my sake. ¡°And¡­¡± She then said the same words as the one I heard before. After some hesitation, she stroked my face and opened her mouth. ¡°Let me imbue into you, the blessing of a goddess.¡± As proof of her affection, she would now kiss my forehea¡­ ¡°Uhp?¡± Warmth was conveyed through the skin with a chu as her lips aligned with mine¡­ Vacantly, I looked forward into her wet eyes and blushing cheeks. ¡°I sincerely wish for your happiness.¡± Despite having tears threatening to drop in her eyes, she showed a smile brighter than everything else in the world and gave me her blessing. After finishing its due responsibility of cleansing the city, the Sun disappeared and darkness covered the area again. And Erin was nowhere to be found. **** Nazrea was fully cleansed. The city once cleansed was inplete ruin. There was no sign of life anywhere in the ruined and broken city, but at the very least, it was ready to ept new life now that the unnatural scenes of daily life had been removed from it. Even though there had been things pretending to be alive in thisnd of death, after all, their nature was still that of the dead. ¡ºRune Amplification¡» ¨C The effects of your Rune Magic are enhanced. The specialty, Rune Amplification was what I gained as a reward from the Precept. It didn¡¯t look too bad. To test it out, I tried using Kenaz. ¨C Hwaruruk! ¡°Ohh~¡± The Rune of mes burned ever brighter than before, helping me understand the impact of this specialty. The upside of Rune Letters was that anyone could use it regardless of whether they were a mage or not. Although that sounded great, the downside was just as big; it was hard to make them stronger than an elementary-grade spell. In the end, the only way to use a strong Rune Magic was to carve as many of them as I could and make them resonate at once using a special artifact like the Silver Spear. Not only was the general power output of Rune Magic enhanced thanks to this specialty that I just acquired, but I was now also able to increase the power of the spell in conjunction with the mana spent. ¡®Maybe not as strong as a high-grade spell, but I can make a single letter have the power of a medium-grade spell now.¡¯ It might not mean much when it came to the Resonant Activation ability since that was powerful enough already, but it would be incredibly useful during fights. ¡®The rewards this time seem to be that and this ¡®Primal Rune¡¯.¡¯ I took out the rune stone which I had prepared beforehand, which now had the Primal Rune, ¡ºn¡» engraved onto it. This was the rune of the Prime which promised the evesting presence of paradise. With this, it was one less Primal Rune that Tates Valtazar could obtain. On the way out of the city after packing up my belongings, I found the priests creating a ruckus in the distance. ¨C What in the world is going on¡­!? ¨C Contact the closest branch! Tell everyone toe here! ¨C Did you see that Sun? Who is it? Who did it? They were the priests of their respective doctrines that were here to monitor and observe Nazrea. Before long, they would realize that this was due to the Sun, iomh Sis. Whether it be the Old Faith or the New Faith, the 4 treasures of the Danaans were seen as legendary treasures passed down by the gods. Well, they weren¡¯t necessarily wrong because those had indeed been items belonging to gods. If I were to show up in front of them right now and show them iomh Sis, they would probably see me as the champion of the God of Sun. God of Sun; the Great Danaan of the Sun, Nuada Airgem ¨C the generation previous to Master Erin. And that would have a lot of implications. Gaining the support of a religion; an enormous religion like the New Faith as well as the Saintess and one of the sessor candidates to the throne, Estelle Hadassa El Rath, meant a lot. Unlike the time in the past when all 4 of the treasures were in the hands of the enemy, one of them was on me, and that was great but¡­ ¡°I wonder how Miru that princess is doing.¡± Miruam Elizabeth El Rath. She was the 2nd Princess of the kingdom with the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages behind her; a viiness of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? opposing the Saintess, Estelle Hadassa El Rath. ¡ºKnight Korin. Look. This is our child. Beautiful, right?¡» ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± I remembered the time I was first approached by that snake-like princess. ¡®Well, it¡¯s not the time to get myself involved in politics just yet.¡¯ That was something worth thinking about, but not until the end of the Tower of Mages incident and until I sessfully stopped the murder of Chairman Eriu Casarr. The key characters of the uing event were Dun Scaith and the wolf siblings. ¡®I killed the strongest animals of Dun Scaith, the ck bull and a dragon, but there¡¯s still the brown ox and the white-horned cow.¡¯ And Ren and Ron. The two of them were on my side so it was a lot less concerning on that end. ¡°First off¡­ will be the new semester.¡± There were only 10 days left until the end of the holiday so I put that on the top of the priority list. Escaping the city while hiding from the priests wasn¡¯t that difficult. **** Inside a dark pce, the Queen was sitting all alone on the throne. The lonely pce had no visitors except for a long disciple of hers whom she had been raising ever since a young age. It was all because of the seal 80 years ago¡­ due to the betrayal of her cherished disciple and a potential sessor. 80 years ago, she had been sealed. That was why the Queen, Erin Danua, had been staying asleep for a long time with silence and serenity being the two of her few friends. It was therefore normal for her life to be a dull one with no ups and downs. The reason she suddenly woke up from her long sleep was because of an abrupt wave of memories. ¡ºGrim Reaper. Let¡¯s make a contract.¡» Those were memories from 300 years ago, around the time when she was wandering across the world, and were about Nazrea which she had forgotten until now for some reason. ¡ºThat makes this the 3,784th cycle.¡» An endless struggle against the ck mage who was tied down to the city just like her. ¡°Uhht¡­!¡± They flooded in without an end. With little regard to the mental burden it would cause her, they flooded in like a tsunami covering a town. But at the same time, she understood that if it was her, she would have forged a contract with the Grim Reaper and that she would have been holding on for a long time. In the midst of those boring and tedious memories of the past 300 years; from that endless history of struggle¡­ ¡ºYou¡­ must be my disciple from a distant future.¡» A memory she couldn¡¯t disregard entered her brain. It was recent¡­ but the most surprising factor was the person involved. ¡°Korin¡­ Lork?¡± The disciple of Valtazar the traitor. He was the one who came to her after betraying his own master¡­ or so she thought. Why was he there? Did he go to Nazrea during the festival? If so, what was he nning on doing¡­ ¡ºGrim Reaper. Let¡¯s make a contract.¡» ¡°W, wait¡­¡± That was way too reckless of him. A contract with the Grim Reaper¡­? Even she had to live amidst 300 years of struggle after being separated from her main body and yet¡­ how could a soul this young make such a horrifying contract with his own reincarnation on the table? ¡ºThis time, I want to be the one saving you.¡» Why was he, who should be Valtazar¡¯s disciple, calling her master and¡­ ¡ºI told you; I¡¯ll definitely save you this time. I¡¯m here to save you, Erin.¡» And why was he looking at her with¡­ such emotional eyes¡­? ¡ºCan I kiss you?¡» ¡°Aht! Uht! Aht!¡± ¡ºYou are such a special person to me.¡» ¡°Uhht?! Ahhht?!¡± It was embarrassing. His eyes and words were too much to take in for an old maiden who had never even held onto a man¡¯s hand before. ¡°I, I¡­ was in that kind of rtionship¡­? With Student Korin?¡± Questions were constantly surging up in her mind but those were all erased momentarily by thest bit of memory. ¡ºLet me imbue into you, the blessing of a goddess.¡» Chu! There went the first kiss of her life. ¨C Vuiing¡­! ¡°Erin. I found a new book you might like. Would you like to¡­ What are you doing?¡± The only visitor allowed in the pce, Josephine ra, looked curiously at Erin, who was twisting her body on the throne while covering her face with her palms. ¡°Uahhhh¡­ You are crazy. You are crazy¡­¡± She continued mumbling iprehensible words for a while. **** In the extreme colds of the Northern Kingdom was the Dingle Penins. The cold and hellish environment full of demonic beasts, the northerners were always prepared for a battle. Under a freezing blizzard, they built stone walls and created fortresses. Those fortresses were ced all across thend and served as a shield that stopped the marching monsters. As a result, the idol of people living in the Northern Kingdom ended up being a powerful warrior, and those with strength were thus revered and admired. And around 80 years ago, a warrior had shown himself on the Dingle Penins. Tates Valtazar. Although he was hiding his name and his true identity, his mighty presence and power were more than enough to force the barbarians of the north under hismand. ¡°Hueeekk¡­¡± Lying on the ground was the cluster of snakes, toads, magic bulls, and dragons; the content of the Magic Cauldron of Undry. The crazy and ferocious beast was humbly kneeling before the King. ¡°I am, very sorryyy¡­ Master.¡± ¡°¡­¡± A red pair of eyes gazed down at him from the throne. Under those eyes of an undisguisable sign of blood, violence, and cruelty, Dun Scaith trembled as he constantly drove his forehead into the floor. ¡°¡­¡± Meanwhile, Dumnorix the Great Sage of the Forest was standing still with the apathetic eyes of an old tree. Strictly speaking, he should be somewhat responsible for the failure but his position was different from that of Dun Scaith. ¡°The Sun was taken, huh.¡± ¡°Huiik¡­!¡± Dun Scaith drove his forehead into the ground once again. Suddenly a pure white spear stabbed through the floor while grazing past his cheeks. ¡°Kuhik¡­!¡± Even though the spear barely touched his cheeks, Dun Scaith screamed and howled in pain. The power of light that threatened to slice his soul and heart was too much to bear for the beast of darkness. ¡°Dumnorix. Anything you have to say?¡± ¡°Nothing, sir.¡± ¡°Good. So, who exactly is this person?¡± As soon as Valtazar gave his permission, Dun Scaith raised his head and bbered out everything he knew. ¡°Korin Lork¡­! That¡¯s his name! And he is also the one who killed Fermack for sure! He called himself the First Spear of Erin Danua!¡± ¡°Korin Lork¡­¡± ¡°Do you know him, sir?¡± ¡°He is my nemesis, guided by Lia Fail.¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± Even Dumnorix couldn¡¯t hide his shock after hearing his words. Tates Valtazar. He was the strongest knight with the name Spear Saint from 80 years ago. He was literally the god of war and Dumnorix had never seen anyone stronger than him in the long years of his life. Fermack Daman, Dun Scaith¡­ and even the almighty King of Beauty, Eochaid Bres, were nothing but kids before the God of War, Tates Valtazar. Korin Lork¡­ was he really his opposer and nemesis? ¡°Did you not say it was a boy called Park Sihu?¡± The Stone of Destiny, Lia Fail. It was one of the four great treasures of Danaan which alerted its user of one¡¯s destiny. Dumnorix recalled that the nemesis notified by the great treasure symbolizing the power of the Supreme King had been a different person. ¡°It has already been more than a year since it changed.¡± There was a boy who should have grown to be his destined nemesis but Lia Fail had severed that string of fate. That was 1 year ago near the end of February, right when another boy opened his eyes and woke up. ¡°I see¡­ He calls himself the First Spear of Master, huh.¡± Tates Valtazar stood up from the throne. That single movement of his quaked the air nearby and forced every living thing to get on their knees and worship him. The pressure leaving his body was incredible and unbelievably powerful. Even the Great Sage of the Forest who had been living for centuries felt like worshiping him on his knees. Erin Danua. Thest Danaan of thisnd ¨C his beloved master whom he loved and detested. Hearing that name made his blood and fighting spirit boil without an end. ¡°I shall pay a visit myself.¡± ¡°Will you be personally cutting him down?¡± ¡°No. Lia Fail has yet to join our fate. Undoing the knot in the strings will have to wait for the time being.¡± That was one of the weaknesses of Lia Fail. It gave certainty to the destined future of the one being shown and made it happen no matter the cost; even if it was by going against thew of nature itself. The sessor of the Paradise and the sessor of the Void. Tates Valtazar and Korin Lork¡¯s lines of fate were being strongly attracted to one another. Chapter 115: - New Semester (1) ? New Semester (1) ? A new semester began. 1st graders were turning into 2nd graders with new freshmen being added to the mix. There were many things happening and most 1st graders had to move dormitories as they entered their second year at the Academy depending on their major and career paths but that didn¡¯t apply to me. ¡°Wow~ Korin. You are done already?¡± ¡°Thanks to Doggo helping me, it wasn¡¯t that hard.¡± When I returned to the special dormitory after a long time of absence, there were a few things to do such as cleaning and removing the messy weeds, but cleaning didn¡¯t take that long because all I had to clean was my room and the storeroom. ¡°More importantly, Korin! You will be in your 2nd year from tomorrow! Congrattions!¡± ¡°Same to you. You are in your 3rd year now.¡± Tomorrow was the freshmen weing ceremony already. Just like what we went throughst year, the new students would take their Grading tests and receive their temporary Grades. Thinking back to the past reminded me of how everything started. Just 1 year ago, I had entered the Academy as a Grade 5 Knight and yet here I was, sitting at Grade 1. ¡°We are here from Dumons Furniture. Where would you like this to go?¡± ¡°Ah, pleasee this way!¡± I wasn¡¯t the only one taking care of the mansion in preparation for the new semester. Marie was also bringing in a bunch of new furniture into the dormitory, and those seemed to be being sent here in the form of a donation. ¡°Huh? Senior, are we getting a new bed as well?¡± ¡°Hnn? Y, yeah¡­ Umm, how should I say this¡­ It¡¯s a bit ufortablepared to the one at home¡­!¡± Huh? Wasn¡¯t she using it just fine for 2 years now? And the bed she had at her home¡­ ¡°Oopsies! Hey Brother Kim! Be careful! You¡¯ll get squashed to death if one of thesends on top of ya!¡± ¡°G, got it¡­! Ehew. Is this a pce for newlyweds? What kind of¡­¡± The workers were bringing in beds that were clearly bigger than normal single-sized beds. They were¡­ much bigger than expected. ¡°Amazing, right? They are really good beds. Apparently you fall asleep just by lying on it.¡± ¡°They do look impressive. Thank you for changing all of our beds but what about yours, Senior Marie?¡± ¡°I have one too! It¡¯s that big one there!¡± ¡°Looks simr to the one I saw in your house.¡± It had the same size as the bed that was in that Evergreen Room or something which was given to fianc¨¦s. It was so wide that two people wouldn¡¯t be able to fill it. ¡°Hehe¡­ It¡¯s just in case there is a guesting over.¡± ¡°A guest?¡± Was she talking about her friends? It made sense considering how she had a bunch of friends like Isabelle. Plus, I did hear that girls tended to y like that sometimes; going on the so-called pajama parties and such. In any case, it seemed that all the furniture in the mansion was being reced to suit the standards of the Potato Empire in the south. Walking away from that, I carried a garbage bag full of weeds and headed to the incinerator at the back of the dormitory. That was where I found Hua Ran. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she asked. ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m cleaning the yard. What about you?¡± ¡°Fish.¡± ¡°Fish?¡± Wondering what she was talking about, I looked inside the incinerator and found a massive tuna being burned inside it. ¡°¡­Can you exin to me what that is?¡± ¡°Fried tuna.¡± ¡°Like, it¡¯s not like I don¡¯t know what it is, but¡­¡± ¡°I heard eyeballs are good for IQ? Or something.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s true or not, but more importantly, why are you cooking that in an incinerator?¡± Hearing my question, Hua Ran tilted her head as if I was asking about the most obvious thing in the world. ¡°I can¡¯t cook something that big in the kitchen.¡± ¡°Oh~ So you want to eat the whole thing as it is?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Aiya. Look at this girl. Even though she had the memories of Ran, she was still a baby who had only spent 3 years in the society. She was just turning 4 now. ¡°Next time, just tell me. I can chop it up into smaller pieces and cook them for you.¡± ¡°¡­Okay.¡± ¡°Like, how did you even get a tuna this big? And didn¡¯t you buy massive tfishst time as well?¡± ¡°I bought them at the market.¡± ¡°¡­They sell these?¡± Did they sell fish this big? There had to be something wrong with that marketce and the storeowner for deciding to sell things like these as a whole to a little girl. ¡°Ehew. Well, you cooked it anyway so let¡¯s grab Doggo and eat it together.¡± ¡°¡­No.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°This is mine.¡± ¡°Like, there¡¯s no way you¡¯re going to finish the¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s mine.¡± ¡°¡­Alright, sure. Have the whole thing.¡± She was stubborn and possessive like a little girl. After pondering by herself for some time, Hua Ran pulled my sleeves and added. ¡°You can have some.¡± ¡°What an honor to hear that.¡± No matter what, it would be hard for her to eat this enormous tuna by herself, and maybe she knew that. That must be why she was offering it to me. ¡°But still, let¡¯s chop this into pieces. If we leave it like this, the outside will get scorched but the inside is going to stay raw.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I was carrying out a sudden tuna chopping show and thinking about having this for lunch when Alicia appeared from the other side. ¡°Mr. Korin~. Let¡¯s have lunch together! Uhekk?! What is all this?¡± ¡°Tuna.¡± ¡°I get that but¡­¡± ¡°Quiet down and just help me cook these.¡± ¨C Jiiiiing¡­! It was then. The dimensions tore open as the head of our dormitory with a mature beauty appeared from within. What she found first thing after returning to the dormitory was us cookingrge chunks of tuna on campfires ced around the yard. ¡°Student Korin? What are you doing?¡± ¡°We¡¯re cooking tuna. You should join us for lunch.¡± ¡°Haa¡­ Where did you even get this?¡± ¡°You should ask the sister next to me.¡± After turning her eyes to Hua Ran, Josephine gave an understanding nod. ¡°Thanks for the offer but I have an appointment for lunch already.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a shame. By the way, you look tired. Have there been some problems?¡± Everyone in the Academy knew just how hard Lady Josephine was working, but today, she looked more worn out than ever. ¡°A long friend of mine is very distracted. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening to her but¡­¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s rted to romance? I am more than willing to give all ears if you want to share some stories.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. More importantly, Student Korin.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Can I ask you to be one of the guides for the freshmen weing ceremony tomorrow? Normally, we have the high-performing 2nd-year students be guides.¡± By a guide, she was referring to the job Marie yed during the entrance ceremony, such as guiding the new students to the carriages and making sure they didn¡¯t lose their way. This Academy was as big as a small city, and it was thus normal for freshmen students to lose track of where they were. ¡°Sure. But there¡¯s more than that, isn¡¯t there?¡± ¡°You mean the prac lesson at Hunting Grounds?¡± asked Lady Josephine. ¡°I am incredibly willing to enlighten the new students!¡± ¡°¡­Do you have some strange ns in mind?¡± ¡°What? Me?¡± ¡°For example, the Immortan Lork or¡­¡± ¡°I am not sure what you are talking about, Miss!¡± ¡°If I hear even a single word about Immortan Lork, I will bring this up in a disciplinarymittee meeting.¡± ¡°You can definitely trust me. I am Korin Lork.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Josephine stared at me with half-squinted eyes before finally giving her permission. It was looking like it would be a fun start to the semester. ¡°I need some more volunteers apart from Student Korin. What about you, Student Alicia?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I think I can join. I just have to do the same thing that the seniors were doingst year, right?¡± ¡°Yes. There will be some differences in rules, though.¡± In the end, our job was still to interrupt the freshmen students while testing their skills. ¡°I think I can help out then.¡± Just like that, Alicia was also in the crew. I thought about inviting Yuel in as well, because she was pretty much invincible inside the Hunting Grounds. ¡°Me too.¡± ¡°Hua Ran?¡± That was when Hua Ran suddenly opened her mouth while raising her hand. I thought she would hate tedious things like testing freshmen students, but I guess that wasn¡¯t the case. ¡°You cannot. Student Korin and Student Alicia can, but you might hurt the freshmen students.¡± Lady Josephine¡¯s concerns made sense. We were like pistols and miniguns whereas Hua Ran was an anti-tank missile. Having her attack the new students with nothing but bulletproof vests would be too inhumane. ¡°I can¡­ hold back.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Josephine hesitated after seeing her persist. Normally she would have said ¡®No¡¯ with no questions asked but I had a feeling that she was a lot nicer to Hua Ran after the festival. ¡°Fine. But is Ran listening right now?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Ran. If you think it¡¯s dangerous, you must step in and stop her. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± ¡°She said yes.¡± It looked like even Hua Ran was going to be joining the freshmen prac lesson, which was unfortunate for these young poor souls. ¡°Hehe. I¡¯m looking forward to getting juniors.¡± Alicia seemed incredibly excited to have juniors that would be treating her with respect and had a full smile on her face. That wasn¡¯t strange though, because that was the same for me. ¡°Huehuehuehuehue¡­¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± There weren¡¯t going to be many key freshmen students this year. Well, that was to be expected though, because it did not make much sense from a development standpoint to assign a lot of importance to juniors that wereing in mid-way into the game. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean that there weren¡¯t any important named characters among the new students, but it was just that they weren¡¯t as powerfulpared to the boss-level characters, Hua Ran and Marie. ¡®Besides, those guys will be entering this year anyway.¡¯ One of those two guys would probablye first among the freshmen this year as long as nothing unexpected came up. ¡°Professor. Do you remember the two freshmen that I was talking about?¡± ¡°I do. The two of them wille to the special dormitory,¡± replied Professor Josephine. ¡°Umm¡­ Do you know some of the new students?¡± Alicia asked. ¡°Only two of them.¡± ¡°Ah, Student Korin.¡± That was when Lady Josephine opened her mouth after seemingly remembering something. ¡°If you have time, could you help me clean the rooms for the new students?¡± ¡°Well, sure but those guys are siblings so they¡¯ll probably be sleeping in the same room. I can do it by myself.¡± ¡°No. There are two more rooms that we need to prepare.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°That is part of the reason why we¡¯ve ordered new furniture through Student Marie.¡± It was only on the day of the entrance ceremony of the 1st Semester that I understood what she meant. **** ¡°Now. All of you,e this way.¡± The next day, I waited at the south gate of the Academy to guide the new freshmen students entering the Academy for the first time. The clueless new students gathered in front of me after hearing my words. ¡°Hua Ran. Make the poster straight so they can see better.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I wasn¡¯t by myself and next to me was Hua Ran. She was wearing a long poster that read, ¡®Wee to the Academy!¡¯ on her neck. While I was in the middle of weing the new students, I spotted a professoring to work from her home. It was Professor Lra Mars of Alchemic studies. ¡°Oh wow~. You were here already~.¡± She, who had the same voluptuous body as always, greeted with her usual stretchy voice. ¡°Student Korin? You are dressed up today, aren¡¯t youuuu?¡± ¡°It is the entrance ceremony for the new students, after all.¡± Although I usually preferred wearing a t-shirt with leather pants, I was a bit more mindful of my outfit today and was thus wearing a suit and a dress shirt. It looked neat in my opinion, although I wasn¡¯t wearing branded clothes all over like Doggo. Well, that was not a good idea in the first ce¡­ His mother, Marie, was spoiling him too much! ¡°Fufu. The girls are going to be very happy todayyy~. You are going to be very popr~.¡± ¡°Huhaha. Really?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Professor Lra got on the carriage that went straight to her building, while we decided to wait for a few more students to arrive. ¡°¡­You.¡± Hua Ran, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly opened her mouth. ¡°That doesn¡¯t suit you.¡± ¡°Huh? It doesn¡¯t?¡± ¡°It¡¯s bad.¡± ¡°Really? Everyone was saying it was okay though¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Is it really that bad¡­?¡± Well, preference in clothes was a subjective matter anyway so I let that go. I threw a nce at Hua Ran, who was looking straight forward with the poster hanging on her neck, and realized that her lips were in a slight pout. Why was she in a bad mood all of a sudden? ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°LOUDERRRRRR¡­!¡± ¡°YEAHHHHH¡­!¡± Inside the carriage with a bunch of freshmen students, I screamed through the microphone as the students responded with a shout. ¡°Nino, Maximus, Keyser Soze!! Sonador, and Spartaaaaaa!! They don¡¯t die! I don¡¯t die~~!¡± ¡°You¡¯re doing great!¡± ¡°I have no idea what he¡¯s saying though¡­!¡± The 2nd year student senior singing a song in the carriage was like an annual event that helped the freshmen students forget their nervousness. ¡°Oppa! You¡¯re cool!¡± ¡°Cool? Anything else?¡± ¡°You¡¯re handsome!!¡± ¡°Okay, you over there. I¡¯ll remember ya. You are a part of my crew now!¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± ¡°Now, thanks for listening to my song, and let¡¯s start getting off!¡± ¡°¡°Okay!¡±¡± Hua Ran and I got off first with the freshmen students following behind us. Seeing them reminded me ofst year. ¡°So, there are going to be professors inside. Go in, and good luck!¡± ¡°???¡± Most of the students seemed to have no idea why I was wishing them good luck. Towards the back of the group were the siblings, Ren and Ron. ¡°Bro¡­ I mean, Big Brother. We will see youter.¡± ¡°Alrighty. Good luck to you, and you too Ren.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need luck.¡± Patting them on their extra-soft honey-blonde-colored hair, I sent the two of them into the Liberty Hall. Inside, the 1st year students will be undertaking their first grading test just like I didst year. Even though Ren and Ron appeared like primary school kids, there were probably going to be less than a handful of students this year that could have a meaningful fight against them. ¡°I have to go,¡± said Hua Ran. ¡°Okay sure. You said there¡¯s something to do at the church, right?¡± ¡°There¡¯s that too.¡± That too? ¡°Someone annoying wants to see me.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Just someone.¡± A visitor for Hua Ran? Who could it be? There were only a few people even back in the game that interacted with Hua Ran, so that was a bit of a surprise. She disappeared after kicking off the ground. Even though I told her multiple times to not fly across the Academy, she was still the same. There was a time when she crashed into a bird and had us eat a whole bird for dinner. It was very tedious to pluck the feathers and wash the guts out, so I really hoped she would stop doing that. ¨C Kugung! Another carriage arrived as soon as Hua Ran left. ¡°Hu~. This way please! And everyone, be careful on your way down!¡± It was Alicia¡¯s voice, which meant they wereing from the western gate. Naturally, I turned my eyes to the freshmen students that were getting off the carriage, and¡­ ¡°Aht, be careful.¡± A girl stepped down on the ground with a walking stick with the help of Alicia. She had such a memorable appearance; one that no one could forget upon seeing once. And I happened to know who that was. ¡°Shit¡­¡± The girl had zing and fiery red hair. She had matching ruby-colored eyes but those were clearly different from the red indifferent eyes of Hua Ran. Her cold and cruel eyes had a vertical slit in them. Hua Ran was a lofty beast, whereas she was more like a venomous snake. Her body was smaller than the other girls and boys of her age, but there was an undisguisable sense of pressure in her atmosphere that did not allow anyone to look down on her. Even though the students were allowed to wear anything, one could say it was as expected of her toe to the entrance ceremony wearing a luxurious dress. ¨C Clomp! Clomp! The girl walked straight towards me and stopped right before me. ¡°Knight Korin, yes? Nice to meet you. My name is Miruam Elizabeth El Rath.¡± ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± I could hear Alicia gasping for breath at the back. Right ¨C it might be possible to not know her first or her second name, there was no way anyone in this kingdom wouldn¡¯t be aware of herst name. Without even caring about Alicia gasping behind her, the girl who called herself ¡®El Rath¡¯ raised her hand that was covered with an opera glove. ¡ºWhen in front of an attractivedy, it is the courtesy of a gentleman to give her a kiss and ask for a dance, Knight Korin.¡» ¡ºKnight Korin. Look. This is our child. Beautiful, right?¡» Her face ovepped with the one I saw in the past. She was one whom I had a stronger impression of in thest iteration than the game. The one who¡­ ¡°An honor to see the princess.¡± Kissing her on the back of her hand, I demonstrated the required etiquette of a knight. She was Miruam Elizabeth El Rath, the 2nd Princess of this kingdom. ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ Umm, Lady Miru? Why are you here? Chapter 116: - New Semester (2) ? New Semester (2) ? The 2nd Princess was well-ornamented with a scorching me of passion, but anyone seeing her would evaluate her using the following words. A venomous serpent. She had the personality of a slithering snake and an appearance that reflected it. Although Marie and Hua Ran were the final boss characters of each episode, most of the gamers would tilt their heads if they were asked whether they were viins or not. On the other hand, when it came to Princess Miruam, everyone would agree that she was the perfect example of a viin. The Viiness of the Century in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. She was a viin who appeared several times to leave an impact during the 2nd year into the game, who would thenter appear as the hidden boss in the 3rd year. Carefully holding onto her hand, I kissed her on the back of her hand. My knees were slightly bent and the angle of my back was perfect, which seemed to have satisfied the princess. ¡°What magnificent etiquette. Who did you learn it from?¡± ¡°It was from a book.¡± Well, it was actually you who taught me though. ¡°May I ask what brought the princess of our kingdom to the Academy?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to be so polite, Senior. I am just one of the new students here.¡± ¡°¡­¡± This was the worst. Why was Princess Miru here in the Academy as a new student? Besides, what would a royal princess even learn here? I couldn¡¯t help but feel flustered from a scene that I had never seen in any of the gamey routes. Originally, the princesses were supposed to¡­ ¡°Oh my, look who it is? It¡¯s my adorable little sister.¡± Ohh¡­ shit. Princess Miru, who had been wearing an indecipherable smile, suddenly gave a deep frown that even a 7-year-old would be able to tell. In turn, I noticed who it was after seeing that change in expression, because there was only one person in the world who could make this princess frown like this. ¡°Estelle.¡± Walking towards us with leisure and an amicable smile was Princess Estelle, a beauty of bright colors. Unlike Miruam¡¯s crimson blood-colored hair, Estelle had innocent-looking pinkish hair; and unlike Miruam¡¯s reddish-ck dress, she was wearing a white gown. Most importantly, there was a difference in abundance around their chest. ¡°You forgot the ¡®Sister¡¯ part, Miru.¡± ¡°I told you not to shorten my name as you wish.¡± Her unique and coquettish voice tickled my ears and shivered my body. Alicia, who had been guiding the princess with the assumption that she was just a slightly unique freshman, had the same look on her face as mine. ¡°Wow~. It¡¯s been so long since Ist saw you, and you are still so tiny and cute! I wish I could stay forever young just like you.¡± Estelle gave a mischievousment but Princess Miru reacted with a venomous expression. ¡°Even one pound of your uselessly big chunk of flesh won¡¯t serve as anything useful apart from fish bait, but if you want, I can use it to brew some potions.¡± ¡®Why? Why are they¡­¡¯ After sharing a frightening greeting with her sister, Estelle started walking towards me. ¡°Hello. I¡¯m Estelle Hadassa El Rath. Knight Korin, right? Would you be fine with a handshake?¡± She said while reaching her hand out, so I grabbed it subconsciously. It was just a light handshake, but the power behind her grip was stronger than most knights. ¡°An honor to meet¡­ Saintess Estelle Hadassa El Rath.¡± ¡°No need to be so polite. We are all students of the same Academy. I¡¯m not talking politely to you either, am I?¡± ¡°Same¡­ Academy?¡± ¡°Yes. I came back this year.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Right, I did remember that being the case¡­ Even in the game and thest iteration, Estelle used to be very amicable and tended to refer to us as her juniors. If I recall correctly, it had already been 2 years since she had practically left the Academy so¡­ why was she returning now all of a sudden? After looking at the two of us, Miru clicked her tongue before turning away from us. ¡°Senior Alicia. I will now head into the Liberty Hall. Thank you very much for your kind guidance.¡± ¡°H, huh? Yeah¡­ I, I mean, utmost honor to hear that, Y, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Fufu¡­¡± Princess Miru gave a wily smile after seeing Alicia¡¯s sloppy reply, and turned to head to the Liberty Hall. She was limping her way across with a walking stick but there was still an undisguisable hint of dignity. ¡°Still the same as always, I suppose.¡± After saying that to herself, Estelle tapped me on my shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll see you againter, Junior.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Left behind with the passing of the storm were Alicia with her back bent at a right angle and me with my eyes on the sky. Estelle Hadassa El Rath. Miruam Elizabeth El Rath. They were the main characters of thetter half of the game, ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, who should have only appeared with the Kingdom Arc. Originally, they weren¡¯t even supposed to enter the Guardian Academy and yet here they were as a returning and new a student respectively. I had an idea about the reason why but¡­ Was that really that big of a deal? I couldn¡¯t even imagine how the story would unfold hereon. None of that was certain, but what was certain was that¡­ ¡°Haa¡­¡± The fluttering wings of a butterfly had once again caused a tornado. ¡°Fuck my life¡­¡± *** Despite entering the Academy thanks to Korin¡¯s help, Ren couldn¡¯t help but feel fidgety all the time. As a poor wolf beastman who had been living in the slums, she was dumbstruck by the fancy decorations and broadnds of the Academy. ¡°Wow¡­ Noona. Are we going to be living here from now on?¡± Ron cheered out loud like a little kid so Ren rebuked him while holding tightly onto his hand. ¡°¡­Stop acting like a kid.¡± ¡°But, but¡­ it¡¯s so big. It¡¯s like a pce.¡± ¡®You¡¯ve never even seen a pce though.¡¯ That sentence was at the top of her tongue, but Ren swallowed it in. Beastmen tended to grow physically with the development of the mind. And as one might be able to tell from their physical appearance, they still had the mindset of a 9-year-old, and Ren did not feel like trampling on Ron¡¯s innocence. ¡°Wow~. It¡¯s so big. It¡¯s my first time seeing a building this¡­ Aht!¡± It was then. Ron, who had been restlessly wandering around the area, bumped into someone. Actually, he bumped into someone¡¯s walking stick. ¡°S, sorry¡­¡± ¡°¡­Take your feet off.¡± They were met with the cold gaze of a venomous serpent as Ron immediately froze on the spot. Ren hurriedly ran forward, providing a refuge for him. Ren was about to apologize but was soon lost for words. ¡°Hmm?¡± Thedy had such a coquettish voice that she could even seduce those of the same gender. The owner of that voice had bright crimson hair and a reddish ck dress, which was the perfect image of a princess in their minds. While wiping the part of the fancy walking stick with a gem that bumped into Ron with a handkerchief, the girl said with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m Miruam Elizabeth El Rath.¡± ¡°N, nice¡­ to meet you.¡± There were a lot of freshmen peers next to Miruam. They were calling out, ¡®Your Highness¡¯ ¡®Your Highness,¡¯ and were seemingly very attached to her to the point that they would be wagging their tails if they had one. ¡®We are¡­ hiding it for now, but¡­¡¯ As long as it wasn¡¯t the full moon, the siblings were able to hide their ears and tails. Of course, the only reason they were allowed into the Guardian Academy was because they were strong werewolves from birth, so the news was bound to spread any time soon. ¡°We are all friends. Shall we do a handshake?¡± Miruam reached her hand out. After some slight hesitation, Ren grabbed onto her gloves, but that was when she was suddenly pulled all the way towards her face. ¡°Y, Your Highness?¡± Princess Miru gazed down at her. Her snake-like eyes had not a hint of goodwill or affection and instead¡­ ¨C Flinch! Her eyes were like a deep pit full of hostility and killing intent. It was so intense that Ren¡¯s bestial instincts were setting off rms in her head. ¡°Smells uncultured. A disgusting¡­ scent of fur.¡± Ren flinched and took a step back but she did not let go of her. It was hard to understand how she had so much power as someone who limped even with the help of a walking stick. ¡ª¡ª¡ª The eyes of a venomous serpent gazed down at the wolf girl. Slowly, like a snake closing in on its prey, she brought her lips closer to her ears and¡­ ¡°Interesting. I killed each and every one of your kind and yet¡­ looks like some bitches still managed to survive.¡± Like an anaconda strangling its prey by the heart, she looked at them and induced into them a strong sense of fear. Those venomous fangs that did not bother trying to hide its murderous objective appeared ready to prate through their throats any time. ¡°If you touch my stick one more time¡­ I will bury you alive. Understand?¡± Shivering without an end, Ren couldn¡¯t help but nod on repeat. She understood instinctively, that this woman was her nemesis and a natural enemy. **** I forced my dizzy brain to work and organized everything that was going on. Estelle and Princess Miruam ¨C why were the two of them here in the Academy, even though this was thest ce they would have appeared in during the game? There was only one reason that I could think of. The Sun, iomh Sis. That divine miracle that had cleansed Nazrea was probably what pulled the two of them in. Both Estelle and Princess Miruam had their own group of spies located throughout the continent, but I wasn¡¯t expecting them to find me so quickly¡­ As a result, they started paying attention to me a lot earlier than scheduled. ¡°Rin¡­ Student Ko¡ª¡± Even in thest iteration, the main story had been affected because Lady Miru became interested in me, and yet now¡­ ¡°Korin. Korinn¡­¡± Tap tap. Marie was tapping me on the shoulder. When I woke up from my stupor, I realized that Professor Edgar was staring at me. ¡°Student Korin Lork. It¡¯s the first day, and it looks like you have some concentration issues already.¡± ¡°Sorry¡­¡± ¡°It is the first day so I will stop there for today.¡± Phew~. It seemed that even the strict Professor Edgar wasn¡¯t horrible enough to give demerit points from the first day¡­ ¨C Tick tick! So I was getting one¡­ ¡°Uah, you have to be careful now, Korin. You are starting off on the wrong side.¡± ¡°It is my fault, I suppose.¡± It was the 3rd period. I was back in ss after sending the new students to the Liberty Hall, and was attending the lecture, ¡ºJustice of the Peace¡¯s Rights and Responsibilities¡» with Marie. Starting from the 2nd year, it was possible to start taking and choosing lectures. The Academy ran based on the same Units of Credit (UOC) systems as universities, and I chose this subject because I had been long interested in the profession. By the way, this particr subject was worth 3 UOC. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you to be interested in this kind of topic.¡± ¡°Really? Justice of the Peace is cool though. Right?¡± The general duty of guardians was to hunt demonic beasts and spirits like mercenaries, but they were also able to work in other professions that required their abilities. For example, mages could work as alchemists who dealt with all sorts of magic ingredients and metals, or as an astrologist who explored weather and the origin of outer space. In the case of knights, there were fewer cases of them working in research or other intellectual fields unlike the clever mages, but there was a rare profession called Justice of the Peace. ¡°Question. Why do you think guardians undertake the job of Justice of the Peace to deal with crimes in the countryside? Can you answer that for us, Student Korin?¡± Professor Edgar asked with his eyes facing me. If I failed to give a proper answer here, he would probably constantly nag me throughout the semester. ¡°Because criminals will try to stab you in the back if they don¡¯t like you.¡± ¡°Not the most sophisticated way to put it, but you are correct.¡± It was a very straight-forward expression but I knew Professor Edgar wasn¡¯t averse to such expressions. Work as a Justice of the Peace was rough, and that might be why he was a lot more open than other professors. ¡°Put in another way, it is because the administrative power of the central federation takes time to reach the countryside.¡± It was simr to how the USA left the public peace of the countryside to bounty hunters and local judges until the development of transportation. In that sense, this world was even worse considering all the demonic beasts roaming around the continent. All the external threats made it difficult for anyone to travel to the countryside without enough power to protect themselves. ¡°Because a Justice of the Peace has strong rights, they have the responsibility to not use it for their personal benefit.¡± Justice of the Peace was like abined profession of police, prosecutor, and judge, that went to thends far beyond the reach of the royal court to enact justice. ¡°You know, I wasn¡¯t expecting you to be interested in Justice of the Peace, Korin.¡± ¡°Why? They have a lot of power. Their words pretty much hold the same weight asws in the rural areas, right? Well, that¡¯s as long as you don¡¯t get stabbed in the back by the local people though.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ That¡¯s true. Actually, there are a few JPs thate to us as well.¡± ¡°To the Dunareff family?¡± That was weird though, considering how the Dunareff Potato Empire had incredible control over the south of the kingdom and had local courts everywhere. ¡°Yeah. They mainly go to the viges near the mines.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± It would be hard to build courts at each and every one of the mining viges that were in the middle of nowhere, so it seemed that they were leaving the job to the Justice of the Peace. ¡°By the way, Korin. Do you want to be a JP?¡± ¡°Sorry? Umm¡­ No, not really.¡± ¡°Phew¡­ Thank goodness. It¡¯s not good¡­ for men to travel all the time.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Husbands should sit back and always stay at home next to their wives and children.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Right.¡± She had such a serious look on her face that I didn¡¯t feel like raising an objection. But she was right; it wasn¡¯t a profession that people would generally want their partners to have. ¡°B, but¡­! If you really want to, should I ask some JPs to give you a license?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you need to take a test to get one?¡± More than anything, didn¡¯t you have to take a test about thews of the kingdom? ¡°I heard you can get a special license if you have the agreement of five district judges and a judge of a high court¡­!¡± In other words¡­ that meant that one word from Marie would be able to move five judges from district courts and one from a high court. ¡­That was frightening. Wasn¡¯t this an example of the corrupt state of politics? Actually, the reason I was taking this course was that I wanted to go on a prac with Professor Edgar¡­ but even that would be unnecessary as long as I could just get a license from Marie. ¡°By the way¡­ how much authority can you get with a special license?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ I think it was possible up to Grade 2 Justice of the Peace.¡± That¡­ was a bit iffy. What I wanted was the right of a Grade 1 JP. If that couldn¡¯t get me up to Grade 1, then all I could do was work as an assistant to help Professor Edgar, a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace. ¡°Thank you but I¡¯m alright.¡± But still, being able to push anyone up to a Grade 2 Justice of the Peace was quite ridiculous. That reminded me once again just how frightening Marie¡¯s family was. **** Just like Korean universities, the first week was a simple orientation week. Most of the lessons were over by 2 pm, and I thus returned very early. ¡°Is no one else here?¡± The current residents of the special dormitory were Lady Josephine, me, Marie, and Hua Ran. The wolf siblings will be joining very soon but that was still quite few. ¡®Lady Josephine said there would be two more joining us, didn¡¯t she?¡¯ The original purpose of this special dormitory was to keep a close eye on Hua Ran, but now that she was deemed a lot less dangerous, it just became a much fancier dormitory. It was obvious who the two other people that Lady Josephine talked about would be. ¡°But¡­ isn¡¯t this still too early?¡± I murmured to myself while sensing the presence of another person waiting inside my room. It was someone I knew very well. ¨C Creak! When I opened the door, I found a crimson-colored beauty huddling on the chair behind ayer of murky air. Like a poisonous flower, she gave off a sweet fragrance and yet was toxic enough to poison anyone who touched her. She was ady who seemed like the pinnacle of decadence and seduction. ¡°Wee, Knight Korin.¡± Unlike how she spoke to me politely in front of other new students, right now, she was revealing the lofty and arrogant dignity of a royal princess. ¡°Your Highness Elizabeth.¡± Inversely, I treated her with respect without using my status as a senior of the Academy. Her lips flinched after noticing that I wasn¡¯t flustered in the slightest. ¡°Kiss my hand.¡± Without even bothering to conceal the arrogant light in her eyes, she reached her hand out, but I simply sat on the bed opposite to her without following hermand. ¡°A gentleman is only allowed one kiss a day to ady, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Fufu. Interesting. How is amoner from the outskirts of the capital aware of the etiquette of nobles?¡± Because of all the things you taught me, of course. Looking back, maybe this was why Park Sihu that bastard tried his best to hide me from the princess. There must be something about me that makes me be loved by these annoying people. I was really grateful that there were at least some normal people in the world like Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran. ¡°Let me go straight to the topic. Support me.¡± ¡°I wonder what you mean?¡± ¡°From next year at thetest, there will be talks about the session of the throne. I am telling you to support me, Knight Korin.¡± ¡°I do have some skills, but I¡¯m just a single knight though?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a different story if that knight has a sacred artifact of the Old and the New Faiths, iomh Sis.¡± As expected, she was aware of the fact that I had obtained iomh Sis. Perhaps I should have held myself back a little at Nazrea. From the looks of things, it seemed that Saintess Estelle was also here because of the same reason. The question, however, was this. Why was Princess Miru wanting me to support her? In the game, she had Tates Valtazar standing on her side. By now, she already had the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages standing behind her, and in one year¡¯s time, she would also earn the support of Tates Valtazar. Destiny Stone, Lia Fail. Magic Cauldron, Undry. Sr Sword, iomh Sis. Spear of Light, Areadbhair. Tates Valtazar and four of the King¡¯s Subjects, who called themselves the champions of the four gods, would be her allies. It was through this that the likelihood of Saintess Estelle inheriting the throne would dwindle, and that was the main scenario linking Estelle and Miruam. Even though I could be seen as the champion of the God of Sun, she already had Valtazar who had 3 of the remaining treasures so¡­ Why was she trying to get me on her side? Why was she in so much of a rush? It didn¡¯t make sense to say that it was solely because of me obtaining the iomh Sis. Even in thest iteration, she wasn¡¯t this aggressive. ¡°Fufu. Looks like there are a lot of thoughts going through your head.¡± Stepping down from the chair, Miru walked across the carpet on her bare feet. She then stroked my chin with her long, thin fingers. ¡°If you still have doubts, I can pay the price upfront. Embrace me. Breach through the royaldy who has never known men before in her life and indulge yourself in pleasure. I shall apany you no matter what kind of pleasure and entertainment you are after.¡± She grabbed onto my tie and pulled me closer towards her. Her red eyes looked into mine and sent chills down my spine. ¡°You can do me however you want.¡± A sensuous gesture, a coquettish voice, sweet fragrance, and a passionate gaze. Each and every part of her was that of a femme fatale1The term originates from the French phrase femme fatale, which means ¡®deadly woman¡¯ or ¡®lethal woman¡¯. A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, or sexual allure leading men down the pits of ruin. ¨C Grip! Grabbing her by the arm, I pushed her onto the bed. I pressed down from above and yet she showed no signs of fighting back. ¡°Fufu.¡± Her dress and ornaments had gold and silver along with every type of jewelry. Her breasts, belly button, waist and thighs¡­ Every part of her body gave off a seductive luster that pulled men into her. She was a woman whose existence itself was made up of the shapeless fog of seduction. Despite knowing all too well that hiding within that fog were the venomous fangs of a serpent, I couldn¡¯t help but feel urged. ¡°Did you want to tempt me so bad that you even had to rely on an infatuation incense? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s something a royaldy should do.¡± ¡°Oh my. How did you find out?¡± There was a denseyer of scent in the room. This sweet fragrance was detrimental to the rational thinking of men, and I might have done something already if not for the cleansing effect of the Sun. ¡°Is it okay for a princess to do this? There might be problems with the session if you bear a child.¡± ¡°Then I can simply marry you, Knight Korin. A marriage with the champion of the God of Sun ¨C don¡¯t you think that will be an incredible political move?¡± ¡°First, you might get rumors that you have indecent rtionships left and right.¡± ¡°I am not interested in the worthlessints of senile old men. I believe more in the old and fundamental truth.¡± ¡°¡­Truth?¡± ¡°From time immemorial, it has been a contract between men and women for a man to pour a woman with affection and impregnate her. After all, after possessing a female, the male has the responsibility to protect the female and the child. And of course, the female also has some responsibilities¡­¡± Pinned on the bed, Princess Miru wrapped her thin arms around my neck. ¡°I will use everything in my possession to please the male, Senior.¡± Like a siren in a wave pulling a sailor into the depths of the ocean¡­ she slowly pulled me in towards her embrace. ¡°My knight. Dominate me ¨C ravage me and swallow me alive. Make everything that is mine yours and whisper love into my ears.¡± Slowly but surely¡­ I was being pulled deeper into the deep ocean¡­ into the depths that devoured even the brightest of lights. Footnotes:
  • 1The term originates from the French phrase femme fatale, which means ¡®deadly woman¡¯ or ¡®lethal woman¡¯. A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, or sexual allure
Chapter 117: - New Semester (3) ? New Semester (3) ? ¡°My knight. Dominate me ¨C ravage me and swallow me alive. Make everything that is mine yours and whisper love into my ears.¡± She was like an anaconda binding its prey and the prey ¨C me ¨C was being drawn closer in. This was the poison apple ¨C eating this was bound to kill me. Despite being fully aware of that, her sensuous appearance was appealing to the eyes; her voice tickling the ears and the sweet scent arousing the nose ¨C every one of those was threatening to deceive and lead a man into ruin. ¡°Yes. Come closer. Closer¡­ My hero, my prince¡­ My destiny¡­¡± ¡ºKnight Korin¡­ You were my destiny. Now it¡¯s already toote though¡­¡» ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± Forcing my eyes wide open, I immediately stood up from the bed. ¡°Knight Korin?¡± ¡°Phew¡­ That was close.¡± Despite knowing very well what type of person she was, she was still very close to devouring me whole. I quickly opened the curtains that were covering the window and shed some sunlight into the room. The aura of the infatuation incense encroaching my body was quickly washed away. I then walked up to Princess Miru who was nkly watching me on the bed. ¡°Tch. What a shame.¡± Even though her vicious tricks had just been rendered meaningless, she didn¡¯t seem embarrassed in the slightest. This person¡­ For some reason, she was always like this in front of me. ¡°What do you mean by destiny anyway?¡± ¡°I wonder what you mean by that?¡± ¡°Sure, let¡¯s just say that.¡± Seeing that I didn¡¯t fall into her trap, Princess Miru limped her way up and started looking for her walking stick. ¡°Hmm?¡± After standing up with the stick with a fancy gem attached, she looked at me and opened her mouth. ¡°Did that make you hate me, I wonder? You are not helping me.¡± ¡°From what I¡¯ve seen, there was no one who enjoyed receiving help for being physically unwell.¡± She seemed fond of what I said, evident from the slight smile on her face. ¡°Fufu. That¡¯s true.¡± Tightening the loosened belt around her dress, the princess licked her lips in regret. ¡°Maybe I should try with a bit more of a romantic mood next time.¡± ¡°It will not work out.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a good habit to be conclusive with anything. Your mind might change after hearing all of my conditions, right?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t. Never.¡± ¡°How can you be so sure of that?¡± ¡°Pride.¡± With how she was right now, she was never going to change my mind. ¡­It was because I knew about her revenge and massacre ns. ¡°Fufu. Looks like I have a long road ahead of me.¡± Wearing a bewitching smile on her face, Princess Miru walked out of my room. Exhausted, I copsed on the bed. Since she had been on the bed until just then, it was still warm and had a sweet fragrance to it. ¡°That was close.¡± Both before and now, she was a princess I had to be very careful with. **** It wasn¡¯t that hard for Jaeger, who became a 2nd year student this year, to notice that the atmosphere surrounding his friend had changed quite a lot. Korin Lork. He was the ace of their grade who entered as a Grade 5 and quickly became a Grade 1 Knight. Although he wasn¡¯t at the top of the grade because of Hua Ran, no one in the school would deny that he was one of the peak students in their grade. Plus, he had an exceptional reputation in the Academy. He was strong, well-mannered, and had an especially more positive reputation from their female peers. Right. That was the problem ¨C that was why he was seen by his male peers as such an irritating person to be near despite being a nice guy. He was popr with thedies. There were already 3 girls associated with this boy. In fact, there were quite a lot of girls in both their grade and the one above their grade that were interested in him, of which 3 were certain. Sessor candidate of the renowned family of Arden, Alicia Arden; probationary sister of the New Faith and a Unique-Grade demi-human, Heavenly Yaksha Hua Ran, and Vampire Marie Dunareff ¨C those were the 3 people that Jaeger was aware of. Korin was a nice guy. Personally, Jaeger thought he had a great personality. But still! Seeing how he was always walking around the campus with different girls or groups of girls, people couldn¡¯t help but doubt the authenticity of his great personality. Maybe that¡¯s all just an act!? Maybe he¡¯s three-timing them? Jaeger had been holding such doubts for quite a while. It was only after a while that his questions were answered, and the person, who answered those questions of his, was in fact the person in question himself. **** On the first weekend after the start of the new semester, I was with the boys. We were at a cafe inside the campus and my two friends were drinking their ck sugartte and iced coffee, which I had bought for them. ¡°You know, I heard normal girls don¡¯t really like being too touchy with guys.¡± ¡°Yeah. Nothing new,¡± Jaeger replied. ¡°It¡¯s not even in the realm of ¡®not really liking¡¯ it,¡± said Lark. ¡°When I bump into them on the road, they have a disgusted look on their face.¡± ¡°Right? That¡¯s what I heard was normal too ¨C especially for girls our age.¡± It wasn¡¯t easy for me to know about the mental state of girls because I was a pure man who had gone through an all-boys middle school and an all-boys high school, all the way to a physical education college. I was pulled into this world before I even graduated and was shoved around for 3 + 1 years. In thest iteration, Park Sihu that bastard was such a bother that I didn¡¯t even have the time to hang out with any girls. Princess Miru was pretty much the only one I had a rtionship with, and even that didn¡¯t end well¡­ ¡°So. What about girls?¡± asked Jaeger after chugging histte and crunching through the pearls. I replied. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ umm, a bit too touchy.¡± ¡°This fucking bitch?¡± ¡°Huh? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Jaeger suddenly swore while munching through the pearls. He looked a lot more violent now that he got another tattoo on his body over the holidays. Lark, who was a lot more nerdy inparison, carefully raised a question. ¡°Did you say the girls are being touchy?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Can you¡­ exin what you mean?¡± He asked while raising his sses. Something I noticed just then was that he lifted his sses with his palm. Are you Captain Kuro1TLN: Captain Kuro from One Piece or what? ¡°For example¡­ Let¡¯s start off with Senior Marie.¡± ¡­¡­¡­. ¡­.. ¡­ ¡°Haa, haaa¡­ Korin. Thanks¡­ as always.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. You¡¯re drinking more blood these days, but that¡¯s okay because my regeneration also got a lot better.¡± ¡°W, was I? Umm, you¡­ see? Ah! Doggo! It¡¯s because Doggo needs a lot more blood these days! I think he is about to grow bigger!¡± ¡°¡­I don¡¯t think he should grow any bigger than that though.¡± ¡°K, kids should grow! Right, Korin. You haven¡¯t had lunch yet, right?¡± ¡°I think so? I went shopping in the city and had to skip a meal.¡± ¡°T, then, by the way¡­ Do you like blood sausages?¡± ¡°Of course I¡­ blood sausages¡­ is it?¡± ¡°Y, yeah! I have some¡­ blood sausages made of clotted blood. You liked congealed blood soup so I¡­ was wondering if you would like that too¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s made of pork blood, right?¡± ¡°O, of course! It¡¯s made of¡­ pork blood!¡± ¡°I, I will go ahead with that then¡­¡± ¡ºYou have consumed an elixir made of Medium Grade Blood¡» ¡ù It is an elixir made using a special ingredient ¨C Your Mana Rank has gone up by a small amount. If you eat double the amount, your Mana Rank will go up again. ¡°Fuuuu¡­¡± ¡°H, how was it, Korin?¡± ¡°I, it was great. Can you¡­ make 2 more servings of it?¡± ¡°O, of course! I can make as much as you want!¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°You ate that?¡± ¡°It did taste good though¡­¡± ¡°Holy¡­ fuck. That¡¯s heavy.¡± ¡°I did see people mixing blood into choctes in novels but¡­¡± ¡°Anyway¡­ I know Senior Marie is trying to do something good for me but¡­ I¡¯m not really sure why¡­¡± ¡°¡­Huu. Do I tell him or nah?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even bother. Let¡¯s just see how far he wants to go.¡± ¡°Guys¡­ What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Just move on.¡± The two of them looked like they were both irritated and amused by the situation and that was a bit strange but¡­ regardless, I continued on with my story. ¡°These days, Alicia¡­¡± **** I went to watch a y with Alicia. The one in the East that I watched with Lunia was alright, but as expected, it fell shortpared to the one in a metropolis. ¡°I did choose it to have less time in ss but this is quite annoying; having to go down to the city, watch a y and write a report about it¡­¡± ¡°Really? I liked it though,¡± said Alicia. ¡°The acting was great but the plot itself was kinda weird. The story was made in the archipgoes beyond the seas, right?¡± ¡°Was the story that bad?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about cheating. Both the male and the female leads¡­ It felt like it was encouraging and glorifying cheating.¡± ¡°B, but still. W, wasn¡¯t the story beautiful?¡± ¡°Are you saying cheating is alright as long as it¡¯s ¡®beautiful¡¯?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Has she gone mad¡­? What in the world was she talking about¡­? Soon, after seemingly realizing what she said, Alicia covered her flushed face and continued. ¡°T, that¡¯s not what I mean. There are circumstances¡­ and it¡¯s case by case, so¡­¡± ¡°What do you mean case by case¡­¡± ¡°T, think about it. Maybe cheating¡­ is not that bad after all?¡± ¡°Are you hearing yourself right now?¡± What is wrong with you? You¡¯re scaring me!! I was feeling slightly spooky when she suddenly grabbed me and pulled me to one of the alleyways of the city. ¡°Do you want to reenact¡­ what we saw on the y?¡± ¡°H, huh?¡± ¡°Y, you know. It¡¯s important to know what the characters were actually feeling when writing a report!¡± ¡°Like, we can just write some random things about the plot and we will be half-done already¡­¡± ¡°Quick! Put yourself in the shoes of the male lead!¡± ¡°K, kuhum¡­¡± I recalled the y we saw just then. If I remember correctly, at the front door of the house they¡­ ¨C Grip! There, at the entrance to the house, I held onto the sweating Alicia. ¡°Brother-inw¡­ Sister is not home right now¡­¡± Her words reminded me of the time we were in the hiddennds of the druids, as well as her enchanting blue eyes that were gazing down at me in the darkness of the night¡­ ¡°I know.¡± I gulped and looked down at Alicia. I could hear her heart beating intensely from all the way over here. Wait, was this¡­ the sound of my own heart? ¡°W, we shouldn¡¯t be doing this.¡± Despite saying that, there was a slight look of expectation in her eyes. Her acting was exceptionally perfect, to the point that it could be considered an incredible talent of hers. ¡°Huehue. You say that but your body is saying otherwise¡ª¡± While stroking her shivering face with my fingertips, I¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Wow¡­ Shit. That¡¯s crazy.¡± ¡°This means going out with someone is not going to be the solution to all problems.¡± ¡°Huh? What are you talking about? Aren¡¯t we talking about acting?¡± ¡°Yeah yeah sure. If you say so, sir.¡± Lark had suddenly turned very sarcastic. What was wrong with him? ¡°Anyway, you mean it¡¯s still an act but¡­ she¡¯s still too touchy even while taking that into consideration?¡± ¡°Kind¡­ of. Honestly, I was a bit nervous. I don¡¯t touch a girl¡¯s face like that very often, you see.¡± ¡°¡®Often,¡¯ huh. So that wasn¡¯t your first time¡­¡± ¡°Huh? Of course not. What do you mean?¡± ¡°You fucking¡­¡± Ignoring the frown on Jaeger¡¯s face, I moved on to Hua Ran¡¯s story. **** ¡°Hand.¡± During break, Hua Ran asked for my hand as always. ¡°I don¡¯t mind giving you my hand but¡­ doesn¡¯t your hand get sweaty when you do this?¡± ¡°It feels good.¡± Hua Ran replied while locking her fingers with mine. She had been like this the whole time ever since I cleansed Nazrea. ¡°Does it really feel that good?¡± ¡°¡­Un.¡± The reason Hua Ran was being so touchy was because of the Sun inside me. iomh Sis. After swallowing the Sun, the Yang energy inside me started to grow at a rapid speed and was flowing out of my body. That was why Hua Ran, who gave off Yin energy because of her extreme Yin Constitution, felt good from the supply of Yang energy whenever she was next to me. When you think about it, my body was even better than legendary Yang-energy-oriented mythical creatures. ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Because of the supply of Yang energy, the one in control over the body also tended to shift from time to time. Just like always, Ran suddenly popped out. ¡°The break is about to end soon.¡± ¡°Oppa. Can you please hold both of my hands?¡± ¡°¡­I don¡¯t mind, but¡­¡± As soon as I said that, Ran sat on myp facing me and wrapped her arms around my body. ¡°Wait, wait¡­ Girls and boys over the age of 7 should not¡­!¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter because I will be marrying oppa.¡± It matters to me though¡­ Perhaps it was because she was still young, but her show of affection was a bit too extreme. In the end, I couldn¡¯t move for a long time with Ran hugging me from the front. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­. ¡°I can¡¯t take it anymore. This motherfucker!!¡± ¡°Uaahkkkk¡­!!¡± Jaeger and Lark suddenly started ring at me as if they wanted to kill me. ¡°What is wrong with you guys¡­¡± Their expressions turned into ugly frowns the moment they heard me question. ¡°Do you need more sugar? I can get some cakes for you.¡± ¡°Please just go kill yourself. I beg you.¡± ¡°Like, why are you mad for absolutely no reason?¡± ¡°Absolutely no reasonnn? No reasonnnn?!¡± ¡°Korin. You¡­ This is too much.¡± Even Lark was joining the fray. What was wrong with these guys? Why were these bastards getting mad at me for no reason? That made me upset as well. ¡°Give me my coffee back, you bastarddss! Your friend is out here asking you for some advice!¡± ¡°Just freaking pick one!¡± ¡°No no no. Picking one is not going to solve it at this point. They¡¯re not going to ept their defeat.¡± Again, these guys were talking about things that only made sense to them! ¡°Can you just make it easier for me to understand? The girls are being too touchy, and I just want to know the best way to exin what it means for boys and girls over the age of 7 to¡­¡± ¡°Hello, Senior Korin?¡± That was when a voice echoed from behind. It was the voice of Princess Miru, which I had gotten used to these days. ¡°Your Highness¡­ What brings you here?¡± ¡°I am nning on having a look around the city. Can you please be the guide for me?¡± ¡°¡­Alright, sure.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Seeing their friend leave the cafe in order to escort Princess Miruam, Jaeger and Lark let out an emptyugh. ¡°Even the princess is after him now.¡± ¡°What in the hell is up with this guy¡­ Did he do something amazing in his previous life or something?¡± ¡°Maybe he saved the world? Actually, he must have saved the world quite a few times!¡± Lark Buhgman approached the matter like an academic. As expected of a schstic nerd, he referenced the Karma theory to support his im. ¡°Just leave him alone. I¡¯m telling you, this guy ¨C he¡¯s going to be shredded apart into 5 pieces¡­ if not more.¡± From what they could tell right now, it was 4 girls; Marie, Alicia, Hua Ran, and Miruam, but who knows? He might have a few more girls hiding elsewhere. Seeing his friend who was insanely popr with thedies, Jaeger was jealous yet worried at the same time. Maybe Korin wasn¡¯t in the wrong, he thought. Maybe it was just that he was being approached by some girls that weren¡¯t very normal in their minds. Jaeger¡¯s internal defense of Korin, however, was shattered to pieces when he went to the Hunting Grounds after being picked as one of the helpers. ¡°K, kuhum¡­ Student Korin. Thank you for applying to join the Hunting Grounds prac lesson this time around.¡± Chairman Eriu Casarr. The male chairman of an unknown age was blushing while talking to Korin. ¡°Dude, look at that¡­¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe it¡­¡± There¡¯s no way. This can¡¯t be. Like, isn¡¯t this too¡­ ¡°He¡¯s even seducing guys now?¡± ¡°That guy¡¯s just an inborn yer.¡± Jaeger and Lark could only hope that they were overthinking things too much. Footnotes:
  • 1TLN: Captain Kuro from One Piece
Chapter 118: - The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (1) ? The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (1) ? Each year, the freshmen students were required to undertake a prac lesson at the Hunting Grounds. A select few of the skilled 2nd year seniors would be ced throughout the forest to interfere with the freshmen students, and the new students, who were forced into the forest of unending battles, were assessed on their rational thinking and fighting skills. It was a prac lesson design that suited the purpose of a Guardian Academy, which aimed to nurture fighters. ¡°Today, you will be assessed on your survival skills in the Hunting Grounds.¡± Chairman Eriu. The young man with a pair of eyes that were as clear as running water exined to the new students the prac lesson that would be happening shortly in the Hunting Grounds. ¡°Inside the forest are some of your 2nd grade seniors. You, fellow freshmen students, need to defeat them using every means possible to take their armbands.¡± Wasn¡¯t that¡­ too favorable for the freshmen students? That was what the students were thinking to themselves. In a way, they weren¡¯t wrong because there were 400 of them, which far exceeded the number of 2nd grade students that were in the forest. However, what they weren¡¯t aware of was that there were monsters in the current 2nd grade. There were many named characters, who had already reached their final level of growth due to one boy. ¨C Kwaaang! ¡°Uaahkkk! A giant! It¡¯s a giant!¡± ¡°The tree¡¯s moving! W, what is this¡­!!¡± ¡°I¡¯m losing my mindddddddd¡­!!¡± One of them was Yuel, who learned how to summon a Wickerman, the secret hidden technique of druids. ¡°The swords are flying arounddddd!¡± ¡°This can¡¯t beeeeeee!!¡± ¡°Mommyyyy!!¡± There was also Dorron, the Mercenary of Flying Swords, who was now wreaking havoc with more than ten expensive magic swords that he was able to afford after a sessful investment. ¡°A golem! It¡¯s a golem!¡± ¡°Why are there so many of them!?¡± ¡°What is with that massive walking golem!!?¡± In addition to that was the Golem Mage, Kranel Luden, who was able to create two-legged super golems thanks to the sessful investment and a quick acquisition of golem creation techniques. ¡°Umm¡­ Are you okay?¡± ¡°Ughh¡­ She¡¯s smiling¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s scary¡­ She¡¯s giving me goosebumps¡­¡± ¡°I, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m that scary though?¡± ¡°She¡¯s still smiling¡­¡± Sessor candidate of the Arden Family, Alicia Arden. ¡°¡­¡­¡± As for Hua Ran, the Heavenly Yaksha, there was no need to even bother talking about her. Her might was proven by the tens of unconscious people around her. Andst of them all was him. ¡°Why so serious?¡± Inside the forest was a clown with funny makeup. **** A freshman student this year, Germain Luther, gave a faint smile while looking at the words, Grade 2 Knight written on his ID Card. He was a devout believer, who never strayed from the path of faith ever since he was born and raised at the Saint Mika Monastery of the Old Faith. The young man was quite proud of the title on his ID Card. He wasn¡¯t at the top of the grade because of the Grade 1 Mage, Princess Miruam, but that was by no means anything to be ashamed of, considering how Princess Miruam was another faithful believer of the Old Faith. However, one thing that didn¡¯t sit well with him was the fact that there was a dirty pair of furry siblings, who also entered the Academy as Grade 2 Knights. It was incredibly unpleasant that he was attending the same Academy as the pawns of the disgusting demons, but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it, because Germain had a noble matter to attend in the Academy. ¡®Captain Laurent¡­¡¯ Last semester, there was a noble battle in the Academy, where the secret ops of the Old Faith that were trying their best to defeat several monsters had been captured by the evil hands of the Academy. Sadly enough, Bishop Renault Lusignan denied his rtions with them, but that didn¡¯t mean that the Old Faith had discarded its devout followers. The reason Germain Luther entered the Academy was exactly because he needed to identify their locations and look for ways to save them with the help of their coborators. But first off, there was the need to conceal his identity and avoid the watchful eyes of the Academy. Hiding his true identity of being a believer of the Old Faith, he pretended like a diligent student. This time around, Germain was also nning to stay diligent throughout the Hunting Grounds prac lesson. Raiding a 2nd year senior. In order to fulfill that objective, Germain had formed a temporary party with a few other students. They were worthless second-rates at either Grade 3 or Grade 4, but he believed that they should be able to serve as expendable baits that could create a gap in the 2nd year students. ¡°I, I found one! He¡¯s right there, Germain!¡± They proved the effectiveness ofrge numbers, which was their only worth in the first ce. They managed to find a 2nd year prey. ¡°It¡¯s over there!¡± Inside the forest, the man was haughtily standing there by himself. He was standing there with his back towards them, while wearing a strange purple-colored suit and shoes that clearly did not suit the forest in any way. Germain and 33 other freshmen students immediately encircled him. ¡°HA. HI. HO. HI. HO.¡± The new students all looked at the 2nd grade senior, who was slowly turning his head along with a strangeugh. In contrast to the pale makeup that was covering most of his face were his overly vivid crimson lips. ¡°Is he a clown or what¡­?¡± They wondered how there could be such a strange senior in their Academy, but despite his appearance, they couldn¡¯t deny the fact that the silver spear in his hand was shining with an intimidating light. ¡°I don¡¯t know who he is, but there¡¯s no way he¡¯s going to be my opponent¡ª¡± It took less than 3 minutes for most of the students to lose their armbands. ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°U, ughh¡­¡± Germain couldn¡¯tprehend what just urred to him. mes and a bright ray of light had suddenly filled the forest, which was then followed by a ferocious scrimmage. The clown carrying a spear immediately broke through their ranks and pushed the new students into confusion. He was exceptional at fighting ¨C he was an experienced and capable veteran unlike what his appearance suggested. ¡°Little junior. Are you still alive?¡± Germain held his ground quite well, but in the end, he was helpless before the persistent stabs of the clown that aimed at his weak points. On his bum, he watched the clown walk up to him. Germain was extremely humiliated by the fact that he had lost to that ridiculous clown. ¡°Kuht! Kill me!¡± ¡°HU, HI, HA, HI, HA, HA, HA.¡± The senior let out a bizarreugh full of scorn. ¡°Why so serious?¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°WHY! SO! SERIOUS!!??!?¡± ¡°What are you even talking about!?¡± After saying that, the clown walked into the forest. Leaving behind Germain who was the only one with his armband intact, he¡­ ¡°ONEEEE~ TWOOOOO~ THREEEEE~¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± The clown started counting, as if giving him time to run away. ¡®That crazy fucker!¡¯ While swearing at him in his head, Germain started sprinting across the forest. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Germain felt like he was stuck in a bottomless quagmire. It had been an hour already since he started dashing through the forest, running away from a crazy purple clown. What he couldn¡¯t understand was that this madman was persistently chasing him and only him. ¡°HA. HI. HO. HI. HO. HO. HO.¡± ¡°Uahhhkk¡­! Stop! Please stop!¡± I don¡¯t want to hear that stupidugh anymore! Why is heughing like that? The madman was too strong for Germain to dismiss him as a simple lunatic. The purple clown constantly bashed him up, attacked him with his spear and mocked him before letting him run away without taking his armband. ¨C m! Germain¡¯s feet were caught by the silver spear, and he fell straight on the ground. ¡°Kuhkk¡­!¡± He tried to stand back up but his exhausted body refused to listen to him. It shivered and fell back down. In the end, Germain erupted in fury. ¡°J, just stop! Are you a madman or what? Why do you keepughing like that?!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Suddenly the sound of theughter dwindled as the clown walked out of the forest. ¡°Ughh¡­¡± Germain didn¡¯t have the energy to fight back anymore. There was an overwhelming gap between his and the opponent¡¯s ability. It wasn¡¯t limited to just strength, aura or mana ¨C his opponent was simply of a higher quality than him as an experienced warrior. Despite hisughable appearance, the man in front of him was definitely strong enough to enter the category of ¡®strong people¡¯. ¡°Alright. That¡¯s enough acting.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You were a lot more resilient than I thought.¡± ¡°Huhh?¡± Seeing that the clown who had been harassing him like crazy until just then was suddenly smiling at him and helping him stand back up, Germain was lost for words. The purple clown even dusted his clothes for him. ¡°You are the best out of all the freshmen students this year. Ah, of course that¡¯s excluding the princess.¡± ¡°Sorry? Wait, you mean¡­¡± ¡°That was sort of a test. Great job. You passed.¡± ¡°A test?¡± ¡°Let me introduce myself first. I am the leader of Korin Guardians, Korin Lork.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Korin Lork. He wasn¡¯t that well-known to the public, but he was famous among those that were interested in the industry. He was the one who went through an unconventional growth, going from Grade 5 to Grade 1 in just one semester ¨C the skilled expert who had a head-to-head fight against Sword Master Lunia Arden. There weren¡¯t many clues about him that were revealed to the public, but it was said that the people from the Guardian Alliance who attended the grading test were marveled at his performance. Besides, he was one of the top guardians who received permission from the Alliance to form an official Guardians Guild despite still being a student. ¡°I was looking for some skilled 1st grade students. You were the best apart from the princess.¡± ¡°U, umm¡­ Right.¡± Germain felt slightly better after receiving apliment. That was when the 2nd year senior rested his arm on his shoulder like a close friend. ¡°What do you say; any ns on joining our team? Our doors are always open for those with enough skills.¡± He realized immediately that this was a god-given opportunity. Korin was a Grade 1 Guardian; the members of his group were all powerful, and their group was rtively free from the constraints of the Academy. It would be of tremendous help for him when releasing hisrades and importing items from their coborators in secret. ¡°T, thank you very much. It¡¯s an honor, Senior.¡± ¡°Haha. Yeah yeah. All¡¯s good if you¡¯re happy.¡± With a heartyughter, the senior, Korin Lork, tapped Germain on his shoulder. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. **** Ren and Ron sprinted across the forest in half-beastified states. ¡°Wow. Look, Ren. Look. I have this much already.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lower your guard. The seniors are strong.¡± The two of them had yet toe across the named 2nd year characters. In fact, they did their best to avoid them. Yuel, Kranel, Dorron, Alicia, Hua Ran and Korin. Each and every one of them was stronger than themselves. And Ren¡¯s idea was that it would be better to defeat those that wereparatively weaker, instead of trying to go big by aiming for the seniors. ¡°Besides¡­ the seniors aren¡¯t our only enemies.¡± ¡°Die, you damned beasts!¡± One of their freshmen peers suddenly shot out of the forest. The non-lethalized sword in his hand gleamed sharply as it fell towards them. ¡°Knng¡­!¡± ¨C Bam! ¡°Huh?¡± However, Ren fended it off with her bare body. She was unbelievably strong, considering how her body was smaller than a 10-year-old¡¯s. ¡°Ron.¡± ¡°Okayy.¡± Ron casually threw a fist, but the peer flew all the way back after allowing a direct hit by his punch. ¡°Take his armband. That¡¯s also going to be a point.¡± ¡°Alright!¡± The siblings, Ren and Ron, had received Grade 2 during their grading test. Therefore, the two of them were wearing armbands that were worth a lot of points, which in turn resulted in a lot of people aiming for their bands. ¡°There are¡­ more and more people attacking us?¡± ¡°Is that bad?¡± ¡°Of course it is!¡± At the start, it was pretty much all about raiding the 2nd year seniors. The freshmen had been confident with the sheer difference in numbers, and had gone up to attack their seniors in groups. However, everyone in the Golden Generation, that is the current 2nd year students, were monsters. A straight-forward numbers advantage was not enough to beat them. After realizing that the 2nd years will be hard to defeat, the freshmen started turning to their peers. [Die you beast!] And Ren and Ron were targeted the most because of the two of them being demi-humans. Despite everything positive going on, it was hard to get rid of the general vignce and hostility against demons. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°We¡¯re about mid-way there. Most of the weaklings should be disqualified already.¡± Dorron Warsky, who recently got promoted to semi-Grade 1, gathered the tens of magic swords that were rotating around his body. The one who was in charge ofmanding the 2nd year students in this Hunting Grounds prac lesson was none other than that spearman. And that very spearman had told him at the start to gather North 1 hour after the start of the prac. ¡°Fua~. They are all energetic!¡± ¡°I gave up on most of the golems. Was that worth it?¡± It seemed that Dorron wasn¡¯t the only one who heard that. Everyone ranging from Alicia Arden to the Golem Mage Kranel Luden; ¡°I came because you told me to, but what is it?¡± As well as Yuel the Druid were all there. ¡°All I want is to simply have a more exciting finish to the game.¡± Waiting for them at the venue was Korin in the bizarre outfit and makeup of a clown, and Hua Ran who was yawning with her head resting on hisp. Practically every one of the 2nd grade¡¯s Golden Generation had gathered before the shed, the final destination. ¡°By the way, Mr. Korin, what¡¯s with that strange appearance?¡± ¡°You wanna know how I got these scars?¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s just makeup, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Some men, just want to watch the world burn!¡± It was just one of the same old crazy things that Korin did so Yuel and Dorron ignored it but Kranelmented because he just couldn¡¯t let it be. ¡°And people call that crazy.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not crazy. I¡¯m just¡­ slightly ahead of the curve.¡± ¡°Haa~¡± This wasn¡¯t the first time he was doing things like that. It was Immortan Lorkst year, but there seemed to be something else that he was addicted to this year. ¡°So, Boss. What are you going to do?¡± Hearing Dorron¡¯s straightforward question, Korin gave a smirk. In his hand was a bottle of oil and a burning matchstick¡ª ¡°I will teach them a lesson; that everything can burn!¡± Flick! He tossed the matchstick to the shed as the shed was then immediately swept away by tall scorching mes. ¡°Ah¡­¡± The freshmen students that arrived at the shed after a long and arduous journey were appalled at the sight of the burning shed. ¡°Crazy! They must be crazy!¡± ¡°Some lunatic set the final destination on fire!¡± Unbeknownst to most of the freshmen, there was unfortunately a lunatic in the 2nd grade. Chapter 119: - The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (2) ? The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (2) ? The rules of this prac lesson were as follows. Defeat peers or seniors to steal their armbands. The stolen armbands can be then changed to points which get determined by the Grade of the opponent, and those points can be consumed at the shed to purchase items. It was a battle royale of students; one that naturally forced them to forge groups to fight against stronger foes, while also motivating them with the fact that those points can be exchanged for items. Whichever item the students were after, it was clear that this shed was their final destination. ¡°¡­What?¡± ¡°Ren¡­ That shouldn¡¯t be on fire, is it?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°Then why is it on fire?¡± ¡°¡­Don¡¯t ask me.¡± Their final destination was on fire. In the midst of everyone¡¯s confusion, Ren and Ron found an enormous structure behind the shed. Actually, ¡®found¡¯ might not be the right way to put it, because it was literally right behind the shed. ¡°¡­That¡¯s big.¡± It was big. Very big. The building that couldn¡¯t be described by any other word than ¡®big¡¯ was standing tall and proud in the middle of the forest. It was made by weaving rocks and trees, and was as big as a stadium. ¡ºCome this way if you want the rewards~¡» There was a pamphlet there, which obviously meant that this was the recement of the shed, and that meant that the 2nd year students had set the shed on fire but¡­ ¡°When did they even build this?¡± It was only possible thanks to thebined strength of a druid, who was loved by the forest, and a genius Golem Mage who knew everything from the creation to application of a golem core. ¡°Ren. Look at that¡­¡± Ron said while pointing at three massive holes that were as big as the front gates of a mansion. They were so obvious that anyone could find them. ¡°¡­Entrances.¡± They were so obvious that Ren even wondered whether it was a trap or not. She was also disinclined to go with the ¡®correct¡¯ method. ¡°I think the top of that building¡­ is where you buy items.¡± On top of the mysterious fortress, Mr. Harris the forest keeper was waving his hand with a bright smile on his face. His shed was on fire, so how could he have such a bright smile on his face? The freshmen students had no way of knowing about the shed reconstruction contract that was going on behind their backs. In any case, it meant that they wouldn¡¯t be getting anything out of this prac lesson if they failed to reach that far up. ¡°Let¡¯s climb the wall,¡± suggested Ren. ¡°Hnn? Can we?¡± ¡°No one said we can¡¯t.¡± Ren started off by morphing her body into that of a werewolf, and quickly began climbing the wall. ¨C Kung! Kicking off the ground, she jumped onto the outer wall and used her sharp ws to climb it. ¨C Kugung! ¡°Uaht?¡± Suddenly, a stone fist shot out of the outer wall and pounced on Ren who was trying to climb the wall. ¡°Uhht¡­!¡± With superhuman reflex skills, Ren quickly dodged the fist but there were more ¨C several more stone fists and branches popped out of the outer wall to attack her. ¨C m! In the end, Ren couldn¡¯t dodge all the attacks and fell down. ¡°Ren! Are you okay?!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ They suddenly turned weak in the middle so I¡¯m fine.¡± That was a warning ¨C a warning from the owner of the fortress that they will not allow any petty tricks to take ce. ¡°Hmm~. Interesting. Except for the smell of beast fur, that is.¡± A sarcastic voice echoed from behind. Ren and Ron both recognized who that was. ¡°Princess¡­ Miruam.¡± ¡°You mean Your Highness?¡± ¡°Y, Your Highness¡­¡± Her crimson eyes cold-heartedly pierced through them and pressed down on them from above. Meanwhile, more and more freshmen peers showed up behind Princess Miruam, and all of them were befuddled by the absurd and out-of-ce fortress. ¡°Your Highness. What should we do?¡± Behind the venomous serpent were freshmen students with wagging tails. It had only been a week, but the Princess already had a bunch of followers. ¡°It will be hard to meddle with it from outside. This was made by a druid in the middle of a forest and will therefore repair itself when broken.¡± ¡°Then do we need to¡­ go through the entrances?¡± ¡°That seems to be the only option.¡± Leaving those words behind, Miruam unhesitatingly walked towards the entrance. It didn¡¯t matter if it was a trap or not ¨C no one could stop her confident strides. ¡°What are you doing! We will follow after Her Highness!¡± A bunch of followers went after the Princess. One of them was Germain Luther, who was titled a Grade 2 Knight in the grading test. ¡°Hmm¡­ What should we do?¡± asked Ron. ¡°I am not going into the same ce as that woman.¡± Naturally, Ren and Ron walked into the entrance opposite to the one the Princess and her group went into. Slowly and surely, the freshmen students entered the fortress. There was no telling what was happening inside it. **** ¡°Uah¡­ What are we supposed to do?¡± ¡°How do I know?¡± The new students along with the wolf siblings who entered the fortress using one of the three paths gazed at Dorron, who was sitting in the middle of a wide room. They had 40 on their side against 1 single person. Despite that, Dorron Warsky was overpowering them in terms of spirit. ¨C Swing! Fifteen magic swords were letting out sharp cries while rotating around him. Five of those had attributes and were excellent at AOE skills whereas the rest of them were purely physical. There were two attributed magic swords to Dorron¡¯s left; two to the right and one in the front. Unexpectedly, it was safe to say that the middle was the safest when attacking as a group. ¡°You guys.¡± Ren dered to the peers that were with them. ¡°We siblings will march through the front. You guys attack from different directions all at once.¡± ¡°W, who do you think you are to¡­¡± ¡°Say it if you have a better n in mind! We are taking the brunt of the risk, okay?¡± ¡®Hooh,¡¯ thought Dorron. He was impressed. The mercenary with a lot of experience noticed that Ren was ying with them using preconceptions. ¡°Ugh¡­ That¡¯s the future captain of Warsky Mercenaries though.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need to defeat him. All we need to do is go past him and continue going up.¡± There were 40 on their end, and the wolf beastmen had volunteered to take the front, which seemed to be the most dangerous. Left with fewer concerns, the freshmen prepared themselves for a charge. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± After beastifying themselves, Ren and Ron marched forward. Ren¡¯s n was simple. There was only one attributed magic sword in front of them. There were 20 to his left and 20 to his right, with only 2 people in the front. Logically speaking, it was very clear where Dorron would be focusing his attacks on. ¡°Ron! We¡¯re not going to fight him! We will jump over him!¡± ¡°H, huh? Is that okay?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°¡­¡± In the middle of her dash forward, Ren and Dorron looked at each other, and following that¡­ ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± Suddenly, more attributed magic swords were allocated to the center. Magic swords of lightning and mes fell at the wolf siblings. ¡°Uahk!¡± ¡°Hottt¡­!¡± The two of them tried their best to dodge the attacks but they were soon attacked by even more magic swords that shed through the ce they were at. ¡°Eeek¡­! Why!?¡± Her gaze appeared to be asking the question, ¡®Why just us?!¡¯ In response, Dorron returned a businesslike reply. ¡°My employer told me to mercilessly bash the two of you up if you ever decide to trick your way through.¡± ¡°W, what!?¡± There was no way that Dorron Warsky the cheapskate would ever do something so tedious for free. He was adamant that he would not let the siblings go even if he had to let everyone else leave, and that intention of his was reflected by the bright magic swords. ¡°Ah! Seriously!¡± Her shout was in vain. **** The structure of the fortress was very simple. 3 entrances, and 3 gatekeepers; Alicia, Dorron, and Yuel. The roads merged once they were past them, which connected to 2 more gatekeepers. In the second level were two rooms which were being protected by Kranel Luden with dozens of golems and the almighty Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran. There was no need to defeat them. All the freshmen students had to do was pass the rooms, and those that passed the first floor should be aware of that already. And after passing through the 2nd floor, they would finally reach the 3rd floor, where the culprit behind all this, Korin Lork, was waiting for them. The original rule was for the students to be tested on their decision-making and adaptation skills, but there was one new student who was not bound by the constraints of those rules. ¡®Hmm¡­ This should be thest one.¡¯ Korin Lork was heaving a sigh while nonchntly waiting for a visitor to arrive on the 3rd floor. He was the final boss of this fortress, so to speak, but Rashid, who was currently in ¡®stealth mode¡¯ had no ns of fighting against him. Rashid was the master of stealth, and had arrived at the final floor while hiding from the eyes of Alicia and Hua Ran. A little further down to the south from the headquarters of the renowned Arden Family was a desert, and living in that desert were the masters of assassination. Rashid¡¯s household had the unique characteristic of being able to erase their presence and be one with the background. It was because of this ability that they had be infamous in the society of assassins. Although Rashid had escaped from the family because he did not like those teachings, he still had the best talent as an assassin out of everyone in his family. There was no way that these so-called ¡®heroes¡¯ who peacefully killed monsters would ever be able to notice his stealth¡ª ¡°Looks like I finally have myself a visitor.¡± ¡®¡­!¡¯ The man who had been standing there nonchntly was resting the spear on his shoulder by the time he noticed it. He still looked like he was going on a stroll in the town, but Rashid, who had gone through countless life-and-death situations, saw through it. That was the posture of a warrior preparing for a battle. It was the instinctive posture of an expert vigntly looking around after noticing the presence of an assassin. ¡°There¡¯s no way you passed me already¡­ But I gotta say, that is quite the skill you have in stealth.¡± He was clearly talking to him, but Rashid did not reply to him. Even though Korin had sensed his approach, he had yet to notice his exact location. Rashid quickly restructured his n. He would crawl behind him and take the armband¡­ ¨C Zaaaaa¡­! It was then. Korin¡¯s spear started emanating a dark mist of mana. ¡°Uht¡­!¡± The moment his body came in contact with that mist, Rashid felt like his soul was being muddied. He could stay there if he wanted to, but realized that nothing good wille out of staying there. He was quick at making the decision but the silver spear was right in front of his face before he could even put that into action. ¨C Bang! The silver spear crushed apart the ceiling that Rashid was hanging off of. It wasn¡¯t that hard to dodge the spear, but with this, the opponent was now fully aware of his location. ¡°Rashid Ad Din Mustali. A notable Grade 2 Knight this year, right?¡± ¡°¡­It feels strange being called a knight.¡± ¡°I guess a knight is not the best way to refer to a master of assassination.¡± He was shocked upon hearing the opponent reveal his background. The family of assassins did their best to hide their names and identities. Only a few of the people in the underworld would barely know about their names so how was a 2nd year student of the Academy aware of his upbringing? ¡°You¡­ should not have said that just then.¡± Now that he was aware of his identity, the only option was to make him into a speechless corpse but Rashid did not want to take it that far. The reason he ran away from his family in the first ce was because he did not like the predestined path of assassins. His n was to bash Korin up and threaten him, hoping that he would not share his background with others. Rashid immediately kicked off the ground. He was a master of stealth, but wasn¡¯t necessarily weaker than knights when it came to his potential as a warrior. Besides, he didn¡¯t even have to use any of hisst-resort assassination tools this far into the prac lesson. He was fully prepared. In addition to his preparedness, what gave him confidence was the fact that even an exceptional knight would show some gaps when fighting against sudden and unexpected surprise attacks. Rashid swung his arm and released the thing he was holding onto. Assassination Tool Number 13. Paralyzing Flower of Death. He scattered the paralysis powder made by grinding the tails of venomous scorpions. Unlike him, who had resistance to it, normal knights who mainly hunted demonic beasts had absolutely no resistance to such poison. Korin¡¯s body was bound to stop moving the moment he sniffed even 1 gram of it. ¨C m! ¡°Huhp?!¡± However, the sharp spear came flying forward, threatening to prate through him. Rashid only managed to barely dodge it thanks to his innate reflex skills. ¡°Nice moves.¡± A fierce kick immediately followed the spear as if he had anticipated the path of his escape. It crushed through his ribs and flung him away. Pabak! Rashid rolled across the floor but it didn¡¯t take long for him to restabilize his body. He then quickly manipted his steel wires. The flexible wires of metal that were powerful enough to crush apart the armors of a knight were swung like whips. Those wires were colored in ck and were therefore incredibly difficult to see but Korin tilted his head slightly back to dodge them with ease. It was a remarkable sense of distance and control. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of interesting items you have.¡± After dodging the flexible metal wires, Korin trampled on the ground and kicked the pebbles. ¨C Kwagagak! Instinctively, Rashid dodged the pebbles that were flying his way but the moment he escaped to somewhere else, he realized that Korin¡¯s spear was already right above his head. ¡®I have to block it¡­!¡¯ Rashid took out a scimitar to block the spear. With a loud thud, the ground caved in and his legs wobbled from the pressure. ¡®Uhhk¡­ W, what kind of¡­!¡¯ The horrendous brute force of Korin was threatening to rip his arm to pieces. Rashid noticed that he would be pressed down into the ground at this rate, and quickly took out a sphere from his pocket. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that¡¯s a bomb.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Korin immediately saw through him, but it was already toote for Rashid to back down from his ns. Despite the high chance of his own injury, he exploded the bomb right there and then. ¨C Kwaaang! It was a bomb made by mixing special stones with charcoal, and was strong enough to cause burns on most knights. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Naturally, Rashid was too close and couldn¡¯t escape unscathed from the explosion either. His clothes as well as his skin were torn apart and scorched. Even that was only because he managed to protect himself with aura in time. ¡®He shouldn¡¯t have had time to gather aura. It should have caused a lot of damage!¡¯ His hopes, however, were soon betrayed. ¡°Kehk¡­! I don¡¯t like this.¡± ¡°What¡­?!¡± His opponent had not a single wound on his body. Even though the bomb had exploded right in front of him, there weren¡¯t any burns or injuries, and the only leftover trace of an explosion was the ck ashes on his body. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but mes and heat don¡¯t work on me.¡± ¡º?¡» ¡ª Kenaz. Korin drew a letter in the air with his finger. It was a Rune letter meaning fire, and was at the level of an elementary-grade spell at best, but Korin¡¯s Rune Magic was different. ¨C Hwaruruk! Soaring mes pounced at him. Rashid quickly rolled sideways and dodged it, and saw the mes burn down the walls of the building while showing no signs of dying down. ¡®What was that just then? A¡­ medium-grade spell?¡¯ He wasn¡¯t even a mage so how could he use such a powerful spell in such a short period of time? Rashid gazed at Korin with disbelief in his eyes. ¡°Feels good to use now that it finally does something. Anyway, if you want to attack me, don¡¯t use mes or heat.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Complete resistance to mes and heat. Paralyzing poison didn¡¯t work on him either, and yet he could shoot out medium-grade spells with one gesture of his fingers. ¡®How unfair¡­¡¯ ¡°You are a bit special, so¡­ maybe I should be a bit serious.¡± Thud! It happened immediately after Korin tapped the floor with the silver spear. ¡º?¡» ¡ª Kenaz. ¡º?¡» ¡ª Dagaz. ¡º?¡» ¡ª Sowilo. Lights of Rune suddenly lit up the entire room. Rashid was befuddled by the mana that was being emitted by each of those letters. ¡®Every one of these is at the level of medium-grade spells? Wasn¡¯t he a knight?!¡¯ It was an overwhelming disy of power, and Rashid was appalled by that sight. ¡°I was going to save it for Princess Miru and the siblings but¡­ You¡¯re my first customer so all this will be on the house.¡± ¡°C, can I turn it down?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that. Think of this as your senior showing you some love.¡± ¨C Kwaaaaaaang!! Rune Spells from all around the room simultaneously pounced at Rashid. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Haak¡­ Haak¡­!¡± Rashid heavily gasped for breath. His entire body was aching and screaming in pain and it was only thanks to his education as an assassin that he was able to keep himself conscious. ¡°Not bad.¡± In spite of carrying out such an intense fight and using an array of Rune Spells, the opponent didn¡¯t seem to even break a sweat. What was even more shocking was that that probably wasn¡¯t everything in his opponent¡¯s arsenal. A ferocious wave of spearmanship and Rune Letters hidden throughout the room; a mysterious power to neutralize heat and mes as well as a mist of mana that interfered with everything nearby. It was a ridiculous set of abilities but what unsettled Rashid the most was that there might be even more in his kit that Rashid hadn¡¯t been able to force out of him. ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± He was strong. ¡®This is the power of a 2nd year student,¡¯ Rashid thought before quickly getting rid of that trail of thought. There was no way every 2nd year students would be the same ¨C that senior was just a monster of its own. ¡°Good job. You can go.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± Rashid was confused by Korin opening up a path all too easily, after bashing him up like crazy. ¡°You worked hard and deserve some rewards. Go up and get your items.¡± ¡°¡­It would have been much better if you just did that from the start.¡± ¡°Ah, and by the way.¡± After seemingly remembering something, Korin opened his mouth while tapping him on the shoulder with the shaft of his spear. ¡°Since you are here anyway, aim to be a knight. Rather than a sword that kills, go for a sword that protects. That¡¯s all knights are. If you do that, you¡¯ll be a solid knight yourself.¡± ¡°¡­Alright.¡± That was the most senior-like thing he saw from Korin that day. But of course, Rashid wasn¡¯t stupid enough to voice that out loud. Chapter 120: - The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (3) ? The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (3) ? ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± On the 2nd floor, Ren and Ron deactivated their half-beastify modes while gasping for breath. ¡°¡­You can go.¡± Amidst the crumbling remains of the broken building on the dusty 2nd floor, a girl wearing nun clothes opened up a path. Heavenly Yaksha Hua Ran. She, who was essentially the strongest person out of all the 2nd grade students if not the entire Academy, was an unbreachable fortress of her own. All the motivated students were bashed up and she had not a single wound despite facing squads of freshmen students all at once. She suddenly stopped the fight when her clothes were ripped for the first time. ¡°Why¡­¡± ¡°He told me to let everyone go if you touch my clothes.¡± ¡°¡­¡± That seemed to be the amount of handicap required to make up for their difference in strength. With a myriad ofplex emotions, the freshmen students left behind their fallen peers and continued the climb. ¡°How many people do we have left?¡± ¡°Less than 5 now.¡± They were finally going to thest floor. Ren led Ron, who was still gasping for breath, and headed to the final floor. ¡°Ren. This scent¡­¡± ¡°I know.¡± There had been two pathways connecting the 1st and the 2nd floor, but there was only one leading to the 3rd floor. That meant that the keeper of the 3rd floor would be thest gatekeeper of this fortress. The only source of light in the dark pathway leading up was the Rune Letters engraved on the walls. At the end of the stairway, the two of them found out that there were people waiting for them. ¡°You¡¯rete, doggies.¡± Ady with an ominously red hair and eyes was waiting for them. Her eyes had the color of zing mes and yet they were as cold as ciers as she watched the siblings arrive. ¡°Ohh~. You¡¯re here.¡± There was only one more person on the 3rd floor except for Princess Miruam. Korin Lork weed the two with the spear resting on his shoulder. ¡°Now. This is your final stage.¡± The eyes of the wild warrior, which were inplete contrast to the cold eyes of the princess, were looking straight through them. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Ren and Ron were werewolves. They were born much stronger than normal humans, and they weren¡¯t any weaker than knights when it came to strength, speed, or resilience. In fact, they were far superior to normal knights at everything. The reason why the two orphans had been able to stay alive for over ten years in the slums was not limited to their likable and adorable appearances. ¡ºCatch that thief!¡» ¡ºRen! The baldy ising after us!¡» ¡ºRun, you idiot!¡» Stealing and begging. The orphans were used to it, but in the end, they were kidnapped by human traffickers for their likable looks. They couldn¡¯t withstand the power of the Full Moon and ended up transforming inside the cage, and after finding out that they were beastmen, the ve dealers had them endure through an even worse treatment. But looking back now, they realized they were lucky, because it was because of that they could enter the fences of Korin Lork. ¡ºIt¡¯s okay. No one is going to hit you anymore. You guys are now safe.¡» Korin was a nice person. He was a thoroughly kind-hearted person who lied for the good of another person, and did his best to help them. It was after a while that he suggested they enter the Academy. He told them he had a goal; he told them he needed their help and kindly asked for their cooperation. He wasn¡¯t imposing it on them nor pressuring them to follow his orders. When Ren asked about it, he came out honest. And that made her happy. She was happy to find out that their benefactor was in need of their help, and was also happy that he was considerate and worried about them. It didn¡¯t take long for the siblings to decide that they wanted to help him. ¡ºFine, we can help you with that.¡» ¡ºThanks, but you will have to face a lot of danger if you are helping me.¡» ¡ºI¡¯m okay as long as I can help you, bro!¡» ¡ºThanks¡­ In return, I will train you guys.¡» True and true. Ren felt the genuine wish of Korin-oraboni1oraboni is the same as oppa but with more respect for them to stay healthy without getting hurt¡­ ¡°But this isn¡¯t what I was expecting!!¡± The spear stabbed forth again and again. It was so fast and deadly that it woulde out in their dreams. ¡°Hikk¡­?!¡± His spear grazed past her head as blood sttered out from the wound. The spear managed to cut through the resilient skin of a werewolf, and that was incredibly shocking since the spear had gone through a non-lethalizing process already. Death. Right ¨C death. Each and every one of his stabs were that of the Grim Reaper pushing her to the brink of death. The stabs were full of hostility and the desire to rip her to pieces and yet the one wielding the spear had a kind smile on his face. ¡°U, uahht¡­!¡± ¡°Maintain your bnce at all times. Otherwise you¡¯ll die.¡± A merciless roundhouse kicknded on Ron¡¯s side as he was about tond on his bum. Ron flew sideways for a bit and thanks to that, he somehow managed to regain his sense of bnce. As a result, he avoided falling down but it was hard to be grateful to Korin for what he did. ¡°You have good reflexes, but your parries are not so good.¡± ?Horizontal Sweep of a Tiger? Korin swung the spear sideways. In order to dodge the silver spear, Ren jumped into the air. Right when she thought she dodged the spear, he grabbed onto her ankle. ¡°Don¡¯t jump without a second n.¡± He flung her away into the walls of the building. A deafening thud echoed across the floor as an immense wave of pain filled Ren¡¯s body starting from her back. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± At the end of her gaze was a familiar voice. He was the fence keeping the siblings safe; a gentle guardian and an incredibly kind-hearted person. His eyes as he stared at the siblings were still as friendly, kind and loving as always. However, his actions told apletely different story. He was pushing them to their limits, overwhelming them with his killing intent and animosity. ¡°Is that all you got?¡± With a single spear, he was overpowering two Grade 2 werewolf knights. He was in a totally different league to them as a warrior. The density of his experiences was iparably higher than theirs, and he had gone through countless battles of life and death. Until now, he had just been the gentle and friendly boss; a benefactor who saved them and an oraboni who bought them snacks. He was like the personification of the illusions of the two orphan siblings, about how it would feel to have a dad and an adult to rely on, so the unbending warrior in front of them was frightening and awkwardly unusual. ¡°You need to be fully beastified. Otherwise this won¡¯t even be considered a fight.¡± ¡°B, but that¡¯s¡­!¡± ¡°What; you can¡¯t control it? Or are you saying I might get injured? Stop being arrogant, you greenhorns.¡± That was a haughty statement ¨C a deration that they won¡¯t be a match for him without using everything they had. ¡°Get used to it. Get used to killing intent; get used to strifes and battles. When you¡¯re in a fight, focus on what¡¯s ahead of you.¡± He was teaching them as a leader giving guidance to newbies, not as the nice and gentle brother he usually was. ¡°Well, your body will get used to it by itself if you get bashed up till you¡¯re close to being dead.¡± ¡®Humans are quite tough you see,¡¯ he added. ¡°Hmph¡­!¡± Ren started off as the siblings finished morphing themselves into beasts. The young kids became starving dogs that were crazy for blood, with tendencies that they could not control as of yet. ¡°Grrrhh¡­!¡± Werewolves. Simply put, were human figures with a wolf head and fur covering their body. However, the siblings looked slightly different. The beastifying process of demi-humans under the category of beastmen went through several stages. Just like how their bodies grew fast in corrtion with their mental growth, beastification also had different effects depending on their growth as an individual. If it was just half-beastification which would give them wolf ws, the siblings were able to maintain their human figures, but after a full beastification they¡­ ¡ºAhh~. Seriously. Don¡¯t me me even if you get hurt.¡» ¡ºKrrrh¡­ Be careful of my teeth¡­ Krrrhhh¡­ They will hurt¡­¡» They looked like beautiful beasts of gold; mythical creatures from legends that awed those who saw them. Golden wolves. They were the unique races above all wolves and were the so-called Royal Bloods. That was the reason why the siblings, Ren and Ron were so special. The bloodline of the Wolf King which had suddenly disappeared from the world was back through atavism ¡°Guess there¡¯s still a long way to go until you be full werewolves.¡± The final stage of beastification was in maintaining a human figure. A beastification that made them look no different from a normal beast could only be evaluated as subpar. ¡ºRon, attack!¡» ¡ºWoof!¡» In the blink of an eye, the golden beasts pounced at Korin. **** Inexperienced beastmen usually had difficulty controlling themselves when using beastification. In that sense, Ren was better off than others at controlling her tendencies. However, there were times when even Ren would have difficulty keeping her beastly instincts at bay ¨C one was when there was a Full Moon in the sky, and two was when she was in full beastification mode. Full Moon was like the bane of every beastmen so the right call was to stay home whenever possible, but beastification was slightly different. Even after bing a four-legged beast, she was still sane. She couldmunicate just as well as before and did not attack random people. However, her aggressiveness was amplified several-fold. She could keep her aggressiveness at 0 but not 1 ¨C it was either 0 or 100 and she subconsciously crunched at her enemies like a ferocious beast. ¡®Eeek¡­ That¡¯s why I told you it¡¯s dangerous!¡¯ Kicking off the ground, therge wolf pounced at the spearman. There was only power and momentum in the attack, with not even a hint of hesitation. It was a pure form of violence, and even the naive and innocent Ron was no different from a bloodthirsty beast. ¨C Flick! Korin dodged that with rtive ease by simply leaning back and parrying the ws with his spear. The wolf let out a furious howl but Korin stayed still, not taking a single step back. ¨C Krrrrh! ¨C Kng! The siblings looked at each other with the spearman in the middle. Like beasts hunting wild prey, they nodded and got to work. There was no need for any verbalmunication and Ron kicked off the ground straight after the nod. Following that was Ren throwing her body at the spearman. It was a strategy of desperation wolves would use when hunting animals that were much bigger than themselves. The sister threw her body forward as bait, waiting for the brother tond surprise attacks from behind. It was a strategy introduced by the sister, in hopes that her younger brother wouldn¡¯t have to do anything dangerous. ¡°Too obvious.¡± ¨C Bam! The deless end of the spear poked into her neck. Ren had to gasp for breath due to that stab on the throat, but Korin didn¡¯t give her the time to collect herself; he picked her up and tossed her at Ron. ¨C Woof?! Ron supported his sister who was suddenly sent flying her way. He became a cushion so that she wouldn¡¯t hurt her body. ¡ºKuhk, Ren¡­!¡» That was when a merciless kicknded on Ron¡¯s jaws. He couldn¡¯t dodge the kick due to his sister being on top of him. ¨C Kung! The ruthless kick made him light-headed to the point he barely had to keep himself conscious. ¡°Don¡¯t waste the opportunity your team made for you just because of some stupid sense of sympathy. You should have gone through with the attack just then.¡± ¡ºEeek¡­!¡» It was incredibly irritating but Ron carried his sister, who was still gasping for breath, with his mouth and jumped back up. His jaws were still in great pain and biting his sister was not easy, but he still decided to look after his sister first. He then sent a resentful gaze at Korin for being so merciless and ruthless. ¡°It¡¯s great that you are now being serious towards your enemy, but¡­¡± ¨C Woof! Ron furiously marched at him. After turning into a beast, Ron couldn¡¯t control his emotions and was like a driverless carriage that was rampaging about like crazy. ¡°Be angry but rational¡­¡± Demonic Arts of Trap and Stab¡ª The feeble-looking shaft of the spear deviated the path of the ws all too easily with just a single tap. The ws of the wolf swerved away from the original destination andnded on the poor floor. Meanwhile, the spearman positioned himself behind the wolf¡¯s back. ¡°And keep your eyes on your target.¡± ¡ª Scavenging the Grass for the Snake The deless end of the spear pierced his spine. ¡°K, kuhuk¡­!?¡± The golden wolf fell with a pant. The profound principle of Lan Na Zha that allowed one to parry the attack and follow through with a counterattack was incredibly effective on the beast. ¨C Hwaaak! A violent gasp echoed from behind, which allowed Korin to notice the presence of a beast behind him. ¡°Good. At least the sister is better off than the younger one.¡± It was a surprise attack done at exquisite timing, but that was when Korin kicked the deless end of the spear which had poked at the spines of the younger one. ¡ºHuht¡­?¡» That sudden and powerful kick flung the spear and made it rotate behind his back. It was an unconventional way to handle the spear that fended off Ren right when she was about to attack him. ?Spinning Heaven: Second Move ¨C Rotating Demon Spear? ¨C Kwaang! The elerating spear further continued its rotation even after stopping Ren¡¯s attack and the spear smacked Ren by the jaws. ¡ºWoof¡­?!¡» Ren panicked from that sudden attack to her chin. But without ending it there, Korin pulled her by the neck. Eight Trigrams, Venerating Palm¡ª Forming a palm right in front of her, he brought it to her face and unhesitatingly struck her three times on her eyes and her nose. ?Eight Trigrams: Three Heavenly Palm Strikes? ¡°Ku, huk¡­?!¡± The three consecutive palm strikes that epassed the principles of Eight Trigrams were incredibly powerful, and they made Ren roll across the floor. ¡°Kuhak¡­!?¡± She couldn¡¯t wake up from the shock, and thus her beastification was forcibly undone, putting her back to her half-beastified state. ¡°Haa, haak¡­!¡± Ren had trouble breathing. Her chest was in immense pain. ¨C Vuung! The sensitive ears of a beast spotted the sound of something speeding through the wind. Upon realizing that that was the sound of a spear, Ren desperately rolled her body across the floor. ¨C Kwaang! The silver spear crushed through the ground where Ren had been at until just a moment ago. Ren was appalled at the sharp de of the spear and his merciless attacks. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why did you stop? Stopping for a second in the middle of a fight is the same as giving your enemy a second to work with.¡± ¡°B, but¡­¡± ¡°You can move until your limbs are all broken or you lose your head. Don¡¯t ever stop.¡± He was frightening ¨C that wasn¡¯t the oraboni Ren was familiar with. He was being immensely harsh and cold-hearted. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Fear was pervading into her mind. She didn¡¯t even have the room to think about fighting back. ¡ºFine, we can help you with that.¡» How arrogant and unprepared must she have sounded when she said that? The boy, who easily saved numerous demi-humans including themselves, and carried out a bunch of strange things to save the jiangshi girl¡­ Ren had never known just how much determination he must have had when going into every one of those. Korin slowly walked towards her. The closer he came, therger the shadow that was cast on the wolf-girl called Ren. Realizing btedly just how tall the fences that had been protecting them were, her body started to shiver. One step out of those fences and she was already like this¡­ So how was she even supposed to help him? ¡°Haa, haa¡­¡± s, Korin Lork was right in front of her face as he gazed down straight into her eyes. He, who waspletely unscathed despite the fight just then, wasn¡¯t even short of breath. He raised his spear and Ren didn¡¯t even have the guts to fight back. ¨C Swish! ¡°Hikk¡­!¡± Hearing the sound of the spear shing down at her, Ren closed her eyes tight. Something soonnded on her, but it wasn¡¯t the cold de of the spear and was instead the warm palm of his hand. ¡°That should be alright for now.¡± Hisrge fingers ran through her golden hair. He tousled her hair as if he was proud of her using the same warm hand as always. ¡°This is what it means to fight. I hope you understand what it means and resolve yourself for it.¡± ¡°Huguk¡­!¡± Ahh¡­ It was finally the same oraboni as always. Ren collected her breath in relief but couldn¡¯t stop the beads of tears that were forming beneath her eyes. ¡°Heuk¡­! Huhiinng¡­!¡± ¡°Yes yes, I know. It was scary, right? me your oppa for that.¡± ¡°Who is oppa¡­ I hate youuu¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s my fault.¡± Like an adult soothing a child, Korin carried her on his shoulder and tapped her on the back to relieve the girl. ¡°But still, you did great. Ron, I loved how you tried to protect your sister, and Ren, you were very rational which was also excellent. You guys were awesome. Let¡¯s just try to do a bit better every time.¡± ¡°Huuk¡­¡± ¡°Here. Here you go. Here is a handkerchief. Blow your nose. Let¡¯s go¡­!¡± ¡°I¡¯m, not a kid!¡± Ren wiped her tears with the back of her hands while thrashing her arms around in an attempt to leave his hug. Korin carried her and put her down next to Ron. ¡°Both of you passed. Go up and grab your awesome rewards.¡± Ren and Ron were frustrated. Despite being so harsh with them, in the end he was treating them like a kid. The two of them thought that it must be because they were far from being enough. While powerlessly climbing up the stairs, the siblings tightly held onto each other¡¯s hands and spitted out their feelings which they would only share among themselves. ¡°I feel so upset.¡± ¡°Me too.¡± ¡°Next time¡­ Next timeee¡­¡± I will not be treated like a kid. Children had to be protected by adults. However, kids couldn¡¯t stay kids forever. There woulde a time when they would be forced to stand on their feet, away from the warm arms of adults. The siblings wanted that day to arrive as quickly as possible. Footnotes:
  • 1oraboni is the same as oppa but with more respect
Chapter 121: - The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (4) ? The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (4) ? ¡°Nice job. That was pretty good. You can go up.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­¡± The elite-businessman-looking boy with a slicked-back hairstyle tidied up his hair before heading to the stairs with a bitter frown on his face. He was Mark Vermillion from the Magic Department; a Grade 2 mage of this year¡¯s freshmen students. Plus, there were also: Hasassin Rashid Ad Din Mustali, Wolf siblings, Ren and Ron. Spy from the Old Faith, Germain Luther. I already dealt with most of the named freshmen characters and sent them upstairs. Now the only one left was¡­ ¨C p! p! p! The sound of someone¡¯s apuse echoed across the room. It was from Princess Miru. ¡°That¡¯s amazing. You are very strong, Senior.¡± ¡°I am a 2nd year student after all.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not it. At least those doggies were as strong as you in terms of simple physical abilities, and yet you were able to y with them. Is this what they call experience?¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t call people ¡®doggies¡¯.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with calling animals animals?¡± She was adamant and there was no room for persuasion. Princess Miru put a firm stop to the conversation, implying that she didn¡¯t want me to continue on this topic. ¡°Anyway. I saw you were watching the whole time. What do you want to do?¡± ¡°Do you want to fight? Knight Korin?¡± It was obvious why she was keeping a close eye on me. She was probably trying to see how strong I was, how much I could do¡­ and more importantly¡­ I slowly walked up to her. After stopping right in front of her face, I rested one of my hands on the wall behind her back and wrapped my other arm around her waist. If we were to fight¡­ she would probably have to reveal the ¡®snake¡¯ under her dress at the very least. ¡°Who knows. Maybe I might have to use the Sun if you use what¡¯s hiding under your dress.¡± ¡°I wonder what you mean? I thought undressing wasn¡¯t enough to win you over.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± It became evident from that conversation that this woman had no intention of fighting against me. To be exact, she had no ns of revealing her hands just yet. Nevertheless, it was still impressive that she didn¡¯t seem surprised in the slightest despite me seeing through her strongest trump card. That was strange because the only reason I knew about her 3 familiars was because I heard about them in thest iteration. ¡°Step back if you have no ns to fight. This is a ce for warriors.¡± There were still quite a lot of freshmen students left. Although I had already achieved my goal, I was going to carry on with my duty as the senior and stick through with it until the end. ¡°Well, that was quite the pleasant attraction.¡± Leaving those words behind, Princess Miru retraced her steps. What did I have to do to open her up this time, I wonder¡­? In thest iteration, there were a lot of things that had to be done for her to open up including walking, dancing, having meals together and making kids¡­ **** The prac lesson at the Hunting Grounds ended with the setting sun, in a manner that could be considered rather harsh for the freshmen students this year. ¡°Ah, seriously¡­! If only there wasn¡¯t that madman!¡± ¡°Who could have guessed there would be a person that crazy a year above us¡­¡± ¡°We were supposed to get at least a Grade 4 magic stone just from reaching the destination and yet¡­! Haa¡­¡± ¡°I was going to make a weapon with that, bro¡­¡± The original prac lesson at the Hunting Grounds was an event that was there to give students decent rewards and magic stones, granting them opportunities to create their own weapons. The process of receiving magic stones, connecting with cksmiths, ordering weapons, and receiving them was supposed to be a part of the learning process. Therefore, the new students who couldn¡¯t even approach the final destination let alone receive a magic stone because of one crazy clown were incredibly disheartened and upset. His crazyughs and his strange outfit were obviously there to harass the new students, and he was nothing like the nicer seniors like Alicia and Yuel. In addition, the students were shocked at the fact that they were disqualified all because of that one clown wearing aughable costume. ¡°By the way, where are we going?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Apparently a senior from the year above us called Korin Lork is gathering everyone.¡± ¡°What?¡± A senior gathering juniors? Wasn¡¯t that something that came out in novels and newspapers? Usually, it was a story of evil seniors harassing their juniors, and was often seen in schools and colleges. However, it was a different story when it came to 400 students. That was essentially every freshman student in the grade and yet it seemed that none of the seniors had been against it. In turn, that meant that everyone was in agreement or that specific senior must be a bigshot among bigshots¡­ ¡°What was the name of that clown again?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Korin Lork, was it?¡± ¡°Hukk¡­!¡± ¡°What¡¯s up? Do you know him?¡± ¡°Do you not read the Guardians magazine? He¡¯s a celebrity! He¡¯s the guy that fought on equal grounds with Sword Master Lunia Arden that became Grade 1 from Grade 5!¡± ¡°R, really?¡± ¡°There¡¯s more. There are also rumors that he will be the son-inw of the Dunareff family!¡± ¡°What! The Potato Empire of the south?! Are you talking about that Dunareff?? The one in the 3rd grade?¡± There was only one Dunareff attending Merkarva Academy. Marie Dunareff. She was the princess of the agricultural empire of the south, who was also essentially a Unique-Grade mage herself. Besides, she was the very one who would be inheriting 2 million hectares of farnd, 17 luxury mines, 22 gold and coal mines! ¡°I, I¡¯m so jealous¡­!¡± ¡°There¡¯s even more than that! Apparently the Arden sisters of the east want him so bad they can kill! They even had a fervent fight of blood over him!¡± ¡°H, how does that even make sense?¡± Despite wondering how their peer was so knowledgeable about these gossips, everyone including those around him were deeply intrigued by the said topic. ¡°You all know who Miss Lunia Arden is, right?¡± ¡°Who doesn¡¯t?¡± Sword Master Lunia Arden. She was the strongest knight of the east and the future sessor of the Arden family. ¡°He was supposed to be engaged to her.¡± ¡°What? Bullcrap!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not lying. My dad runs a dojo in the east, and he got invited to the engagement ceremony.¡± ¡°S, so? What do you mean, ¡®supposed to¡¯? And what¡¯s with this fight of blood?¡± ¡°Her sister suddenly appeared at the engagement ceremony! Alicia Arden¡­ She showed up herself!¡± ¡°Alicia Arden¡­? You mean the senior we saw at the forest?¡± ¡°Yeah. She suddenly showed up, screamed, ¡®I am against this engagement!¡¯ and dragged Senior Korin out of the ceremony!¡± ¡°Holy shit¡­ that¡¯s insane.¡± ¡°Did they both fall for him?¡± ¡°W, where are my popcorns?¡± ¡°Wait.¡± One of them suddenly raised their hand in doubt. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say he¡¯s the son-inw of the Dunareff family?¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°???¡± What¡­ was going on? That didn¡¯t make sense. Soon, one of the imaginative students shared the conclusion he came to. ¡°¡­Is he three-timing?¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­¡± ¡°Three-timing the Dunareff and the Arden? Unless he has a death wish¡­¡± They were the two most powerful families of the kingdom, so what kind of person was this Korin Lork, that he had intimate rtionships with both families at the same time? Because of the rumors that slowly spread among the students as well as the horrifying act inside the forest, there was not a single student who was unaware of who Korin Lork was. Soon, the 400 freshmen boys and girls arrived at the field of the Academy and witnessed a mountain of magic stones. ¡°Wow¡­¡± There was a whole mountain of Grade 4 and Grade 5 magic stones. The students were baffled by the sight of the sheer amount of gems and werete to notice the man wearing the makeup of a clown and a purple suit, who was standing on top of the mountain of magic stones. ¡°HA. HI. HO.¡± ¡°T, that guy¡­!¡± As soon as he started tough, a few of the freshmen gasped after being reminded of their traumatic experiences. Without even looking at them, the clown kicked the magic stones around. Swirling in his hand was a ss of brilliant gold cocktail. ¡°Nice to meet you all, dear freshmen.¡± The clown said with a smile. Despite being the center of attention of 400 new students, a few 2nd year students and the professors that were dumbfoundedly watching everything unfold, he did not seem dismayed or nervous in the slightest. ¡°Let me ask you one question. Did you enjoy the prac lesson today?¡± ¨C What the hell is he¡­ ¡°Confronting your peers in the forest; and challenging your seniors! What was all that for? Did you enjoy the strife; the fierce aspiration of the path to being stronger??¡± ¡°¡­What is he talking about?¡± ¡°Who knows.¡± It was just a lesson. They were doing it because they were told to, and the only reason they tried their best was because of the sweet rewards and yet even that was taken away from them because of that very clown. ¡°You cannot do that! Fighting for rewards and material possession is wrong!¡± Of course they would fight for rewards; what else would they strive for? ¡°These are the items that were supposed to be handed out to you guys after this prac lesson. They start off with Grade 4 and Grade 5 magic stones, and there are even some items that are much better.¡± This mountain of items was all supposed to be their rewards¡­ and yet how many of them were able toy their hands on one? None. Pretty much no one. It was all because he burnt down the shed, which was the final destination and built a strange fortress, which only allowed a small number of students to climb up to the top. That was all because of him, and only him!!! ¡°That is some passion in your eyes! Is it because you worked hard in the forest and didn¡¯t even get a single worthless pebble?¡± ¡°That freaking¡­!¡± ¡°T, that bitch! He¡¯s picking a fight!¡± ¡°I would love to rip his mouth to pieces!¡± It was then. Korin tilted his ss and poured the cocktail down. Suddenly, a lit-up matchstick appeared in his hand. ¡°H, huh?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± Their eyes were shivering like crazy but Korin was unmoved. He dropped the matchstick and slid down from the mountain of items all the way to the ground. ¨C Hwaruruk! The magic stones and rewards immediately caught on fire. The zing mes were scorching everything that was supposed to go into the hands of the new students. ¡°Phew~. I love fire!¡± After setting the rewards of 400 students on fire, the 2nd-year senior chuckled nonchntly like it was none of his business. He then scoffed at the freshmen students who couldn¡¯t take their eyes off of the burning mountain. ¡°Look at those eyes engulfed in greed. Let us repent for our worthless selves and our unremovable greed. I shall forgive you.¡± His words made the freshmen students erupt in fury. ¡°YOU FUCKERRR!¡± ¡°L, let go! Let go of me right now!!¡± ¡°Let me hit him once! Please just let me bash that guy up!¡± ¡°I¡¯M LOSING MY MINDDDDDDD¡­!!¡± ¡°KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡­!!¡± The students were roaring like madmen. The only reason they couldn¡¯t pounce at him was because of their traumatic experience at the Hunting Grounds holding them back. However, the crowd was bing more and more violent with their fury all pointing at one person. Korin, however, enjoyed receiving their gazes with a content smile on his face. It was then. A shadow was cast over the ground and before long, an enormous flying beastnded from the sky. ¡°Umm, hi guys?¡± Riding the beast, wearing an awkward smile on her face, was an amicable girl with light-blue-colored hair. That was when the container that was being carried by therge flying monster, Hresvelgr, opened up and poured out a countless number of magic stones. ¡°H, huh?¡± ¡°T, that¡¯s Demon Steel ¨C a Grade 3 magic stone!¡± ¡°That¡¯s Maic Iron Stone! Grade 2 magic stone!!!¡± The Grade 4 and Grade 5 magic stones were enveloped in mes while higher grade magic stones were falling like pebbles. The clown in a purple suit raised his voice to wake them up from their stupor. ¡°We will not give you any low grade magic stones this year! Only preeemiummmm!!¡± ¡°H, huhh?!¡± ¡°F, for real?¡± ¡°Do you believe noww¡­!!?¡± ¡°¡­I believe.¡± ¡°I belieeveee¡­! Oh, god¡­!¡± ¡°This can¡¯t beeeeeeee!¡± Savoring the enthusiastic responses of the students, Korin gestured with his hands. ¡°This is not the end of what your seniors have prepared for you all. Everyone. What else needs to be done after finding yourselves a magic stone?¡± ¡°M, make weapons?¡± ¡°We need to make weapons!¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly right! We are talking about weapons of you, the future guardians of humanity! Can we assign the task to some random cksmiths??!¡± ¡°¡°NOOOOO!!¡±¡± As soon as the crowd replied with a shout, a girl wearing nun clothes flew down from the sky. She was the invincible jiangshi who had been stopping them on the 2nd floor of the fortress, Hua Ran. After dropping down on the ground, she opened up therge bag that was in her hands. ¡°Uhp¡­ uhp!¡± ¡°H, help me!¡± ¡°Uhhp¡­!¡± Three people emerged from the bag with their limbs restricted and their mouths gagged. The three of them were flustered from the sudden turn of events but none of them were defiant in fear that Korin would reveal what they had been doing to their poor customers. ¡°Now, introducing to you the greatest craftsmen of our kingdom! They are absolutely generous people who will be crafting your weapons for free!¡± ¡°Ferghus the Weapon Breaker! Kiri the Ladybug! And Hollgrehenn the Broooookennn¡­!¡± ¡°UWOOOOOOHHH¡­!¡± ¡°OPPAAAAAAAAAAAH¡­!!¡± ¡°I¡¯M LOSING MY MINDDDDD¡­!!!¡± ¡°THIS CAN¡¯T BEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡­!!!!¡± The students were fanatical and some of them were even shedding tears. They weren¡¯t expecting to obtain such expensive magic stones let alone get to meet these renowned master craftsmen¡­! ¡°But wait, we have more. Guys, what were you trying to have today? Tonkatsu? Udon? We eat none of that cheap stuff here¡­! ¡°Our beloved 3rd year senior, Lady Marie Dunareff has invited the greatest of chefs and has provided you all with the best ingredients!¡± ¡°¡°UWOOOOOO¡­?!!¡± ¡°Please, a round of apuse also to our 2nd year senior who has helped carry the ingredients and craftsmen here, Sister Hua Ran¡­!¡± p p p p! Loud and sonorous rounds of apuse echoed across the entire field. Even this wasn¡¯t the end. ¨C Pop! Shuuu! Something suddenly erupted out of the pile of original rewards that was still on fire. ¡°H, huhh?¡± ¨C Shuuuuuuuu! The starlight soared into the sky. After reaching the ck canvas above, it exploded with a boom. That wasn¡¯t the only firework in store. ¨C Shuuuuuu! ¨C Shuuuuuu! With the first firework in the lead, countless fireworks followed suit. Right ¨C only the outside was covered in magic stones from the pile of rewards that were supposed to be given out to the students, and there were in fact numerous fireworks hiding inside it. ¨C Shuuuuuu! ¨C Shuuuuuu! ¡°¡­Pretty.¡± Countless palettes were embroidering the ck ocean above. Many freshmen students were in awe watching the rare fireworks go off right in front of them. ¡°Eat! Drink! And enjoy to your heart¡¯s content! Today is a day for you all!¡± The evil senior who had been wearing the outfit of a strange clown, now appeared like an angel sent from above. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The craftsmen started moving around the group of students, marking the type of weapons each person was after. Meanwhile, the freshmen students were mind-blown by the best weing ceremony of the continent provided thanks to the incredible ingredients and chefs. They were shouting and cheering for Korin and the other seniors, who had been the target of their hatred and profanity until just then. ¡°Guys. Are you enjoying the food? Would you like some more potato purees?¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± ¡°Thanks for the food!¡± Marie, who had always been a human capybara, easily made herself at home among the group of new students. That was nothing strange, but something unexpected was how Hua Ran was faring very well inside the group. ¡°Hello. Do you want more drinks?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± The freshmen students were dumbstruck by the bright smile on Ran¡¯s face, because the demi-human who had been mercilessly bashing them up in the forest had suddenly turned into a friendly senior with a sweet smile. ¡®She gets serious in a fight but must be a very nice person otherwise¡­!¡¯ It was inevitable for the new students to get a different impression of her. ¡°Is everyone having a good time¡­!¡± ¡°¡°Yeah¡­!!¡±¡± If one was to name someone, who hadpletely won them over, it would have to be Korin Lork. Now, his cosy as a clown was no longer seen as the crazy act of a psychopath but the mischievous prank of a funny and friendly senior. ¡°If any one of you has a problem making your weapon, feel free to look for me. I will help you anytime.¡± ¡°¡°Okay! Thank you very much sir!¡±¡± He, who had be a celebrity in just one night, walked into the cheering crowd and sat down. ¡°Umm¡­ Mr. Korin. Is this okay? That must have cost a lot of money¡­¡± Alicia worriedly whispered into his ears. And she was definitely right. The craftsmen were pretty much forced to ¡®donate their talents¡¯ because of a threat and Marie provided the ingredients and the chefs, but the 400 higher-grade magic stones had alle from Korin¡¯s own pocket. He had to pretty much use up all the money he had earned, except for his actual assets like his hotel. ¡°What¡¯s important is not the money. It¡¯s about sending a message.¡± ¡°A message?¡± Looking at the girls who were now mixed into the crowd of new students, Korin said with a relieved look on his face. He didn¡¯t seem to find it wasteful in the slightest. ¡°There¡¯s nothing more expensive than a person¡¯s life.¡± This small yet meaningful present, would help save many in the future. **** It wasn¡¯t rare to see mages in Merkarva City, which possessed one of the guardian academies. They always wore a robe and carried with them a staff, which were like the proof of them being a mage. However, most of the mages in Merkarva City were young boys and girls with a naive yet innocent air around them. A long line of old mages walking down the road was a lot different from what was usually seen in the city. ¡°We are almost there, Elder Admelech.¡± A man said to an old mage wearing a red robe. ¡°Knn¡­ How dare they prohibit us from flying; those insolent bastards of the Academy.¡± The leader of the Red Magic Cult of the Tower of Mages, Elder Admelech, repeatedly disyed his irritation at the fact that he was made to walk there at such an old age. ¡°More importantly¡­ I hope you weren¡¯t lying about the test subjects.¡± Next to him was a mage wearing a ck robe who was equally leading a line of dozens of mages. He was the leader representing the ck Magic Cult, Elder Morushtan. ¡°Most certainly not. There are a bunch of interesting specimens living there¡­ Including those that are neither beasts nor humans.¡± ¡°¡­It won¡¯t fare well for us either if we create a ruckus. More than anything¡­ they have the Dimensional Witch with them.¡± Dimensional Witch, Josephine ra. She was the living proof of history who came out in textbooks, that represented the Cult of Space. As long as she was in this city, none of the mages would be able to escape from her hands. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We have more than enough countermeasures in n against the witch. Besides¡­¡± The elder continued while ncing at therge group of disciples following them from behind. ¡°For this asion¡­ even the Golden Mage, Lord Adelene is going to be with us.¡± ¡°Even the great mage huh¡­ I knew it. Is it a part of ¡®his¡¯ great n?¡± ¡°Yes. The 2nd Princess has also entered the Academy. Although it¡¯s for reasons unknown, it should still be helpful to our n.¡± It was the start of the main scenario. The predestined history was about to repeat itself with the same goals in the minds of the mages. ¡°Marie Dunareff. We musty our hands on that vampire.¡± The vampire girl that was supposed to be locked up in the basement, being forced to cooperate in the research for better healing measures¡­ the uproar of mages, with the excuse of borrowing materials from the Great Library and their extortion. However, despite the same exact goals, the future ahead of them this time around was bound to be different from the original scenario. Fate had been reversed, and unbeknownst to them, there was a knight readying himself to ruin their ns. Chapter 122: - The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (5) ? The Good, the Crazy and the Bizarre (5) ? After swallowing the Sun, I gained the Extreme Yang Constitution and the blessing of the sun. Because of the overflowing abundance of Yang energy, I became excessively healthy. ¡°Fuu~¡± That in turn meant that my body was an elixir and a cure for those with a constitution that was on the opposite side of the spectrum to mine. ¨C Zzzzzz¡­ Proving that was the living jiangshi with the Extreme Yin Constitution. Even though the Hua Ran sisters had always been very unhesitant and daring when it came to physical contact, it was bing increasingly worse. Before, it was mainly just Ran that was actively teasing and rubbing her body on mine but these days, Hua was also doing the same. It had already been a week since Hua Ran had been sleeping on my bed every night. ¡°Wake up, buddy.¡± I tickled her chin to wake her up, to which she responded by growling like a cat. Fortunately, she wasn¡¯t the type to go into a deep sleep so soon, she slowly opened her eyes. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You woke up.¡± ¡°Move.¡± She was very mean. Even though she always cuddled close at night and rubbed her cheeks on my body, whenever I touched her she¡ª ¨C Bam! ¡°Uahkk¡­!¡± Hua Ran suddenly threw a punch to my chest and it was immensely painful. ¡°¡­¡± She, with her unkempt hair behind her, red at me with a cold gaze in her eyes. ¡°What was that for?¡± ¡°¡­You touched me.¡± ¡°It was just a light touch on your chin¡­¡± ¡°In your sleep.¡± Huh?¡± I felt my hair stand on end. What did I do in my sleep? The only thing I remembered touching was her hair, which I touched for only a bit while she was using my arm as a pillow! ¡°For real?¡± ¨C Nod. ¡°W, where?¡± ¡°¡­Not telling you.¡± ¡°Huh? No, you need to tell me what I did at the very least!¡± ¡°I¡­ never told you before but¡­ you have a bad sleeping habit.¡± ¡°It¡¯s my first time hearing that! This is defamation!¡± Dear god. Where the hell did I touch?? **** After the morning quarrel with Hua Ran, I took a quick shower and headed down the corridor of the 2nd floor. On the other side of the corridor were the rooms for the princesses but I couldn¡¯t feel any presence from those rooms. Judging from that, I assumed that they had woken up already. Estelle the Saintess probably went to the campus chapel for a morning prayer and Miru would have gone to herboratory. I didn¡¯t see herst night, so she might have spent the whole night there. In any case, I was walking down the corridor in the opposite direction, at thest room that was upied by the siblings Ren and Ron. ¨C Knock knock! ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ I knocked on the door but the room was still quiet. ¡°Still sleeping, huh.¡± ¨C Cank! ¡°I¡¯ming in.¡± What I saw immediately after entering the room were the siblings sleeping on their beds. Their honey-blonde-colored hair was shining brightly like gold from the sunlight seeping in through the curtains. ¡°Oi, twins. It¡¯s time to wake up.¡± ¨C Grhh¡­ They didn¡¯t seem to wake up so I shook them by their shoulders but what I heard in response was the same old repertoire ofments. ¡°Hmm nya¡­ oraboni. Five more minutes¡­¡± ¡°Bro¡­ Just¡­ three more minutes for mee¡­¡± ¡°Haah, you morons. It¡¯s thiste in the morning and you¡¯re still sleeping? Get up right now.¡± ¡°Hiiingg¡­¡± I could understand why they were so exhausted. These days, they were more enthusiastic than ever and were probably dead tired from the intense trainingst night. I wasn¡¯t sure whether the growing phase of beastmen worked the same way as that of humans, but all in all, it was normal for kids to have some type of bacsh the next morning after ate sleep. However, they had to wake up early today, because the freshmen students had Alchemy for their first session. I couldn¡¯t let them be just because theycked the will to wake up. ¡°I will give you a choice. Who wants to wash first?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­Ron.¡± ¡°Reeen¡­ You go first.¡± The two of them urged the other to go first. In times like this, they weren¡¯t considerate of each other despite being very close siblings. ¡°You gooo¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m sleepy¡­¡± ¡°Okay. Yesterday it was Ron first, so today, it¡¯s your turn to go first Ren.¡± ¡®Hiiing,¡¯ sheined but I immediately lifted her up into the air and carried her all the way to the basin. ¡°Hurry up. Let¡¯s brush brush.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­ Oraboniii. I hate bamboo salt¡­¡± ¡°No. We are not using the strawberry toothpaste. You swallow it every time.¡± ¡°Eeeek¡­¡± ¡°If you really don¡¯t like bamboo salt, we can use mint inste¡­¡± ¡°No.¡± Ren immediately cut me off. But like¡­ what¡¯s wrong with mint? I couldn¡¯t understand. In any case, I squeezed the bamboo salt-vored toothpaste onto the toothbrush and brought it to her lips. Ren, who couldn¡¯t even open her eyes, slowly opened her mouth. ¡°Say ¡®Ahh¨C¡¯¡± ¡°Ahhh¡­.¡± I handed the toothbrush over to her hands, wrapped my hand over her¡¯s and moved it with her to help brush her teeth. It would be great if this became a habit for her, but because of all the time she spent as an orphan in the slums, it was hard to get her into the habit of brushing her teeth. How good would it be if she finally grew up both mentally and physically¡­? ¡®Wait, maybe that¡¯s not that good.¡¯ The original Ren and Ron were like disciples of Dun Scaith, the King¡¯s Subject, and served as mid-bosses of the game. There, Ren was an incredibly bustydy with a super-dynamic body line while Ron was a bulky and muscr man. Thinking of what they would turn out to be like in the future made me a bit sad. Was this the mind of a parent? Hoping for their kids to stay cute all the time without growing up¡­? Looking back, I also remembered my mom telling me off all the time after I became an adult, saying, ¡®Ehew, look at you now! You¡¯re as big as a mountain and not cute at all!¡¯. ¡°Now now now. When you¡¯re done brushing, you need to rinse your mouth. Don¡¯t forget to spit it out on the basin, and here¡¯s your cup.¡± ¡°Uunn¡­¡± Ren slurped the water from the cup. Soon, she gargled her mouth more and more as her eyes turned bigger and bigger. ¡°Ptui¡­¡± ¡°Good job. Let¡¯s wash your face now.¡± Wetting my hand with water, I wiped her face including her eyes. After that, she shook her head left and right to get the water off like a puppy drenched in water. ¡°I can¡­ do the rest by myself, boss.¡± ¡°Alright. You can finish up. I¡¯ll go wake Ron up.¡± ¡°¡­¡­Okay.¡± The morning was the same as always. **** I was invited to the chairman¡¯s office for lunch. It was in the middle of the meal when the chairman opened ¡®his¡¯ mouth. ¡°Mages from the Tower of Mages have visited our Academy.¡± Hearing the words of Chairman Eriu, or rather, my master, I replied with a grin. ¡°Ah~. Those chauvinists of the Tower, huh. So they finally started moving their heavy bums.¡± Lady Josephine lifted her sses and raised a question in response. ¡°Is there something you know about the Tower, Student Korin?¡± ¡°Well, I do know a few more than others.¡± The two of them knew of me as Tates Valtazar¡¯s disciple, and I was using that to my advantage to exin the things I knew about the future by framing them as a part of Valtazar¡¯s n. ¡°And what do they im it¡¯s for?¡± ¡°To use the research materials of Merkarva Great Library and a career survey of the students of the Magic Department.¡± One might question if those were enough to justify the movement of the Tower of Mages, but the two mentioned topics were actually more important than one might imagine. ¡°And which research materials specifically are they after?¡± ¡°Apparently they are looking for old grimoires and magic books.¡± Merkarva Great Library had the greatest number of books worldwide, including sealed taboo books and unknown grimoires. Those were the books that Master Erin gathered by traveling all across the world for over a thousand years. She was also in possession of books from time immemorial including the ones about the history before the intrusion of Goidels, as well as traces of the Sky Titans which preceded the era of Danaans, so it was easy to see just how valuable the Great Library was. The second reason for their visit ¨C the career survey of students was also an important topic for the Tower of Mages. ¡°It seems that they are stillcking new recruits.¡± The Tower used to be the one in charge of educating and nurturing mages. To be exact, it was more urate to say that they had been monopolizing it. Before the appearance of guardian academies and the Alliance, the Tower of Mages used to be the only one that had the right to teach magic. Being the one and only education facility for mages across the entire continent, it was natural for everyone with innate talent to flock to the Tower. The monopoly of magic consequently led to severe harmful consequences. It resulted in an unfair treatment of mages; old mages exploited the young and low-grade mages weren¡¯t even allowed the chance to learn due to the prevalent elitist mindset of the Tower. However, ever since the appearance of academies, the Tower started to lose its peerless and unrivaled fame. The Tower of Mages was full of professors exploiting their students¡¯ articles and their work, whereas the Academy was fair and equal to everyone. Besides, due to academies like the Merkarva Academy having more research materials than the Tower, it became moremonce for rising talents of magic to set their careers post-graduation to being academy professors. Thus, the Tower of Mages and the Academy became enemies because of their conflict of interest. ¡°If I remember correctly, wasn¡¯t there also a war against the Academy 80 years ago? I read the story of you, Lady¡­ I mean, Professor Josephine, from a textbook.¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­ It¡¯s an old story. And besides, I wasn¡¯t the only one there.¡± Josephine replied while ncing at the chairman. Lady Josephine was the living proof of history as well, but even she fell short whenpared to my master, who was like history itself. ¡°Tates Valtazar¡­ and I were also there.¡± Witch Hunt of the Old Faith. My master opposed them, which resulted in the Tower of Mages, who hated the Academy and viewed demi-humans as test subjects, to join the war on the side of the Old Faith. Master, plus Lady Josephine who used to be a young witch back then, and Tates Valtazar. The three of them fought together and crushed the Temr Knights of the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages. That was the historical event, which was often referred to as the war or revolution of witches. ¡°In any case, they will be visiting very shortly. Student Korin, could you exin why you had been wanting us to keep a close eye on the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages?¡± ¡°It¡¯s very straightforward, Professor. Both the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages have connections with Valtazar.¡± ¡°Does that mean¡­ the 2nd Princess is also¡­?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Miruam Elizabeth El Rath ¨C the 2nd Princess of the kingdom. Her biggest supporters were the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages. Many things had changed alreadypared to the original storyline. What kind of role would Princess Miru y in this Tower of Mages incident? Only time will tell. ¡°Chairman. Please leave the visitors from the Tower of Mages to me.¡± ¡°Do you have a n in mind?¡± ¡°Huhuhu¡­ I have e~verything nned out already.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°I wonder what his n is?¡± ¡°¡­Who knows.¡± Despite giving him permission, Josephine was still skeptical about Korin. ¡°Whatever the case, he is Tates Valtazar¡¯s disciple. We must keep an eye out for him.¡± ¡°I, don¡¯t think we¡­ need to?¡± ¡°Chairman?¡± For some reason, Erin¡¯s avatar showed a rather strange response. When Josephine turned around with questioning eyes, Chairman Eriu gave an empty cough for a change of mood. ¡°Let¡¯s leave it to him, and¡­ trust him, and his goodwill.¡± ¡°¡­?¡± Josephine was puzzled by Eriu, who seemed to have changed slightly during the holiday. **** There were 50 visitors from the Tower of Mages in total, but there were 3 named characters in the mix. ¡°Did I not tell you to bring 13-7?! Go right now and do note back before you find it!¡± ¡°M, my apologies, Master!¡± First off was the elder of the Red Magic Cult, Admelech. He was an old boomer and the leader of those using fire magic, who had an equally fiery personality and a short temper. ¡°When¡­ can we start using theboratory?¡± ¡°It will take some time, sir. Apparently it¡¯s because the demonic beast we requested was a semi-Unique Grade¡­¡± ¡°Then prepare the test subjects¡­ that I can use until then. Do not¡­ waste my time.¡± Elder Morushtan of the ck Magic Cult. As expected of the bigshot of ck magic and necromancy, he was a gloomy wizard wearing a robe. Thest one to watch out for was Adelene of Gold, the coborator of Tates Valtazar and one of the key characters of this incident, who was also a great mage who wouldter appear as a final boss along with Princess Miruam. But unlike the two aforementioned elders, the name ¡®Adelene¡¯ was nowhere to be found on the visitor list. In the first ce, Adelene was someone who covered their face with a mask so no one knew who it really was. It was certain that Adelene was someone among those 50 mages but¡­ ¡°Oi, little brat. When are you going toplete what Imanded you to do?¡± Before that, I had to care for this boomer of a man, Admelech. ¡°Ah, it will be here shortly. Alicia went running for it so she should be back very soon.¡± ¡°How pathetically slow¡­ If this was the Tower, you would have been expelled by now.¡± ¡°Haha¡­ I¡¯m sorry sir. What would you like to do for the tour? We should be able to book a spot at one of the amazing restaurants of the city, Creamcycle!¡± ¡°You carefree fool! We are researchers of the path of magic! Do you think we are here to visit restaurants? This is why the pathetic brats of the Academy are so¡­ Tch.¡± They were just here for a disguise and yet were pretending to be busy. Well, looking at them reading through a mountain of books and articles did make them seem like schrs who were actually here for research. ¡°Oi you! You little low-grade mage over there! Come here and write this form down! One mistake and you bet I will squeeze your mana heart dry!¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­ yes sir!¡± Lark, who was here to fill up his volunteer time, unfortunately became the ve of the mages of the Tower. Because of his internship at the Tower of Magesst year, he needed to leave a good impression of himself, hence his hard work. But¡­ unfortunately for him, the Tower of Mages was due to evaporate into nothing at the end of this scenario. Perhaps I should rmend Lark a better ce for employment. In any case, my job was to guide the visiting mages and look after their needs. They would be at the Academy during the day, and stay the night at a hotel somewhere inside the city. ¡°You little knight over there. Come here and move these experimental kits.¡± ¡°Yeah. What other role will you heavy knights serve apart from physicalbor like this?¡± It was nothing new but the guys from the Tower of Mages were insolent and rude. A guy that looked like a Grade 3 mage was trying to move me around with a single gesture. Did he know I was a Grade 1 Knight? He probably didn¡¯t, because these elitist mages of the Tower weren¡¯t interested in anything apart from their research. ¡°Oi, be careful! It¡¯s a valuable treasure that worthless trash like you will never be able to afford in your life!¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s not funny. This is amand given personally by Lord Admelech.¡± This fucker. Do I know you? Why was he talking down on me the whole time? The next evening. ¡°Uhp¡­ uhp uhp!¡± I kidnapped that mage. Chapter 123: - Mages of the Tower (1) ? Mages of the Tower (1) ? Late at night, people were chasing entertainment and pleasure. Bars opened up in the alleyways to receive customers; gangs patrolled the streets and men roamed the city looking for prostitutes, and the addition of one suspicious man in a robe was very inconspicuous. ¡°Wee.¡± The most notable gray zone and borderline of legal and illegal premises were the alleyway bars. ck Mage Manroji of the Tower of Mages, was someone who was well-versed with the works of the backstreets. ¡°Want a meal or a drink?¡± The master behind the bar weed him in a not-so-weing way, as he did to every other customer. Manroji looked around and found a staircase leading to the basement. ¡°Here for a game or two.¡± ¡°Follow the stairs.¡± They weren¡¯t even thinking about hiding it. In truth, everyone knew how bars and pubs in the alleys had gambling dens and prostitutes so there was no reason to really hide it. Heading downstairs, Manroji found a bustling crowd with people each enjoying their own games. Most of the games involved cards and dice for craps. ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± Hiding his grin, Manroji took his seat. The mage of the 4th floor of the Tower of Mages, Manroji, was a typical gambling addict, with such a severe addiction that he looked for gambling dens in whichever city he went to. The only thing that set him apart from other addicts was¡­ ¡®That guy has two pairs. And the other has a straight, huh.¡¯ Inside the dark underground den was a bat familiar stealthily hiding in a corner of the room. The familiar shared its vision with its owner, and provided Manroji with a bunch of information. ¡°Huhahaha¡­!¡± ¡°Aye shit. I lost again!¡± ¡°Damn it!¡± It was another win streak today, but too many wins in a row was bound to make others suspicious so Manroji suffered a few intentional losses all the while enjoying his victory. ¡°May I please join?¡± Right when the people were starting to leave, someone joined the table. It was a beautiful young woman. She had ashen bob hair and was wearing an alluring dress. Her bewitchingly beautiful smileplemented her confident charm. ¡°Huhu. Of course.¡± Seduced by the sudden beauty, he decided to drain the purse of thisdy. It was a strategy he used often, where he made the woman he was fond of into a beggar before asking for their body. And after an hour, he was able to seed in his n. ¡°A, are you really¡­ going to give all the money back?¡± ¡°Hell yeah I am. Huhu. So hurry up and take off that piece of cloth.¡± On one of the rooms on the second floor that was for amodation and prostitution, Manroji led the woman he turned into a beggar into the room. ¡°O, okay.¡± The woman became very submissive after losing dozens of gold coins at once. No matter how confident and attractive she was, she was the same as all the other girls that fell before his hands. Thanks to that, Manroji thought to himself that his bed won¡¯t be so cold during his stay in this city. ¡°B, but¡­ shouldn¡¯t we introduce ourselves at the very least?¡± ¡°Huhu, why bother? All you have to do is obedientlyy yourself in my arms.¡± ¡°No. Of course I need your name.¡± The atmosphere changed in the blink of an eye. The beauty, who had been shivering until then, suddenly looked at him with a chilling look in her eyes. ¡°Renya ire. Owner of this building.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Did we seem that easy to fool, mage?¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± ¨C m! Something struck him on the back of his head, and Manroji fell face-first into the cold floor of the room. ¡°Fuu~. Mages. Every single one of them.¡± ¡°Great work. Can you wear some proper clothes now?¡± ¡°Was it too stimting for someone underage, boss?¡± Manroji¡¯s consciousness faded away. Thest thing he heard was the voice of a confidentdy and¡­ a rather familiar voice of a young man. ¡­¡­¡­. ¡­¡­ ¡­ Aftering to himself, Manroji realized that he was in the basement, as well as the fact that someone was looking at him. ¡°W, who is it!? How dare you do this to me!¡± ¡°Hello, Mr. Wizard.¡± ¡°Huhp¡­!?¡± Spotting the owner of the voice, Manroji gasped for breath. In front of him was a man wearing a bizarre purple suit, and an entric clown-like makeup. He was looking straight into his eyes with a long smirk on his face. ¡°W, who are you!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°W, why aren¡¯t you saying anything!?¡± ¡°No, wait. It¡¯s been too long since I watched the movie so I can¡¯t think of a good phrase. Huu¡­ It¡¯s been 4 to 5 years since Ist watched it.¡± ¡°What¡­?¡± ¡°Shhhh¡­ It¡¯s just a joke. Don¡¯t fret.¡± Manroji immediately started shooting his mana at the clown. It was a low-grade magic, Fog of Darkness, that did not need any chant. Despite the low level of the spell, it should still be enough to kill a random alleyway thug. ¨C Hwaaak! But unlike his expectations, as soon as the fog touched the clown, light covered the darkness and pushed it away. The fog immediately disappeared into nothing as if it was cleansed. ¡°W, what¡­!?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even need the sun for a curse at this level.¡± Manroji realized that his magic wouldn¡¯t work on him. The opponent was too close for him to start chanting a medium-grade spell. It was incredibly obvious that a dagger would end up piercing through his throat the moment he welled up his mana. He was therefore frightened and rushed. ¡°Do you know who I am!? I am a mage from the 4th floor of the Tower of¡­!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care but what I do know, is that your life will be over if I catch you telling another lie.¡± The clown said with the bat-shaped familiar in his hand. ¡°Now, are you ready for a conversation, buddy?¡± **** ¡°Korin. It¡¯s this way. Come here!¡± I was in the downtown area of Merkarva City with Marie. It wasn¡¯t because of anything serious; we were out to have a look at a distributionpany affiliated under the Dunareff Family, which had officially created a branch in Merkarva. ¡ºDunareff Fresh Produce¡» It was apany that hadn¡¯t existed in Merkarva City in thest iteration. Looking back at it now, there had been a lot of changes in the campus as a result of Marie¡¯s confinement. One of them was that the academy cafeteria food had turned horrible and stayed horrible for a very long time. ¡°Senior. If I remember correctly, thepany that supplies the Academy with food was one of yourpanies right?¡± ¡°Hnn? Umm, I think so? I think my dad ¡®donates¡¯ them though.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Donation¡­? Seeing the dumbfounded look on my face, Marie chuckled and tapped me on my nose. ¡°I¡¯m joking! There are more than 3,000 people including the staff. Of course we can¡¯t give that much for free!¡± ¡°R, right? Plus, there¡¯s no way all those potatoes would be free¡­¡± ¡°Ah, for the potatoes, I¡¯m taking a small portion out of the amount we supply the kingdom with using my allowance to share with everyone.¡± ¡°¡­¡± By ¡®small¡¯, you mean the mountain of potatoes that are kept in a separate potato warehouse¡­ right? ¡°Anyway, so why are we going there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the opening rehearsal day for our store today, so I thought we could try out some sample food. There were a few things I wanted to give you as well!¡± ¡°I see.¡± The store that Marie led me to¡­ was pretty big. It was like a massive fruit and vegetable warehouse, and it also had a second floor along with a restaurant. It seemed that they had the intention of wholeheartedly jumping into the food industry using the abundant ingredients they bring directly from the south. But¡­ wasn¡¯t this like the tyranny of arge corporation, making all the nearby smallpanies go out of business? ¡°Can you give us this potato puree, some hash browns, potato cake, potato meat stew, potato gnhi, a potato croquette, fried potatoes, and a potato pie? Thank you!¡± As if this was what she had been wanting to show me, Marie asked for a bunch of dishes directly from the chef. ¡°Here you go, Korin! Don¡¯t hold back!¡± Therge table was full of potato dishes. I had a feeling that every type of food on the that involved having potatoes as the main ingredient was here. ¡°¡­I got to say, Senior, you really have an addiction to potatoes.¡± ¡°Hnn? Come on, Korin. There¡¯s no such thing as a potato addiction!¡± ¡°Be honest, Senior. How many potatoes do you steam every day?¡± ¡°A, around 80? But I share them with my friends!¡± ¡°How many times have you had a meal that did not include potatoes over the past year?¡± ¡°P, potatoes are¡­ like rice.¡± ¡°Look. I¡¯m telling you; you¡¯re addicted.¡± ¡°No! I am not addicted to potatoes! I love corn, sweet potatoes, and carrots just as much! I can quit potatoes if I want to!¡± Come on; we don¡¯t usually use the term, ¡®quit¡¯ for dishes, youngdy! Only people with an addiction to soft drinks, caffeine, or smoking would use that word. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°I am!¡± Seeing her confidence, I picked up a pinch of salt and flicked it on top of the steamed potatoes. White crystals fell like raindrops on the hot steaming skin of the potatoes, making them more tempting than ever. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± I deeply stared at her, as a bead of sweat slowly traveled down her forehead. Her golden eyes shivered and wandered between the potato and me. ¡°Can I eat this and quit potatoes from tomorrow?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry and just eat it.¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± Marie returned a wide smile and picked up one of the salted potatoes before breaking it into two and giving me a half. ¡°You will help me eat half of it, right Korin?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± We started indulging ourselves in the food and eventually began talking about the mages from the Tower. ¡°Oh right. Korin, you know the mages that visited our Academy from the Tower?¡± ¡°What about them?¡± ¡°You volunteered to guide them right? Apparently they were going to tell me to do it.¡± ¡°Hohh~¡± ording to the original storyline of the game, Marie was supposed to be confined in the basement of the Academy at this point in time. And plus, there was supposed to be research going on about ways to suppress her instinct as a vampire to help her recover from her primal instincts. That was probably why the Dunareff Family cut off their ties with the Academy in the original game. However, the Tower of Mages had a different opinion of Marie. She was an extremely precious and valuable Elder-level vampire. They saw big potential progress in the future of their magic studies by investigating her flesh and blood. As expected of those crazy wizards with no ethical and moral restrictions holding them back, they were eager to carry out human experiments as if they were nothing. ¡°Senior. I was going to tell you sometime soon, but¡­¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°The reason the Tower visited this time around, is probably because of you.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ B, because of me?¡± Marie looked puzzled for a while after hearing what I said, but it didn¡¯t take long for her to understand what I meant. She too was a genius mage with extraordinary talents, and knew just how valuable her flesh and blood were. ¡°¡­Why?¡± But even so, she was still doubtful and that was for valid reasons. ¡°It won¡¯t¡­ end well if they do something to me though?¡± Marie Dunareff. Even though calling her the princess of the Potato Empire was just a joke, it was still undeniable that she was from the family responsible for most of the continent¡¯s supply of food; the one with the most amount ofnd and the richest household of the entire kingdom. In the original storyline, the Dunareff family wasn¡¯t mentioned after the fall of Marie but she was currently still walking around just fine, with a better public perception of her than the game. One might therefore ask this question. ¡®Who would dare touch Marie Dunareff? For just some random experiments?¡¯ ¡°The Tower of Mages is one of the pawns of Tates Valtazar.¡± ¡°Tates¡­ Valtazar. That¡¯s the scary person that you are fighting against, right?¡± ¡°Yes. When the world gets destroyed by the Advent of Paradise, the authority and financial power of any of the current forces won¡¯t matter a single bit, so that¡¯s probably the belief pushing them forward.¡± That was one of the most frightening aspects of Valtazar and his forces. They were unhesitant and did not hold back regardless of what crazy things they had in store, because if things went ording to their n, civilization was going to be destroyed and recreated. New gods will descend unto the world along with paradise. ¡°I, I had no idea they were nning for something so scary¡­¡± Although I did mention briefly to my party members about the powerful and frightening forces of Valtazar, and how everything I did was to ruin their ns and defeat them, it was my first time providing details about their n. ¡°Valtazar¡¯s n is to collect all the Primal Rune letters¡­ open up the path to Tir na nog, prove his right as the supreme king with the 4 treasures and usurp the throne.¡± With the right to control paradise thates with it, his n was to release beasts of the Shadow Paradise into this world. ¡°A destruction of civilization and recreation. They¡¯re trying to wipe out everything in existence, and live in a new world led by new gods. Haa¡­ it¡¯s like the storyline of a trash fantasy novel.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s scary that they actually do have the power to pull that off.¡± Marie was sincere in listening to my story, and believed it instead of calling it absurd and groundless. ¡°Korin. The reason you told me this is¡­¡± ¡°I am going to use everything I can in order to save the world. How much do you trust me, Senior?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She responded to my question with a short silence, before standing up with a smile. From the other side of the table, she moved over to the chair next to mine, sat down and¡­ ¡°Korin. You don¡¯t have to ask me that every time.¡± Tap. The girl rested her head on my shoulder, and replied with a voice that was a lot calmer and resolute than usual. ¡°You see, Korin, I can do anything you want me to do. No matter what you tell me to do¡­ because you are my Korin.¡± ¡°Senior¡­¡± ¡°Hehe¡­ Actually, I¡¯m happy that there¡¯s something you need my help with. You¡¯re always so perfect with everything you do so¡­ I was a bit sad that there was not much I could help you with.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been of tremendous help until now already, Senior. During the King of Iron Mountain, the festival and the secretnds of druids. You helped out a ton.¡± ¡°I¡¯m greedy, you see. I want to be wayyyy ahead of everyone else.¡± Marie soon said with a determined look on her face, that made her look like she was ready to withstand any adversity. ¡°A, actually¡­ there¡¯s something I want to ask of you, Korin¡­¡± ¡°Do you have a request for me?¡± ¡°R, rather than a request, uhh¡­ a reward? Something like that¡­ or a motivation¡­¡± Motivation, huh. Of course, that was very important but¡­ was there something Marie needed my help for? ¡°Y, you seee¡­¡± Marie fidgeted with her fingers, rubbing them meaninglessly with a nk smile on her face. After fidgeting for who knows how long, she gulped and continued with a tone of voice that seemed to be that of a young girl. ¡°Once I am done with what you are asking me to do, Korin¡­ can I ask for something in return?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ of course. Like, you can even tell me right now.¡± ¡°T, that¡¯s a bit embarrassing and¡­! I¡­ I need some more time!¡± What was it, I wonder? That Marie was going to ask of me? ¡°Sure. There¡¯s nothing I can¡¯t do for you, Senior.¡± I was being serious. There was nothing I wasn¡¯t willing to do for her. ¡°Well then, Senior, can we go somewhere together?¡± ¡°Uunn?¡± Marie tilted her head like an adorable child. **** I took her and headed to the Happiness Hotel which was still in my possession. This hotel, which had been built especially for the festival, was still operating as a normal hotel. Even though I entrusted the operation and maintenance of the building to Renya, the executive of the intelligence guild, I was still using this ce as my hideout. ¡°K, Kokokokokorin? W, what does this mean?¡± ¡°Sorry? What was that at the end?¡± For some reason, Marie was trembling like crazy. She was very fidgety and constantly rubbed her hands, and just couldn¡¯t stay still. ¡°I, I see¡­ Maybe I¡­ d, don¡¯t even need to ask for it?¡± ¡°We have to go down to the basement.¡± ¡°Umm, basement? Uhh, wouldn¡¯t it be¡­ better to do it somewhere brighter?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°N, nothing! You do what you want to do, Korin! I, I¡¯m okay with anything!¡± Marie was constantly saying some random things that I couldn¡¯t understand. She was having trouble walking down, so I grabbed her by the hand and headed down the basement. The basement of the hotel was used not for guests but as a storeroom. Even when we were first nning out the structure of the hotel, I had designed this part of the building with certain uses in mind, and made sure it was as secure as possible. ¡°It¡¯s right here.¡± ¡°H, huu, huu¡­¡± Was she bad with dark ces? I led Marie, who seemed extremely nervous, and walked into one of the dark rooms of the basement. ¡°H, here, huh. I, I see¡­ the dormitory walls are thin so that¡¯s why¡­ W, where¡¯s the bed¡­ huh?¡± As soon as we opened the door, Marie stopped her feet without even taking another step forward. That was understandable though, because in the middle of the room was the ck mage Manroji, whom I had kidnapped just yesterday. ¡°I will leave it to you, Senior.¡± ¡°K, Korin?¡± Holding onto the shoulders of the nervous Marie, I continued. ¡°Please turn him into a vampire.¡± ¨C Smirk. Although there was no mirror in the room, I had a feeling that my smile must have appeared quite evil. Chapter 124: - Mages of the Tower (2) ? Mages of the Tower (2) ? ¡°Where is Manroji¡­?¡± Elder Morushtan, the leader of the ck Cult, which was one of the 9 factions of the Tower of Mages, asked once again about the whereabouts of his disciple who hadn¡¯t returned for thest 2 days. ¡°Apologies, Elder Morushtan¡­ We have yet to find¡­ Brother Manroji.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I, I believe¡­ he must be wandering around several gambling dens. It¡¯smon for him to get drunk in gambling dens and spend several days and nights there.¡± Manroji was one of the disciples of Morushtan. He was from the 4th floor out of 8 floors, which implied that he was a rtively skilled disciple. It was hard to believe that something would have happened to him in one of the backstreet gambling dens so¡­ logically, it was safe to assume that he was simply indulging in the pleasure of entertainment. However, there was another possibility in mind. It could be that¡­ Manroji was in fact Adelene the Golden Mage. Since Adelene had the ability to change their face as they wanted, it was possible that he or she had switched into one of the original members of the Tower to join the group. The rumored lord of the Tower of Mages, Lord Adelene. Adelene was someone who received orders directly from the Divinity of Light and Ard Ri1TLN: Ard Ri ¨C High King of Irnd of Usurpation, Tates Valtazar. Even this n to acquire the vampire was based on themand given to Adelene by Ard Ri, and even though Elder Morushtan and Elder Admelech had roughly heard about the ¡®Vampire Lord¡¯ n, they hadn¡¯t heard anything about the specific details of the strategy. If his disciple Manroji was in fact the disguised version of Adelene, it could be that Adelene was on the move already. ¡°Send Rellin. Find out where Manroji is.¡± ¡°Understood, Elder Morushtan.¡± He still deemed it necessary to look into it, so Morushtan gave orders to his disciples before focusing back on the materials of the Great Library. It wasn¡¯t the time to move just yet. The n this time around was an enormous one. The acquisition of the vampire, Marie Dunareff¡­ and the assassination of Chairman Eriu Casarr. A n this big was taxing even for the Tower of Mages, so they had to aim for the best opportunity possible. ¡°Wow. Ren. This ce is hugee.¡± ¡°Stop creating a fuss. I told you you have to be quiet in the library.¡± ¡°Hing¡­ You¡¯re always so mean to me.¡± That was when Morushtan the ck mage caught sight of freshmen siblings who had entered the library to prepare for their assessment. ¡°¡­Beastmen.¡± They were the ones that the princess being sponsored by the Tower detested the most. And besides¡­ they were incredibly tenacious so they were the best demi-humans for experiments. ¡°You.¡± ¡°Yes, Elder Morushtan.¡± ¡°Look into those brats over there.¡± Morushtan gazed deeply at the siblings with a spooky pair of eyes. His greedy eyes stayed on the siblings for a very long time. **** In the training room, I was training with Alicia. ¡°Senior. I¡¯m a new student, called Rose.¡± ¡°Yo. Miss Rose. What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Actually, there was a problem while I was creating the blueprint of my weapon¡­¡± During the previous prac lesson at the Hunting Grounds, I gave out magic stones to the 400 new students with each of them being medium-high-grade magic stones above Grade 3. I told them to use those to create their weapons and had also told them toe looking for me whenever a problem popped up during the process. ¡°Mr. Korin? What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Nothing. One of our juniors came looking for me. Rest up for now.¡± ¡°Okayy~¡± Alicia, who was drenched in sweat, used the towel next to her to wipe her face and started chugging her bottle of water. ¡°Did I¡­ interrupt you guys?¡± ¡°Huh? Nah. Don¡¯t worry about it. What¡¯s the problem?¡± ¡°So the thing is, the magic circuit connecting this de to this ce here¡­¡± I was a veteran gamer who had crafted thousands if not tens of thousands of weapons in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. I knew by heart which materials had to be used and how they had to bebined to create the best and most efficient result. Using what I knew, I wholeheartedly gave advice to my junior, and although she didn¡¯t understand everything I said, she diligently took note and absorbed everything I told her. ¡°That should be enough. Instead of Ferghus¡­ go to old man Hollgrehenn. That bloke¡¯s better at making greatswords.¡± ¡°Aht. Thank you so much!¡± ¡°Show it to me when it¡¯s done. I want to have a look at it too.¡± ¡°Okay! Thank you very much, senior!¡± Rose walked away after that. With her eyes on her, Alicia asked while tidying up her loosened hair. ¡°That was the third person today. Does it not bother you?¡± ¡°If a few pieces of advice increase those young and innocent juniors¡¯ chance of survival, I can do it all day.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Nothing. It just feels like I¡¯m suffering a loss.¡± ¡°Is it because we have to stop our training every time? I¡¯m sorry. I already told them I¡¯m usually at the training rooms during this time of the day.¡± ¡°¡­Yes. That. Well, let¡¯s just say that.¡± What did she mean by that? ¡°Oh right, Mr. Korin. You know the culture course, ¡ºLove and War¡». Are you done with the assignment next week?¡± ¡°Haah~ that one huh.¡± Love and War was one of the courses I applied for for my cultural studies course for the 1st Semester. It was a 2-hour course worth 2 Units of Work that was rted to theatrical ys, so I thought it would be an easy course that was just about watching ys and writing reports but¡­ ¡°Seriously, there are too many things they want us to do. We have to watch the y, write reports, discuss¡­ and for thest assessment, we even have to act out the y in a group right?¡± ¡°I, isn¡¯t it good? There are a lot of new things I¡¯m experiencing and a lot of things to think about¡­¡± ¡°Since you mentioned it, how about we stop training here for today and work on the assignment at a cafe?¡± ¡°S, shall we? I can buy the coffee!¡± We headed straight to one of the cafes nearby. The campus cafes had desserts and pastries that were baked every day for the students, and were always bustling with people that wanted to study there. Back when I was going to a university in Korea, I couldn¡¯t understand why people would ever want to study at cafes because I only went to the gym, but after reaching my 6th year at the Academy, I finally realized why. There were just too many distractions at home. Doing this and that, watching TV and going on theputer¡­ There was also the so-called waste-of-life, SNS, which proved how true the statement was when you lie on the bed scrolling down the feed. On the other hand, cafes and study rooms had less interruptions. The chairs weren¡¯tfortable, but that was all the more the reason why it was easier to focus on studying. Of course, it depended on the person but at least it worked for me. ¡°In the end, this is just cheating propaganda in the disguise of a fateful romance theme.¡± ¡°But the female lead was from an unlucky family, and her husband was also very cruel to her.¡± ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate, I agree. And even though the husband was by no means a good person, that doesn¡¯t justify cheating.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ that¡¯s true but¡­¡± ¡°The story itself was quite romantic, and the plot made sense but in the end, it¡¯s just a nice way to package something that¡¯s morally wrong.¡± I talked about the fundamental issues but Alicia showed an emotional response. It seemed that that y about cheating had left a big impression on her. ¡°W, what if it¡¯s you!? Do you think you wouldn¡¯t have done the same, Mr. Korin?!¡± ¡°Huh? Wait, why are you bringing me up?¡± ¡°Y, you need to put yourself in the shoes of the main characters. R, right. Let¡¯s say you and my sister are married couples.¡± ¡°Why are you bringing Miss Lunia into the discussion now?¡± ¡°You almost got engaged to her!¡± ¡°I told you beforehand that it was a fake one.¡± ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s just a what-if!¡± With a serious look in her eyes, Alicia put a piece of bread and coffee on either side, andbeled them each as me and Lunia. ¡°Let¡¯s say Sister and brother-inw are in, you know? A, umm¡­ in a state of ennui2a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from ack of upation or excitement? Something like that.¡± ¡°B, brother-inw?¡± ¡°What if I seduce you in a situation like that?¡± ¡°¡­Are you going to?¡± ¡°Yes! ¡­¡­¡­A, ah, I mean, let¡¯s just say I do.¡± She was so confident with that shout, that it took me aback. This was just a what-if, right? ¡­Right? ¡°Let¡¯s say there is a young, beautiful, and inexperienced sister-inw who loves you¡­¡± Alicia sat herself down next to me, before slowly gazing up and looking straight into my eyes. ¡°Brother-inw¡­ I, love you.¡± Her clear blue eyes looked deeply into my eyes. It was rather sensuous and¡­ enchanting. Her slightly flushed cheeks appeared like red flower petals that stimted the heart. ¡°W, what will you do if I do that?¡± ¡°I think I will just¡­ turn you down like any other person.¡± ¡°D, do I have no charm?!¡± ¡°Like, that¡¯s not what I mean¡­¡± I was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. Agreeing to cheat was a moral problem whereas saying no was the same as telling a young girl that she was not attractive. Did I have to lie here to maintain a better social rtionship¡­? ¡°Wait.¡± ¡°Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s swap the people around. Let¡¯s say you and I are married, and Miss Lunia is seducing me. O, of course, I don¡¯t think Miss Lunia would seduce her brother-inw but¡­¡± ¡°I, I think she would.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Nothing! A, anyway, you mean Mr. Korin and I are¡­ married, right?¡± Alicia twirled her fingers around in embarrassment. Was she an elementary school kid or what¡­? ¡°I guess¡­ so?¡± ¡°H, how many kids do we have?¡¯ ¡°Kids? Umm¡­ I¡¯d say one or two like a normal family?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not enough! Of course it needs to be more than 12!¡± ¡°¡­Is that even possible?¡± Even having four triplets in a row is not going to be enough for that though? ¡°I, it¡¯s just a figure of speech. It¡¯s better to have as many kids as possible.¡± In response, my eyes subconsciously went down to her belly. Honestly, she was so thin that it seemed risky to even give birth to a twin but¡­ ¡°Anyway. Let¡¯s say you¡¯re my wife, and say Miss Lunia seduces me in that situation. Are you okay with that?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡­¡± ¡°Why are you even thinking about this?!¡± ¡°Umm¡­ B, but, Sister loves you right?¡± ¡°Huh? If she is willing to cheat¡­ I guess so?¡± ¡°It¡¯s sad¡­ to not end up with the person you love, right¡­¡± Is that how it is? Wasn¡¯t she way too good at putting herself in the shoes of someone else? Shouldn¡¯t she be more selfish, or rather, havemon sense¡­? ¡°Mhmm¡­! If she really loves Mr. Korin! I think I¡¯ll be okay with that!¡± ¡°I¡¯m actually starting to be scared of your view on marriage¡­¡± ¡°But if I call that bad, then¡­ that¡¯s the same as denying my own birth.¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± I¡­ didn¡¯t realize that was what she was thinking about. It felt like I had stepped on a mine, and I felt bad for her. ¡°Alicia, how you were born¡­ is not your fault.¡± ¡°¡­I know. So Mr. Korin.¡± She shyly scratched the back of my hand with her fingers in a circle, as if signaling that she would leave it to me. ¡°Please love your illegitimate children just as you would for your other kids.¡± Why¡­ was she saying that as if it was a given that I would cheat? She looked so serious, however, that I could not raise any counterarguments. ¡°Of course it would be great if everyone can live in harmony! We can create a big family with a big house!¡± Wait, what? Did that mean I could have more wives if I marry Alicia? It felt wrong, but I couldn¡¯t tell her it was wrong. If I did, it would be me talking smack about her family¡­ ¡°Hehe. That¡¯s actually not bad. Just thirteen each and it would be at least twenty-six!¡± In the end, I could not point out what was wrong with her rather-twisted view of family. **** Rellin was a disciple from the 3rd floor of the Tower among the ck magic cult. ¡°Hah, shit¡­ Manroji this baldy, where did he go off to?¡± Since she was alone, Rellin began bad-mouthing Manroji, who was much older than herself. Being near the bottom of the group that was visiting the Academy, she could not escape from having to do these chores. ¡°That baldy? Who knows? He did win a lot of money though.¡± ¡°There were a few who thought he was cheating.¡± As usual, Manroji seemed to have gone through various gambling dens in the alleyway to gamble. ¡°Haah¡­¡± And yet he suddenly disappeared. There were all sorts of contrasting information about how he was whenst seen. Some said he left the den dead drunk, while some said that he went out with several prostitutes next to him. The mages of the Tower were skilled with magic, but were terrible at gathering information. Actually, that was natural because they spent most of their time sitting on desks. ¡°Damn that baldhead. Damn that Morushtan. I didn¡¯t enter the Tower to do things like this¡­¡± The probationary period at the Tower of Mages was very long andplex. It took a very long time for anyone to be able to get taught anything by the old elders of the Tower, because of all the chores that went by the name of ¡®probationary period¡¯. Unlike the Academy where it was a master-to-student rtionship, it was closer to apprenticeship and they didn¡¯t teach magic very often. ¡°Just you wait. As soon as this is over, I¡¯m moving straight to the Red Cult. There, I just have to please that one old guy¡­¡± Even though Rellin was at the bottom of the rank, she had a decent appearance. Even the old mages, who talked about pride and lofty mindsets of mages, lost themselves when she took off her robe and showed them her thighs. Frustrated from all the vague pieces of information, Rellin grumbled before going to a decent bar nearby. It was a lot more polished and refined than the bar Manroji went to for gambling. Her opinion was that the intelligent mages had to use ces like this and inwardly trash-talked the filthy baldy one more time. ¡°Are you here by yourself?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± That was when someone sat down next to her, and Rellin immediately recognized who he was. ¡°You¡¯re¡­¡± He was the guide assigned by the Academy. She did not know the name of lowly knights, but still recognized his face. ¡°I¡¯m Korin Lork. Miss Rellin.¡± ¡°¡­Why is an underage student here in the bar?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a ce run by an acquaintance of mine.¡± Instead of rashly taking his seat next to her, he leaned on the table and gazed at her. ¡°Can I buy you a drink?¡± ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡± ¡°Uncle Paul. Two martinis here, thanks.¡± Despite her saying no, Korin bought drinks before taking his seat next to her. Naturally, Rellin also turned towards him. ¡°Aren¡¯t you too young to throw out pickup lines?¡± ¡°Come on~. You are a mage. Think logically.¡± ¡°¡­Logically about what?¡± ¡°It¡¯s normal for bees toe looking for a flower.¡± ¡°Bees? A flower? Huhaha¡­!¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s a pickup line. We haven¡¯t even started yet.¡± Rellin wasn¡¯t displeased by the things this youngster was doing to her. Back at the Tower of Mages, she had to spend all of her time trying to please the old men. She was at the bare bottom, and had to write dozens of papers and submit a report even when she needed just a single orphan girl to use for her experiments. Therefore, she was obviously rather pleased by this young boy who was trying to seduce her with a deep gaze and a sweet voice. ¡®Well. At least he¡¯s a lot better than that old Zollin.¡¯ Rellin thought about the old mage she had been seducing in order to be a secretary of a professor-level mage straight after moving to the Red Cult, and decided to enjoy this one-off asion. ¡°Ah. The drinks are here.¡± Korin received the sses from the bartender and gave one to Rellin. ¡°That¡¯s a surprise, actually. Do mages from the Tower also drink?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a stereotype. We in fact tend to be very heavy drinkers.¡± ¡°There¡¯s also the stereotype that you are all intelligent elites. Is that also wrong?¡± ¡°That one¡¯s not wrong.¡± ¡°Haha. What about experiments? The Tower is famous for experiments and research, right? Don¡¯t you make like horned rabbits and stuff?¡± ¡°Well~. Rabbits are quite good for experiments. And that¡¯s where the misinformationes from.¡± ¡°Can you tell me a recent experiment or something that you did? Please? My friend wants to enter the Tower very soon, and I have a lot of questions.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°What a yer. Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°¡­What do you mean?¡± Using the bathroom as an excuse, I was taking a short break when Alicia looked at me with a disapproving light in her eyes. ¡°Where in the world did you learn all that from?¡± ¡°Learn what?¡± ¡°Hitting on girls!¡± Ah~. That was a misunderstanding. Well, it was true that I approached her to hit on her, but it was incorrect to say that I was a yer because of that. ¡°Listen. There¡¯s no one who hates free drinks, is there?¡± ¡°¡­I guess so?¡± No one hated free stuff, and even those who initially say no were no exceptions. ¡°And besides, people like themselves being the topic of the conversation.¡± ¡°¡­Is that why you didn¡¯t say anything about yourself, Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Yeah. All you have to do is be a good listener to what the other person is saying.¡± Wow. You¡¯re great~! You¡¯re such an interesting person~. Making the other person the topic of the conversation was an easy way to put them in a good mood. ¡°I think you¡¯re using that way too well to hit on girls¡­¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Nothing. Just go finish what you have to do.¡± ¡°Alright. Wait here. I will be back shortly.¡± For some reason, I could feel a sharp re on my back, but I had to finish hitting on Rellin. It was my first time seducing someone, but I had a feeling that it was turning out quite well. ¡°Rellin. Sorry for the wai¡­¡± ¡°Wow~. Look at you. Look at the color of your lips. You are so pretty. Which lipstick do you use?¡± When I came back to Rellin¡¯s table, I found out that there was a beautifuldy next to her. She had twinkling pinkish hair, emerald-colored eyes, and a bright smile that enlivened up the dark bar with her radiant presence. ¡°I¡¯m Este. What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°R, Rellin¡­¡± Estelle Hadassa El Rath. The 1st Princess of this kingdom and the Saintess of the New Faith. ¡°Do you mind me buying you a drink?¡± Why the heck are you here, noona?? Footnotes:
  • 1TLN: Ard Ri ¨C High King of Irnd
  • 2a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from ack of upation or excitement
Chapter 125: - Mages of the Tower (3) ? Mages of the Tower (3) ? Estelle Hadassa El Rath. The 1st Princess ¨C one who was loved by the gods; the all-powerful Saintess. She was definitely on the side of the good even in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan ?, and was a nice person in general. The problem, however, was in her personality. She was a full-on hedonist1A hedonistic person ismitted to seeking sensual pleasur chasing after entertainment and was nonchnt in everything it was that she did despite being at high status. ¡°Wow. You¡¯re turning twenty-two this year? That¡¯s the same as me. Do you want to y together through the night with this Sister?¡± ¡°S, sure.¡± When Estelle¡¯s long and thin fingers grazed past her cheeks, Rellin was frozen stiff with her cheeks flushed in deep red. She was lost for words at the face of an overwhelming beauty. ¡°Now now, let¡¯s go back to drinking. Cheers~¡± ¡°C, cheers~¡± Naturally, Estelle urged her to drink. ¡°Great job. Ohhh~ You¡¯re an amazing drinker~! Gooo~!¡± Rellin chugged all the drinks that Estelle was giving her without an end. She was focused and flinched from every single movement of Estelle¡¯s fingers like a marite. But to be fair, that was nothing strange considering how Estelle¡¯s appearance was enough to chant women let alone men. Although Princess Miruam was also the type to give off a sensual charm, Estelle was by no means inferior when it came to the ability to captivate people. She simply had a different charm to her. Miru was like an innate venomous serpent while Estelle was like a capybara that bewitched everyone nearby. ¡°Ah, t, thank you.¡± Even during a casual clink of sses, Rellin flinched when her fingers came in slight contact with Estelle¡¯s. It didn¡¯t even look like Estelle was intentionally doing it, which suggested that she must be in possession of the inborn gifts of a yer. In any case, the question was why the saintess was here in the first ce. ncing around, I noticed some people whose presence had melted into the shadow. ¡®Raven Squad of the Saintess.¡¯ They were the squad allocated by the New Faith to the Saintess in spite of her not needing the likes of guards. The fact that they were here meant¡­ ¡®Highly likely it¡¯s rted to demi-human discrimination.¡¯ The Saintess must be either nning on delving into the inhumane crimes of Rellin the individual, or the acts of her superiors. ¡®But still, how can they even let the Saintess carry out a honey trap herself¡­?¡¯ There probably wasn¡¯t a big reason behind why she was doing it herself. It was probably because she was confident, bored, and most importantly¡­ ¡°Am I pretty?¡± ¡°U, umm¡­ Yes. Y, you are.¡± ¡°Right? It¡¯s obvious but I¡¯m d you know!¡± Estelle¡­ There was no way that she, the personification of narcissism, would miss out on an opportunity to step up and show off. She was a good person¡­ She¡¯s a good person but¡­ ¡ºDo you know, Knight Korin? You see those men over there? They are all staring at you with envy in their eyes. How gorgeous.¡» ¡°Ugh. I, can¡¯t¡­ drink anymoreee¡­¡± Before long, Rellin turned semi-unconscious. It was because she drank a lot more than a ss or two¡­ with my help as well, of course. As soon as she lost consciousness, the Raven agents nearby who had been under the disguise of normal civilians walked up simultaneously. ¡°Junior. You are a good drinker, aren¡¯t you? Aren¡¯t you still underage though?¡± ¡°I hope you let that slip with your benevolence, beautiful Big Sister.¡± ¡°Fufu. Junior Korin, you are also very handsome. Not as much as me though.¡± ¡°Of course of course~¡± Tap tap. I tapped on the table as Alicia walked up from a corner of the bar. Consequently, Estelle and our group stood face-to-face in confrontation. ¡°I was working on it first,¡± I said. ¡°But I was the one who got her drunk.¡± ¡°Even before you came, Saintess, I was already going on the right track.¡± ¡°I had my eyes on her for a week.¡± ¡°Mine was for a whole year.¡± ¡°It¡¯s thanks to my beautiful appearance that this woman drank herself to death, you know?¡± ¡°Hohh~. Don¡¯t you think you are being way too overconfident with your appearance? Sure, appearance is important but you can¡¯t ignore the chatter. The reason this woman continued drinking is because I had been entertaining her ears.¡± ¡°Would that be as good as entertaining her eyes though? There¡¯s even an essay saying that looking at beauties puts people in a good mood.¡± Unable to tolerate the immature battle happening between me and Estelle, one of the Raven agents walked up to me. ¡°Young man. How dare you be so disrespectful to the Saintess.¡± As soon as he started reaching his hand out towards me¡­ ¡°Alicia.¡± Alicia grabbed onto his arm, and the superhuman grip of a knight pressured the agent. ¡°Kuht¡­!¡± As expected of people that were primarily skilled at reconnaissance, they weren¡¯t very strong when it came to pure power. It was because she ced more importance in their espionage skills than their ability to fight when looking for agents. ¡°Looks like there¡¯s only a few on your side that are on the level of a knight¡­ Can you handle it? We have two Grade 1 Knights on our side.¡± Even though it was only Alicia and me, the two of us were still much stronger than what even an elite squad of knights could deal with, let alone espionage agents. ¡°I, is this okay, Mr. Korin? She¡¯s still the Saintess¡­ Princess.¡± ¡°Stick to one title. And you¡¯re right ¨C it¡¯s not okay.¡± Our opponent was the woman with the greatest symbolic significance in the entire kingdom. She was the Saintess with the greatest amount of authority in the religious sector, as well as one of the potential inheritors to the throne. Simply put, she was the most prominent figure of this entire kingdom. ¡°Let¡¯s go somewhere else first.¡± I handed Rellin over to the Ravens and left the bar with Estelle. **** For security purposes, I had to wear a blindfold in the middle but I noticed where we were headed from the humidity in the air and the ground, as well as the distinct scent of dust. ¡°Let him see.¡± A seductive voice echoed across. Soon, the blindfold covering my eyes was taken off, revealing Estelle who was wearing a wide smile on her face with the Ravens in the background. ¡°Sorry about covering your eyes. It¡¯s a necessary procedure for security.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. It is, after all, the headquarters of the secret espionage agents of the New Faith, so I do understand the necessity.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Everyone in the room showed some kind of reaction. Whether big or small, they all seemed quite shocked. ¡°How did you¡­!¡± ¡°Just something I gathered from the word on the streets. The story about a secret organization that protects demi-humans and punishes those that do inhumane things to them¡­ is actually quite a well-known story in the backstreets.¡± Even though it was something I knew from the game, it was still true that there were some rumors regarding it. Linking that to the New Faith and the Saintess would have required some level of creative imagination though. ¡°Junior. Aren¡¯t you showing off too much of what you know? In this world, there are some evil people that kill others to make sure they stay silent. You know that, right?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you would be one of them though, Saintess.¡± ¡°Hehe. You are right, but¡­¡± The amicable smile on her face slowly started to turn stiff. Even with some resemnce of a smile still remaining on her face, she was still able to exert a lot of pressure with her charisma. In turn, that proved how the Saintess hadn¡¯t been leading an innocent and uneventful life. ¡°You might receive some level of pressure.¡± The Raven agents ced their hands on their weapons behind her back. Considering how this was their headquarters, it was safe to assume that there would be some knights and mages in here. ¡°There seems to be a misunderstanding but¡­ I don¡¯t need Alicia to deal with a group of this level.¡± ¡°How insolent¡­¡± It was a man behind the Saintess who reacted to my provocative statement. He was the vice captain of the Ravens, and the practical leader of thebatants of the organization, Morkai. Hisbat prowess was at the level of a Grade 1 Knight. ¡°You damn brat.¡± ¡°Stop there, Vice Captain Morkai. He¡¯s right.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Morkai seemed frustrated but regardless, he immediately stepped back from a single sentence from Estelle. He had an absolute degree of loyalty to her and did not dare try to refute her words. As suspected, these guys were aware that I was in possession of the Sun. ¡°Let¡¯s work together.¡± ¡°Together?¡± ¡°By revealing our goals and working in alignment for this matter.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Estelle was deep in thought about the suggestion. She was probably hesitant about revealing the confidential information, so I decided to make it easier for her. ¡°Elder Morushtan. I can give you evidence about his illegal demi-human experiments.¡± ¡°¡°¡­¡­!!¡±¡± The Saintess as well as the agents behind her were astonished by the im. It was something that appeared in the game whenpleting the side quests of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan ?. The ones that were predominantly carrying out inhumane human experiments were those from the ck Cult, and there were numerous horrible crimes that had beenmitted by their leader, Elder Morushtan. And I knew the location of a secretboratory, which had been shut down after the rampage of a test subject. ¡°Alright. Then in return¡­¡± ¡°Vige Antec to the Northeast ¨C inside the privatend in the mountain behind it is a shed. It¡¯s quite close to the Tower of Mages.¡± ¡°¡­Why are you telling me this without any conditions?¡± ¡°I already told you that I want us to work together.¡± ¡°What if I just go back on the deal without doing anything back in return?¡± ¡°Are you going to?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She was lost for words as if I had seen right through her. Right ¨C I knew and had ample trust in her honesty and goodness. ¡°Sure. Then, Junior. What do you want?¡± ¡°My goal is the fall of every wizard from the Tower that is visiting us on this asion. I want their dantians to be controlled and them to turn into convicts.¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± ¡°First off, I will hand you Elder Morushtan, but as for the rest¡­ I will never forgive them. I¡¯ll make them pay for what they did forever.¡± ¡°¡­What have they done apart from those experiments?¡± ¡°The current Tower is mostly a corrupt pithole of devils. Except for the ones at the very bottom, they are all mostly evil. Besides, every mage at the level of an elder as well as their direct disciples are all horrendous devils.¡± The reason why the Tower of Mages was in coboration with Tates Valtazar was simple and exactly the same as the Old Faith. Their idea was that the cleansing of humanity did not matter in the slightest, whenpared to the restoration of their past glory and power. With the Advent of Paradise, they will gain divinity there, live an eternal life and reign over the new humans ¨C that was their goal. They were horrible devils that were even worse off than traitors who sold their own mothends. ¡°Those wretched devils are after the people around me. ¡®Do not let your eyes seepassion. Life for life¡ª¡¯.¡± ¡°¡®And eyes for eyes.¡¯ The golden rule of scripture.¡± ¡°I will punish them with not a single pound added or subtracted to their due sentence.¡± ¡°What a reassuring set of words.¡± Estelle epted my suggestion with a wide smile on her face. ¡°Sure. So that was your first condition. What¡¯s your second?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s work together from now on. For anything unrted to politics, let me help you wholeheartedly in whatever it is that you do, Saintess.¡± Most of the things that she did were good things, which mostly revolved around saving the weak and punishing the evil. In other words, that was bound to also be linked to my Precept and would let me gather quest rewards. And most of all, it would also allow me to intervene in dreary events that weren¡¯t mentioned in the main quests and side quests of the game. ¡°In return, please pray for me. Regrly for¡­ let¡¯s say, at least 2 years.¡± ¡°Hnn~. Looks like you know about my ability already?¡± Of course I did. Her ability was the manifestation of miracles from prayers. It was on apletely different scale to normal religious prayers. The prayers of the Saintess, who was directly linked to the divinity, had the power to twist reality. As the strongest buffer and the key character of the scenario in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan ?, Estelle¡¯s ability was quite literally ¡®almighty¡¯. Even the powerful sacred artifact that had the power to suppress Hua Ran the Unique Grade living jiangshi, was only possible because of her prayers. ¡°Alright. As long as I have enough divine energy, I will pray for you, Junior. We live under the same roof so it shouldn¡¯t even be that hard anyway.¡± Perfect. This was incredible ¨C even better than any other reward I could have hoped for. In the original game, the prayers of the Saintess were only sporadically essible at the northern expedition after the 7th Arc, where the power bnce started to tilt heavily in the enemy¡¯s favor. If I could be under the constant effect of that miraculous buff which used to be only allowed in certain arcs because of the duration and distance issues, it was pretty much no different from obtaining several hidden pieces. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the details of the prayerster. As for that mage¡­¡± ¡°Let me deal with her. As for you, Saintess, I rmend you look into the location I mentioned for starters. You¡¯ll be able to find some meaningful results immediately.¡± ¡°¡®Noona¡¯,¡± the Saintess suddenly said. ¡°¡­Sorry?¡± ¡°Call me ¡®noona¡¯. Dongsaeng2Dongsaeng = Literally means younger sibling. Sometimes used by slightly older people to refer to those younger than them. It¡¯s a rather intimate title..¡± ¡°Like, how would I dare call the Saintess/Princess by such a¡­¡± ¡°Ehem! It¡¯s an order!¡± Estelle demanded a handshake with a bright smile on her face. For some reason, it was a lot earlier than thest iteration¡­ Well, to be fair, the princesses entering the Academy in the second year was already a significant change. ¡°Knn¡­¡± While stealing nces at the Ravens that were ring at me with bloodshot eyes from behind Estelle, I held onto her hand with much difficulty. Suddenly, Estelle responded by grabbing my hand with both of hers. Her ticklish voice then squiggled its way into my ears. ¡°Don¡¯t you think we willst a verryyyyyyy long time together? Dongsaeng?¡± Her cunning face was overflowing with interest and goodwill for me. **** Rellin wasn¡¯ting back. After noticing the disappearance of Rellin, who had gone to investigate the disappearance of Manroji, Morushtan noticed that something strange was going on. ¡°Call¡­ Lord Admelech.¡± Someone had their eyes set on them. Morushtan and Admelech summoned all the mages of the Red Cult. After a while, the amodation room that was holding every mage of the Tower with a soundproof spell cast around the room was echoing with a deafening shout. ¡°What do you mean Rellin was kidnapped!!?¡± ¨C Kwang! Professor Zollin shouted while smacking the table. ¡°The mages of the ck Cult were the ones that were kidnapped, so why do you seem so mad, Professor Zollin?¡± ¡°H, mhmm¡­! D, do we not all belong to the same Tower though?¡± They looked at Professor Zollin, who was one of the top mages of the Red Cult, with curiosity in their eyes. ¡°Anyways, Rellin went missing in addition to Manroji. We have no proof as of yet, but Elder Morushtan is concerned that this might lead to a greater harm to us.¡± One of the higher grade mages of the ck Cult was speaking in the stead of Elder Morushtan when Elder Admelech of the Red Cult shouted after mming the table. ¡°Hmph! Who are these fearless ruffians that dare touch the pilgrims of the path of magic?! Besides, how shameful is it that some of us have been done in by those thugs?!¡± Elder Admelech continued while gazing at Morushtan with his obstinate eyes. ¡°This is concerning your disciples, Elder Morushtan. Deal with it as soon as possible and make sure it does not affect our ns.¡± ¡°¡­I know.¡± Morushtan did not raise any objections or ask Admelech for help. Although they were all from the same Tower of Mages, they had a stronger sense of belonging to each of their cults, instead of the Tower. ¡°B, but Master. Shouldn¡¯t we give them a hand and help the ck Cult out?¡± ¡°Shut up, you stupid fool. Have you forgotten what we had to do? We must seal the Dimensional Witch and suppress the vampire. Do you have any idea on how many things we have on our hands to fulfill those goals!?¡± ¡°S, sorry sir.¡± Hearing his shout, Zollin immediately stepped back with cold beads of sweat traveling down his face. Even though he was a direct disciple of his, he couldn¡¯t dare go against Admelech¡¯smand because the orders and decisions of one¡¯s master were unconditional in the Tower of Mages. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Damn it. Damn that stupid, stubborn old man!¡± Zollin threw his robe away in fury. Although he was in his 50s already, he was still temperamental and honest to his emotions, just like every other mage of the Red Cult who had fiery temperaments. ¡°Ugh¡­ Rellin. Why Rellin of all people!¡± Rellin, the 3rd floor mage of the ck Cult was Zollin¡¯s lover. Of course, he wasn¡¯t an idiot. Why would a 20-year-old youngdy like her go for an old man in his 50s like him? He knew what Rellin wanted and what she was after, but Zollin had still been cherishing her. Besides, he had even recently finished experimenting with a ve contracting seal that wouldst forever after being etched, and had been hoping to use it on her when he had time. And yet Rellin had gone missing before he could even carry out his shady n. Unlike knights, mages were weaker than normal civilians after being restricted by mana-binding shackles. Also, since Rellin was only at the level of a 3rd floor mage, it wasn¡¯t strange for her to lose to backstreet thugs if a bunch of them pounced on her at once. ¡°No. It must be a misunderstanding. There¡¯s no way there would be anyone crazy enough to touch mages from the Tower¡­¡± ¨C Knock knock! Is Professor Zollin inside? ¡°Who is it!¡± ¨C I am Korin, the guide assigned by the Academy. ¡°Damn it. Come in!¡± Zollin was already in a bad mood, and was put in a worse mood after seeing a stupid knight; a dog of the Academy. ¡°What is it?!¡± ¡°Ah, you see¡­¡± The young knight boy with a wild countenance handed over a box. ¡°Someone asked me to give you this box, Sir Zollin.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just doing what I was told, so I do not know the details. Please enjoy the rest of the day.¡± When Korin Lork left the room, Zollin ripped open the post box. Inside was a small video recording stone. It was a widely-used magic item that recorded a specific area and left it as a record. Naturally, as a mage, Zollin knew how to use it. ¨C Click click! A video started to y once he tapped on the stone. The background of the video was a room that had gloomy wallpapers stuck on the walls. It was one of those cheap rooms in cheap inns that had nothing but a shabby bed. ¡ºUhhp¡­! Uhp! Uhp!¡» In the foreground of the video was Rellin, tied and restricted by a rope. The ropes binding her entuated the lines of her body and her eyes were being covered by a ck blindfold. It was clear that she was tied so badly that she couldn¡¯t even move an inch. That was when a man with short hair and big tattoos all over his body walked into the frame and approached her. He then screamed with his face covered by a mask. ¡ºUhyooooot! A young and beautiful magedy for me to enjoy!! Ore-sama3Ore-sama- ¡®myself¡¯ in an arrogant way super lucky!!¡» Footnotes:
  • 1A hedonistic person ismitted to seeking sensual pleasur
  • 2Dongsaeng = Literally means younger sibling. Sometimes used by slightly older people to refer to those younger than them. It¡¯s a rather intimate title.
  • 3Ore-sama- ¡®myself¡¯ in an arrogant way
Chapter 126: Mages of the Tower (4) ? Mages of the Tower (4) ? 4th floor ck mage, Manroji. 3rd floor ck mage, Rellin. There was a reason why I kidnapped those specific people. It was because it was certain that none of these guys were Adelene the Golden Mage. Adelene, the great mage, was exceptionally skilled at changing their face and going in disguise. Even in the game, Adelene appeared with a different face every single time. It was impossible for the yer to see through the disguise, and the great mage therefore served to be a nuisance all the way until the final battle. That Golden Mage was mixed within the group of 50 mages. It was impossible to see through the disguise, so we had to go by eliminating options. In the 4th Arc of the game, during the episode, Conflict with the Tower of Mages, there were a few proven mages that were most definitely not Adelene in disguise. First of them were the representatives of each cult, Elder Admelech and Elder Morushtan, and because they couldn¡¯t be too conspicuous, the head disciples, Professor Zollin and Professor Arkai were also ruled out. The rest of the mages apart from the 4 of them were potential candidates, but there was a way to rule out even more. That was by relying on side quests. The main characters of the quest, ?Love at an Old Age?, Zollin and his partner Rellin couldn¡¯t be Adelene, and the culprit of the quest, ?Hidden Tricks of a Gambler?, ck mage of the 4th floor, Manroji, was also not a candidate because he ended up in the jail by the yer in the game. In addition to that were 14 other mages that were rted to a few other side quests and those that would be defeated by the yer in the main scenario of Conflict with the Tower of Mages. That left 30 remaining candidates which could potentially be the Great Golden Mage. I already knew roughly how they were nning on capturing Marie by interrogating Manroji and Rellin, but I couldn¡¯t get much from them because both of them were near the bottom when it came to hierarchy. ¡®In that case¡­¡¯ The main character of the quest, ?Love at an Old Age?, red mage of the 7th floor, Zollin. My next n was to lure him out. And in order to do that¡­ ¡°Now~. Miss Rellin. Let¡¯s get started. Face the recording stone, and don¡¯t forget to drool a little bit! Ready~. Action!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Hmm? What are you doing? Anything wrong?¡± Rellin faced me with her ¡®reddened¡¯ eyes. She didn¡¯t dare refuse the directions, and looked extremely hesitant and unwilling. ¡°I, I can¡¯t do it. Please¡­ How can you tell me to read such an embarrassing script?¡± ¡°Ayish~ Far out! Do you want to get scolded by my Marie-noona?!¡± ¡°Boohoo¡­!¡± The actress¡­ wasn¡¯tplying with the direction! On the other hand, unlike the sobbing Rellin, the boy with short hair, Jaeger Hinzpeter, had a grin on his face and looked very enthusiastic. ¡°I got noints. Buddy, how many of these do we have to film?¡± ¡°Look! Look at this wonderful example of a starting actor! Behave like a professional no matter what role you are given!¡± ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Korin¡­ So you are into this kind of stuff¡­ I, I will keep that in mind forter.¡± **** For the past few days, Zollin felt like going out of mind. Ever since the first day the post had been delivered to him, new recording stones had been ced in front of his room every day. Sound was the only thing he could take out from the recording stone. Those were extremely explicit, vulgar and¡­ contained words that made it extremely easy to decipher what was going on. ¡ºThis is amazinngggggg! I wasted my life not knowing thissssss!¡» ¡ºUhyoot! Young and beautiful wizarddy is the best!! Ore-sama super lucky!!¡» ¡ºOgogok! Ogogogok!¡» ¡ºOi oi! Where did your pride as a mage go! Koitsu ¨C she gave up on being human! Lolololol!¡» ¡°Stop¡­ Stop!!¡± Korin Lork. Former Earthian. A person from the MZ Generation, who was used to every type of subculture, whether it be from the bright or the dark side of the Inte. Naturally, it was inevitable for him to gain tolerance to NTR, the iconic element of the century. On the other hand, Zollin waspletely different. He was like an innocent childpared to the MZ Generation who had be corrupt by the numerous stimuli on the Inte. Even though he was an evil person, he did not have the required tolerance to withstand NTR happening to himself. The only thing that was stopping him from reporting this to his master, Admelech, was because his partner was Rellin. The Tower of Mages appeared like a united organization from the outside, but each of the cults was in fact vignt and wary of each other. It was inevitable for the cults to be in a bad rtionship, because the allocation of their budget depended on their subjective achievement. Therefore, a mage at the level of a professor like him, revealing that he was in a sexual rtionship with a mage from the 3rd floor of their rival, the ck Cult, was something that required him to put his career on the line. It was thus hard for Zollin toe out clean about his rtionship with Rellin without one of them moving to the other cult. He was in the middle of thinking to himself when a voice seeped out of the recording stone. ¡ºZ, Zollin? Zollin? T, that man went somewhere else.¡» ¡°Huh?¡± It was from the third recording stone. The stone, which he thought had finished ying the audio, continued ying Rellin¡¯s rushed voice. ¡ºPlease help me! I, I am at the outskirts of the¡ª¡» Zollin quickly took out his note and started writing down what Rellin was telling him, in order to head to the ce she was locked in. The protagonist of ?Love at an Old Age?, Professor Zollin, stood up to save his lover just like the protagonists of every other love story. ¡°Oi. I want to look around some parts of the city. Get ready by tomorrow.¡± The next day, Zollin led a few other mages and looked for Korin. It was to head to the ce that Rellin had pointed out for him. ¡°Alright. It might take some time though. Where would you like to go?¡± Unfortunately, he did not see the smirk on the face of the guide assigned by the Academy. **** The beasts pounced forth. Kicking off the ground, they sliced through the air using their body as fuel. Their oppressive consecutive attacks and their daring fully-offensive attacks¡­ none of them were effective. ¡°Haak¡­ Hak!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ I feel like throwing up.¡± The two golden wolves gasped for breath, looking at the spearman whom they could not reach. ¡°Your attacks are too honest and linear. Add in some irregr attacks and feints.¡± ¡°Ughhh¡­ That¡¯s not that easy though.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like bro is that fast¡­ Why can¡¯t wend our attacks on him?¡± ¡°I told you to call me big brother. Seriously¡­ anyway, let¡¯s take a break. Grab some water and rx.¡± Korin took the Ren and Ron siblings and sat on a chair inside the training room. ¡°You guys are working hard these days. So, do you see any improvements?¡± ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°We¡¯re still losing to you, bro.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing surprising for you to lose against me.¡± The siblings were definitely strong. That was proven by the fact that they were at the level of Grade 2 Knights just because of their sheer physical capabilities despite living in the slums, away from martial arts until recently. ¡°Strength alone will not be enough to beat the real powerhouses, because theirs is thebination of technique and experience as well as their innate physical talents.¡± ¡°Are you one of them, boss?¡± ¡°You can say that.¡± It wasn¡¯t an overstatement nor somethinging from arrogance. Objectively speaking, Korin was definitely on the stronger side. ¡°But even I¡¯m just a weakling in front of the real monsters. Maybe not anymore though.¡± ¡°E, even you, bro?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ For example, Senior Marie. She has great skills as a mage but her power as a vampire is truly on an unbelievable level. In terms of sheer mana capacity, she¡¯s probably around the level of the strongest mage in history. ¡°Apart from her, there¡¯s also Hua Ran. She is like a walking disaster thanks to the Unbreakable Vajra Body that she was born with. There¡¯s probably very few people on this entire continent that could even cause injuries on her body. ¡°There is also Lady Josephine ra, the Frost Giant of the Northern kingdom, the Great Golden Mage¡­ There are numerous powerhouses in the world andpared to them, I¡¯m merely just a single knight. ¡°But I will still beat them in a real fight.¡± The siblings had trouble understanding his paradoxicalment. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯re weaker though? How can the weak beat the strong?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple. A fight is not like a math equation, and does not have a perfect result that is always the same.¡± There could be a difference in mood. There could be an issue withndscape, equipment as well aspatibility and having 10 power did not guarantee a victory against someone having 5 power. ¡°Strength isn¡¯t the only factor deciding the victor. Weaknesses,patibility, mentality. You must make use of every element to attack at the weak points of your enemy.¡± Fight wisely. Korin gave the siblings advice; an exnation of how he was able to survive for so long. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know.¡± But it was a difficult problem for the siblings. What he told them about was something that tended to bloom under extreme situations, in life-threatening moments of a fight. A big motivation¡­ was one of the necessary elements. ¡°Ren wants to protect Ron, and Ron wants to protect Ren, right?¡± ¡°Yes! I will protect Ren!¡± ¡°¡­Of course.¡± ¡°Having something to protect means you have something precious.¡± Having something that must be protected, meant that there was something that had to be ovee even at the cost of putting their life on the line several times on repeat. ¡°Because you see, humans tend to be stronger when they have a conviction to follow and a reason to do something.¡± ¡°¡­What is the thing that you want to protect then, boss?¡± Ren asked, wondering what it was that someone this strong would have on his shoulders. An innately good person; a needlessly kind-hearted and stupidly honest boss¡­ Why was it that someone like him was dying to get so much stronger? ¡°Everyone.¡± His short and unhesitant reply made Ren gulp in response. It was because the weight and size of his words were way too heavy and enormous. Oblivious to that, Ron said while facing him with a bright smile and a gaze of admiration. ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll be able to be like you one day, bro?¡± ¡°Someone stupid like me was able to do it. Of course you guys can.¡± His words were true¡­ He was being honest and genuine. The siblings were able to notice thanks to their inborn senses that Korin wasn¡¯t telling a lie. ¡°If you hear how miserable and down-to-dirt I was when I first entered the battlefield, you guys wouldn¡¯t be able to believe it.¡± The boy said with a smile, as if it was a funny memory to reflect on. However, Ren was still able to notice the faint trace of sorrow that was hiding under his smile. ¡°I was very immature and¡­ lost many things.¡± Saying that, Korin continued stroking their heads. How many trials had he gone through to reach this current state of being so carefree and broad-minded? How many life-and-death situations did he have to ovee? That was a story about his past, which the two of them had no clue of. ¡°Let me protect you guys, all the way until you turn into adults.¡± That is my duty as an adult. Korin added as he gazed at the two of them with a smile. ¡°¡­¡± They, however, weren¡¯t content with his words. It felt like he was reminding them once again how they were kids that had to be protected, and children that could not turn into adults anytime soon. ¡°Bro! I¡¯m done resting!¡± ¡°Get up, boss. We still have an hour until dinner.¡± ¡°Very energetic, aren¡¯t we? I love it. Well, Senior Marie is the one in charge of dinner today so¡­¡± Despite having so much burden on his shoulders, the hero of the siblings stood up as if they were light, and the siblings wanted to jump down from his shoulders as quickly as possible. ¡°You know what, bro! I want to be like you one day!¡± ¡°¡­¡­Not something I would rmend.¡± That was hisst piece of advice, but it wasn¡¯t enough to dissuade Ron from sincerely wanting to be like Korin. **** ¡°Hukk¡­!¡± Zollin gasped for breath as he shot his eyes wide open. He was in an unknown room; his entire body was restricted and there was a bracelet on his wrist. ¡°T, this¡­!¡± It was the mana sealing artifact that the Tower had brought in order to seal the vampire. It should have been hidden in his room back at the hotel, so why was it here on his wrist? ¡°Ku~aha, ha, ha¡­ Ha! Ha!¡± ¡°W, who is it!?¡± From the door of the dark and gloomy room, someone walked closer towards him. It was a young man with a wild countenance and hopping behind him was a girl with sky-blue-colored hair. ¡°Y, you bastard¡­!¡± After getting Rellin¡¯s SOS sign, Zollin took a few trusted disciples and headed to the location. It was because he didn¡¯t want his rtionship with Rellin to be revealed. However, Zollin and the mages were attacked there, by that man wielding a silver spear. Being a Grade 1 Mage, Zollin was naturally not someone weak enough to be unable to protect himself from harm. But thest thing he remembered was his mes disappearing without a trace and¡­ that man attacking them with his silver spear. ¡°Y, you bastard! Do you know who I¡­!¡± ¡°Shhhh¡­ Everyone says the same thing so let¡¯s not waste time. By the way¡­ We are going to now spend a very fun time together, friend.¡± Korin Lork said with an evil smirk on his face. ¡°Senior Marie.¡± ¡°N, nn!¡± Marie hopped forward while carrying something mysterious in her hands. ¨C Bubble bubble. The ck stone pot in her hands was steaming, looking like a bubbling volcano that was ready to erupt any time. ¡°W, what is that thing¡­!?¡± ¡°It¡¯s clotted blood soup. It¡¯ll taste amazing!¡± ¡°K, kuhum¡­!¡± Marie coughed with a blush on her face. She handed the pot of congealed blood soup over to Korin. ¡°It will be very delicious.¡± ¡°A, are you nning to kill me?¡± ¡°Ohh~ Of course not. We just¡­ have a few questions for you. And while we are at it, we might harass you a little.¡± ¡°T, torturing me won¡¯t get you¡­!¡± ¡°It might be a bit painful. We weren¡¯t holding back with the high quality, concentrated blood after all.¡± ¡°W, what do you¡ª- Uhp! Uhhppp!!¡± His mouth was forced open as chunks of congealed blood were shoved into his mouth. Just like, more and more of the vampire¡¯s blood was forced down his throat. After having 10-bowls-worth of congealed blood shoved into his mouth, Zollin started to growl while tilting left and right like a drunk man. ¡°Uhh, auhh¡­ Ahhh¡­¡± ¡°Looks like another ghoul.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± There were two types of vampire familiars. Virgins turned into a dracule or a draculina and non-virgins turned into ghouls. The difference between the two of them was that dracules had the ability to inherit their original strength as well as the power of their owner, whereas ghouls were like consumables. Losing all their strength, they would reduce to being just tougher versions of zombies. They were lowly beasts that could not even retain their rationality from the days they were a human, without having it restored by their owner. ¡°Like, why are they all non-virgins? How am I the only innocent and pure one in this beautiful world?¡± ¡°¡­Wouldn¡¯t it be a problem on its own if he was a virgin till that age?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the same for everyone else though.¡± ¡°Well¡­ Apparently some people these days do it even before entering middle school¡­¡± ¡°What has the worlde to¡­¡± ¡°Ah! Just letting you know, I, I never even held a guy¡¯s hand apart from my dad!¡± ¡°Yeah I figured.¡± ¡°You figured? What do you mean by that?!¡± Forcing himself to look away from her circr, wide-open eyes, Korin changed the topic. ¡°Anyway, 10 chunks of clotted blood to change, huh¡­ He took a lot more than the other guys.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ I guess it¡¯s because he has a higher resistance to magic. Even with the restricting bracelet on, it did take a lot longer than expected¡­¡± ¡°I suppose 5 bowls is about the minimum for the change to ur. It¡¯s about time for me to be careful as well.¡± ¡°Uun? Korin? What do you mean by that? I, I¡¯ve never given you any congealed blood soups or blood sausages using my own blood!¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­Yes, of course.¡± ¡°What was with that pause? You don¡¯t trust me, do you!?¡± It took a while for him to settle down the girl with heavily flushed cheeks, who was about to explode at any moment. ¡°More importantly, can you please recover this guy¡¯s sanity? He probably knows a lot more so I have a lot of questions for him. After all, he shouldn¡¯t be able to lie now that he¡¯s be your familiar.¡± ¡°Knn¡­ I, it¡¯s a ghoul so this doesn¡¯t count¡­¡± Marie vowed to herself that her first ¡®dracule¡¯ familiar would be someone specific and no one else. **** ¡ºWhat¡¯s your name?¡» ¡ºZollin¡­ My name is Zollin¡­¡» Someone covering their face with a bandana replied to each and every question of the one filming him. Among them were few questions that might be harmful to the Tower of Mages and yet Zollin seemed fully obedient. ¡ºTell me about the n, Zollin. Why have youe to this city?¡» ¡ºT, to kidnap Marie¡­ Dunareff¡­ and assassinate¡­ Chairman Eriu Casarr¡­¡» ¡ºWhy?¡» ¡ºIt¡¯s¡­¡» ¡ºAnswer me.¡» ¡ºANSWER ME!¡» The one behind the video recording stone bellowed at him. The screen shook as the man violently thrashed Zollin around. His peculiarugh and violent actions caused Zollin to open his mouth with a shiver. He spoke of everything. Starting from their ns, to their objective, the reasoning and¡­ he even mentioned the presence of the Great Golden Mage. ¡ºHow crazy! Everything¡¯s going crazy! Right? Lord Adelene?¡» The screen moved as the one filming the footage voluntarily showed himself. The man with the makeup of long, stretched-out lips, a white face and the clothes of a clown, looked into the eyes of all the mages of the Tower through the screen. ¡ºProfessor Zollin! And let¡¯s see, how many weaklings do I have. One, two, three¡­ around six? I have all of them. I only want one thing.¡» ¡ºGive me enough gold coins to fill a whole boat. Otherwise, I will cut off the fingers of all of these mages one after another. This guy will be the start.¡» ¡ºN, noo! Help mee! Uaahhkkk¡­!¡» ¡ºUHIHI! UHAHAHAHAHA¡­!!¡» ¨C UAHKK! UAAAAHAKKK! That marked the end of the footage. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The room filled with mages from the Tower fell silent. The entire group, which now had seven less than what they started with, had trouble finding the right words to say. Chapter 127: - Mages of the Tower (5) ? Mages of the Tower (5) ? ¡°Zollin that stupid fool¡­!¡± The leader of the Red Cult, Elder Admelech, released his zing mana in an attempt to quench his burning fury. He used to call the mages of the ck Cult fools and mocked them when they had gone missing, but he didn¡¯t have the room for that anymore. He might have ignored it if it was a mage from a lower floor, but the problem was that Professor Zollin, the hostage, was a direct disciple of Elder Admelech. Zollin was in the 7th floor, which was right beneath Elder Admelech¡¯s 8th floor, and that in turn meant that he was the future elder of the Red Cult. Although most of the mages in the Tower treated their disciples like trash, head disciples of elders were a different story. They were extremely valuable sessors. He was the disciple hand-picked by Elder Admelech out of dozens of prodigies with enormous mana capacities, raised and nurtured carefully for dozens of years. Elder Admelech could not afford to lose him just like this. ¡°I do admit that Zollin¡¯s a fool, but we must still save him!¡± Admelech genuinely admitted Zollin¡¯s mistake and requested the help of the ck Cult, which was not received very well by the ck mages. The head disciple of Elder Morushtan, Arkai of the ck Cult, opened his mouth. ¡°This is something that concerns the Red Cult. There is no responsibility for us ck Cult to¡­¡± ¡°Shut up, brat. I am not talking to you.¡± Admelech turned his gaze to the leader of the ck Cult, Elder Morushtan. The ones in charge of making decisions were the elders of each cult, and Elder Admelech did not see the need to listen to the peasants below him. ¡°¡­We will help.¡± ¡°M, master?¡± ¡°This is not¡­ an issue concerning one specific cult. He¡­ has figured out our goal.¡± ¡°It is as you say. Who in the world is he?¡± There were too many unanswered questions. Who was the clown inside the footage, and did he tell others about it? That was when one of the medium-level mages of the Red Cult carefully raised his opinion to Admelech. ¡°Master¡­ Since he¡¯s requesting gold coins, how about we try putting together funds¡­¡± ¡°Nonsense! The Tower will not negotiate with such scoundrels!¡± His pride as one of the elders of the Tower of Mages did not allow him to obediently give him money. Even though saving his head disciple was very important, Admelech did not want to bend his pride for it either. ¡°If he leaks the information¡­ That will ruin our great n¡­¡± ¡°I know that already!¡± Although Admelech didn¡¯t mention it because of his pride, gathering enough money wasn¡¯t that easy either. They had traveled a long distance from the Tower of Mages to get to the Academy. Where would they find and prepare that much money? ¡°We still have time¡­ We must look for him.¡± ¡°We will need people to look into this guy¡¯s whereabouts. Fortunately, the 2nd Princess has entered the Academy, so¡­ I suppose we should request the princess for some aid.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± There was still some time left in their hands. The mages of the Tower decided to find the clown before anything. **** Now, they must be feeling rushed and hasty. There were mainly 3 things that the Tower could do at this stage in time.
  1. Ignore the video and move in groups and discard the hostages.
  1. Prepare enough money as requested.
  1. Find the clown and settle the score.
As for Number 1, it was impossible. At least not for Elder Admelech of the Red Cult. Zollin, who was currently in my hands, was still the one and only sessor of the Red Cult despite appearing rather stupid. After entering the tower, the mages would discard their surnames and disy themselves by their names and their cults. For Admelech, the Red Cult was his family, and his asset as one who had dedicated his life to the path of magic. There was no way that he would abandon his sessor that easily. Number 2 wasn¡¯t a realistic option either. The mages of the Tower were elitists and personified versions of ego and pride. For them, this kidnapping incident would be one that brought about fury and thoughts of revenge, and would not see the clown as someone to negotiate with. ¡®And that¡¯s why I gave them a week.¡¯ Inevitably, the only option they would choose was Option Number 3. Looking for the clown and making the clown pay for their actions would probably be the only option in their minds. And that raised a question ¨C how would they try looking for me? They might request the Intelligence Guild or look for clues themselves, but¡­ the easiest method was going straight to Princess Miruam. ¡°Can you please do that for me, junior?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The boy in front of me, the descendant of Hasassin, replied after a short silence. ¡°Asking me to monitor a princess of the royal family all of a sudden¡­ Is this not a serious offense that might drop my head?¡± ¡°That is why I am asking you specifically, junior. If it¡¯s you, you¡¯ll never be caught and you will be alright.¡± ¡°¡­I swear I remember you telling me to walk the path of a knight just recently, though.¡± Rashid seemed dumbfounded by my request, but it was understandable, considering how I suddenly came to him and was asking him to monitor Princess Miruam and tell me what conversation she would have with mages from the Tower. It was a rather illegal request. ¡°My dear junior!¡± I shouted while grabbing tightly onto the shoulders of Rashid Ad Din Mustali. ¡°What exactly is a knight? What is the heart of chivalry?!¡± ¡°What are you talking about all of a sudden?¡± ¡°Saving the weak, doing what is just, and keeping justice is what chivalry is all about. Doth thou disagree?¡± ¡°What is wrong with you¡­¡± ¡°Doth thou disagree?¡± ¡°¡­No. You¡¯re right.¡± ¡°In other words, it¡¯s okay for the procedure to be slightly cowardly.¡± ¡°Like, umm¡­ isn¡¯t that pure sophistry? Isn¡¯t being righteous and fair also a part of chivalry?¡± ¡°Righteousness to righteousness. But evil to evil. That¡¯s how it is.¡± ¡°But still, surveilling a royal princess is¡­¡± ¡°No, no, no. That¡¯s not it. Your job is not about surveilling a princess. It¡¯s about monitoring the mages from the Tower.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that the same thing?¡± ¡°Everything depends on how you phrase it.¡± Taking out a pouch of gold coins from my pocket, I ced it in his hands. ¡°That¡¯s the advance payment. I will give you the same amount if you bring me the requested information.¡± ¡°¡­Thank you very much for your patronage.¡± In the end, Rashid epted my request. Since he just left the nest of assassins, he was pretty much broke and the money I offered as payment was probably too much for him to ignore. Now, all I had to do was wait for the Tower to get in contact with Princess Miruam. Looking at the purple suit and the makeup of a clown, Miriam would be able to immediately notice the identity of the culprit in an instant. The fact that the culprit was me, Korin Lork, who had been using the same disguise in the Hunting Grounds, would be as clear as day for her. At that point, there would be no reason for Miruam to not tell the Tower about my identity. Because the Tower was one of her greatest sponsors, the decline of their power also equated to the decline of her status and position. Everything I had done until now was to induce them into attacking me for a one big sweep. My goal was to wipe them all out at once, but¡­ ¡ºOh dear. I wonder who this is. What a terrifying-looking clown.¡» Unlike my expectations, Miruam did not say a single thing about my identity. ¡­¡­¡­What was going on? **** ¡°The Tower has been quite rowdy recently.¡± In the chairman¡¯s office, Master Erin opened her mouth while lifting the cup of tea to her mouth. ¡°As you expected, the Tower seems to have noticed that we were rted to the kidnapping incident of the mages.¡± ¡°But the problem is that they didn¡¯t fall for the bait.¡± Miruam did not give any clues to the mages from the Tower who came visiting her to show the footage. She simply did not tell them that I was the culprit. ¡°Why do you think she did that?¡± ¡°¡­Maybe she saw through it?¡± ¡°But she still should have said it in that case, don¡¯t you think?¡± She might have noticed Rashid but was that even possible? Even I, who was aware of his ability to conceal his presence, had to engrave several Runes of Perception around me to notice him. There shouldn¡¯t be any methods for Princess Miruam to see through Rashid¡¯s stealth so¡­ why did she do that? Was it to side with me? That made even less sense. Miru was a cold-hearted and calctive person. She wasn¡¯t the type to discard something that was already on her side, just because of something that could eventually take her side. ¡°Anyway, it looks like your n A has failed, Student Korin. At this rate¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯ll probably do something in the mid-sems.¡± That was what I had been hoping to avoid at all costs. ording to the original storyline, the mages of the Tower would create amotion in the middle of the mid-sem exams, which would result in a horrible disaster. Since they had already familiarized themselves with the structure of the Academy and the locations of several facilities including theboratory, the ck mages would drop tons of chimeras and undeads at once, while the red mages would set every building on fire to add to the chaos. Meanwhile, Elder Morushtan and Elder Admelech would kidnap Marie, who was locked up in the basement of the Academy and¡­ Lord Adelene would assassinate the chairman. That was the original storyline of the game. On top of that, the damage done to the students would be even more amplified by Adelene¡¯s magic. My goal was to prevent this from happening altogether. Wearing the outfit of a clown, I would create a fuss in the Hunting Grounds to etch my appearance into Princess Miruam¡¯s mind, and send a video of a simr clown to the mages. I was going to go out on an external mission and use that to lure in all the mages after they started monitoring me, but¡­ The prerequisites of n A ended up crumbling to pieces by Princess Miruam not telling them about my identity. ¡°Let me do it.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°Since n A has failed, isn¡¯t it time to change to n B? I will draw the eyes of the mages.¡± ¡°No. We can¡¯t have the king stepping in already.¡± 80 years ago, Tates Valtazar had sealed Erin in the Shadow Pce, and the only reason she was able to attend the matters of the material world was thanks to the puppet, Eriu Casarr. If the puppet were to be broken, Master wouldn¡¯t be able to safely intervene in the matters of this world and in the end¡­ ¡°It is alright. Even if this body is to be broken, I can break out of the seal. The seal has weakened considerably in the span of 80 years.¡± ¡°¡­¡± And that was what I hated. In thest iteration, and even back in the game, that was what made Erin lose her life. My goal in this iteration was to have her remain inside the shell of Eriu Casarr without giving her even the slight chance to personally leave the pce. Before Tates Valtazar could be crowned to being the new king, he had to kill Erin Danua, the current Queen of Paradise. In order to prevent that from happening altogether, my n was to have her exiled in the Shadow Pce until I managed to kill Valtazar. ¡°I believe it is right for me to bear the burden with this spare body, instead of putting Student Marie at risk.¡± ¡°¡­¡± There were no justifications for me to turn her down. After all that was the n B we had decided with, and using n B was unavoidable now that n A had failed. ¡°Before that¡­ let me do something first.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± The sudden appearance of Princess Miruam and her inexplicable actions had acted as a variable, but in this iteration and in this current time frame, there was another variable that could work in our favor. ¡°Let¡¯s flip the whole stage over, and force them into doing something.¡± **** ¡°Elder Morushtan of the Tower of Mages. You are under arrest for illegal human experiments, and charged for murder, abduction, and confinement.¡± On the way to the Academy, it was when the mages from the Tower were walking to the Academy as always when they suddenly appeared out of nowhere. As a result, the front gates of the Academy became a ground of confrontation of roughly 40 mages and people wearing sacred garments and armors. ¡°Pdins of the New Faith¡­! What do you think you are doing!?¡± They were the armed forces of the New Faith, that rivaled the Temr Knights of the Old Faith. They were the symbol of ¡®strength¡¯ in the New Faith, and it was outside of everyone¡¯s expectations for them to suddenly appear before the mages of the Tower. ¡°¡­¡± Elder Morushtan, the leader of the ck Cult, gazed at the pdins before him. As the leader of the ck Cult, he had always been the one in the lead when it came to human experiments with a bunch of such experiences in his hands. However, mages of the Tower had always been the target of suspicion and the key was in evidence. And Elder Morushtan was confident that he had already cleaned up and concealed everything that he had done. ¡°Do not resist and receive the verdict, Elder Morushtan. You are under a significant allegation of being a heretic.¡± ¡°Nonsense! The Tower of Mages does not belong to any nation! No one can arrest us; not even Holy Knights!¡± The mages of the Tower retaliated against the pdins in one voice, as both sides turned more and more aggressive. The Holy Knights were here to arrest the leader of one of their symbolic cults, which was naturally met with significant resistance. Both sides were incredibly powerful. A conflict of the two forces would be devastating and could even escte to a war of religion. ¡°Everyone. Please stop.¡± It was then. A girl appeared and started walking up from behind the pdins. She was the harmony of pure white and gold ¨C the one and only of the New Faith. ¡°Saintess Estelle¡­¡± Estelle Hadassa El Rath. She was here to intervene in the vtile situation. ¡°What is this about, Your Highness Estelle? Is Your Highness nning on harassing us, the Tower of Mages?¡± Professor Arkai, the head disciple of Morushtan, raised his voice. The Tower of Mages was by no means weaker than the New Faith in both strength and authority. It was impossible for them to arrest a leader of a cult based on allegations alone. ¡°Of course, I, as the Saintess, fully acknowledge the prestige and rights of the Tower. However, there has been a heavy allegation against Elder Morushtan. Since there has been a report, there is a need to look into the matter.¡± ¡°You cannot do this without even having proof¡­¡± ¡°Of course, we do have proof.¡± With a wide smile on her face, Estelle took out documents and a recording stone. They were the evidence and a recording of the ce that Korin Lork had told them about. ¡°This¡­¡± Even Morushtan was dumbfounded looking at the obvious pieces of evidence sitting right before his eyes. This was the footage of his secretboratory that no one should know about. He only visited theboratory with the help of his familiar and made sure nobody knew about his presence or the location of theb, so how did the New Faith know about it? ¡°Y, you¡¯re framing¡­¡± ¡°Be quiet. Our order carries out rightful inquisitions in ordance with the rules forged by the lord and the royalty.¡± When Estelle said that out loud with a cross in her hands, blinding light surged out of her body and threatened to blind their eyes despite the sun being high up in the sky. It was a radiant yet warm ray of light ¨C a cleansing miracle cleaning everything evil in existence. The light emanating out of Estelle was the very proof that she was being loved by the gods. Saintess Estelle. Just from a single prayer, the necromancers walking down the evil and wicked path were made to swallow their pain. ¡°Uhuk¡­!¡± Staring at them, the saintess of the New Faith, Estelle, said with a sadistic smile on her face. ¡°Are youing? Or do you need to be bashed up first?¡± Herst words were truly unbefitting of a saintess, but were enough to make the mages of the Tower surrender. **** ¡°Those damned bastards of the New Faith!!¡± The mages of the Tower were very down. The leader of the ck Cult, Morushtan, had been seized by the New Faith for allegations of human experiments, which was on a whole different scale to third-rate mages and the head disciple being kidnapped. ¡°How bad is our luck?!¡± ¡°We need to stop our n!¡± ¡°How dare these scoundrels interrupt the great path of magic?¡± The hot-tempered mages of the Red Cult were infuriated whereas those of the ck Cult appeared extremely gloomy. Losing their leader Morushtan was a big blow to their confidence. More importantly, the problem bigger than the blow to their confidence was theirck of power. Their targets, Marie Dunareff and Chairman Eriu Casarr were both powerhouses at the Unique Grade. Having several mages at the level of an elder was a must when capturing such individuals and besides, it was originally supposed to be Elder Morushtan¡¯s job to capture Marie Dunareff and hence they were lost as to what to do. ¡°Professor Arkai¡­ What do we do now?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Morushtan¡¯s head disciple, Professor Arkai was agonized. He could only think of one n that could save them out of this trouble. ¡°We must¡­ continue the n with haste. Before master gets taken to the sacrednds of the New Faith¡­ we need to burn the Academy and save him in the midst of that chaos.¡± ¡°Shut your nonsense! Professor Arkai! We already had our hands full with that stupid clown; what n is there to continue with at this point?! We must quickly return to the Tower!¡± ¡°The foremost reason why our n was revealed was because one of your professors revealed everything to that clown! You have your side of the responsibility to this matter, Red Cult!¡± ¡°What was that? You filthy necrophiles!¡± ¡°Is that all you have to say, you damn arsonists?!¡± The quarrel between the two cults escted as they started raising their voices. No longer able to leave them be, Elder Admelech created soaring mes that settled both parties down. ¡°Kuuk?!¡± ¡°E, Elder Admelech?!¡± His mes emerged without him even chanting a spell and yet they were powerful enough to almost break through their defensive robes. It was an overwhelming disy of firepower, capable of suppressing dozens of mages at once. What was even more surprising was that the mes were focused only on the mages without affecting anything else in the room. ¡°This is not a marketce, you fools.¡± ¡°S, sorry sir!¡± ¡°Please¡­ have mercy!¡± All the mages yielded at the face of Admelech¡¯s mes. It might have been possible for them to withstand the spells of a professor-level mage, but someone at the level of an elder had the power to wipe most of them out as if they were ants. After settling the mages down, Admelech quietly looked into the eyes of each and every one of them before shouting with a sonorous voice. ¡°Lord Adelene!¡± There was a reason why the higher ranked mages, who considered the low-grade mages as insects, had been letting everyone participate in the conference. It was because the Great Golden Mage was in disguise as one of the lower-grade mages. Admelech shouted, with not a single doubt that Lord Adelene was among them. ¡°Now that Elder Morushtan has been arrested, it is impossible for this old man to do this alone. I will have to ask for your direct assistance!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The room turned silent. No one stepped up calling themselves Adelene, but that was natural because Adelene wouldn¡¯t have even bothered to go under disguise if he or she was going to reveal themselves this easily. ¨C Creak! ¨C Tadak¡­! It was then. Every metal in the room starting from pens, badges to staves and everything with even the slightest hint of metal started to move by themselves. ¡°W, what is going on?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s using magic¡­?¡± They turned to one another, but none of them were able to even guess who the one using magic was ¨C not even Elder Admelech. ¨C Click! Soon, the metals stopped moving in the air. They formed a sentence giving a direction to the mages of the Tower. ¡ºSeal the Witch.¡» The n was revealed and key personnel were captured but the central figure of this great n ¨C the Great Golden Mage gave a simplemand. Carry on with the n. Chapter 128: - Mages of the Tower (6) ? Mages of the Tower (6) ? ¡ºNorthwest of Merkarva. In a small shed of a vige called Lamet is one of the markers of the witch.¡» There were a very few people who knew about the locations of the markers that Josephine ra the Dimensional Witch had ced all over the world for long-distance teleportations. The first one was Josephine herself. The second was her benefactor and the queen who was exiled into paradise, Erin Danua. Andstly, there was also Tates Valtazar. He had yed a big role 80 years ago in crushing the Tower of Mages alongside Josephine and Erin Danua. As a formerrade, it was nothing strange for him to be aware of the locations of Josehpine¡¯s markers. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Elder Admelech, the leader of the Red Cult, arrived at an abandoned shed along with ten of his disciples. It was a small abandoned cathedral that looked more like a shed, covered in a bunch of weeds due tock of maintenance. Despite being run down, it was still here because of the owner¡¯s strong rejection against redevelopment. ording to Lord Adelene, it was said that inside the chimney of this old shed was the hidden marker. ¡°We have found it, Master!¡± His disciples brought the marker, and Admelech was going to use this marker to summon Josephine. ¡°We will now engrave the magic circle of sealing.¡± Ten mages along with Admelech started engraving a magic circle onto the shed. The magic circle created in coboration of 10 mages and an elder, meant it was strong enough to restrict even the Dimensional Witch. She might be able to resist if this was during a fight when she was vignt but that was certainly not going to be the case. Before long¡­ the magic circle wasplete and Admelech exploded a condensed ball of mana inside the rune-carved marker. ¡°Chairman¡­!¡± In the next instant, the dimension cracked open as a young, blonde-haired beauty appeared from the cracks. She seemed to have hurried here to help the only one who should be aware of this marker. ¡°Y, you are¡­?!¡± But what she found instead were 10 red mages. As soon as they saw Josephine, they immediately activated the magic circle. ¨C Hwaruruk! Devilish mes started to surround her in the blink of an eye. Josephine shot out her own mana to stop the mes from approaching her but she nevertheless ended up being imprisoned inside the fiery prison. ¡°E, Elder Admelech! What do you think you are doing?!¡± ¡°Huhu. You are too naive, witch.¡± Admelech clicked his tongue while looking at Josephine who was locked inside mes. ¡°I was looking forward to a battle against the historical mage but what a shame.¡± ¡°You¡­! How are you going to take responsibility for this?¡± ¡°Hmph! There¡¯s no need. The Tower will no longer be confined by the worthless rules of the world!¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Sacrifices are a must for the progress of the great discipline of magic! You say we have to respect the lowly organisms that cannot even learn magic? Protect them? Since when has human rights and ethics been a part of the question when researching the great path of magic?!¡± Admelech constantly erupted in fury. Considering his fiery temperament, it was actuallymendable that he had been able to hold himself back until now. The end of the Witch Hunt. The end of the Tower¡¯s monopoly over magic education. Due to the appearance of the guardian academy and a strong shift of centralization, the Tower of Mages had their strength and authority taken away from them time after time. Besides, demi-humans who used to be treated as monsters, started being treated like humans with human rights. ¡°The new world shall dawn on us all! The filthy peasants and livestock shall be devoured, and only the chosen ones will be allowed onto the Ark, setting off for the new world!¡± ¡°You have gone crazy¡­¡± 80 years. Roughly 80 years had gone by since the Tower of Mages had been half-demolished, and yet even now, the Tower was trying to regain their monopoly, overwhelming authority, and rights that used to allow them to carry out heinous acts. After being forced to see their horrendous true form again, Josephine was once again appalled by how selfish and self-centered of a group they were. How could they actually n to do something so horrible just because of some outdated ideologies? ¡°It is a shame that I cannot be a part of this historical event but¡­ if it is me, I shall be able to maintain this seal for 3 days.¡± 3 days. That would be more than enough time for the other group to kill Chairman Eriu on his way back after a meeting with the Guardian Alliance, and kidnap the Unique Grade vampire roaming around the campus. ¡°It won¡¯t take 3 days. Maybe 3 minutes at best.¡± ¡°¡°¡­¡­!!¡±¡± That was when a figure suddenly appeared at the entrance of the shed. The light created by the prison of mes brightened up the entrance and the person standing in front of it, revealing the wild countenance and smile on his face. Whether he was an enemy here to interfere with their ns or a simple passerby who dropped by to see what was happening did not matter. This ce was now and belonging to the Tower of Mages. ?me Dog? Admelech showered his fiery temperament at the one who suddenly intervened in their n. The medium-grade spell of a hound carrying heat and impact started racing across the floor, ready to swallow him at any given moment. The rampaging mes were looking like they would mercilessly burn him down but¡­ ¡°What¡­!?¡± The dog made of mes that were supposed to burn his skin down started being sucked into him. Seeing something that iprehensible happen right before their eyes, the mages of the Tower stepped back in fright. ¡°Kill him! Kill that guy!¡± Urged by his instincts that warned him of the danger, the old man immediately let out a shout. In response, the ten mages chanted their spells and summoned a merciless torrent of fire that started burning down the shed. ¡°You know, even higher grade mages are useless when they¡¯re against a bad opponent.¡± Along with a leisurelyment, the man started absorbing the scorching stream of mes. ¡°I, impossible!¡± Admelech could not hide the shock on his face. It would have made sense if he had blocked the attack but what happened then wasn¡¯t at the level of blocking. Was thatplete resistance? No, it was even more than that ¨C it was like an authority that reigned over fire itself. How could there be such an overpowered ability?! ¡°I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re an elder or not. You can¡¯t beat me as long as you use fire.¡± Divinity of the Sun. Airgem approached them, dispersing onto them the heat of the sun. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°The power of the Sun is certainly quite amazing.¡± Josephine said in awe, while looking at the mages on the ground. The Sun, iomh Sis. One of the 4 great treasures of Danaans, and the cherished treasure of the Great Airgem. Korin had used only a small portion of that strength and yet the mages of the Tower weren¡¯t able to beat him. In fact, it was hard to even call that a fight. ¡°It¡¯s only because the Sun is aplete counter to the Red Cult. I won¡¯t be able to beat the other Elders without the sun being high up in the air at least.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He sounded nonchnt, but in turn that meant that he was able to defeat the 9 elders of the Tower of Mages whenever he so desired as long as the sun was up. Even Josephine herself would have to consume a lot of mana to beat an elder and yet¡­ ¡°It¡¯s not only the Red Cult. The Sun¡­ has the power to cleanse evil so¡­¡± The ck Cult, which tended to make use of undeads of chimeras won¡¯t be a match for him either. ¡°You knew about this incident with the Tower, and were preparing for it from the start, weren¡¯t you?¡± How was that even possible? It was as if he could foresee the future. Josephine had a lot of doubts and questions but swallowed them without bothering to voice them out loud. ¡ºI will save the world.¡» He had an aspiration too big for normal people to shoulder. Considering how he had voluntarily put that task on his shoulders, it was safe to say that everything he did was for that purpose and for that purpose alone. ¡°Student Korin. If our assumptions are right, then the next target would be¡­¡± ¡°It would be Senior Marie. I have put enough measures there.¡± ¡°It would be wonderful if everything went ording to n.¡± ¡°¡­It will. I will save everyone.¡± Hisst words sounded like a reminder for himself. **** ¡°Ren! Rennn! Wake uppp!¡± ¡°Uhum¡­ Oraboni. One more minute¡­¡± ¡°We have a prac lesson today~! Bro said we have to wake up early, remember?¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Due to Ron rocking her body back and forth, Ren had to wake up while rubbing her eyes. ¡°What time¡­ is it?¡± ¡°Eight o¡¯clock¡­!¡± ¡°Eight¡­ o¡¯clock¡­ Aht!!¡± Ren quickly woke up in fright. They were going to bete at this rate. The girl ran around in a hurry while saying whatever that popped up in her mind to her younger twin brother. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wake me up earlierrrr¡­!¡± ¡°I just woke up!¡± She dashed straight to the bathroom. There were a bunch of things to do ¨C she had to brush her teeth, take a shower, change her clothes, take the bag, and run to the venue. ¡°Did you wash your face?!¡± ¡°Not yet!¡± ¡°Then hurry up!¡± ¡°Nn!¡± The reason why the wolf siblings were in so much of a hurry was because it was their prac lesson today. ¡°Hmm¡­ Is everyone here?¡± At the front entrance of the Academy, Professor Orgen Rentree who was in charge of the freshmen this year, showed off his dense muscles while looking through the assembly of students. ¡°Ren and Ron aren¡¯t here yet!¡± One of the students alerted the professor about the absence of their peers. When Orgen was right about to turn to his watch¡­ ¡°We are hereeee!¡± ¡°So sorrryyyyyy!¡± The wolf siblings screamed from a distance while sprinting as fast as they could. They were in so much hurry that they had even half-beastified themselves and were running on all fours. ¡°You arete, Student Ren! Student Ron!¡± ¡°S, sorry sir!¡± ¡°Be more mindful next time. A good guardian is not only skilled but they also need to be punctual.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Orgen did not feel like scolding the siblings, who were considerably smaller than their peers. Beastmen¡¯s physical growth depended on their mental development and the fact that they were that small, meant that their mental ages were just that young. Professor Orgen was someone who was rtively generous to children. ¡°Now, let us depart! A reminder: the mission we have on our hands is the annihtion of the demonic beasts that have nested themselves on the western mountain range! Off you go to the magic carriage station!¡± ¡°Haaa¡­¡± Heaving a sigh of relief that they weren¡¯t scolded that much for beingte, Ren and Ron started walking after their peers from the back. ¡°Sniff sniff¡­ Hnn?¡± Ron sniffed and looked around. Seeing that, Ren asked him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Nn¡­ I thought I smelled something strange.¡± ¡°Something strange?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ the smell of rotten corpses. It¡¯s faint but¡­¡± ¡°You dummy. Why would there be corpses in the Academy?¡± ¡°Right?¡± What the siblings did not know was that there were eyes looking at them from a distance. **** ¡°Thank you, Young Miss!¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing. That wasn¡¯t anything difficult.¡± On the official opening day of ?Dunareff Fresh Produce?, Marie visited the shop as the oldest daughter of the family. ¡°Huu¡­¡± Trying her best to hide the look of nervousness on her face, Marie calmly walked towards the Academy. The mages of the Tower had two goals in this visit. One was the murder of Chairman Eriu Casarr and the other was the abduction of Marie Dunareff. There were some problems with the n due to the unexpected actions of Princess Miruam, but Korin immediately came up with another n. After sending the chairman outside using the excuse of external affairs, they waited until the enemy started with Josephine ra sealing n. At the same time, they sent Marie Dunareff outside to lure them into attacking her. ¡®Hua Ran¡­ Alicia¡­¡¯ Of course, there were enough safety measures put in ce. Her way back to the Academy was escorted by a bunch of elites and mages like Hua Ran, Professor Haman Welsch and Professor Lra Mars waiting in the distance for the potential attack from the Tower. Great Golden Mage, Adelene was one of the very few people who could suppress a Unique Grade vampire. However, it was certain that even Adelene wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat thebination of the Academy¡¯s elites. ¡®¡­Clock Tower. It won¡¯t be here. There are too many eyes.¡¯ From a crowded area to less crowded ces, Marie intentionally moved to areas that were easier to be attacked at. Visiting a shady fortune teller at the alleyway, she received love advice and walked through the tform of unmanned magic carriages. Those were the best ces to attack at and yet there were no signs of movement from the mages. ¡®Are they being that prudent?¡¯ She walked past the unmanned magic carriage tforms. This was the best ce for them to attack and yet there was no one. On the way from the city to the Academy, she intentionally used the road that was moremon for magic carriages to travel in, instead of using the road for people. ¡®It has to be here¡­!¡¯ This was thest ce for them to attack. The road for carriages had dense trees on the sides of the road and was the perfect spot for them to capture her and leave the city while hiding from the eyes of the Academy. ¡®Doggo¡­!¡¯ Marie called her familiar, who growled in response from her shadows in preparation for the attack. The demonic dog howling in her shadows was fully prepared to rip the attacker into pieces. Before long, there were 100 feet left to the entrance. She could now see guards checking the visitors of the Academy. 70 feet until the main entrance. She spotted some students quarreling with the guards. It seemed that they had been caught out after sneaking out of the Academy without a valid pass. 50 feet until the entrance. This was dangerous. It seemed that the attackers were trying to involve the nearby students and guards. 30 feet left until the main entrance. When were they going to attack? 10 feet until the entrance. ????? Soon, she arrived at the Academy. ¡°¡­¡­¡­Huh?¡± Until the very end, there was not a single mage attacking Marie. **** ¡°Huah¡­! Ren! Look! I caught a massive boar!¡± ¡°Hmph¡­! I got a bigger one, see?¡± In the mountain where they hade for the prac lesson, Ren and Ron were hunting the Fang Boars inhabiting the western mountain ranges under the guidance of Professor Orgen. ¡°By the way, Ron. Isn¡¯t this strange?¡± ¡°What is?¡± ¡°They said there¡¯s supposed to be a lot of them here because they¡¯re in their mating season, right? So much so that Professor Deina bought a bunch of them for an experimentst year.¡± ¡°I think so?¡± ¡°So why are there so few of them?¡± The mountains were quiet. From what they heard beforehand, there were supposed to be so many Fang Boars in this time of the year because of their breeding season, and there were supposed to be enough boars to flock the entire mountain from the foot, and yet even after climbing half way up the mountain, all they saw were a few of them. ¡°Huah¡­! You¡¯re right! Maybe they were over-exaggerating it to scare us.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way¡­¡± That was when a thick odor rode the wind into their noses. The wolf siblings, due to having a sensitive sense of smell, were able to notice the identity of the smell in an instant. ¡°Rotten¡­ meat?¡± It was the smell of rotten flesh that threatened to pierce through the nose, which they had gotten used to during their life at the slums. The moment they noticed what that smell was¡­ ¨C Kuruk! ¨C Kurahk! The death throes of a pig echoed across and the ground shook as if there was an earthquake. The freshmen students who had been in the middle of the prac lesson, turned their eyes to the top of the mountain in search for the origin of the sound. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± ¡°What the hell is that?¡± At the end of their gazes were a bunch of¡­ indescribably horrendous boars with torn-apart flesh, dangling eyeballs and smushed fangs. A torrent of corpses was flooding down the mountain at the students. Chapter 129: Mages of the Tower (7) ? Mages of the Tower (7) ? Because of their characteristic breeding speed and omnivorous nature, Fang Boars were one of the Grade 4 demonic beasts that required the most maintenance. The only reason they weren¡¯t fully eradicated despite being the number one cause of farnd damage was because finding their nests that were usually hidden at various areas of the mountain was by no means an easy task. But during the breeding season, those that lost in thepetition for food tended to leave the mountain in search of things to eat, and defeating them was the role of the guardian academy students. This year shouldn¡¯t be very different from how it wasst year ¨C until just 5 minutes ago, that was the impression that Professor Orgen had been under. ¡°P, Professor! There are way too many Fang Boars!¡± ¡°Everyone. Create a formation around me! Fight together! Protect those around you!¡± Professor Orgen used his weapon to bisect the Fang Boars pouncing at his students. ¡°Is everyone here? Let me call your names out! Student Randolf!¡± ¡°Yes! I¡¯m here!¡± One by one, he called the names of the 22 students but noticed there were some missing. ¡°Where¡¯s Student Ren and Student Ron!¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m not sure!¡± ¡°I saw them down there before!¡± It was too far. Although Professor Orgen had the power to break through the group of Fang Boars by himself, the problem was the kids that would be left behind during the process. It might have been alright if these were 2nd year students, but it was seriously questionable whether the freshmen students that had just entered the Academy would be able tost through by themselves this without panicking or not. In that case¡­ ¡°We will slowly make our way there! Mages, stand in the middle, and knights ¨C protect the front and the back! They¡¯re nothing but Grade 4 beasts! Calm yourselves down and we can definitely stand our ground against them!¡± He couldn¡¯t discard any of his students. Orgen took the lead whileforting the group of freshmen kids following him from behind. ¡°F, follow professor!¡± ¡°Fang Boars are nothing! Just stab them once and they¡¯ll be dead!¡± What was fortunate at the very least was that the freshmen students had decent weapons. Normally, most of the new students tended to use low-grade weapons until they could afford a better one, but thanks to one generous senior, all of them had at least a medium-grade weapon. Good weapons meant an easier time cutting through the flesh of demonic beasts, and despite the sloppy weapon masteries of the new students, the demons were all cut up to pieces with rtive ease. ¡°Nice! We are getting there¡­!¡± ¡°No you¡¯re¡­ not!¡± It was when Orgen was dicing through the Fang Boars with his ax, that cursed arrows started falling towards him. ¡°Magic¡­?!¡± Orgen deflected the arrows with his ax. He managed to block all the arrows which were only low-grade spells, but his face didn¡¯t look too good due to the appearance of an enemy force. ¡°Mages¡­¡± By the time he noticed it, gloomy-looking people wearing big robes were surrounding him and the freshmen students. ¡°Professor! The Fang Boars aren¡¯t attacking the mages!¡± ¡°¡­I knew it. So you were the ones behind this, huh.¡± The ck mages were surrounding them with hundreds of Fang Boars waiting behind. It was clear where they were from without even needing to ask it. ¡°Why are the mages of the Tower attacking us? This is clearly a strict vition of the treaty!¡± ¡°¡­¡± The mages werepletely silent in response, rendering every attempted conversation meaningless. ¡®What exactly is their goal?¡¯ Swallowing the unresolvable doubt inside, Professor Orgen tightly held onto his ax. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ There were way too many of them. Boars were on every side. Jumping around left and right, the wolf siblings had already bashed up dozens of boars to death. ¡°Haak, haa¡­ t, there¡¯s too many¡­¡± ¡°Do you want¡­ water?¡± ¡°No. You drink it, Ren.¡± Due to overworking themselves because of the constant streak of fights, the siblings had to gasp for breath as they nced around their surroundings. The entire mountain range was filled with the death throes of pigs and the smell of rotten blood. ¡°Do you think the professor and the other kids are alright?¡± ¡°¡­Now¡¯s not the time to worry about them.¡± The two of them were the ones in the most precarious situation right now. ¡°This is¡­ weird. The Fang Boars smell off¡­¡± ¡°Right? Same. It feels like my nose is about to rot away.¡± Thanks to their superior sense of smell, the wolf siblings were able to sense the smell of rotten flesh from the corpses of the Fang Boars. That was strange, considering how it had only been a few minutes since their death. ¡°For now¡­ Let¡¯s head down. Let¡¯s run as fast as we can and ask for¡ª¡± ¡°We can¡¯t let you do that.¡± Suddenly, a group appeared from the woods and stopped the siblings in their path. They were the ck mages of the Tower ¨C the disciples of Morushtan including Professor Arkai. ¡°Y, you are¡­!¡± ¡°Tower of Mages¡­ Why?¡± Ren and Ron couldn¡¯t hide their astonishment but meanwhile, Arkai gave a wicked grin as he gazed at the two. ¡°Huhu. A vampire elder certainly is very valuable¡­ but golden wolves are not much different.¡± It all started when Morushtan came across the siblings by chance. Golden wolves ¨C the byproduct of a miraculous and coincidental process of atavism. They were extremely valuable even whenpared to a vampire elder. ording to the original storyline, the siblings were supposed to be following Dun Scaith and therefore, Marie Dunareff was supposed to be the only precious test subject for them to acquire. But in this iteration, because the Tower of Mages didn¡¯t have either of them, it was therefore by no means strange for them to set their eyes on the young and immature golden wolves, instead of the powerful Unique Grade vampire. ¡°Follow us obediently. Otherwise, I will tear your limbs out and drag you along the ground.¡± Hearing Arkai¡¯s threat, the siblings realized what they were after. It reminded them of how they were almost sold to the Tower of Mages back when they were young and got caught by one of the gangs. ¡°Ren.¡± ¡°¡­I know.¡± Using beastification, the two of them turned into beasts, readying themselves for the uing fight. ¡°Fools. How dare you filthy beasts try to stand against magic?¡± As if they wereughable, Arkai snickered while gesturing to his underlings. With that as the signal, the ck mages started taking out some bones from their clothes. ¡°You will regret opposing the great Professor Arkai.¡± A bunch of bones were scattered on the ground and soon, Arkai took out arge skull that appeared like the skull of a wolf. ¡°Heed the call of your master, you lowly beast.¡± Arkaimanded as the bones started gathering into one to form a shape. One by one, the bones came together and fitted themselves in their rightful joints. That wasn¡¯t the end. ¨C Kweeeeeekk! The Fang Boars started to howl and struggle. Despite being dead and raised back to life in the form of an undead, the appearance of the new monster that sucked in all the nearby bones stimted their innate feelings of fear. Their instincts screamed out to them, that they would change altogether¡­ if they were to be sucked into that vortex. ¨C Kueeeeek! ¨C Kueek! Kuiiiik! A desperate scream echoed in harmony as their voices started to tremble the entire mountain range, but their struggles were in vain. The flesh and blood of the Fang Boars were crushed and broken, and added up to be a condensed piece of flesh. And soon, after being sucked in towards the assembly of bones, those chunks of flesh and blood pasted themselves on the bones to make up the flesh of a new organism. The ck Cult based their studies on ck magic. They mocked life, induced artificial union and their ultimate goal was to defy death by repeating that process. There was no such thing as respect for life nor taboos that couldn¡¯t be broken. The thing in front of the eyes of the siblings was the result of that wicked path of magic. ¡°Grrrrh¡­¡± The organism that was made by the assembly of bones and the flesh of Fang Boars gave off a strange howl. ¡°U, ugh¡­¡± Seeing the finished form of that creature, the siblings were lost for words. It was because it appeared just like them ¨C to be exact, it looked like their fully beastified form. ¡°¡­A werewolf?¡± ¡°That is so. This is the strongest undead I have created using the bones and flesh of your species ¨C the best masterpieces I have ever made!¡± A werewolf chimera. Abined monster made not with the bones of a human, but with the bones of a pure-blooded werewolf and the flesh of Fang Boars. ¡ª!! Along with a horrifying roar, the werewolf chimera charged towards them. The mighty charge as it kicked off the ground was so menacing that the siblings had to throw themselves away in fright. ¨C Kwang! It was a narrow miss. The old tree that looked more than a century old was shredded to pieces after one charge from the werewolf, and the debris flew everywhere like a ball hit by a bat. ¡°What¡­¡± The sheer destructive force of the chimerapletely went against theirmon sense. All they could do was watch the forest be destroyed by the debris of the shattered tree. ¡°Huhuhu, surprised? It must be too hard for mere animals toprehend how astounding this is. This is the essence of life magic!¡± With a sneer, Arkai ridiculed the dumbfounded siblings and started rambling on about his achievement. ¡°Muscles are the foundation of strength! The reason those stupid knights have inhumane destructiveness is because the density of their muscles can reach a hundred times the density of normal people! ¡°That is why I looked into the research to increase the muscle density of an organism! Each muscle tissue might be weaker than that of a stupid knight, but the amount is amplified exponentially as they increase in numbers! ¡°You beasts will never be able to stand against my perfect chimera¡­!¡± While Arkai was exining his feat, the siblings whispered to themselves. ¡°¡­Ren. What does that mean?¡± ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know either.¡± Leaving the iprehensible exnation behind, it was still undeniable that that werewolf chimera was exceptionally powerful. ¡°Grrrhaaaaaa¡­!¡± Letting out a deafening roar, the werewolf smashed down with its heavy arm. Ren used her beastified arm to block the attack. ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± It was heavy. Just like Arkai said, the weight of the werewolf made bybining several dozens of Fang Boars was unbearably heavy. ¡°Ren!¡± The punch thrown by the young wolf boy in an attempt to help his sister was easily blocked by the werewolf. ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± It felt like he was hitting a piece of rock. Ron was stronger than Korin in terms of physical strength, so he was fairly shocked by the difference in their strength. ¡°Uaht¡­?!¡± Suddenly, the werewolf pulled Ron in by the hand and as a result, the boy ended up crashing into his sister. ¡°Uhhk¡­!¡± The mind-numbing shock of the crash dazed them for a second but Ren quickly came to herself and made a quick call. ¡°B, beastify! Right now!¡± Simultaneously, the two of them shifted themselves into the form of golden wolves. After bingrge wolves, the two of them tried to escape from the grasp of the werewolf. Full beastification like this was the proof of immaturity for demi-humans, but it was helpful right now in that it amplified their strength by severalfold. The two golden wolves were going to escape just like that but¡­ ¡°¡­?!¡± By the time they noticed it, the werewolf was already right behind them swinging its arm down. The sharp ws of the monster ripped past Ren¡¯s sides. [Uhk¡­!?] [Ren¡­!] Flop! Ren rolled across the ground. Ron tried to run towards his sister, but without letting him do that, the werewolf did a roundhouse kick to Ron on his side. [Kuhk¡­!] He flew off and crashed into an ancient tree, and fell on the ground along with the shattered barks of the tree. [Haa¡­ haa¡­!] The two golden wolves despaired at the might of the werewolf. The werewolf chimera was way ahead of them in both speed and strength. Their chance of victory looked extremely slim and it made them feel like they were before an unbeatable foe. [Strength isn¡¯t the only factor deciding the victor.] Right when they were about to give up, a voice echoed in their ears. They remembered the voice of a man, who self-deprecatingly called himself a weak knight who had to face innately powerful foes. [But I will still beat them in a real fight.] What they recalled next was his paradoxical deration as well as exnation, that a fight was different from a Maths equation with had a clear and unchanging answer. Fight wisely. Consider the weakness,patibility and psychology of the enemy. Add all of them together to aim at the weaknesses of the enemy. [Ren¡­] [I know.] That was what they needed right now. A frontal fight was not what they were supposed to do ¨C they had to identify the weaknesses of their enemy and wait for the right timing. ¡°About time to end it. Suppress the beasts.¡± ¡°Grrrrhaaahh¡­!¡± Heeding Arkai¡¯smand, the werewolf chimera became even more menacing as it jumped at them. The explosive burst of speed that came from its extra-dense muscles allowed the werewolf to pounce rapidly at the siblings, who refused to fight a frontal battle. They, who had always been fighting by relying on their physical capabilities, started avoiding a bout of strength and focused on dodging for the first time. ¡®So fast!¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s strong!¡¯ A punch shattered each of the trees, and its legs allowed the monster to cover ten meters with one jump in the blink of an eye. Seeing the bestial and instinctive movements of the monster, the siblings realized that this was what they used to fight like. [Your attacks are too honest and linear. Add in some irregr attacks and feints.] [Kyaaah¡­!] Ren threw herself forward along with a shout. Meanwhile, Ron went and bit the arm of the monster that was trying to smash down at his sister from outside her vision. ¨C Kajik! While Ron was holding the arm back, Ren crunched at one of the legs of the monster¡­ at the Achilles tendon of the werewolf. ¡°Grrrahhh¡­!¡± The werewolf twisted its body with its overwhelming might and flung the two wolves away from its body, but in the mouths of the wolves were chunks of the werewolf¡¯s flesh. [Ptui¡­!] The golden wolves spitted out the flesh from their mouth, as the chimera dashed at the siblings with a limp. Despite the immense power of its body and despite not feeling any pain, the torn-out pieces of flesh and muscles of the monster still managed to affect its speed. Stubbornly, the siblings hung onto its weakness. Ren attacked first, while Ron crunched at its vitals. Without getting greedy, they attacked the chimera and weakened it slowly but surely. Due to their wise hunt, the werewolf chimera slowly reached its limit. [This is the end¡­!] That was when the perfect opportunity came to them. Right when the wolves were about to jump at the werewolf, who was now full of gaps in defence due to the umtion of wounds¡­ [Kuhk¡­?!] [Huuk¡­?!] The siblings fell at the same time. There was an iprehensible pain in their stomach, making them feel like their guts were about to be torn to pieces. ¡°Huhuhu. You stupid animals.¡± Leisurely, the ck mages started walking to the siblings who threw up a mouthful of ck blood in pain. ¡°What¡­¡± Trampling on Ren¡¯s head, who no longer had the power to maintain her beastification and returned to her normal self, Arkaiughed like a madman. ¡°The flesh of the chimera was poison itself. Without even knowing that, you really loved chewing on that didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Get¡­ away from Ren!!¡± Ron screamed out in agony, but that only helped stimte the sadistic nature of Arkai. ¡°Huhu. Two golden wolves, huh¡­ Master will be d to see this.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ make meugh. Your master¡­ will be arrested¡­¡± In response to Ren¡¯s agonized attempt to talk back, Arkai put more weight to his foot and trampled on her head even more. ¡°You fool. Do you think the pdins of the New Faith will be able to stop Master? He will escape the prison with no problem when he gets the signal from us.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­¡± ¡°I will skin you guys alive, and preserve your brains in formaldehyde. All your bones and flesh will be used for the advancement of magic. Kuhahahaha¡­!¡± ¡°Rennn¡­¡± ¡°Cough¡­!¡± Ron crawled across the ground, towards Ren who was still coughing out ck blood. His twin sister was in danger ¨C she, his mean yet kind sister, who always prioritized him when she found something to eat in the garbage bins of the slums, was coughing while being trampled by the ck mage. I have to protect her. I must protect her. [Ren wants to protect Ron, and Ron wants to protect Ren, right?] [Yes! I will protect Ren!] The pledge he made before hade out naturally, but it wasn¡¯t something he said with a light heart. He wanted to protect his twin sister who had been with him ever since being born on the same day. She was like the other half of his very existence. ¡°What¡­?!¡± A ck mage that was about to bind him with chains stepped back after seeing golden light suddenly emanating out from Ron. Beastmen tended to grow physically alongside their mental growth. Most of them grew through social education where they grew both intellectually and rationally but¡­ it also applied to situations like this where young beasts had no choice but to get stronger to face the harsh trials of life. Sometimes, bing an adult was not a choice but a requirement to not falter before the cold and merciless tornado of hardships. It was a sad way to grow, but was one that was very much required for the current Ron. ¡°Haah, haah¡­!¡± ¡°R, Ron?¡± Suddenly, his muscles and bones started to develop. It was a small change at the level of a boy bing a young man, but it happened at a rapid speed in real time. Seeing the maturer form of her twin brother who had always been feeble and naive, Ren couldn¡¯t help but feel confused. ¡°Hoh¡­ What a rare and precious sight. To think I would have the chance to look at the growth of a beastman in real time.¡± Arkai was still carefree because his secret weapon was still alive and well. ¡°Make him kneel. Blow away one of his legs if you must.¡± ¡°Grrrh¡­!¡± In response to hismand, the werewolf chimera, which had already finished regenerating all of its wounds, started walking up to the young boy. The sudden growth of the golden wolf was a surprise, but on Arkai¡¯s side was the synthetic monster and essence of ck magic. It was by no means weaker than the golden wolf. The werewolf chimera, which was at least 10 times strongerpared to other adult werewolves, struck the boy at a shocking speed. ¨C Kung! ¡°Ron¡­!¡± Ren cried out but her scream soon turned into that of doubt. That change applied to everyone in the area. ¡°What is going on?¡± ¡°Grrrrh¡­¡± The chimera howled, not from the heat of the battle but from confusion. It was because the young wolf, which used to be nothingpared to its might, was grabbing onto its arm and crushing it. ¡°W, what¡­!¡± It was evident that the monster was being pushed back. Anyone seeing this would say the same thing, and the absurd turn of events made Arkai open his eyes wide in shock. He just couldn¡¯t understand it, but understandably, the awakening of the royal blood from a miraculous process of atavism, was too old of a glorious past for a human that was barely 50 to understand. ¡°Die¡­!¡± Ron pulled his arm back like the string of a bow before releasing it at the werewolf. The chimera blocked the simple linear punch, but the sharp ws of the wolf pierced through its hand. That much was not a big deal, because as an undead, the chimera was immune to pain in the first ce. But what happened next was definitely problematic. ¡°Garrrh?¡± Ron¡¯s ws that pierced through the monster¡¯s hand were drawing closer and closer. Despite the werewolf grabbing onto Ron¡¯s hand and trying to push it away from itself, Ron was like an immovable fortress that was impossible to push back. ¨C Kugigigigik! Desperately, the werewolf tried to push him back but Ron persistently pushed through. In the end, his ws stabbed through the hand and went all the way in through its neck. ¡°Grrrk?!¡± Before long, the ws sliced apart the monster¡¯s vocal cords, which was then followed by the merciless golden ws decapitating the werewolf. ¡°Huhh?¡± While the ck mages were confused by the head of the werewolf suddenly rolling towards them, Ron immediately jumped into the fray. ¡°Uaahkk¡­!¡± ¡°P, Professor Arkai!¡± The rampaging ws of the golden wolf shredded the ck mages to pieces. Theymanded the undead Fang Boars under theirmand to march at him, but those failed to buy them even a second. ¡°Damn it! This ursed beast¡­!¡± It was humiliating. Creating and controlling that enormous familiar had required him to put in a countless number of spells of obedience and mana, so seeing it lose to a young and immature beast was a great hit to his pride. ¡°Die¡­!¡± After slicing apart all the ck mages around him, Ron was about to sprint towards Ron but¡­ ¡°Stop! Unless you want your sister to die in agony!¡± Pulling Ren up by the hair, Arkai threatened him which forced Ron to halt his feet. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you managed to ovee the poison, but it seems like a different story for your sister. The venom flowing through the flesh of a chimera is incurable without a specific antidote!¡± ¡°You¡­ coward!¡± ¡°Huhu. This is what we call human wisdom. How dare a mere beast try to judge me¡­?!¡± Arkai, who had been using Ren as a shield in fear of Ron running in at him, became triumphant after seeing him halt his feet. ¡°How dare a beast look straight into the eyes of a sage walking down the path of magic? Get on your knees! That is the rightful line of sight between a sage and a beast!¡± He shouted, shameless, as if he didn¡¯t find his current actions embarrassing in the slightest. Instead, as if he was embarrassed by the fact that he had been scared of Ron for even a second, he threw his sister on the ground and constantly trampled on her. ¡°You beast! How dare you! Try to! Fight me!¡± ¡°Uhkk¡­!¡± ¡°S, stop!¡± Ron had no way of retaliating against the old mage as he continued trampling on his sister who was heavily gasping for breath. ¡°Stop¡­ Please stop¡­!¡± Although he had ovee the poison with his growth, it was different for his sister. Seeing Ren who was constantly coughing out phlegms mixed with ck blood, Ron got down on his knees. ¡°Please¡­ save my sister.¡± ¡°Ron¡­ you idiot¡­¡± Seeing her twin brother who couldn¡¯t give up on him until the very end, Ren powerlessly closed her eyes. In the end, this was their future. Ever since they had been kidnapped by the gang, Ren had been aware that they were valuable ¡®test subjects¡¯. It was because she heard how the gang was trying to sell them to the Tower of Mages. Expensive beasts ¨C that was how the world perceived them. Whenever they revealed their true identities, their surroundings always tended to look at them with either fear or greed in their eyes so Ren had constantly been wary of everyone. Her ability to use her innate instincts to tell apart lies was a skill she acquired in order to survive from that environment. [It¡¯s okay. No one is going to hit you anymore. You guys are safe now.] Was it after she heard that from him? Perhaps that was when her sharp and vignt senses of a beast disappeared and ever since then, she had started being relieved and carefree. ¡®It¡¯s my fault. I should have been cautious and wary at all times¡­¡¯ Seeing her brother who had to go on his knees to save her, Ren bit her lips. She had to stay wary at the very least and yet¡­ the inside of the fence was so warm andfortable¡­ that she had forgotten how cold and harsh the outside was. ¡®I¡­ I can¡¯t lose just like this.¡¯ That was why she thought to herself, that she couldn¡¯t end this failure as a failure. Ren had decided to help him. She wanted to stand on the same battlefield as oraboni. Wolves; they do not yield to hunters. Wolves; they always stay as a pack. ¨C Swish¡­! Due to the aftermath of the poison, she couldn¡¯t even turn herself into a beast. Looking at the ck mage who had lowered his guard at the powerless and poisoned Ren¡­ ¡°Uaahhk¡­!¡± She attacked desperately with her sharp fangs. Arkai, who wasn¡¯t expecting a dying beast to suddenly spurt into action, instinctively swung his arm to block his vitals, which let the wolf bite into his arm. ¡°Uhhkk¡­? You bastard! Let go¡­! Kuahkkk¡­!¡± Arkai swung his arm around left and right and flung her away. His skin got ripped off and blood spurted out, but Ren still maintained her fighting spirit. ¡°Kyaaaa¡­!¡± Letting out a small roar, Ren sprinted forward while raising her ws. Right when she was about tond her attacks on Arkai, a sudden spear of darkness pierced through her belly from the back. ¡°Kuhuk¡­!¡± The ck magic prating through her stomach was something fired by one of the ck mages behind her. ¡°RENNN¡­!¡± Ron immediately tried to run up towards his sister who copsed to the ground, but his body was already sealed in ce by magic. ¡°Y, youuuuu¡­ How dare you!!¡± As if humiliated by the sudden surprise attack, Arkai once again started trampling on Ren, who had a spear stabbing through her body. The ck mage merciless stepped on her in fury while on the other hand, a beast growled in anger with his eyes stuck on Ren, whose eyes were slowly losing focus. ¡°I will kill you¡­ All of you. I will definitely kill every one of you¡­¡± Seeing her brother give off a strange aura, Ren noticed that something was going wrong. This wasn¡¯t good. At this rate her brother¡­ Ron was going to change into something else. Her instincts as a beast warned her, that this was not good. ¡°Please¡­ help us.¡± There was no way her voice was going to reach him. There was no way he was going to hear her. Despite being rational and knowing all too well the limitations of physics¡­ She clenched her teeth and whispered her wish with all her heart. ¡°Please save us, oraboni¡­¡± ¡°Hmph¡­! No matter what you say, there¡¯s no one who¡¯s going to save you bitch¡­ kuak!?¡± Suddenly, a human figure flew out of nowhere as a fist ruthlessly punched the old mage. ¡°Ora¡­boni?¡± The silhouette of a man filled her vision. Seeing his back, Ren couldn¡¯t stop her eyes from turning wet with tears. ¡°You¡¯rete¡­¡± ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s alright now.¡± Korin Lork. With the eyes of a ferocious beast he red daggers at Arkai. Chapter 130: Mages of the Tower (8) ? Mages of the Tower (8) ? I returned to the Academy with Lady Josephine. Since they carried out the attack on Josephine, it was highly likely that they were going to continue the n by kidnapping Marie and murdering the chairman. Of course, everything had been prepared already. ¡°Senior Marie!¡± After returning to the dormitory, I found Marie waiting for us. ¡°Korin!¡± She weed me with a smile as Doggo also appeared from her shadows. ¡°Did everything go well? Are you okay?¡± ¡°Uun¡­ You see¡­¡± Marie fidgeted for a while, before giving a shocking response. ¡°No one¡­ attacked me.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°I went outside today and created the best stage for them to attack me and yet¡­ Nothing happened until I arrived at the Academy.¡± How could this be? The seal on Lady Josephine would havested only 3 days at best, and Master Erin was going to return soon as well. Now should have been the best time for them to attack Marie. ¡°¡­There¡¯s no way they can attack both at once though.¡± Elder Admelech had gone off to seal Lady Josephine and the original n would have been for Elder Morushtan to kidnap Marie. At the same time, the Great Golden Mage Adelene would murder the chairman. That would have been the best way to allocate the right people to the right task. However, Elder Morushtan was under arrest by the pdins of the New Faith because of my report, so there was no way they had enough manpower to attack Marie and the chairman at once. Unlike the original storyline, Marie wasn¡¯t imprisoned and was instead an unprecedented mage and a Unique Grade vampire. Kidnapping her without Elder Morushtan would be impossible so I thought Lord Adelene and the group would prioritize kidnapping her while the chairman was away. That was why we spread the news of Dunareff Fresh Produce and made her leave the Academy. We had been creating a trap so that it would be easy for them to attack Marie and yet¡­ ¡°Did they figure it out? Or more like, where are the mages right now, Senior?¡± ¡°¡­We also went looking for the mages straight away after returning to the Academy but¡­ we couldn¡¯t find anyone.¡± 30 mages of the Tower evaporated at once. What did this suggest? Did they give up and leave the city because of Morushtan¡¯s arrest? That was impossible. If that was the case, there was no need for them to seal Lady Josephine in the first ce. They took action and those 30 mages should have headed somewhere with a n in mind. ¡°The professors are looking for them right now but¡­ we have no clue where they went.¡± ¡°What in the¡­¡± It was making me uneasy. Something had definitely gone off-course, but where did it go wrong and what was it? ¡°Do you want to know where the mages of the Tower have gone off to?¡± That was when a sensuous voice reached our ears. At the source of the sound was a female student wearing a reddish-ck dress, staring at us with a cunning smile on her face. ¡°Your Highness Miruam.¡± Miruam Elizabeth El Rath. Her eyes met with mine. ¡°Do you know where the mages¡­¡± I stopped in the middle of the question. Was there a point in asking such a thing? The Tower of Mages was one of the powerful sponsors for the princess. Even if she knew something, there should be no reason for her to tell us about it. ¡°Senior Korin. Shall we have a little conversation?¡± Lifting the corners of her lips, Princess Miruam invited me to her room. Unlike the fanciness of her own self, her room was rather simple andcked decorations. Overall, the room had a cold tone of colors and a practical cement of furniture. It seemed even more deste than how it looked when I came here at the start of the semester. ¡°I know where the mages have gone.¡± That was the first thing she said to me after entering the room. ¡°What do you want from me in return?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see. I wonder how much we should put on stake?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Seeing me deeply looking back into her eyes, Princess Miruam returned a faint smile. ¡°It¡¯s very important to me.¡± ¡°I know. And it is just as important for me.¡± This woman¡­ She knew what I was trying to do to the Tower. Then this would inevitably be a deal, but how would I be able to pay the price matching the fall of the Tower of Mages, one of her most powerful sponsors? ¡°¡­¡± There was¡­ only one way for me to pay enough price for the fall of the Tower. ¡°I will¡­¡± ¡°The Tower has gone to hunt the wolves. It is something I have confirmed directly with my ¡®snake¡¯ so it¡¯s certain.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I was lost for words. Just a little more patience and she would have gotten what she was after so¡­ why? However, I didn¡¯t have time to sit here thinking, because it was obvious why the Tower would be after the siblings. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°You know.¡± She said, making me momentarily stick to the ground. ¡°I have given up quite a lot. There will be no next time.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Right. I knew what she valued even more than the Tower of Mages. Her hatred and rage, and how she was waiting for the opportunity¡­ ¡°We will say I owe you one.¡± ¡°Fufu. I know, and you will definitely have to pay the price for this.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what she was thinking but¡­ what I did know was that Princess Miru ¨C Miruam Elizabeth El Rath ¨C would never do something that put her at a loss. However, my first priority right now was saving the siblings. **** Distance and location did not matter in the slightest. With the help of the overpowered teleporter, Josephine ra, we immediately arrived at the western mountain range where the prac lesson was taking ce. ¡°The forest¡­ is strange.¡± The howls and roars of the boars echoing throughout the mountains were proof that something strange was happening inside. In that mountain would be the freshmen students taking their prac lesson. Quickly, I designed a n. ¡°I will go together with Senior Marie and Doggo. We will go looking for the twins.¡± ¡°Sure. But¡­ I believe the twins would be in the most danger right now.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± It was my job to protect them ¨C an obvious duty of mine as the guardian. ¡°Doggo!¡± Senior Marie called out as Doggo revealed himself from her shadows. He was the second fastest out of everyone here after Hua Ran. ¡°Doggo. Do us a favor.¡± I let him take a sniff of one of the items that were in the twin¡¯s room. After smelling it, Doggo pointed at a direction. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Korin!¡± Marie got on Doggo who then immediately kicked off the ground. ¡°Woof!¡± I followed them from behind and soon, we arrived at the middle of the mountain where we found Ren who was encircled by ck mages¡­ and a young man. The handsome young boy with blonde hair who appeared around the same age as me, was being made to kneel on the ground by the surrounding ck mages. Ron¡­ He must have grown. It seemed that the child had chosen to be an adult to fight them off. Seeing that made me feel proud yet remorseful at the same time, because that proved that my fences as the adult had been insufficient. ¡°Korin, look¡­!¡± Marie said while pointing at Ren, who was on the ground with a spear prating through her stomach. ¡°Those motherfuckers¡­!¡± I was about to run off immediately but stopped momentarily upon sensing a strange aura emanating out of Ron. It was a thick, rusty and sticky fog of mana that did not suit the bright golden wolf in the slightest. ¡°I will kill you¡­ All of you. I will definitely kill every one of you¡­¡± ¡ºI will kill you¡­ All of you. I will definitely kill every one of you¡­¡» His words reminded me of the past. Both the game and thest iteration. The wolf siblings depended on and loved each other so endearingly, and one of them would go berserk and morph into something else whenever the other was defeated first. ¡°This is looking dangerous. Just in case, stay here with Doggo please, Senior Marie. I will go there by myself.¡± ¡°Korin. Will you be alright?¡± ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t worry.¡± What reached my ears straight after Marie¡¯s voice of concern was Ren¡¯s groan and plea. ¡°Please¡­ help us.¡± I had to answer her call. ¡°Please save us, oraboni¡­¡± ¡°Hmph¡­! No matter what you say, there¡¯s no one who¡¯s going to save you bitch¡­ kuak!?¡± Dashing forth, I smacked the guy on his face. ¨C Kaduduk! The old mage miserably rolled across the ground several times. Without even bothering to look at him, I quickly checked how Ren was faring. ¡°You¡¯rete¡­¡± Her hair was disheveled. Her cheeks were swollen with blood flowing down her lips. It was infuriating. How could they do such a thing to such a small girl¡­? ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s alright now.¡± Giving her a tight hug, I tapped her on the back to reassure her. Then, I walked towards Ron, who was looking at me with a dumbfounded look on his face with his knees still on the ground, and patted his head. ¡°You did an excellent job. You protected your sister.¡± ¡°Bro¡­¡± Leaving Ren with Ron, I scanned the 10 ck mages around us. All of them would probably be above Grade 2 at the very least considering how they were here to capture golden wolves. On top of that, there were also tons of undead Fang Boars behind them. ¡°That insolent brat!¡± ¡°K, kill him¡­!¡± I pointed my spear at them. By putting arge amount of mana into the spear, I unleashed one of the powers of the sun. ?Temporary Sun Concentration ¨C iomh Sis? Activating every Rune of the Sun engraved on the silver spear, I used it as a temporary catalyst to give off sunlight. It was a short and momentary disy of light, but even that was detrimental to the unholy creatures. ¨C Kweeeeek! ¨C Kuahkkkkk! The undead Fang Boars started to melt while letting out agonized screams. Wicked beings had not a single chance of retaliating against the cleansing ability of the sun. Whether it be undeads, ck mages, or even the poison of a chimera. ¡°It would have been slightly better for you if you were using normal familiars.¡± That was one of the weaknesses of ck mages. They had a strong tendency to easily resort to killing and shifting body parts to use them at will. In the blink of an eye, the undead Fang Boars were all cleansed. Due to being polluted by ck magic, they all vanished to nothing without leaving behind a single bone. And that was the same for the ck mages. ¡°Huahkk¡­ T, this is impossible! My disciples!¡± Arkai, who managed to escape the range of the Sun thanks to flying far away by the punch, screamed after seeing the ck mages who had been reduced to ashes. Soon, after realizing that he wasn¡¯t dreaming, he lifted his eyes and looked at me. ¡°P, please don¡¯t kill me! I¡­ I was just doing what my master told me to do!¡± Elder Morushtan. Sure, that guy was the biggest motherfucker but¡­ ¡°Are you any different?¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m¡­!¡± ¡°Of course not. Even your disciples were all one of the world¡¯s dirtiest pieces of trash. Otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have been cleansed by the sun. Do you think you¡¯ll be different? Do you want to bet on whether you get cleansed or not?¡± Seeing the silver spear being pointed at him, he frantically backed off. That was a natural reaction, considering how he witnessed the eradication of the undeads and the ck mages with his own eyes. ¡°Huhiiik¡­ P, please don¡¯t kill me! Please! Have mercy!¡± He begged after going down on his knees. It reminded me of what Ron was like before, but¡­ ¡°Your knees seem a lot cheaper inparison.¡± There was no way that his knees could ever hold the same weight as Ron, who had been desperately trying to save his sister. ¨C m! I smacked his head with the shaft of the spear as he fell face first onto the ground. Ren curiously raised a question after seeing that. ¡°Are you not killing him?¡± ¡°Killing him would be way too merciful.¡± They had to pay for all their sins without leaving a single pound behind. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ After that it was fairly simple. Although the ck mages had been controlling most of the Fang Boars of this entire mountain, in the end, Fang Boars were nothing more than Fang Boars. No one from our group was weak enough to be injured by a mere Grade 4 monster. There were a few injured students among the freshmen kids that were attacked first, but thanks to Professor Orgen protecting them with his life on the line, there weren¡¯t any serious injuries nor casualties. ¡°Student Korin!¡± I was in the middle of gathering the neutralized mages to one ce when Lady Josephine called my name. ¡°The chairman¡¯s marker is giving off a signal!¡± ¡°¡­So it really was an attack on two fronts, huh.¡± Unlike us who had the overpowered Josephine in our group, the mages inevitably had some problems with synchronizing their attacks. It was fortunate that they started the attack on the chairman after everything was pretty much over for us. ¡°We have to leave right now.¡± ¡°Let me go with you,¡± I replied. Obviously, I had to be one of the ones going with her, because I was the only one here who knew about Adelene, the Great Golden Mage. It should be possible for me. I had obtained the sun; I reached the end of Six Ways of the Spear, and was even in possession of 3 Aura Cores, which was the symbol of a High-level Knight. Unique Grade Great Mage, Adelene. I would have to put my life on the line if it was a 1 on 1, but I also had Lady Josephine, the Dimensional Witch, on my side. ¡°M, me too¡­!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t stay here when you are going there, Mr. Korin!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Marie, Alicia and even Hua Ran. Although they had already told me that they were going toe with me from the beginning, it was still reassuring to have them step up without any hesitation. Josephine seemed concerned by the fact that she had to bring students into a dangerous battle, and warned them. ¡°Be careful. Unlike the Red Cult and the ck Cult where we had an absolute advantage over them¡­ this will be different.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Even though there had been a slight modification to the n, it was perfect until now. Everything was going alri¡ª ¡°Chairman!¡± The moment we arrived at thend on the other side of the dimensional gate, the first thing we saw was the chairman lying on the ground. ¡°ra¡­ Student Korin¡­¡± ¡°Are you alright?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine. But more importantly¡­¡± ¡ºSystem Message¡» ¨C All the 4 treasures of Tuatha de Danann have been gathered. ¡ºSpear of Light, Areadbhair¡» ¡ºCauldron of Infinity, Undry¡» ¡ºGreat Stone of Destiny, Lia Fail¡» ¡ºSword of the Sun, iomh Sis¡» ¨C The Quest, ¡¶Coronation of Paradise¡· has been activated. ¡ª¡ª¡ª!! The system window raised an rm, and at the same time¡­ they revealed themselves. ¡°Hihi. Hello?¡± The user of Undry, Dun Scaith. ¡°It has been a while. First Spear of Erin.¡± Lawmaker, Dumnorix. ¡°Ohh¨C thee. We are atst facing each other atop the log bridge of destiny. Why have we been forced into such a tragedy? To kill or be killed; that is the question.¡± The all-powerful King of Beauty, Eochaid Bres. Gathered were the final bosses of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? ¨C the King¡¯s Subjects. Each and every one of them were at the level of a disaster themselves but there was one more. Standing with them was¡ª ¡°Destiny has bound our fates into one. Now, your destiny hase before your eyes.¡± ¡ªA man carrying a splendidly radiant spear. ¡ºSystem Back-up in Operation. Reviewing the Precept.¡» Dumnorix: Rtivity A+ Dun Scaith: Rtivity A+ Eochaid Bres: Rtivity A++ Tates Valtazar: Rtivity EX Support: 740% Increase in Stats ¡ºHero Korin Lork. Defeat all evil and save the world.¡» ¡°Have you had enough time to prepare yourself, young man?¡± Tates Valtazar. He was standing there, waiting for us to arrive. Chapter 131: Fate Intertwined (1) ? Fate Intertwined (1) ? ¡°Aiya~. I¡¯ve been wanting to see you for a while, my dear nemesis.¡± Korin couldn¡¯t follow what was going on ¨C the sudden turn of events waspletely outside his expectations. In front of him was a man who appeared like a normal middle-aged man. Despite showing an amiable demeanor as if he was seeing a long-time friend, there was an unconceble flicker of violence in his eyes. Korin Lork knew very well who he was. ¡°Tates¡­ Valtazar.¡± ¡°You know me?¡± he asked but only as an act of formality. It was evident from his tone that he wasn¡¯t that eager for a reply. ¡°Why are you here?¡± Valtazar let out an amused smile upon hearing his question. He looked dumbfoundingly nonchnt and unguarded ¨C the hems of his coat fluttered as his spear remained behind his back. ¡°Is it that strange for me to want to see the one that interfered with my n time after time, who even took one of the treasures away from me?¡± ¡°¡­I see. I guess I was a bit too proactive, huh.¡± ¡°Exactly as you say, junior brother.¡± His words were followed by a heavy pressure weighing down on Korin¡¯s shoulders. Vampire, Marie Dunareff. Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran, and one who can stride through the Domain, Alicia Arden. Dimensional Witch, Josephine ra. King of Beasts, Dun Scaith and the Great Sage of the Forest, Dumnorix. The unprecedented all-powerful Eochaid Bres. Each and every one of them were heroes, or viins of a simr level. Even those powerhouses who could proudly leave their names down in the annals of history, had to kill their breath at the face of the confrontation of the two of them. They weren¡¯t the real main characters of this history ¨C this era. Savior of the World, Korin Lork. Destroyer of the World, Tates Valtazar. Their confrontation was a grand plot of destiny that was in corrtion with the fate of the world itself. The radiance and pressure of the two main characters of this era weighed down heavily on everyone else. ¡°Now, what should we do? Korin Lork. I have as many questions as you do. It won¡¯t be a bad idea to share our sides of the story.¡± ¡°I think so too but¡­¡± Even though the two of them hadn¡¯t seen each other before, they treated each other like old friends. It appeared as if they could easily dismiss their rtionship which should be that of animosity and hostility, but unlike what their tone of voice suggested¡­ ?Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon? In the blink of an eye, during the faint gap in consciousness and perception, Korin rapidly pulled his muscles for a miraculous surprise attack, but¡­ ?Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon? The attack was met by the same move. The exact same move within the exact same Domain countered his spear. ¡ª Kududuk! Domain. The dream and aspiration of every warrior in the world. A step through the suspended world. Simply reaching that realm was one that was only possible by the greatest talents of the century so there had been a question roaming unanswered in the minds of everyone¡­ one that was impossible to be answered. What would happen if two same attacks, the same techniques holding the same amount of power, were to collide inside the suspended world of pure darkness? The answer to that question was about to be revealed very soon. ¡°What?¡± Those who couldn¡¯t perceive the Domain muttered in doubt. It was because, by the time they realized it, their ally and their enemy were holding the tips of their spear against each other¡¯s. Soon, they noticed that something was happening at the point of conflict in between the two spears. ¡ª Kuruaaaaaahk¡­! What echoed was what sounded like a scream of the dimension itself. The world couldn¡¯t withstand the crash within the Domain and started to quake, making everything ¡®crumble¡¯ around the point of conflict. ¡°H, huh?¡± ¡°Hoh~¡± Even Alicia, who had entered the Domain numerous times, and even Eochaid Bres who had finished arming himself before Korin¡¯s surprise attack, were shocked and awed by the phenomenon before their eyes. The crash of the strongest physical attacks of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? created a small explosion thatpletely eradicated everything within a radius of 45 cm. It waspletely different from destruction; they were literally rejected by the world and vanished to nothing. ¡°Even that doesn¡¯t work, huh¡­¡± ¡°That was a magnificent move, junior brother.¡± Korin clicked his tongue at the failed surprise attack, whereas Tates nonchntlymented on his attack. Soon after, Tates raised his spear again. ?Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon? ¡­!! It was the second intrusion into the Domain. Thanks to already seeing the unprecedented talent, Sword Fiend, and thanks to the support of the system under the skill of Domain Comprehension, ?Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon? Korin was able to react and respond in time. In a short span of time, he entered the Domain twice which resulted in the dimension crumbling twice in a row. ¡°Good! Good! Twice is nothing, huh. Then how about three times?¡± ¡°What¡­?¡± ¡ª ¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Third time, He reacted to it. ¡ª ¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Fourth time, He parried it away. ¡ª ¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Fifth time. Domain was the realm where entering it once was enough to be praised as a miraculous feat. However, the pinnacle of martial arts was being repeated again and again. ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª Kadurururuk!!!! It was the sh of the century. Seeing the world crumbling down again and again, the leader of the enemy faction shouted in joy. ¡°Not bad! A bit faster this time!¡± Sixth Style, Shura¡ª Sixth Style, Shura¡ª ¡ª Void Spinning Heaven, Ominous Snake: Secret Arts ¡ª Void Spinning Heaven, Secret Arts of Trap and Stab The two heroes stemming off the same root fought each other like doppelgangers. However, there were some slight differences. ¡°Uht¡­?!¡± A faint shift in weight during attacks, the maniption of stride and foothold, and a flexible reaction to the sh of spearheads. Put in one word, it was a difference in caliber. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± The small, seemingly trivial yet detrimental difference in caliber made the Silver Spear pierce through the ground while the Spear of Light stabbed through Korin. The spear, tainted with blood, prated through his chest and came out the other side. ¡°I, impossible¡­¡± Alicia, Marie and Hua Ran¡­ All of them were lost for words. 1 second. The fight between the two spearmen, which only a select few were able to perceive, ended in just 1 second, but the result was incredibly significant despite the short period of time it took. The aftermath of the explosions that had urred due to the sh of the same attacks had created arge crater. The ground near them had disappeared ¨C they weren¡¯t destroyed; they were eradicated. ¡°Korin-ssi!¡± ?Singr Sword of Arden, Domain Severance? The new Sword Fiend, who was able to freely roam through the Domain after reaching the level of a Heavenly Sword, approached Tates in the blink of an eye at a speed that even Tates couldn¡¯t perceive. Watching that from the side, Eochaid Bres was genuinely surprised. ¡®That¡¯s not just any normal Domain. Three steps in the Domain plus an attack on top of that?¡¯ It was a ridiculous level of talent, at least when it came to making use of the Domain. The Demon-ying Sword slithered out of the scabbard, ready to cut everything in its path. ¨C Kang¡­! However, her sword failed to cut his neck. In fact, it failed to even fully escape the scabbard. At the end of the handle of the sword was arge chunk of aura¡­ It was firmly staying there as an obstacle stopping the sword from being unsheathed. ¡°That can¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be overly conceited with the Domain. It¡¯s not an invincible, overpowered technique. Repeated entry into the Domain sounds great, but there is always a little gap before the activation and reactivation.¡± Tates said while grabbing onto Alicia¡¯s head. His grip was so powerful that she felt like her head was about to crack open. ¡°Uhhk¡­!¡± A stream of blood flowed down her forehead. Alicia tried to escape from his grip through the Domain, but even that was proving to be difficult. ¡°You¡­ How dare you.¡± Hua Ran pounced at Tates from the back. Right when the living jiangshi with an Unbreakable Vajra Body swung her fist, her fist was stopped and her body was thrown towards Alicia. Kwang! Alicia was dropped to the ground as Hua Ran fell on top of her. She was then punched and mmed repeatedly from above. ¨C Tu! Kwang! Kwang! Kwaaang! Kwang! An absurd level of power smashed down on her relentlessly. Every time a fistnded on her body, the ground beneath them caved in, which thus deepened the crater. ¡°Kuhhk¡­!¡± ¡°You¡­!¡± As expected of a living jiangshi with an Unbreakable Vajra Body, her body was unscathed despite the repeated, merciless onught from Valtazar. The only one suffering in that fight was Alicia, who was constantly being squashed into the ground. ¨C Charuruk! In the middle of the fight, chains suddenly extended all the way to Tates¡¯s arms. The chains that were restricting Hua Ran started to devour her aura and restricted not just her but also Tates. Being a sacred artifact of the New Faith that held a divine power and will, and thanks to the Saintess¡¯s prayer and less restrictions being in ce, Hua Ran was able to use them somewhat like weapons. ¡°You¡­ It¡¯s over.¡± Hua Ran gathered a great amount of aura into her fist and let it fly towards him, who was still confined by the chains. ?Demonic Aura, Straight Fist? A powerful fist that looked strong enough to destroy anything in existence was flying at him, but Tates didn¡¯t do anything special to protect himself from it. ¡°Hew~¡± Kwang! Tates was sent flying along with a deafening thud. His body rolled across the coarse ground and was ravaged all around from the shock, but Hua Ran didn¡¯t stop there. With an astonishing amount of power in her legs, she jumped into the air and went crashing down from the heavens towards him. It was a simple yet destructive kick down from the sky. Right as she was about to burst his head with the kick¡­ Tates, who was still bound by the chains, responded with a faint gesture. All he did was slightly raise his leg. The moment her foot was about tond on him, he gently kicked it from the side to change the trajectory of the attack. ¨C Pang! It was a gentle and dumbfoundingly simple interruption but it was more than enough to let him escape the kick. ¨C Kwaang! The destructive kick down destroyed the ground with force, but unfortunately, her legnded slightly away from his head. ¡°Amazing in terms of speed and power, but youck experience. How unfortunate~¡± ¡°That¡­ doesn¡¯t change anything!¡± Hua Ran, irritated by his nonchnce, flung him into the air but the chains restricting him were still in her hands. All she had to do was fling him back and forth until his body exploded to nothing. ¡°However, this is not what my fate is supposed to be.¡± ?Enforcement of Destiny. Lia Fail.? ¡°Huh?¡± What happened next was so shocking that even Hua Ran, with her usual indifference, unconsciously let out a mutter in confusion. ¡°What¡­¡± Tates pulled the chains immediately afternding on the ground, which drew Hua Ran towards him. ¡®How is he so strong¡­!?¡¯ Suddenly, she started being overwhelmed in terms of pure strength. Unable to even react in time, her tiny body was pulled in just like that. But that didn¡¯t matter ¨C Hua Ran was confident that his punches wouldn¡¯t be any effective on her, and thought to herself that she would respond back with her set of punches while ignoring his attacks. With firm belief in the defensive capability of her invincible Unbreakable Vajra Body, Hua Ran hurled a straight fist enshrouded with demonic aura, to which Tates responded by deflecting it with both of his hands, and following that through with his knee soaring up at her temples. ¡°Uht¡­!¡± His knee, with the support of the condensed aura, was exceptionally powerful. Added to the fact that it hadnded straight on one of her vitals, it was enough to momentarily make Hua Ran dizzy but Tates wasn¡¯t done with just that one attack. Pressing on the chains, Tates crushed her bnce and used his immacte techniques to smite the other side of her head with only a few centimeters between them. ¡°This is nothing¡­!¡± Ignoring the attack, Hua Ran retaliated. As she was about to rip Tates¡¯ limbs out of his body, a sudden ding in the head made her drop to the ground. ¡°Huh¡­?¡± Hua Ran¡¯s knees dropped down and she was lost, confused by what she was going through for the first time in her life. Gazing down at her, Tates Valtazarmented on her state. ¡°No matter how tough your body is, you can¡¯t do anything if you get a direct shock to the brain. Remember that.¡± The man, who had the qualification to be called the Divine Spear and was at the stage where he could use his entire body as a weapon, raised his Spear of Light to finish things off. It was then. ?Combination Spell ¨C Snow Flower? The world froze at once. The severe coldness, enough to make even the air shiver on its toe, filled the surroundings with astonishing flowers of snow. A grand spell of nature revealed its might for the world to see. The mage bringing about that phenomenon was naturally Marie Dunareff, who had been gathering an enormous amount of mana just for this moment. ¡°So you are that vampire, huh.¡± ¡°¡­Doggo.¡± Heeding her call, a giant dog of blood emerged from her shadows. At once, the dog dashed at its foe. ¡°Kuruaaaaahh¡­!!¡± The sheer amount of mana being poured out was the very proof of her being adored by mana itself. It was a demonstration of the potential of the genius mage and vampire, who had always had the gifts of a great mage. A familiar, only essible by high-grade vampires, sprinted forward, carrying with it the enormous support of its mother. In a world frozen by the great spell of frost, Snow Flower, unperturbed by theyer of ice seizing him by the legs, Tates lifted his spear and pulled it back. It was the typical posture for a javelin. However, it was counterintuitive to say that it would lead to a strong attack, considering how his feet were still stuck in ice. How meaningful of an attack could it be, with him throwing it while standing still on the spot? ?Self-Executing. Areadbhair? A spear that moves by itself¡ª ?Ever-Piercing. Areadbhair? It prates its target without fail¡ª ?Always-Precise. Areadbhair? ¡ªAnd always meets its mark. The Spear of Light, after a simultaneous activation of three abilities, prated through the skull of the Blood Dog and started flying towards the defenseless Marie to stab through her body. ¡°Aht¡­!¡± As the spear flew at her to bring her down to the abyss, the dimensions suddenly let out a crack as a fissure revealed itself in the middle of the air. It then absorbed the Spear of Light all too easily. ¡°Close.¡± Josephine, the Dimensional Witch, said as the crack immediately started to close. Along with that was the disappearance of the Spear of Light. ¡°Josephine, my dear old friend. Isn¡¯t it a bitte for you to step in?¡± ¡°Shut up, traitor. And¡­ I¡¯m not going to be the one stepping in.¡± ¡­¡­.!! Suddenly, an intense ray of heat poured out from his back. Behind Tates was arge sun, melting the frozen world. ?Sun Manifestation. iomh Sis.? Devouring the mana pool of the owner, which had increased by 740%, the sun revealed itself in full, threatening to scorch the world with its heat. The manifested form of the sun poured out its oppressive heat. However, in spite of standing before the greatest me in the world that had even cleansed the gigantic undead city of Nazrea, Tates still appeared nonchnt. ¡°Sun manifestation, huh. This should be much greater than what a single individual can maintain for a long period of time.¡± ¡°¡­¡± In the blink of an eye, he saw through the weakness. It wasn¡¯t looking very good for Korin ¨C he had manifested the sun with nothing but his own mana in an area that hadn¡¯t been prepared before in the slightest, and it was therefore hard to expect much from it. ¡°Even though it was slightly off the heart, that should have been a fatal injury. The speed of your recovery is magnificent.¡± ¡°Are you jealous? Why don¡¯t you find a ghost in a library to send off to heaven then?¡± ¡°When you are at my age, you start to be conscious of your health. But hmm, I see. I can sense from you a Karma intertwined with the world.¡± Tates realized instinctively that the boy would have engraved Precepts that were in total contrast to the future he was aspiring for. ¡°Student Korin! We need to retreat right now!¡± ¡°¡­I know. But we need to evacuate everyone else first!¡± Korin had to keep the sun up to hold back Tates and his subjects. If he were to leave first, Tates would most certainly direct his attacks at Marie and the other girls. ¡°Ehh, do I have to continue watching from the side?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Just let the boss enjoy his glorious battle.¡± What was worse was that the King¡¯s Subjects had yet to even move an inch. As expected of the strongest boss of the entire world, he was arrogant and therefore carefree, but it was hard to tell if his subordinates would stay out of the fight until the end or not. ¡°Behold.¡± Tates remarked with a single gesture. With one flick of his hands, the world started to shake, forcing Josephine to mutter in shock. ¡°The dimension¡­ is being broken?¡± She was befuddled, shattering the usual image of her being a calm and collected senior professor of the Academy. Soon, she noticed what was going on. Spear of Light, Areadbhair. The divine spear of gods that always hit and pierced through its mark. Josephine realized that the spear was about to pierce through even the dimension itself to finish its job. ¡°Everyone, jump in!¡± ?Unique Grade: Crowd Teleportation? She used the same great spell that had once teleported hundreds of students at once. All the girls, the boy and even the injured Chairman Eriu¡­ All of them immediately jumped into the crack in the dimension that Josephine had created in the air. ¡°Now, a question for you. That spear that I threw¡­ ¡®Who¡¯ do you think it was thrown at?¡± Following his nonchnt remark, the alternate dimension that swallowed Areadbhair started to crack open. ¨C Pakang! ¡°Hurry up¡­!¡± Everyone made it in time into the separate dimension that Josephine created before heaving a sigh of relief. It was a dark ne of nothingness. ¡°Huu¡­ I was in so much of a hurry that I couldn¡¯t even enter the coordinates in. But we¡¯re safe now. Let¡¯s head back to the Academy.¡± ¡°N¡­ no.¡± ¡°Chairman?¡± Josephine asked in doubt. Unfortunately¡­ Chairman Eriu was the only one there who foresaw the worst possible turn of events that was going to hit them very soon. ¨C Kaduk! Flinch. Suddenly, the sound of shattering ss reached everyone¡¯s ears. They then turned towards the source of the sound in the otherwise silent dimension of nothing. ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°¡­A hole.¡± ¨C Kachaaaang! Immediately upon perceiving what it was, Korin threw his body forward and stood in front of Marie whom Tates had thrown the spear at. ¨C Kajik! ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± However, the spear hadn¡¯t been aiming for Marie all along. ¡°Chairman¡­!¡± The Spear of Light¡­ It prated through Chairman Eriu¡¯s heart. And¡ª ¡ºThe Spear is a part of the owner.¡» Like an arm being pulled back, the spear was rapidly brought back to the crack in the fissure and disappeared from their sight in the blink of an eye, along with the body of the skewered chairman. **** After going through the process of freezing and being scorched, thend was deste and wasted like a piece ofnd that had been recently struck by a storm. Standing there was Tates Valtazar, gazing at Eriu Casarr whose heart had been stabbed by a spear. ¡°Been a while, my beloved master.¡± ¡°Tates¡­ Valtazar.¡± Despite being pierced in the heart by Areadbhair, Chairman Eriu was different from a normal person at the brink of death. The body that should beposed of blood and flesh was pouring out fragments of rune stones, and his pale face was the same as before. Neither of them was surprised by it however, because in the end, both of them were aware that it wasn¡¯t a real death but a mere destruction of an avatar. But that raised the question of why. Why did Tates Valtazar prioritize the destruction of a simple avatar instead of anyone else? ¡°The destiny¡­ of Lia Fail.¡± ¡°You seem to have noticed it.¡± ¡°So Student Korin¡­ Korin is¡­ your¡­ contender, huh.¡± Lia Fail, the Great Stone of Destiny. It had the ability to show trivial changes of the future and the fates of others, but that wasn¡¯t the true potential of the great treasure. A glimpse into destiny and its enforcement. It had the power to go against any kind of principle in the world, as long as it was for the aplishment of the destiny observed by its owner, and that included even the principle of time. Unlike the other observations and trivial changes to the future that could be made depending on one¡¯s course of action, that was the ¡®arbitrary decision of destiny¡¯ ¨C one that was unchangeable and unbreakable. ¡°He and I will fight each other during the final battle. That fight will be what decides the destiny of the world.¡± ¡°I¡­ see.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ridiculous. To think the one stopping me wouldn¡¯t be you, but a young and sloppy disciple of yours.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Eriu¡­ Erin Danua thought to herself. The flood of memories that had once been poured into her mind and the paradox she saw in the midst of the 300-years-worth of memories¡­ was finally exined by her denounced disciple. ¡°I¡­ see.¡± There was no longer even the slightest bit of hesitation left inside her. She realized what it was that she had to do. ¡°Erin Danua. My goal is still the same as what it was 80 years ago.¡± But at the same time, she was in deep sorrow. The disciple who had once been her everything, and thest disciple she had raised¡­ ¡°I will eradicate this deceitful world and bring paradise back.¡± ¡ºI will save the world.¡» Their contrasting aspirations was just another proof of their destiny to kill or be killed by one another. The fact that this was all because of her own foolishness¡­ was extremely disheartening. ¨C Kaduk! The spear left the chest and soared up to behead the humanoid figure of Eriu Casarr. With this, there was only one way for her to meddle in the works of the world which was now on the brink of destruction. She had no choice but to break the seal and leave the pce. Chapter 132: Fate Intertwined (2) ? Fate Intertwined (2) ? Fragments of the being who had once been the chairman fell on the ground. Tates was staring down at the corpse of the young man¡­ or rather the remains, when Dumnorix spoke to him from behind. ¡°Are you not going to chase after them?¡± Dumnorix suggested that they chase after Korin Lork and his group to finish them off for good. ¡°No. This will do for today.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The first to react to his words was the beautiful young man with bright blonde hair, Eochaid Bres. He said after exaggeratedly flinging his long fluttering hair with his hand. ¡°O King, lend me 500 shadow warriors, and I shall personally return with the head of thedy using the Domain on a te.¡± ¡°Looks like you have taken interest in her, Eochaid.¡± ¡°How can I possibly not fall for her nectarine-like skin and unparalleled skills with the sword? Of course, everyone around that destined contender were all wonderful-looking girls.¡± Eochaid Bres did not conceal his greed. Although he was the most normal in terms of outer appearance, the madness inside him was by no means less than that of the King of Beasts, Dun Scaith. ¡°But no. We are heading back.¡± ¡°Hah~¡± He heaved out a sigh ofment. Despite being skeptical about his decision, Eochaid Bres did not put it into words out of utmost obedience. Tates said as if to reward him for his obedience. ¡°Destroying the world. That Precept engraved into my body is asking for suitable foes and risk. It looks like those women had their ¡®fates intertwined¡¯ with my contender, you see.¡± It would be possible for him to kill them if need be, but that would incidentally reduce the significance of the final battle. His Precepts were demanding for that final battle to be ever so magnificent and mythological. ¡°This time was just to say hello¡­ Rather than a fight between warriors, it was closer to an assassination¡­¡± The Precept rted to the destruction of the world was very heavy. And its requirements were just as strong. ¡°There is no elegance in that.¡± **** ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± We silently stayed there in the middle of the Academy campus, at the ce we were dropped off. ¡°Korin¡­¡± Marie said while walking towards me with her eyes on the hole in my chest. I stopped her and said to her instead. ¡°Please¡­ look after Alicia first.¡± Thanks to the amplification from my Precept just then, my regeneration ability had also been enhanced significantly. My organs were in a mess but it wasn¡¯t lethal by any means. ¡°Uhk¡­ Mr. Korin. I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± The one in our group with the greatest amount of injuries was Alicia. It was because she had taken in the brunt of Valtazar¡¯s attacks unguarded, and the damage was nothing to scoff at despite Hua Ran being in the middle of the two. ¡°How are you guys¡­ Senior Marie and Hua Ran?¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m fine!¡± ¡°¡­No problem.¡± ¡°Alright. That¡¯s good then.¡± I carefully raised Alicia, whose body was covered in bruises, and brought her to Lady Josephine. ¡°Professor. Please move Alicia to the infirmary first.¡± ¡°¡­Alright.¡± Josephine looked just as grieved but she wasn¡¯t someone who would prioritize her feelings over casualties. ¡°Hua Ran. You go with them.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fi¡­¡± ¡°Go.¡± ¡°¡­¡± For a long time, she stood still without saying anything back. It was highly likely that she was chatting with Ran. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°¡­Korin. What about me?¡± ¡°Senior¡­ Can you wait for Ren and Ron please? The kids must have been surprised.¡± ¡°N, nn¡­! Alright!¡± They all left after I practically chased them away. With everyone gone, I dragged my powerless body towards the bench and sat myself there, without paying attention to my bloodstained shirt. ¡°Haa¡­¡± I quickly went through everything that happened. Conflict with the Tower of Mages ¨C a terrorist attack at the Academy carried out by the Great Mage Adelene, and the mages of the Red and ck Cults. Admelech of the Red Cult was disarmed and captured with haste whereas Morushtan of the ck Cult was pretty much erased from the equation after I reported him to the New Faith. It was unexpected that they would target the wolf siblings who were much easier targets than Marie but¡­ none of them were hurt that badly thanks to Princess Miruam. Ren¡¯s poison was cleansed with the power of the Sun and Ron had gone through a surprising amount of change, even though he still looked like a young teenager. Tates Valtazar and his subordinates appearing towards the end was¡­ somethingpletely unexpected but¡­ None of us were dead. Marie, Alicia and Hua Ran. No one was dead nor injured beyond cure. Even after meeting the strongest final boss of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? everyone had been able to escape with their lives intact. We were lucky. It was amendable feat ¨C that¡¯s what I wanted to tell myself but¡­ ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Aplete defeat. We were overwhelmed by one single person, Tates Valtazar. 740% That was an unprecedented amount of increase in strength and yet even with that much support, I didn¡¯t even stand a single chance. All of the King¡¯s Subjects were monsters but Tates Valtazar¡­ was just in apletely different league. ¡°Huu¡­¡± Even though I should have already been used to failures and defeats¡­ I might have unknowingly be arrogant and conceited by the constant victories and sesses. It was just one loss and yet it was painful and difficult to bear. I should have expected it. After killing Fermack Daman and snatching iomh Sis away, I should have long known that I had already garnered his attention. In many aspects it was a sess but there was one big failure. That was how significant the destruction of Eriu Casarr, the avatar of my Master, was to me. **** A week went by after the Tower of Mages incident. The aftermath of the event caused by the mages of the Tower was enough to leave the Academy in chaos. Those mages that were here for research, had not only tried to capture students to use as test subjects, but they even ambushed Senior Professor Josephine ra and murdered Chairman Eriu Casarr. The death of the chairman was a great shock to not only the Academy but also to the whole kingdom. However, the Tower of Mages officially denied their involvement in the matter. They refused to admit the terrorist attacks of the Red and the ck Cults, marking a long start to debates and discussions. That was the same as the original plot of the game, and was exactly why the Tower of Mages was able to buy a year¡¯s worth of time despite doing something as ridiculous as attacking the Academy. My n was to defeat Lord Adelene of the Tower of Mages to change this line of future but I couldn¡¯t find Lord Adelene until the very end. There wasn¡¯t anything much happening after that. We had a funeral for Chairman Eriu, who was officially proimed dead, which was attended by all the representatives of each year level. Marie was the representative of the 3rd year students whereas I was the representative of the 2nd years. We read the pre-prepared lines in memory of Chairman Eriu Casarr and threw flowers into the coffin. ¡°K, Korin¡­!¡± We were leaving after the funeral when Marie called my name after rushing her way across. ¡°What are you running for?¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­! N, nothing much¡­! I was just wondering if you wanted to have something to eat¡­¡± For the past week or so, there hadn¡¯t been much conversation between us. There were a bunch of things to discuss with her including what to do in the future, the directions we had to take, preparations for the enemy and how to deal with the captured mages, but for now¡­ ¡°Later. Not right now.¡± For now, for just a little bit, I wanted to take a rest. ¡°Okay¡­ I¡¯ll see youter.¡± Despite her dejectedly walking away, I couldn¡¯t think of a single thing to say to cheer her up. ¡°Student Korin.¡± After staying there by myself for who knows how long, a familiar voice echoed from behind. Speaking up to me was Josephine ra, who had been attending the funeral until now. She walked up until she was right next to me. Constantly, she threw a nce at the ck suit I was wearing for the funeral ¨C or rather at my chest ¨C which had been prated by the Spear of Light. ¡°I¡¯m fine. The hole¡¯s been closed, and my internal organs are almost done healing back up.¡± ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean it doesn¡¯t hurt anymore, does it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m used to it.¡± ¡°¡­She wants to see you.¡± What she said next¡­ was a bit unexpected. On the outside, I was still known as a disciple of Valtazar so it was hard to understand why she would want to see me face-to-face. ¡°¡­¡± Following Josephine into the crack in dimension she opened, I walked out and saw arge pce. There was nothing nearby. The cold and lonely world had nothing but darkness and void, and the enormous pce was the only thing worth noting. Shadow Pce. The pce that had once been the banquet hall of the gods; the pce of the King of Gods, Ard Ri¡­ the Ruler of Paradise. Josephine, the only outsider allowed to enter the pce, moved her hand once as therge gates of the pce started to open out wide. ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± We walked past the dried gardens and broken pavements of cobblestone. The only source of light leading us to the end was the fluorescent stones engraved into the surrounding walls, lighting up the red carpet beneath. On the way down the long path, Josephine remarked. ¡°100 years ago, the world was in greater chaos than it is now.¡± She then started talking to herself. Recalling the old memories of the past, she started her story. ¡°The Old Faith after modifying the doctrine as they pleased, started hunting witches and putting them on scaffolds. ¡°My Master¡­ My oldest friend, who used to visit the vige of witches to tell stories of her hunting monsters and magic, tried to save us. ¡°And Tates Valtazar ¨C he helped us alongside Master. ¡°We defeated the inquisitors of the Old Faith and crushed the evil mages that were looking for human test subjects.¡± That was one of the events recorded in history. The Witch Hunt, followed by the Revolution of Witches; the Religious Revolution and the fall of the Tower¡¯s monopoly over magic education and the foundation of the Guardian Academy. ¡°We were heroes. We saved many people and killed legendary monsters. I thought that we would stay together as heroes forever.¡± However, she was betrayed. By her senior brother whom she had been believing in the most. And Erin, by the disciple whom she had been trying to inherit everything in her possession to. ¡°80 years ago, we defeated the traitor and for a very long time¡­ was under the belief that he was dead. That was until you told us.¡± However, he really wasn¡¯t dead ¨C he had been waiting for the right opportunity for 80 long years. Soon, we arrived before the audience chamber of the pce, where my Master would be waiting for me. ¡°From here¡­ you can go by yourself.¡± ¡°¡­Is that okay?¡± ¡°I said no, but she was very firm with her will.¡± It seemed that I had gained more trust than necessary. But still, I couldn¡¯t believe how undoubting and believing she still was despite everything that she went through. ¡°Korin Lork.¡± Right as I was about to enter the audience chamber, Josephine¡¯s voice stopped me on my tracks from behind. ¡°Please don¡¯t betray her. Having that happen twice¡­ would be way too cruel.¡± At the end of the red carpet, sitting on the throne of the audience chamber with only a hint of its past glory was her. Crystal clear aqua-marine eyes and lustrous hair that seemed to have been woven by melted silver. Waiting on the throne was my benevolent and beautiful master, Erin Danua. ¡°¡­You are here.¡± The Queen looked exactly the same as the Erin I saw in Nazrea, but she appeared rather lethargic due to having stayed exiled for far too long. ¡°Come here.¡± ¡°I believe you are being way too careless.¡± ¡°Am I?¡± ¡°You need to doubt more and be more cautious. Even more so now that you have lost your puppet.¡± ¡°Right¡­ Of course. More importantly,e closer for a bit.¡± ¡°¡­¡± What was going on? Why was looking at me with such an intimate light in her eyes? Even though I hadn¡¯t built any rapport with her in this life? ¡°Quick.¡± In the end, I couldn¡¯t ignore her urging me toe closer and moved my feet. Slowly, I carried my heavy feet one at a time. ¡°Let me officially introduce myself. I am Erin Danua, thest Danann and Ard Ri. The Queen of Paradise.¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± ¡°A disciple of Tates Valtazar. A young hero who betrayed him and vowed to save the world¡­ You¡¯re not exactly that, are you?¡± I was¡­ lost for words. ¡°Hn~¡± Standing up from the throne, she modestly sat down on the carpet in front of it. She then tapped on the floor next to her, as if telling me to sit down. Just like what she did at Nazrea. ¡°¡­¡± Unconsciously, I sat next to her when Master started caressing my hair. ¡°You have worked hard.¡± ¡ºYou¡¯ve worked hard.¡» A d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Don¡¯t tell me¡­ ¡°Tates Valtazar. Do you know him?¡± ¡°¡­I know he was your disciple, and that he betrayed you.¡± That was the description provided in the game about their rtionship, but there was more to their rtionship than what could be exined by those few lines. ¡°He meant more to me than a disciple. I found that boy when exploring one of thends left behind by the ancestors.¡± Thend of druids and the hiding ce of the Spear of Light, Areadbhair, Gorias. In that ce was an ark built for the Danann. ¡°Cold sleep¡­ Do you understand what I mean by that? There was a babyying asleep for a very long time and¡­ I was very happy when I found him.¡± She had found Tates when he was a toddler and had raised him up ever since like her real son. Her love for Tates was from a sense of kinship for the one and only other being of her kind. ¡°I gave him everything. Love, spearmanship, treasures¡­ I would have done the same if I had an actual son. ¡°That made me blind. I couldn¡¯t see it ¨C I didn¡¯t notice the hatred the child harbored against this world, and his resentment. ¡°That was my biggest mistake. The wounds and the seal he cast on me not only hurt my body but also shredded my heart to pieces.¡± The current humanity was the descendants of Goidel, whereas Tates was a Danann himself. After realizing the hidden truth of history, Tates Valtazar had vowed to take his revenge. While remembering his fall from a hero to an evil viin, Master said with a sorrowful tone of voice. She med herself for it in grief and self-deprecation. ¡°It was hard to make myself believe in anyone else after being betrayed. The disciple and one who should have inherited my throne meant so much that¡­ I had to live with those wounds for far too long.¡± Her eyes turned away from the memories of the past and started to face me. ¡°Child. My disciple. Young boy from the future who tries to put everything on their shoulders.¡± She saw through me. The regression, which I wasn¡¯t expecting anyone to believe and had been hiding, was seen through. If I wasn¡¯t a disciple of Valtazar, and if I was a disciple of the future Erin Danua like I had introduced myself as at Nazrea¡­ A disciple whom she hadn¡¯t taught as of yet¡­ Putting those clues and hints together, she must have realized that I hade from the future. And¡­ she wasn¡¯t an irresponsible person who could leave everything to someone who hade from the future. Caressing my hair, she dered her thoughts. ¡°Just because you know the future, doesn¡¯t mean you must shoulder it by yourself.¡± ¡°No¡­ You can¡¯t. I won¡¯t let you do it.¡± In the first ce, I didn¡¯t have any ns of meeting her in this lifetime. Because her life was one that always came to an end upon forming a connection with the yer¡­ because she was someone who always had to pay the price for her devotion and benevolence. She, who always saved others, dedicated and sacrificed herself for the sake of others¡­ always had only one future ahead of her. ¡°You¡­ are the Queen ¨C the only queen of Paradise. If the Queen is gone, Valtazar will easily take the empty throne. Just like in chess, the king needs to be under protection.¡± I tried to stop anything she could potentially say with logical reasons but¡­ ¡°I have never once been a king. But I have been a teacher, and I have always been a hero.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do it this time. I won¡¯t let it go like it did before. You have to stay here ¨C you won¡¯t be able to stop him.¡± Please. Just please stay here without ever leaving this castle. In response to my desperate attempt to convey my thoughts with my eyes, she wrapped her warm hands around mine and said. ¡°Us meeting like this is most definitely no coincidence. ¡°Fate is not something that blooms when you want it to, and it is one where you inevitably turn back to no matter what you do to leave it. ¡°We have met like this. We have reunited and although we may treasure each other, we cannot turn away from our fate.¡± ¡°No,¡± I replied. ¡°We can change it. We can control our fate. We just have to have enough preparations and change history. That¡¯s what I have been doing till now.¡± ¡°Yes, Korin. You will do your part very well, and that is all the more a reason why I must ept my own destiny. ¡°Like how you are carrying the fate to save the world, I have my role in teaching, protecting, and believing in you. ¡°Just like what Erin Danua from 300 years ago has done and like what the future me has done, I shall also trust you and support you on your way.¡± My eyes couldn¡¯t help but shake looking at her unconditional yet firm gaze. As if she knew me very well, she stroked my forehead and came closer with a warm smile on her lips. Her face drew near and soon, her lipsnded on my forehead. ¡°I will protect you. That is my duty¡­ and the choice I have made for myself.¡± Like always, she made the same decision. Chapter 133: Fate Intertwined (3) ? Fate Intertwined (3) ? The spear shed through the air, carrying with it an invisible gush of aura. Eight Trigrams. Zha, Lan, Na ¡ª Ominous Snake Two-faced Ominous Snake: Dragon Blood Ominous Snake: Secret Arts ¨C Distorted March Ominous Snake: Extreme Arts ¨C Soaring Snake, Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon Horizontal Sweep of a Tiger Great Demonic Spear of the Wind Lan Na Zha Demonic Arts: Scavenging the Grass for the Snake. Spinning Heaven: Second Move ¨C Rotating Demon Spear Void Spinning Heaven, Turbulent Spear ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ Sweat poured down like a waterfall. Controlling the pace of his breath, Korin reflected on one spearman while breathing in the heated air of the training room. Tates Valtazar. The one who was technically his senior martial brother was, at the same time, a lifetime foe. Korin trained endlessly as he aimed to pierce through Valtazar¡¯s heart even in his imaginary battles against him. However, all he got were failures. Failures upon failures. Until the very end, his spear couldn¡¯t reach him. No matter how much aura he were to pour out from his Aura Cores, and even while taking into consideration his physical specs that would be amplified severalfold, he just couldn¡¯t even imagine his spear reaching Valtazar. It wasn¡¯t like the game where you could gradually cut away at the HP bar. There was no auto-lock for uracy either. Now that this world had be real, his attacks weren¡¯t even able to hit their mark. That was just how big of a gap there was in skill between Tates and him. ¡®This won¡¯t do. Faster. I have to be stronger faster.¡¯ He was no match even when it came to skill with the spear let alone physical prowess. Korin thought to himself that he needed at least 3 prerequisites for him to be able to defeat him. An increase in physical capability; increase in his maniption over Six Ways of the Spear andstly, making use of Tates Valtazar¡¯s Precepts. The 2nd Precept, ¡®I do not perceive spirits¡¯ was the same for both of them and couldn¡¯t be exploited, and his 3rd Precept was likewise an unexploitable one just like his ¡®I will save the world¡¯. The 1st Precept was essentially the only one that could be exploited, but even that required a lot of preparations and would only be possible in the Northern Kingdom Episode, which would unravel after the 7th Arc. Until then, Korin had no choice but to focus on increasing his actual skill and caliber. ¨C Kwaaang! It was then. Suddenly arge hole appeared in the training room that Korin had rented out for the day. There was only one person in the Academy that could break the unique anti-Guardian reinforced walls with such ease. ¡°I forgot about her.¡± He looked at the girl wearing nun clothes, who still had one of her arms reaching forward with a fist on the other side of the hole, who seemed to have identally broken the wall in the middle of training. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Without replying to his question, Hua Ran looked around the training room ravaged by fists and a spear. She seemed slightly concerned about the mouthful ofints she was going to receive from the Admin. ¡°Shall we go get some food?¡± ¡°¡­Un.¡± The two of them quietly left the training room. **** For the past few days, Hua Ran was in a very bad mood. Until recently, she had been proud and confident in herself being powerful and strong. A living jiangshi with the Unbreakable Vajra Body ¨C the undefeatable Heavenly Yaksha. She had not a single doubt in her power and status. That was why she wasn¡¯t that worried when she decided to be with Korin. Because she was strong, she thought no one would be able to hurt him as long as she was there. She had been arrogant, believing that she could beat anyone under the sun. Her arrogance had been crushed from the front. Tates Valtazar. She was powerless before the enemy who used the same spearmanship as Korin. ¡®We have to be stronger.¡¯ ¡°¡­I know.¡± It was rare, but Hua Ran was in full agreement with her sister. If this was a few weeks back, she would have scoffed, saying she was already strong enough, but the recent fight was enough for Hua Ran to lose quite a lot of self-confidence along with her shattered arrogance. ¡°But how?¡± Due to being a powerhouse from birth and relying only on her invincible, unbreakable body, she had never even worked on improving her fighting skills. She was clueless as to how to get stronger; the way of those who were weak from the start was difficult for her to wrap her head around. ¡®Let¡¯s start with martial arts that use the fist. The thing that oppa showed us.¡¯ Ran said, referring to the martial arts of fist that Hua Ran learned from the boy out of boredom and¡­ a wish to spend more time with the boy. She had yet to really understand the principles and fundamentals, but she still knew some parts of it. But there was a problem. ¡°It¡¯s too small.¡± The training room was way too small for her to practice martial arts. It was so small that she didn¡¯t feelfortable going all out. ¡°Then do you want to go somewhere bigger?¡± It was on the way back after a meal with the boy. Hearing her grumble aint, Korin gave a suggestion. ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ We can¡¯t do it at the oval because the other people there might get caught up in the aftermath and¡­ we can¡¯t use the festival venue either for the same reason.¡± The aftershock of Hua Ran¡¯s fists had the power to kill people. Even Korin himself sometimes ended up destroying the items in the training room, and therefore it was obviously harder to find a suitable ce for Hua Ran to unleash her full power. ¡°Why don¡¯t we have a little practice fight?¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¨C Tung! Tung tung! ¨C Kwaang! Kwagagang! Each and every punch crushed the ground and a sweep of the hand changed the surroundingndscape. It was a monstrous level of strength and defense ¨C the consecutive explosive bursts of pure strength created aftershocks, and those aftershocks alone were enough to make the spearman falter. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Relying on his spear, he somehow managed to keep himself on his feet. It was hard to say whether that should be called masterful skills or petty tricks, but regardless, Korin somehow maintained his bnce and posture, and waited for the right opportunity to strike at his opponent. Two-faced Ominous Snake, Dragon Blood. The slithering spear traveled sharply through the air. It slithered like a serpent in a dizzy manner but Hua Ran¡¯s eyes allowed her to see through it all. Her exceptional physical capabilities and reflex skills allowed Hua Ran to dodge the iing spear, as she immediately went on the offense. It was a textbook approach to closebat but it appeared rather awkward, as if she was wearing clothes that weren¡¯t tailored to her. And those sloppy clothes were easily torn apart. She attacked with a straight fist. Gently pushing on the fist from the side, Korin deflected the punch and released his spear as he then marched forward for a palm to the chest. Although it wasn¡¯t painful, seeing that he was about to connect it to more attacks to her vitals¡­ Hua Ran urgently took a big leap back. ¡°Hmm?¡± Korin curiously muttered at her passive retreat. ¡°Why did you do that? I¡¯m sure you could have handled that much.¡± ¡°¡­¡± With a rather discontent expression on her face, Hua Ran turned her back to him with a flick. ¡°I¡¯m done.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She was really quick at changing her mind. That was the impression Korin received, but upon seeing the damage they had done to the surrounding forest, he also agreed that this much would be enough for the day. ¡°Then should we start heading back to the Academy? Tomorrow¡¯s a weekend so I¡¯m just going to be doing the missions from the mission board though.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Not the dormitory.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Your hotel.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Suddenly, our destination was changed to a hotel. A pair of grown-up male and female, spending the night in a hotel¡­ **** ¡®Hua¡­ You know, do you want to¡­ swap?¡¯ ¡°No.¡± ¡®Whyyy!? I want to be with oppa too!¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Ignoring her noisy ¡®sister¡¯, Hua washed herself clean and wore the nun clothes again, but threw the chains away onto the bed. Thanks to the kind consideration of the Saintess, Estelle, she no longer had to be bound by chains 24/7, but that was still a secret from most people. ¡®Are we doing it? Is this the day?¡¯ ¡°¡­Pervert.¡± Hua scolded Ran, whose mind seemed to be filled with obscene thoughts. How could she possibly suggest forcefully holding hands to sleep? ¡°And besides¡­ there¡¯s no storks1Stork-the baby bringing bird here either.¡± ¡®I know¡­! I was with you when you were reading the book about stork habitats! Do we really have to go all the way to the North?¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ trying to make babies tonight¡­ That¡¯s for you to do.¡± ¡®There you go again. I know you like oppa as well.¡¯ She ignored Ran¡¯s cheeky voice. Ran, the person whom she was sharing the body with, was the one who liked Korin, and it was only because of her that she was going to have a baby. Hua was simply thinking that she might as well help Ran look after the baby as a sister sharing the body with her. It was definitely not because she wanted one herself. ¡®How many babies should we get? We should let the kids have some siblings, right? Two boys and two girls¡­ that sounds good! I will make the stork bring one each, and Hua, you can do the same for the remaining two!¡¯ ¡°¡­No.¡± ¡®Why not? Oppa¡¯s kids will be so cute. Honestly, I want the stork to bring us 20 kids if possible. Hmm¡­ Would money be a problem though if we do that?¡¯ ¡°We can¡­ earn money.¡± Hua said while remembering the Guardian Grade that had been assigned to her. She was given gold coins every month as allowance, and hunting demonic beasts was also an easy way to earn a fair bit of money. With a single sweep, she could kill a bunch of weak monsters, and just that would be enough to fill her piggy bank with coins. While thinking about something along those lines, Hua walked out of the room Korin gave to her and started walking down the corridor. Despite the festival being over already, there were still quite a lot of guests. Seeing how there was a pair of male and female walking into a room with touching shoulders, she assumed that they were going to sleep while holding hands. ¡°There aren¡¯t any storks here though.¡± ¡®I know right?¡¯ Without worrying herself over other people, she started walking to Korin¡¯s room to find him. ¡®Oppa¡­ looks really down these days.¡¯ ¡°¡­Nn.¡± Ever since the confrontation against that man, Korin had been overworking his body. He spent all of his time in the training rooms and rarely ever came outside. Hua Ran had also started spending more time in the training room after realizing her powerlessness, but couldn¡¯t stay as long as he did. ¡®Is there a way to cheer him up?¡¯ ¡°¡­Food?¡± ¡®Hmm¡­ I don¡¯t think that would work.¡¯ But judging that buying something would be better than having nothing at all, Hua Ran bought some snacks at the store linked to the hotel before heading to Korin¡¯s room. Considering how self-centered she usually was, it was worthplimenting how considerate she was being. ¨C Click! It was quite obvious that the door of the hotel room was locked, but Hua Ran nheless opened it recklessly without a second thought. ¨C Crack! The doorknob was crushed apart as she forced the door open. ¡°Oh shit! W, what was that?¡± Korin eximed in surprise when the door suddenly opened with a loud thud, but¡­ Hua was just as surprised as him. ¡°¡­¡± ¡®¡­¡¯ The same was true for the person she was sharing the body with. Taken by surprise, all she could do was nkly stand there watching what was in front of her. When witnessing somethingpletely unexpected, people tended to zone out and their minds turned nk, and the length of that nk silence tended to be the proof of how surprised that person was. Out of 1 to 10, her current level of surprise was around 9. ¡°Why¡­ aren¡¯t you wearing clothes?¡± The two girls didn¡¯t even know how long they had been silent for, and Hua only managed to force herself to say something after hearing Korin say, ¡®Why are you doing nothing for 30 whole seconds? Can you say something¡­?¡¯ ¡°Well, that¡¯s because I just took a shower¡­¡± Korin, who had juste out of the shower, stated the obvious in response. With his upper body bare, all he had was a towel covering his lower body. In his hands was a bathrobe that he had been about to wear, which had been interrupted by the sudden intruder. Due to his hardcore training schedule, his body was filled with muscles with little excess fat, and the red flush to his muscr body was the very proof that he had been washing himself with warm water until just then. That was what had made Hua and Ran silent for 30 whole seconds. She always knew he had a good body and¡­ even though it was obvious that knights would have a good body¡­ it was just way too superb and remarkable. For some reason, there was something about his body that tickled her heart. ¡®Hua¡­ I feel¡­ weird.¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Thankfully, Ran¡¯s voice did not reach Korin. If she had voiced that out loud, she would have thrown herself into the warm river and killed herself out of embarrassment. But aside from that¡­ ¡°You¡­ Is that, a scar?¡± Hua said with her eyes on his lower stomach, which had a regr array of strange letters. ¡°You mean this?¡± They were tiny yet very visible, and because of that, it was hard to tell whether that was a scar or a tattoo. ¡°This is the reason I can fight.¡± After putting the robe over his shoulders, Korin closed the door that Hua Ran broke before leading her into the room. He sat down on a small, minimalistic chair in front of the tiny desk of the hotel room, while Hua Ran rested herself on the soft bed. She stole a nce at his flushed body that was still visible through the hems of the bathrobe. For some reason¡­ she had been deeply ¡®moved¡¯ when she first saw it, and couldn¡¯t help but nce at it again and again. ¡°What do you mean?¡± In order to chase away the embarrassment, Hua Ran raised a question, in search of a conversation topic. Atst, the little girl had finally acquired the social skill of changing the topic. ¡°For the warriors of the Shadow Kingdom, there¡¯s a thing called ¡®Precepts¡¯. It is a way to strengthen yourself by putting restrictions on you.¡± Korin didn¡¯t exin in full detail about the Precepts he had engraved into his own body, but shared a brief exnation of how it worked. ¡°This is the reason I fight for, and one that also lets me fight in the first ce. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to save you without this.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She understood from that brief exnation that it was a device to amplify one¡¯s strength. After hearing that, she shared her thoughts. ¡°I want it too.¡± ¡°No.¡± However, she was immediately turned down. ¡°Why?¡± This was the first time Hua Ran had been this desperate for power. Her immaturity and weakness that had been disyed during the fight against Valtazar had crushed her confidence to tatters and she had finally found a reason to be stronger. Hua Ran now wanted to be stronger in order to protect the boy in front of her. ¡°Firstly¡­ it¡¯s impossible to carve this onto your body no matter how much mana you put in. It¡¯ll be impossible to even leave a scratch.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Secondly, this is high-risk high-reward. It¡¯s for ipetent people like me, and not for talented people like you.¡± ¡°You¡­ are not ipetent.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just what I said to make it easier to¡ª¡± ¡°You are not ipetent. Correct what you said.¡± Her crimson eyes gazed deeply into his eyes, so much so that he found it difficult to look away from her. ¡°¡­Umm, alright. I¡¯m not ipetent. Thanks.¡± Korin awkwardly corrected his words while scratching his cheeks. ¡°Anyways, I have to make myself stronger even at the cost of creating a detrimental weakness but¡­ unlike me, others including you have no reason to use it. In fact, it won¡¯t be as effective for you.¡± The girls all had clear strengths. Hua Ran, who wouldter awaken as the true Heavenly Yaksha. Alicia Arden ¨C the Sword Saint who wouldter reach the end of the path of swords. As for Marie, her future would be different from the one in the game, but it was clear that she would hit the pinnacle of vampires. They, the main characters of this world, had fitting ways to grow, and there was no limit that had to be broken through like the side character, Korin Lork. Going out of the way to make weaknesses for them did not make sense. Besides, a simple amplification of strength wasn¡¯t what was required for them to be stronger. But even so, her remark was enough to touch Korin¡¯s heart, because Hua Ran must have wanted to engrave Precepts onto her body just for his sake. It provided him with a chance to realize that his rtionship with the girl had be so profound and deep. ¡°Huhu. Wait for tomorrow. This oppa will buy you some sushi¡­¡± It was then. Hua Ran, who had been looking straight at him, suddenly stood up and grabbed onto his wrist. ¡°Huh?¡± She then pulled him towards her with an unignorable amount of force. Due to that, he ended up falling on the bed. ¡°H, Hua?¡± ¡°Take it off.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Take your clothes off.¡± With a deeply flushed face and a pressing set of eyes, she gazed down deeply into his eyes. Footnotes:
  • 1Stork-the baby bringing bird
Chapter 134: Fate Intertwined (4) ? Fate Intertwined (4) ? ¡°Anyways, I have to make myself stronger¡ª¡° For quite some time, Her ears had stopped picking up his words. Because of some unknown ticklish emotion inside, her mind couldn¡¯t focus but her eyes in contrast were focused clearly on the abs that were faintly visible through the hems of the robe. Something worth noting again, was that the two girls had no experience nor tolerance against men. They, who were like nk sheets of paper when it came to rtionships, were still aware of their emotion of love. Although one of them was vehemently in denial, the other one was way too proactive and passionate that the two of them were starting to be on the same page. Lighting a fire on their emotions was the physical proximity that came from being in the same room as well as the lucky event. Those twobined were far too stimting for the teenage girls, and as a result¡­ ¡°H, Hua?¡± ¡°Take it off.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Take your clothes off.¡± It led to a rampage due to a reason unbeknownst to even herself. ¡°H, hello? Hua Ran?¡± Looking down at the boy being pressed down onto the bed below her flushed her cheeks. Her face turned steaming hot and her lower belly ached. Even she had no idea why she was doing this. She didn¡¯t know why she was grabbing onto the strings of the bathrobe, nor why she was feeling like she was running out of breath. ¨C Grip! ¡°Huh? W, wait!?¡± With a swoop, she pulled the hems of the bathrobe wide apart, thus revealing his bare upper body. As if putting a stamp mark on his tough and distinct muscles, she ced her palm over numerous parts of his body. It was warm. The heat rising from his skin after just leaving the shower warmed her palms up. ¡°Warm¡­¡± ¡°W, well. Because I just washed myself.¡± Ignoring his words, Hua Ran yed with his abs by pinching and pulling it. Like the miniature model city, there were ups and downs on his stomach. When she ran her nail up the path in the middle, it led her to a bulge that was small yet rigid. ¨C Gulp! ¡®Hua, Hua! Hua! Me too! Me too! Me too!¡¯ She continued bringing her finger up from below. While gulping and trying her best to collect her breath which was bing shorter over time for some reason¡ª ¡°This¡­¡± Right above what would be the sr plexus, Hua spotted something and stopped her fingers. ¡°Is this¡­ a scar?¡± At the very center of Korin was arge scar. She knew very well who it was that had created that scar on his body. ¡°Is this¡­ from back then?¡± ¡°Ahh. You mean this¡­?¡± This was the part of his body that had been pierced by Tates Valtazar¡¯s Spear of Light. The shock she felt when she saw that happen before her eyes was still weighing heavily on her mind. ¡°It hasn¡¯t healed yet.¡± ¡°The Spear of Light is in a whole different league to other weapons, after all. It¡­ should heal back up soon like nothing happened.¡± Hua knew how he looked when injured. Even back then, he had been in tatters, bleeding from all parts of his body and yet had eventually healed back up. ¡°But¡­ still.¡± Hua Ran whispered while carefully caressing the scar on his chest. This one scar from the Spear of Light wasn¡¯t the only one he had. She could still remember his dangling arms; his torn-out flesh and the trail of blood flowing down his forehead. As if to ensure that they had indeed been recovered, she touched where he had been injured one by one as her heart ached time after time. It was painful, because it felt like it was all her fault. ¡°I told you¡­ not to get hurt.¡± She said while resting her cheek on his chest where he had been injured the most. It feltpletely differentpared to other parts of his body. This rather small, yet rather big scar¡­ was what had been inflicted on the boy¡¯s body due to her inability to protect him. ¡°Don¡¯t get hurt.¡± As if to etch that feeling into her mind, Hua Ran rubbed her cheek. She knew about his tenacious regeneration ability, but it felt like the boy was not thinking about his own safety because of that very ability and that made her very sad. ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± She wanted to be the one getting hurt instead, but her body did not even allow that to happen. ¡°It¡­ hurts when you get hurt.¡± ¡°My heart¡­ it aches.¡± Hua Ran shared her honest thoughts, because she knew that this boy wouldn¡¯t look after himself otherwise. Suddenly, she felt arge hand gently caressing her hair. ¡°Thanks.¡± With gratitude towards the girl who was relying deeply on him, the boy gave her a tight hug. ¡°And sorry.¡± ¡°Why¡­?¡± Despite everything she told him, the boy was still implying ruthlessly that he would continue getting injured. Hua Ran tried to speak back to him, but quickly calmed down upon feeling his gentle fingers running down her neck. ¡°There are too many people and things that I love, and I¡¯m just trying to keep all of that safe.¡± It was alreadyte at night. Resting on his warm andfortable chest, her eyelids started to feel heavy. Inside the small yet most trustworthy nest in the entire world that belonged only to her, Hua Ran slowly went to sleep. **** ¡°Haht¡­¡± Hua opened her eyes. The chirping voices of the birds and the bright, dazzling sun was the sign that it was already morning. It was something Hua Ran had already be used to. Gently shaking her shoulders, he would wake her up, and she would head to the bathroom while rubbing her eyes. Brushing her teeth and washing her face, she would then head back to her room for a shower. After changing clothes and meeting him again in the corridor, they would head down the stairs together to have breakfast. For breakfast, it would be fish ¨C her favorite dish. She would simply re at the fish and upon noticing that, the boy would debone the fish and give it to her. Although swallowing the bones was nothing difficult for her, for some reason, that whole procedure started to feel cozy. Hua and Ran. Their everyday life started together with Korin and ended with Korin. And therefore, starting the morning like today was normal and nothing new, and yet¡­ ¡°¡­¡± Opening her eyes, Hua Ran noticed that something was blocking her sight, and the warmth around her body told her that she was in someone¡¯s arms. She realized that she had gone off to sleepst night on his chest. ¡°¡­¡± Heavenly Yaksha. Living jiangshi. Unbreakable Vajra Body. She was the epitome of unshakable invincibility and had an unbreakable body, but right now, her body was trembling. The shaking of her body was faint yet undoubtable. The part of her body that was trembling the most was her eyes. ¡°Mhmm¡­.¡± It was rare for the boy to wake up after her. In his sleep, he gently pressed down on the back of her head which inevitably made her bury her head into his chest. She couldn¡¯t fight back. Escaping from his arms, and fighting back against the arm pressing down on her head were simply impossible. It was strange, and looking back, Hua realized that this had always been the case. Even though she could easily overpower him with her strength, and even though she should be much stronger than the boy¡­ Whenever he held her by the hand and invited her out for a meal and whenever he ran her fingers through her hair¡­ for some reason, she found it impossible to do anything. It was touching, warm andfortable. Why was that the case, even though his chest had nothing but these rigid and touch muscles? Resting in his warm hug, Hua Ran reflected on the time she spent with the boy. Looking back at the past, she realized that it had been a life of ostracization. No one ever wanted to be near her. ¡ºDo you want some fish? I can buy you a meal.¡» And yet from some point in time, the boy started intruding into her territory. He threw himself over the fence into her zone. ¡ºYou start from the small basics.¡» He grabbed onto her hands without permission. ¡ºI told you I¡¯ll help you¡­ until you can make a decision for yourself.¡» Came closer, while suggesting he would help her, ¡º¡­Thank you, for responding to my trust. I knew it. You¡­ are a very nice girl.¡» And always poured her withpliments and consideration. ¡ºWe¡¯ll look for ways together¡» Nonchntly, he started walking with her down the solitary path of loneliness. He held her by the hand, crumbled the castle walls she had forged around her mind and connected a path to his house. From some point in time, she became intoxicated by thatfort. Whenever the two sisters chatted to each other about their future, they couldn¡¯t help but imagine another person being with them. ¡ºThere you go again. I know you like him too.¡» No. That¡¯s not it. That can¡¯t be it. It just can¡¯t be helped, right? If Ran likes him and wants to be with him, I have no choice but to be near him as well, right? This is out of my control. Because we share the same body. Constantly she said no to herself, oblivious to the fact that she had unconsciously rubbed her cheeks on his chest. But it was then. After suddenly remembering what happened the night before, she gasped for breath. Ugh. In a sh, her face turned crimson. It was scorching red, as if she had been exposed to the sun for far too long. ¡ºThere are too many people and things that I love, and I¡¯m just trying to keep all of that safe.¡» Love. Love. Love. That word rotated around her mind like a wheel. Her eyes were spinning while her face was still flushed in deep red. She had troubleing back to herself. A loud and rapid heartbeat stopped her trail of thought. Wondering if Korin was somehow sick, she brought her ears to his chest and¡­ strangely enough, the sound was still there but it wasn¡¯ting from her ears. It took her a few minutes of doubting her ears until she came up with a hypothesis about that sound. Slowly taking her ears off of his chest, she gently rested her hand on her chest and¡ª ¨C Thump! In surprise, she pushed the boy away in fright. Seemingly in deep sleep, the boy didn¡¯t wake up and the girl was the only one who stood up from the bed. ¡°Huh?¡± Then, while gazing down at Korin with disbelief in her eyes¡­ she slowly brought her hand back to her chest. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Confusion and bewilderment filled her eyes, and her body trembled as if there was an earthquake. ¡°Mhmm¡­ What¡­ Did you wake up already?¡± Suddenly a voice reached her ears. It was the same usual voice of the boy, but Hua was startled, as if a bomb had gone off right next to her ears. ¡°Huh? Huh?¡± Even though she knew she had to say something in response, Hua Ran couldn¡¯t say anything meaningful so she instead tried to distance herself from the cause. ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong?¡± When the boy stood up and approached her with a sleepy pair of eyes, Hua Ran increased her speed even more to go further back. Despite finding that strange, the boy still walked up and ced his forehead on top of hers. ¡°Nn? Doesn¡¯t look like you have a cold though.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ U, uhh.¡± Like a goldfish, Hua mumbled inaudibly. Even the Unbreakable Vajra Body wasn¡¯t helpful after she became conscious of such unknown emotions for the first time in her life, ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°We should get going now that we had breakfast. Thank goodness we don¡¯t have lessons today.¡± ¡°¡­Yeah.¡± Although she had always been quiet and docile, Hua Ran was even quieter and more passive today, so Korin couldn¡¯t hide his curiosity. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Your face¡¯s been red for a while¡­¡± Once again, he unreservedly tried to bring his hand to her cheeks, so Hua Ran quickly avoided it like a bomb that was seconds away from detonation. ¡°Umm¡­¡± Unable to see through theplex emotions of a girl, the dense boy awkwardly scratched his head. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Umm, uhh¡­ Nothing.¡± Korin¡¯s questioning voice echoed heavily in her ears. ¡°Do you feel sick?¡± ¡°D, don¡¯t touch me!¡± She shouted, strongly rejecting his touch. The boy might feel sad but Hua Ran had no other option either. Her heartbeat had been warning her several times that she could not possibly allow her heart to beat any faster. A few more hammer strikes to her heart, which was already starting to malfunction, might not change much but she still did not want any more confusion. ¡°Tell me straight away if you¡¯re feeling sick. It will be worse if you just keep it to yourself.¡± That was what the boy said, but there was no way that the girl could tell him. She could not tell him her feelings; the heartwarming identity of her emotions¡­ How would she ever be able to convey the heavy chunk of emotions lying in her heart? ¡ºDon¡¯t get hurt.¡» ¡ºIt¡­ hurts when you get hurt.¡» ¡ºMy heart¡­ it aches.¡» Unconsciously, she recalled the words she herself said the night before, and her face turned even hotter. That was something she said before being conscious of her feelings ¨C like a child, she had innocently shared her honest feelings without any hint of secrecy. Until now, she had been nonchntly going to sleep on the same bed; rubbing her face on his tough chest; holding hands whenever possible and using hisp as a pillow. At first, it was simply because it felt good; Because she wanted to; Because it felt warm. In terms of a romantic rtionship between a male and a female, one could say they had done everything there was to be done. Despitecking general knowledge in that regard, even she felt blood rushing to her head when recalling everything she used to do. Now that she had finally be conscious of her warm, ticklish yet thumping heart, everything that she had been doing came back, attacking her ruthlessly like throwing daggers. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re alright?¡± Again, Korin closed the gap in the blink of an eye as his breath sneaked into her ears. Her heart threatening to stop was too much to handle for the girl who had only experienced 4 years herself. ¡°Uaht?!¡± ¡°What?¡± What happened as a result was like an expulsion of consciousness or a forced shift. ¡°Uht? O, oppa?¡± ¡°Why is it you all of a sudden, Ran?¡± ¡°M, mhmm¡­! I think Hua must be fairly tired.¡± Fortunately, Ran had enough social skills to react rather normally to what was going on. ¡°Like, wasn¡¯t she sleeping just fine¡­? I mean, if that¡¯s what she¡¯s saying¡­¡± ¡°Hehe. Please understand. Hua is feeling a bit confused right now. She seriously has trouble being honest to herself.¡± ¡°???¡± Due to seeing Hua do that all morning, Ran wasn¡¯t startled even though she was suddenly forced to control the body. Instead, she let out a sneaky smile and hugged his arm. ¡°More importantly, oppa. We are in the city anyway, so how about we go on a date?¡± ¡®No! Don¡¯t!¡¯ Even though she had forced her outside, Hua was still watching everything span out, and immediately raised her voice after seeing Ran nonchntly asking him out for a date. A date? What in the world was wrong with her ¡®roommate¡¯? Being next to him was already making it impossible for her heart to rx. Using a kinky word like that and staying next to him for a long time¡­ Hua was sure that even her Unbreakable Vajra Body wouldn¡¯t be able to leave unscathed. ¡°I would love to but I have a few things to do today.¡± ¡°Ah~ right. You said you had things to do rted to the Guardians Guild, right?¡± ¡®Haah¡­¡¯ Hua let out a sigh of relief. It was fortunate, to say the least. Now was the time to soothe the sudden torrent of emotions. She needed some time off. ¡°There¡¯s that too, but more importantly, I need to visit Alicia and see how she¡¯s doing.¡± ¡°I see~¡± Alicia ¨C the name wasn¡¯t the important bit. Hua unconsciously reacted to the fact that the person he was visiting was a ¡®female¡¯. ¡°Huh?¡± Suddenly grabbing onto the hems of his shirt, Hua looked up into his eyes with confusion that was beyond what she herself could control or decipher. ¡°L, let¡¯s go together.¡± The girl who just became conscious of love, wasn¡¯t experienced enough to be conscious of jealousy. At least not yet. **** How unfair. Alicia swallowed herints, despite having tons to grumble about how the state she was in waspletely different from that of others. ¡°Ughhh¡­¡± The bruises and wounds that covered her body did not go away even after a week¡¯s time. Drinking an elixir would be wasteful; it wasn¡¯t like her injuries were beyond cure and she was therefore taking a rest in her own room but¡­ ¡°But still, isn¡¯t this¡­ way too unfair?¡± Hua Ran was the one who got punched and yet she, who had been underneath her, was the only one who was in tatters. Seeing Korin made her feel even more miserable. Even though his chest had been pierced by a spear, he was back on his feet after one day. Absolute defense and regeneration¡­ Having to face the unfairness of reality, the girl, who still couldn¡¯t move properly even after a week, couldn¡¯t help butment. The only thing that she was slightly fond of was that¡­ ¡°Does it still hurt?¡± ¡°Ahh. It¡¯s there. There¡­ Please be more gentle with rolling the egg.¡± ¡°Oh wow. Dude, your bruises still look terrible. By the way, did you want some choctes? It¡¯s about time that you can stop having porridge all the time, right?¡± Korin frequently visited her room and took care of her. ¡°Maybe if you feed me.¡± ¡°Are you a baby?¡± Despite saying that, Korin ripped apart the packet of choctes. ¡°Open your mouth.¡± ¡°Ahh~¡± It was when she was bringing her mouth closer to the appetizing chocte bar. ¨C Munch! Crunch! Suddenly an uninvited guest appeared in the middle. A girl wearing nun clothes swallowed the entire chocte bar from the side. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Korin and Alicia nkly looked at her at the same time. With her mouth filled with chocte, Hua Ran brazenly said in response to their gazes. ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Chapter 135: Marie, an ever-so-normal Countryside Girl (1) ? Marie, an ever-so-normal Countryside Girl (1) ? ¡°Please enjoy the feast, youngdy! This is what we have wholeheartedly prepared!¡± A feature of the Dunareff¡­ or rather the feature of the people living in the south, was that they tended to eat a lot. Due to the nature of having numerous people involved in the primary industry like farming, mining, and rearing animals that required manualbor, every family tended to be heavy-eaters and that became a cultural habit of the south. That was one of the reasons why potatoes, easily gatherable yet filling products, became a staple, and why animal blood was also used as an ingredient for dishes. Even aside from that, considering how the Dunareff was like a whole empire of the south, it was obvious that they had to set a big feast for the eldest daughter of that family. ¡°Wow! Thank you so much for the food!¡± Marie was likewise a heavy-eater, and she started to eat even more after bing a vampire. ¡°Huah~. That was amazing. The chefs in the Merkarva Branch are excellent!¡± ¡°Of course. It¡¯s all thanks to His Highness the Duke providing us with the best ingredients and staff.¡± She ced the cutleries down after the meal, as the servants quickly walked up and took them away before setting up a tea set and a dessert. This was the normal treatment she received no matter where she went throughout the continent. ¡°How are the opening sales? You were all working hard, so I hope we got some good results.¡± ¡°We are still in the red because of all the preparation we put in for the opening event, but it is certain that we will be able to start earning money within 3 months once we begin forming supply chains inside the city, and change the items we send to the Academy. Until now, we have been sending them to the Academy at a loss, after all.¡± Since it was the Academy that Marie was going to, the Dunareff Family had been supplying them with ingredients at a very cheap price tomemorate that. Even though Marie had told Korin that they weren¡¯t suffering a loss from it, sending fresh meat and a bunch of livestock alive was something that required a load of money. It was because the daughter-loving duke had been willing to send the ingredients at a loss to feed Marie the best dishes avable throughout her time at the Academy. But now that the Dunareff had created an official store in Merkarva and were forming new supply chains, it also became Marie Dunareff¡¯s job to choose the ces to supply to as well as the prices, including the Academy. ¡°Hmm~. I don¡¯t think we should bother increasing the price of the supplies we send to the Academy. It¡¯s not too big of a loss anyway!¡± Although they were losing about 1,700 gold coins every year, that was less than a month¡¯s worth of Doggo¡¯s allowance, so she decided to think of that as treating the juniors of the Academy to a meal. ¡°And in regards to what you said, youngdy, His Highness was infuriated once he saw the report.¡± ¡°Ah~. You mean the Tower of Mages, right?¡± ¡°How dare they even think about kidnapping our miss as a test subject¡­!? That¡¯s uneptable!¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t actually do it, though.¡± ¡°Even just thinking about it is a heavy crime!¡± They already had the testimony; it was very clear that they were guilty. ¡°Please wait a bit before you take action. I need to discuss the n with Korin beforehand.¡± ¡°Hmm. I see. But what about the mages from before¡­ Do you have anymands?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go to them shortly, so please just do what you have been doing!¡± After finishing the discussion about the Tower of Mages, Marie moved on to a topic that was even more important, at least to her. ¡°More importantly, what¡¯s happening to the bank ount that we made under Korin¡¯s name?¡± ¡°We have been regrly putting in gold coins andnd rights to the ount that we have made for Young Master Korin for the past 8 months! It will be possible to take out 80,000 gold coins from anywhere in the world through the gold coin storage of the New Faith!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not much, but that should be okay for Korin¡¯s emergency funds! Hehe, I hope he likes it.¡± ¡°He will be very d to hear about it, youngdy.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Hopefully he won¡¯t be too surprised¡­¡± ¡°Even if he is, we still must do it. He is, after all, the benefactor of our great Dunareff family!¡± ¡°Y, you¡¯re right! This is just paying back for what he did for us! But now that I think about it that way¡­ it feels a bit too little, right?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ It certainly does!¡± The store manager of Merkarva, Baron Bolton, knew exactly what feelings Marie had for Korin. Although Duke Marde hadmanded him to separate the two, how impossible would it be to separate two young passionate teenagers? Besides, considering how the duke was going to retire soon, Marie was the future duke that was going to be in power. For the glory of his children and grandchildren, the person that he had to be loyal to was not Duke Marde but his daughter. Bolton nonchntly ignored the duke¡¯smand and instead chose to be more favorable in the eyes of Duchess Elencia and the future duke. ¡°Aren¡¯t we talking about the future consort of our dukedom? 10,000 gold coins a month does feel a bit too little.¡± ¡°C, consort? N, no! We¡­ we are not in that kind of rtionship yet¡­!¡± ¡°Apologies¡­ It seems that this old man had been too excited.¡± That reaction just then confirmed it even more ¨C Baron Bolton decided that he needed to leave a good impression on Korin as well. ¡°After entering Merkarva, we have started creating a few stores in nearby towns and carriage tforms. How about we select a few of those with better sales and name him as the honorary manager of those stores?¡± ¡°Sounds good! It¡¯ll allow him to feel like a CEO when he wants to, so I think he¡¯ll love the idea!¡± ¡°Haha. I have heard that our future consort is a very busy and active person. So perhaps we should start off with just a few stores under his name.¡± ¡°Also, I think he¡¯s interested in bing a Justice of the Peace as well, looking at the subjects he is taking right now¡­¡± ¡°Hoh~! A Justice of the Peace. What a remarkable gentleman he is, with a strong sense of justice on top of his ability!¡± ¡°Hehe, right? Korin is a very good person.¡± He wasplimenting Korin and yet Marie was put in a good mood. Looking at the bashful reaction of the girl also put Baron Bolton in a good mood. ¡°Haah¡­¡± It was then. Marie suddenly heaved out a sigh in the middle of the positive flow of the conversation. Surprised by the sudden sigh of his future lord, Bolton said with beads of sweat dripping down his cheeks. ¡°M, may I ask if there was something you were unhappy with?¡± ¡°Ah~ sorry. It¡¯s just¡­ something personal.¡± ¡°I see. If possible, could you please tell me about your concerns? Perhaps I might be able to provide some help with something.¡± Strictly speaking, the only reason the Merkarva store was suddenly put in was to look after Marie and be her hands and feet. Rather than an expert manager to earn a lot of money, Bolton¡¯s job was to act as Marie¡¯s butler. ¡°Please count on this Bolton. I will do my very best to resolve your concerns, youngdy!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ This is a story about my friend, but¡­¡± So it¡¯s about Master Korin and Lady Marie, huh. After immediately understanding who the story was going to be about, Bolton carefully listened to the details of the story. ¡°Hoho¡­¡± ¡°So they want to cheer them up somehow. Do you have any ideas?¡± It was certainly a possible story. Wanting to cheer up a man who¡¯s feeling down from a small failure, huh. In that case¡­ ¡°Please don¡¯t fret, youngdy. This Bolton has a great strategy that will immediately get rid of the concerns of the consor¡­ I mean youngdy¡¯s friend.¡± ¡°W, what is it?¡± Marie lent a close ear to Baron Bolton¡¯s words with a much brighter look on her face. After he whispered the n for about 3 minutes, Marie asked back after tilting her head with a skeptical look on her face. ¡°Are you sure that will work?¡± ¡°It will, youngdy. Men will surely love it.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ that costs 20,000 gold coins these days, right?¡± ¡°How could I possibly sell that to you, youngdy. You can simply choose a good one and take it for yourself.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay! I¡¯ll give you a nk cheque. You can use that for the payment!¡± ¡°Thank you very much, miss.¡± That day, Marie¡¯s feet were lighter than usual on her way back to the Academy. **** Battle against Valtazar and his defeat. The Chairman was dead, and Korin started spending even more time every day on training ever since that defeat. Of course, he was aware that the Chairman, Eriu Casarr, wasn¡¯t the real body and that it was just a puppet, as well as how behind that was one of the gods of the ancient times, a Danann. However, he seemed to have put a lot of meaning to that defeat and was depressed for several days without an end. ¡°Huu, huu¡­¡± Looking at him doing his very best at training once again, Marie had a feeling that maybe she, who was extremely distant from the word zy¡¯, might still bezypared to him. ¡°Korin! Great work! Do you want some water?¡± ¡°Ah, thank you.¡± epting the water that she personally made with magic, Korin chugged it down his throat. Meanwhile, Marie used a dry towel to wipe his sweat. The towel soon became drenched due to the downpour of sweat, but it did not feel unpleasant in the slightest. In fact, she had pride in herself for being the only one that was helping Korin wipe his sweat. ¡°Sorry, for making you do things like this all the time.¡± ¡°Nnn? No! Don¡¯t be! I know how hard you¡¯re working all the time, Korin! But¡­ I still do want you to take some rest.¡± She knew why Korin was pushing himself to his limits. It must be because he couldn¡¯t forget the defeat back then. The powerlessness they felt at the face of the unimaginable powerhouse, Valtazar, was something shared by everyone that had been there at that time. ¡°Sorry, but¡­ there are too many things I have to do right now.¡± ¡°Nn¡­ I know. It¡¯s normal for men to be busy sometimes when they have something big to do!¡± ¡°Sorry. Even though you were saying that out of goodwill¡­¡± ¡°No no no! Don¡¯t worry about it! I¡¯m here to support you in whatever you do, Korin!¡± Perhaps thanks to having a strong supporter like her, his rigid expression eased a little after seeing her face that seemed to be shouting, ¡®Good luck!¡¯ ¡°Anyway, shall we go get some dinner now?¡± ¡°S, shall we? What about Hua Ran¡­?¡± ¡°Apparently she got called by the New Faith for something. And Alicia still hasn¡¯t recovered enough to move around so¡­ Did you want to call your friends?¡± ¡°Noooo¡­?! They¡¯re all busy! We have exams soon after all!¡± ¡°Ah~ right. There¡¯s the interim exams as well.¡± There were too many things up his sleeve that Korin had forgotten all about the interims. He wondered if he should start studying even if it¡¯s a bitte but¡­ ¡°Ehew, whatever. Tests are there to test you on your usual knowledge after all.¡± ¡°Right~. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to do it just fine, Korin!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to say that if you knew about my marks fromst year, haha.¡± ¡°Anyway, how about we go to a restaurant in the city for dinner? There¡¯s something I want to show you as well.¡± ¡°Something to show me?¡± Marie stayed faithful to Bolton¡¯s advice. The only problem¡­ was that their standards were in the standards of the Dunareff family, who had hectares ofnd of potatoes. **** Usually, there was a rule against flying inrge cities. Due to defensive measures against aerial attacks and as a way to prevent surprise attacks to the central area of the city, everyone was prohibited from raising flying beasts let alone riding them, except for very few people. One of those few people was the Dunareff family. To be exact, it was a special exception made for all high ranking nobles above dukes and members of the royal family. Marie had never made use of those arrangements for high-ranked nobles until now, but recently, she started using a few of them one by one. It was obvious who the cause of that change was. Getting permission to fly in a city was what activated fast travel. It was a feature that was only essible towards the mid tote portion of the game, ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. And by using the rights of Marie as a youngdy of a dukedom, Korin aimed to get a quicker activation of that said feature. The official foundation of the guild, ¡®Korin Guardians¡¯, followed by a fast travel to missions outside the Academy. In order to construct the guild office, Korin had to spend all the money he earned from his freshman year as initial investment. At least that was how it was on the outside, and most of the funds had in facte from the moneyundered by Renya ire, the high executive officer of the intelligence guild, who was acting as the sponsor of Korin Guardians. ¡®About 2,000 gold coins is the budget. Huu¡­ About 2 million in terms of dors, huh. That¡¯s after selling items and borrowing money for guild construction.¡¯ That was a surreal amount of money that yers could never even dream of during this stage in time. It was impossible to gather so much money unless they were to cheat or something. 2 million dors. It was by no means a small amount of money that he was investing in the guild, but Korin was confident that he could multiply that by several-fold. He knew a gist about the events that would happen in the future, which he could make use of by investing money. Most importantly, there were also the items and cash he could gain by resolving the key, crucial events. 2 million dors was something he could make up for with enough time. All he had to do was think of it as a big investment. And with an investment that big, building a new fresh office for Korin Guardians was also nothing difficult! ¡°Oh~. Pretty big. And looking fresh as well.¡± Korin said in contentment as he gazed at the 5-storey building built at one of thends that were buyable for the yer even back in the game. ¡°It was built by one of your constructionpanies, right? This is much bigger than I thought.¡± What he had initially asked for was a 4-storey building. Although he was going to ce anding zone for wyverns at the roof and include storerooms and a cafeteria, 4 floors still would have been enough. ¡°Nn! I told dad and he made it a lot cheaper for us.¡± ¡°Wow~. Having connections is amazing.¡± Korin was very happy. It had been a 4-storey building in the previous iteration, so seeing the addition of another floor was, if anything, a source of joy. ¡°Let¡¯s go in. But wow, seriously. Why are there so many constructions going on nearby? I guess someone made a big investment or something.¡± ¡°Korin, where are you going?¡± ¡°What do you mean? Of course I¡¯m heading to the office.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the office, though?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Mhmm?¡± It was evident that the two of them weren¡¯t on the same page. Before long, Marie grabbed his hand and led him to a ce next to them which was still in construction. ¡°Umm, Senior?¡± ¡°Last time, do you remember saying you wanted to build a shed for the wyverns?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Korin was a Grade 1 Knight, and Marie was officially a Semi-Unique Grade, who was pretty much at the level of a Unique Grade Mage. Since all the members of Korin Guardians were extremely talented guardians with a bright future ahead of them, even the Alliance was paying attention to them and were very helpful. High-tier guilds were given the right to purchase or rent wyverns at a cheaper price. Korin¡¯s n was to use that right to rent around 6 wyverns. ¡°We got the wyverns! They¡¯re all nice and gentle kids from good breeds! We were given the permission quite fast ¨C it must be because of how strong you are, Korin!¡± ¡°Ohh~. That quick? That¡¯s amazing.¡± Top-notch wyvern breeds weren¡¯t easy to find on the market even for Grade 1 Knights like Korin. Even in the game, the yer had to start all the way from the lowest breeds and gradually work their way up to gain ess to the best wyverns. To be frank, it was a way to force yers intopleting quests rted to building nests and hatching eggs, but that feature of the game was also reflected in reality in a slightly different manner. The purchase rights of top-grade wyverns were restricted due to ¡®qualifications¡¯ and ¡®credit¡¯. ¡°Mhmm?¡± It was most definitely good news, but Korin had a strange impression from her words. He had a feeling that it was ¡®purchased¡¯, rather than ¡®rented¡¯. ¡°Uhh, wait. 6 wyverns¡­ You didn¡¯t buy 6 top-grade wyverns, did you?¡± We didn¡¯t even have enough budget for that, did we? ¡°Now, we¡¯re there! This is our ¡®Wyvern Shed¡¯!¡± The doors were enormous. It was as tall as a 2-storey building, and was obviously way too big for normal humans to use. ¡°¡­¡­Senior.¡± ¡°Uun?¡± ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°This is the backyard of our office¡­ and our shed for the wyverns, and a test-flight area!¡± It was humongous. Actually, the correct expression would be to call it vast and empty. Korin vividly remembered himself saying that he wanted to build an office at a corner of the undeveloped area, and yet it seemed that she had bought the entire plot ofnd. ¡°That over there is the office we are going to use, and that there is the warehouse.¡± ¡°Then¡­ what was the 5-storey building that we just went past?¡± ¡°That one? That was Doggo¡¯s house.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± That whole building was a doghouse? Korin was looking at the absurdly upscaled version of what his office was going to look like, when therge gates of the ¡®shed¡¯ for wyverns that was still in construction were pushed open, and¡ª ¨C Baran! Babang! They were weed by a deafening fanfare and firecrackers. ¡°Wee, Young Lady Marie! Young Master Korin!¡± Behind the door, hundreds of people pped out loud as if they had been waiting for Korin and Marie to arrive. In the middle of his stupor, Korin spotted what was written on the banner above them. Congrats! Knight Korin Lork, a new Baron! ¡°Senior?¡± ¡°Hooray! Are you surprised? Congrattions, Korin! Actually, I should be calling you Baron Korin from now on!¡± ¡°¡­Sorry, what?¡± It was way too sudden and abrupt. Korin was baffled by the fact that he suddenly received an official title of a noble. ¡°You see, dukes have the special right to grant peerages to their vassals. I asked my dad and he decided to grant you the vassal peerage of a baron!¡± But why? Before he could even ask that question, Baron Bolton, who was the store manager of Merkarva¡¯s Dunareff Produce, walked up to him from the crowd. Instead of a high-ranking executive of apany, he looked more like a butler. ¡°Congrattions, Baron Lork. You have hereby been named a vassal family of the Dunareff. You have been granted 15,000 hectares ofnd, 200 pigs, 1,000 chickens, 30 cows, and one Aueum, a demon cow weighing 80 tonnes.¡± ¡°Wow! Congrattions, Korin!¡± ¨C p p p p!! ¨C p p p p!! The sound of hundreds of people pping at once was loud enough to shred someone¡¯s eardrums. Despite the loud apuse, Korin, who still couldn¡¯t follow what was going on, stood there watching them with a nk look on his face. ¡°Wait, wait, wait. Hello? Am I the only one who¡¯s not understanding what¡¯s going on? Huh?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ K, Korin? Do you need more? I can give you more.¡± ¡°Senior? Hello?!¡± Marie looked puzzled, while Korin grabbed onto her shoulders and swung her back and forth. His face seemed to be asking her why she was doing this to him. ¨C Wow. Look at him do that to the youngdy of the Dunareff family. ¨C As expected of the future Duke Consort. We have to leave a good impression on him. ¨C I guess I will have to send some presents to hisnd. Unlike Korin, who was still confused and half-panicking from the sudden turn of events, those around him were calcting how much his value would be in the future. ¡°Hehe. It¡¯s nothing that big so don¡¯t feel too burdened by it. Most of the funds came from my pocket.¡± Marie said with a bashful smile on her face. Right as Korin was about to say something to her smile, Baron Bolton, who was in charge of the conferment, spoke into the microphone. ¡ºNow then, everyone! Behold, the highlight of the day! We will have the air show of the special air forces of the Dunareff Family, Sky Potato!!¡» ¨C Wahhhh! ¨C Kwaaang! Boom! Boom! ¨C Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Firecrackers exploded in the air, in disharmony with the screams of the wyverns. Soaring majestically into the heavens, the wyverns started leaving colorful trails behind them on the blue skies. Sky Potato. They were wyvern riders that had several trophies in the Royal Air Show, which was hosted by the royal family every year, that cost tens of thousands of gold coins to invite them for a single event. The greatest wyvern riders of the kingdom that would generally only appear during the coronation or the birth of members of the royal family were here in the conferment of a random baron. It was up to the visitors to understand just how significant this was. What was fortunate for Korin at the very least, was that reporters hadn¡¯t been invited to the event due to this being an unofficial one. ¡°Awesome, right? They are the best wyverns of one of our vassal families that raise and hatch wyverns for a living.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Ah, by the way, those are the 6 wyverns that we put into the shed this time around!¡± ¡°A thousand coins¡­ each¡­¡± ¡°And look! That¡¯s the final highlight of the show!¡± ¡ºAhh~ here ites down! The origin of every wind! Master of the tempest! Therge flying monster, named as the prettiest monster carrier of the entire continent!¡» Its enormous wings were wide enough to cover the sun. The humongous beak glittered in gold and its eyes were sharp and bright. ¡ºHresvelgr¡­! The proof of the Dunareff Dukedom¡¯s great trust in Baron Lork, and the treasure proving his right as the g bearer of the golden potato flower!¡» Six top-grade wyverns. Costing around 6,000 gold coins. Humongous flying beast, Hresvelgr. Costing around 23,000 gold coins. On top of that was the peerage of a baron, 15,000 hectares ofnd, and thousands of domestic animals. Who in the entire continent would ever be able to guess that this was just a small present of a young girl, in hopes of earning the favor of a certain boy? ¡°How is it, Korin? Are you happy?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­I would like to ask for a refund.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± That single sentence of the boy was enough to fill the face of the Potato Empire¡¯s imperial princess with confusion. Chapter 136: Marie, an ever-so-normal Countryside Girl (2) ? Marie, an ever-so-normal Countryside Girl (2) ? ¡°Marie. Are you stupid?¡± Although the Academy had a fresh supply of ingredientsing in every morning, there were still some discrepancies in the cafeterias and restaurants inside the campus. One such example was the cafe with an intelligent and cute design with the ss disys full of sweet cakes, which boys were known to never be able to visit by themselves. The cafe, Marshmallow, was therefore dedicated for female students and couples. That was further proven by the fact that most of the customers were female students in casual clothing and boys who were being forced inside by their girlfriends. Marshmallow simply had a different target marketpared to the study cafes and the ones that ran 24 hours a day, which boys tended to visit to buy coffee in the stead of energy drinks. One of the regr customers of this cafe, Isabelle Kirmin, was having brunch with her best friend Marie Dunareff, with the menu being some basil sandwiches and two sses of strong espressos. Naturally, the girls were talking about a bunch of topics unrted to food and the current topic for them was in regards to a certain boy. ¡°I get that you like him, but anyone will be scared out of their minds if you give that many things at once, okay?¡± ¡°R, really?¡± ¡°What was it again? Giving him a whole district of a city? A squad of wyverns? And what? A Hresvelgr? I don¡¯t even know what to say.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ I, it¡¯s not that bad! Besides, buying wyverns and constructing the office were all n, necessary¡­¡± ¡°Yes. And even if you add them all up, they don¡¯t even cost as much as a monster carrier.¡± It was a peaceful morning with the fresh scent of flowers tickling their nose, but Isabelle couldn¡¯t help but scold her best friend after hearing how overly dramatic her love life was. ¡°A, and this is not about me, remember? I, it¡¯s about one of my friends!¡± Even though she was saying it wasn¡¯t her, it was obviously not enough to fool Isabelle. ¡°¡­¡± Isabelle barely held herself back from telling her that¡­ the only individuals in this continent that could buy monster carriers with their money were the two princesses and her, Marie. In fact, even Saintess Estelle and Princess Miruam would only be able to afford one by using their official funds, and regardless of how much money they were in possession of, wasting it like that for personal reasons was bound to make them a vulnerable target for the other party. And as for Marie? There might be one news article or two with the headline, [The extravagant use of money of the high social sses disheartens the public]. They even had a newspaperpany, didn¡¯t they? It was clear that such articles would never be published in the south. ¡°Marie. Let¡¯s be honest. You like Korin, right?¡± ¡°N, hnn? N, no? No? I, do not?¡± ¡°Huh, do you not like him? Then can I go and confess to him tomorrow? To be frank, he¡¯s very famous and handsome, isn¡¯t he? He must be super popr.¡± ¡°N, no!!¡± ¡°Right?¡± ¡°Ughh¡­¡± Korin Lork. He was a junior with a good reputation even among the 3rd grade female students. The only reason why no one was hitting on him from the 3rd grade was because it was a well-known fact among them that the top idol of their grade, Marie Dunareff, liked him. None of them wanted to antagonize Marie, who was beloved by every one of them. That was the general consensus of the 3rd year students. ¡®Maybe not so much for the Saintess, though.¡¯ An exception was the senior who entered the Academy 2 years before them, who had recently returned to the academy as a 3rd year, Princess Estelle. The only reason it wasn¡¯t as obvious as Marie was because she was busy dealing with cases like Elder Morushtan the ck mage, and the impression Isabelle received was that even the Saintess was interested in Korin. Looking back, she also recalled the rumors that had spread at the start of the semester about the 2nd princess, Princess Miruam, chasing after Korin¡¯s back. ¡®Ehew¡­ What¡¯s with thesepetitors?¡¯ The future sessor candidate of the renowned Arden household, A probationary sister of the New Faith, who was at the same time the strongest living jiangshi of history. One of the top executives of the New Faith and the likely heir to the throne, 1st Princess and the 2nd Princess, whose influence was on par with that of her sister¡¯s. Although Marie wasn¡¯tckingpared to them in the slightest, it was still unquestionable that herpetitors were all on another level. ¡°And yet look at you throwing away your advantage by being stupid¡­¡± ¡°S, stupid? You¡¯re so mean!¡± Isabelle took a sip of her coffee while savoring the scent of the strong espresso. ¡°You said he rejected the Hresvelgr, right? You better be grateful that he didn¡¯t refund the wyverns on top of that.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­ W, what exactly was the problem?¡± ¡°I should have known you would do this when I saw you renovating the potato warehouse on campus¡­¡± ¡°T, that didn¡¯t cost that much though?¡± ¡°Wake up, Marie. That potato warehouse is so damn big that they¡¯re giving away the potatoes in there to feed the poor. You need to admit that your use of money is not normal.¡± ¡°Haaht¡­?!¡± Isabelle couldn¡¯t help but sigh as she looked at the dumb look on her best friend¡¯s face. ¡°Even a guy that¡¯s after your money will be scared away by the sheer scale of your gifts.¡± ¡°K, Korin doesn¡¯t care about my background!¡± ¡°Yeah, well¡­ You might be right but still.¡± Korin Lork¡¯s personality was well-known and praised in the whole city, let alone the campus. He was a good-natured person, who unhesitatingly took missions for those that were struggling, regardless of how big or small the reward was. There were endless positive stories about him, starting from Mr. Yoon¡¯s sweet and sour fried chicken store, which had been a great sess, as well as the boy who had been saved from a bunch of scoundrels. In the first ce, considering how that boy had thrown himself in to save Marie who had be a vampire at the start ofst year, he would have long asked Marie for rewards if that was what he had been after. ¡®It might be a whole big scam to get married into her family but¡­¡¯ There were way too many girls that he was flirting with for that to be the case. Even yers tended to focus on one girl at a time, right? ¡°As you said, Marie, do you think Korin was after money when he saved you?¡± ¡°Absolutely not!¡± ¡°Right? That¡¯s just the type of person he is. He was born a good person. Do you think a person like that would enjoy seeing you spending a lot of money for him?¡± ¡°That¡¯s true, but¡­¡± It¡¯s not even that much though¡­ Marie added with a whisper. To be fair, Marie was from an extraordinarily wealthy family, where buying out a whole street of luxuries and buying monster carriers were only considered as her being ¡®slightly wasteful with her allowance¡¯. Isabelle decided that suggesting another method would be better than fixing her perception of money. ¡°Marie. There¡¯s no way you can use the hot and cold strategy considering your personality, so just go in.¡± ¡°Go in? What do you mean?¡± ¡°You idiot. What can you use aside from money to lure him in?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ potatoes?¡± ¡°Come on! Wake up, Potato Princess!!¡± ¡°Haht¡­!¡± In deep frustration, Isabelle pped her on the shoulder which startled Marie. ¡°Listen, Marie. With money gone, you have one charm left.¡± ¡°O, only one?¡± ¡°Maybe two. But this is the best one you can use for a teenage boy.¡± ¡°W, what is it?¡± Gulp! Hearing that audible gulp even from afar, Isabelle gave her advice with a serious look on her face. ¡°You¡¯re big; except for your height. That¡¯s your greatest weapon.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± She was around 160 centimeters tall, which was just about right, and her body fat was all heavily focused on certain parts of her upper and lower body. Her bodyline was so destructive that parts of her body might be censored if she were to go on TV, no matter what clothing she were to wear. ¡°In the end, he¡¯s just a teenage boy. Just make up the right mood and go closer, and I¡¯m sure he will pounce at you.¡± ¡°Korin¡¯s not like that!¡± ¡°Hah~. Are you sure about that? Boys our age are all the same.¡± ¡°He¡¯s different!¡± ¡°You sure? Look at Doggo. He¡¯s going around doing all the dogs of the city. Where do you think his genes came from?¡± ¡°Ugh¡­!¡± Isabelle was so persuasive that Marie was lost for words in response. There were a bunch ofints from all around the city, and Doggo¡¯s genes had already been spread across the entire city. ¡°B, but¡­ Korin is a lot more mature¡­ and responsible¡­¡± ¡°Korin, that little guy, is blessed with women. Besides, he¡¯s so dense that he doesn¡¯t even realize he¡¯s going around hitting on girls, and that makes him even worse.¡± Isabelle remembered the time when she was moving experiment apparatus after being told to do so by one of the professors. [Huh? Senior. Isn¡¯t that heavy? Do you need help?] [Uhh, I, I¡¯m alright. I can do it by my¡ª] [Don¡¯t worry. Life¡¯s about helping each other.] Even after being turned down, he gave help without making it seem oppressive or repulsive, and nonchntly said, ¡®Instead of saying thanks, just buy me somethingter on if you want to,¡¯ to set future ns. ¡®I thought he was hitting on me at the start.¡¯ But after some time, Isabelle realized that Korin didn¡¯t mean anything from it. That was just how he was born. ¡°Think about it, Marie. He has more than a girl or two next to him, does he not?¡± ¡°H, he has a lot of male friends as well!¡± ¡°It¡¯s across every grade¡­ I even saw him having a meal with Professor Deina the other day. You know how she¡¯s suffering in debt after the failed experiment with Fang Boars? She was forced to be a vegetarian and you know what he did? He invited her out to the steakhouse saying she needed some protein in her diet!¡± ¡°E, even the professor?!¡± He was exceptionally talented at forming rtionships ¨C his nonchnt smile and kindness made him extremely easy to befriend. It was therefore very normal for there to be a lot of girls going after him. ¡°Everyone else is running, so are you going to be content with walking? Do you think you¡¯ll win by doing that? Getting overtaken happens in a sh!¡± ¡°Uhk¡­! W, what should I do¡­?¡± ¡°Attack his instincts as a male, Marie.¡± ¡°Instincts¡­ as a male?¡± ¡°You¡¯re used to touching each other anyway, aren¡¯t you? I saw you hugging and doing all that stuff.¡± ¡°N, n, n, n, n, noooo???¡± ¡°Really? Then can you tell me what you were doing 2 days ago at the lecture room 403 in¡ª¡± ¡°Ahhk! I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry!! No one should have known anything about that! How did you find out?!¡± Did this girl really think no one was going to find out about it? ¡°Anyway, you might think you¡¯re being affectionate with how touchy you are, but that¡¯s all fake.¡± ¡°F, fake??¡± ¡°It¡¯s a forced one.¡± ??? Marie tilted her head with a slight look of disagreement in her eyes. She was by no means being forced to touch and hug him, so Marie couldn¡¯t understand what Isabelle was trying to say. ¡°Think about it. Korin giving you blood is just to help you. It¡¯s like emergency first aid. It¡¯s no different from a blood transfusion service that he is doing for medical purposes alone.¡± ¡°M, medical purposes alone?¡± Marie wanted to tell her that it surely wouldn¡¯t be that dry. ¡°You don¡¯t need to think about anything else, Marie. You just have to do one thing, to see whether he is interested in you or not.¡± ¨C Gulp! The sound of her gulp was buried by the chattery background noise of the cafe. However, Isabelle could easily tell what Marie was thinking just by looking at her face. ¡°A, and¡­ what is that?¡± ¡°Listen carefully. When it¡¯s just the two of you¡ª¡± **** ¡°Uhmm¡­ You see, apparently you need a big shed for the wyverns so that they don¡¯t feel too stressed! ¡°And we also need that cafeteria! We need to be prepared to invite more people in. ¡°For the buildings that are already done¡­ Maybe we can rent them out.¡± I was at the Guardians office yet again. I learned the hard way how much money she could waste when I left it in Marie¡¯s hands, so I decided to supervise myself. ¡°Huu¡­ Change the owner of that building back to you, and for those buildings over there, rent them out from the Guardians¡­ No wait, that¡¯s not going to work out.¡± Even though I hade to supervise so that there wouldn¡¯t be any more problems, there were already way too many things to deal with in our hands. And most importantly¡­ ¡°Kyaaaah¡­!¡± It was hard to tell what it was unhappy with, but the Hresvelgr constantly let out a loud roar. This guy¡­ how energetic and handsome¡­ ¡°No. 23,000 gold coins is still way too much.¡± In the game, it was essible by using time instead of paying with money, but in real life, that Hresvelgr cost just as much as dozens of buildings. There were a lot of things to say to Marie, looking at how she wanted to give that as a gift, and it was just way too expensive for me to ept it as a simple present. We couldn¡¯t even afford the price to manage that thing in the first ce. If I were to say that to Marie, she would probably say she could pay the price herself. I knew it was her way of saying thanks but¡­ but, still¡­ This is way too much, noona. ¡°K, Korin? So how does that sound? We can make it a bit smaller and rent out the buildings that we don¡¯t need¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ll do that, and please don¡¯t use any more money than this.¡± ¡°O, kay? Ugh. I was going to bring in some restaurants and stores, but I guess I need to cancel that¡­¡± ¡°What did you say just then?¡± ¡°N, nothing!¡± In any case, this should be pretty much everything. We had already used up a lot more money than necessary, but by putting most of them back under Marie¡¯s name and renting out the other ones, we were left with what we could actually chew. In the first ce, the only role of the office was to act as a mission hub where you could directly ept missions from the Alliance without having to go through the Mission Board. Marie was way too enthusiastic, and there was absolutely no need for a facility this big. ¡°A, actually, Korin!¡± Marie walked up while fidgeting with her fingers. For some reason, her face was red. ¡°Since we¡¯re here anyway¡­ Do you want to take some rest at the guild dormitory? You¡¯ve been trying way too hard these days, haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was no time to waste. I had to practice more and get stronger even by a bit, but¡­ seeing the look of concern in her eyes made it hard for me to turn the offer down. ¡°Then¡­ shall we walk around the staff dormitory to make sure there¡¯s nothing funny going on there?¡± ¡°W, what do you mean by that? You¡¯re making it sound like I¡¯ve done something incredibly wrong!¡± ¡°We¡¯re going there to see if you have done something wrong or not. And you are already proven guilty, Senior.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ So mean.¡± I am not going back on my words even if you roll your feet like that, okay! Before long, we arrived at the dormitory. After creating a Guardians Guild, it was possible to sleep outside the Academy and take a few more days off so we did need a ce to sleep in, but¡­ ¡°This is huge.¡± The room inside the dormitory that Marie made as the guild master¡¯s room¡­ which was right next to the deputy master¡¯s room¡­ was more like the suite room of an extravagant hotel than a dormitory. ¡°That bed looks big enough for a giant¡­¡± ¡°L, look. This bed doesn¡¯t shake no matter what you do! Look, look! Kyaaa~!¡± Marie threw herself on the bed, jumping up and down while shouting that out loud. Despite the consistent shock, the bed did not jiggle sideways in the slightest, as expected of a king-sized bed. Jumping up and down the bed, Marie seemed to be trying to prove the sticity of the bed. Something else jiggled up and down stically instead of the bed, and it was a very embarrassing sight to see. ¡°Oh, r, right.¡± After suddenly stopping the jump, Marie said while fidgeting with her fingers again. ¡°Korin, do you know?¡± ¡°Know what?¡± ¡°This is¡­ something I heard from someone¡­ It¡¯s a super super interesting research¡­¡± ¡°A research?¡± Marie said somethingpletely unexpected with her face flushed red. ¡°Apparently there¡¯s something resembling a magic spell that reduces the stress and fatigue of a stressed-out person¡­¡± ¡°There is?¡± It indeed was a bit stressful recently. Even though I didn¡¯t mention it, I could still feel the stress building up inside me. Well, I did remember seeing research about de-stressing even back on Earth, so she was probably talking about something simr to that. ¡°What is it? Tell me.¡± ¡°B, breasts!¡± ¡°Breasts?¡± ¡°Apparently the stress and fatigue levels of boys decrease when they see big breasts! S, so, with that said¡­¡± Her robe slithered down her white shoulder. The stimting scent of skin stimted my nose as her sensuous eyes looked straight into my own. ¡°¡­¡± Quietly, she stared at me with a gaze of approval and permission. Chapter 137: Marie, an ever-so-normal Countryside Girl (3) ? Marie, an ever-so-normal Countryside Girl (3) ? Korin Lork, 18 years old. More than 20 years on Earth, And 4 years here. Adding that to the memories of my life as Korin Lork, it was possible to say that I was more than 40 years old. However, it seemed that the mental age still couldn¡¯t help but be affected by the physical age ¨C I was still a teenager in the middle of puberty. And the life I had been leading was one void of rtionships with girls. Going through boys¡¯ middle school, boys¡¯ high school, physical education college, and the military, I had a lot of male friends but didn¡¯t have much chance to make female friends. I had a few during primary school, but that was the same for everyone, right? And yet in front of me was Marie, whose eyes were rotating in circles while her cheeks were flushed red all the way up to her ears. Silently, she was giving me permission. Opening up the hems of her robe revealed an overwhelmingly voluptuous¡­ thing that seemingly had the power to suck in everything like the center of the universe. Frankly speaking, there was no way that guys wouldn¡¯t be stimted by that sight, unless they were the biggest eunuchs of the century. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Unn?¡± ¡°You¡¯re doing this to cheer me up, right? Hah¡­ I guess I¡¯ve been feeling too down these days.¡± ¡°Y, yeah¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t an overstatement to say that it required a superhuman level of patience and resilience. Honestly, I wanted to jump in and take a long break. ¡®That won¡¯t be a manly thing to do though.¡¯ It was all about manliness for men. Resting on the breasts of arade just because you were tired wasn¡¯t something men should be doing. ¡®Huu¡­ It¡¯s a shame, but¡­¡¯ Forcing myself to turn down the kind offer of the considerate potato girl, I was about to turn around from that temptation but¡­ ¡°E, eitt¡­!¡± Suddenly, Marie pulled me by the arm as the two of usnded on top of the bed. During that process, I¡­ ¡°Uhp?!¡± It was truly a shameful thing to say, but my head ended up being buried in the crevice between her breasts. ¡°S, Senior?!¡± ¡°Stay there. Stay still.¡± She wasn¡¯t being forceful by relying on her strength, but her warm hug and the deep canyon pulled me in like a quagmire. ¡°Uahh¡­¡± Slowly¡­ I felt more and more lethargic. As if I was being sucked into a ck hole, there was an irresistible suction force pulling me in. Big. I thought I knew it already¡­ but they were big. They were soft like the sea of clouds above, and their fluffiness enveloped me from all sides. It was impossible to resist! My head¡­ was starting to turn nk. ¡°Korin¡­ You need a break.¡± My face was burning hot, so how embarrassing would it be for Marie? However, I could feel the concern from her hands that were pressing down on the back of my neck, and that made it difficult for me to say no. Despite shyly wriggling her body, Marie was still giving me a warm hug for my sake. ¡°Uuhh¡­¡± Unable to lift my face that sunk deeper and deeper in, I felt my consciousness fading away. ¡­It seemed that I had indeed been exhausted, but that wasn¡¯t strange considering how I hadn¡¯t taken any days off recently. ¡°Umm¡­ Korin? Are you sleeping? Huh? Wait, are you sleeping? Actually?¡± Her pleasant voice tickled my ears like a luby as my consciousness started to fade. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Korin. Korriiiinnn~. Wake up.¡± Hearing a voice, I slowly opened my heavy eyelids to wake myself up. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Opening my eyes, I found Marie shaking me back and forth, with her long hair fluttering near my face. ¡°Uhh, did I fall asleep¡­?¡± ¡°Un. You were in a deep sleep. See, you must have been tired.¡± ¡°What¡­ time is it right now?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nighttime. I made some food. Let¡¯s have dinner first.¡± Saying that, Marie led me to a portable table that was set up inside the fancy room. On it were several dishes that seemed to have been made just recently. ¡°Tada~! Bacon-rolled potatoes, and a stew!¡± The dishes were still steaming hot. It seemed that Marie had made them herself. Even though she was ridiculously rich, she was somehow still very good at cooking, and I was always on the receiving end. I must be very lucky¡­ that I can sleep in such a fancy room and wake up to have the food personally made by the youngdy of a rich family. ¡°How do you feel now?¡± ¡°Much better than before.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good!¡± Her food was delicious. They tasted great, but that wasn¡¯t the end ¨C I could feel the hard work she had put into making them, and that added to the warmth of the dish. Each and every bite was so warm and soothing that it put my heart at rest. ¡°I¡¯m full now.¡± ¡°Are you? Then what do you want to do now?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Should we just lie down?¡± ¡°Sounds good!¡± When Iid myself down on the bed that was way too big for just myself, Marie followed suit andid down next to me. ¡°Hehe¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t tell why she was so happy, but she constantly giggled while ying with my face. ¡°This feels¡­ nice.¡± Marie¡­ was one of those people that put you in a good mood just by looking at them. She had given me so much help time after time. ¡°Senior.¡± ¡°Uun?¡± An amazing person. Kind, beautiful, capable and generous. I wanted someone like her to have a happy ending. We can¡¯t have someone like that being unhappy, and that thought was one of the elements pushing me forward. ¡°Seriously, you¡¯re the reason I live, Senior.¡± ¡°Haht¡­!¡± Marie, was the oue of my decision ¨C the evidence that I was going the right path. Having someone so adorable supporting me from the side was very reassuring. ¡°Korin.¡± Caressing my face, she let out a wide smile. We were very close, but we had be used to such proximity by the time I realized it. ¡°What happened a few days ago surprised you a lot, right?¡± ¡°A lot, yeah.¡± ¡°Even though you turned it down¡­ I want you to rethink that.¡± ¡°But Seni¡­¡± cing her finger on my lips, Marie quietly made me stop. ¡°You promised me, didn¡¯t you? That you would do whatever I ask you once everything is over.¡± I did remember making that promise. There was a time when Marie had asked me for a way to motivate herself or something like that. ¡°Korin, I want you to¡­ ept what I give you and not feel pressured by it.¡± Her request¡­ was for me and not for her. ¡°Every time, you help people and just end it there, saying ¡®What¡¯s good is good¡¯. But I think it¡¯s okay for you to be more greedy¡­ that¡¯s why I like you even more, but still.¡± ¡°Senior.¡± After slowly taking in a deep breath, Marie gazed at me with a pitying look on her face and continued talking by herself. ¡°You have so many things on your shoulders. Saving me¡­ might not have been something special for you. ¡°But you see, Korin. That one help that you gave me¡­ is very special and means a lot to me. ¡°I can do anything for you, and I want to, as long as it can reduce the burden on your shoulders by even a little. Peerage? Land? Hresvelgr? None of them are that important. ¡°I want to give you e~verything I have, and do whatever I can for you. Because you¡¯re so, so precious¡­ And if you want to walk the hard and dangerous path¡­ I want to polish that road even a little.¡± Wrapping her arms around my neck, she slowly buried my head in her chest. Cherishingly, she slowly patted my head while giving me a warm hug. ¡°I am just¡­ returning the favor.¡± Intoxicated by that warmth andfort of her embrace¡­ I couldn¡¯t turn anything down. However, her love, and her sincere and passionate emotions¡­ were all things that I could not reply to as of yet. Right now was not the time to progress any rtionship, and that was why I had been trying to reject those overly expensive gifts. ¡°Use everything about me, Korin. I can give you everything I have. I lov¡­¡± I could not hear the rest of her words. She cut her words off short, and instead of saying anything else, she simply gave me an even tighter hug. **** ¡°Huhakk¡­!¡± The pride of the Tower of Mages, the leader of the Red Cult who was one step away from being a great mage, Elder Admelech woke up in the middle of a sunny afternoon. ¡°Oh, are you awake, master?¡± A man called him while walking up to him. His face, which was starting to show the wrinkles of an old man, was a very familiar one for Elder Admelech. ¡°Z, Zollin? Where is this ce!?¡± It was none other than his head disciple, Zollin, who was going to seed his position as the future elder of the Red Cult. ¡°Hmm¡­ How should I exin this?¡± Looking around, Admelech realized that he was next to an ocean ¨C a vast sea wasid out in front of his eyes¡­ That was what he thought initially, but upon closer inspection, he noticed that it was a shallow reservoir that was storing sea water. ¡°W, where are we? What in the¡­!¡± ¡°Oi~. Old Man Zol! What are you doing, cking off like that?!¡± That was when a man who looked like a poor viger walked up to Zollin inrge strides. Seeing him approach with a wooden club in his hands, Zollin took a few steps back in fright. ¡°O, Officer¡­ This is not how it seems!¡± ¡°Not how it seems my ass! We¡¯re super busy, and here you are trying to ck off!¡± Admelech could not believe what he saw next. The viger lifted the club and smacked Zollin down on his shoulder. ¡°Ahk! Ahk! It hurts! It hurts sir!¡± ¡°Lazy bums need to get scolded!¡± Zollin was an elite mage of the 7th floor, sitting at the pinnacle of the Red Cult. He was a professor of the Tower of Mages, who was like the personification of wisdom and knowledge. How could a random viger dare strike him with a club? ¡°T, this crazy peasant. You must have lost your mind!¡± Admelech tried to activate his mana heart and use up a ball of ether to create mes. It was humiliating that he had to use magic against a random viger, but he couldn¡¯t handle letting go a peasant that dared toy his hands on someone walking down the grand path of magic. ¡°What?¡± However, his fury was unable to swallow up the viger. Despite his perfect preparation, he could not use the spell. In fact, he couldn¡¯t even gather mana inside his body. ¡°W, what is going on?¡± That was when Admelech realized something. There was¡­ no mana in his heart. ¡°What? This senile old man. Were you trying to use magic just then?¡± ¡°N, no¡­ Wait.¡± ¡°O, ohh, Officer! It¡¯s all because my master doesn¡¯t know what is going on yet! Please forgive him!¡± ¡°This darn little bastard. Shut your trap before I break that mouth of yours!!¡± m! The clubnded on Zollin¡¯s head. His head turned as he powerlessly fell to the side. ¡°These fuckers. How dare you try to attack Lady Marie? You will be in service for the rest of your lives, you bastards.¡± Not knowing what was going on, Admelech was mumbling like a goldfish but the so-called ¡®Officer¡¯ lifted his club without caring about his feelings. It was then. ¨C Kieeeeek! An enormous flying beast, Hresvelgr, descended from the sky. Therge monster carrier carried a container andnded next to the reservoir. ¡°Aigu! Looks like we got a big guest!¡± Immediately retrieving the club that was about to strike down at Admelech, the officer started rushing to the container. He wasn¡¯t the only one ¨C other people wearing the same outfit as the Officer, as well as those wearing tattered convict clothes all raced to the Hresvelgr. Soon, a girl with sky-blue-colored hair walked out of the container. She was the daughter of the dukedom of the south, who was known very well by everyone in these southern archipgos ¨C the one who will inherit 25 peerage titles and 2 million hectares of farnd. ¡°¡°Wee, Lady Marie!!¡±¡± The officers and prisoners all bent their backs in a straight angle, while weing her with a sonorous voice. Her face remained unperturbed even at the grand wee of a bunch of vicious-looking convicts and officers. ¡°Hello. Thank you very much for your hard work!¡± ¡°Young Lady¡­¡± The head officer, who had been bashing up the convicts until just then with a club, walked up to her while hiding the club behind her back. It was because he did not want to show the blood-drenched wooden club to the noble and elegantdy. ¡°Uncle Mark! I heard you got a grandsonst month! Congrattions! We will give you a small gift very soon, so don¡¯t worry about the fees!¡± ¡°Haha, thank you very much. By the way, may I ask what brings the most-esteemeddy to this most-horrible ce¡­¡± ¡°Uun~. I came here because I wanted to give a new set ofmands and give you some new convicts.¡± ¡°Hoh~? So you mean¡­?¡± Click! When Marie clicked her fingers, a crowd of people wearing the outfit of a prisoner walked out of the container. Seeing them, Admelech gasped for breath. ¡°W, what? Those guys are¡­!¡± There were about 20 of them, and he immediately recognized their faces, because they were the disciples of the Red Cult and the ck Cult, who had been with Admelech until recently. The only source of relief was that Elder Morushtan of the ck Cult was nowhere to be seen. ¡°These convicts here are sentenced for the rest of their lives, and they¡¯re tough so you can be stricter to them!¡± ¡°Ehem. It won¡¯t be a nice sight, though, Lady Marie.¡± ¡°They are all, realllyyyy bad people. So don¡¯t worry about it!¡± ¡°Those fuckers¡­ Ah, my apologies. Those f¡­ freaking bastards are the suuuper bad guys that tried to kidnap you as a test subject, is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I see.¡± Head Officer Mark flicked his head around with a dreary smile on his face. He then dered to the convicts looking at him. ¡°Oi bastards! We got newbies! You are free to do with them, whatever you wish!¡± ¡°Ohhh!¡± ¡°Look at their soft skin! Looks like they had been indoors for most of their lives!¡± ¡°I will make them pick up soaps tonight, uhahaha¡­!¡± The original convicts shouted with heinous smiles on their faces. They were all those who had been sentenced to at least 5 years of service aftermitting heavy crimes in the south. They rejoiced at the sight of the intelligent-looking mages, who looked like they hadn¡¯t even lifted a pile of documents before, unlike them who had been leading a harsh life. ¡°Uncle Mark? What do they mean by picking up soaps?¡± ¡°Haha. It¡¯s a way of saying that they will try to be harmonious with each other. It has a positive effect on work efficiency, so we¡¯ve been letting them be.¡± ¡°Is that so? Hmm hmm! Harmony is indeed very important! Because they are going to be working together for a long time!¡± Marie nodded without fully understanding the words of the head officer. That innocence further solidified her image as the treasured flower of the south. ¡°Wait! Lady Dunareff! Young Lady Dunareff!¡± That was when Elder Admelech called out to her after breaking through the crowd of convicts and officers. ¡°Admelech, right!? I heard you couldn¡¯t wake up because of your age. How do you feel now?¡± ¡°T, thanks for your concern. B, but youngdy? W, what in the world is going on¡­! My mana¡­!¡± Admelech mumbled, not knowing where to start. Everything was a source of confusion for him, from the fact that he was here¡­ to why he couldn¡¯t use his mana. ¡°Uun~. The mages of the Tower are all as dangerous as convicts. I turned all of you into ghouls, so you shouldn¡¯t be able to use magic anymore.¡± ¡°G, ghouls?!¡± Ghouls ¨C the ves of vampires. Weren¡¯t they lowly demonic beasts that didn¡¯t even have a sense of self? And what? Everyone from the Tower including himself had be a ghoul? When did that happen? ¡°T, that blood soup¡­!¡± That was when he recalled the boiling red soup that was forced down his throat, and the horrible pain he went through as the liquid was forced down in spite of his tongue and mouth being burned. ¡°Attempted murder of the daughter of a duke and the assassination of the chairman¡­ Plus a few other allegations, so Admelech, you¡­ Hmm, Admelech is a bit too long, isn¡¯t it? I¡¯ll call you Chunsik from now on~!¡± Marie said with a bright smile on her face, as the officers immediately responded to her words. ¡°Number 4,885 will now be named Chunsik! Keep that in mind, folks!¡± ¡°Yes, Head Officer!¡± ¡°Y, you bastards! These damn peasants¡­!¡± Infuriated, Admelech went up and grabbed the Head Officer by his neck. Despite being a mage, he was exceptionally strong; strong enough to strangle a peasant like him to¡­ ¡°A, ahh?¡± He noticed that he couldn¡¯t put any strength into his grip. He wanted to bash that stupid peasant to death but that wasn¡¯t working out either. It felt like his body belonged to someone else. ¡°Chunsik and the others; I made it so that you can¡¯t use your power unless it¡¯s for work, because we can¡¯t have you hurting the officers and other convicts. Oh right, ¡®You must always listen to the officers.¡¯ Okay?¡± Those were just the words of a tiny girl, but the ghouls from the Tower of Mages instinctively knew that they had to obey hermands. After degrading to the subjects of a vampire, and after realizing that they hadn¡¯t even been turned into a dracule or a draculina, it became very evident that they couldn¡¯t make any choices for themselves without permission. ¡°Work here from today! If you make salt for about 100 years, I will let you guys work on the potatoes!¡± ¡°Y, you want me¡­ this Elder Admelech¡­ to make salt? D, do you know all the nobles that bring in gold and other treasures just for a single lecture?!¡± ¡°Did you not hear the Young Lady calling you Chunsik just then!?¡± m! The wooden club struck Admelech¡­ or rather, Chunsik on his knees, and he couldn¡¯t help but kneel from the intense pain. That was when the Elder Vampire walked up to the old ghoul. ¡°Unn? You want to be paid? ¡­ Aht! I¡¯m giving you a ce to sleep and food, though. Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a bit too much?¡± She said while looking down with eyes half-tainted in crimson red. At the face of the absolute sovereign of demonic beasts, Chunsik trembled without even daring to meet her eyes. It didn¡¯t take long for him to realize that he had to live as a ve forever¡­ until the death of the immortal vampire, Marie Dunareff. Chapter 138: Korin Guardians (1) ? Korin Guardians (1)? ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± These days, the Academy was in an uproar. The attack of the Red and the ck Cults of the Tower of Mages ¨C it had only been 2 weeks since that shocking event which had put the entire kingdom at unrest. Elder of the Red Cult, Admelech, ambushed Senior Professor Josephine while the mages of the ck Cult tried to kidnap some freshmen students. Added on top of that was the unprecedented case of the assassination of the chairman, and it was therefore obvious for the Academy to raise a formalint at the Tower of Mages. The Lord of the Tower, Adelene, said it waspletely unrted to them, and that it was the abrupt rampage of a group of mages, but everyone knew that couldn¡¯t have been further away from the truth. It was a case concerning 2 elders, and there had been over 50 mages following them. However, the Academy couldn¡¯t do anything apart from a formalint because of the absence of their chairman. The next chairman, who would be recing Eriu Cassar as the central figure of the Academy, hadn¡¯t been decided yet. They had to decide on the future chairman before they could proceed with raising action against the Tower. ¡°Who do you think will be the next chairman?¡± ¡°It has to be Lady Josephine, right?¡± The strongest candidate for the position was, as expected, Professor Josephine, who had been acting as one of the crucial pirs of the Academy ever since it was founded. Josephine had been leading and guiding the Academy as one of the key figures as the Senior Professor from the beginning for longer than any other professor, but¡­ ¡°She has never nominated herself for the position yet. I would assume she would pass on it like always.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± ncing at each other, the professors swallowed their words. In normal academies, it was highly likely that the next chairman would be chosen from one of the senior veteran professors, which meant there were only a few candidates. The biggest pir of the Knight Department, Professor Haman Welsch, And Professor Edgar Linton of the Magic Department. However, it was hard to choose someone from the two of them. Both of them seemed very distant from the position of a chairman, and besides, Professor Haman Welsch was supposed to retire next year on top of that. ¡°It¡¯s hard to tell who it¡¯s going to be. Chairman Eriu was young and healthy, after all.¡± ¡°Who would have known that he would pass away just like that? It¡¯s always the Tower and the crazy people there.¡± ¡°Hmm. I suppose it would have to be Lady Josephine, who¡¯s currently serving as the temporary chairman then¡­¡± The next chairman, however, was someone none of them had been expecting. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Hmm¡­ Hmm, hmm~~¡± The position of a chairman of a guardian academy was a lot busier than it might seem. In the Academy, they had to deal with documents, confirm and carry out events and meetings, and in regards to external matters, they also had to work in coboration with the royal family, nobles, the Alliance, Tower of Mages, the New Faith and other organizations that had to do with the future careers of the students. Because of the assassination of Chairman Eriu, the Academy went through a period of confusion and stagnation. Someone had to step up and settle it back down. ¡°Are you really going to do it again?¡± ¡°Yes. There is no other option, is there?¡± The young, blonde beauty, Josephine, said while looking at the founder of the Academy who finally came back after a few weeks¡­ or rather, 80 years. Erin Danua. She, the founder of the guardian academy, who had been leading the academy with clones ever since she was exiled by her disciple, put a stop to watching over the world from the Shadow Pce of the Paradise, and finally descended onto the real world again. Josephine knew exactly what that meant. ¡°I still disagree. Valtazar was by himself 80 years ago, but now¡­¡± He was even stronger and had countless forces at hismand. The Old Faith, the Tower of Mages, and¡­ the Northern Kingdom. Thend of the barbaric people ruled by the Frost Giants; the evilnd containing the corpses of the gods¡­ ording to the boy who knew about the future, that was where Tates Valtazar had settled hisir. The battles henceforth will concern the Advent of Paradise and the attempt to reenact the glory of the past¡­ and will be a big war between the supporters and remnants of the old gods and the descendents of humanity. ¡°I need to raise disciples and heroes. That is my job as the Danann of Justice, the teacher of heroes.¡± Teach disciples and raise heroes. Now was the time that called for heroes the most, and it was her job to nurture them. ¡°Ah~. I want to see my disciple.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°Aht? Uhh, I meant¡­! I meant I wanted to see my new disciples!¡± ¡°¡­¡± **** Today was finally the day that Alicia was going to remove her bandages. Even though I say that, she had been moving around just fine these days, and she had no trouble taking the interim exam either. In any case, tomemorate her removing her bandages, we decided to have a barbeque party at the garden of the newly constructed Guardians Office. The invited members of the party were the people of our dormitory except for the royal princesses, and whichever friend they wanted to bring. ¡°Korin! Can you flip the hash browns over there please?!¡± Because of that, Marie and I were working at the extravagant kitchen next to the garden to prepare enough dishes for the guests. ¡°Sure. What happened to that thing that we put in the oven?¡± ¡°Doggo should be taking care of that!¡± ¡°Hmm, maybe we should have set a n beforehand. I don¡¯t think we have enough ingredients.¡± ¡°Should I bring some more bags of potatoes from the warehouse?!¡± ¡°No. These are enough dishes with potatoes. I had to hold myself back from cooking a potato stew as well, you know?¡± ¡°I was looking forward to that though.¡± ¡°You look forward to anything with potatoes, don¡¯t you, Senior?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not¡­ Well, yeah but¡­¡± Marie replied while intentionally puffing out her cheeks. When I poked it with my finger, the air slowly seeped out like a deting balloon. ¡°Hmph.¡± She tilted her head away, but she didn¡¯t seem that displeased. I was staring at that adorable pout and that was when I noticed that some of her hair was about to touch the fire. ¡°Senior.¡± ¡°Nn? ¡­Aht?¡± Before she could say anything, I gathered her hair from behind. ¡°K, Korin?¡± ¡°Stay still. Let me tie your hair.¡± Bringing her fluttering sky-blue hair to one, I took out a rubber band from my pocket and tied it into a ponytail. ¡°W, why are you so good at it?¡± ¡°My hair¡¯s pretty long as well, right. I just learned it over time.¡± One of the things that I was happy about aftering to this world was that I had long hair. Going through middle and high school which had regtions about hair length, and having to shave my hair through the military and the physical education college, I had been dying to grow my hair. ¡°It feels good cooking together like this.¡± That was when Marie said that with a bashful smile while leaning her head on my shoulder. Recently, her show of affection was bing more and more explicit but¡­ I couldn¡¯t hate her for that. ¡°Umm¡­ you know? Do you feel¡­ tired these days?¡± Stealthily gazing up into my eyes, she said with flushed cheeks while adjusting the hems of her robe. ¡°Uhh¡­ a little bit?¡± Whenever I closed my eyes I could still see remnants of those big mountains. I had been working hard all morning to prepare the dishes so a little bit of¡­ ¨C Grip! ¡°Uhk.¡± That was when someone pulled my clothes from behind. Turning around, I saw Hua Ran looking at me with an indifferent look on her face. ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± You¡¯re just ¡®looking¡¯ at me, right? You¡¯re not giving me a death stare or anything, right? ¡°Uhh¡­ What¡¯s up, Hua Ran.¡± ¡°I brought all the tables.¡± ¡°Already? That was quick.¡± I asked her to bring out the tables and chairs from the storeroom, and she seemed to have finished that already. ¡°What about the chairs for the guests?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She hasn¡¯t done that yet, huh. ¡°Can you do that too? The people are going to starting anytime soon.¡± Hearing that, Hua Ran rolled her eyes. After looking behind me at Marie for a split second, she replied. ¡°¡­No.¡± It was a short and curt response. ¡°Umm¡­ Why not?¡± ¡°I want to cook.¡± ¡°Do you know how to cook?¡± Hua Ran, the honest girl, shook her head in response to my question, but continued before I could say anything. ¡°Ran said she knows how.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I couldn¡¯t trust Hua with cooking but Ran was a different story. She did cook from time to time, and her dishes weren¡¯t too bad. ¡°Then you two can work on the remaining dishes. I will finish setting up the chairs outside.¡± ¡°Huh, K, Korin?¡± ¡°Nn. See you¡­ See youter~ oppa!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± ¡°Sister~. It¡¯s going to be so fun cooking together, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The luxurious Guardians Office, which in the end was left up to Marie, was as big as an enormous mansion having several buildings andrge plots ofnd. Once I finished setting up the garden, the garden was full of expensive chairs and tables which were the same ones that we used during my conferment to a baron. They looked very familiar, and looked the same as the expensive furniture I saw in the game. ¡°Haa¡­ These all cost several gold coins each, don¡¯t they¡­?¡± The housing system of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? was one dedicated solely for the end-game experience, with every piece of furniture requiring tons of materials. yers could use up materials to construct furniture, and I remembered Mr. Park made quite a few of them in thest iteration. It was super interesting to see him use the crafting window to change materials to items in a sh. ¡®I might be a sub-yer, but I¡¯m also technically a yer, so why can¡¯t I do that?¡¯ Or maybe I can do it now? We were quite far into the storyline, and I should have leveled up a few times as well so¡­ Thinking that, I shouted out loud just in case. ¡°Crafting Window!¡± ¡ºess denied due to insufficient qualification¡» ¡°Ah, shit, for fuck¡¯s sake!! Do you want to be uninstalled!?¡± Using uninstall as a threat and having nothing happen was something that recently became a habit of mine. ¡°Y, you surprised me there! Why are you swearing?¡± ¡°Kuhum. Alicia?¡± Turning around, I found Alicia standing at the entrance of the garden, carrying a bag bigger than her own body. ¡°Alicia¡­ What¡¯s with all that stuff?¡± ¡°What do you mean? Didn¡¯t you tell me to buy the ingredients for today¡¯s party?¡± ¡°¡­¡± I did remember giving her a pouch full of money. Everyone was still growing up and needed to eat a lot, and although I didn¡¯t enjoy buying luxury goods, I wasn¡¯t the type to save out on money for food. But even so¡­ ¡°Isn¡¯t that¡­ a bit too much? Are you preparing for a campaign or something?¡± ¡°It might be a lot, but everyone eats a lot, right!? Doggo can finish it if we can¡¯t, so it¡¯s fine!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t treat someone else¡¯s dog as a ration tiger1Ration tiger = A name given to stray cats, or cats raised in the military, in the Korean military that eats leftover rations. .¡± ¡°What¡¯s a ration tiger?¡± ¡°¡­Don¡¯t worry. Can you unpack your bag? Let me see what you bought.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Alicia immediately opened her bag, revealing a whole load of ingredients. They ranged from eggs to chicken, beef and noodles, which was a part of the staple diet here. ¡°Wow, what a sight. How much did it cost?¡± ¡°1 gold coin and a half.¡± ¡°Gold coin?!¡± How can you possibly spend 1,500 dors on ingredients?! ¡°Buddy, why is it so over-budget? Wasn¡¯t 50 silver coins going to be more than enough?¡± ¡°Uhh, you see, there is a reason for this, okay?¡± ¡°¡­Let me hear it.¡± Alicia took out a dozen eggs and started introducing it after a ¡®tada¡¯ gesture. ¡°Apparently these eggs are from chickens that grew up drinking green tea! Interesting, right? Chickens like green tea as well!¡± Eggs of a chicken that drank green tea¡­ As expected of a Korean game¡­ ¡°What about that chicken over there?¡± ¡°They said it died after leading a happy life!¡± ¡°And¡­ how does the happy life of a chicken matter to me?¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it taste better if it lived a happy life?¡± ¡°That makes us sound like heinous killers that destroyed a happy family of chickens.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Not wrong, though.¡± ¡°Anyway¡­ Okay, so an organic chicken that lived happily in freedom, and those eggs, huh. What about that beef? The marbling on that is on an absurd level.¡± ¡°Apparently it grew up drinking beer and listening to ssical music. They said it got a regr massage as well!¡± ¡°What a damn happy life for a domestic animal.¡± So why were they so adamant about telling us about their happy life? Was it to make us feel more guilty for eating them? ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s just say we¡¯re treating everyone to a good meal with nice ingredients. Sorry for making you go out and buy all that stuff even though you just recovered from your injuries.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. It had been a while since I went to the city and had a look, so it was good. Huaah~!¡± Alicia said with a big stretch, seemingly enjoying the fresh air outside. Her stretch entuated her bodyline and fully revealed her armpits in a sensuous manner. ¡°Kuhum¡­! A grown-updy shouldn¡¯t be doing that in public.¡± ¡°Uing? What was that? That sounded like what one of the elders of the family would say.¡± ¡°It might be a bitte for this, but don¡¯t you think you¡¯re showing too much of your skin?¡± ¡°Hmm? My skin?¡± ¡°Yeah. Umm¡­ I think it¡¯s a bit excessive.¡± Like the sides of her breasts and her thighs¡­ ¡°What about it though?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m revealing what I shouldn¡¯t. Besides, everyone wears like this, right?¡± ¡­¡­Wait, now that I think about it, this much was a default for everyone, wasn¡¯t it? Even Marie and Hua Ran¡­ Huh, what? Was this normal? Did everyone dress like that? Was I thinking like this was Earth a bit too much? Considering how there were all sorts of clothings in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, this might be a normal level of exposure in this world. ¡°Anyway, it feels good to breathe in fresh air after so long!¡± ¡°You sound as if you were in the hospital for months. Didn¡¯t you still attend all the lectures?¡± Although Alicia was injured, it¡¯s not like she couldn¡¯t get out of her bed for that whole period of time. Despite being bandaged up like a mummy, she had still beening to ss. ¡°It¡¯s different. Anyway! Thank you for hosting a party for me getting better!¡± ¡°Do you mind sharing half the budget to prove your gratitude?¡± ¡°Hukk! Sorry. I can¡¯t¡­!¡± She immediately turned her tail. We carried all the ingredients to the kitchen and the guests started to arrive one by one right when we were almost done with the dishes. ¡°Hey, boss. Your new house is looking pretty impressive!¡± ¡°¡­Is this your house, boss?¡± ¡°Wow~. Bro, it¡¯s my first time seeing a house this big!¡± Renya ire from the Intelligence guild, and the wolf siblings, Ren and Ron. ¡°It was supposed to be a short-term contract but¡­ Looking at what you¡¯ve made, I suppose most people would want to stay here forever.¡± ¡°Hello. I brought some mushrooms from the forest.¡± ¡°¡­Hi.¡± The Mercenary of Flying Swords, Dorron Warsky, Yuel the Druid and the Golem Mage, Kranel Luden. ¨C Knock knock! ¨C Open the gates! The gates opened up following that sonorous shout as five swordswomen entered the garden. Jennie the Rapid Sword, Sirin the Duel Wielder, Lena of the Rippling Sword, Mei the Sword of True Darkness, and Milia of the Illusionary Sword. They were the elites of the 1st Sword Squad of the renowned Arden household. The fact that they were here meant¡­ ¡°Been a while, my dear fiance.¡± Lunia Arden, the female hero of the contemporary times. Alicia¡¯s older sister was also here to join the party. ¡°Wee, Miss Lunia. It¡¯s been a while.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I have taken a big damage to my feelings due to that event before. You would have to pay a fair amount of interest back before you can fully pay back this debt.¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡± I could feel sharp gazes ring at my back. For some reason, I had a feeling that many were unhappy but¡­ it must be me overthinking things, right? With this, most of the guests were here. As for the final guests¡­ ¨C Jiing! Atst, they were here. ¡°Is it here? Where did the moneye from to build such a¡­¡± One of thest guests was Lady Josephine ra, the Dimensional Witch who could teleport limitlessly as long as it was within the city, who could also teleport long distances as long as several conditions were met. And next to her¡ª ¡°It has been a while. How have you been?¡± She said while lowering the hood of her robe, which revealed her glistening silver hair. Standing next to the strict-looking blonde-haired beauty inplete contrast was a silver-haired beauty who gave off a gentle impression. ¡°Wee, Master.¡± She was none other than my master, Erin Danua, who took the position of the new chairman immediately aftering back today. With this, all my ¡®party members¡¯ whom I had built connections with over the past year were in one ce. Now that the threat of Tates Valtazar was looming over us much earlier than expected, there was also the need for me to move quicker than nned. Today, I was going to reveal to them the truth of this world and strengthen the ¡®key members¡¯. Footnotes:
  • 1Ration tiger = A name given to stray cats, or cats raised in the military, in the Korean military that eats leftover rations.
Chapter 139: Korin Guardians (2) ? Korin Guardians (2)? Alicia¡¯s got-well party progressed without a problem. The only semiint that we got against the food Marie, Hua Ran and I had prepared was from Lunia, whoined that there was no alcohol in the party. ¡°There are a lot of underaged people here, so please hold back on alcohol,¡± I told her. ¡°Hoh? But were you not drinking just fine at our¡­¡± ¡°Ehem! What are you saying in front of these little kids!? Do you mind a drinkter?¡± ¡°Fine. I will prepare the drinks myself.¡± A drinking n with one of my few adult acquaintances was a rare and precious opportunity for me considering how hard it was for me to ess alcohol. ¡°Uhh, Korin¡­ Are you going to drink?¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­ Did you hear that, Senior Marie?¡± Marie, seemed to have heard the secret discussion that went on between Lunia and me, and said while sitting next to me. Was she going to get mad? ¡°Can I join if you¡¯re going to drink?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m an adult starting from this year, didn¡¯t you know?¡± Oh right. This year, Marie was turning 19, which was an adult ording to thews of the kingdom. I was caught up with the image of everyone being students, but the 3rd year students of this Academy were all adults. ¡°Did you know, in the South, we have the tradition of using the first potatoes of that year to make alcohol!¡± ¡°Can you make alcohol with potatoes?¡± ¡°Yes! You put yeast in steamed potatoes and ferment it.¡± ¡°Ohhh¡­¡± As someone who had been through the physical education college and the military, I was confident I could enjoy any drink, so long as it wasn¡¯t a somaek1 Somaek = A Korean word for soju and maekju (beer). Essentially soju mixed with beer. with a burnt cigarette dipped inside. ¡°Our dark beer is also pretty impressive. It is one of our few specialties. We only export a few of them because it happens to be a favorite of our horses.¡± ¡°Ah. I remember you showing me that before.¡± It was very interesting seeing horses indulging themselves in dark beer. Due to therge number of horses being raised in the East, they appeared to have gotten better at crafting dark beers in order to feed the horses. I remembered hearing something about how beer was amazing for horses who had the illness of being unable to sweat. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Instinctively, I realized that I had to choose one of the two. None of them insisted, but it was going to be awkward no matter who I chose. After a while, Lunia kindly stood up and left us behind. ¡°I will go see my sister.¡± ¡°K, kuhum¡­!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­!¡± Lunia walked away so that things wouldn¡¯t turn awkward. Thank you very much for your consideration! ¡°Sorry¡­ I was being too childish, right?¡± Marie said while sneaking nces at me with a depressed look on her face as if she was afraid of being hated by me. Finding that cute, I opened my mouth. ¡°Let¡¯s say it¡¯s something I have to bear as someone blessed with a big fortune.¡± I replied while patting her head. Her silky strands of hair were pleasant to touch. ¡°Hehe¡­¡± She and I became even closer after that incident. It might be because of my sense of guilt but more than anything¡­ ¡°You can lean on me if you want to¡­ you know?¡± For some reason¡­ I felt like lowering my guard next to Marie. ¨C Kung! That was when a te fell crashing down on the table in front of us. I turned to the table in surprise and noticed Hua Ran¡­ or rather, Ran, gazing down at us with a smile on her face. ¡°Are you enjoying the party, oppa?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ Hey R, Ran.¡± ¡°Can I sit next to you? Oh right, see this? This is the fish I cooked.¡± ¡°R, right.¡± Ran sat on my left, on the other side of Marie, and snuck closer in. Unlike Hua, she was very skilled at deboning the fish. Hmm¡­ Seeing her do that with the same face as Hua, who always waited for me to finish removing the bones of her fish while doing nothing but stare at my face, felt rather strange. Even as I watched her do that, I felt an urge to help her with the process. Thankfully, Ran had apletely different atmosphere to Hua, and it therefore wasn¡¯t unbearably weird or anything. Even her eyes¡­ ¡°Oppa. Are you dating anyone right now?¡± ¡°N, no¡­¡± ¡°Here.¡± As soon as I opened my mouth to reply to her question, she shoved a small piece of the fish into my mouth. Then, she looked up into my eyes with an amiable and wide smile hanging on her lips. ¡°So, I¡¯m not toote then.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Every time, Ran¡¯s aggressive and daring proactiveness made it difficult for me to know what I was supposed to do in response. She had a charm that waspletely different to Marie¡­ It¡¯s a bit, a bit weird, you know! As the recipient of Marie and Ran¡¯s undeserved love and attention, I knew I had to make a decision one day but¡­ ¡°Would you like some more?¡± Ran suggested I eat more fish with the same wide smile on her face. For some reason, it felt like her eyes were facing the person behind me, and I could only hope that it was an illusion. ¡°Oppa. There¡¯s a lot of food. Which one would you like to have first?¡± ¡°Well, we made all of them together so anything¡¯s fine, right?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to weave your way out of this. By the way, thatmb skewer over there is something I made.¡± ¡°Oh. Sounds good. Let¡¯s give it a shot then.¡± ¡°Korin. I made that blood sausage over there.¡± ¡­Marie-noona. What¡¯s wrong with you now? And what? Blood sausages? Are you sure they¡¯re alright? I¡¯m not getting another system message after eating that, am I? Korin Lork. 18 years old. Other things I could not say with certainty, but what I could say for sure was that I was amazing at reading the mood. If I were to choose someone here, I could imagine the severe imbnce it would cause on this fickle battlefront of love. That was how sharp a person I was. I even read like 3 romance novels throughout my life, okay? I knew my way around things. ¡®Alilciaaaaaaa¡­!¡¯ I sent a telepathic message to Alicia, who was roaming around the tables of food in the distance! ¡°Uuun?¡± Alicia, who was chewing on a mouthful of meat, suddenly looked back at me. We¡¯re best buddies aren¡¯t we?! I know you¡¯ll understand what I¡¯m trying to say with my eyes! ¡°Ah¡­!¡± Did she figure out what I was saying? After looking into my eyes, Alicia quickly came running while carrying a te of a massive piece of meat. ¡°Mr. Korin! Look! This is the roast beef that I made, and I think it turned out great. You should try it! Next time, I¡¯m going to try making beer chicken. Ah, by the way, do you think I can eat beer chicken even though I¡¯m underage?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The options just increased to 3 from 2. Et tu, Alicia¡­! I was running out of time, and I had to choose fast. Oh dear. Why do I have to go through such hardships¡­! Looking back, I remembered something simr happening a few times even in myst iteration. Back then, it wasn¡¯t something to do with love and rtionships but the method I used to escape from those ordeals was by choosing to eat Bastard Sihu¡¯s food¡­ Goodness gracious! So I¡¯ve been digging my own grave the whole time!! ¡°Boss.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± That was when a tiny hand pulled my clothes from the back. Turning around, I found Ren looking up at me. ¡°I brought chicken. I felt bading here empty-handed. Would you like some?¡± In her minute hand was a chicken drumstick. She seemed to have bought it at Mr. Yoon¡¯s chicken shop nearby. ¡°Ohh, sure. Of course I will eat what Little Ren got for me!¡± ¡°Stop treating me like a kid.¡± She gave a curt reply, but I had never felt so grateful in my life. ¡°You adorable little girl!¡± ¡°Ahh! Don¡¯t rub your face on me! What¡¯s wrong with you!?¡± When I received the drumstick from her hands and started rubbing my face on her cheeks, Ren started shouting that in contempt. That was when Ron dashed towards us from afar. ¡°Bro! Broo~! This tastes amazing! Did you make it?¡± Ron had grown up a lotpared to Ren, who still looked like a 10-year-old, and looked around 14. He was pretty darn handsome. ¡°Ron, huh. Have as much as you want. We have more than enough¡­ Ah.¡± Looking around, I noticed that we were starting to run out of food and decided to refill some of the tables.¡± ¡°Senior. Let me go cook a few dishes again.¡± ¡°I can go with you!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. Take a rest. I can do it with Doggo.¡± Some might call me a coward but this was a strategic retreat. After quickly running away from the girls, I stayed holed up inside the kitchen for a very long time. Huu¡­ ¡°It¡¯s going to appear like I¡¯m two-timing if I do this wrong.¡± Being loved by two beautiful girls¡­ All I could say was that I was a very fortunate man. ¡°Huu¡­ Two, huh. It¡¯s too much.¡± I was cooking with a sigh, when Jaeger and Lark, who came into the kitchen trying to scavenge for food, suddenly started looking at me like I was beyond help. ¡°Look at this guy. He still has no clue.¡± ¡°Let him be. Let¡¯s see how long it¡¯s going to take.¡± **** After everyone had enough food to fill their stomachs, I stood up before the invited crowd. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Korin Lork. There¡¯s no need for me to bother introducing myself, right?¡± Hearing me say that, everyone turned their eyes towards me. The reason I invited Master, Josephine and outsiders like Lunia and the Five Swords as well as my peers from the Academy; Dorron, Yuel, Kranel, Jaeger, and Lark, was because I wanted to discuss the future. ¡°The reason I have invited you all is to exin the grand objective of us, ¡®Korin Guardians¡¯, and to talk about the future we are heading for.¡± ¡°I¡¯m here for the money, but I surely wasn¡¯t expecting you to be the type of person to say things like that, boss.¡± From the other side of the table, Dorron Warsky with his clean and tidy appearance interjected. He was one of the first members I hired from our peers. ¡°Well, listen up for now. This is going to be a good source of ie for you as well, vice-captain of Warsky.¡± ¡°Hmm~.¡± Dorron seemed intrigued by my words. That money fiend would do anything as long as I gave him the money, even if he had to involve the entire group of Warsky mercenaries for it. ¡°I¡¯m sure you all remember the recent uproar of the Tower of Mages. The chairman was assassinated and the freshmen students were attacked by the mages of the Tower. ¡°Things like this will only keep happening from now on. This is not a prediction that I¡¯m making, but a predestined fact. The Tower of Mages, the Old Faith¡­ Whoever it is, they will continue attacking and messing around with Merkarva Academy.¡± I then started talking about the wicked man Valtazar, the goal they wanted to achieve, and also told them that our objective was to stand against them. ¡°Umm¡­¡± That was when Golem Mage Kranel carefully raised his hand. ¡°Why¡­ us?¡± It was a short yet profound question. The first of his doubts was probably a question on why we were the ones that had to save the world. Considering how there were the royal family, the Guardian Alliance and the New Faith, it was understandable for him to question whether it was right for mere students like us to involve ourselves. ¡°Great question. There are two main reasons, with the first being that we can¡¯t trust them.¡± The royal family¡­ Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t an overstatement to say that most of the people in the royal family were under the influence of Princess Miruam. Due to her role as the saintess, Princess Estelle usually stayed at the Grand Chapel of Zeon instead of the capital and refrained from attending to worldly politics. She didn¡¯t even have a great ambition for the throne in the first ce and was simply being forced to her position by her surroundings. It was thus inevitable for her to have less influence than Princess Miruam in the royal court. On the other hand, Princess Miruam involved herself in internal matters, actively increased the size of her faction and was in control of the nobles as well. We could not trust anyone that was under themand of the royal family. The same was true for the Guardian Alliance. Something that would happenter down the line was the division of the Guardian Alliance before the final battle. Like remnant Nazi soldiers that spread out wide unbeknownst to everyone else, there were hidden spies everywhere. The conclusion I came to after thest iteration was that there was no one in the Alliance that was worthy of our trust, except for a small number of the named characters. Andstly, the New Faith. Although this was an allied faction of the yer, they were also rather difficult to trust, because the pope himself was a traitor. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°What¡­?¡± ¡°The¡­ Pope?¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be!¡± A few of them strongly retaliated as if they were genuinely shocked. Mei and Milia of the Five Swords were devout believers of the New Faith, and they shouted in disbelief. ¡°I¡¯ll prove whether I¡¯m right or wrongter down the track. What I was trying to say is that what I have in front of me are the only people that I can trust from the bottom of my heart.¡± Renowned household for swordsmanship, the Arden family. There was no need to even bother exining about them ¨C they were one of the key allied factions in the final battle of . Led by the greatest charismatic character, Sword Emperor, were the named yable characters, Lunia Arden and Alicia Arden. They were a trustworthy ally that stayed with the yer until the very end. Dunareff Dukedom of the South. Originally after Marie turned into a vampire, and because most of the events urred in the North, they were a faction that wouldn¡¯t have actively participated in the battle, but it was a different story now. Marie was wholeheartedly trying to support me and now, I decided not to downright turn her feelings down either. I was now going to borrow the finances of this enormous noble family, and aplish things that were impossible both in the game and thest iteration. Warsky Mercenaries. In the previous iteration, the main members of Park Sihu and my party were Dorron and that freshman student. Dorron was one of the few strong male characters in the game that had the potential to be a semi-Unique Grade depending on the path, and the method to make him stronger was fairly simple. Money, ¡®teacher¡¯, and the mercenary group. Those were the keywords of his growth. The n was to flood him with support in preparation for the future battle. It was going to be easy as long as I had Marie and her never-ending supply of money. Even aside from them, there were the named characters Alicia, Lunia, Hua Ran, Yuel, Kranel, Ren, and Ron. After having a fair number of men and a strong enough faction, what mattered the most was having a powerful party of named characters that could beat the King¡¯s subjects, who were extraordinarily stronger than any other enemy that came out before them. Like what we had been doing till now, my n was to defeat the enemies with my party members. ¡°¡¯Everyone¡¯ needs a teacher? Does that include me?¡± Lunia pointed out something in the middle of my exnation, after hearing that even she was a part of the people that had to be taught. ¡°Yes, Miss Lunia. You are going to receive lessons from her as well.¡± ¡°Hmm~. The only person who can say that to me is the old man. Is she as strong as him?¡± ¡°Of course. And when ites to teaching, she¡¯s going to be a lot better than the Sword Emperor, that entric old man.¡± ¡°Hoh?¡± Immediately after saying that, I threw a nce at Erin. Thedy, who had been quietly listening to my story without mixing into the crowd, slowly headed to where I was along with Josephine. Taking off her hood, she stood before them ¨C the spear-wielding Queen of Paradise, who had been teaching heroes for over a thousand years introduced herself to the crowd. ¡°Hello? I am Erin Danua.¡± **** Erin Danua. The owner of Paradise who hid herself, and the Danann of Justice. She didn¡¯t bother exining to them that she had been a part of the race before humanity, and that she used to be one of the beings referred to as gods. The faith that had spread across thisnd was that of the Goidels, and it was better not to link this to talks about religion and mythology, which was bound to lead to confusing discussions. All she revealed was that she used to move around in the name of Chairman Eriu Casarr, and the information about Tates Valtazar. After that, she told them that the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages were in coboration with him. ¡°This is not something like a political fight for supremacy. Valtazar and his subjects sincerely wish for the destruction of humanity.¡± The main members like Alicia, Marie, and Hua Ran were already aware of their objective, but the rest of the crowd appeared confused by her story. However, not many of them questioned the legitimacy of her statement. Josephine ra. The presence of the witch who had been serving the Academy for 80 years as the Senior Professor, was adding credibility to the words of Master Erin. ¡°Do you wish to move Arden ¨C us ¨C as a part of your army?¡± I had made a pact with Lunia in the East, that she lend us manpower at the level of the 1st Sword Squad in return for me resolving her engagement problems. She stared at me, asking if this was what that pact was for. She was half-right. My original n was to use their army instead of letting Master Erin out but¡­ ¡°Simr, but we will have a proper reward system. Our Susanoo friend, the vice-captain of the Warsky Mercenaries will probably sign the contract without even bothering to read through the content.¡± ¡°What a big statement, boss.¡± ¡°My dear fiance. If you so wish, I can entrust myself with you anytime, but it is a different matter altogether if you wish to involve my men into it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure even the Five Sword sisters will love it if they hear the deal.¡± Before continuing with my words, I turned to Master for the final approval. She gave me a nod, showing her firm belief in my decision. ¡°The ¡®Treasury of the Danann¡¯ will be opening soon and will stay open till the end of our summer holidays. That is the ce we are going to go to.¡± Paradise and the inheritance of the Danann. It was a part of the main quest that was supposed to open up after the destruction of the Academy and the death of Erin Danua. And now, we were going to open that 1 year ahead of schedule. Footnotes:
  • 1 Somaek = A Korean word for soju and maekju (beer). Essentially soju mixed with beer.
Chapter 140: Korin Guardians (3) ? Korin Guardians (3)? Technically it was a party just for her. Although there was the rather-shocking announcement from Korin, Alicia moved on with her usual optimistic mindset and enjoyed the party. ¡°Hmm hmm~. I knew it. The meat of a cow that led a happy life is super tender~¡± She thought to herself that maybe she should raise cows once she started living in a mansion with a big enough garden to cater for 13 kids. Out of her 13 future children, at least one of them would be gifted at ssical music, right? ¡°One more¡­¡± It was right when she was about to reach out for another te of beef that a big shadow was cast over her from the other side of the table. ¡°S, Sister?¡± ¡°Hmm? Alicia.¡± Lunia Arden ¨C Alicia¡¯s sister from another mother had reached out for the same dish as her. ¡°Have it for yourself. This appears to be thest one.¡± ¡°N, no it¡¯s okay. Sister, you should¡­¡± ¡°I told you to have it.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Alicia immediately lowered her tail and followed her words. ¡°Follow me. Let us sit together.¡± Unable to go against her imperative tone of voice, Alicia quickly chased after her and sat next to Lunia. ¡°So, have you been doing alright?¡± ¡°T, thanks to you, yes.¡± ¡°You ran away with your sister¡¯s fiance and yet you have been doing alright, hmm?¡± ¡°Hikk¡­¡± In Alicia¡¯s mind was a slight guilt towards her sister. Although Lunia had given her a roundabout advice and had pretty much given her permission, it was still by her own choice that she kidnapped her sister¡¯s fiance from the engagement ceremony. ¡°More importantly, tell me about your school life. I am theoretically your guardian.¡± Because of her status as the illegitimate child, Alicia had to write the name of her sister in the section for ¡®Guardian and Caregiver¡¯ instead of her father when entering the Academy. Partially, it was also because Lunia, who fed her ever since she was born, was more of a mother than her stepmother and her father who refused to show any interest. ¡°Recently, we¡­ had an interim exam.¡± ¡°Hoh~. How did you go?¡± ¡°For my major subjects¡­ I got B+ and two B¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you have zero A¡¯s?¡± ¡°I, I did get one A in one of the general education courses!¡± ¡°What was it?¡± ¡°Love and War! We watched a y at the theater, acted out one of the scenes, and also had to submit a report.¡± ¡°Hoh~. A y, huh.¡± Seeing that Lunia was interested, Alicia began rambling about the plot of the act. It was about the female lead and her brother-inw who fell in love after watching a y called Bridge by Richmond County¡­ In the end, the female lead refused to push through with her feelings and eventually gave up on love, as the male lead ¨C her brother-inw ¨C had to send her off. ¡°Oh dear¡­ If that was me, I would have openly earned my position.¡± ¡°Me too! Love is important after all, right?¡± ¡°But what a mediocre man that male lead must be. As a man, one ought to satisfy a few women at the very least. Seems that he was not too confident of his ability on the bed.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ I, it wasn¡¯t an immoral story like that! Well, I¡­ do agree in a way, but¡­¡± Despite blushing fervently from her directment, Alicia still whispered her agreement. ¡°But it is quite fortunate in that sense. My partner ¨C he has acquired the Sun, has he not?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Yes, but is that rted?¡± ¡°Ah~. Do you not know? Don¡¯t worry about it then.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°More importantly, how are you doing with him?¡± ¡°You mean¡­ Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°He is your sister¡¯s fiance that you have snatched away. I was expecting you guys to have slept together already at the very least.¡± ¡°T, there¡¯s no way we would do something that indecent!¡± Alicia immediately reacted with a shout as Lunia lifted the corners of her lips in response. It was because of how rare it was for the child, who was always so down and depressed when with her, to be so adamant and serious about something. ¡°Well, enjoy as you wish, but you better hurry up unless you want him to be stolen.¡± ¡°Huh? W, what do you mean¡­?¡± ¡°I am telling you to stop hiding in a corner like a rat that only thinks about leftover cheese. If you want something, then push open the main entrance, walk in with pride, and take what you wish with your own hands.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Understanding what she meant, Alicia shrunk her shoulders. She still thought to herself that the only reason Lunia could say that was because she was a proud and capable hero who could do whatever she wanted by attacking from the front. She didn¡¯t have the delicateness of a girl, but her openness was certainly one of her greatest strengths¡­ and she would not be afraid to try again even if she were to be defeated in the process. ¡®But¡­ It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to give up, though.¡¯ ¡®Well, nothing will change even if he goes to Alicia first.¡¯ The Arden sisters were very much alike. They were the type to be heavily encouraged by having rivals, and weren¡¯t people that were willing to stop even if the other person were to reach the goal before them. They truly were a wicked pair of siblings. **** ¡°¡­¡± Without joining any group, Hua Ran sat by herself in the corner, watching over the events of the garden. Josephine had started fine-tuning the swordsmen of Arden including Lunia, whereas Yuel and Kranel were bickering with each other for some unknown reason. The mood-maker of the party was, unexpectedly, a boy with short hair called Jaeger. ¡°Lo and behold! This here is the cartoon-style beef made by Mr. Jaeger himself!¡± ¡°Dude, how many kilograms of meat did you use just to make this?¡± ¡°No idea!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Korin turned his eyes to Lark, who vehemently shook his hands, saying that he had no part in this. Despite everything going on, they appeared to be enjoying the party. Everyone was in groups and talking to themselves and Hua Ran, being the most antisocial person here, naturally ended up sitting by herself. This wouldn¡¯t have happened if Ran was the one controlling the body, but she was too exhausted after cooking for an extended period of time. Ran couldn¡¯te out for more than 3 hours a day; Hua was the only one who could handle the Extreme Yin Constitution in their body for a long period of time. ¡°Should I¡­ go closer to him?¡± ¡®It¡¯s alright. You¡¯re embarrassed, right? Take your time.¡¯ ¡°¡­I¡¯m not.¡± Normally, Hua would have snuck close to Korin, saying that she wanted to get a portion of his overflowing Yang energy, and she would have enjoyed the pleasant flow of Yang energy without feeling embarrassed in the slightest. However, it had only been a few days since she noticed her own feelings, and making her stay right next to her crush would be way too heartless. ¡®But these days, I do miss oppa¡¯s warmth. Because we don¡¯t even sleep together at night anymore.¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Hua lowered her head, unable to withstand the constant reminders from her sister. Looking back, she couldn¡¯t understand just how she was able to do such a thing nonchntly. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not going to sleep while holding hands anymore.¡± ¡®Ugh¡­ You can¡¯t do that! When are we going to have his children then?¡¯ ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know.¡± It was fortunate that storks did not live in this ce. Hua hated herself for even thinking about bringing a stork here from their habitat until just a while ago. ¡®Look at Sister Marie and Alicia! Ourpetitors are way too strong.¡¯ ¡°¡­I¡¯m stronger than them.¡± ¡®That¡¯s not what I mean¡­¡¯ Even though she was saying that, Hua was still aware of the women that always tried to snuggle next to Korin. Marie Dunareff. Alicia Arden. Despite being dense and slow, she had still instinctively recognized the two of them as her ¡®enemy¡¯. Both of them were special to Korin, and were in a rtionship where it wouldn¡¯t be strange for them to go to sleep while holding hands. ¡°Should I¡­ get rid of all the storks?¡± Just in case¡­ Hua even thought about something as silly and violent as destroying all the nearby habitats of storks. ¡°What are you doing here by yourself?¡± It was then. Ady walked up to Hua Ran, who was crouching down in a corner. ¡°¡­Erin, Danua.¡± ¡°I suppose this is my first time seeing you with my bare face.¡± Erin Danua. The true body of Chairman Eriu Casarr. The first time she met him was when she had been untouchable in the remnants of one of the cities of the Eastern continent after her rampage. She was the person who semi-forced her into the Academy, even at the cost of bothering to apply seals on her body alongside Josephine ra, who also asked Saintess Estelle to put restrictions on her body in the form of a prayer. In a way, she was Hua Ran¡¯s benefactor, and Hua Ran therefore felt fairly grateful to Chairman Eriu ¨C Erin. ¡°I can still vividly remember the day I brought you here from the East, and yet look at how much you have grown.¡± ¡°Grown?¡± There was no way that a jiangshi like her could grow. ¡°Yes. You have indeed grown. For sure.¡± ¡°¡­¡± With the same benevolent, ocean-like eyes as Chairman Eriu, Erin caressed her hair. Even though Hua hated having physical contact with other people, Erin along with Korin were the only two that she was okay with. It was because she could instinctively tell that both of them held unconditional love and goodwill for her. ¡°So, how is your life at the Academy going these days?¡± ¡°¡­Not bad.¡± ¡°Oh? Is it not that fun?¡± ¡°¡­¡± That was certainly not true. Hua wasn¡¯t that good with emotions, but she could still say with certainty that there were times at the Academy that put her in a good mood. ¡ºAre you hungry? Wait one second. Let me cook you a fish real quick.¡» ¡ºI have a group assignment. Wanna join?¡» ¡ºDo you want to grab some food after the lecture?¡» ¡°¡­¡± After btedly realizing that each and every one of those enjoyable memories was when she was with a specific person, Hua buried her head in her knees. Wondering what was happening, Erin was about to continue with her questions when they were approached by Marie and Alicia. ¡°Hello, Chairman!¡± They walked up, carrying a te with cups of tea. After saying thanks, Erin took a cup for herself and rmended one to Hua Ran. ¡°Chairman¡­ You are Korin¡¯s master, right?¡± Marie asked with prudence and care, seemingly still having trouble linking Erin to Chairman Eriu. ¡°Yes I am. And we¡¯ve met before, right, Alicia?¡± ¡°Have you met Alicia before?¡± Back at Nazrea, Alicia had met the Erin from 300 years ago along with Korin and because of that, she had already known about her being Korin¡¯s master. ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± Erin exined her rtionship with Korin through a short and simple exnation. ¡°Hmm. I see. That¡¯s interesting. Korin¡¯s master, huh¡­¡± However, she did not tell them about Korin¡¯s regression or the information about the future he possessed. It was because Korin wasn¡¯t very fond of sharing stories about Marie and Alicia, who had both died horrible deaths in the original timeline. ¡°Please get along with Korin. He¡¯s a strong boy, but needs someone to support him because of that.¡± The girls all nodded in response. Each and every one of them had received arge amount of help from Korin, and they were already dying to be more helpful than the others. They had been willing to devote themselves to his cause even without Korin¡¯s master reminding them about it. ¡°That boy; he¡¯s been getting bags under his eyes. He is a foolishly stubborn and straight-forward man, who always tries hard to help other people.¡± Erin voiced her concern for him with a voice of remorse. It was originally supposed to be her job and her job alone, so how could she not be fond of her disciple, the young hero who volunteered to shoulder that by himself? ¡ºI don¡¯t think of you as my master though, Erin.¡» ¡°Htt¡­?!¡± ¡°Chairman?¡± After suddenly recalling something, Erin identally spitted out a bit of her tea, which made Marie turn to her in concern. ¡°M, my bad. It went down the wrong pipe. Oh dear¡­ That wasn¡¯t very courteous of me. Anyway, that boy¡­¡± ¡ºCan I kiss you?¡» ¡°Huu¡­ No.¡± Her white skin started to be painted red. Every time she thought about Korin, Erin couldn¡¯t help but flush her cheeks so in the end, she decided to get up. ¡°Ah. He must be washing the dishes by now. He has been doing everything by himself so I will go and lend him some help.¡± ¡°L, let me go as well!¡± Erin quickly turned around in an attempt to conceal her flushed face as the three girls immediately went after her. Even though Erin had hidden her face pretty well, the three girls instinctively picked up on some strange points. At the kitchen next to the garden, the fourdies found Korin, who was dozing off on a chair with his head dropped t on the table. ¡°¡­He¡¯s sleeping.¡± ¡°He must have been tired. I guess he would have been, because he woke up before sunrise today to prepare the dishes.¡± Remembering how he had been diligently preparing for the guests from early in the morning, Marie regretted not helping out earlier. Although she had helped him out a ton, she still med herself, as expected of a girl who wanted to pour out everything unconditionally at the person she loved. ¡°It¡¯s very rare for him to be so defenseless. It¡¯s my first time seeing Mr. Korin sleeping like this.¡± Alicia, on the other hand, seemed interested at the sight of Korin sleeping without a care in the world. She crouched down, rested her elbows on the table and rested her head on her hands, watching him sleep with a wide smile on her face. ¡°¡­¡± Meanwhile, Hua Ran felt a myriad of emotions. Just by looking at his face, her heart palpitated furiously and that made her feel confused because it was her first time experiencing such a thing. ¡°You will get sick if you sleep in a ce like this. Let me move you somewhere else.¡± Erin lifted him up in one swoop and ced him down on the couch in the living room. Instead of a nket, she cast her robe over him and murmured while gazing down at his face. ¡°Why is he so handsome, I wonder~¡± ¡°¡­¡­Chairman?¡± The girls turned their eyes to Erin, who continued with a big smile on her lips. ¡°Look at my disciple. Isn¡¯t he handsome? Look at his tall nose, big eyes, and lips¡­ Fufu. I wonder who his master is~¡± She sounded like a master who was very proud of her disciple, but¡­ Her face was extremely bright; her cheeks were flushed in red and her eyes were filled with affection. Looking at her expression¡­ the girls felt an unknown feeling of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. ¡°Haht¡­¡± What was with this uneasiness that they were feeling? They wondered. They did not know the nature of their uneasiness, but what was certain was that all three of them had felt the same thing. **** With the interim exam over, the Academy was very rowdy and bustling with noise. However, the people in our group had more things to do apart from our lessons. My master, Erin Danua, became the new chairman and we were going to receive lessons from her in an order in preparation for the raid of the ¡®Treasury of the Danann¡¯. ¡°So today is going to be the first day.¡± In the chairman¡¯s office, Lady Josephine said with her eyes on us while standing next to Erin. Me, Marie, Alicia, Hua Ran, Ren, Ron and six others including Dorron. Both in the game and in thest iteration, getting lessons from Erin Danua was a quick way to raise the skill level of the party members. After the winter holidays, it was possible to have the party members get much stronger thanks to the teacher, Erin Danua. It happened in a sh during the game with the text changing from ¡ºThey have started their training¡» to ¡ºThe training has beenplete¡», but I had first-hand experience from thest iteration on how impactful and meaningful her lessons were. Erin Danua, my master, was an inborn teacher, who had exceptional talents at teaching. ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡± As soon as she said that, Josephine activated her dimensional spell and we arrived at the training area of our office in a sh. ¡°You havee.¡± ¡°Miss Lunia.¡± When we got there, we saw that Lunia and the Five Swords were already carrying out their training routine. ¡°Now, before I start teaching you, shall we start with a simple duel between each other? I need to scan through everyone before we begin.¡± It was simr to how it went in thest iteration. Erin would see how everyone moved, identify the problem and the reason and give everyone individualized lessons. Her guidance was surely going to be helpful in raising everyone¡¯s ability including my own. ¡°Before that,¡± Someone stepped up before Erin continued with her words. ¡°I would like to see how you fight, teacher.¡± Lunia Arden. Unlike the other members of the party, she was a strong named character who would only enter the party when specific conditions were met. She was the Sword Master, who was perhaps furthest away from being taught out of our entire group. ¡°How about a simple bout of swords before we begin?¡± She said, raising a letter of challenge to Master Erin. Chapter 141: Korin Guardians (4) ? Korin Guardians (4)? My master Erin Danua against Sword Master Lunia Arden. The two of them were powerhouses that were ssified at the same level of Semi-Unique Grade knights in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. The fight between the two of them was destined to be an exciting one to watch, while at the same time being an important stepping stone for the future of their rtionship. In the game, Erin¡¯s lessons were just considered a part of the system that allowed characters to gain experience points and hidden skills, but it was bound to be different now that this had be the real world. Even in my case, I had learned the essence of Eight Trigrams and the basics of Six Ways of the Spear. In thest iteration, the strongest member of our party was not me nor stupid Mr. Park; it was Lunia. However, she started being omitted from the party from the 3rd year onwards, and because of that, she couldn¡¯t receive lessons from Master. Another reason might be that my master, in thest iteration, had been spending most of her time lecturing me. ¡°Let¡¯s decide the victor with just one fight. The first one to inflict a wound on the other person wins. Does that sound okay?¡± ¡°Alright. What about weapons?¡± ¡°For safety purposes, let¡¯s use non-lethalized weapons.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± Lunia showed her agreement as Lady Josephine walked up and chanted their weapons with the non-lethalizing spell. As a result, a thinyer of mana was created on the surface of the des, making them closer to a blunt weapon. ¡®I wonder how it will go.¡¯ The two of them stood face to face, while respectively holding a spear and a sword. Even though they had yet to sh, their fight had already begun. There was a saying that the fight between high-level experts was decided in the blink of an eye. With prudence and caution iparable to the one she showed during her fight against me duringst year¡¯s interim exam, Lunia deeply gazed at Master. She must have already noticed that Master wasn¡¯t just strong. The chilling breeze was the only sign of movement in the vicinity of the two, but multiple bouts must have happened in their minds. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Everyone present, who walked the path of martial arts, was probably thinking about the bouts that must be going on inside their heads. Atst¡­ both Master and Lunia moved at the same time. They moved every muscle in their body for the most optimal posture that would allow them to dash forth at once. Erin¡¯s feet, thighs, and core neared the ground in a stance akin to that of a leopard readying itself for a sprint, and¡ª ¡ª Sound-piercing Spear Lunia bent her knees, as her feet pushed off the dust beneath in a diagonal shape. ¡ª Fastest sh Their concentration levels were in another dimension; they were in the realm of practically predicting the future. It was a show of perfectly calcting distance and an absurd understanding of the principles of movement. In their perfect and most optimal postures which they had each practiced hundreds of times, ¡ª One of them stabbed forth, ¡ª While the other shed sideways. -Kang! What echoed across was a rtively gentle sound, unbefitting of the long silence of confrontation that preceded it, but it resulted in a sharp aftermath that reached all the way to out cheeks. And the oue of the fight was decided in that split second. ¡°¡­Hmm.¡± Lunia muttered with her eyes looking at the sharp spearhead that was right below her chin. ¡°That was not the Domain.¡± Their first attacks had the same amount of power and potential but during that brief moment of contact, Erin had slightly twisted her wrist to modify the path of the spear. Due to this slight change, she parried Lunia¡¯s attack and immediately followed through with a second attack that aimed towards her neck. It was a marvelous stab that could even be praised as the divine maniption of the spear. ¡°Spectacr.¡± Lunia acknowledged Erin¡¯s abilities from that one attack. That was just how significant and meaningful that attack was. ¡°You were also amazing, Lunia. Catching up to the speed of a spear stab with a sword is really difficult; just then, you added aura into your scabbard, right?¡± ¡°Just a mere imitation of a feature in my sister¡¯s scabbard.¡± ¡°An explosive burst of aura in the scabbard to quickly unsheathe the sword¡­ It¡¯s an interesting attempt. In exchange, you lose out on uracy but you seem to have made up for it through countless practice.¡± How much practice must she have gone through for that one demonstration of battojutsu? The way that sword moved just then was proof of Lunia Arden¡¯s extraordinary hard work. ¡°But I can help you be half-a-breath faster with that same move, by just altering your posture a little bit.¡± ¡°¡­This is the fastest it gets. That is the conclusion I havee to upon thousands; and tens of thousands of strokes.¡± ¡°No matter how much time you have put into perfecting that move, you can multiply that by hundreds and still fall short of how much I have lived. I can assure you; Lunia, you can get even faster than this.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Out of the top-notch powerhouses, there was no onezy enough to ck off on training. At times there were people like Alicia, but even an unprecedented genius like her had limits without experience and practice. Hard work. In terms of the talent to work hard, both Lunia and I were quite high in that aspect, but the amount of time Master lived was in a whole other league. Everything she had built up through a thousand years of strife was the divine spearmanship of the Void; Six Ways of the Spear. However, against Tates Valtazar, even Erin¡¯s spearmanship¡­ ¡°Huu¡­ Anyway, that should be enough, right, Miss Lunia?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± It might have been a short battle, but it was enough for Lunia to see and acknowledge Master¡¯s abilities. Atst, this marked the true beginning of Erin¡¯s lessons. *** A sky above the ground, and a sky above the sky. There was an overwhelming difference in ability. In between us and Master Erin was a tall and unbreachable wall. ¡°Haa¡­¡± ¡°Tch.¡± This was the same for Alicia, Dorron, and the wolf siblings. The four of them attacked at once but were nonchntly disarmed by Erin. ¡°¡­She saw through everything.¡± Alicia even used the Domain towards the end and had the support of tens of magic swords and the agile wolf siblings, Ren and Ron, but none of them were able tond any meaningful hits on Master. ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± With a stern look on her face, Erin put an end to the fight as the boys and girls immediately copsed onto the ground. She then started giving each of them feedback tailored to them specifically. ¡°First of all, Ren and Ron. Your attacks are heavily driven by instincts. Rationally you understand how to fight wisely but you are not following that through with your movements. Sometimes you move before you think. That¡¯s because your rational mind cannot catch up with your reflexes. ¡°As for Student Dorron, your abilities are extremely well-rounded, but there is a small gap when using particr magic swords. It¡¯s because there are too many swords under your control. Having numerous swords might be very effective when fighting againstrge numbers, but when fighting against an individual, you should reduce the number of your swords and focus on fine-tuning your control. ¡°And Student Alicia, you have the habit of relying excessively on the Domain. Your fundamentals haven¡¯t matured enough yet; you would need to work on your postures during closebat.¡± Constructive criticism that was both quick and urate ¨C Erin immediately gave out pieces of advice and guided them down the correct path, all the while exining tips and tricks on how to use weapons, aura, and mana at certain times, as well as what was going through her mind during the fights. ¡°And now, Marie, Korin¡­ and Hua Ran.¡± When she was done guiding the four of them, Erin turned towards us and continued. ¡°The three of you are too strong so I will teach you one-on-one. This training ground isn¡¯t small by any means, but¡­¡± -Snap! Josephine snapped her fingers, teleporting all of us into a pit of absolute darkness.. In that pitch-ck area of nothingness, Master¡¯s voice was the only thing I could hear. ¡°Korin. Try manifesting the Sun.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t be able tost 30 seconds with my current¡­ Hoh?¡± I immediately poured my mana out. ?Sun Manifestation. iomh Sis.? Arge sun abruptly appeared out of nowhere. The might of iomh Sis brightened up the dark world, revealing the identity of this pure ck dimension. ¡°This¡­¡± Shadow Paradise. This was thend that could only be essed by those permitted by the queen. The only sources of light in this world were the moon and the stars, and yet right now, before us was the sun that I had materialized. ¡°Mr. Korin. Will this be okay? You can¡¯t keep it up for that long, right?¡± Alicia asked with concern since the sun was the only source of light right now, however, this was already well above my limits. From what I checkedst week through the mana measurer inside the campus, my total mana capacity was around 8,000. It didn¡¯t fall short even whenpared to most semi-Grade 1 mages, but with just this much, it was hard to manifest the sun for more than 30 seconds. It was because the manifestation of the sun itself cost more than 5,000 mana, and required hundreds of mana each second to maintain. But what if there¡¯s an infinite source of mana? ¡°It should be fine. This ce¡­ has a ridiculous concentration of mana.¡± Being a mage, Marie seemed to have noticed that already, and was befuddled by the density of mana inside the paradise. This was the Shadow Paradise. The other side of the world, Tir na Nog. It was quite literally a perfect paradise that was abundant in everything, including mana. ¡°In this ce, there is no starvation, illness, nor death. It is a segment of paradise where you can dwell in eternal youth and beauty. Naturally, there is no limit to mana here.¡± Hearing Josephine¡¯s exnation, Marie muttered in shock and confusion, wondering how such a ce could possibly exist. Master said in response. ¡°You can use an unlimited amount of mana, but of course, the consequence of using more mana than your body can handle is something that you must handle yourself.¡± ¡°What? Then, Korin¡­¡± I replied while still maintaining the manifestation of the sun, which was on the same level as using dozens of grand spells at once. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve already used it for more than a few minutesst time.¡± ¡°Good on you, Korin. For now, you need to familiarize yourself with maintaining and making use of the sun. Try to keep it up until everyone else is done with their lesson.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± There were 3 stages to the sun, iomh Sis. Concentration (Concentrated beam), Manifestation, and Compression. The monstrous power of Sun Compression and the casualty it could cause was something I still remember from thest iteration. In order to eventually reach that stage, I had to familiarize myself with manipting the sun. ¡°Shall we start off with you, Hua Ran?¡± ¡°¡­Okay.¡± While I maintained the sun to shed light onto paradise, Josephine summoned Hua Ran into the visible yet intangible dimension that Erin was in. In front of everyone to see, Master lowered her spear onto the ground. ¡°¡­What are you doing?¡± ¡°I will fight you with my bare hands.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran seemed slightly irritated by those words as a faint frown appeared on her face. She seemed to have taken herment in as a provocation that bare hands were enough to deal with her. ¡°You¡¯ll regret it.¡± Despite saying so, Hua Ran did not blindly jump in at Erin. Just a few weeks ago, Hua Ran had gone against the monster, Tates Valtazar, and had be a lot more prudent through the experience of going against someone who had the ability to make up for the difference in strength with skill. Her eyes weren¡¯t at the same level as Lunia¡¯s, but nheless, she deeply gazed at Erin and took in every single movement of hers. Her feet were cautious and heavy like Mt. Tai. She was no longer heavily dependent on her Unbreakable Vajra Body and had be a lot more cautious. -Tak! It was then ¨C the first one to kick off the ground was Erin. After closing the distance in the blink of an eye, she threw a palm strike as Hua Ran calmly retaliated with a punch of her own. The moment Hua Ran¡¯s fist came in contact with Master¡¯s palm, her fist was wrapped around like a rock losing to paper. Immediately after that, Master used the momentum of her punch against her by pulling Hua Ran deeper in. That alone was enough to crumble Hua Ran¡¯s bnce and make her stumble forward. ¡°Don¡¯t treat me¡­¡± ¡­Like a fool. Before Hua Ran could even finish her sentence, a kicknded on the back of her knee. A kick of that level was probably unable to even inflict 0.01 of damage through the Unbreakable Vajra Body. However, what Hua Ran experienced next was aplete loss of bnce. That small kick and a subtle movement were all it took for her to crumble onto the ground. -Flop! Her eyes turned as her bodynded on the ground. Without following suit with more attacks, Master stepped back allowing Hua Ran to immediately get back up. Demonic Aura¡ª The destructive and explosive aura of Yin gathered in her hands, threatening to destroy the air molecules nearby. ¡°Remember the fundamentals. You must always stand firm like Mt. Tai.¡± Hua Ran threw her explosive fist but in response, Master intentionally dodged slowly with leisure, as if teaching her that the seemingly fastest and strongest moves were not always the solution. -Pang! All she did was slightly twist her ankle. Hua Ran¡¯s punch, which had crushed the ground beneath with just its aftermath, was unable to harm Erin in any way. ¡°Secondly, do not be provoked into using your full force. It is okay to not win the mental war, but you cannot lose it.¡± After grabbing the fist that went past her, Erin did a shoulder throw to toss Hua Ran away. Before anyone could even realize it, she managed to finish writing runes on Hua Ran¡¯s body. ¡°Yo-?!¡± The runes activated, flinging Hua Ran away in the blink of an eye. Unable to control herself, Hua Ran rolled across the ground several times before finally standing back up on her feet but by the time she stood up, Erin¡¯s fist was already right in front of her temples. -Pang! The air popped around her temples, and the explosion that urred right next to her head was enough to shake her body momentarily. ¡°Uht¡­!¡± There was still no damage done to her body, but it was a scene straight out of her memory. She forcefully swung her arm in retaliation but was easily deflected as Erin then brought her palm to Hua Ran¡¯s forehead. ¡®Eight Trigrams Heavenly Palm¡­¡¯ -Bam! Hua Ran was flung back one more time, rolling numerous times on the way. The shock itself wasn¡¯t that big, but her body wobbled as she stood back up, suggesting that her brain had been jolted just then. Instead of relying on pure power or speed, Master demonstrated how it was possible to retaliate using small movements of the joints and by predicting the opponent¡¯s movements. Following that, she repeatedly struck her vitals in an elegant manner. ¡°The principles of Fanged Fist is one I have personally taught Tates. No matter how tough you are, your brain will jolt if you allow your vitals to be hit numerous times.¡± ¡°¡­I know.¡± It was something she had experienced first-hand from Valtazar. Hua Ran admitted it as Erin gave a loud p for a change of mood. ¡°I believe you were learning it from Korin already but just a reminder. Hua Ran, you should practice the principles of Eight Trigrams. What you need the most right now isn¡¯t an addition to your strength but getting used to the postures and theories.¡± ¡°¡­Okay.¡± ¡°Next up, Marie.¡± ¡°Y, yes!¡± Marie nervously walked up in response. It wasn¡¯t strange for her to be nervous after seeing everyone lose so one-sidedly. ¡°Try everything you can without holding yourself back.¡± ¡°Umm, I, is that okay?¡± ¡°This is a practice for an actual battle so it would be better to have no restrictions. We came here to avoid damaging the facilities so don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°¡­Okay. Doggo,e out.¡± First of all, she started off by summoning Doggo. Leaving Doggo as the vanguard, Marie fell back to support with magic. The fighting style of the boss character, Marie, was extremely well-bnced and versatile. ¡°You are Korin¡¯s master so¡­ I¡¯ll go all out.¡± ?Blood Realm? Without even a slight bit of hesitation, Marie activated her absolute realm. Now that she was forced into this area, Master had to fight against Doggo and Marie with her agility restricted. ¡°Doggo. Bite.¡± ¡°Woof!¡± Doggo, who was even less hesitant than Marie, marched towards Master at an explosive speed. It was a blind charge. There was no living being in this world that would be left unscathed after receiving that attack from the front so Erin had to do something. In response to the charge, she responded in the exact same way as I had. The spearhead went crashing down at therge ws of the dog. Modifying the trajectory of the attack, the Secret Arts of Lan Na Zha attempted to break the bnce of the attacker. Following that through with a stab was the typical use of Scavenging the Grass, however¡­ ¡°Kyaohh¡­!¡± Remembering its experience with me, Doggo twisted his body in that slight instant to dodge the spear and continue with the attack. ¡°A quick response, but not a smart one.¡± However, Master was prepared for that already. She used the orthodox bare-handed martial art techniques to parry Doggo¡¯s frontal assault and instead drove him into the ground. ¡°Woof?!¡± Due to the sudden shock to his neck and spine, Doggo had trouble moving for a while. Since he was in the shape of an organism, he was unable to escape the aftermath of a powerful strike straight to his vitals. ¡°Doggo,e back!¡± Marie shouted as Doggo¡¯s body immediately dissipated and scattered away into crimson shards of mana. He quickly returned to her shadows. The fact that she retrieved Doggo the vanguard, meant that she had finished preparing a powerful spell that did not need someone to defend her. ?Crystal Lance? ?Blood Spear? ?Ice Rain? Countless magic circles appeared behind her back. None of them were at the level of grand magic, but the amount of power and mana embedded into each and every one of those spells rivaled that of several grand magic spells. It was because of Marie¡¯s specialty, Mana Amplification, which allowed elementary-grade spells to be as powerful as medium-grade or even high-grade spells. ¡°This might sting a little!¡± Saying that, she relentlessly bombarded Erin with spells with no end in sight. The falling raindrops of ice and spears of blood destroyed the ground as an enormous crystalnce prated deep into the ground. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call it a scene straight out of hell. Bombardment after bombardment. Dust filled everyone¡¯s sight as the barren ground showed nothing but signs of destruction. Everyone watched in horror but without bingcent, Marie seriously gazed into the dust to see what was happening behind its veil. Some of us that were a bit more perceptive than others had already noticed it though. ¡°Careful. It¡¯s the right side of your neck.¡± ¡°Haht?!¡± In that short span of time, Marie responded with haste by building a barrier of blood ice. However, the kick shattered through the ice barrier and struck her on the neck. ¡°Uhhk?!¡± Her body fell straight to the ground from that direct kick to her neck. Fortunately, she wasn¡¯t injured thanks to quickly creating ayer of ice that mitigated the shock of her fall but¡­ -Tak. ¡°Huh?¡± Marie gasped, sensing the cold de of the spear resting by her neck. ¡°Don¡¯t overuse big spells. When fighting against a single individual, all it does is cover your sight.¡± ¡°I, I admit defeat.¡± Both Doggo and Marie couldn¡¯t evenst more than 5 attacks. Marie admitted defeat, acknowledging the wondrous amount of her opponent¡¯s experience. ¡°Mana Amplification, was it? The one that lets elementary-grade spells hold the same amount of power as medium-grade spells?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± ¡°Keep the power, but reduce the size and increase your uracy.¡± After giving Marie feedback, Master finally turned herself towards me. ¡°Last off is Korin. Pick up your spear while keeping the sun there.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± It was finally my turn. Raising my silver spear, I walked towards her. In her teacher mode, Master was slightly colder than her usual warm and benevolent self and gave constructive feedback whenever possible. Of course, she was still nice due to being born such a kind person, but those who knew her as someone who was always amicable and smiling tended to be surprised by that difference at the start. Being strict when the situation called for it, all the while having a hint of kindness ¨C that was the type of person Master was. I was ready to take in anyment no matter how strict and cold they might seem and slowly fix myself over time; because in the eyes of the creator of Six Ways of the Spear, I was probably no different from a newbie. *** ¡°Excellent job, Korin! You are wonderful at calcting distance and spacing yourself! I can tell just how much practice you have put in every day!¡± *** ¡°It¡¯s not perfect, but I can see your strenuous hard work! A little bit of work and you¡¯ll be even better than me in no time!¡± *** ¡°I said it once and yet you are so clever and quick at learning! Absolutely amazing! I wonder who you took after!?¡± *** ¡°You are doing so, so well! Shall we try that one more time? Try to make your strides wider this time. Your legs are very long and beautiful, so it won¡¯t be hard!¡± *** ¡°Ahht! Did you hurt yourself? I should have held back a bit more! Look at the graze on your forehead¡­ Should I blow on it for you?¡± ¡°¡­¡± What was going on? This¡­ is a bit different, isn¡¯t it? ¡°Amazing! Wonderful! As expected of my Korin! How can someone be so handsome!?¡± Umm, Master? Aren¡¯t you being way too partial? Chapter 142: Korin Guardians ? Korin Guardians (5)? ¡°Let¡¯s end it here for the day.¡± Master said, dismissing us once she was done looking over everyone¡¯s postures and progress onest time. ¡°It¡¯s already night. I didn¡¯t realize it because the sun was up the whole time.¡± ¡°¡­Food.¡± ¡°Korin! Do you want to drop by the city and have a bite to eat?¡± ¡°Shall we?¡± It was very likely that we would have to stay behind tillte quite often from now on, so it seemed like a good idea to find a ce to have dinner together or look for ingredients and cook at home. Fortunately, our office was in a good location and it probably wasn¡¯t going to be hard to look for a nice restaurant. ¡°Can you stay behind for a bit, Korin?¡± ¡°Master?¡± I gazed at her for a while, before turning to the members of my guild. ¡°You guys can go without me.¡± When I sent everyone else back, Master Erin hopped forward and started caressing my head. ¡°You were excellent today. I could see a lot of your expertise in the fine and profound details, let alone your fundamentals.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ still far from being enough.¡± There was something I noticed during the fight against Tates Valtazar when our spears were aligned. He wasn¡¯t going all-out. He didn¡¯t even use everything in his arsenal, and yet I had been absolutely crushed. ¡°Don¡¯t feel too concerned about what happened with Tates. I am here to help you reduce that gap.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Standing on her toes, she caressed my hair one more time before retrieving her spear through the Rune of Return. ¡°The reason I told you to stay behind is to help you grasp the dormant power inside you ¨C the one that you can¡¯t fully control yet, which right now you are just using as a storage for aura.¡± ¡°You mean the Aura Core of Sebancia Duke¡­?¡± ¡°What a nostalgic name. He was an outstanding person.¡± ¡°Do you know him?¡± ¡°Of course. Because he used to be my disciple 800 years ago.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The Great Hero, Sebancia Duke, who used to have absolute status 800 years ago was one of her disciples?! ¡°Mhmm. That was when I was roaming around the continent. It was only for 3 years but in his youth, he learned from me before going out into the world.¡± After that, in reminiscence, she added how there used to be a rumor about her being an unaging witch. ¡°That young boy became a great hero after 20 years of time. It wasn¡¯t so good towards the end, but¡­¡± I told her about how I met Sebancia Duke¡¯s soul in the library. She replied in awe, seemingly unaware of the fact that Sebancia Duke¡¯s grimoire had been inside the campus. ¡°It must have been put in by one of my disciples from 100 years ago, Arum. Back when we were building the Great Library, there was a lot from my collection but there was also the contribution of my disciples.¡± It was things like this that made me think about how human rtionships tended to mysteriously link over time. ¡°The fact that Sebancia¡¯s Aura Core ended up in your body, could perhaps be the work of fate.¡± Master then said while tapping my spear with her¡¯s. ¡°Try activating that power.¡± I touched the Aura Core inside me ¨C the one that used to belong to Sebancia and pulled out aura from it. ?1st Demonic Spear, Darkness? ¡°Sebancia used to embed the power from his Aura Core into his weapon, but what you are doing right now is not the correct way to use it.¡± She rested her spear on my Silver Spear which was now tainted in darkness. When she did, the dark aura that used to dwell in the Silver Spear started moving over to her spear. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°This is evidence that you have yet to master your control over aura. Besides, most importantly, it is because you haven¡¯t understood the nature of Sebancia¡¯s aura.¡± Her spear that finished absorbing every bit of aura was now pitch ck. She raised the spear high into the air¡­ before striking down as if drawing a cross. ?2nd Demonic Spear, Heaven Falling on Five Dragons? ¡ªKwaaaaaang! A roar resonated across Paradise. The mighty spread of aura sliced apart the distant clouds and injured the earth below. ¡°This is one of the skills that he polished time after time to behead the five evil dragons that were bringing chaos to the kingdom. As for the result¡­ I¡¯m sure you know that already.¡± [Look. This is the heaven-defying power ¨C the one I used in my youth to kill a dragon.] I couldn¡¯t help but gulp as I looked at the damage done to the world. It was something that woulde out in the legends¡­ Well, it might not be anything strange considering how he was a legendary hero himself. ¡°Right now. You have three things to work on. ¡°Firstly, be used to the manifestation of the Sun. ¡°Secondly, increase your skill with the spear even further, until you can truly master the Void. ¡°Lastly, you must perfect this power that Sebancia has left behind for you. You must learn how to embed the aura into the weapon using the 1st Demonic Spear, and use the 2nd Demonic Spear to release it, and also learn its final form.¡± Master said with a smile while holding her white, glistening spear which regained its luster after releasing every bit of dark aura it had swallowed. It was a perfect and wonderful demonstration of aura maniption. How much time would it have taken for her to reach that level? And how long did Sebancia take to reach that stage? ¡°Will I¡­ be able to do it?¡± It was then. Suddenly, her spear started flying at me. I used my spear to block that sharp, piercing attack and the sh of the two spears created a fluctuation in the air around us. -Guuuuuung¡­! The air continued to resonate as howling des of wind surged out in all directions. It was a simple stab ¨C just one stab and yet¡­ it was followed by all sorts of world-quivering phenomena. ¡°Who do you think the one standing before you is? I, myself, am the first guardian of this world; the master of countless heroes. I am the Goddess of Heroes.¡± Danann of Justice. Master of Heroes. Guardian of Humanity. ¡°I can assure you as the one who has raised innumerable geniuses, that you truly have the talent of a hero. Your talents are real.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I also do think so myself.¡± ¡°Fufu. And I¡¯m not just talking about your talent with the spear. You are talented in something that, believe it or not, is by far the most important thing for anyone looking to fight.¡± ¡°And¡­ what would that be?¡± ¡°Conviction. An unbending conviction that lets you pronounce your presence to the world. That is the aptitude, talent, and foundation of a hero.¡± Even though it¡¯s not like I¡¯m full of myself¡­ there are actually a lot of big shots that spoke positively about me. Lunia and Garrand the Sword Emperor were such examples, and even in thest iteration, Master had chosen me instead of Park Sihu. Even in this iteration¡­ [You have the right to inherit everything I once had.] Sebancia Duke had chosen me as his inheritor. Like what Master said, there might be something about me that made them acknowledge me. ¡°I will pass down everything I have to you and perfect you. You will be the hero that will save this world, bing stronger than anyone else.¡± Saying that it was a gift to the one who volitionally vowed to be a hero, the goddess gave her blessings. *** After the training was over, Master and I left Paradise and walked down the streets together. ¡°The restaurants seem to have changed a lot.¡± ¡°Have you not been here as Chairman Eriu?¡± ¡°That was a puppet after all. I did pretend to eat sometimes to avoid suspicion but that was it.¡± It appeared that for her, who had been sealed for 80 years, meals were just a way to avoid suspicion. ¡°Ah, but ra sometimes brought me food. Is it true that people eat raw fish these days?¡± ¡°You mean sushi?¡± ¡°Yes. ra was appalled by it. That seems to be one of Hua¡¯s favorite dishes though.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s try it one day.¡± ¡°Sure. Any time.¡± We started walking again. Even though she should have been here a few times as the chairman, she seemed quite excited now that she was walking down the streets with her true body. ¡°By the way, how did it feel manifesting the Sun?¡± ¡°¡­Honestly, it still feels like my inside is churning.¡± It was possible to continue manifesting the Sun thanks to the infinite mana supply of Shadow Paradise but that came at the cost of my body. Making sure that it stayed there on top of swinging the spear was quite a horrendous experience. ¡°You have to get used to it. iomh Sis has already acknowledged you as its owner.¡± ¡°If I couldpress the power of the Sun¡­¡± ¡­I would be able to reenact the ability of the all-powerful King, Eochaid Bres, who had pushed Park Sihu and me into a corner in thest iteration. That would literally make me the God of the Sun, but there was another prerequisite that had to be met for that to happen. ¡°Don¡¯t push yourself too much. If you ovee the trial at the Treasury, Mag Mell¡­ You will receive Airgem of Nuada, made personally by Dian Cecht.¡± Dian Cecht, and Nuada¡­ When saying those names, there was a flicker of reminiscence and nostalgia in her eyes. ¡°¡­Were they your family?¡± ¡°Yes. Dian Cecht, Nuada and Lugh¡­ We were all part of a family, because we ¨C the Danann were one bigmunity.¡± Danann. The race that used to reign over thisnd before humans ¨C the so-called gods. This continent, which was created by the Sky Titans, and enriched by the Danann, was invaded by the Goidels. They absorbed the goodwill and teachings of the Danann and eventually rebelled against the gods, opening up the era of heroes. Buried in greed, they took Paradise for themselves, which was recorded in the Book of Invasions of Erinn. The Danann thus fell from grace. Everything crumbled down, with the future weighing on the shoulders of a young Danann who had the same name as Paradise. ¡°Looks like I have gotten old, seeing how I feel nostalgic out of the blue.¡± ¡°That has nothing to do with age. Everyone¡¯s like that.¡± ¡°Fufu¡­ I don¡¯t think you should, considering how young you are but¡­¡± Master turned towards the sky with a nk gaze. She stared at the dark night sky as if relying on the stars above to reminisce about the past. ¡°They have all left. They left after fulfilling their duties. At times, I used to resent my ancestors for leaving preemptively, while leaving everything behind in my hands.¡± A thousand years. There was most likely no one in the world who could understand what was going through the mind of the final Danann, who had been quietly fulfilling her duties for over a thousand years. ¡°That must be why I was so delighted. Valtazar ¨C Tates¡­ was a child left behind by the ancestors. When I realized that I wasn¡¯t thest of my kind like I had originally thought¡­ I must have be too emotional.¡± She nkly lowered her gaze towards me. ¡°I made a very big mistake in the past, and I have the duty to rectify it. Do you understand what I mean?¡± ¡°Are you¡­ really going to involve yourself?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t leave it to children, can I?¡± This topic had been a constant source of dispute for us. I wanted to hide her in the Shadow Paradise as much as possible but¡­ in the end, I couldn¡¯t dissuade her. ¡°Adults can¡¯t hide behind children. Even if something bad were to happen to me, I¡­¡± ¡°Erin.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± When I suddenly called her by her name, Master widened her eyes into circles and looked straight at me while blinking her circr eyes. Looking down into her eyes, I forced her next to the wall and dered. ¡°In the future, I lost a lot of mypanions. To Fermack, Dun Scaith, Dumnorix, and Eochaid¡­ myrades were killed, and there were many people I couldn¡¯t save.¡± ¡°Ko¡­ rin?¡± ¡°That includes you.¡± ¡°But this¡­ is something I must do¡­¡± ¡°No. This time, it¡¯s different. I won¡¯t let a single person slip by. No one will be left to die.¡± ¡°Uht¡­?¡± This might be a form of obsession and me being stubborn, but if I really was someone worthy of being chosen by the God of the Sun, by the system, and by the Master of Heroes¡­ ¡°You are not going to die this time. Because I will save you.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Trust your disciple. You said I have the qualifications of a hero, did you not? Erin. All you have to do is trust me and stay behind my back.¡± Perhaps I was being arrogant. Maybe I was way too self-centered. ¡°I will not disregard the misfortune of the good. Ever since I engraved that vow onto this body, I have never given up on you.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°So don¡¯t act like you have lived enough or like you are ready to leave the world in front of your disciple. Ask anyone here and they¡¯ll say you look like my younger sister.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just because I don¡¯t age¡­¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you have lived a long life or not. Both you and I still have a long way to go. We can continue to live while anticipating what wille tomorrow.¡± Facing her, who still seemed dumbstruck, I floated a wide smile. ¡°E~verything will turn out just fine. I am sure it will.¡± ¡°Fufu¡­¡± Atst, she started to smile again. She appeared dumbfounded seeing a youngster like me acting like an adult. ¡°Right. You are an adult.¡± ¡°Of course. I am obviously a very mature adult if you consider my experience from the future. I¡¯m 22.¡± I was actually over 40 but¡­ that was beside the point. ¡°You are still wayyy~ too young. Compared to me.¡± ¡°Nope. Everyone¡¯s a friend above 20.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°So go out, have some delicious food, make friends, buy nice clothes and enjoy your life. You have someone who is willing to do all of that together right next to you.¡± ¡°???¡± Master looked around, before turning back to me with flushed cheeks for some reason. ¡°Then can you do that with me, Korin?¡± ¡°Why not.¡± I was actually talking about Lady Josephine but¡­ well, I guess she wasn¡¯t here right now. ¡°Let¡¯s do everything together.¡± ¡°Ah~ I¡¯m so lucky! I wasn¡¯t expecting such a fortune to arrive near the end of my life¡­ Uht!?¡± She was acting like this was the end of her life again so I chopped her head with my hand. Master Erin gazed up at me in stupor with blinking eyes after being hit by her disciple all of a sudden, but I brazenly opened my mouth. ¡°You look so pretty and young but that¡¯s all for nothing when your mind is so old! Cynicism and pessimism are far from being helpful.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Right.¡± ¡°The amount of time you have lived until now doesn¡¯t mean anything. Stand up. Make your back straight! Bring your chest out! If you have the belief that everything will be fine, you can be considered young no matter how old you really are.¡± ¡°Haha. Where did you learn to say these things?¡± ¡°They alle from the honesty of my heart, beautifuldy.¡± Holding onto her hand, I kissed the back of her hand and looked at her with a smile. ¡°Seriously¡­ I can¡¯t beat you with words.¡± ¡°A master shouldn¡¯t be trying to beat their disciple.¡± The reason I went back in time¨C The reason I shouldered the destiny of saving the world instead of the yer. It was all because I was one hell of a greedy bastard, who wanted to save everyone. This was something I could not back down on. The world saved by me needed to have everyone in it. No one was allowed to be out of that picture. That night, I pledged to myself yet again. *** Germain Luther was a spy dispatched by the Old Faith. His role was to save Captain Laurent, who was arrested while attacking Hua Ran under themand of Bishop Renault Lusignan, as well as gathering information from Merkarva and sending it to the headquarters. The original n was to save Laurent in coboration with the Tower of Mages, but unfortunately for them, the stupid mages of the Tower ended up ruining it. After Elder Morushtan was arrested by Saintess Estelle, they became too hasty and were in too much of a rush. This was why he didn¡¯t like the heretics of the Tower¡­ And yet despite all that, they still had the guts to tell him to find out the date of Elder Morushtan¡¯s relocation to the Grand Chapel of Zeon. It was incredibly irritating, but Germain was the only one inside the Academy who could gather meaningful information so there was a lot on his shoulders. ¡°Huu¡­¡± It was great that he was able to smooth his way into the Academy without raising any suspicion, but because of the aggressive actions of the special ops of the Old Faith and the rash terrorist attack of the mages of the Tower, the Academy was currently on full alert mode. He was stopped no matter where he went and gathering information became a lot harder, meaning that it was going to be an arduous battle. As a single student, who was a mere freshman, it was difficult to find reliable pieces of information. That day was the same as always. Germain was walking across the campus without any sess. ¡°Hoh~. Look who it is. It¡¯s one of our promising juniors, isn¡¯t it?¡± Someone amicably spoke up to him. It was a very familiar voice. ¡°Umm¡­ Senior?¡± ¡°How are you doing these days? Doing alright?¡± A 2nd-year Senior threw his arm around his shoulders with his usual wild-looking smile on his face. Germain was quite fond of his open attitude that easily let him befriend anyone. ¡°Haha. We just finished our interim exams so¡­ I can finally take a breather now.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? It is a lot harder in your 1st year, because of all the other subjects that you need to take apart from your electives.¡± That was one of the other problems that deterred Germain from gathering information. Although the Academy was well-known for giving a lot of spare time, that was only for the 2nd years and above. Freshmen students had to learn survival skills, map-reading skills, and whatnot, so it was incredibly difficult to find time apart fromte afternoons. ¡°Oh right, Junior. Do you remember my offer?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ By offer, you mean¡­?¡± ¡°I just created a Guardians Guild. It¡¯s hard to find someone with good skills like you even from the 2nd year students after all. So, how does it sound?¡± Thoughts on joining our Guild? [Be mindful of the help thates when you need it the most.] Germain Luther was still too young to be rational enough to understand that concept. Chapter 143: Preparations (1) ? Preparations (1)? A look into the life of the freshman Gerrmain Luther of Merkarva Academy couldn¡¯t beplete without having a look at his early life in the monastery. One day, a baby in a basket was left at the entrance of Mika Monastery. Picked up by a devout believer and father. Germain was raised under the care of the sisters there, along with other boys and girls who were there for simr reasons. His impressive singing skills allowed him to volunteer for the choir despite being so young, and after showing talents as a knight, he was promoted to Youth Chargers of the Cross. Due to the outdated education system of the Old Faith, their fundamentalistic analysis of the Goidel Bible, their prejudice towards the New Faith, and seeing the protestants as heretics¡­ the young boy grew up into a marvelous racist. Because of his attitude, it became difficult for him to receive positive reception when he was with atheists and people from the New Faith. Even when he was with other brothers and sisters of the same religion, his extremist mindset made it hard for him to merge into groups. It was even harder because he was an elitist on top of that. ¡°Uhh¡­ G, go to the chapel together? I, I¡¯m already going to a different one!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I don¡¯t follow any religion. Sorry.¡± ¡°Old Faith? I only go to the chapel with Saintess Estelle.¡± ¡°Old Faith¡­? I¡¯m okay.¡± As a result, Germain voluntarily became a loner who ostracized everyone else. ¡°Haah¡­ It is so hard to find a true colleague in faith in a city as corrupt as Merkarva.¡± His attempt to propagate his religion, which was the duty of every believer, was proving to be challenging yet again. Carrying the brass rosary that was given by the order, he was dejectedly carrying his feet when someone spoke to him. ¡°Yo, neer. What are you doing by yourself?¡± Said the boy, while amiably throwing his arm around his shoulder from the back. It was a senior of the Academy who was a grade above him. ¡°S, senior Korin?¡± ¡°Are you going to the chapel?¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­¡± ¡°Zeon? Or Xeruem?¡± Zeon and Xeruem ¨C they were the official names of the New and the Old Faith. The public tended to call them the New and Old Faith to make things easy for themselves, but many believers of the Old Faith were extremely discontent with this name. ¡®Old¡¯ Faith? They weren¡¯t old. They were simply sticking to the fundamentals and old principles. Germain¡¯s internal evaluation of Korin went up, just from the fact that he referred to them as Zeon and Xeruem. ¡°Xeruem.¡± ¡°Okay. Oh~ I see, you do have a brass rosario. I guess I didn¡¯t even need to ask.¡± People from the New Faith did not hide their fanciness and provided their followers with rosaries made of gold and silver. In contrast, the Old Faith provided cheaper brass rosaries to correspond to their public image of being frugal and modest. It seemed that Korin had enough knowledge of religions to tell the rosaries apart. ¡°I¡¯m heading to Zeon right now.¡± ¡°Do you have no ns ofing to the Chapel of Xeruem?¡± Germain saw the man in front of him in a good light. He was a rare Grade 1 Knight, which was a hard find throughout all the grades and was also the master of a new Guardians Guild full of strong guardians. Even aside from hispetence as a knight, he had wide connections within the Academy and there was no reason not to befriend him. Plus, he was someone who gave off a positive aura. The only bad thing about such an amazing talent was that¡­ ¡°I can¡¯t do that. One of my friends is a sister from the Chapel of Zeon, right? Even though I¡¯m not really a devout believer, it doesn¡¯t feel right to take her to Xeruem.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± He made bad friends. The sister from the Chapel of Zeon that he just referred to was a living jiangshi ¨C the end result of an evil research experiment that turned a living human into a jiangshi. One of the biggest differences between the Old and New Faith was in whether they epted demi-humans as humans or not. ording to the doctrines of the Old Faith, demi-humans were not eptable existences. Hua Ran¡­ that jiangshi wasn¡¯t the only one. Vampire Marie, wolf beastmen Ren and Ron. The young man had an intimate rtionship with existences that the Old Faith could not ept as humans. It truly was a shame. ¡°How about going on a mission when you¡¯re back from the chapel? We got a mission for the Guardians and we might need a hand or two.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± ¡°I know, I know. You can only do part-time. Freshmen lessons are jam-packed, aren¡¯t they? But did you know; if you provide some good results with a Guardians Guild, you can write off a few of the lessons.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Germain had infiltrated Merkarva as a spy. For him, the fact that he could be exempted from some of the lessons and assignments by working as a guardian was like a golden apple that he couldn¡¯t resist. More importantly, Korin¡¯s guild was one that was on the cusp of rising to a Grade 1 Guardians guild with its prominent members. Working at a big guild like that would give him more opportunities to gather information¡­ ¡°Umm¡­ what is it about?¡± ¡°Apparently they found a den of demonic beasts next to a vige that¡¯s around 70 kilometers away from here. They want us to remove it as soon as possible.¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s quite far. Doesn¡¯t the Alliance usually deal with long-distance missions like that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. We have a secret weapon.¡± ¡°???¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ -Kaaaaahh¡­! ¡°Uahhhk¡­!¡± The beast let out a thunderous roar as it soared through the sky; mixed into the roar was the scream of a person. Although Germain was a Grade 2 Knight himself, he had trouble keeping himself conscious in the face of the violent and merciless flight of the winged beast. ¡°Uaaahk¡­!¡± His inexperience with flying on a wyvern almost cost him his life ¨C he almost fell from the seat that was on top of the wyvern. ¡°Oopsies!¡± Just before he fell, Korin grabbed onto his hand and helped him back up. ¡°Be careful. Did you fasten your seatbelt properly?¡± ¡°Ughh¡­ Yes. B, but I can¡¯t see what¡¯s ahead.¡± A strong gust of wind had been seeping in through his goggles for a while. The cold gust made his eyes tear up and cover his line of sight. ¡°Oh, there¡¯s a crack on your goggles. It must be from the time when we dropped it. Hua Ran.¡± ¡°Nn.¡± The girl wearing nun clothes, who was sitting at the front, replied to Korin¡¯s voice. Germain was quite ufortable with the demi-human Hua Ran, but was conscious of Korin and didn¡¯t bother voicing out his difort. ¡°Hold onto the reins for a bit. I¡¯m going to grab some spare goggles.¡± After saying that, he quickly ravaged through one of the bags that were being carried by the wyvern and took out another pair of goggles. ¡°Put this on.¡± ¡°T, thank¡­ Ughh¡­¡± Germain tried to take the goggles that Korin was giving him, but couldn¡¯t see what was ahead because of his tears and threw his arms around in vain. The wind had been too strong, to the point that it affected his sight even after he wiped his tears. ¡°Phew. Junior. Stay still for a bit.¡± Grabbing onto his face, Korin wiped his flowing tears with his sleeves before gently putting the goggles on for him. Atst, after regaining his sense of sight, what Germain first saw was the smile on his senior¡¯s face. ¡°We are going to continue riding wyverns to travel long distances, so make sure to get used to them. We haven¡¯t used them that much either, but there¡¯s a flight instructor in the wyvern shed so learn from them.¡± ¡°O, okay.¡± ¡°Good man.¡± The bangs that he had forced down were in a mess because of the flight, and Korin contributed to its messiness with a rustle. ¡°Fasten your belt, and make sure the goggle straps don¡¯t press down on your ears.¡± Like a parent, he helped Germain fasten his seatbelt and pressed a button that was on the goggles. After that, he even gave him a sweet chocte bar. ¡°Flying actually uses up a lot of calories. We need to stay sharp so have this.¡± ¡°T, thank you.¡± Something Germain felt while seeing him these past few days was that this boy¡­ was very good at taking care of people. It was like his calling. It was no wonder that he was famous even among the freshmen students for being a kind and generous Big Bro. Germain would have wholeheartedly agreed with that notion if not for the fact that he went around with demi-humans. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ It was a close call. When they were going after a horde of beasts in a cave, a massive worm suddenly popped out of nowhere and tried to kill him. He was confident that he wouldn¡¯t lose to it in a fair fight, but the Giant Worm was unexpectedly a very dangerous demonic beast in a cave as small as this. ¡°¡­Are you okay?¡± The sister of a silver rosary reached out to him. Knowing that she was a filthy demi-human, Germain almost instinctively flicked her hand away but hesitated upon seeing the tear in her clothes. It was because the moment the monster appeared, she jumped into the wide teeth of the Giant Worm after pushing him to the side. If not for Hua Ran, Germain himself would have been chomped. ¡°T, thank you. Senior.¡± ¡°Nn.¡± Germain was way too ethical to p away the hand of the one who saved his life. ¡°I thought it was a cave of goblins. Why is there a Giant Worm¡­?¡± ¡°Seems that it¡¯s not just a normal cave of goblins.¡± After seemingly noticing something, Korin lowered his head and slowly advanced forward. He appeared to be vignt of something. ¡°Senior?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down. There¡¯s¡­ something in here.¡± ¡°What do you mean¡­ something?¡± ¡°Predators and prey don¡¯t share the same nest. A Giant Worm living in the same ce as goblins? That¡¯s very suspicious, isn¡¯t it?¡± Certainly, he was right. Usually, demonic beasts¡­ did not allow each other to trespass on their territory, even if they were of the same kind in some cases. That was just how things were in the wild ¨C anyone and anything intruding on your territory was nothing but an enemy. ¡°But it¡¯s a different story if both the goblins and the Giant Worm are ¡®familiars¡¯.¡± ¡°Familiars¡­¡± That was the name given to beasts who had enving seals engraved on them by mages. Perfectly obedient familiars were just puppets that stayed faithful to themands of their owner. ¡°You mean¡­ there¡¯s a mage here?¡± ¡°Exactly. There are in fact quite a few mages that research wicked sorcery after making aboratory next to rural viges like this.¡± Those filthy wicked mages. Unlike the noble people of faith, mages who were crazy about their personal benefits and experiments tended to be unafraid of doing horrible things. That was one of the reasons why the religious judges of both the New and Old Faiths detested mages the most. Germain also started to proceed with care while observing the cave. Suddenly, Korin raised his hand and halted their feet. ¡°Hua Ran.¡± ¡°Nn.¡± ¡°Destroy everything. Capture the mages.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Immediately, Hua Ran started dashing through the cave. Kwang! Kajik! ¡®B, bastard! Who do you think I¡¯m¡­ Kuaahkk!¡¯ As Korin expected, this indeed was theboratory of a mage who was conducting horrible experiments. ¡°What the¡­¡± It was a horrifying scene. There was a big array ofrge test tubes full of fluids, and incubating inside them were various beasts that each gave off a dark aura. Even though Germain couldn¡¯t tell what it was, it was nheless very clear that some evil experiments had been taking ce here. ¡°Look around. We can¡¯t take everything with us, so let¡¯s just grab the important documents and hand them over to the Alliance.¡± Korin and Hua Ran started carrying the neutralized mages and the incubating monsters, while Germain was assigned to finding the experiment logs of the mages here. People conducting such evil experiments had to be punished by the Inquisitors of the order. As a devout man of faith, Germain could not leave aside such wicked conduct. ¡°Hnn?¡± That was when a document entered his eyes. ¡°This¡­¡± It was a secret letter that was sent to the mage conducting the experiment. For Germain to just put it aside, the emblem carved on the letter¡­ meant way too much. A brass seal with no emblem. Germain knew what this was. It was the same seal used by the secret ops like Chargers of the Cross that carried out secret missions. When you inject divine power into this emblem-less seal, it would reveal a brass-colored reverse cross¡­ Exactly as it was doing now. ¡°Why¡­ is this here?¡± Upon opening the letter and reading what was inside, Germain couldn¡¯t help but shiver. Dear Mage Geruam of the Tower¡­ For your experiment¡­ Do not kidnap anyone. We will soon send boys under the age of 13. ¨C From R This emblem; this handwriting¡­ and the signature at the end. They were all things that he knew very well. *** ¡°Is he gone?¡± ¡°Un. He¡­ hid something.¡± After attacking the secretboratory of the ck mage, I intentionally told Germain to search through theb. Even in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, this was a quest where you could find the secret letter of Bishop Renault Lusignan of the Old Faith. In the game, it was just a b of text that exined the background story of the quest, but in the real world, it was conclusive evidence that could be used to open a religious trial. ¡°What will he do?¡± ¡°Well¡­ There¡¯s only one way to find out.¡± Germain Luther was a viin yet different at the same time. During the game, he was a rtively strong mid-boss who would appear with Renault Lusignan and the knights of the Old Faith after discovering his identity as a spy but in truth, he was the prime example of a good-natured person raised with terrible education. Regardless, since he was half a step into the realm of being a religious fanatic, whether he would try to conceal the hideous side of his order or denounce Renault Lusignan was something that only time could tell. Since the game had now be the real world, everyone moved and thought for themselves so it was hard to say anything with certainty. ¡°Hua Ran. Stay here and continue bringing out the evidence with Germain. Don¡¯t let him go deeper inside.¡± ¡°What if he asks where you went?¡± ¡°Tell him I¡¯m off to take a dump.¡± -Bam! She kicked me on the bum. These days, Hua Ran¡­ or rather, Hua, didn¡¯t seem amused by my jokes anymore. Was she in puberty? ¡°Anyway. Stay here.¡± Leaving behind Hua, who was acting cold all of a sudden, I headed deeper into the secretboratory. ¡ºYou have stopped the wicked experiments of the ck Mage, Geruam. You will be rewarded as per the Precept.¡» ¡ºRandolf¡» ¡ù Difficulty: D+ ¡ù Reward: Even distribution of 10 points Randolf. That was the name of a soldier guarding the Grand Chapel of Xeruem, and the main character of the side quest, [Father and his missing Son]. Renault Lusignan had been kidnapping and sending a few children to support the secret experiments of the ck Mage Geruam, and one of them was Randolf¡¯s young boy. The reason I came here was also because I wanted to deal with it before that quest showed up. And plus¡­ beating up some of the mages of the Tower was going to clear the Precept quite a few times. I recalled the system messages that popped up on the way here. ¡ºDorron Warsky has defeated the Blue Mage, Fyrenee. You will be rewarded as per the Precept.¡» ¡ºKranel Lunder has defeated the Golem Engineer, Draven. You will be rewarded as per the Precept.¡» ¡ºYuel has defeated the Twisted Druid, Jana. You will be rewarded as per the Precept.¡» That was the proof that the members of the guild were working hard. Using the information I gave them, they were dealing with the side quests that were supposed to be avable after the end of the 5th Arc, beforehand. Most of them were rted to the mages of the Tower, and these evil actions from all around the world were going to be revealed again and again. ¡®There¡¯s still a big one left. Just you wait.¡¯ Thanks to that, I was receiving a lot of rewards through my Precept, but that wasn¡¯t the end. These were originally ¡®side quests¡¯ that were supposed to be cleared by the yer. In other words, there was going to be a reward for the yer. ck Mage Geruam, who we defeated here, was a part of the group that longed for the Advent of Paradise and was conducting fairly important research. He himself was on the level of a semi-Grade 1 mage, so it was easy to tell how significant of research this would have been for them. What were they experimenting with here? As a yer of the game, I knew exactly what the answer to that question was. Deeper inside the cave, echoing from behind a wall that blocked both sight and sound was the entry. Kicking the wall, I crushed it down. As expected of an ¡®intelligent¡¯ mage; the camouge was very coarsely done. Breaking through, I could feel a slithery feeling flowing from the inside. This was one of the things I had also seen in thest iteration. It was a trace of paradise that no longer existed on this continent, left behind by the Danann before their fall. ¡°Found it.¡± ¡ºHead of Mata. Then hundred-legged and four-headed monster.¡» Chapter 144: Preparations (2) ? Preparations (2)? ¡ºHead of Mata¡» -It is the head of the hundred-legged four-deaded monster, Mata. -It is a strong alchemic ingredient. You may use this to craft using the crafting window upon the acquisition of High Alchemy (ess Denied). -You may proceed with the collection quest, ¡ºWhere are the other heads?¡». -You can see it on the Map (ess Denied). A trophy of the great Danann, Dagda, who was one of the gods with the most records left behind. His first recorded appearance was when he visited one of the four hiddennds of the druids, Morias. The original beholder of the Magic Cauldron of Undry, one of the four great treasures that was currently in possession of the King¡¯s Subject, Dun Scaith, was in fact Dagda himself. The hundred-legged and four-headed monster, Mata, was one of the monsters he bashed to death and was one of the giants thatter resurrected as a great giant to stand against the fierce Danann, Dagda. Mata was one of the primary causes that contributed to the exponential increase in power towards thetter portions of the game. After all, the resurrection of the giants and the King of Giants was something that was brought about by the Tower¡¯s research into Mata. There were three pros for me attacking thisboratory.
  1. Advise Germain, the spy from the Old Faith, about the dirty side of the Old Faith and how they were hand-in-hand with the Tower of Mages.
  1. Sabotage the research into the resurrection of giants.
  1. This will be used to assist us in ¡®that ce¡¯.
Putting Mata¡¯s head into my pocket, I walked back out and found Hua Ran and Germain organizing arge pile of evidence we were going to carry back. ¡°Senior. What is that?¡± ¡°More evidence. By the way, did you find anything?¡± ¡°N, no¡­¡± Until the end, Germain didn¡¯t mention the secret letter sent by Bishop Lusignan. He must be too confused and lost to make a quick decision. However, a crack had appeared, and that was more than enough for the time being. *** ¡°To obtain the qualification to be a Justice of the Peace, you must first contact the Alliance and the judicial authority and¡ª¡± It was in the middle of Professor Edgar¡¯s boring JP lecture where he was simply filling the ckboard with words. I was about to doze off when a finger poked me from the side. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Waking up from my sleep, I turned around and saw Marie looking at me with a wide smile. ¡°Korin. You failed your interim exam. It will be bad if you fail it again, you know?¡± ¡°Ughh¡­ Thanks.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry~¡± Although I was a regressor, there was no way I could remember everything that came out in the tests so my grades were barely sitting somewhere around the middle. Professor Edgar¡¯s Justice of the Peace lecture was one that I had to get an A in unlike other courses, but¡­ ¡°Now, we need a few students to attend the work cement at the end of the semester. Is there anyone interested?¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± I immediately threw my hand up in the air as Professor Edgar turned towards me in response. He lifted his sses up, before staring at me with a cold gaze. ¡°Student Korin. I appreciate your passion, but you have been excluded from the list.¡± ¡°What? Why?!¡± ¡°¡­Do you need me to exin?¡± ¡°¡­Nope. Sorry.¡± Ah¡­ this was bad. Professor Edgar¡¯s Justice of the Peace work cement was an external mission ¨C a side quest that the yer could clear depending on the subjects they chose. After clearing Professor Edgar¡¯s side quest a few times and earning a good reputation, you could receive an honorary JP license along with the 1st Princess, Estelle¡¯s rmendation. In the game, it was just an honorary title that raised a few stats but¡­ Anyway, I have to attend his work cement to get that license, but I can¡¯t go because of my grades! All the yer had to do in the game was read a short text and answer a multiple-choice quiz to get good marks but¡­ things weren¡¯t that easy now that this was the real world. ¡°Korin¡­ Do you want to be a JP that badly?¡± ¡°Well¡­ There¡¯s a need to get one.¡± ¡°One of my rtives is a judge at a local court. Should I get them to give you one?¡± What I needed was a Grade 1 license or an honorary JP title. Since Ren and Ron were with me, all I needed was toy my hands on one of those licenses to deal with the ¡®Demi-human Vige¡¯ incident that will be happening sometime soon¡­ ¡°For now¡­ can you do that for me?¡± ¡°Of course¡­! I¡¯ll contact them today!¡± Marie whispered with a clenched fist, seemingly eager to meet my expectations. Feeling grateful, I caressed her head and she returned a wide smile in response. ¡°Hehe. While we¡¯re at it, should we make the JP badge out of pure gold? It¡¯ll be super awesome if you decorate it with diamonds~¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s a bit¡­¡± Marie was already paying for the wyverns and the stationing fees of the Warsky Mercenaries and the Arden Sword Squad. Even though I had already decided to unhesitatingly rely on Marie¡¯s financial power, I was afraid that I would be a good-for-nothing if I became overly dependent on it. Honestly, Marie¡¯s financial power was¡­ so overpowered that I even wondered if this was okay at times. ¡°K, korin¡­¡± I was focusing on the lesson while ying with Marie¡¯s hair when she carefully held my fingers. ¡°Oh, sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s okay¡­ Umm, Korin. You want to be a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°There is a way to be a Grade 1 JP without taking the official test.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Special Promotion.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°If a Grade 2 or a Grade 3 JP does something incredible to earn a special promotion, they could get promoted or be an official judge straight away.¡± It seemed to be a policy set to motivate the JPs who were working hard in the country. So special promotion was also a thing in this world, huh¡­ Back then, I should have questioned why she had suddenly brought that up. *** Meanwhile, at the local court of therge city in the south, Duff. ¡°Oh wow. I see. That¡¯s amazing~¡± One of the coteral rtives of the Dunareff Family, the Schacht Family, was a renowned household that produced several ministers of public order andw in the great cities of the south, and the family head, Walpe Schacht, was a politician working in the capital to best represent the people in the southern region of the kingdom. The first daughter of that household, Charlianne Schacht, was a senior judge of the Great City of Duff, but despite her status, she still had to enthusiastically involve herself in the conversation. It was because the person she was talking to was even more of a bigshot than herself. ¡°I¡¯m telling you~. You have no idea of all~ thepliments that my daughter was giving him.¡± Elencia Dunareff. She was well-known for previously being a Grade 2 Knight but was even more widely known as the Duchess of the Dunareff Dukedom. ¡°What a phenomenal young man. I can¡¯t believe there could be such a righteous and good-hearted person!¡± ¡°Fufu, I have seen him with my very eyes, and I can tell you he had a wonderfully bright and good pair of eyes. And what is even more incredible, is that he even wants to be a part of the role of ¡®protecting thew¡¯.¡± ¡°Ah~ I see. Then we better quickly invite him into the court as an official and let him be a judge¡­¡± ¡°Oh, looks like you have misunderstood me. That boy seemed eager to experience the hardships of the outer field.¡± ¡°By the outer field, you mean¡­?¡± ¡°He says he wants to start from a Justice of the Peace.¡± ¡°Haht! What a wonderful sense of justice! Does he want to experience the world and slowly work his way up?¡± ¡°That is right. A very passionate young man.¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to find someone that passionate amongst the youngsters these days.¡± Senior Judge Charlianne had to give her bestpliments to a young man whose face she did not even know. ¡°But it is concerning,¡± said Elencia. ¡°Marie ¡®cherishes and adores¡¯ him so much, and he¡¯s such a righteous young man, but what if others look down on him for having a low status or being too young¡­?¡± ¡°Ahht! I see! We can¡¯t let that happen! Justice of the Peace¡­ That is already a very tough journey to embark on, so I can¡¯t possibly sit back and do nothing. If we make him a Grade 2 Justice of the Peace, no one should be able to look down on¡ª¡± ¡°Oh, by the way, your son recently took office at the royal administration, right? I should have been more mindful.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t worry about it! We have already received too much favor. The only reason we are doing great as a family is all thanks to the generous support of the Dukedom.¡± ¡°Let me send a letter to the Minister of Administration sometime this week.¡± ¡°Aigo~! You don¡¯t have to¡­!¡± The week after that, the oldest son of Senior Judge Charlianne, Rusalka, was promoted immediately from a Grade 5 official to the Minister¡¯s secretary. A secretary of a minister was seen as a Grade 4 official and marked the beginning of an elite course that connected all the way to the position of a deputy minister and a minister but was technically still a personal secretary of the minister so no one voiced anyints, although were they were fairly skeptical about it. The same day, a Grade 2 Justice of the Peace badge was delivered to Korin Lork¡¯s dormitory. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ There were criminals all around the continent, and there was no shortage of wanted criminals who tried to run away from the verdicts ofw. ¡°Fuck¡­ fuck! Fuck this shit!¡± Jonathan Martin was one of such wanted criminals. Starting as a small pickpocket and thief, he discovered his potential, formed a crew, and eventually became wanted due to a reckless act of bravado of trying to raid the mansion of a baron. Due to his recklessness, thement at the bottom of his wanted poster was ¡®Dead or Alive¡¯, meaning that it was possible to get the bounty even after killing him. Hisbat prowess was nothing worth noting, but thanks to his immacte escape skills and numerous bunkers ced around the continent, even in the game, ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, he was considered a 4-star wanted criminal and a hard one to catch. Although Jonathan Martin boasted of incredible escaping skills, it was still hard for him to run away from dozens of wyvern riders who immediately started chasing after him once his identity was revealed by the guards who suddenly went around questioning everyone in broad daylight. And now, he was chained upside down in a secluded vige house. ¡°Bring him down.¡± Captain of the Dunareff Wyvern Riders ¨C the so-called Uncle Verg. The middle-aged man, who appeared so benevolent that he would always show a kind smile to everyone, gave a cruelmand that would immediately put someone to the bottom of hell. -Creak! The chains went up as Jonathan was plopped down into arge container of water that could hold an entire person inside. -Hupp! Puhahh! Grhhhh¡­! ¡°How long has it been?¡± ¡°Around 2 minutes, boss.¡± ¡°Bring him back up. We can¡¯t have him dying on us.¡± -Creak! ¡°Puhah! Puhuahk! P, please don¡¯t kill me! Please!¡± ¡°Aigo, he still sounds very energetic. Let him down one more time.¡± ¡°Yes! Captain!¡± ¡°N, Noo! NOOOOOOOO PUAHHK!¡± After a long conversation between the two. ¡°So, good sir. Do you want to stay here? Or would you like some jail food instead?¡± ¡°J, jail food. Please let me have jail food.¡± ¡°Remind me onest time. What were you ¡®doing¡¯, and ¡®where¡¯ were you again?¡± ¡°M, Merkarva! I was nning for a heinous heist!¡± ¡°And who were you caught by?¡± ¡°K, Korin Dork! I was caught by the new Justice of the Peace, Korin Dork¡ª¡± ¡°Aigo, you forgot the name of our Duke Consort. This is no good. Not good enough. Let him down one more time. Help him wake up a bit.¡± ¡°S, sorry! SORRY! I¡¯M SORRYYYYBRURRRRRAHK!¡± Numerous heinous criminals all around the southern region of the kingdom started being caught near Merkarva. All of them were caught by none other than the newly appointed JP, Korin Lork. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ [Yes! Hello Sir Bolton! This is Deputy Minister of Public Order, Ronan, speaking.] ¡°Hey, Deputy Ronan. I¡¯m hearing that all sorts of wanted criminals are being caught these days, is that correct?¡± [Ah, yes! The continent is regaining its peace and public order thanks to the cooperation of the Dunareff¡ª] ¡°Ehem¡­!¡± [Aht, of course! It¡¯s all thanks to Justice of the Peace Korin Lork!] ¡°Hahaha, is that so? As expected of the future Duke Consort of Lady Marie.¡± [Naturally! Of course!] ¡°Then as previously discussed, Young Master is going to receive a special promotion this year, yes?¡± [O, of course! The minister has already confirmed it. He would love to see you and thank you for all your hard work¡­] ¡°Certainly. When will this be decided by? Time and potatoes are gold, after all.¡± [Umm¡­] ¡°May I ask if there is an issue?¡± [M, my apologies. There is a bit of an unresolved problem that¡¯s taking some time¡­ There¡¯s a public order officer who loves to push his nose into other people¡¯s business, and he seems to be looking into the Duke Consort these days.] ¡°¡­¡± Silence. A long silence. The vassal baron of the Dunareff Family and manager of Merkarva Dunareff Produce, Baron Paul Bolton did not utter a single word or sound into themunication device for a long time. The long silence heavily pressured Deputy Minister Ronan. After the long period of silence, what allowed him to breathe again was one short word from the baron. ¡°Name.¡± [Y, you do not have to directly involve yourself in this matter. We will¡ª] ¡°I¡¯m telling you to tell me their name.¡± [M, Morgan¡­ His name is Morgan Routes!] ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Morgan Routes. He was a squad chief of the Ministry of Public Order, which was in charge of the internal peace of the kingdom. Born with a righteous and stubborn personality, he was a passionate officer who personally rode horses to catch criminals whether they be distant or close. Recently, he became doubtful of a name that was being repeated again and again, and the unusual and sudden increase of wanted criminal arrests. Korin Lork. He was a Grade 1 Knight, who became a Grade 2 JP justst week due to the proactive rmendations of the judges in the southern courts. Well, there was nothing suspicious with that, considering how it was normal for guardians to be rmended to the position of a JP. However, the problem was with the frequency of his arrests. Logically speaking¡­ how could these heinous wanted criminals, whom even the Ministry of Public Order couldn¡¯t catch due to theirck of manpower, be arrested day after day? By one person, and in one city at that? It stunk¡­ It definitely reeked of something fishy. This was no good. After judging that it called for an investigation, he started looking into the man named Korin Lork with his men and¡­ ¡°Hey. How are you doing?¡± His direct superior, Londen, Deputy Minister of Public Order Ronan, Senior Superintendent Barok, and the Minister of Public Order Dorman. High-ranking executives who were way above him suddenly visited his house all at once. Why were these bigshots, who were hard enough to see individually, visiting the house of a single officer? And most importantly¡­ ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± Lady Marie Dunareff. The oldest daughter of the Southern Emperor, Marde Dunareff, and future Duchess. The super bigshot, who could make all the executives lose their posts, set her foot into his miserable house. ¡°Officer Morgan, right? Do you mind a handshake?¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Ehem! Officer Morgan! What are you doing; hurry up and get up! Are you going to keep thedy waiting!?¡± Hearing the sudden outburst of the Minister, Morgan quickly stood up and responded to the handshake with both of his hands as politely as possible. They were the uninvited guests who suddenly intruded into his house, but Morgan couldn¡¯t voice anyints. ¡°I heard you are investigating a Justice of the Peace recently, is that correct?¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­ Grade 2 JP Korin Lork¡­ But it¡¯s confidential information, and I cannot reveal it even to you, Lady Marie¡ª¡± ¡°What!?¡± ¡°Have you gone mad?!¡± That was the most reasonable statement as an officer of the Public Order Department, but unlike his expectations, his words earned the criticism of the high executives. Unrelenting, he continued his argument. ¡°I can¡¯t stop the investigation at any cost! No matter how I see it, JP Lork¡¯s aplishments do not make sense! It¡¯s already strange enough that he got rmended to the position of a Justice of the Peace as a student. How can he possibly catch so many criminals in that short period of time¡­?!¡± ¡°Officer?¡± It was a soft and gentle voice, but that one word forced him to shut his mouth. ¡°You see, Korin already has the right qualifications.¡± He couldn¡¯t say a single word. The ring eyes of the executives of the Ministry of Public Order and the small girl who gave off an even greater presence than them did not permit him to open his mouth. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s really that bad to acknowledge someone with qualifications just a tiny bit earlier than usual?¡± As soon as the youngdy of the dukedom said that, Baron Paul, who was standing behind her, walked up with a box in hand. It was a fancy and well-ornamented box that did not suit the shabby background of the house but was rather small and thin for a box of bribery. ¡°This year was your third time having your promotion put off, yes?¡± The box opened with a click. Inside the box weren¡¯t any treasures nor gold; instead, there was a single piece of paper ¨C one that he was so close to yet so far from. ¡°People who are overly righteous and stubborn tend to be hated for irrational reasons. It¡¯s regrettable, I know.¡± The paper outlined the repositioning of his post¡­ but that was clearly a promotion. ¡°We, in the south, appreciate talents like you. The Head of Public Order post in Duff City had been empty for a while, you see.¡± Morgan¡¯s eyes widened in shock as he froze stiff on the spot. Head of Public Order of arge city like Duff. That was a key post that was only given to the pure-blooded nobles or graduates of the Academy, that people from a lowly upbringing like him could never reach. The youngdy of the dukedom tapped his shoulder with the world¡¯s most innocent smile on her face. ¡°Think carefully. Chief¡­ Oh wait! You¡¯re not one yet.¡± She left after giving him a wide smile as the Executives of the Ministry followed after her like servants. When the bigshots, who had been pressuring him the whole time, finally left, Morgan felt powerless and copsed on the spot. Dunareff. The untouchables, that no one could mess around with except for the royal family and the religious orders. They were too big of a foe for him to go against. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°For your great contributions in arresting those vicious wanted criminals on repeat, you have been nominated as one worthy of a special promotion!¡± *** ¡°As of this moment today, Knight Korin will be promoted from Grade 2 Justice of the Peace to Grade 1 Justice of the Peace and will be granted the emergency judging rights and investigation authority of a Grade 1 incident¡ª¡± *** The bigshots of the Ministry of Law and Public Order, which I had never seen both in the game and thest iteration were all gathered in one ce. And at the center of their attention was me with a dumb look on my face, receiving the apuse of countless visitors who had been invited through Dunareff Fresh Produce. ¡°Congrattions, Grade 1 Justice of the Peace, Knight Korin Lork!¡± ¡°Congrattions!¡± ¡°Congrattions!¡± Something¡­ something ain¡¯t right here. Chapter 145: Mag Mell, The Island of Treasures (1) ? Mag Mell, The Ind of Treasures (1)? ¡°¡­¡± Around 2 weeks ago, was it? I was shocked by Marie¡¯s work efficiency when I received the certificate of appointment for Grade 2 Justice of the Peace by post. But what I certainly wasn¡¯t expecting, was that today, I would be called to the city hall for a promotion and a word of gratitude for all my contribution to society. What did I even do to earn a promotion? What? I arrested a bunch of criminals? To make things worse, the criminals that were supposedly arrested by me were put on disy like trophies for everyone to see. Were there no human rights in this country¡­? ¡°Uahhkk! Korin Lorrrrk! You damned personification of a hero of justiceeee!¡± ¡°Can¡¯t believe you foresaw my evil n and prevented it! Impressive! The justice of this country will surelyst forever with you around!¡± ¡°¡­Why the heck are these guys here?¡± The wanted criminals that could be arrested in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? whenpleting a quest line as a bounty hunter were there, screaming their guts out. All of them were saying that they were caught by me. Me? When did I do this? ¡°Congrattions, Korin! You¡¯ll be a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace from today!¡± I turned to the princess of the Potato Empire, who was probably the cause of all this. Looking at her giving me a steamed potato with a wide smile on her face after casting sugar on it, it was very difficult, or rather impossible to imagine all the things she must have done behind the curtains, but¡­ ¡°Haa¡­¡± ¡°Hehe. Do you want some potatoes?¡± ¡°Maybe if you feed me.¡± ¡°Ahh~¡± Ahh, whatever. I¡¯ll just gratefully receive it. ¡°Kuhum.¡± In any case, the reason I wanted to be a Justice of the Peace was because they had an undeniable authority. With just one license card that granted the emergency judging rights and the investigation authority, it was possible to temporarily have the power of the central government which was impossible for normal guardians. Even though guardians might be incredibly strong, they were closer to mercenaries if anything. Because they were considered wandering mercenaries under the mercenary group called the Alliance, they were separate from the central government and didn¡¯t have much say but that wasn¡¯t the case for JPs. Although it wasmon for guardians to be a Justice of the Peace, it was a status granted by the government with actual rights and authority. For example, Lunia was in charge of maintaining the peace of the Eastern border and was also an invited instructor of the Royal Knights. She had a proper status and role, meaning her authority far exceeded that of a normal mercenary. Things would be different now that I was a JP. For example, Count Casseus, who possessed the castle that previously belonged to Sebancia Duke, would have told the yer to capture the Sea Serpent andplete chores like dealing with the problems of the town before progressing with the quest, but if I was there as the Justice of the Peace, I could simplymand him to cooperate with the public affair. ¡°Ehew~¡± ¡°Huh? Korin? What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°No, I was just thinking¡­ that Senior Marie, you¡¯re like a big bucket of good fortune~.¡± ¡°R, really? I, I can give you more though. Are you interested in being a lord¡ª¡± ¡°Stop! Senior! You need to control your pace! If you¡¯re like that all the time, you could be thrown away after you give away everything you have!¡± ¡°Will you though?¡± ¡°No, like, I won¡¯t but¡­¡± Whatever the case, thisdy needed a break. ¡°Next time, please talk to me first before you do something like this.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Ehng?¡± It was a very firm refusal. I was shocked for a bit, because of how rare it was for Marie to be so resolute with saying no. ¡°I want to¡­ give before I think!¡± ¡°But why¡­¡± ¡°Hehe. It feels good to receive surprise gifts, right?¡± Marie said with a bright smile on her face, but she seemed unwilling to back down. ¡°Let¡¯s have some fun with just us two, and sleep together, okay?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Fine. Whatever¡­ **** Inside the chairman¡¯s office were Hua Ran, Alicia, Marie, and I. ¡°From today, you will be entering Mag Mell.¡± The Treasury of the Danann,¡ºMag Mell¡». It was the ce that contained the dormant treasures of the Danann, which the yers could enter with their party members to continue Erin Danua¡¯s legacy after her death. But this time around, Erin Danua was still alive, meaning Valtazar¡¯s subjects wouldn¡¯t be able to enter Mag Mell. ¡°I have a question. What kind of ce is Mag Mell?¡± Alicia shot her hand up to ask a question. Because of all the preparations we needed to make after founding our Guardians Guild, we didn¡¯t have much time to discuss Mag Mell, hence her question. ¡°Mag Mell contains the treasures of the distant mythical gods. In there¡­ are the remnant thoughts and minds of the ones that used to be referred to as gods.¡± Even though Master had inherited everything as the Queen of Paradise, it wasn¡¯t like she directly owned all the treasures and items. There were some like the 4 great treasures of the Danann, which were hidden in various secretnds. Master didn¡¯t bother going around gathering all those treasures in order to respect the elders of the past. Mag Mell, the Treasury of the Danann, was one such example. ¡°There, you are to find the items left behind by the gods¡­ or receive their gifts. Not all of you might obtain one though.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we just grab it?¡± ¡°You will see once you get there. It¡¯s not something I can help you with either.¡± After saying that, she started writing our names on the board. ¡°The first ones to enter will be you four, Korin, Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran. The other guardians will enter eventually, but you will be going first. Are you ready?¡± ¡°Woah, so I¡¯m going with Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult with Korin around.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The three of them turned their eyes to me with trust. That¡¯s¡­ not how it works though. ¡°Now! Let¡¯s get moving! ra?¡± ¡°Yes, Chairman.¡± Lady Josephine took us yet again to another dimension. We were familiar with the process because we had been training in the Shadow Paradise for the past few weeks but this time, our destination was different. The ce we arrived in wasn¡¯t the t and barren wastnd of gloom that we were used to. ¡°Huh? Light?¡± ¡°Ugh, this is too bright¡­!¡± As always, there was no sun in this world. There were dark clouds in the sky but the surroundings were bright ¨C a seemingly paradoxical sight at a nce. The ocean waves were in turmoil while the treasures and gems scattered around were giving off light to brighten up the world around them. ¡°It really is an ind of¡­ treasures.¡± ¡°To think there was a ce like this¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Ind of Treasures, Mag Mell; aplete paradise and one of the fragments of Tir na Nog. The master of this ce¡­ wasn¡¯t Erin. ¡°I will wait for you guys here. You need to proceed deeper into the ind, and ¡®they¡¯ wille out to greet you.¡± In thest iteration, it was Lady Josephine doing the exnation but this time, it was from Master. Just like what Lady Josephine said in thest iteration, Master gave the same warning as she sent us off on the sandy shore with churning waves in the background. ¡°You must never¡­ never be intoxicated with happiness.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ As we went deeper into Mag Mell, the Ind of Treasures, theyer of fog that seeped out from the center of the ind turned thicker and thicker. ¡°Ugh¡­ Mr. Korin. This ce gives me goosebumps!¡± ¡°M, me too¡­¡± Unlike me, who had seen this ce in the game and thest iteration, Alicia and Marie seemed frightened as they each wrapped their arms around mine. Weren¡¯t they a lot stronger than me without my Precept activated though? Frankly speaking, I was the weakest one here without iomh Sis and yet here they were, relying on me instead of themselves¡­ ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran, who had been marching forward withrge strides with no fear thanks to her overwhelming defense, suddenly turned around and threw me a nce. When forming a party with Hua Ran, she tended to be the vanguard and that was the same this time around. ¡°It¡¯s scary.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Scary.¡± You have the most indifferent look in the world on your face. What do you even mean? ¡°Sca¡­ Ran says she¡¯s scared.¡± ¡°Ah, I see¡­¡± That made sense; their feelings might be different despite sharing the same body. But both of my arms were upied already because of Alicia and Marie¡­ ¡°Nn? In that case, Miss Hua Ran, you can hold Senior Marie¡¯s hand!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Alicia grabbed Hua Ran, who had a befuddled look on her face, and ced her hand on top of Marie¡¯s. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°If we all hold hands like this, I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be scary!¡± We were walking forward hand-in-hand in groups of two when Alicia grumbled aint while shivering from the cold mist. ¡°Ugh¡­ I hate this spooky feeling¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you have a problem with demonic spirits though?¡± ¡°Cutting demonic spirits is one thing. I just don¡¯t like this kind of atmosphere!¡± ¡°Well¡­ Anyway, you can¡¯t treat the spirits here like demonic spirits.¡± ¡°Mr. Korin, do you¡­ know something about this ce?¡± Alicia asked. ¡°This is the resting abode of the gods. Technically, it¡¯s closer to an assembly of the remnant minds of gods, but you get the point.¡± Rather than ghosts and demonic spirits, it was most urate to see this as the ce that contained the ¡®history of gods¡¯. Just like how humans went to heaven or hell after death, gods remained behind at Mag Mell upon death. They did exist here, but it was more correct to say that their existence had been recorded down here, instead of saying that they were alive. At least that was the impression I received when I saw the Danann in Mag Mell in thest iteration. ¡°At the start, we have to work together as a team but each and every one of us needs to work hard as well.¡± The method of obtaining a treasure from Mag Mell was simple. Roam around the ind with three party members and meet one of the Danann of this ce. They would give trials or ask questions in stages, and the number of people that could take the next trial depended on how many were able to survive the previous one. For example, if 1 person failed at Stage 1, only 3 people were allowed to attend Stage 2 onwards. ¡°It¡¯s important to pass the first trial. Not only does it have the lowest difficulty, but it also affects the difficulty of the next stage. It gets harder if more people fail Stage 1.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Because of that, the old-timers of the game tended to immediately load the previous game data and start over if the other characters apart from the yer failed their trials. If the yer failed the trial, they would be immediately kicked out of Mag Mell, but if the non-yable characters failed the trial, then that increased the overall difficulty of the next trials. That was why the yers aimed for 100% perfection with Stage 1, and looked to start over if two or more failed Stage 2. ¡°Umm¡­ Korin. Can I ask something?¡± Turning around, I saw Hua Ran and Marie looking our way after letting go of each other¡¯s hands. Weren¡¯t you guys scared? ¡°What¡¯s that thing you¡¯ve been carrying the whole time?¡± ¡°You mean this?¡± With a grin, I showed off the basket on my back. ¡°Huhu. This is what will let us meet the gods we want.¡± This ce was where you received trials from gods, and each of these trials were different and it depended on the characteristics, personality, and mythology of the random god you encountered. That was why the ¡®items that were rted to the gods¡¯ were important. It was because the gods showed more intrigue at the ones that carried around items that were rted to themselves. The thing I was carrying behind me was none other than the [Head of the Hundred-legged Four-headed monster, Mata], which was beaten to death by the great King of Gods, Dagda. By the way, the trials given by Dagda were along the lines of, ¡®Go catch some of this,¡¯ and ¡®Cook some delicious food,¡¯ so he was very well known among the forums for being the easiest god. ¡°Huhuhuhu¡­¡± Marie, Hua Ran, and Alicia¡­ All of them were superhumans with exceptionalbat power. They would easily be able to pass Dagda¡¯s first trial¡­! After advancing through the ind for who knows how long, the mist suddenly turned iparably thick as it covered our sight. The three girls were confused but I had been expecting this to happen the whole time. What came next would be a 1-on-1 encounter with Dagda. Even though that old man had a fiery temperament, he was a generous one so this was going to be great! -Diding~! From within the thickyer of fog that concealed the three girls, the melody of a beautiful instrument started to flow into my ears. ¡°An instrument?¡± Dagda, that old man, did own a harp. After all, his third trial was about retrieving the harp that was stolen by the giants. Lulu~lu L~ The clear and beautiful voice that followed the instrument was so sweet and wonderful that it could bewitch any living being, and yet it also contained the saddest melody¡­ Huh? Wait, this wasn¡¯t the voice of Old Man Dagda, was it? ¡°¡­¡± I walked forward under the guidance of the melody as the voice and the instrument became clearer over time. Soon, the fog dissipated, revealing a golden harp with a beautiful luster. ¡°Fuckkkk¡­¡± ¡°Wee, visitor. A hero who hase for a trial. I am Mac Ind Og¡­ The son of youth and the God of Love, Oengus.¡± It wasn¡¯t Dagda. The beautiful youth with fancy blonde hair looked at me with a smile. ¡°Why¡­¡± ¡°That monster head you have with you. It¡¯s actually a trophy of my father and a present which he had given us siblings. Aiya~. It brought back good memories, you see.¡± Why would you give something like that as a gift to your son? Was he a psychopath? I guess he had too many children because of his adulterous personality. How can a man leave aside his lifelong partner and have affairs left and right? In any case, I had taken the Mata¡¯s head in order to meet Dagda, but if Dagda had given the heads to his children as a gift¡­ it wasn¡¯t strange for the children to also show interest in these heads, but¡­ ¡®Huu¡­ it¡¯s alright. It¡¯s a little different from what I had nned, but things have never gone well for me anyway. ns are there to be broken, right?¡¯ Regardless, it was true that I was a bit concerned. A trial of the God of Love¡­ what kind of trial was this god called Oengus going to give out? I had no idea because there was no such god called Oengus that appeared in the game in the first ce. There were only five gods including Dagda that came out in the game, but that was clearly no longer the case. ¡°Anyway! The fact that you havee here means that young Danann of Justice, the Goddess of Heroes has sent you here, yes? I¡¯m sure you are aware, but we do not readily give treasures that could turn normal people into heroes.¡± ¡°¡­Haa. I am aware. What trial are you going to give us?¡± ¡°Simply put, it¡¯s a contest between you and the three beautifuldies.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± It was hard to tell what exactly the content of the trial was going to be, but all the mythological gods were like this. Dagda was the only exception that did not beat around the bush, and the other gods that came out in the game all spoke of gibberish that confused the yer. ¡°Haa, but if it¡¯s those three¡­¡± Objectively speaking, those girls were a lot better than me. It might be difficult for all three of them to pass but¡­ Maybe two of them could pass at least. Honestly, I had a feeling that all of them would seed except for Alicia. ¡°Ah, looks like my exnation wasn¡¯t enough. The main figure of this trial is not me, but you.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You would lose your memories for a bit but¡­ Well, I wish you all the best.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± -Diring~ The harp yed once as my vision started to fade. The main figure of the trial is me? What did that even mean? Time flew by. After who knows how long, my vision turned clear again, revealing Oengus and the dumbstruck look on his face. ¡°¡­Young man. You are quite the man.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°You have passed the first trial. I certainly wasn¡¯t expecting such overwhelming results. You have truly enlightened this me, the Danann of Love.¡± ¡°Passed? What have I even done to¡­¡± ¡°By the way, the three girls have failed. Aiya~ that was aplete defeat on their part.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± Chapter 146: Mag Mell, The Island of Treasures (2) ? Mag Mell, The Ind of Treasures (2)? ¡°Hello, vampiredy. I am the Son of Youth and the God of Love, Oengus.¡± The beautiful-looking blonde-haired youth who appeared from the thickyer of fog that separated everyone introduced himself while ying his harp. Marie knew that this man was a god who would be giving her a trial. ¡°Hello. Mr¡­ Oengus?¡± ¡°Lovelydy, there¡¯s no need to be so formal.¡± His voice was so sweet that it reeked of honey, but Marie remained indifferent to it. A girl in love was always like this ¨C while thinking that to himself, Oengus looked at her and said with a smile. ¡°This certainly is a rare urrence. Three girls in love with one hero¡­ This must be why they say heroes are debaucherous.¡± ¡°Uht¡­¡± It was nothing new, but hearing thate out from a god that she was seeing for the first time forced Marie to shut her mouth. ¡°How did you¡­¡± ¡°The moment you entered the Ind of Treasures already marked the start of your trials. We have the right and duty to observe the boys and girls that visit us, wanting to be a hero.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­ Don¡¯t tell me¡­?¡± Clenching her teeth, she resentfully red at Oengus. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We are not inconsiderate enough to delve deeply into private matters. Things, however, might be slightly different for Korin Lork, who will be the main figure behind the trial.¡± ¡°Huh? What are you going to do to Korin?¡± ¡°It is because this trial has been formed based on his childhood, youth, and adulthood. Korin Lork from those times may be different, but is still none other than Korin Lork himself. Now, it will be a fight between you all!¡± ¡°W, wait. What do you mean¡­!?¡± ¡°That is for you to see. Now, young girl. I am the Danann of Love; Oengus of Youth. I shall give you the Trial of Love.¡± Dididing~. Oengus the Danann said while ying his harp. He then started speaking in a more formal manner. ¡°T, Trial of Love?¡± ¡°Indeed. Thou must not be enticed; instead, thou shalt be the one enticing. Find thy love.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Y, you mean¡­¡± -Diding~ ¡°This will be a fair battle in a state of oblivion! Attain thy love, young maiden!¡± ¡°Hahht?!¡± ¡°The Trial may tempt thee, but I wish thou will ovee it! Wahahahaha¡­! The one who falls in love first will be the loser!!¡± Like a marriage broker, he finished it off with an exaggeratedugh before disappearing into thin air. ¡°What¡­¡± Marie nkly looked at the ce where Oengus had been standing, but the trial had already begun. ¡°Nn? Senior Marie?¡± ¡°Haht?¡± Korin Lork. A freshman junior from the Academy, whom she hadn¡¯t talked to very often, was standing in front of her. ¡°Umm¡­ Hello, Junior?¡± As if it was her first time seeing him, Marie greeted the junior before her eyes. *** Lately, the Arden household was thriving day after day. Ever since Alicia¡¯s older sister became the family head, the number of their dojos only continued to increase. Nowadays, the Arden Style of swordsmanship had spread all across the continent and had be the standard swordsmanship of every knight, thus infinitely increasing their influence. The one at the center of that abrupt prosperity was her husband and Alicia¡¯s brother-inw. Him. Korin Lork. The husband of her sister, Lunia Arden. He was a warrior who was no weaker than Lunia herself and¡­ unlike Lunia, who tended to be rather brusque and cold, he was acquainted and close to everyone ranging from the influential people in the East to people from the Royal Court. Although his background wasn¡¯t incredible or anything, his ability, andpetence were widely seen as the blessing given to the Arden family. On top of that, he seemed to be in a very good rtionship with Lunia ¨C they were 9 years into the marriage and already had 12 children. The triplets at the end made her wonder how mysterious life was. ¡°I need to visit the Royal Court. This might take a while.¡± ¡°Be safe on your journey.¡± ¡°Yes. And Alicia?¡± ¡°Ah, yes!¡± ¡°Take good care of the children while I am away.¡± ¡°O, okay.¡± ¡°Come on Dear Wife. You have me here; why are you asking Sister-inw for that?¡± ¡°It is to both of you.¡± After hearing that, Korin began staring at Lunia with a smile. In response, Lunia scratched her cheek, looking embarrassed and wondering if she had to do ¡®that¡¯. ¡°You¡¯re leaving on a long journey. Where¡¯s the farewell kiss to your husband?¡± ¡°Do I¡­ have to?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± One of his legs slithered into the gap between Lunia¡¯s legs. The man who dug in with a sly smile wrapped his arms around her waist to lock her in. ¡°You¡¯re making me sad.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± In the end, the one to give up first was Lunia. She, who was like a strong maiden of steel in front of the disciples of the dojo, easily opened her soft lips for her husband. -Gulp! Uaah¡­ Korin came back after a deep and breathtakingly intense farewell. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Sister-inw? Why are you still outside?¡± ¡°M, Mr. Ko¡­ I mean, Brother-inw?¡± Why¡­ was she about to call him Mr. Korin just then? Even though she stopped calling him that after he got married to her sister¡­ ¡°Oh right. Sister-inw? Do you have any news?¡± ¡°N, news?¡± On their way back to the main building, Alicia tilted her head after hearing that abrupt question. ¡°Do you have no ns of going out with someone?¡± ¡°Uht! That¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°I married my dear wife straight after graduation, so I¡¯m surprised there¡¯s nothing happening for you. Don¡¯t you have a lot of guys around?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± That was true. There were quite a lot of guys around her. There were her peers from the Academy, and there were also plenty of young men among the disciples of the Arden dojo. ¡°Have you never had a boyfriend till now? That¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°Wh, what do you mean?¡± ¡°Like, are all the guys around you homosexual? I wonder why they are leaving someone like you alone.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Alicia felt her heart jolt with pain and her body turned warm as if she had a fever. The reason she never had a boyfriend until now, was probably¡­ [Seduce! Attain thy love, girl! Wahahahahahaha¡­!] Suddenly, She remembered hearing those words somewhere. That¡¯s right¡­ I¡­ this person¡­ ¡°Sister-inw?¡± ¡°Aht, yes?¡± ¡°I need to feed the kids now. Do you mind helping?¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­! Yes yes!¡± ¡°One yes is enough.¡± ¡°Auu¡­. R, right.¡± Feeling nervous and uneasy, Alicia followed her brother-inw while, for some reason, wondering if he might have heard the same voice as her. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Kids had a clear distinction between the ones they liked and disliked. In that sense, the adult that Alicia¡¯s 12 cousins liked the most was probably not Lunia nor their nannies, but their father, Korin. ¡°Let¡¯s go¡­!¡± ¡°Kyaaah¡­!¡± One of the kids soared into the sky. It was way too high for a 7-year-old girl, but Alicia was the only one frightened by it. ¡°Uahh¡­?!¡± ¡°Hoit!¡± Korin easily and softly received the girl who started descending after soaring into the sky. Seeing that, Alicia immediately rushed up to him. ¡°B, Brother-inw! That¡¯s too dangerous!¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m telling you. Right, Little Princess?¡± ¡°Yesh!¡± ¡°Seriously! I wonder who you took after to be so brave!¡± ¡°Daddy!¡± -Chuckle! The kids loved Korin. Korin, the ideal father who always yed around with the kids, also enjoyed spending time with his children. As a result, the children liked Korin more than the brusque Lunia. For a long time, they continued ying with the kids. Looking after children was a lot more exhausting than she initially thought, and Alicia was drained in no time. ¡°Huu~¡± Energyless, Aliciaid herself down on the sofa while wiping her sweat off. That was when Korin gave a long stretch and walked over from the other room. ¡°Finally, they¡¯re all sleeping. Great work, Sister-inw.¡± ¡°Y, you too.¡± Korin flopped down on the sofa next to her. Alicia stealthily stole a nce. Her brother-inw was drenched in sweat due to him actively ying with the kids. He fluttered the cor of his shirt to cool himself down as a thick scent of sweat tickled her nose. ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± She didn¡¯t know why, but her instincts were telling her. It was telling her to make this man fall for her; to make his heart beat fast. ¡°B, Brother-inw!¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°W, would you like to drink?¡± ¡­¡­ ¡­ In the end, she fed him alcohol. Actually, it was more correct to say that she fed herself alcohol if anything. It wasn¡¯t something she could say with a sane and rational mind, so Alicia built up courage with the power of alcohol. She knew how this was immoral and hical. Craving the man of her sister¡­ How could someone possibly do that to their sister? But¡­ ¡®It¡¯s not that bad, is it?¡¯ Monogamy? How outdated of an ideology is that? She did feel sorry for her sister but decided it should be alright. It wasn¡¯t like she would be chased out¡­ Well, she might be but Alicia decided to leave that forter. Alicia Arden. She was a frighteningly optimisticdy. ¡°Ughh¡­¡± After being forced to chug a bunch of alcohol, her brother-inw, Korin, was so drunk that he continued swaying left and right. Now was her chance! It was time to go for a fait apli¡ª! ¡°Brother-inw¡­ Sister is not¡­¡± ¡°Aliciaaaa~.¡± ¡°Yesh?¡± A deep voice reached her ears. Seeing the faint smile on the face of her brother-inw as he looked into her eyes, Alicia felt her heart skip a beat. ¡°Drinking like this reminds me of the old days¡­¡± The young man said, reminiscing the memories of the past. He was a lot more maturepared to how he was at the Academy and was a father of 12 children, but he was still young and¡­ ¡°Thank you. Thanks to you, I got to meet Lunia and¡­ I¡¯m very happy now.¡± Korin spoke of the old times. Each and every one of his words¡­ stirred the conscience of Alicia, who was still a young maiden at heart. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Intoxicated by the drink, Korin started to fall sideways and rested his head on her shoulder. Surprised by the sudden weight on her shoulders Alicia jolted, which made Korin¡¯s head slip even further down to herp. ¡°M, Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± Frozen stiff, Alicia couldn¡¯t do anything while her brother-inw stayed there rubbing his cheek on her bare thigh. Someone was bound to misunderstand them if they happened toe in at this time. -Gulp! However, rather than being conscious of the possible eyes of others, Alicia had her mind focused on her brother-inw, who was resting his head on her thighs. Slowly but surely¡­ her lips approached his. They shivered, as her heart beat rapidly the closer she was to his lips. Those lips that must have been craving her older sister¡¯s every night ¨C those lips that left innumerable traces on her sister¡¯s skin¡­ was atst¡­ ¡°Sister-inw¡­¡± ¡°Huet? What? I haven¡¯t done anything yet!!¡± Startled, Alicia quickly distanced herself by straightening up her back. Sweating profusely, she rolled her eyes, hoping that he didn¡¯t notice it. ¡°Sister-in¡­~¡± Fortunately, her brother-inw did not notice her wicked actions. If he had found out about it¡­ Simply thinking about that gave her the creeps. A cold yet pleasant chill rose up her spine while her lower belly shivered and jolted. ¡°B, Brother-inw.¡± ¡°Huhu. Sister-inw¡­ You¡¯re my cute little sister-inw.¡± Oblivious to what was just about to be done to him, Korin reached his hand out and yed with Alicia¡¯s cheeks with those thick arms and hands. ¡°You cute little girl¡­ How sad that you¡¯ve never had a date before.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­ Are you teasing me?¡± ¡°Having a date is a good thing¡­ Look at me. Everything I did with Lunia was fun~¡± Korin and Lunia were very famous among the people of the Arden household for being extremely lovey-dovey. Considering how normal couples of renowned households were forged by political marriages, their rtionship was certainly a rare one. Both of them were diligent and loyal to their family; they cherished each other and showered one another with endless love. Alicia was extremely jealous of that. As an illegitimate child born from an affair and one who couldn¡¯t receive her due love ever since a young age, the girl with nothing but the family name of Arden had been yearning for love. That was why she had been dreaming of a normal family. ¡°Sister-inw¡­ Alicia¡­¡± ¡°Yes¡­ Brother-inw.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it about time for you to be happy as well?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Hearing that, she suddenly realized something. Throughout her time at the Academy, her eyes had always been on him. Even when he ended up with her sister, she couldn¡¯t say anything due to her inferiorityplex. ¡®I liked Mr. Korin the whole time.¡¯ It was nothing new, but she realized that all the more. -Thump¡­! Alicia Arden. Fail. *** ¡®Hua. What are we having for lunch today? I want to have a grilled Pacific saury in the city!¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± As always, Hua responded to the chatterbox called Ran with silence. However, this time, it was not from the usual indifference but because she was deeply pondering about something. ¡®Hua?¡¯ ¡°¡­Something¡¯s strange.¡± ¡®Are you talking about that again?¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± She quietly closed her eyes to her sister¡¯s question. There was something ¨C something that she was forgetting. When thinking deeply to herself, she could faintly remember the fact that she had forgotten something, but as if surrounded by a thickyer of fog, she simply couldn¡¯t see through it. ¡®Did we forget something?¡¯ ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know.¡± Despite feeling strange, Hua Ran nheless headed to the grilled fish restaurant in the city. It was her 2nd year at the Academy, and Hua Ran was well-versed enough in the city to visit most of her favorite restaurants by herself. The girl who loved fish always looked for a fish restaurant whenever she visited the city, whether it be the famous restaurant owned by the old man who had been making sushi for dozens of years, or the ce that sold grilled fish in set meals. What should I have today? What kind of fish would be a good pick today? Roaming around the streets, the girl was looking around when her sister whispered into her ears. ¡®Hua. That one there.¡¯ The store her sister pointed out was a shabby yet familiar restaurant. It had cheap prices and used fresh fish¡­ it was a store that was ¡®rmended¡¯ to her. ¡°Who was it by¡­?¡± Scavenging through her faint memories, Hua Ran subconsciously started heading to that restaurant. She was looking at the menu, thinking of getting a grilled fish as always, when her sister suddenly raised an opinion. ¡®¡­Braised¡­ Can we have braised fish?¡¯ There was no reason behind it. Ran was simply saying that she felt like it, but Hua had the same idea. ¡°What would you like for today?¡± ¡°Braised¡­ Mackerel.¡± Before long, a dish of braised mackerel was served to her table. It was a bit too much for her to have by herself and¡­ it reminded her of a dinner menu that was ¡®made for her¡¯ and others to enjoy together. ¡®How do you¡­ debone a fish again?¡¯ The braised mackerel that she was having for the first time in a while tasted different from the one in her distant memories. They were iparably different. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Hua and Ran tended to spend a lot of time thinking by themselves. Both of them were born with a calm personality and often had the tendency of nkly staring into the sky. Put nicely, it was thinking by themselves; frankly, it was just wasting time. They were spending time like that yet again at the za. In the za with a soaring fountain and a clock tower gazing down from above, people threw nces at the indifferent-looking girl wearing nun clothes as they walked by. It couldn¡¯t be helped because Hua Ran was, objectively speaking, someone who grabbed people¡¯s attention. ¡°Woah. What a pretty sister.¡± But it was rare for someone to approach her openly like this one boy. ¡°¡­¡± Hua Ran, who had been nkly staring at the sky, slowly turned her gaze back down. At the end of her gaze was a boy with bluish-ck hair, holding a fairy floss in his hands. His eyes were red but reminded one more of the sunset than a ruby, and he was a small boy who didn¡¯t even look 7. ¡°Miss Sister. Would you like some fairy floss?¡± Because she was wearing a religious outfit by default, she was received well at the start by people from the same religion. This was probably an extension of that. ¡°Un.¡± Since she didn¡¯t hate sweet stuff, Hua Ran dly took a bite of the boy¡¯s fairy floss. Leaving behind a long string, the cluster of sweet strings that tasted fluffy like the clouds entered her mouth. Some of the stickiness of sugar was left behind on her hands, but Hua Ran wasn¡¯t the type to worry about such things. ¡°Tasty, right?¡± ¡°¡­Un.¡± By the time she realized it, the boy had sat next to her on the edge of the fountain basin and was licking the fairy floss. ¡°Oh right.¡± He took out a handkerchief and wetted it with water before handing it over to her. ¡°You need to wipe your hands.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Seeing that, even the indifferent Hua Ran unconsciously thought to herself how he was a very considerate boy. ¡®He¡¯s so cute.¡¯ The sister inside her body said with a giggle, after seemingly having a good impression of the boy. ¡°Miss Sister. What were you doing here?¡± ¡°¡­Thinking.¡± ¡°About what?¡± For a while, she had been feeling strange. It felt like she had forgotten something, or rather, someone. A normal person would have glossed over it, thinking that they must be overthinking things but it was different for her. Hua Ran wasn¡¯t just one person. She was made up of two people, Hua and Ran. The strange inkling that Hua felt was shared by Ran, and as a result, the two of them reached the conclusion that they were forgetting something important. ¡°I forgot someone. Even though I shouldn¡¯t have¡­¡± She forgot ¨C a person that should have been unforgettable. She didn¡¯t know why but wanted to retrieve that person. ¡°Sister?¡± ¡®Hua¡­ Don¡¯t cry.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m not¡­¡± Tears flowed down her eyes. The drops of water that flowed out of her crimson eyes wetted her cheeks and dripped down her chin. ¡®Don¡¯t cry¡­ Hkk¡­!¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ crying. Something got into my eyes¡­¡± Surprised by her sister who was crying after her, Hua tried her best to give an excuse but her unending tears continued, showing no signs ofing to a stop. ¡°Sister.¡± She was wiping her falling tears with the back of her hands when the boy handed her another handkerchief. ¡°Pretty Sister. Stop dropping beautiful gems on the ground.¡± ¡°Htt?¡± Wipe wipe. The boy said while gently wiping her eyes. He then gave her a bright smile as if trying to change her tears into a smile simr to his own. ¡°Sister Yonghee in our neighborhood is also a crybaby, you know? So I always tell her to smile, because her smiles are very pretty.¡± Flustered, her mind momentarily stopped functioning and so did her tears. Using his own fingers, the boy lifted the ends of her lips before saying with another smile. ¡°Look. I knew it. Sister, you are a lot prettier when you smile. ¡°So please smile. I want you to smile all the time and not cry. ¡°Did you forget someone? Should we look for them together?¡± ¡­¡­ ¡­ Hua Ran. Fail. *** A good person. That was the impression Marie got from her junior as she spent more and more time with him. Korin Lork. There was something about this boy who was a grade below her in the Academy, that put people at ease. ¡°Korin Lork? He is very famous.¡± ¡°I, is he?¡± Even her best friend and ssmate, Isabelle, was highly appreciative of him. ¡°He is quite good-looking and kind.¡± ¡°Y, you¡¯re right¡­ Does he have¡­ a lot of girls around him?¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m pretty sure there are a few in our grade that are after him. I know someone went out and had lunch with him in the city yesterday.¡± ¡°Haht¡­! Is he¡­ that popr?¡± ¡°Why are you asking that? Are you going after him as well, Marie?¡± ¡°N, nooo!?¡± Isabelle chuckled and gave a knowing smile to her exaggerated reaction. It was an obvious smile of mockery so Marie punched her on the arm but that did not remove the smile on her face. ¡°It won¡¯t be easy though. Because Junior Korin has a guardian deity.¡± ¡°Huh? A guardian deity?¡± ¡°Well¡­ You¡¯ll see soon enough. You can give it a shot. I feel sorry for him though.¡± Even though she didn¡¯t know what Isabelle meant by that, Marie decided to muster her courage. Until then, the only interaction she had with Korin was one or two conversations with him during the mixed lectures and when she was one-sidedly looking at him training in the training rooms. For some reason, she couldn¡¯t stop her eyes from trying to find him. That day, when she took courage, the boy was training in the training rooms as always. Throwing away his shirt that was drenched in sweat, the boy was swinging his spear. Each and every one of his intense swings fluttered drops of sweat into the air but the boy remained firm and tranquil. It was because of that that¡­ her eyes were always on him. She found him to be very cool. ¡°J, junior Korin¡ª¡± ¡°Senior Marie?¡± That was when someone stood in the way and talked to her. Stopping her feet, Marie turned nkly to the boy who stopped her in her tracks. His hair and eyes were dark like obsidian. He had a tall nose and delicate facial features, as well as a slick jawline and charming lips. He looked so beautiful that one had to wonder how there could be such a good-looking boy but¡­ he gave her the impression of a sly fox that preyed on people. ¡°J, junior Park Sihu, right?¡± ¡°Yes, and?¡± For some unknown reason, he had a hostile tone of voice as he red at her. Feeling wronged, Marie raised her voice. ¡°Can you move aside please?¡± In response to her clear request, Sihu gave a deep frown and closed his eyes after a sigh. ¡°¡­Hah, there¡¯s no end to these fucking bitches.¡± It was a softment that did not even reach the person standing directly in front of him. Chapter 147: Mag Mell, The Island of Treasures (3) ? Mag Mell, The Ind of Treasures (3) ? ¡°Can you move aside please?¡± ¡°¡­Hah, there¡¯s no end to these fucking bitches.¡± ¡°Hnn? What did you just¡­¡± ¡°Nothing. What¡¯s your business with Br- Korin?¡± Marie had a feeling that she heard something incredibly disrespectful just then but¡­ decided not to say anything because it was such a soft whisper that she couldn¡¯t make out anything with certainty. On the other hand, he made her feel rather ufortable. It was hard to tell why, especially considering that he was a man, but¡­ she had a feeling that he was her rival in love. ¡°What¡¯s going on? What¡¯s up?¡± Drenched in sweat, Korin walked up to the boy who was blocking the road like a guardian deity and grabbed him by the shoulder. ¡°Please¡­ I told you not to touch me with your sweat.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯re all dudes.¡± As beads of sweat flowed down his cheeks, Korin ran his fingers through Sihu¡¯s hair. ¡°By the way, Senior Marie? What brings you here?¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­! Junior Korin!¡± Not knowing where to look, Marie rolled her eyes but furtively stole several nces at his bare upper body. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± That was when Park Sihu stood in the way to block her sight. ¡°Ughh¡­!¡± He was being a nuisance. Why was this boy constantly in the way? Actually, Marie already knew the answer to that question. ¡°Sihu. Move aside a bit. That¡¯s disrespectful when she bothered toe all the way here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s nothing important.¡± ¡°Huh? Little guy, why are you so aggressive today? Anyway, Senior? Did you have something to talk about?¡± ¡°Hnn? You see¡­ N, no! Let¡¯s talk about itter.¡± A sharp re pointing at Marie stopped her from saying anything. Naturally, it was Park Sihu who was ring at her. ¡®He¡¯s not even nning to hide it¡­¡¯ For now, she decided to postpone the n and left the training rooms. ¡°Yo, Sihu! Should we let off some sweat as fellow brothers?!¡± ¡°Stop that shit. I told you it¡¯s disgusting, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Apparently there¡¯s a new sauna in the city as well. We can drop by and clean ourselves there.¡± ¡°¡­Sure.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Even after that, Marie tried to approach Korin several times. However, most of those attempts ended in failure before she could even talk to him, because of an intruder who always prevented the two of them from being by themselves. ¡°That guy¡¯s weird! He¡¯s so annoying!!¡± ¡°Yes yes. Calm down and have some of your steamed potatoes.¡± Isabelle rmended a potato in an attempt to soothe her down. As if pouring out all of her stress on the salted potatoes, she munched through them at an unstoppable speed. ¡°What is wrong with him? That Park Sihu guy¡­!¡± ¡°Looking at how much you hate him, Marie, I can already tell he must be one interesting fellow.¡± Marie¡¯s best friend gave deeppliments to the boy called Park Sihu, who must be something else to earn the open hatred of a girl like Marie, who was like a friendly capybara to everyone. ¡°Listen to me, Isabelle! Park Sihu, that guy made a n with Korin to go to Holy Panda!¡± ¡°Holy Panda? You mean that fine-dining restaurant that costs at least a gold coin per meal?¡± Holy It was by far one of the best and most famous restaurants for a dating couple, that even appeared in the Monthly Merchelin Guide. ¡°So you¡¯re saying two guys are going there by themselves?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± That guy called Sihu was making it fairly obvious though. At this point, weren¡¯t they a half-established couple already¡­? ¡°I haven¡¯t heard about Korin dating Sihu though?¡± ¡°Dating? Haht! What kind of horrifying thing are you talking about? Boys can¡¯t date other boys!¡± ¡°Ahh~. Southerners these days.¡± Marie¡¯s home was in the south and was and of farmers who were responsible for feeding the entire continent. By nature, farmers tended to be conservative and masculine. Homosexuality was difficult for them to understand. And Marie was the Princess of the South. Even though she wasn¡¯t the type to say bad things about anything, her deep-rooted preconception as a person from the South was revealed by her speech. ¡°Anyway, the fact of the matter is that Park Sihu is thoroughly defensive of Korin. Going to Holy huh? Hmm~. Maybe he¡¯s going to give him a ring there?¡± ¡°Haht! Why do you keep saying something like that? Even if humans allow it, the gods won¡¯t allow it!¡± Unable to hold herself back anymore, Marie shot out of her seat. ¡°This won¡¯t do! I will go there myself!¡± ¡°Nn? To Holy Panda? It¡¯s based on reservations though. It will be hard to make a booking at the same time as them.¡± ¡°I can just book for a whole day and pay in advance! If that doesn¡¯t work, I¡¯ll just buy that restaurant!¡± ¡°¡­Marie.¡± Isabelle was slightly frightened by the lengths her best friend was willing to go in terms of over-using money. ¡°Isabelle. You¡¯reing with me, right?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°They only take reservations for 2 people or above. So pleasee with me.¡± ¡°¡­Just keep in mind that others will see us in the same light as Park Sihu.¡± Her criticism was buried by Marie¡¯s enthusiastic shout. *** The 3 Merchelin Star, a super exquisite fine-dining restaurant located at the center of the city, Holy was a high-ss restaurant with no equal in Merkarva. They provided the best service; the store was well-ornamented straight from the entrance and had the best chefs from around the world. Naturally, the staff members had elegance and ss that suited their pride in their job. ¡°Wow~. It¡¯s my first timeing to a restaurant like this.¡± Isabelle was baffled by the fancy status of the store but on the other hand, Marie simply handed her mini-bag to one of the staff without looking too impressed. ¡°Mhmm. Not bad.¡± Despite saying that, she thought otherwise. It was way too extravagant. The needlessly fancy and expensive decorations all around the store were proof of the self-conceit of the owner who must have suddenly be rich. Marie wasn¡¯t interested enough to be irritated by the materialistic appearance of this restaurant. It was simply out of her interest. For her, this restaurant just appeared like it was around a few meters ahead of the hundreds of other restaurants in this city. But¡­ her unit of measurement was in kilometers and that was why she couldn¡¯t be bothered to remark about this ce. The only thing in this ce that could garner her irritation was the two boys that just entered this restaurant. Marie was sitting on the 2nd floor, which she had booked out for the whole day, where she could gaze down at all the tables on the 1st floor including where the boys were. ¡°Look. Marie. I heard this ce was famous for roasted beef.¡± ¡°Nn¡­ Order whatever you want.¡± Leaving aside her best friend who was excited by the menu of the super exquisite restaurant, Marie¡¯s eyes were fixated on Korin and Sihu. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Wow~. This is crazy expensive! And this ce looks amazing.¡± ¡°Stop being a kid and just look at the menu.¡± Korin was looking around with an agape mouth while Sihu opened the menu, looking indifferent as always. ¡°How much does this one cost?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the individual prices. We have money.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not my money though, it¡¯s yours.¡± ¡°You helped out a lot bro, so some of it is yours.¡± ¡°Fufu. You little guy. Did you put honey on your mouth? That was very sweet of you to say that.¡± ¡°Stop saying nonsense. If you don¡¯t feel like anything, I¡¯ll just get a full course.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, sure.¡± Before long, the staff started bringing out a bunch of dishes to ce on their table. ¡°Aiya~. This looks amazing.¡± ¡°You sound just like a kid.¡± Despite saying that, Sihu watched over Korin¡¯s exaggerated reaction with a faint smile. ¡°Wow. Look at this wine. Centuries-old? 30 silver coins a ss? Oh, my word! There is no way I¡¯m not trying out this 300-dor wine!¡± ¡°You¡¯re embarrassing me. Can you just eat quietly?¡± Korin created a fuss as he took a sip from his wine. It was an expensive wine that cost 30 silver coins for a single ss, and that seemed enough to put a wide smile on his lips. ¡°You should give it a shot too.¡± After taking a sip, he handed the wine over. Sihu, who usually did not drink alcohol, said in a fluster with a straight look on his face. ¡°T, that¡¯s dirty. You just touched it with your mouth.¡± ¡°We are all dudes. Don¡¯t worry about it and just try. It¡¯s absolutely incredible.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± The boy received the ss from Korin after a gulp. Sihu rotated the wine ss a bit andid his lips on the rim of the ss that Korin drank from. Indeed, it was incredible. In a lot of ways. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Look at that! Look, look at his eyes! Look at that ¡®I¡¯m in love¡¯ face that he¡¯s making!¡± ¡°Hupp¡­!¡± Isabelle and Marie, who were watching over their meal from the 2nd floor, showed contrasting reactions. ¡°This won¡¯t do!¡± ¡°Marie?¡± Clenching her fists, Marie red at the immoral scene downstairs that the gods wouldn¡¯t allow. ¡°I will ask him out tomorrow¡­!¡± *** They arranged a date. Technically it wasn¡¯t a date but Korin helping her run some errands in the city, but the contents were clearly that of a date no matter how you saw it, that consisted of ns to have dinner together and watch a circus that recently visited the town. ¡°Huu¡­ Clothes are fine; both my shoes and the ne are new¡­¡± Because of the apparent and aggressive contender, Marie was burning with fighting spirit. ¡°Good!¡± The ce they were going to meet at was one of the restaurants in the city, Cherry ck, an exquisite fine-dining restaurant that Marie had recently bought for herself. Everything was fully prepared. Now, all she had to do was enjoy the traditional southern dishes that would be served there, which were iparably better than Holy Panda¡¯s, and have a fun time watching the circus that she invited to the city and¡ª The moment she left the campus, a strange feeling started to cover her body. Soon, the world around her started to change along with a surge of mana that directly attacked her skin. ¡°Huh?¡± Everyone, ranging from the old guard who was bidding her farewell at the main gates of the campus to the peers who were talking to her, wondering where she was going¡ª they all started to disappear from her sight. It was as if she was being transferred to a different dimension. She immediately realized that this was some type of arge-scale magic barrier after instinctively readying herself forbat. ¡°Tch. You have good senses.¡± There was another person in that gloomy world ¨C Park Sihu was staring at her with a robe cast over him. ¡°Junior¡­ Park Sihu?¡± Marie was shocked and confused, but she quickly analyzed the barrier nheless. Dimensional Detachment; Alternate Dimension-ification and Deration of Unsurpassable Triangle. All three of those spells had been cast at once, putting it at the level of a grand spell. Park Sihu hadbined multiple spells to form a semi-grand spell, which should only be possible by the Lord of the Magic Tower. He was clearly not at the level of a mere student. ¡°Why¡­ have you done this?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re a bit annoying.¡± Hearing that, Marie pulled up more mana from within in preparation for a battle. It was extremely rare for students from the Academy to try to kill each other, but this time her instincts were telling her that this would be a fight for life and death. ¡°Hmm¡­ How am I annoying?¡± ¡°You know, Senior. I can somehow stop the other bitches but you¡­ you get on my nerves a bit too much.¡± Marie readied herself for battle as Park Sihu simrly pulled up mana from his endless source in response. The abundant supply of mana from the two of them filled the dimension as they both prepared themselves to dash in towards their foe. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was no need for a conversation as the two of them unhesitatingly poured their explosive attacks toward their love rival. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Strong. Marie was a Grade 1 mage and a pride of the Academy. She was a prodigy of magic, who was believed to be able to be a Unique-Grade mage in the future. However, even Marie was unable to reach the inexplicable talent, Park Sihu. He should have used, and should be using a tremendous amount of mana to create and maintain the alternate dimension, and yet he was pouring out an incredible number of spells like a storm. She could not perceive the depth of his magic. There was no end to his mana and no pause to his grand spells. -Kwaaang! A gushing torrent of mes erupted, breaking through her defense and sending her flying. ¡°Kuhuk¡­!¡± The girl with water-colored hair rolled across the ground. Her dress that she had painstakingly put on was in tatters, but now wasn¡¯t the time to worry about that. ?Snowke Spear? She pointed at Park Sihu the grand spell, which she prepared even at the cost of allowing an attack from him. ?Shadow Restraint? However, ck hands emerged immediately after her spell. Tens and hundreds of those ominous-looking hands shot out of every corner of the dimension and restrained the spear. ¡°It¡¯s futile. I am invincible in this ce.¡± The beautiful-looking boy walked forward while showing off the overwhelming difference in power. He gazed down at Marie with a cold expression that contradicted his amiable appearance. ¡°Give up. He¡¯s mine.¡± ¡°Ughh¡­!¡± ¡°He¡¯s the only real one in this world¡­ Do you think I¡¯ll let NPCs like you have him?¡± Trampling on the back of her hand, Park Sihu started showering her with contempt and iprehensible words. ¡°Do you know what the problem is with this shit fucking world? There are too many bitches like you. You are all fake. You are all nothing but NPCs, and yet all of you try to steal him from me.¡± Marie couldn¡¯t understand what he was talking about but what she did understand was that this man¡­ wasn¡¯t in his right mind. Power. She needed more power ¨C power that could let her escape from this predicament. And she had something up her sleeve. There should be something that she hadn¡¯t used yet. ¡°¡­Go.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Doggoooo¡­! Bite¡­!¡± -Kyaaooh! Suddenly, arge silhouette emerged out of her shadows. It soon formed the shape of a crimson-red demonic dog that let out a high-pitched roar. ¡°What?!¡± It was the sudden appearance of another foe. Park Sihu certainly wasn¡¯t expecting a familiar to abruptly shoot out of her shadow, and ended up allowing its sharp teeth to bite into his neck. The situation turned on its toe in the blink of an eye. Marie¡¯s red eyes that were now ring down at Park Sihu, who was being pressed down by therge dog, gleamed ominously in red. ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are. I have no idea why you are doing this to me, nor am I interested.¡± ¡°Kuuk¡­! Y, you fucking¡­!¡± ¡°But Korin is mine! I¡¯m having him for myself¡­!¡± It was a massive reversal. Marie then dered at her junior who kept ring at her with hatred in his eyes. ¡°Besides, a guy liking a guy¡­! That¡¯s disgusting!¡± ¡°YOUUUUU¡­!¡± ¡­¡­. ¡­ The dress that she had prepared with great effort was torn apart and the expensive pearl ne was snapped in the heat of the battle. The heels that she wore to make herself look prettier were already thrown away. Marie continued running. In tatters and bare feet, she raced across the night. She had no idea why she was like this. Besides, she couldn¡¯t even properly remember the dog called Doggo that had suddenly emerged out of her shadows. Several lines of thought were confusing her mind¡­ so she threw all of them away. Recing all those concerns was a simple logic and a certain future. Running forward like this, she was bound to meet that boy. That was the sole reason she continued to run. Her legs were in pain, but regardless, she continued running on bare feet. It was toote to regret it, so she ran as fast as she could. ¡°Uht¡­!¡± She saw the starry night sky above. Was she okay on time? Wasn¡¯t shete? What if Korin already went back because she was toote? Everything was going horrible. Her clothes were in a mess and she wasn¡¯t punctual either. So¡­ why was it, that there was still a smile on her face? [I want Marie Dunareff to be happy.] There was an unknownment that floated up her mind whenever she thought of him. A fragment of her memories that she no longer remembered. ¡°Haht¡­ Haaht! Haa!¡± Gasping for breath, she took a deep breath in¡­ and floated a smile of certainty. If it¡¯s Korin¡­ The Korin she knows¡­ ¡­Will definitely still be there waiting for her. ¡°Haha. I feel so dumb.¡± How was I so sure of that? Based on what and how? Marie smiled after asking that to herself. It was simple. There was no logic behind it; no proof nor reason. If it¡¯s Korin, That¡¯s what he would be doing. Because that was the type of person my Korin was. ¡°Senior?¡± ¡°Haa, haak¡­ Haa!!¡± Seeing Korin widen his eyes intorge circles in doubt, Marie heaved a sigh of relief. She couldn¡¯t feel her legs ¨C they were shivering so hard that they threatened to snap and in the end¡­ ¡°Senior?!¡± Unable to keep herself standing, shended on her date standing before her. ¡°Like, what is with all this? How did you hurt yourself so bad?¡± ¡°Hehe, hehe¡­¡± She couldn¡¯t reply ¨C or rather, she didn¡¯t. Instead, she simply smiled and buried her face in his warm embrace, which she had forgotten for a long time. On that starry night, the girlid her hands on the Sun. Although sparkling above them was the Moon, marking the end of her dream, she was sure that this was going to be a night marking the start of a bunch of things. The youthful story of the boy and the girl¡­ [Well, the trial was over a long time ago, but it was so interesting that I watched it for far too long.] Watching all that unfold, the Danann of Love and Youth stayed there enjoying the sentiments that he received from their dream of oblivion. Seeing what woulde after this wouldn¡¯t be nice of him ¨C the story that would unravel from there onwards was going to be a legendary epic¡­ or a romantic epic. [Now, dash to the Ending of Love, young children! This world will surelyst even after the ending!] Marie Dunareff¡¯s trial came to an end alongside the blessing of the god. It was a perfect and undeniable defeat for Marie. *** ¡°So¡­ You¡¯re saying all three of them have failed?¡± ¡°That is certainly the case! It is all thanks to your immacte skill.¡± ¡°Why¡­ Why was it you of all people¡­¡± ¡°Because there is an abundance of love around you! It was natural that I took interest in you!¡± ¡°What have I done to deserve this¡­¡± ¡°Wahahahaha¡­! So what if you fail? I am already desperately looking forward to your future!¡± The boy whopletely defeated the girls let out a wild scream¡­ while the Danann of Love gave a heartyughter andmanded the beginning of the next trial. ¡°This is your next trial, young man!¡± Suddenly, the surroundings started to change. The gloomy foggy ind started to morph into a bright and sunnyke. But what caught Korin¡¯s eyes the most weren¡¯t the nts, the forests, or theke that was so clear that you could see the bottom of it but¡­ the countless swans that were chained up at the center of theke. ¡°Now. Here we have 150 swans. O young man embracing countless love¡­! Thy lovely girls are hidden among these swans!¡± 150 swans, and it appeared that Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran had been transformed into simr swans. ¡°Thy job is to find thy lovely girls from this group!¡± ¡°¡­How?¡± ¡°With the power of love!¡± ¡°You freaking bastard!¡± Chapter 148: Nuada Airgetlam (1) ? Nuada Airgem (1) ? Let me, the Danann of Love, talk a little bit about my old memories. One day, I fell in love with ady whom I saw in my dreams. That love was so strong and fierce, that I fell sick and had to stay in bed. I searched everywhere across paradise to find thatdy, and my family was with me throughout that journey for love. It¡¯s something I am still grateful to them for. Like that, my brother and I found thedy. Her name was Caer. Caer Ibormeith, the daughter of Ethal. I led countless treasures and animals and asked Mother-inw for her daughter¡¯s hand in marriage, but she did not give her permission. Therefore, I dly fought her and asked her once again after defeating her but¡ª ¡°Wait, what? Defeating her? Did you fight against your mother-inw?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s with those eyes? They seem like the eyes of someone looking at a piece of trash.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°It might be difficult to understand the culture from several thousand years ago from a modern viewpoint, and in the first ce, how would mortals possibly understand the ideas of gods?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Ehem! How dare you! You Goidels are worse ¨C don¡¯t your heroes kidnap women for their hand in marriage? There was even a hero who raped ady on the spot after defeating her and gave her a way for their child to look for him!¡± ¡°¡­Trash.¡± ¡°How dare you!¡± Ignoring Korin¡¯s gaze of contempt, Oengus the Danann of ¡®Love¡¯ finished his love story. ¡°However, this was what my mother-inw told me. She could not force Caer, who was stronger than herself, to get married.¡± ¡°How much respect did the Danann have for the strong? Because that sounds like a lot.¡± ¡°The Ard-Ri that inherited the position of the King of Gods had always been the strongest Danann of that generation. Do I need any further exnation?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°In any case, Caer lived in the form of a swan once every year and lived while hiding herself in ake with 150 swans. From the 150 swans there, I found Caer, sang the magical song for three days and three nights, and finally shared love with her!¡± That finally marked the end of his long and rather barbaric story of love. The Danann of Love, Oengus who achieved his love, dered to Korin. ¡°Korin. O Korin Lork! Thou young hero and the loved one of many girls, who must ovee the trials of the Danann of Love! Can thee find thy loved ones from these countless swans over here? From now, I shall exin the rules of the-¡± ?Orb of the Grim Reaper? -Boom! -Squeak! Squeak! -Quanng! Brutally the swans were massacred. Meanwhile, Korin hugged the three leftover swans that were looking at him withrge blinking eyes and put them before Oengus. ¡°Hurry up and return the girls.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong?¡± You told me to find them, and I did. Right? *** Find Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran from the group of 150 swans. I was a bit flustered when I first heard the nonsense of, ¡®Find them with the power of love,¡¯ but after thinking it through, I realized that it wasn¡¯t that difficult of a quest. In my possession was the ¡®Orb of the Grim Reaper¡¯, which I had acquired from the Grim Reaper. It was a hidden piece that could carry out arge-scale attack on the soul whenbined with a specific item. This orb, which had the power to immediately kill any animal with a weak connection between the body and the soul, was bound to kill all the other swans except for the 3 humans. -Quack¡­! As expected, most of the swans were massacred, and left behind were 3 swans that were looking at me with clear, sparkling eyes. ¡°These swans are the three of them, right?¡± ¡°Knng¡­¡± Oengus turned to the swans in my arms. Soon, he clicked his tongue and shook his head. ¡°Tch tch¡­! Relying on petty tricks like that isn¡¯t the true path of a hero.¡± ¡°We are no longer barbarians that kidnap and rape women. We need to use our brains.¡± ¡°Ehem! Like I said, that¡¯s not what happened!¡± In any case, unlike Stage 1 which was way too hard, Stage 2 was rtively easy, but the variable called the Danann of Love was enough to make me nervous in a lot of ways. ¡°The next stage should be the final one, right? You¡¯re not going to give me another strange trial, are you?¡± ¡°Hmm, this time, it will truly be a trial of love-¡± ¡ª!! It was then. The area around theke where Oengus and I were standing in started to crack and deform. The bodies of the massacred swans vanished as if they hadn¡¯t been there from the start, and the peacefulke transformed into a barren wastnd. Moytura. It was thend where the Danann fought against the warriors of darkness and a ruin from the past which was also essible in the game. That was when iomh Sis woke up inside me. The soaring heat was so fierce that it threatened to scorch everything in existence, but thanks to the Blessing of the Sun, I was safe from all sorts of heat and mes. Seeing that iomh Sis was activated without me doing anything¡­ ¡°Nuada Airgem.¡± ¡°That is so, Inheritor of the Sun.¡± Standing in front of me was a man with an extraordinary countenance and atmosphere. His blonde hair shone brightly like the Sun. One of the strongest Ard Ri from the race of Danann was standing there with a crimson coat cast over his shoulders. He was one of the five Danann that could be encountered at Mag Mell in the game. ¡°You don¡¯t seem so surprised. As if you¡¯ve been expecting it.¡± Nuada looked directly into my eyes with his fierce crimson gaze while stroking his beard. He had the dignity of a king who could suppress normal people with nothing but his gaze, but I was also a veteran who had gone through countless battles. ¡°I was expecting either you or Dagda from the start. I really wasn¡¯t expecting that romanticist to show up.¡± ¡°Hoho, romanticist? How dare you!¡± Oengus tried to add something else but shut his mouth when Nuada stopped him. Oengus was just a normal god whereas Nuada was the Ard Ri, the King of Gods. It was obvious who had more say between the two of them here. ¡°I will grant him the third trial.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t feel offended by it, Oengus. He hase here with iomh Sis. Naturally, he must be after my Airgem.¡± Saying that, Nuada revealed his arm which had been hidden beneath his crimson cape. That arm of his wasn¡¯t a normal one, but a synthetic one gleaming in silver. Eochaid Bres, one of the King¡¯s Subjects who used to use iomh Sis in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? had another item with him ¨C the epic item, Airgem (Silver Arm). It was an item that was necessary for someone to gain perfect control over the Sun, iomh Sis. Originally, it was supposed to go to Eochaid Bres but was left behind in this iteration, which was nothing strange. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve had my fill so I will leave thest trial to Ard Ri. However, King Nuada.¡± ¡°What is it, Danann of Love.¡± ¡°Once the trial is over, I hope you return everything back to normal.¡± ¡°Hoh~. Have you be fond of that young man? May I ask why?¡± In response to his question, Oengus replied after turning around with a beautiful smile on his face. ¡°He¡¯s someone being loved by severaldies! We cannot have those girls cry in sorrow!¡± ¡°Hmm, I will. Only if he passes the trial.¡± After saying that, Nuada turned his gaze towards me. Nuada Airgem. He was one of the 3 Kings of Gods that represented the race of Danann and was the 2nd strongest god out of the five strongest Danann. At the same time, he was the owner of one of the 4 great treasures except for Lia Fail which was always given to the Ard Ri as the stone of destiny. Spear of Light Areadbhair of Lugh. Magic Cauldron Undry of Dagda. And Nuada was the owner of the Sword of the Sun, iomh Sis. When I brought the head of Mata, the hundred-legged four-headed monster, I was anticipating that the one showing up would likely be Dagda, the one who defeated that monster, but at the same time, it was possible for Nuada toe due to the iomh Sis inside my body. It seemed that my guess wasn¡¯t too far off the mark. ¡°Korin Lork. Young hero who chose Justice from the two descendants we have left behind.¡± ¡°Two descendants?¡± ¡°Indeed. During our fall, we left behind 2 possibilities, with one of them being your master and the current Ari Ri, Erin Danua. As for the other one¡­¡± ¡°The Usurper, Tates Valtazar.¡± ¡°Looks like you are somewhat aware of what is going on.¡± ¡°Somewhat, yes.¡± Valtazar was a descendant left behind by the Danann. He was left behind in the world in a state of cold sleep, and his existence had been kept a secret from Master Erin. There was only one thing that this could suggest. It meant that there were different opinions even among the Danann. ¡°Revenge. That was the hope we had left behind in Valtazar. To wipe out the filthy Goidels that dare betray the gods.¡± Without hiding his burning fury, Nuada expressed it instead. Even though the Danann had received the Goidels with goodwill as the predecessor of thend, they responded with a betrayal and tried to take the world for themselves. While leaving behind Erin Danua, the Danann of Justice, they also left behind a Danann that would avenge their fate. ¡°And letting you know, I am an advocate of revenge. What does that sound like to you?¡± ¡°That you are not that happy with me?¡± ¡°Right.¡± ording to the original storyline, the oneying their hands on Airgem wasn¡¯t me nor the yer, but Eochaid Bres, an antagonistic viin. Nuada was probably the one who personally handed Airgem down to him. Out of the five Danann that could be encountered in the game, Dagda, Lugh, Nuada, Dian Cecht and Manannan, Lugh and Nuada were on the side of enacting revenge. That was why their trials were a lot more difficult than that of Dian Cecht and Dagda. ¡°However, I am the one that came here with the Sun in hand, and you must reward me through a proper trial.¡± ¡°Of course. But¡­¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I don¡¯t like the use of that conjunction there.¡± Originally the third trial of Nuada was tost 1 minute against a fragment of Balor, the king of giants. I had made enough preparations against that but¡­ ¡°A normal trial won¡¯t suffice for someone who has brought the Sun here. For your third trial, you must defeat the great warrior, Sreng.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Damn it. At this point, was my existence itself like a bug for the storyline? *** In ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, there were three previous inhabitants of the continent that were mentioned. First of them were the giants that took after the legacy of the Sky Titans. Second were the Danann. Previously referred to as gods, they were like the teachers of the current Goidels. Third andst of them were the Corca ¨C the children of darkness and night that eventually lost to the Danann after a long fight for supremacy¡­ They were close to the so-called demons. After losing to the gods, the descendants of their warriors degenerated into being spirits but¡­ as expected of those that contended against the gods, they were incredibly powerful. -Shieeeeeek¡ª! An enormous warrior walked out from a dimensional crack while giving off an incredibly ominous aura. The gloomy atmosphere around him and his blood-craving eyes revealed a portion of his hatred towards the Danann. ¡°Yo. Hello there.¡± It seemed that I had to defeat this guy for myst trial. Sreng, the Great Warrior, huh. He was a character mentioned briefly in the game as the warrior who cut off one of the arms of the all-powerful King of Gods, Nuada, and it seemed that I had to beat that monster¡­ Tightly, I held onto my spear and waited patiently for him to move first but the armor-less great warrior continued ring daggers at me with blood-stained eyes. Atst, the moment he raised his greatsword- ?Ominous Snake? A serpent slithered forth. At a speed much faster than the slow giant, the silver spear prated through his chest. -Kajik! It was a simple stab and I definitely wasn¡¯t expecting him to allow this easily. Feeling a bit spooked, I looked up at the giant, who nonchntly moved one of his hands to grab the spear that was digging into his chest. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Immediately I tried to retrieve the spear but he was much stronger than me. After tying me down on the spot, he shed down with his greatsword¡­ In the end, I had to give up on the spear and fall back. ¡º?¡»¡ª Kenaz ¡ª Hagz, Sowilo, Berkana I quickly activated the Runebination which I had practiced hundreds of times until this point. Using a setbination that created mes and amplified it, I formed it into a sentence that rapidly devoured the giant. -Hwaruruk! Now, my Rune Spells were no longer at the level of normal Rune Magic. Thanks to [Rune Amplification], I was able to use Rune Magic, which was usually at the level of elementary-grade spells that barely reached the level of a middle-grade spell when arranged into a sentence, that rivaled high-grade spells. Most high-grade spells were enough to obliterate Grade 2 demonic beasts in one shot. Naturally, I wasn¡¯t expecting that one spell to be enough to kill the ancient monster but¡­ ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ª¡ª!! ¡°Isn¡¯t he looking way too healthy?¡± Despite being enveloped in zing mes, Sreng roared as he pounced at me yet again. -Vuung¡­! His mighty charge brought with it a fierce tempest. Even a slight scratch from that destructive greatsword was sure to be detrimental. I was anticipating him to retaliate and was able to barely dodge in time, but¡­ -KWAAA¡ª¡ª!!!! Thend beneath me that was struck by the greatsword paved in deeply¡­ as the entire ground got crushed apart. ¡°What kind of¡­!¡± As if struck by the high-grade spell, Earthquake, the ground crushed apart. There were barely any footholds but that didn¡¯t stop the monster from pouncing forward one more time. Kwaang! Fiercely kicking off the ground, Sreng charged forward. He bashed his way through the flying fragments of the ground until he was right before my eyes, but it was still somewhat within my expectations. ¡°You are being too clingy with someone else¡¯s belongings.¡± Click! Clicking my finger, I activated the Rune of Raidho ¨C the rune of eleration that was engraved on the Silver Spear that was still buried in his chest. ¡º?¡»¡ª Raidho ¡°??!¡± Sreng, who was holding onto the spear to make sure I couldn¡¯t retrieve it, elerated along with the silver spear and flew off like a cannonball. Kwang! Kang! Kwagang! Toplete themand of eleration given to itself, the spear continued flying with Sreng. His body got smashed into the ground every time he twisted his body in an attempt to stop the eleration of the spear. ¡°Krrrh¡­!¡± In the end, he gave up and released his grip on the spear. He must have judged that it wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea to let the spear fly off and fight with me bare-handed, but¡­ ¡°Come.¡± One of the powerful runes engraved onto the Silver Spear, the Rune of Return, allowed the spear to return to my hand before the monster could reach me with his feet. And the moment itnded in my hands, I started dashing towards the giant and jumped into the air. ¡°¡­?¡± Halting his feet, Sreng looked up at me. He must have been looking to attack me the moment Inded back down on the ground, but that was a grave mistake on his part. Secret Arts of Crumbling Mountain¡ª Like the quiver of a bow, my body twisted back. And hanging on the string of that bow was the Silver Spear. ¡ªThunderous Strike -Gwaaaaaaaaaang!! The javelin shot out of my hand at an explosive speed. It was the Fifth Style of Six Ways of the Spear and was the strongest skill in my arsenal in terms of brute force aside from iomh Sis. ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ª¡ª!! Sreng swung his greatsword at the spear, but it was far toote. The silver spear that erupted out of my hand had already finished prating his heart. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Heaving out a deep breath, I observed the opponent. There was a massive open hole in his chest and no possibility of revival. A strong yet mindless berserker was in fact the easiest type of foe to fight against. His actions were simple so clearing it without taking any damage wasn¡¯t that hard as long as¡­ ¡®Wait. How did someone like this cut off Nuada¡¯s arm?¡¯ I was wondering why but that was when Sreng, who was supposed to have turned into a corpse already, was showing some ominous signs. ¡°Guwoooooh¡­!¡± ¡°What the¡­¡± New flesh was being formed around the agape hole on his chest. Regeneration? Did he have a Unique-Grade regeneration ability or something? Even Senior Marie had to replenish tons of blood to survive a wound that big and yet¡­ [That Warrior is a contender of the Danann.] Nuada¡¯s voice echoed across the dimension. What did that have to do with me though? [The great warrior of the king and son of Eirc was given one destiny.] He was already almost finished with his regeneration. I had to retrieve the spear before he could attack me again! ¡°Come¡­!¡± The Silver Spear started flying back to me but on the way¡ª -Grip! Sreng gripped the flying spear and immediately pounced at me. [The Great Warrior Sreng will certainly cut off one of the King¡¯s arms.] Like a divider, the greatsword flying straight down in his hands separated my left arm from my body. Chapter 149: Nuada Airgetlam (2) ? Nuada Airgem (2) ? Great Warrior Sreng. He was the mighty hero of the Corca, who managed to cut off one of the arms of the King of Gods, Nuada, during their decisive battle against the Danann. Although he waster defeated in that battle and Sreng lost his life at the hands of Nuada, he was one of the few people who left a great w on the king¡¯s body. As a result, due to the traditions of the Danann that ¡®only those with a perfect body can inherit the throne¡¯, Nuada stepped down from his position and seeded the throne to someone else. ¡°Kuuk¡­!¡± Losing my left arm, I had to fall back for a bit. Then, I carved a rune letter onto the injury. My n was to sear the wound with Kenaz, the Rune of mes but¡­ The soaring mes were extinguished before long. Due to the Blessing of the Sun, the absolute immunity to mes even ended up absorbing the mes that I had created in order to stop the bleeding. ¡°Tch¡­¡± Clicking my tongue, I held onto my spear with my remaining arm because sulking over a lost arm wasn¡¯t going to do anything. Firstly, I had to ovee this trial and keep my life intact. My fury and sorrow could be left for after I finished off the enemy in front of me. ¡®My regeneration speed is too slow. It¡¯s not closing the wound. Is it a cursed sword? Or perhaps an enforcement of destiny like Lia Fail?¡¯ Whatever the case, there was no denying that I couldn¡¯t attend to the bleeding wound on my left arm. Even though Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior was supplementing the loss of blood by pumping new blood into the system, a simr amount of blood was still flowing out of my left arm. I wasn¡¯t expecting there to be such a demerit to obtaining the Sun. ¡°KUAHHHH¡­!¡± Along with a deafening roar, Sreng swung the greatsword in his arms. Then suddenly¡­ ¡­As I was trying to somehow block the attack with my spear, the surroundings changed. It reeked of water as people screamed from every direction. ¡°¡­¡± Traumatic memories of the past¡­ It was an essential part of the trial that made the yer remember certain failures of the past. ¡°Right. Now this is more like a trial.¡± The trials given by the gods weren¡¯t there to crush and ridicule its challengers. They were beings that weed, taught, and guided the new heroes, including the yer in the game. However, it was still surprising to see that they would treat me, a half-assed yer, like a proper one. [Help!] [Somebody! Please¡­! Help¡ª] It was like a pandemonium on earth, that stunk of water and blood mixed together. Houses were flowing down; people were screaming for help on top of the roofs but what they invited weren¡¯t rescuers but water demons. I still remember this tragedy like it was yesterday. Tragedy of Roteon River. It was a massacre that happened during the process of annihting the water demons. The dam burst forth and a whole vige got swept away along with the water demons. [Bro¡­! The dam broke!] And the main culprit behind that massacre ¨C Park Sihu. It was an evil n forged by that wicked viin who created a kill log of a hundred thousand people, but I couldn¡¯t figure it out until the end. Thousands of people were killed in that tragedy, but Roteon River wasn¡¯t the only one. When Adelene, the Lord of the Tower of Mages, activated the Hell of Steel, When Dumnorix, after synchronizing himself with the World Tree, reduced the western region of the kingdom to a mere wastnd, And when I lost myrades to Fermack Daman and watched Dun Scaith devour a whole city¡­ I was there in the midst of countless sacrifices and tragedies, and yet I failed to notice therade right next to me, who was rejoicing all by himself from all that wicked profit. [Knight¡­ Korin.] The surroundings changed yet again. It was a shivering cold mountain. The storm and blizzard that froze thend nearby were threatening to freeze a woman on top of that. [Bro, we have to hurry up. The Frost Giants are on their way. Just throw that thing away.] Resting in my arms was a foolishdy whom I couldn¡¯t protect, whom I ended up having to kill with my own hands. [You were toote¡­ in realizing my fate, but¡­] A viiness who until the end couldn¡¯t change her fate¡­ the poordy who diverged onto the crooked path from hatred and couldn¡¯te back was slowly turning colder and colder. ¡°Why are you showing me this?¡± ¡°Hoh. You knew already.¡± The golden god caressed his beard while watching me from behind, as I held the dying corpse of the crimson venomous serpent. Even though I knew this was fake and that this was just a rey of my memories, I still couldn¡¯t let go of her cold corpse. ¡°You seem remorseful of what happened.¡± ¡°There are a lot of things I have lost, but for some reason, there are a few that I just can¡¯t seem to forget.¡± Master and Princess Miru were such examples. Maybe it was because I was a guy that was no different from everyone else. ¡°It is natural for the memories of lost women to remain behind as remorseful memories in the minds of heroes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s quite sexist.¡± ¡°The standard of your era has nothing to do with me.¡± After staring at the bitter cold wastnd for a while, Nuada waved his hands and changed the surroundings. It was a dark city. A boy was carefully walking down the streets away from the eyes of everyone else, and following behind him was me. This¡­ was the memory from the night before the regression happened. I could still vividly remember that day. ¡°Well, although disgusting, there is no denying that the ways of that evil boy had been efficient.¡± ¡°But in the end, he lost.¡± ¡°Yes, in the end. However, can you say with certainty that you are stronger than that boy?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Park Sihu¡¯s growth was exponential. In this iteration, I started off much quicker than him at the beginning and was stronger, but it was nothingpared to the exponential growth of Park Sihu¡¯s powerter down the line. It was because he possessed a mana pool that was at the level of the gods. Would I ever be able to be stronger than Park Sihu in terms of stats? Of course not. That was simply impossible. -Guwooooo¡­! The dimension that had been created by the god to provide a leeway disappeared, as Sreng reappeared before my eyes. He was marching at me with a roar. ¡°You want to defeat our avenger? Do you believe you can rece Justice and the hero? How pathetic. How about you defeat this warrior in front of you before all that talk?¡± As if representing Nuada¡¯s will, Sreng choked me by the throat. His arms were so thick and muscr that choking me to death wouldn¡¯t even begin to serve as an issue. ¡°I.. probably won¡¯t be as powerful as Valtazar or Park Sihu for the rest of my life.¡± ¡°If so, why do you wish to rece him? Even though you are fully aware that you will be weaker than him?¡± My neck was being crushed. Theoretically, it should be nigh impossible to let out a voice but surprisingly, I could speak without that big of an issue. ¡°But if we fight, I will win. My definition of power and strength is different from what you and Park Sihu think of it.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± In retaliation, I grabbed onto Sreng¡¯s neck. He faltered for a bit, but upon seeing that I couldn¡¯t even wrap my hands around his thick neck, he floated a smirk. Let¡¯s see how long that smile can stay on your damn face. ?Sun Concentration? The mana of the Sun swirled above. Swallowing the mana inside my body, sunlight emerged in the sky above. It wasn¡¯t enough. ?Sun Manifestation? The umtion of mana manifested itself in the form of arge sun. The Sun, iomh Sis. It was one of the strongest abilities in this world ¨C one that was far too extravagant for someone like me, who couldn¡¯t even maintain it for over 10 seconds without the backup of the system. ¡°The Sun, huh? But what will you do with that? Do you believe you¡¯ll be able to stay alive until you manage to drop that Sun?¡± ?Sun Compression? ¡°What?¡± Nuada¡¯s flustered voice reached my ears from afar. That was only natural because the enormous Sun in the sky was beingpressed down into my arm. ¡°I don¡¯t even need 10 seconds. 1 second is more than enough.¡± Right now, even though I was being weighed down by someone much stronger than me, my arm was around his neck due to his self-conceit. The power of thepressed sun resting in my hand had the ability to scorch everything I touched into ash. -Kuhk? It was just 1 second. Thepressed heat of the Sun touched Sreng by the neck. Instinctively, he tried to throw me away but that short period of 1 second was detrimental for both of us. -Jiiik! His neck was scorched and melted, and so was my arm. ¡®Compressing the Sun¡¯ meant an absurd density of mana had to reside in my bare arm. This was why Sun Compression was a suicide move without Airgem, an item that could hold an infinite amount of power. ¡°Krrrh¡­!¡± His skin was scorched, revealing the bones of his neck but Sreng was still alive and breathing. ¡°Krrh, kura¡­ Kuraagyahhh¡ª!!¡± Despite having trouble enunciating words, Sreng nheless raised his sword. Right ¨C the fight wasn¡¯t over just yet. ¡°Are you still going to fight?¡± ¡°Of course. I lost both my arms but so what? I still have my legs.¡± Each and every one of them didn¡¯t have the guts these days. If I was going to give up just by losing my arms, I wouldn¡¯t have even gotten started on the fight to save the world. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Once again, I settled the Aura Core in my body and embedded the aura from Sebancia¡¯s Aura Core into my right leg. I couldn¡¯t even bnce myself properly after losing my arms, and the severe loss of blood that couldn¡¯t be supplemented, even with my regeneration ability, made my head turn dizzy. However, it was still okay. One attack was going to be enough. There was no need to keep my bnce nor be afraid of falling down after my attack. My hazy eyes and the jolt in my brain did not matter in the slightest ¨C all I needed to do was focus on just one more attack. ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ª¡ª!! Unfazed by the absence of flesh around his neck, the great warrior unhesitatingly kicked off the ground. Along with a deafening roar, he jumped in, trying to cut me down into pieces. Sebancia Duke¡¯s Second Demonic Move Korin Style Falling Heaven on Five Dragons If this power, which had even killed the mighty dragons was real¡­ then a monster like this was nothing. ¡°Whatever it is, things will work out somehow if a man puts his life on the line.¡± Sreng shed his greatsword down, but I didn¡¯t even bother registering that in my brain. The only thing that was at the end of my gaze was, from beginning to end, his wobbly neck and nothing else. I twisted my body. Every single bit of power was embedded into the kick. A slight step forward from the center of bnce, followed by the eleration with the left leg acting as the pivot, and a simple spinning kick. Spinning Hook. This simple and straightforward kick that anyone who spent their childhood days in Korea would learn was my finishing blow. -Kwaa! The greatsword was falling down at a rapid speed, so fast that it could shatter my body into pieces. Naturally, my legs couldn¡¯t physically reach the neck of the enormous giant and therefore, it couldn¡¯t be just a normal kick. ¡°Kuhk?¡± Sreng paused in confusion. By the time he noticed it, his eyes were rolling across, taking turns viewing the sky and the ground. Soon, he closed his eyes upon epting the situation. The second stage of using Sebancia Duke¡¯s aura. Aura Release. The movement of a greatsword was physically directed by the handspared to my attack which emitted aura like an arrow. It was pointless to question which of them would havended on the enemy first. -Flop! Due to having no arms and thus no way to bnce myself, I fell on the ground after the kick but still gazed at the upside-down golden Danann with a smile. ¡°You never know what the oue of a battle will be until you end it.¡± Just like that, I had passed the third trial. *** By the time I realized it, the barren wastnd where I had fought against Sreng had turned into an evergreennd of grass. Mag Mell. It was a wide in of grass in paradise, Tir na Nog. It was one of the locationsposing the paradise. This was thend of the deceased, and a paradise among paradise for the select few. ¡°Huhahahaha¡­! You¡¯re one incredible youth! Erin seems to have chosen the right man!¡± Dagda Mor, the father of Oengus and the owner of Undry. ¡°You should be more mindful of your body. I will stay faithful to the promise Nuada has made with you and heal you back.¡± The Danann of Healing, Dian Cecht, restored my arms and the leg that got lost during the battle. ¡°That was remarkable, young hero! This Manannan Mac Lir heavily appreciated your fighting spirit!¡± And after them was the owner of this Ind of Treasures. Although he wasn¡¯t an Ard Ri, he was the son of the ocean and one who ruled over the seas, Manannan Mac Lir. ¡°Hmph.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Lastly, there were 2 more Danann that were gazing at me from a slight distance. One of them enveloped in gold was Nuada Airgem and the other¡­ was one of the characters that came out in the game; the master of the Spear of Light, Lugh Lamhfada. The Danann of Light and the strongest of them all. All the powerful Danann that could be encountered by the yer in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? were gathered in one spot with their eyes focused on me. ¡®This is¡­ something I¡¯ve never seen both in the game and thest iteration.¡¯ The god you met changed depending on the item you possessed, but there wasn¡¯t an event where you could meet all the gods. Whosever trial it was that you took, it was possible for the yer to choose their reward anyway so¡­ ¡°Korin Lork. This Manannan shall represent the gods that have entered a deep slumber in Mag Mell and give you our blessing.¡± Especially, Manannan Mac Lir was incredibly amiable and friendly, but it was hard to tell why he was this way. ¡°Not sure if you are aware, but I am the master of this Ind of Treasures. Besides¡­ I am also the wealthiest of all the Danann and possess the greatest amount of treasures.¡± ¡°I am¡­ aware.¡± ¡°And I praise thee for thy bravery and courage! This Manannan Mac Lir will dly present you, brave hero, with my greatest treasure!¡± ¡°Sorry? Wait, I would like to receive Airgem¡­¡± ¡°Hmm? You seem to have misunderstood my words.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°My gift has nothing to do with the presents that you will be receiving from the other gods. And this is amon sentiment that we have alle to except for Lugh.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± Uhh¡­ so you mean¡­ Four of the five Danann here will be giving me a treasure, right? One each? ¡°J, jackpot.¡± I unconsciously let out that forbidden word. Chapter 150: Nauda Airgetlam (3) ? Nauda Airgem (3) ? The treasury of the Danann, Mag Mell. Originally, it was a hidden location that was only essible after Erin Danua¡¯s death in thetter portion of the game. Upon clearing the trials of this ce, the yer was guaranteed ess to either a legendary or an epic item. The item you obtain here depended on the skill route the yer chose for themselves, and being a mage, Park Sihu had received ¡®Enbarr, the Horse with a Fluttering Mane¡¯. The magic horse Enbarr was a mount that could race atop the ocean and who always protected its rider. Park Sihu rode this horse and sprinted around while pouring magic everywhere. It was a treasure that perfectly covered the greatest weakness of a mage, their mobility, with the added benefit of keeping its rider safe. Were they going to give me four of such overpowered treasures? ¡°I, the Son of the Ocean, Manannan Mac Lir present Korin Lork, the First Spear of the current Ard Ri, Erin Danua, with the demon-slicing red spear, Gae Derg. ¡°This spear nullifies magic barriers and always leads to a critical injury once thrown at a beast.¡± ¡ºGae Derg. Grade: Legendary¡» -Completely nullifies the magic effects on one specific target. -When fighting against a beast-type enemy, you inflict 350% additional damage. Any beast wounded by the spear is inflicted with the curse, ¡®Beastial Hunt of the Red Spear¡¯. ¡ºess Denied due to Insufficient Qualification¡» I couldn¡¯t see the item description like a normal yer, but I was already fully aware of what Gae Derg did. In thest iteration, the weapon I received was Gae Buidhe, the yellow spear. This was mainly due to the fact that my job back then was to be the vanguard for Park Sihu. But in this iteration, the red spear was probably going to be more useful for me. ¡°I, Dagda Mor, and the Danann of the Earth and the King of Gods who killed the giants. I shall give you the harp made of the divine tree and cats.¡± ¡ºUaithne. Grade: Legendary¡» The string instrument of the King of Gods, Dagda. ying the string made with the liver of the king of cats will result in special magical effects. It is the legendary bane of giants that smacked nine giants to death. Believe in yourself and bash them down. -A magical effect is applied to every location affected by the sound. -It will fly into the master¡¯s hand from anywhere. -Bashing a giant with the harp inflicts 1,200% additional damage. ¡ºess Denied due to Insufficient Qualification¡» ¡°Huu, huu¡­!¡± I couldn¡¯t read the message on the system window, but I could see it! Think back, my brain cells! Remember the harp that Saintess Estelle used to use! Despite looking and sounding like a joke, I knew how powerful and overpowered this thing really was! In this iteration, can I¡­ do it? A revolution!!? ¡°I, the Danann of Healing, Dian Cecht will grant you the magic eyes of a cat¡­¡± ¡°Wait wait wait.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The magic eyes of a cat are a bit¡­ Uhh, putting aside the design, you have to actually dig out the eyes and transnt it, right? That¡¯s a bit¡­¡± In the game, people did it to make their characters look unique but in the real world, it came at the cost of actually digging your eyes out. It was a lot riskier than Airgem, which was in the form of a gauntlet. Besides, the ability itself wasn¡¯t that good either. The Eyes of Curse was good, but there was also the ¡®Eyesight of a Beast¡¯ that was activated passively at night, thus it was an item that had an advantage and a disadvantage. ¡°Tch. Young people these days don¡¯t even appreciate what they¡¯re given.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ sorry.¡± Dian Cecht, who was known to be quite temperamental, grumbled before throwing me a sk that contained an ominous green liquid bubbling inside it. This¡­ looked familiar. ¡°That is the venom of serpents that was obtained after opening the heart of a baby and killing the snakes inside it. The poison is very potent and pouring the content of that sk into a river will surely kill every organism in it.¡± ¡°¡­Open the heart of¡­ what?¡± ¡°A baby.¡± ¡°What the¡­ What?¡± I almost swore without realizing it. Am I in the presence of a fucking baby killer? ¡°That baby had serpents that would lead the world to destruction inside it. It was only thanks to my foresight that we were able to prevent it.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± So anyways, was this the poison gathered from serpents that came out of a baby¡¯s heart? Where did I see this from? ¡ºBoiling Venom. Grade: Legendary¡» The venom of serpents that were inside the heart of the baby cursed with Apocalypse. -You may only use this once. -It kills all the organisms of the ¡®Basin¡¯. ¡ºess Denied due to Insufficient Qualification¡» ¡°Ah¡­¡± I remembered where this was from. This¡­ was the poison that was poured onto the south. It was the poison that was used in the game when the entire continent was under attack. Although it could only be used once, it was a potent poison that killed everyone nearby. This wasn¡¯t a simple venom; it was a mythical poison that even had the potential to destroy the world of gods. I was wondering where Dun Scaith got this from, but it seemed to have been from Mag Mell. In fact, I was wondering how to stop that disaster in the future but, it appeared that I had coincidentally prevented it. ¡°You can only use it once so be mindful of how you use it.¡± ¡°T, thank you.¡± Manannan, Dagda and Dian Cecht. After them, it was now Nuada¡¯s turn. Even though he said he wasn¡¯t that fond of me, he didn¡¯t seem to have that much of an opinion now that I had passed the trial. ¡°Take this. It¡¯s yours from now on.¡± Nuada said while reaching out with his arm. Then, his lustrous silver arm slowly peeled itself before moving over to my left. ¡ºAirgem. Grade: Epic¡» A weapon created in coboration with the Danann of Healing, Dian Cecht, and the cksmith, Goibniu,pleted by the son of Dian Cecht, Miach. It is the only device that can endure an infinite amount of power and is an imprable armor that never breaks. -You can store infinite power inside. -When equipped as a set with the Sun, iomh Sis, your mana increases by 200%. ¡ºess Denied due to Insufficient Qualification¡» I couldn¡¯t tell the exact amount, but I could feel an incredible surge in energy the moment this silver arm wasid on top of my own. It was a hidden piece in the game that was in the possession of Valtazar¡¯s strongest subject, Eochaid Bres. Actually, it couldn¡¯t even be considered a hidden piece because there was no way for the yer to obtain Airgem in the first ce. Considering the absurd ability of iomh Sis¡­ it was safe to assume that this silver arm was also overpowered. ¡°¡­¡± Last of them all was the Danann of Light, Lugh. The master of the Spear of Light, Areadbhair, and the strongest Danann in the annals of history. As well as¡­ the supporter of Tates Valtazar. Even back in the game, Lugh Lamhfada¡¯s treasures were simply unobtainable. ¡°I am sure you know already. I have no ns of helping nor supporting you.¡± ¡°Nuada has given me his treasure though?¡± ¡°That is because you are the inheritor of the Sun. The moment iomh Sis acknowledged you as its master, you have already technically inherited Nuada¡¯s divinity.¡± That was how significant the 4 great treasures of the Danann were. Each and every one of them was an incredible treasure that represented an Ard Ri ¨C Dagda¡¯s Undry, Nuada¡¯s iomh Sis, and Lugh¡¯s Areadbhair. Those were, after all, the greatest treasures that represented their might as the Kings of Gods. ¡°Tates Valtazar inherited my Divinity of Light¡­ I have already given him everything and have nothing left for you.¡± Lugh Lamhfada. He was the Danann who wished for the fall of the Goidels the most. That must be why he left the inheritor, Tates, and gave him everything from the get-go. ¡°However, if you defeat my sessor, then I will leave the rest to you.¡± ¡°What? Is that okay?¡± Even in the game, it was impossible to retrieve Valtazar¡¯s treasures after defeating him. It was because the treasures had an incredibly strong ego that did not acknowledge the yer as their new master. ¡°Brat. This is not the fight between Goidels and the Danann. It is an honorable battle between a Danann and a Danann. ¡°You are the sessor decided by Erin Danua, the Danann of Justice. Whether you win or lose, everything that happens henceforth will depend solely on you. ¡°Why do you think the Danann here have given you a generous amount of treasures? It¡¯s because, in one way or another, we have acknowledged you as an inheritor of our own.¡± I was momentarily lost for words. This was different from the time the yer visited Mag Mell. This¡­ was a different battle altogether. ¡°Well, you will realize when the timees. No matter who wins¡­ our long wish wille to fruition regardless.¡± His suggestive words marked the end to the trials of the gods. ¡­¡­¡­. ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°What a fierce presence he had for himself.¡± The rest of the Danann in the ce genuinely agreed to Manannans¡¯ words. They had been longing for the appearance of a hero. They had been waiting for a hero who was not afraid to burn everything they had in a short period of life. Korin Lork was an ideal hero for them. A passionate and brave young man, who could throw himself away with more passion than anyone else in the world. Even the futile actions of a mediocre man tended to bloom with beauty at times, so how beautiful and blinding would the mes of a hero with the world on the line truly be? ¡°I like him. Although he was not born with the body of a hero, he was born with the characteristics of one.¡± Dagda saw him in a good light. By nature, heroes were special and different from birth. In a lot of ways, Korin Lork was a normal person¡­ whose birth, body, mana, and aura were all subparpared to a hero. However, there was one heroic quality that he was born with. ¡°The soul of a hero. Now that isn¡¯t something anyone can get.¡± Dagda saw the people that gathered next to him. Unlike Park Sihu, those talents had gathered next to him upon being genuinely and sincerely moved by his will. Although their gender was heavily leaning towards one side, earning the admiration of women was also one of the characteristics of a hero. ¡°Hmph. Despite whatever you say, he is nothing but a fool who couldn¡¯t see through the true nature of hisrade until he was eventually betrayed.¡± Nuada spoke harshly of his sessor. It was from slight discontent and out of a stubborn thought that someone had to raise an opposing view. Although Nuada himself did not look down on Korin¡¯s hard work, he had been hoping that the sessor of the Sun would be a perfect genius, just like the Danann of Light and the murderer of giants, who had seeded his throne as the King of Gods. ¡°¡­¡± Lugh Lamhfada. The King of Gods who supported a hero who stood on the other side of the spectrum of Korin. The other Danann were interested in what evaluation he would give Korin, as one who already had a perfect hero, Tates Valtazar, as his sessor. ¡°He¡¯s weak. The only talent he excels inpared to Valtazar, would be his demonic charm that bewitches both male and female.¡± ¡°Kukuk¡­! No wonder Oengus likes him so much.¡± ¡°However, Lia Fail chose him as the destined contender and even rewound the loop of time.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Time Regression. That was a power that even the gods couldn¡¯t enforce. The only reason they knew it happened was because they had seen through the memories of Korin Lork of the timeline before the regression of the world. ¡°There is no denying that he, shouldering the great aspiration of saving the world, is the only possible contender against the hero who wishes to destroy it.¡± The reason Park Sihu and other countless powerhouses of the world hadn¡¯t been acknowledged by Lia Fail was simple. Theycked the qualification of a hero that ought to save the world. Lia Fail was looking for someone who could sincerely work hard for the salvation of the world, and not for personal reasons or benefit. And Korin Lork was the one whom Lia Fail decided on ¨C he was the only one deemed worthy of shouldering that destiny. ¡°We have no choice but to watch on. Old ones like us have no right to meddle with the world.¡± Lugh ended his evaluation with that. Nuada was unhappy with his sessor, while Lugh¡¯s sessor was one destined to fight against him. Whoever came out on top, their story would result in a mythical epic of the contemporary heroes. ¡°By the way, was that enough gift for celebrating Erin¡¯s marriage?¡± ¡°Ehem! Like I said, that¡¯s not it!¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I gave mine though?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I think we should have at least given him a few pigs that regenerate day after day no matter how much you eat.¡± ¡°We can do that when they bring a few grandchildren for us to see.¡± ¡°¡¯A few¡¯? I think it¡¯ll be a lot more than that.¡± ¡°¡­Let¡¯s stop there. Unless you want to hear a mouthful from herter.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Meanwhile, the Danann of Love, Oengus exined the situation to the three girls in their separate dimensions. ¡°Haht¡­! Did I fail the trial? I, I don¡¯t remember anything though?¡± ¡°Ehng? W, when did I take a trial? Sir?¡± ¡°¡­Do it again.¡± The girls each showed different reactions but fundamentally they were of the same mindset. They were concerned about the boy who had to advance through the trials on his lonesome and felt guilty for being unable to help him throughout his journey. ¡®Ahh~. What a beautiful sight to behold.¡¯ Three girls who were in love with the same hero. Of course, there were more than just three but¡­ wasn¡¯t this like the three goddesses of war giving their blessings to the hero? ¡°And he¡¯s the sessor of the King of Gods, Nuada, of all Danann. I suppose this is also a part of the fate if anything.¡± Before the girls who couldn¡¯t ept the oue of their trial, Oengus widened his arms and said to them with a sweet voice. ¡°This too must be a destined encounter. I have already received permission from the three goddesses. Let me give each of you a small gift!¡± Oengus wanted to personally watch all the interesting events his gifts would bring about, but that was for those of the present world to enjoy. Simply imagining the future was already good enough of an entertainment for the Danann of Love. *** Bishop Renault Lusignan of the Xeruem Order was recently able to tell first-hand just how much his status had fallen. It was because all of his ns; the ascension of Hua Ran the Heavenly Yaksha, her massacre and the resulting negative impression of the demons, as well as their n to support the Tower of Mages for their attack had all failed miserably. The stupid sorcerer of the East who was supposed to ascend Hua Ran into a true monster was neutralized like a fool, and the Chargers of the Cross that he forced into the Academy were all missing. That much was big enough for him to lose a great amount of say within the Order. Fortunately, the terrorist attack of the mages from the Tower, which almost failed, turned on its toe thanks to Tates Valtazar moving personally to assassinate the chairman but¡­ ¡ºIn the first ce, if Xeruem supported us properly with urate information, this would have never happened!¡» The worthless and hasty sorcerers of the Tower of Mages were busy shifting the me to them. Elder Admelech, the leader of the Red Cult, and dozens of mages wentpletely missing, whereas the leader of the ck Cult, Elder Morushtan, was imprisoned by the temrs of Zeon after having his secretboratory discovered. Two of the seven cults of the Tower of Mages were pretty much eradicated, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise that they were creating a fuss. ¡ºAdelene speaking.¡» In the end, due to the seriousness of the matter at hand, Adelene of Gold, the Lord of the Tower, even attended the divine conference of Xeruem to ask for proper assistance. There was only one piece of information that he wanted, and it was Bishop Renault¡¯s job to obtain that. ¡ºSir Bishop.¡» ¡°Ohh, Germain. Our esteemed brother of faith.¡± He therefore spoke to the spy Germain Luther, the freshman at Merkarva Academy, to gather the information required. ¡°I heard you have recently joined a promising Guardians Guild. So, have you found it?¡± ¡º¡­Yes. Thanks to that, it was very helpful in finding the information you havemanded for.¡» Germain, who had been struggling to find meaningful pieces of information, started bringing more and more significant news after entering Korin Guardians. It was slightly irritating that it just happened to be the same guild as those demon women, but that mattered not as long as he could gather helpful clues. Because there was no way that they could possibly tell that Germain was a spy from Xeruem thanks to him going through several processes to disguise his identity! ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ After hearing the report from Germain, Renault¡¯s countenance turned a lot brighter. Germain had perfectly brought the exact pieces of information that he was after! ¡°Truly magnificent, brother. I believe with this we can enforce divine punishment to those wicked protestants and the servants of evil.¡± ¡º¡­¡» One of the requirements to reach a high status at the Order was proficiency at reading the mood and people¡¯s expressions. Therefore, Renault was immediately able to tell that there was something wrong from the look on Germain¡¯s face. ¡°Hmm? Did something happen?¡± ¡ºBishop¡­ Have you, by any chance,id your hands on the taboo?¡» ¡°What do you¡­ mean by that?¡± A faint crack appeared on Renault¡¯s tranquil expression. Taboo? There were too many of them that he had no idea what he was referring to. Of course, the taboo was only from the general perception of the world, and Renault himself considered all his actions to be just, for he considered the requirements of his ns as tools rather than people. ¡º¡­During a mission, I found aboratory of a ck mage, and inside was a letter from you, Sir Bishop.¡» ¡°¡­¡± ¡®How annoying,¡¯ thought Renault, but after concealing his wicked mind, he maintained a gentle look on his face. ¡°When following the path given to us by the god, there are times when we must walk through puddles of mud.¡± ¡ºB, but¡­ This!¡» Didn¡¯t you sacrifice those innocent children? Renault did not wait for Germain to finish his words. ¡°Remember the times when we were hunting the witches? Innocent sacrifices? Of course, there were some, but thanks to that, we were able to cleanse hundreds of witches, right? Those sacrifices were unfortunate yet necessary. ¡°The path to justice is, as you see, extremely perilous and painful. Our enemies are enormous and ignorant. Those who seek the true faith are only a fewpared to them. ¡°The hardest choices require the strongest wills. My brother. Please take pity on them. However, that does not change the fact that it was something that had to be done. The god will know their sacrifices.¡± The bishop persuaded Germain through a long speech. There was no need to fully persuade him ¨C all he needed to do was pull the rope slightly back towards the Order, where he had spent his entire life, from his conscience. ¡º¡­Understood.¡» In the end, Germain gave up on reporting about Renault. Renault indirectly implied that the higher-ups were rted to this incident so he decided to let it slip for now. A single event was unable to shatter the faith that he had been brainwashed into believing ever since a young age. ¡°Tch.¡± However, Renault did not miss the faint waver of emotion that appeared on Germain¡¯s expression. That slight falter was bound to eventuallye back as arge tidal wave. After finishing the call, while summarizing everything he heard from him, Renault let out a ruthless remark to himself with a cold look on his face. ¡°Insolent brat. I must deal with him once this is over.¡± He couldn¡¯t put aside even the tiniest of concerns, because the Advent of Paradise and the regression to the era of the gods was directly rted to his future. ¡°For now¡­ let¡¯s focus on these.¡± ¡ºEscorting ns of Elder Morushtan¡» ¡ºSealing the Saintess¡» Those were two big ns. ording to the information provided by Germain, it wouldn¡¯t be impossible to carry out those two ns at the same time. MEMBERSHIP is now avable! Chapter 151: Delinquent Saintess (1) ? Delinquent Saintess (1) ? There were a lot of people in the world living impoverished lives. It could be due tock of money, background or perhaps a reflection of their innate talent. In every sector, there was always a gap between the rich and the poor, but all of them tended to desire a better and abundant future. However, there were a few rare exceptions to this rule. There were those who lived an excessively superfluous lives ¨C people who were blessed with a bunch of things from birth. Estelle Hadassa El Rath was one of such people. The 1st Princess of the El Rath Kingdom, The one and only Saintess of the New Faith, the Grand Chapel of Zeon. She was born a noble birth and was the Saintess whose very existence was apanied by the evident miracles of the gods. Being the one and only Saintess and someone connected directly to the gods, even the Pope, the head of the order, had to treat her with a considerable amount of respect. Estelle was one of the two princesses of the continent and a sessor to the throne while also being the unique Saintess of the New Faith. Born with everything, she was like a celestial angel who reached levels far too high for a normal person. Because of that, she became quite¡­ or rather, significantly carefree. ¡ºSaintess. How is your life at the Academy?¡» ¡°Same as always. The guys still drool when they see me and the juniors are cute! Of course, little Hua Ran is adorable as always!¡± ¡º¡­¡» On the other side of themunication device, the head of the order who was about to reach 80 years of age, Pope Sicarii Iscariot, seemed troubled by her carefreeness. ¡ºIf you wish to escape the eyes of the guys, Saintess, first off you ought to do something about that indecent outfit of yours.¡» Pope Sicarii stated while ncing at her clothing through themunication device. Crafted with the best silk among the best from the south and a generous amount of golden strings and ornaments, it was a pure white outfit representing the purity of the order. Even though the Zeon Order was unafraid of demonstrating their fanciness, it had to be subtle instead of being open. For example, the ambient emerald on the rosary being the best the world could offer, or the belt around the sacred outfit being the order-made masterpiece of a master craftsman¡­ Like that, furtively showing off their wealth in a way that only the sophisticated could perceive was the ¡®elegant virtue¡¯ of the high temrs and nobles and yet¡­ The Saintess, with the showy outfit of a nouveau riche that highlighted the perfect lines of her body, was closer to being strange in the eyes of others let alone carefree. ¡°Why? It¡¯s cute, isn¡¯t it? Back in the chapel the guys would only steal nces but in the Academy, there are a few people that try to boast about themselves, saying they are the kids of a count or the sessor of a big merchant family.¡± That was only natural. Her pinkish hair, which was slightly different from the crimson red hair color that represented the royal family, was incredibly adorable. Not to mention, her eyes that were as clear as the sky shone brightly like the greatest emerald in the world. On top of that, the order-made costume that had a rather high level of exposure and openness was something people couldn¡¯t readily wear without having full confidence in their body image. All things considered, it was quite natural for young teenage boys, and even girls, to be enticed by her charm. ¡ºMonkeys see, monkeys do. You need to show yourself as an example. In the first ce, the clothing for Sister Hua Ran that you designed was¡­¡» ¡°It¡¯s cute, isn¡¯t it? It looks so cute!¡± ¡ºHaa¡­¡» Estelle floated a smile despite the sigh from the 80-year-old man from the other side of the device. It had already been a while since Pope Sicarii gave up on her. ¡ºMore importantly, how is the relocation n of the convicts?¡» ¡°We will be moving them with the Holy Knights that were urgently dispatched to the city. Big heretic, Morushtan of the Tower, Formation Expert Kang Ryun who was being locked up in Merkarva and the Chargers of the Cross from the Old Faith ¨C there is a whole load to transfer.¡± ¡ºWhat an utterly unbelievable bunch. We must definitely punish them in the Chapel of Zeon.¡» Like what Pope Sicarii said, the heinous criminals that had been imprisoned at Merkarva were evil viins that Estelle could not forgive, in spite of her rxed personality. Elder Morushtan had carried out experiments of ck magic that insulted the gods, and Kang Ryun had formed an evil n against the probationary sister of the New Faith, Hua Ran. There were more. Recently, the mages of the Tower and other criminals were being imprisoned left and right, all thanks to the amazing contributions of a certain promising junior. ¡°Your Holiness. I really think there is a need for us to pressure the Tower of Mages as a group.¡± ¡ºIn regards to that, we will discuss it after you arrive. Is your departure date still the 5th of June?¡» ¡°Yes. There are a lot of criminals so we have to travel on foot, meaning it will take quite some time to get there.¡± ¡ºI see. Be careful on your way.¡» With that, the pope ended themunication. Giving a long stretch, Estelle basked in the warm sunlight. *** The Merkarva Academy campus was as rxed as always. There were fewer subject requirementspared to modern universities, and even those few subjects were receable with missions given by the Guardian Alliance, so it wasmonce for the proactive 2nd year students to prefer external missions than lectures. And that was the same for us, Korin Guardians. ¡°Boss. I¡¯m done on this end.¡± Dorron Warsky reported back after finishing his side of things. Behind his back, a dozen or so magic swords were floating in the air, dripping with blood. ¡°Already? Looks like you¡¯re getting even better at flying your swords around.¡± Due to cutting through the bones and flesh of the demonic beasts, his swords were covered with blood and fat. That was the very proof that his swords had cut deeply into the flesh of the beasts. It was a mission to defend a vige from a monster outbreak, but the horde of monsters crumbled down like autumn leaves before the overwhelming might of Dorron and Kranel. ¡°Well. It¡¯s all because of this sword that I got thanks to you.¡± He said while grabbing onto arge golden magic sword out of the swords that were floating around him. Great Fury, Moralltach. It was one of the legendary hidden pieces of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? and a magic sword of destruction that had impressive AOE attacks. ¡°This sword that I got from Manannan is something else.¡± Dorron eximed as he nced at a corner of the vige that we defended. There was a huge crevice left behind on the ground that proved the might of Moralltach. Like how I received treasures from the Ind of Treasures, Mag Mell, Dorron and a few of the other members of the guild also managed to obtain a treasure. It was very unexpected that Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran were unable to obtain anything but¡­ there was only one chance to obtain a treasure in Mag Mell so there was no way around it. ¡°Anyway, with this over, we should have more than enough achievements for a promotion.¡± ¡°You mean for a guild promotion?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think there has been any other guild that became Grade 1, 2 months after establishment.¡± Ever since we created our guild, wepleted every single mission we could from the missions given out by the Guardian Alliance. It was an ¡®octopus tentacle tactic¡¯, which was only possible thanks to the impressivebat prowess of our Guardians Guild. Thanks to that, we were able to quickly umte all the necessary achievement points for a promotion. ¡°We had to do it though, because it¡¯s about time we needed a public voice and authority.¡± ¡°I feel even this isn¡¯t enough if we think about your ns and goals, Boss.¡± After we were done with the mission, we quickly returned on a wyvern. We were only able to carry out external missions without feeling burdened by them thanks to these wyverns. The wyverns Marie bought for us were energetic despite several intense flights in a row and they were an extremely fast transportation method. Besides, thanks to Marie¡¯s status as thedy of a Dukedom, we weren¡¯t subjected to thew of ¡®No Flights inside the City¡¯ and didn¡¯t have to stop by the wyvernnding tforms in the nearby viges, which helped us save around 2 days of time every mission. ¡°Huu¡­¡± ¡°Korin, you¡¯re back!¡± Marie weed me when we returned from the mission. She seemed to have juste back from a mission herself, and was wearing an outfit that was catered to activities. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Uun?¡± What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°No. Nothing.¡± But still, what was with those vulgar clothes that were exposing her belly and her thighs¡­? The female clothing in this world is way too revolutionary. ¡°Where are you looking¡­ Ahah?¡± After seemingly noticing my line of sight, Marie closed the hems of her robe with a sensuous gaze, sat down on the bed and tapped herp. She was inviting me and telling me to hurry up. ¡°K, kuhum¡­! I need to write a report for clearing the mission to the Alliance.¡± ¡°You can do thatter~¡± ¡°R, right.¡± In the end, I couldn¡¯t ovee her seduction. A fluffy and voluptuous pillow¡­ There was probably no-one in this world that could resist such a thing¡­ ¡°Come on~. Good boy. Rest assured and feel free to take a nap, okay?¡± Ahh, my consciousness was starting to fade. Burying my head on therge cushion, my mind slowly started to fade from the pleasant scent of her¡ª -MEOWWWWWWW!!!!!! ¡°Uahhk?!¡± It was right when I was about to fall into deep sleep ¨C a sudden and loud growl woke me up from the bed. Looking around, I saw on the other side of the window of the Guardians Dormitory, a cat with red eyes. ¡°Aigu. Navi, you¡¯re back!¡± That ck cat was a cat that recently started roaming around our dormitory building. As someone from Korea, I naturally gave it the mostmon Korean cat name and fed it from time to time. ¡°Come here.¡± Navi immediately jumped into my arms the moment I opened the window. It became very attached to me after I fed it a few times. ¡°Senior, do we have some leftover fish in the fridge? This guy loves fish. Actually, for some reason, it especially loves braised mackerel.¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯ll go bring it.¡± Marie didn¡¯t seem too keen. I thought she was the type of person that would love cats and dogs but¡­ ¡°Meoww~¡± When she left, Navi started to adorably rub her head on my chest. ¡°Huhu. Little Navi. Are you making sure you¡¯re healthy?¡± It was my first time having an animal be this attached to me, so that made me all the more pleased by Navi¡¯s adorable actions. ¡°Ehew~. Navi! Do you love daddy that much?¡± Even when I tickled her on the chin and caressed her on the head, the cat didn¡¯t seem displeased in the slightest. How could there be such a cute organism in this world? ¡°Korin! I brought¡­ the fish! Haak! Haa!¡± Before long, Marie came back panting as if she had been in a huge rush and began putting down several frozen fish on the shelf. ¡°Why were you in a rush? You could have taken your time.¡± ¡°Nnn? No, I wasn¡¯t in a rush or anything.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way¡­ I can see you panting¡­¡± ¡°No? I wasn¡¯t though?¡± For some reason, she appeared strange and although that made me curious, I decided to let it go for now. ¡°By the way Korin, do you remember how we received a gift from the Danann of Love back when we went to Mag Mell?¡± -Meow¡­ Strangely enough, Navi responded to Marie¡¯s words. I returned a nod, because that was something I had heard from them already. ¡°Alicia received the ¡ºRed Horse of Nebann¡» and you got the ¡ºCurse of Macha¡», right?¡± The horse Alicia received was a really excellent horse. Although it wasn¡¯t at the level of Enbarr, the horse that Park Sihu got in thest iteration, it was still a superb magic horse. It was the warhorse of a goddess that instilled fear in living beings and chased evil spirits away just with its presence. Even though it fell shortpared to the numerous legendary and epic items that you could obtain at Mag Mell, it was definitely in the realm of a treasure. ¡°Nn. And as for mine, even though I can only use it on men¡­ it is a powerful curse that can be used on arge scale as long as I make enough preparations.¡± ¡°From what I heard, it sounded¡­ pretty spooky.¡± The Curse of Macha that Marie received from Oengus was a curse that could only be inflicted on men. An AOE skill that¡­ ¡°Making them feel the pain of childbirth for 9 days¡­ Isn¡¯t that too evil?¡± ¡°Definitely not something to be used lightly.¡± Although it certainly was a powerful curse, there were a lot of conditions that had to be met, and there was the downside that it didn¡¯t work on people with a high enough magic resistance. I was thinking about where we could possibly make use of that curse when Marie slightly changed the topic. ¡°Korin. Did you hear about the present that Hua Ran got?¡± ¡°No? She refused to tell me about it.¡± ¡°Hnn~ I see~ I see, huh.¡± -Meoww It was highly likely that I was thinking things, but I had a feeling that Navi was acting strange for a while ¨C she appeared hostile to Marie¡­ ¡°You should ask her one day! More importantly, Navi~? Shall we go outside and y together?¡± ¡°Meo¡­!¡± Navi gave a sharp growl in return but didn¡¯t run away from her hands. It was my first time seeing her being taken away by someone else. For some reason, it felt¡­ a bit sad to see that. ¡®Anyway, what in the world did Hua Ran get?¡¯ I was feeling more and more curious when the sound of a noisy rm rang from the headquarters of the Guardians office. -BEEEEEEEEEP!! Echoing across the office was a sharp noise that was solely used for gathering the attention of those listening. Besides, it wasn¡¯t just a normal warning rm ¨C it was a sound that alerted of something a lot more dangerous and urgent. ¡°Korin. What is this?¡± ¡°¡­What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Meow?¡± Letting go of Navi, we quickly headed to the office. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!!!!! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!!!!! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!!!!! After creating a guild, there was no need to bother heading to the Mission Board to ept a quest. It was because you could construct a magic mission board inside the office that updated the missions in real time, after leveling up the guild building. Real-time update meant that it could also serve as a device that allowed the Alliance to send notifications to various guilds. Those could include notices of conferences regarding guild promotions, training modules and¡ª ¡ºA notice from the Central Guardian Alliance to 15 cities near and including Merkarva.¡» ¡ºFollowing Section 39 use 4 of the Kingdom Military Service Act, this is a notification in case of an emergency. Every registered Guardians Guild must coborate with the administrations of each city, halt every other operation and wait for further orders.¡» ¡ºThis is not a training exercise. I repeat. This is not a training exercise.¡» Chapter 152: Delinquent Saintess (2) ? Delinquent Saintess (2) ? ¡°Heading to the Chapel?¡± Someone outside her expectation spoke up to her. ¡°Miru?¡± ¡°Call me Miruam.¡± Miruam Elizabeth El Rath ¨C her step-sister limped her way across with a fancy walking stick in hand. Unlike the Saintess Estelle, who was of a beautiful and pure white color, Miruam had a countenance and an appearance that could easily give her the title of the ¡®Viiness of the Century¡¯. A venomous serpent. Her hair and eyes were ominously red, and each of her gestures ¨C both her arms and her legs ¨C gave off an evil yet alluring charm. Facing her younger sister who waspletely different from her own self, Estelle remarked with a nonchnt grin. ¡°My cute little sister. Did you miss me?¡± ¡°Your tongue is as light as always, Estelle.¡± It was Miruam who opened her mouth first after a short silence. ¡°You are still poking your nose into the Tower of Mages, aren¡¯t you? For quite some time now.¡± ¡°Oh? Are you worried about someone? Tell me if you have an acquaintance. I will make sure that person gets special treatment.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± The Tower of Mages was one of Miruam¡¯s key supporting factions. Even though someone else was capturing them, it was Estelle¡¯s job to punish the mages as heretics. Despite what she said, Estelle was fully aware that Miruam wasn¡¯t concerned in the slightest about her supporters to the throne. It was simply inevitable for the two of them to try to hunt each other down. As long as Estelle stayed as the Saintess of the New Faith, and as long as Miruam stayed Miruam, there was no other option apart from the two of them colliding with one another. That was already past the realm of forgiveness and concession ¨C it was simply intolerable. Even the ¡®session to the throne¡¯ was but a trivial matter for them. After all, the throne was just a part of the procedure and not their final goal. ¡°What brought you here?¡± asked Estelle. ¡°I assume you wouldn¡¯t havee all the way here just to say hi.¡± ¡°What do you want in return?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You know me, don¡¯t you? I can do whatever it takes no matter the cost.¡± It was a sudden offer and an abrupt statement about her wish but¡­ Estelle immediately understood what she meant. That was natural because for a very long time, Miruam had only been aspiring for one goal and one goal alone. Ahh, it seemed that she had found out already ¨C a lot earlier than Estelle had been hoping her to. ¡°I wonder what you mean?¡± ¡°Estelle.¡± She red at her with a crimson gaze full of insatiable madness¡­ Ever since 12 years ago, the eyes of her step-sister had been ever so fiery and ominous. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have done that. You shouldn¡¯t have forgiven them. You don¡¯t have the right to.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You know, if you changed your mind today, I would have been more than d to scrape out one of my arms for you.¡± ¡°What do you¡­¡± Miruam cold-heartedly turned her back to her sister as if that was thest chance she had. ¡°Miru¡­!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hearing that, Miruam halted her feet for a while. Facing her younger sister who at least heeded to her call and stopped for a bit, Estelle gave the most considerate statement she could give. ¡°On the way of the escort¡­ is the grave of thete queen. If you don¡¯t mind¡­ I would be d to give a prayer there.¡± ¡°Hah.¡± Along with a cold sneer, Miruam turned her head back and said with a chilling gaze. ¡°I don¡¯t need your god.¡± Apanying her words was a cold scoff full of certainty. **** The escort convoy of the convicts prepared and ready to leave. Normally, it wouldn¡¯t make sense for the Saintess to personally leave with the convoy for the relocation of convicts but that in turn proved the seriousness of the matter at hand. The convicts included the elder of one of the 7 cults of the Tower of Mages, Elder Morushtan of the ck Cult, along with Kang Ryun who attacked the probationary nun Hua Ran who was under the protection of the New Faith¡­ Even aside from them, there was also the Chargers of the Cross, the secret ops of the Old Faith and those who were captured due to their human experiments. All in all, there were too many monstrous criminals that they couldn¡¯t afford to lose. ¡°Saintess, we are ready to depart.¡± A holy knight who was dispatched from the headquarters of the New Faith, the Grand Chapel of Zeon, said to her while wearing a silver full-ted armor that had received a divine blessing. 15 holy knights from the Grand Chapel of Zeon, 50 war priests and sisters, 30 Grade 2 guardians employed through the Alliance as well as knights and soldiers of the kingdom. ¡°Isn¡¯t this way too excessive?¡± There were far too many people for it to be called an escort convoy of criminals. In fact, even though it was partially in preparation for the ¡®attack¡¯ that could happen to save the bigshots that were being escorted, it was more correct to say that most of them were here to protect Estelle, the Saintess and the 1st Princess, to make sure no injuries were to be made on the noble body of thedy with the most significant status in the entire kingdom. ¡°Apologies. It¡¯s all to protect the Saintess¡­¡± ¡°Ahh~ yes yes. Right. Let¡¯s just say that.¡± Judging from his words, the knight seemed to be a newbie. Despite her noble status as the Saintess and the princess, Estelle was like a carefree delinquent that did not care about rules. However, it was nothing new for her to be so carefree and rxed so no-one was surprised by her conduct. Instead, the holy knight that was tasked with guarding her, continued staring at her with an expectant gaze. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± ¡°Ah, umm¡­ I was just hoping that¡­ Saintess could give a prayer for the departure¡­¡± Finding it extremely tedious, Estelle was about to let it slip but there were a lot of eyes on her including those from the holy knights. Sisters, priests, knights, mages¡­ and even the horsemen leading the horses. The prayers of Saintess Estelle create miracles. It was a famous story known throughout the continent which was actually proven to be true. ¡®With this many numbers¡­ the effect won¡¯t be so strong but¡­¡¯ The child of miracles. The Saintess who canmunicate with the god. Although she had a carefree and unrestrained personality, she still wasn¡¯t the type to turn down the expectations and hopes of everyone. At the center of their gazes, she locked her fingers and raised a prayer. ¡°I pray that warm sunlight will always be shining on you from above¡­¡± As soon as she started her prayer, a brilliant curtain of light started to rise around her. Those that were enveloped by that light felt like their faces were being buried by something incredibly warm. ¡°Ohh, the prayer¡­¡± ¡°The Saintess is praying for us¡­!¡± A prayer leading to the miracle of the prayer being fulfilled. Praying for a safe journey unto a traveler would grant them a safe trip; peace and curation for those suffering from illness; small fortune to those hoping for wealth and protection and courage unto those setting off for a fight. Saintess Estelle Hadassa El Rath. The prayers of the saintess blessed by the stars was ¡®almighty¡¯. ¡°Oh god.¡± ¡°God¡­¡± A miracle was giving them a warm embrace. Like a baby embraced by the arms of a mother for the first time, they were granted with the warm miracle of a god that was full of love and benevolence. The people naturally believed in their safe future before the almighty blessing of that light. This trip will end without a problem. No disease could ever harm them throughout this journey. The lord will watch over this path. Faced with her miracle, even the mercenaries that lived and died by the sword couldn¡¯t help but believe in the existence of a god. The heavenly god praised by the order ¨C the king of gods written down in the scriptures and the one ruling over all the gods of thisnd. The Saintess was the very person who proved the existence of that god in this world, whom they didn¡¯t know much of apart from the fact that he had to be referred to as the lord. However, although it seemed extremely sacred and holy, the Saintess was indifferently continuing the prayer as her mind wandered off to somewhere else. ¡®How should Ibine the next few words? Maybe I should ask for good weather.¡¯ Her prayers were carried by the wind with each of her phrases having different implications depending on how they werebined. After giving thousands and tens of thousands of prayers, praying became a tedious job where she had tobine appropriate words following her imagination. Saintess Estelle believed in the existence of the god. Princess Hadassa, however, doubted the sincerity of the god. It was because she herself was extremely sphemous and unfaithful. The perfect representative of faith ording to the order had less faith than that of a mercenary living in the streets, but who would ever believe it even if she were to say that out loud? Why was it, that she had been chosen by the god and not someone else? ¡®I still have no clue why.¡¯ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Before long, they were attacked. Spells were flying in from everywhere. Magic golems and chimeras were marching in along with the spells as well as several employed mercenaries. ¡°Haa~. I somewhat knew this would happen but¡­¡± In the midst of the battlefield of shing weapons, explosions and mes, Estelle heaved a sigh and continued talking to herself. ¡°Was that prayer not enough?¡± There were a lot of people including Elder Morushtan that were from the Tower of Mages. Considering how there were so many heretics that were captured by that one junior from the Academy, it wasn¡¯t strange for the Tower of Mages to attack them in an attempt to rescue their members. However, Estelle was expecting it to be in the form of an indirect assault by hiring several mercenaries with a falsified mission. That was why they had dispatched holy knights and dozens of guardians to be a part of the convoy group but¡­ What she definitely wasn¡¯t expecting, was that the mages of the Tower would tantly carry out an attack like this. ¡®I did think they were crazy when they tried to kidnap Lady Dunareff, but really? Do they not care about their future consequences?¡¯ The Tower of Mages had already turned the Dunareff and the entire south against them. It was strange that the Dunareff was still staying quiet, but in the long run, it was inevitable for the two groups to enter a conflict. Despite that, the Tower of Mages decided to attack the Saintess of the order and the 1st Princess of the kingdom, making the Zeon Order and the royal court their enemy. This was far beyond the level of what Miruam and the nobles with connections to the Tower could do to protect them. ¡°Saintess! Please wait inside the carriage! It¡¯s dangerous!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯ll head to where the important criminals are.¡± ¡°Saintess!¡± Without paying regard to the dissuasion of the holy knight, Estelle jumped out of the carriage and headed to therge magic prison that was located at the center of the convoy. Inside the magic prison were the key criminals of this trip, Senior Professor Kang Ryun of the Purple Hawk Academy in the eastern continent and the head of the ck Cult, Elder Morushtan. They were the most important criminals here so Estelle had made sure that the prison was locked firmly but¡­ when she got there, a familiar that had sneaked in in the heat of the battle was in the middle of opening the gates of the prison. ¡°Hoh~. Look who it is?¡± ¡°Saintess¡­¡± ¡°Hello? You guys seem to have a lot of fans, seeing how there¡¯s so many toe see you.¡± ¡°Hmph! It¡¯s not toote for you. Why don¡¯t you run away by yourself when you can?¡± ¡°Me?¡± Estelle scoffed in response to Kang Ryun¡¯s jest. Indeed, it was true that there were more enemies than what she expected. The escort convoy was definitely not weak by any means, but the Tower of Mages had gathered even more mages and mercenaries for the attack. There were at least 3 elder-ranked mages as well as 10 mercenary groups. They must have used up a lot of human resources and materials for this attack. ¡°The Tower¡­ is strong. Saintess. All of you¡­ will die.¡± ¡°Probably. Except for me that is.¡± ¡°What?¡± Morushtan was dumbfounded by her honest agreement, but that was when the Saintess pretended to be shocked after seeing them walk out of the prison. ¡°You just escaped the prison didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± Covering her mouth with both hands, Estelle had a shocked look on her face as if she couldn¡¯t believe what she was seeing. ¡°Brothers¡­ How could you possiblymit the serious sin of escaping the prison without following the right procedures? Let me pray for you. Let¡¯s repent for our sins.¡± Dropping down on her knees, Estelle locked her fingers. ¡°W, what kind of lunatic is¡­¡± ¡°Foolish nonsense.¡± Morushtan waved his hand once as a ck torrent of mana pounced at the Saintess. The sudden ball of mana from his mana heart turned into mes of curse that appeared to be moments away from scorching the feeble saintess to ashes. However, that was not what happened next. ¡ºThe lord is with me; the weapons of my foes cannot dare harm me.¡» ¡°What?¡± The ck mes dissipated after surrounding the saintess, but she elegantly stood back up and dusted her clothes. ¡°Impossible¡­¡± Morushtan looked at her with astonishment in his eyes. She wasn¡¯t hurt in the slightest. In fact, that wasn¡¯t all there was to it. That spell just then was the mes of curse that scorched the opponent to ashes after sticking onto their flesh without leaving a single bone behind. It should have burned Estelle down unless she were to immediately cut off the part of her flesh that was struck by the mes. However, there was not a single sign of damage even on her clothes. Absolute defense at the level of an Unbreakable Vajra Body? Was that what she had? That didn¡¯t make sense either, because that applied only to the skin. At the very least, there should have been some changes made to her golden ornaments and her white outfit. ¡°So this is the prayer¡­¡± I will never be injured. The lord will protect me from illness, mes and steel chariots. The prayers of the Saintess created divine miracles. Atst, Morushtan witnessed the truth of that famous story. ¡°Right¡­ I knew you wouldn¡¯t repent for your sins.¡± Estelle said with a smile on her face. ¡°A sinful soul is neither asking for forgiveness nor being regretful of their actions. O lord, please forgive this poor soul. ¡°The god of benevolence, forgiveness and mercy pities even the sinners¡­ ¡°So brothers. The lord will definitely forgive you all.¡± Tuk. That was when a heavy mace of steel appeared from underneath the sleeves of her sacred outfit. ¡°But even if god forgives you for your sins, this guy won¡¯t.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± A mace that looked so hideous that they couldn¡¯t even fathom how it was hiding in her sleeves¡ª ¡°O lord. I will now do as I see fit.¡± ¡ªIt struck through the air at the two of them. ¡°Kang Ryun!¡± ¡°Kuuk¡­!¡± Kang Ryun hurriedly created a formation to defend themselves from the flying mace. Although it wasn¡¯t at the level of the Eight Gates Formation, it was still decent thanks to the preparations he had made beforehand after hearing about the attack. His defensive formation created a stone wall that was reinforced by mana to stop the flying mace. Kung! A deafening thud echoed from the collision. He was the strongest formation expert of the east. His stone wall was truly marvelous and was at the level of a thick steel wall but¡ª ¡°Lord is watching over us, so carry your metal stick and strike them down. Do so and your enemies will be crushed like the failed artifacts of a potter.¡± ¨C Kwang! Suddenly, the mace broke through all lines of defense as it pounced on them with a radiant curtain of light behind it. ¡°Feel fear as you praise the lord. Tremble and rejoice. The lord will release his fury andy you to waste.¡± Unlike the vicious words of her prayer, there was a bright and adorable smile on her face. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The situation was slowly turning for the worse. One by one, the sinners were being rescued from the magic prisons and the holy knights and guardians, who were forming a defensive circle, were slowly being pushed back with Estelle in the middle. Well, it was fine though because two of the most dangerous ones had already been dealt with. ¡°Saintess! It¡¯s getting harder for us to hold the line of defense! You should run away at the very least¡­ Huhp!¡± The holy knight who hade looking for her with a horse in hand gasped for breath upon seeing the two headless corpses. ¡°How is it going?¡± Despite her pure-white outfit and her beautiful face being drenched with blood, she nonchntly raised her head for the question. The new holy knight looked at her with disbelief but he seemed to be the only one that was lost for words ¨C one of the other holy knights gave a report. ¡°The damage isn¡¯t that big so far thanks to your blessing but at this rate¡­ it is certain that everyone will be killed except for you, Saintess.¡± Thanks to the saintess blessing their journey and her prayer for the safety of everyone apanying the trip, most of the holy knights and guardians were able to stay alive despite the sudden ambush. However, there was a limit to her blessings. It was impossible for her blessings to keep a hundred people alive from the attack of thousands of enemies. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. We will now give up on the criminals and fall back.¡± ¡°Saintess!¡± ¡°We can¡¯t¡­!¡± ¡°Human lives are the most important. It¡¯s my fault for not expecting the Tower of Mages to be this aggressive.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all due to our ipetence¡­!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, Saintess! Let us stay behind and fight till ourst men!¡± Facing the holy knights and priests that were tearing up from humiliation, Estelle slowly looked through their faces one by one. Jerry, Jackson, Rudy and Erisa¡­ Estelle knew the priests around her very well. Because of that, one of them, who was looking straight into her eyes with utmost sorrow in his gaze¡­ looked extremely odd. ¡°How strange. I know everyone around me but¡­¡± She raised her mace. When she lifted it all the way to the sky, Rudy¡­ the young priest turned pale. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¨C m! The mace crushed apart the head of the young priest called Rudy. Blood sttered and pieces of the broken bones scattered everywhere¡­ or at least that was what everyone was expecting. ¡°Huh?¡± However, what scattered from the head weren¡¯t warm pieces of flesh nor blood but cold chunks of steel. Therge chunk of metal that used to be Rudy started to melt down as if it was in a pit ofva and soon turned into the figure of a strange person. ¡ºHow did you find out?¡» It was most definitely not the voice of a human and Estelle immediately had an idea of who it was that she was talking to. Great Mage Adelene of Gold, the Lord of the Tower of Mages. It appeared that he had personally joined in for this attack. ¡°Rudy is a shy boy. He couldn¡¯t even look straight into my eyes. I don¡¯t need to exin why, do I?¡± ¡º¡­¡» ¡°Do I need to say it myself? Of course it¡¯s because he likes me. Objectively speaking, I¡¯m unrealistically pretty, aren¡¯t I?¡± She sounded like and was very much a narcissist. It was hard to believe that the Saintess, who loved herself more than the god, had destroyed the head of another person just because of an intuition. However, what most were unaware of was that the intuition of the Saintess and even her seemingly reckless actions were supported by something more powerful than the likes of luck. ¡ºSaintess of the heretics. I am the great mage, Lord of the Tower of Mages, Adelene of Gold.¡» Adelene¡¯s voice echoed across the area as the surroundings started to wobble and shake. The ground caved in; metals soared into the air as the bodies of the golems and chimeras crumbled down beforebining into onerge chunk. Great mage of gold. In other words, he was the one sitting at the peak of alchemy. The result of his magic engineering gazed down at the world in the shape of an enormous giant. ¡°¡­That¡¯s not at the level of a golem anymore, is it?¡± ¡°Saintess! You must escape¡­!¡± Looking back, she btedly noticed that all the ck mages that were caught experimenting in their secretboratories were researching topics rted to giants. It seemed that the Tower of Mages had been conducting experiments that were far more dangerous than what she had initially thought. ¡°All of you, run away.¡± ¡°Saintess! We can¡¯t do that¡­!¡± ¡°Ah, seriously! I¡¯m sure I won¡¯t die so you all should just take care of your own lives!¡± Atst, the infuriated shout from the Saintess caused all the holy knights to shut their mouths. They knew very well why the Saintess had no bodyguards, and why she allocated all the funds she received to intelligence instead. She did not need to be protected. If she were to use all of her prayers to protect herself, she would be able to escape unscathed even if the world were to divide into two. It was a different concept and power to the Unbreakable Vajra Body. The Saintess could never be injured. She would never bleed in her life. That unbelievable concept was like a divine rule etched into the world thanks to her prayers. ¡°Kuhk¡­! We will definitelye back with reinforcements!¡± ming themselves for their ipetence, the holy knights started to escape along with the survivors. ¡ºNot happening.¡» The giant started to move and by the time anyone could realize it, there was already arge stone in its hand. It was already far toote for Estelle to stop it and¡­ therge stone was flung towards the group that was escaping from the battle. That stone wasn¡¯t a normal piece of stone. It was one that waspressed and reinforced by the mage of gold. As soon as itnded on the target, the stone imploded on them. ¨C Kwaaaaaaang!! A storm and a deafening roar was created from the explosion. It was only obvious that no-one could survive from that colossal explosion but¡­ ¡ºHmm?¡» The soldiers and holy knights were on the ground after being shocked by the sound of the explosion but none of them were hurt. It was a miracle¡­ Seeing that unfathomable sight, Lord Adelene turned the gaze of the giant towards the Sainess and spoke to her. ¡ºImpressive that you can fully protect a group that big.¡» Estelle raised her mace and let out a prayer of self-sacrifice. ¡°Greater love has no one than this: toy down one¡¯s life for one¡¯s friends.You will be the lord¡¯s friends if you do what hemands.¡± O lord, please crush the enemy before us. With your blessings, I can smash a thousand heretics to death even with the jawbones of a donkey. ¡°In the name of the holy father, son and the spirit.¡± Amen. Chapter 153: Delinquent Saintess (3) ? Delinquent Saintess (3) ? The standbymand of the Guardians Alliance was only issued when something urgent happened, and everyone living in the kingdom had the responsibility to immediately respond to the call. Although the guardians weren¡¯t rted to the military and the central government, they still had to follow the standbymand. ¡°Apparently we have to participate as well. Looks very serious.¡± However, that only applied to the official guardians of the Alliance. Strictly speaking, we were still students that were supposed to be exempt from the standbymand. ¡°Korin. They processed our promotion just then. We are a Grade 1 Guardians Guild from now on.¡± ¡°That was unbelievably fast ¨C probably because of the thing that¡¯s going on.¡± The guild I created¡­ Korin Guardians was on a whole new level when it came tobat potential. Including me, a young Grade 1 knight, there was also the captain of a sword squad, Alicia; the oldest daughter of Dunareff, the dukedom in the south, and a semi-Unique Grade vampire mage, Marie; as well as Heavenly Yaksha Hua Ran, who was still under the strict surveince of Merkarva and the New Faith due to her mighty strength. Two of them had thebel of ¡®Unique¡¯, and both Alicia and I were also roughly at the level of semi-Unique Grade. On top of that, looking at all the achievements we had made, the Alliance probably had no choice but to summon us despite us being students. And during that process, they quickly promoted us to be a Grade 1 Guardians Guild, because there was aw stating that Grade 1 guilds always had to be a part of the standbymand. ¡°I, I wonder what¡¯s going on? There have been several wyverns flying around and it looks like something serious is going on.¡± Alicia said while anxiously looking up at the sky. A few of the wyverns flying in the air were in fact from our side. ¨C p! p! Along with a strong flutter of their wings, a group of wyvernsnded on thending zone inside our office. Stepping down from them were Kranel Luden, Yuel¡­ and Lunia and the Five Swords who had apanied them as bodyguards. We walked up to greet them when Lunia took out tworge heads from the bag of the wyvern and tossed them to me. They were the heads of ogres. ¡°Phew~. I guess you dealt with them yourself?¡± ¡°The n was to keep them alive for educational purposes, but I killed them with haste to return as quickly as possible.¡± The clean cuts on the necks of the ogres were an impressive sight. If Kranel and Yuel had been the ones killing them, the cuts wouldn¡¯t have been this clean. ¡°K, Korin¡­ We came back as fast as we could¡­ after you called us¡­¡± ¡°What is going on?¡± Kranel and Yuel asked while awkwardly ncing at the heads of the two ogres. Initially, the purpose of the mission was for them to practice working in coboration to defeat the ogres but things had be slightly different. ¡°We don¡¯t know yet either, but I¡¯m sure we will be getting some news soon.¡± In any case with their return, most of the members of our guild had been gathered to one spot. As for the reason for the emergency summon, we heard that from Lady Josephine and Master Erin who soon teleported to our office. **** ¡°Student Estelle seems to have been captured by the mages of the Tower.¡± ¡°The Saintess?! That¡¯s horrible!¡± Alicia was the first to react. After that, the look on Hua Ran¡¯s face changed, albeit slightly. ¡°That sounds pretty bad.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the royal court doing in response?¡± ¡°They might issue amand to the East as well.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Lunia as well as the Five Sworddies all seemed concerned in one way or another. It was safe to assume that the East would have to mobilized as well because after all, the eastern side of the kingdom was the sharpest de that the kingdom had in store. Alicia Arden and Lunia Arden. Just with the help of those two people, the kingdom could gain ess to two squadsposed solely of knights, so there was no reason why the kingdom wouldn¡¯t reach out to them while they were here at Merkarva. ¡°Korin. Were you expecting this to happen?¡± ¡°To some extent. I wasn¡¯t expecting it to be this early though.¡± The Tower of Mages was being way too reckless ¨C even more so than how they were in the original game. Well, they were of the mindset that the world and the opinions of the people did not matter because everything will be reset with the Advent of Paradise so it was nothing new but¡­ ¡°But you do not seem too surprised either.¡± ¡°Well, I did know they would do something simr in the first ce.¡± The news hadn¡¯t officially reached us yet but we already knew who the culprit was. Nheless, I said it out one more time to drive it in. ¡°As we heard and as you know already, the Tower of Mages is the one behind all this.¡± Although it was slightly earlier than scheduled, that did not mean anything. We had made enough preparations and all that needed to be done was light up the fuse of the bomb. ¡°Let me give a brief exnation of our n. Our goal now is to conquer the country of mages where the Tower is in, the Steel Archipgo.¡± **** The prayers of the Saintess reach the heavens above. Once it reaches the god, they will grant her what she wished for and thus, the Saintess¡¯s prayers were always met with an answer. But right now, her voice was unable to reach the sky. ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± A piercing cold breeze woke her up. Estelle slowly opened her eyes to check what was around her. Haystack. And a building built with gray bricks. It took her 3 seconds to recognize that this was a prison¡­ and the piercing wind that did not match the current weather gave away the location. ¡°Steel Archipgo. The headquarters of the Tower.¡± Being closer to the Northern Kingdom than the El Rath Kingdom, it was and owned by neither country that was famous for the shivering cold. It was a safe haven of mages. ¡°How clever.¡± The owner of the voice was an old mage with londirty blondede hair. There were still remnant traces of his intelligence and beautiful appearance from his youth, and his eyes were still glistening in gold. The Great Mage of Gold, Adelene ¨C he was the one who neutralized and kidnapped her all the way here. It was hard to tell what it was that interrupted the activation of her divine prayers, but his actions were even harder to understand. ¡°Why exactly are you doing this?¡± ¡°Are you asking for the reason?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it too risky to go to such lengths just to save a few mages?¡± ¡°You seem to be misunderstanding something.¡± Adelene had an indifferent expression on his face. He didn¡¯t seem concerned about the future in the slightest despite what he had done already. ¡°Rather than asking why I did this, you should have asked what we were going to do now.¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± From his words, Estelle immediately realized that their goal had been to capture her from the start, instead of saving the mages. After figuring that out¡­ ¡°Lord. Please grant me the power to destroy the enemy¡¯s chariots.¡± In the blink of an eye, she empowered her hands and threw a bare fist at Adelene. Reinforced by a prayer, her fist could destroy anything in existence and the body of the old mage in front of her was bound to explode like a watermelon. ¨C Grip! However, someone blocked her fist before that could happen. ¡°Hihi, little friend. Very healthy and lively aren¡¯t you~¡± It was a thin man. Even though he was wearing a duster coat over his body, she could tell with a nce that he was a tall yet slender person. At the same time, he gave off an ominous presence like the mixture of madness and chaos. ¡°You blocked my¡­ no, wait. This¡­¡± She couldn¡¯t activate her divine energy. ¡°Hihit¡­!¡± Estelle wasn¡¯t a knight. She was nothing but a normal girl without the power of the prayers, and the fist of a normal girl was unable to defeat the King of Beasts. ¡°Hello!?¡± ¡°Dun Scaith?¡± After carefully scrutinizing the face of the man, she remembered seeing him from a wanted poster. He was the wanted criminal who brought around beastmen and carried out terrorist attacks throughout the continent ¨C King of Beasts, Dun Scaith¡­ But why was he here? ¡°Magician Friend! Isn¡¯t our new friend too energetic? Maybe it¡¯s about time it wore off!¡± ¡°New¡­ friend?¡± ¡°We do have to hurry with the experiment, because soon, the military and the guardians wille storming in.¡± ¡°Hihi! Then¡­!¡± Dun Scaith suddenly took out something from his thin belly like a magician. Estelle found it to be a disgusting magic but widened her eyes in shock upon seeing the thing that he took out from his stomach. ¡°Holy¡­ Grail?¡± It was one of the four sacred artifacts left behind in the records. Why was such a thinging out of the body of a terrorist? ¡°Holy Grail? Ahh~ I see. So that¡¯s how you call it, huh?¡± Rather than a holy grail, it was closer to arge cauldron. After a giggle, Dun Scaith ced down the so-called Holy Grail, ¡®Magic Cauldron of Undry¡¯ in front of her. ¡°It will sting a little, okay? My friend Saintess.¡± He took out a dagger before shing down at her wrist. ¡°Uhhk¡­!¡± Estelle frowned from the unfamiliar feeling of pain. It spooked her to see blood dripping down her wrist. Her body was supposed to be under a blessing and yet it was cut open by a mere dagger. She pursed her lips as she witnessed the impossible. ¡°What are you¡­ going to do with it?¡± ¡°There are many uses for the Holy Blood. For example¡­ when bringing back the long-dead giants of the past.¡± ¡°What do you¡­!¡± ¡°You asked for the reason, did you not?¡± The Great Mage of Gold looked down at the stupefied look on her face and said with a voice of certainty. ¡°Gaining something is not what¡¯s important. It¡¯s about not losing it.¡± Siding with the winners. The reason behind the Tower Lord¡¯s decision was ever so simple yet calctive. **** Guardians were groups of mages and knights. The Alliance, which stood for the rights of the guardians and gave out missions, was technically like a union of mercenaries. However, guardians weren¡¯t normal upations. They could slice down viges with a sword and burn down towns with magic, and the Alliance was the one managing those superhuman monsters. Therefore, they were at the top of the continent in terms of both financial power and political status. The main building of the Guardian Alliance that we arrived at, was magnificently polished as if to prove their might. ¡°Korin. It¡¯s my first timeing to the Alliance.¡± ¡°You¡¯re in your third year though. Didn¡¯t you have work cements and¡­ Ah.¡± Ever since she turned into a vampire in her 2nd year at Merkarva Academy, she became one of the few people that needed constant supervision. Because of that, Marie had to refrain from most of the official activities. And that was why she didn¡¯t have any records left behind under her name throughout her 2nd year, which she would have otherwise used to build up a portfolio and a career as a promising guardian. ¡°Well, let¡¯s try to move around a bit more from now on. With me included of course.¡± ¡°Hehe. Sounds great to me.¡± I headed down the lobby with Marie to the reception desk, and one of the staff there politely said after recognizing me. ¡°Wee, Master Korin. Please follow me in.¡± Thanks to that, we were able to enter the conference without having to go through some boring procedures. The conference room of the Guardian Alliance was¡­ closer to an auditorium if anything. Even apart from Marie and I, there were around 70 people each sitting in their seats. ¡°Korin. These people¡­¡± Alliance hadmanded only for the guild masters and deputy masters toe, which meant that everyone here was either a master or a deputy master of a guardians guild. There were roughly 70 here, and a simple calction showed that there were more than 30 guilds gathered in this one ce. ¡°What¡¯s with those kids?¡± ¡°Are they involving kids in this important matter?¡± ¡°¡­¡± However, none of them were students. All of them were aged veteran guardians, so it was natural for us to gather a great amount of attention. It seemed that all the nearby guilds had been summoned to this auditorium. After a while, a new group of people entered the room. All of them were wearing suits except for one, who was wearing somefortable casual clothing. ¡°Is everyone here?¡± The middle-aged man with a vicious countenance and a bushy beard was the chairman of the Alliance and a former-knight, who could most certainly still be fighting at the frontlines. He was one of the people chosen personally by Master Erin, who still had quite the influence over the Alliance. ¡°Let¡¯s go straight to the point without beating around the bush.¡± The chairman personally exined everything in a simple and straightforward manner. The escort convoy of the New Faith which had been escorting the convicts was attacked by mages from the Tower and groups of mercenaries and had no choice but to fall back. During that process, the Saintess volunteered to stand at the back of the retreat to hold the enemy, but ording to news gathered by the scouts after the event, it became evident that the Saintess had been captured. ¡°A giant?¡± A man who was listening to the chairman¡¯s story with a cup of tea in hand stopped and raised a question. ¡°Isn¡¯t that something that onlyes out in fairy tales?¡± ¡°You idiot. Giants existed for real. In the north there are still half-giants roaming around.¡± ¡°I know that, but there aren¡¯t any giants that are still alive anymore.¡± The man audibly ced the cup down and gave a realistic assumption. ¡°It must have been a type of golem. It appeared after absorbing the flesh of chimeras and the cores of golems, right? It¡¯s surprising that they managed to create a golem of that size, but I guess it¡¯s not impossible if we are talking about the leader of the Gold Cult.¡± ¡°Do you know a thing or two about golems?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been in a long contract with the Luden family, which is well-known for being great with golems. They are buying the rare metals we collect at a pretty good price.¡± Ah~, I finally remembered where I saw his face from. That man was the coborator, Mr. Rendal, who appeared in the character scenario quest of Golem Mage, Kranel Luden. He was the one who provided the golem core for thebination grand spell Kranel could use with Yuel after she awakened as the Sage of the Forest, ?Master Form Junk Wooden Golem ¨C Luden Warrior? ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s surprising that they created a golem that big, but it¡¯s even more surprising that the Tower seems to have gone absolutely nuts.¡± The nearby guardians agreed with the words of Mr. Rendal. Even another incident at the level of the Academy chairman¡¯s assassination wouldn¡¯t have led to such dramatic reactions from them. The Saintess of the New Faith and the 1st Princess of El Rath, the dominant country of this continent. This person was even more of an ¡®untouchable¡¯ than Marie. She was like an atomic bomb where messing with her meant immediately making the two giant factions, the New Faith and the El Rath Kingdom into an enemy. Unlike the chairman assassination incident, it wasn¡¯t something that could be covered up and postponed by saying it was the ¡®rampage assault¡¯ of a small portion of the Tower. ¡°It will be certain at this point that there will be an attack on the Tower, right?¡± ¡°What about the military? And are the holy knights from the New Faithing as well?¡± ¡°Even the Tower will have a hard time against the royal military. The question is how many guardians they¡¯re going to mobilize but¡­¡± Although they didn¡¯t spell it out loud, all the guild masters and deputy masters didn¡¯t seem too keen with the idea of participating in the war. That was natural because now that the continent entered a state of rtive peace, demons were the only ones deemed an enemy, and arge-scale battle wasn¡¯t going to be helpful for any of them. However, it was impossible for the kingdom to mobilize all of them. In fact, forcing all the guilds to move was something that was only possible for fights like the final battle which had the fate of humanity on the line. ¡°Hmph. Don¡¯t worry. Only 7 elite guilds will have to leave from our branch.¡± The guardians let out a sigh of relief after hearing the words of the chairman. There were 30 guilds gathered here, and it was highly likely that they would be exempt from the war. But the chairman wasn¡¯t done with his words. ¡°Ah~ by the way, for the guilds that participate in this subjugation mission of the Tower of Mages, you will receive the permission for ¡®Unrestricted Plunder¡¯. Whether it be materials¡­ or people.¡± ¡°¡­!!¡± ¡°What?!¡± Some of them even shot out of their seats from sheer astonishment. Unrestricted plunder meant they would be permitted to steal and pige everything without any restrictions. There were centuries-worth of treasures and magic artifacts in the Tower and the mages themselves were also precious ve material. That was an indirect permission to very. Now that very was illegal, with only the evil and wicked people bing ves these days, it was most certainly a shocking offer. It was a big deration that proved how infuriated the kingdom was about this incident. ¡°We, the Red Hammer Knights, will dly step up to save the Saintess!¡± ¡°Bullcrap and nonsense! Our Modern Magic Research Group will obviously be more helpful!¡± ¡°Chairman! Chairman! The Excalibur Squad will naturally be a part of the war, right?!¡± Due to the greedy reactions from the guardians, the auditorium immediately turned into a pandemonium. In a war with destined victory, they were allowed to plunder without any restrictions. At this point, it wasn¡¯t even a question that they could sweep up a fortune from this one battle. Seemingly having expected such a response from the start, the chairman leisurely watched the chaotic disy. After calmly waiting for them to settle back down, the chairman opened up a scroll. ¡°The 7 elite guardians guilds have already been nominated. The guilds that are not listed here can only assign up to 4 guardians.¡± The list presented by the chairman read as follows. ==================== ==================== 1. Red Brotherhood 2. Rounds 3. Knights of Fiana 4. Modern Magic Research Group 5. Iron Warhammer 6. Northern Militia 7. Korin Guardians ==================== ==================== ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!!!! The guardians that were a part of the main assault group heaved out sighs of relief whereas those that could not each showed their discontentment. One of them shot out of their seats while fluttering their honey-blonde hair behind them. ¡°This is not fair, Chairman!¡± ¡°What is it? Master Allen of Invisible Hand of Gold?¡± ¡°I can understand the other guilds to some extent! But Korin Guardians is a totally different story!¡± Ah~ it was someone I knew. He was the second son of a rtively big merchant group located in the capital that gave out decent missions. ¡°Korin Guardians? Who are they?¡± ¡°A guild made by a group of brats that haven¡¯t even graduated yet.¡± ¡°You mean little kids are a part of the group while we¡¯re not?! That makes zero sense!¡± Even though I was quite a famous new knight in the industry, it had only been 2 months since we created our guild, and it seemed that the others didn¡¯t know much about the members of our guild. Well, that was understandable because our focus had been on theboratories of the guys from the Tower of Mages and not the big missions that required the coboration of multiple guilds. ¡°Student Korin! Think this through! This is not something you guys can handle!¡± Guild Master Allen came up to me and tried to coax me into giving up on attacking the Tower of Mages. Considering his background, he was probably going to give an offer. ¡°However, I understand that letting go of this opportunity would seem like a great waste. We, the Invisible Hand of Gold is a guild under one of the 10 big merchant groups of the capital, Gold Hand. Student Korin, if you yield the position to us, then I promise you that there would be a generous reward.¡± ¡°What!? Allen, you bastard! You sneaky little bitch!¡± ¡°He¡¯s trying to buy his way in? Is this allowed, Chairman!?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Chairman remained silent without bothering to stop Allen. That was a sign that he was silently giving permission. Feeling even more confident after seeing that the chairman wasn¡¯t going to intervene, Allen even offered a specific amount of gold. ¡°If you decide to yield it to us, we will pay you 2,000 gold coins at once. How does that sound? Of course, even if you do hand over the position, we will make sure to kindly look after the four guardians you will be dispatching with the group.¡± 2,000 gold coins. Roughly 2 million in dors. It was definitely an offer that could intrigue some people to give away the spot, because of the uncertainty of the rewards from the battle. However¡­ ¡°Interesting. Go on.¡± Our lovely deputy master said with a bright smile on her face. Chapter 154: The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork (1) ? The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork (1) ? ¡°Interesting. Go on.¡± Seeing Marie open her mouth despite quietly standing behind Korin the whole time, Allen couldn¡¯t help but reply with a frown. ¡°Are you the Deputy Master? I guess you¡¯re not experienced enough to understand how much that is, but I have made an extremely generous offer. In fact, you could even call it a gift.¡± ¡°Haht¡­! Sorry, I wasn¡¯t trying to make fun of you or anything.¡± There was no hint of spite in her harmless voice. With the pure intent of a girl trying to find an answer to her question, Marie raised ament. ¡°But you can¡¯t even buy a small building with 2,000 gold coins¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you need at least 20,000 coins to buy a potato field?¡± ¡°Haha¡­ Young students these days are quite ambitious, I suppose. Or perhaps I should say you have a limited understanding of finance. You have no idea how many things you can do with 2,000 gold coins¡­¡± ¡°Doggo said that wasn¡¯t enough though¡­¡± ¡°W, what?!¡± 2,000 gold coins? That¡¯s Doggo¡¯s monthly allowance. 20,000 gold coins? The Hresvelgr is more expensive than that. For the oldest daughter of the Dunareff family, who possessed an immeasurable amount of wealth that normal people couldn¡¯t evenprehend, money was probably like a set of numbers on the scoreboard of a game. ¡®Is that how much I earned this month? I see,¡¯ was probably her impression every month. ¡°Anyway, we have no ns of giving away our position.¡± ¡°You damn brats¡­! Do you even know who my father is? He¡¯s the boss of the Gold Hand Merchants!¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Why are you angry?¡± Marie let out a cluelessment that irritated Allen even more. There was a look of bright and pure innocence on her face as she innocently crushed the other person¡¯s hopes. ¡°Hmph. I see how it is. The bravado of young kids, huh?¡± Allen was used to such people. Young brats who pretended to keep their cool because of their overwhelming passion and zeal. They were the type of people who would immediately tuck their tails in and lower themselves upon seeing arger and more overwhelming amount of money. ¡°Huhu. Alright. I love your passion so I will double the price just for you. 4,000 gold coins!¡± ¡°4, 4000 gold coins?¡± ¡°As expected of the second son of the Gold Hand Merchants. He¡¯s on a whole other level!¡± 4,000 gold coins. 4 million dors. With that much money, it was possible to build a decently tall building at the center of the capital. However, Allen did not consider it a loss, because he considered the potential profit from the Tower of Mages raid to be over 10,000 gold coins at the very least. But that would only be attainable in the hands of someone like Allen, who could mobilize his whole guild plus several hundreds of mercenaries. It was natural that most guilds would find it hard to even reach half of that amount in terms of profit. ¡°Umm¡­ 4,000 gold coins?¡± ¡®Right, I knew it.¡¯ Allen smirked as he watched the dumbfounded look on the girl¡¯s face. It was an obvious result. As expected of a young kid, she probably wasn¡¯t expecting the price to rise by thousands. ¡°From 2,000 to 4,000; all you changed was the number at the front. Isn¡¯t it¡­?¡± ¡°H¡­ huh?¡± He couldn¡¯t understand what she meant for a solid second. All that changed was the number at the front? Did she not even know how to do calctions? What was up with that look on her face, as if she couldn¡¯t tell if jumping from 2,000 to 4,000 was a big leap or not?! ¡°6,000 gold coins¡­¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°7,000¡­ gold coins¡­!¡± ¡°Huaahm~.¡± ¡°8,000¡­!¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ How about you talk to someone else?¡± ¡°Yeah! We at the Modern Magic Research Group are willing to sell you the position for 8,000 gold coins!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t listen to them! Buy it from us instead!¡± ¡°Shut up¡­!¡± The second son of the Gold Hand Merchant group, Allen Goldhand, never had his pride trampled on in his life. Ever since a young age, he had been receiving hundreds of gold coins every month, lived in an enormous mansion by himself with servants and maids, and hired a famous knight to be his instructor after finding out that he had the talent to be a knight. There was no way that he could allow a mere academy student to trample on his pride! With the stubborn intent of trying to take the position of these little brats, Allen called for a number that was well above the allocated budget. ¡°100 white gold coins!¡± ¡°What!?¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­!¡± ¡°100 white gold coins? That¡¯s the yearly budget of most small cities, isn¡¯t it?¡± After calling out that outrageous amount of money that equaled 10,000 gold coins, Allen looked at Korin and Marie with a proud look on his face. Now that it reached 10,000 gold coins, it was obvious that they would immediately get on their knees and shout, ¡®Thank you very much Sir Allen!¡¯, and¡ª ¡°Hmm?¡± But what he noticed was that there was still a calm look on the face of the young student. Even though the veteran guardians inside the auditorium were all creating a fuss in shock, there was not a single ripple on the tranquil expression of the girl. ¡°Y, you¡­¡± Who was she? How could she be so calm in the face of 10,000 gold coins? How? What did I miss?! After ring daggers at Marie, Allen caught sight of a ne that was hanging on her neck. Hanging in front of her white skin and the deep crevice of her chest was a ne of red diamonds. Even thece had dozens of small red diamonds, and at the center of that ne was an enormous 69-carat diamond. That ne¡­ where have I¡­ ¡®W, wait! Isn¡¯t that the ¡®King of Jewels¡¯ that came out at the royal auction?!¡¯ It was an incredible treasure that was printed on the first page of the Kingdom¡¯s daily newspapers and the weekly newspapers of the continent. That ne was most certainly that legendary treasure that was finally sold at the historically highest price of 140,000 gold coins! ¡®I remember hearing stories about it! The one who bought it was Duke Dunareff of the South and¡­ it was said that it was a gift for his daughter¡­¡¯ Wait, isn¡¯t the oldest daughter of their family around the age of the girl in front of¡­ ¡°Huahk¡­! M, Marie Dunareff?!¡± ¡°Huh? Do you know me?¡± Hearing that, Allen started chattering his teeth and sweating buckets. Marie used to stay holed up in the south, and news about her became harder to obtain after she awakened as a vampire, so it wasn¡¯t strange for him to not recognize her at a nce but¡­ In any case, that didn¡¯t change the fact that she was the untouchable existence of the South¡­ or rather the entire Kingdom! ¡°M, my sincerest apologies¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t even disguise the shiver in his voice. Atst, he realized that the person he had been talking to was the inheritor of a super-rich family that could wipe out their merchant group with a single sentence. ¡°L, let me take my leave then¡­¡± ¡°Nnn? Are you okay? You seem to be sweating a lot.¡± ¡°N, no no no. I¡¯m okay. I am so so sorry.¡± Allen¡¯s previous vigor was nowhere to be seen, as he became a lot more respectful in the blink of an eye. Marie offered him a steamed potato with sugar cast on top, but Allen refused it with constant apologies before taking his leave. ¡°D, Dunareff¡­¡± ¡°If the Dunareff is the Deputy Leader then¡­ Kuhum!¡± The guardians nearby started to avoid us like a gue after realizing that Marie was the oldest daughter of the Dunareff family. Seeing that, Korin gave a hollow smile. ¡°Seriously, how did I not know this?¡± It was interesting how he had been so oblivious in the previous iteration. *** There were seven guilds dispatched from each branch that were participating in the Saintess rescue operation. Added to that, all the non-participating guilds could still send up to 4 people, so it amounted to an enormous group that was over 500 people. 390 knights and 110 mages. Plus there were also the war priests and holy knights, the Kingdom¡¯s military, and¡­ countless mercenaries who were all going to participate in the fight. Actually, although the mercenaries hadn¡¯t been officially invited by the Kingdom, they were there to make money off of the free plunder verdict that had been given to the Tower of Mages. Their goal was to obtain small fishing boats and raid the Steel Archipgo by themselves. Even though themanders were aware of it, they turned a blind eye to it because it allowed them to have more meat shields without having to use up their limited stock of ships and wyverns. Saintess Estelle had been kidnapped on the 7th of June, and right now it was the 18th of June. Less than 2 weeks had gone by since the event and yet there were already more than a hundred ships on the shore, ready to attack the Steel Archipgo. ¡°This is quite a shocking sight. Wouldn¡¯t you agree, boss?¡± ¡°It¡¯s none other than the Saintess that got kidnapped after all.¡± Dorron was also the Deputy Captain of a famous group of mercenaries, but as a member of a mercenary group that primarily focused on hunting demonic beasts in the countryside, it was understandable that he wouldn¡¯t be used to seeing such arge number of men that amounted to several legions. ¡°More importantly, where are the Warsky Mercenaries?¡± ¡°They just arrived. All 300 of Warsky, that is.¡± Warsky Mercenaries. They were high-level mercenaries that could be hired in the hiring system of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, second to only the Arden household. Usually, they moved around in groups of tens but the whole group was here for this asion, meaning there was no questioning about theirbat potential. ¡°Have you had a chat with the leader?¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t mind as long as you give the money. We¡¯ve already finished talking about what to do with the plundered resources.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± ¡°But boss, it suddenly struck me but¡­ going across the ocean is pretty risky. You¡¯ll have to be careful.¡± The Steel Archipgo wasposed of dozens of inds and a main ind that was twice the size of Jeju Ind, and in order to reach the main ind where the Tower was located, there was the need to conquer tens of inds in a row. Obviously, it was safe to assume that the Tower would have prepared some countermeasures already. ¡°So, do you mean you won¡¯t be a part of it?¡± ¡°Of course not. We are a credible group of mercenaries. Once hired, we are very much loyal.¡± Right. I knew that very well, in fact, that was the reason why Park Sihu used to love hiring the Warsky Mercenaries in thest iteration. Even though they were expensive, they proved their worth several times on repeat. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t make you guys do something as dangerous asnding on the shores or attacking the campsites.¡± ¡°Mhmm?¡± Dorron returned a questioning gaze, but that was when Marie walked into the tent. ¡°Korin! The vanguards are about to depart!¡± ¡°Alrighty. Time to get to work then.¡± ¡°¡­Boss? Vanguards are the most risky position to be in. Are you sure?¡± Yes, of course. Most of the people in the vanguards were the greedy mercenaries that would probably be acting as a meat shield. There was no need to mix into the crowd and shoulder the risk with them. ¡°Trust me. It will be a wonderful adventure.¡± The Man Who Orchestrates the Waves, Korin Lork. Here he goes! The Tower of Mages kidnapped the Saintess. The Kingdom and the Guardian Alliance reacted fast. Straight after her disappearance, the Kingdom and the Alliance issued a stand-bymand, gathering strong guardians to attack the headquarters of the Tower of Mages, the Steel Archipgo. However, the Steel Archipgo was a ce that was separated from the continent. There was no other way than to rely onrge ships andnd on the coasts in order to conquer the inds one by one. And the Tower had made ample preparations for that already. Hundreds of mages had created several magic circles on the coastlines, and the anti-naval magic circles that the Tower had installed to protect themselves from external threats had made the Steel Archipgo into arge war fortress. Although their numbers had decreased quite a bit ever since the Witch Revolution, they used to be the ones with full control over magic. The abundant magic artifacts that had been left behind by their ancestors for a hundred years, chimeras that were created by horrendous human experiments, and arge group of mercenaries hired with their financial power were all ready to attack their foes. The Steel Archipgo was like a pit of hell waiting to unfold on the ignorant visitors. The naturally formed defensive fortress of small inds and munitions that had been built up for centuries meant that the intruders from the Alliance of the Kingdom were going to be devoured due to their ignorance. ¡°Fufufu¡­ Atst, it is time to make use of this magic artifact.¡± The leader of one of the seven cults of the Tower, Elder yne of the Green Cult, chuckled as he gazed at the ships sailing toward the Steel Archipgo. They knew with the help of their spies that the Kingdom had yet to involve their actual soldiers, which meant that the countless ships sailing across the oceans of the archipgo¡­ were not from the Kingdom. In other words, they were guardians, mercenaries, and adventurers, and carrying them across the oceans were hundreds ofrge and small ships. The ships ranged from small boats to medium-sized fishing boats andrge carriers. ¡°Elder yne. That is quite a lot of them.¡± ¡°Fufu, they¡¯re still nothing but a group of insects ¨C moths that do not value their lives.¡± Unlike the organized ranks of a naval army, the ships were all advancing forward in a disorderly fashion which gave away their internal thoughts. There was only one reason why they would be so reckless. ¡ºEvery act of plunder against the Tower of Mages is permitted byw.¡» It was because of the announcement made by the El Rath Kingdom a few days ago. The unprecedented attack and abduction of the Princess and Saintess, Estelle Hadassa El Rath, infuriated the Kingdom and made them announce the destruction and annihtion of the Tower. ¡°They probably needed a fitting bait to mobilize mercenaries and the likes.¡± ¡°As vulgar as always.¡± Whether they had hundreds or thousands with them did not matter in the slightest. This was theirnd. The moment theynded on the shores, the Tower of Mages was ready to use everything in its arsenal to eradicate the ignorant fools. Right ¨C as long as theynded on the shores, that is. -Kwaaaaaaaa!! -Kugung! Kwang¡­! It happened in the blink of an eye. The boats that were in the lead suddenly flipped and were capsized by an abrupt wave, and struck the fleets furiously as if trying to swallow them whole. ¡°Uaaahk!¡± ¡°What the hell?!¡± Boats were turned and shaken. Stuck on the jolting ships, the men screamed and fell down. Their world was being flipped upside down. The world turned on its head as nature forced them from advancing forward. Naturally, they looked for the one to me. ¡°D, damn it, it¡¯s the Tower! Those guys are even controlling the weather!¡± ¡°The bastards from the Tower are creating waves! Shit! Fall back for now!¡± ¡°How could they possibly do such a thing¡­!?¡± The soldiers and crew members who were trying to infiltrate the Steel Archipgo gazed at the distant mages on the other side of the ocean with eyes of hatred and fury. How fearsome was the Tower of Mages? To think they had been hiding such power the whole time?! ¡°Lightning and tidal waves¡­ Was that Elder yne?¡± ¡°Ohhh! As expected of Elder yne! A grand spell of this level is unheard of!¡± The mages of the Tower faced yne with eyes of awe and admiration at the unbelievable phenomenon of controlling Mother Nature. However, Elder yne of the Green Cult was sweating buckets, unable to close his mouth. ¡°¡­That wasn¡¯t me though?¡± The dumbstruck voice of the mage was buried by the churning waves and thunderstorms. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ And at the center of the storm was arge and fancy frigate with the g of a ¡®golden potato flower¡¯, that was big enough to ovee the enormous waves. ¡°Uahhk¡­! The wave! Our ship is going to sink. Mr. Koriiiiiiiiiiiiinnn!¡± ¡°W, we have to escape!¡± ¡°Calm down Junior Kranel! This ship is not going to sink that easily! After all, it¡¯s the anti-magic frigate of our Dunareff Trade Fleets!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t careeee¡­! Uweeeek!¡± At the very center of the frigate, in the middle of the churning waves and violent storms was a man who was withstanding¡­ or rather, who had already be one with the nature around him. His soul was burning bright as a musician. His name, Korin Lork. A new musician who debuted just today. Singing the song of thete great musician, Chuck Berry¡¯s School Days, he energetically ran his fingers down the harp. -KIYOOOOOOOOOOOT! His appearance reminded one of the legendary guitarist ¨C the astonishing legend who had given birth to one of the modern genres of music. Although his technique was most certainly not up to par with the great legend, the burning mes in his soul did not lose to the thunderstorms and waves around him! ¡°ROCK N ROLL! MOTHER FUCKERS¡­!¡± ¡ºUaithne. Grade: Legendary¡» The string instrument of the King of Gods, Dagda. ying the string made with the liver of the king of cats will result in special magical effects. It is the legendary bane of giants that smacked nine giants to death. Believe in yourself and bash them down. -A magical effect is applied to every location affected by the sound. -It will fly into the master¡¯s hand from anywhere. -Bashing a giant with the harp inflicts 1,200% additional damage. ¡°Hehehe¡­! You¡¯re not going anywhere! Absolutely noooooooo-oooonneeeee is allowed to goooooo¡­!¡± Chapter 155: The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork (2) ? The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork (2) ? Dagda, the King of Gods, had a lot of treasures but three of them were considered the most powerful out of the bunch. The first of these items was the Magic Cauldron, Undry. It was the great treasure proving his status as the King of Gods and proof of his divinity of the earth. Second was the Magic Club that crushed the skull of the great giant warrior, Cirb. It was the weapon that had the highest attack power out of all the equipable weapons of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. Lastly, the third one was the Magic Harp, Uaithne, made with an oak tree and the liver of the King of Cats. As one would probably tell from the fact that it was a harp, the power of Uaithne only shined when performing the harp, and the result depended on the genre of the music. Of course, there was the condition that the quality of the performance had to be above a certain threshold, but after borrowing the harp from Estelle-Noona in the previous iteration, I was able to perfect two types of performances. Metal and rock. That was the residue of the sweaty youth I spent performing in a band during university. ¡°AYYYEEEEEE¡­!¡± I changed the song. This time, to a more exciting one! Let¡¯s go London Calling! ¡°London calling~! To the faraway towns¡ª¡± War has been dered, and the fight has begun! The sky, the ocean, and the River Thames are all with me! Uaithne. Genre ¨C Rock Music. It brought about a natural disaster. The exhrating repetition of powerful chords made the entire world dance to my music! Thunderstorms fell from the sky, while the oceans let out a sonorous chant with their storms and waves! ¡°Uaaahk! T, that was a shark! I saw a shark inside the tornado just then!¡± ¡°Shark-nadooooo!! Fucking asylumm!¡± ¡°What is that fucker saying!?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care if the river floods! And I live by the river!¡± ¡°Uaahkkk! Stop! Please stoppp!¡± ¡°This inhumane music is killing me!!¡± ¡°Shuddap! Cherry boy! The engine has stopped already! But we will live without fear!¡± Do you see this? The cheers and chants of the audience? Do you see the crowd cheering and screaming to my music? ¡°¡­Noisy.¡± Tch. Why does no one appreciate the greatness of this genre? And London Calling isn¡¯t even that noisy of a song, alright? To be fair, this world was a little bit behind in terms of dance culture so that was understandable. I remember how people at the royal banquet didn¡¯t understand the beauty of my breakdance. But they did cheer at the moonwalk. Ahh, I miss you, the one who treads the moon. The one who urged his conviction to the heavens. Wait a second? Heavenly Mic Hael Jackson. I was his only sessor in this world. The only one that could inherit his will and re-enact the Heavenly Sovereign Strides that could allow you to do reverse steps on the Moon. In other words, I. I am the Heavenly Mic. Even if metal, rock n roll, and breakdancing were not epted in this world, my music still has the power to force the heavens and tremble the oceans. So how could this me not be the Heavenly King himself? Heavenly¡ª ¡°I am the Heavenly Mic Kim Korin!¡± ¡ª Sovereign Strides. ¡ºOne who treads the Moon, MOONWALK¡» ¡°H, huh?¡± ¡°L, look!¡± ¡°He¡¯s walking backwards?¡± ¡°Korin is ying his harp and walking backwardssss?!¡± -Kwaaaaa! -Kwarurung! Kwaruru! The skies were turning while the earth beneath trembled in shock. The oceans were in fear while the wind stayed turbulent. -H, help meeee!! -O, our ship!! Nooo! Fufu, fear not, mercenaries. My heavenly moonwalk isn¡¯t here to harm the humans. Those who hear the sound of the Heavenly Uaithne; none of them shall be hurt. *** ¡°Damn those bastards from the Tower! They were hiding such a card up their sleeve!¡± At themand center of the military, Command Bete mmed down on the map upon hearing about the failed attempt of the vanguards. Fifty ships had been used for the n. Although they weren¡¯t going all out for their first attack, they still weren¡¯t expecting to be forced back powerlessly without even being able to approach the shores. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Simrly, the guardians, mercenaries, and captains who were all summoned to themand center were looking distressed. Most of the people here were masters of Guardians Guilds and mercenary leaders, and I was also a part of the group as the master of Korin Guardians. ¡°What are the casualties looking like?!¡± ¡°Yes sir. 13 fleets have been capsized, and 21 have been heavily damaged. Their main bodies have been damaged to the point that we cannot repair them anytime soon.¡± ¡°Damn it¡­ There must have been a lot of casualties from the mercenaries.¡± ¡°Actually¡­¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°There are a few that caught a cold or those with small wounds due to being scraped by the broken shards of the boats but¡­ none of them died.¡± ¡°What kind of bullshit is that?!¡± Half of the ships were gone and yet none of them were dead. But that was natural. Music and art did not exist to kill people and were instead there to save them. Killing people with music? This Heavenly Mic Kim Korin would not allow such a thing to happen. ¡°Apparently, shocking music, the likes of which they had never heard of before, surrounded them and saved their lives¡­¡± ¡°???¡± The frown on the face of Commander Bete deepened as he heard more about what happened. He was about to say something in response but was interfered by the beautiful and charming voice of ady. ¡°Well~. That¡¯s not the important part here, is it?¡± ¡°¡­Chairman Danua.¡± Everyone gathered their eyes on Master Erin, who was invited to the subjugation army thanks to the strong rmendations of every branch of the Guardian Alliance. ¡°There is no way that such waves were made naturally. It is safe to say that the Tower has means of controlling the skies and the oceans.¡± ¡°But we can¡¯t give up just because of that.¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not saying we should. There is a better n.¡± ¡°A better n?¡± ¡°A grand spell that allows them to control waves and thunderstorms means there must be an appropriate magic circle hidden in their base. All we need to do is destroy that. Right, ra?¡± Master Erin said naturally while turning around to Lady Josephine standing behind her. With an ufortable look on her face, Lady Josephine replied after a nod. ¡°R, right. I remember, seeing something simr, in the past¡­ during the Witch Revolution.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ If you say so, Dimensional Witch.¡± ¡°So that was why.¡± On the outside, Master was just a new chairman and her words did not hold as much power as Lady Josephine, who was a legendary historical figure who led the Revolution of Witches alongside Valtazar, assisted with the foundation of the New Faith, and crushed the Tower of Mages¡¯ monopoly over magic. Of course¡­ Everything was a lie. There was a reason why I had to interfere with the advancement of the vanguards by doing something like this. It was to reduce the casualties that would have been made by the retaliation of the Tower of Mages. Both in the original storyline of the game and in thest iteration, thisnding operation resulted in massive casualties beforeing to an eventual sess. Conquering the small inds of the archipgo andnding on the main ind was already difficult but that wasn¡¯t the end. Due to their previous experience of being half-annihted by Lady Josephine and Tates Valtazar 80 years ago, the Tower of Mages spent thest 80 years doing everything they could to fortify the Steel Archipgo. Casting chimera monsters and evil spirits everywhere, they made it into an impregnable fortress of hell. Besides, the kidnap of Estelle meant it was time for the giants to show up. There would be way too many casualties and I knew that based on my experience from thest iteration. There was probably no risk to Estelle¡¯s life for the time being so my priority was to save those that didn¡¯t have to be killed. ¡°I have an idea.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ What is it, Chairman Danua?¡± ¡°The destruction of the magic circle by a small group of elites.¡± ¡°Would that¡­ be possible?¡± ¡°Definitely. As long as we get the help of the talents that ra and I are going to rmend.¡± After saying that, Master Erin started mentioning names. ¡°Marie Dunareff, Hua Ran, Korin Lork, Josephine ra and me, Erin Danua. The five of us will be enough.¡± But the looks on the faces of the ones listening turned worse as she pronounced more and more names. ¡°Only¡­ five? And three of them are just students!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not ¡®only five¡¯.¡± ¡°We have Sword Captain Lunia Arden from the Arden family as well as several other powerful experts. How could you possibly rmend students whose experience and skills are both yet to be proven?¡± ¡°I agree with Chairman Danua¡¯s opinion.¡± ¡°Captain Lunia?¡± Within the crowd was also Lunia, who hade here not as a member of Korin Guardians, but as a Sword Captain officially dispatched by the household with 50 knights and 300 disciples. She showed her whole-hearted agreement to Erin¡¯s idea. ¡°I can guarantee the capabilities of the students mentioned. And most importantly, I can assure you that anyone better suited for the task than them will be a hard find.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°Student Marie is undoubtedly at the level of a Unique-Grade vampire, although still unofficial and the same goes for Student Hua Ran. Do you know of the special characteristics of Unique-Grade demons and demi-humans?¡± Hearing that, Commander Bete groaned in understanding. Though there were few in number, every Unique-Grade demi-human and demon had the same passive ability. ¡°Demonic Aura. Simply put, it has the same power as Dragon Fear. Both demonic beasts and spirits will run away in fright when theye across a Unique-Grade demon.¡¯ This meant that they could bypass most of the evil spirits and chimera monsters that the Tower had in store. ¡°Being strong and whatnot has nothing to do with this. Chairman Danua¡¯s opinion is very much valid.¡± We couldn¡¯t do this in the game or thest iteration. Although the yer did be a hero of the nation after the ¡®Annihtion of Demi-human viges¡¯, they could never reach the level of being influential enough to meddle withrge-scale military strategies. But now, it was different. The chairman of the Guardian Academy, Master Erin, and a sword captain and sessor candidate of the Arden family, Lunia, represented my thoughts for me. The two of them had more than enough fame and influence, which would therefore allow this iteration to flow as I wanted it to unlike before. ¡°In that case¡­ Let¡¯s give it a shot following Chairman Danua¡¯s proposal.¡± On the way back after the strategy meeting, my eyes met with Master Erin, who was still discussing details next to Chairman Bete. ¡®Korin! Korin! My dearest disciple! Look here! Here!¡¯ The solemn dignity she showed during the conference was long gone and she quietly whispered with her lips while looking at me with a wide smile. ¡®That was okay, right?¡¯ Was it¡­ always this easy to see through her expression? *** ¡°Student Korin.¡± We were preparing for the operation when the most important figure of this operation, Lady Josephine, spoke to me. ¡°Yes? What is it?¡± ¡°I am preparing for the dimensional jump as you said but¡­ You are aware of the biggest drawback of this n, yes?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Senior professor of Merkarva Academy. Hidden behind that title was her identity as a war veteran who had been in the lead during the war and revolution 80 years ago. Even for this current strategy, I throw out ideas but it was mainly Master Erin and Lady Josephine that added in the details. ¡°We will be moving straight to the Steel Archipgo with teleportation. There is a big hole in the n already. Because over the past 80 years, the Tower has been setting up all sorts of barriers that interfere with dimensional spells to prepare themselves against me.¡± Right, that was already a problem. Lady Josephine¡¯s teleportation spell was most likely going to fail. 80 years ago, because she had relied on her infinite teleportation to drop off Valtazar and Master Erin wherever they pleased to bring the Steel Archipgo to ruins, there was no way that the Tower hadn¡¯t created counter-measures for her. The existence of one superhuman mage made the war unwinnable for them, and that was why the Tower of Mages was horrified by her teleportations. ¡°The interference to the teleportation will surely drop people to random ces throughout the archipgo, and waiting in those ces would be¡­¡± ¡°The evil spirits and chimeras.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not particrly concerned about everyone else, but I am worried about you.¡± I was probably the weakest out of all the participants in this strategy. In fact, the strategy n written by Josephine had a question mark written next to the name, Korin Lork. I, without the support of my 3rd Precept, was remarkably weaker than the others in terms of physical stats so that was no surprise. ¡°It¡¯s alright. It will work out one way or another.¡± ¡°You say that but¡­¡± I continued while drawing squiggles on top of the question mark that Josephine wrote on the paper. ¡°We will be all dropped onto different parts of the archipgo, but that would lead to a detrimental result for them because we have with us the ¡®cursed potatoes¡¯ that Senior Marie made. ¡°Mhmm¡­ The curse of Macha was given by the Danann Oengus. As you said, it will have astonishing results if it works but¡­¡± ¡®Curse of Macha¡¯. It was a frightening curse that made the men of thend invaded by the curse feel the pain of childbirth for 9 days. For this to work, we had to nt crops on thend and wait for them to bud. For a potato seed to bud, it would take around 15 to 20 days. ¡°We will nt the seeds across the archipgo, go through the secret passageways of the Tower of Mages by ourselves, save the Saintess, and teleport back with your teleportation marker.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not impossible considering our abilities and skills but¡­¡± Lady Josephine¡¯s teleportation could only be interfered with when teleporting to the Archipgo. Her teleporting out of the inds through a ¡®marker¡¯ couldn¡¯t be interrupted due to her having clear coordinates. ¡°Haah~. But do you understand? If someone can¡¯te back properly in this final moment of escape, then¡­¡± ¡°The leftover ones need to do their very best to survive by themselves. I know, but it¡¯s a n worth taking the risk.¡± The biggest question of this n was this. When teleporting out using Josephine¡¯s markers after saving Estelle, would everyone be able to gather there in time? ¡°I don¡¯t think there will be particrly any problems with Hua Ran and Student Marie. And of course, the same goes for Erin. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± The biggest drawback and questionable member of this n was certainly me and only me. However, there was only one thing I could tell her in response. ¡°I have no ns of sitting back and doing nothing after pushing my colleagues into the pit of hell.¡± ¡°Haa¡­ I knew it. That¡¯s just the type of person you are.¡± We finished the preparation shortly after that and the next day, we gathered together for the teleportation. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Marie Dunareff. Hua Ran. Erin Danua. Josephine ra. Korin Lork. Five people. Destroying the magic circle was our goal on the outside, but our real goal was to save the Saintess and spread the cursed seeds. ¡°Are you ready?¡± ¡°Yes, Korin.¡± ¡°Are you¡­ really bringing that?¡± She said while looking at the luggage behind my back. Right now, I was wearing not only the supplies and munitions but also the Silver Spear of Shadow Paradise and the Red Spear, Gae Derg, as well as the enormous harp, Uaithne. ¡°It¡¯s a bit heavy but don¡¯t worry. This thing wille to me no matter where I call it from, so I will just toss it somewhere nearby.¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was a strange look on her face, as if that was beside the point but¡­ ¡°Wait, did you want to listen to my music or something? The music of I, the Heavenly Mic Korin Kim?¡± ¡°I would never want to listen to that noise.¡± ¡°So mean.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Josephine started engraving a magic circle on the ground for the teleportation. In a bit, we would be sent off to different parts of the Steel Archipgo. ¡°30 seconds left.¡± With less than 30 seconds left of the teleportation, Hua Ran said after holding onto my sleeves. ¡°Don¡¯t get hurt.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re hurt¡­ my, my¡­¡± ¡°My?¡± ¡°10 seconds left to the teleportation! Everyone, get ready!¡± A crack started to appear all around us starting from the ground. That was proof that we were about to leap through an enormous distance. ¡°M, my¡­¡± But still, Hua Ran showed no signs of opening her mouth. ¡°Korin! I will see you at the Tower!¡± ¡°Sure, Senior Marie. You and Doggo be careful as well.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± 8, 7¡­ ¡°Korin.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± After seemingly making up her mind, Hua Ran opened her mouth. ¡°If you¡¯re hurt¡ª¡± 3, 2¡­ ¡°I think I¡¯ll be sad. So please¡ª¡± ¡°We will see each other again in one piece so don¡¯t worry! Thanks for worrying about me!¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Her face started to turn red. She was about to say something, but before she could, the dimension around us cracked its mouth wide open as we fell into the deep dimension of nothingness. ¡­¡­¡­. ¡­¡­ ¡­ A forest. The trees were thick, and a whole ecosystem was breathing together. Like arge greenhouse, there was still warmth in thisnd. Being next to the Northern Kingdom, thend cursed to be cold and snowy for an eternity, the Steel Archipgo was simrly and of extreme chilliness that did not allow normal crops to grow. The fact that there was such a thick forest near me despite that¡­ ¡°Bingo.¡± I was anticipating that things would somehow work out wherever I ended up, but I really wasn¡¯t expecting to be sent here out of all the ces. ?Prohibited Forest? An artificially created enormous ¡®greenhouse¡¯ where the mages of the Tower grew magic organisms and crops for experimental purposes. This was the Prohibited Forest that was being maintained by the Green Cult. Although there were all sorts of hidden pieces and magical crops of incredible effects hidden in this ce, this was one of the ces that required the most time for yers to clear. It was because there were thousands if not tens of thousands, of evil spirits and artificially engineered spirits created from the experiments of the Green Cult. Because of the hideous difficulty of this region, it was considered one of the most difficult side quests of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, on par with the end-game main quest line. A horrible part of the map that even maxed-out yer parties could not conquer with ease. But that did not matter to me in the slightest. 2nd Precept: Restriction ?I do not perceive spirits.? Chapter 156: The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork (2) Chapter 156: The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork (2) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡»
? The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork(2) ? There was a fairy called Baobhan Sith. It was an astral spirit that sucked the blood of any men it seduced using its beauty and charming white dress. Because of its otherworldly beauty, every man tended to be bewitched by it the moment they saw it. Right ¨C as long as they could see it, that is. ¡°Lululu~¡± ¡®¡­What? Why is he ignoring me?!¡¯ Facing the sudden intruder of the forest, the fairy fluttered its skirt and tried to seduce him, but the man remained firm. It was the first time that this experienced demonic spirit, which had been roaming around the world for centuries, saw a man who was unmoved by her charm. It was a massive disgrace that the White Queen was being disregarded like this! ¡®Huhh? Are you going? Really? Are you just going to leave?¡¯ The fairy tried to stop him with a sorrowful voice, but the voice failed to reach him. How was it that he could ignore its beautiful voice? Even though there had been no man in existence who had ever resisted the temptations of its voice! The pride that the queen had built up for centuries crumbled down in an instant. The fairy was appalled by the fact that there was a man whose mental willpower could be as strong as this. ¡®Hmph! You¡¯re doing yourself a disservice by ignoring my temptation. I would have at least let you enjoy heavenly pleasure before your death!¡¯ Baobhan Sith was looking at the man with a seductive gaze when it noticed an astral body standing before the man¡¯s path. ¡®Hkk, hkk¡­!¡¯ The man was walking to a ¡®banshee¡¯, who was in the form of a gloomy-looking granny. The woman wept in sorrow. After noticing the presence of the man walking to itself, the banshee held its voice in. ¡®What? He¡¯s walking straight to the banshee?¡¯ He was going to die an instant death at this rate. Although the Baobhan Sith had also been intending to kill him when seducing him, it still couldn¡¯t help but tilt its head at the sight of the illogically irrational actions of the man. In the end, when the man foolishly walked all the way up to the face of the banshee¡­ the banshee let out a loud scream. ¡®KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH¡ª!!¡¯ Those who hear the Banshee¡¯s Scream would surely die. It was a horrendous scream that made Baobhan Sith frown its eyes despite also being an astral body. The scream was a powerful attack that would immediately put people to death if they didn¡¯t have enough resistance or tolerance to magic. Even though the man seemed to have a strong body and willpower, there was no way that he could stay alive after being screamed at by a banshee a hair¡¯s breadth away¡ª ¡°Is it this way~? Or maybe that way~.¡± ¡®Kiii?¡¯ He was way too normal. There were indeed some people that could survive after hearing the scream of a banshee but¡­ they would still bleed from their ears or their eyes¡­ or at least give a frown. The banshee was stupefied after seeing the man continue humming as if its scream was nothing. ¡®What is this guy?¡¯ ¡®No idea.¡¯ That banshee wasn¡¯t the only one. Several other evil spirits of the Prohibited Forest gathered after hearing the banshee¡¯s scream. ¡®Herees a newbieee!¡¯ ¡®He¡¯s mine! Mine!¡¯ ¡®Hue hue hue! A new visitor of the forest!¡¯ ¡®Don¡¯t go easy on himmmmm!¡¯ Evil spirits of the Prohibited Forest. Originally, they were free spirits that roamed across the world but were forcibly made by the mages to be wardens of the forest and were therefore about to die of boredom. ying with intruders and ripping them to pieces was what gave them enjoyment, but there was no one they could y with apart from the lunatic robbers who dared to steal the treasures of the Tower. The reason this forest was the worst region to fight in, was because the bored evil spirits had the tendency to immediately gather to any source of entertainment including a fight. But¡­ ¡®What the hell? What the heck?¡¯ ¡®What is¡­ wrong with this guy?¡¯ One man¡­ Korin Lork had visited their forest by himself, and there had already been 4,000 evil spirits trying to kill him one way or another. They each showed off their spiritual powers and shed at Korin. A banshee¡¯s scream and the charm of a Baobhan Sith were all at the level of powerful attacks that could sink dragons. ¡®???¡¯ ¡®???¡¯ But despite their attacks and even though the ground quivered and the forest cried in pain¡­ not even one of them was able to hurt him. 2nd Precept: Restriction ?I do not perceive spirits.? Korin Lork¡¯s 2nd Precept. This precept that was put in ce to strive for a grand aspiration while restricting oneself allowed him to be uninterrupted by half the evil creatures of the world thanks to a y of words. ¡®Huhh? Wait a second!¡¯ His destination was the ce where the mages of the Tower were cultivating powerful herbs to help with their experimentations. The Tower of Mages was the ce where most of the magic experimentations and progress urred. However, that in turn called for unending experiments and a supply of expensive ingredients that were required for those experiments. Because of that, the mages of the Tower began to grow herbs in the den of evil spirits that were safe from the hands of robbers. Those ranged from mandrakes to the water of rejuvenation, magic acorn, and the 10,000-year-old ginseng from the distant east. Essentially, this ce was the abode of all sorts of global elixirs and powerful herbs. However, magic nts grew slowly and required a lot of time. There were several different herbs here that were a few years to centuries old, and for the super rare ingredients like the ginseng that required the mages to dig up the entire piece ofnd surrounding it, there was a Unique-Grade demonic spirit guarding the treasure. Those were the valuable treasures of the Tower that they had been growing with care and surveince. The priceless elixirs that far exceeded what money could buy¡­ ¡°They are all mine now.¡± Were about to be stolen by one thief. *** Jackpot! A massive jackpot¡­! The ?Prohibited Forest? of the Steel Archipgo could only be described as a big fat jackpot. The invaluable treasures that must have been nurtured under the extreme care of the mages ¨C the herbs that were supposed to be taken hastily one at a time while evading the endless rampage of evil spirits ¨C were currently being swept away by my hands. ¡°Mandrakes¡­ who cares about these! Wait, that¡¯s? Liquid Azurite? Drink it away~¡± -Slurp slurp! Nom nom! Gulp! ¡ºYou have consumed Liquid Azurite.¡» ¨C Your Aura Rank has increased. ¨C Your Mana Rank has increased. ¨C Your Aura Capacity has increased by 2000 ¨C Your Mana Capacity has increased by 1500 ¡ºYou have consumed the Honey of Jade¡» ¨C Your resistance to poison has increased. ¡ºYou have consumed the Nest of a Blood Sparrow¡» ¨C It is an artificial nest. The effect has been halved. ¨C You have acquired [Intuition of a Sparrow]. ¡ºIntuition of a Sparrow¡» ¨C Feel the wind with your skin and be quick at noticing danger. I consumed a few of the elixirs right there and then, while throwing everything I found into arge bag. There were a bunch of powerful herbs here, but I couldn¡¯t consume them all at once. If I were to consume a bunch of them without any measures in ce, my body wouldn¡¯t even be able to absorb all their energy. For now, I decided to be content with that much. Besides, Liquid Azurite was already an elixir that was at the level of a hidden piece, so I was happy enough with that. ¡®Let¡¯s see. Add that to what I sawst time I did my stat check¡­¡¯ Aura Rank: {High (13,130) } Mana Rank: {High (11,920) } Specialty: { Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior, Pain Tolerance, Domain Comprehension, Triple Core, Demonic Aura Release, Herculean Strength, Rune Amplification, Intuition of a Sparrow } Strength: 223 Agility: 165 Vitality: 160 Aura: 174 Mana: 174 ¡°Huu¡­ This much, huh? With this, my stats should be even higher than Lunia¡¯s.¡± My total mana capacity had taken a huge leap when I acquired Airgem and was now above the mana capacity Marie had before bing a vampire. Considering how she used to be called the blessed prodigy of magic even before her vampirification, it was quite incredible. Of course, it was still far from being high enough if you were topare that to the bnce breaker of the knights, Hua Ran, who had more than 100,000 Aura when unsealed, and Marie who had reached 70,000 Mana capacity after bing a vampire, but¡­ Those two were supposed to be raid bosses in the first ce! A mere yer having these stats at this point in time was incredible okay! Plus, this wasn¡¯t all there was to it. The repeatable farming field, ?Prohibited Forest?, still had in store an excellent treasure that had a 1.5% drop rate after defeating the King of Ghosts. That very treasure was currently right before my eyes. Although the Unique-Grade demonic spirit, King of Ghosts, should be also right in front of me, it didn¡¯t matter to me in the slightest whether he was a Unique-Grade monster or not. It was because none of the astral bodies were able to do anything to me, so long as I didn¡¯t perceive them. ¡°Huu¡­ Am I shivering right now?¡± My heart was beating rapidly like there was no tomorrow. The n was toe here and retrieve the treasure one day, but I was expecting that day to be in another year¡¯s time at the very least. I slowly dug out the soil surrounding the elixir. Slowly but surely¡­ without being enticed by the red fruits that slowly swung back and forth, I continued digging it out with care. This wicked thing! Trying to enchant people with its luster! ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± Slowly and carefully, like a mother caressing a baby, I moved my hands. Little grains of dirt got under my nails but that wasn¡¯t important in the slightest! ¡°Ohh! Ohhhhh¡­!¡± Atst, I finallyid my eyes on the beautiful and attractive roots of the herb. Its lustrous beauty couldn¡¯t be concealed by the dirt around it. So this was it! This was the spiritual herb¡­! That legendary elixir that Elder Dreryan brought from the east after using 10 years¡¯ worth of the cult¡¯s budget! ¡ºKorean Ginseng¡» It was one of the three great elixirs of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, on par with the Yellow Gold Mandrake and the World Tree Fruit ¨C a hidden piece that could only be acquired from the Prohibited Forest. ¡®Let¡¯s put this aside for now.¡¯ I ced the ginseng into a pre-prepared container and carefully rested it inside my bag. Let¡¯s ask Marie to boil it for meter! The ground now had a hole after the herb was taken out, so I kindly reced the contents with the potato seeds that I got from Marie. The Prohibited Forest had the best environment and magical fertilizers for the nts to grow because this was where the mages of the Tower grew their herbs. This ce was certainly going to provide an amazing habitat for the seeds. For the next two days, I continued digging out herbs and nting seeds in return until my bag became as big as Santa us¡¯s bag of gifts. I couldn¡¯t carry this to the Tower of Mages, so I firmly attached it to Uaithne and hid it in a secure ce. ¡°Now. Time to get working.¡± The time we had decided on was drawing near, so I started heading for the Tower. *** The Steel Archipgo had four different-themed fields. First, of them was the Prohibited Forest located on the west of the main ind ¨C the repeatable farming map where the mages grew magical herbs and ced thousands of evil spirits to guard thend. South of the ind was where the port was located. There were also numerous iron mines and magic stone mines, so there were always a bunch of chimeras and mages. On the eastern and northern front of the ind was the ¡®Land of Frost¡¯. It was the ce where giants had fallen in the distant past after losing the war against the Danann. Therefore, that was the ce where the resurrection of giants was going to ur. Lastly, there was the sewage under the Tower of Mages. It was the passage where all sorts of disgusting filth left through to get to the ocean. ¡°Huu¡­¡± The sticky ground beneath clung to the soles of my shoes. The humid and stinky air pervaded my nose and a gust of odor ate away at my nerves with every breath. ¡°This ce is even worse than the other sewage.¡± The reason why there were no fish living near the Steel Archipgo was because of the pollution caused by the Tower. These mages threw away the leftover filth of their innumerable experiments down the drain without any care. Actually, wasn¡¯t there a side quest avable during the Tower of Mages Subjugation Act where you had to kill the ¡®Sewage Monster¡¯, which was created by the damage done to the environment¡­ -p! ¡°Mhmm¡­!¡± Quickly, I raised the red spear, Gae Derg, and pointed it at the source of the sound. That sound just then sounded like the fluttering wings of a bird, but¡­ was there a bird this deep into the sewage? A bat maybe? [?] ¡ª Dagaz I engraved the rune that brightened your line of sight in the darkness, and it immediately lit up the entire tunnel of the sewage. This was one of the regions of the Tower that had monsters. My n was to avoid as many fights as possible but¡­ -Plop! That was when I caught sight of something causing the water running down the sewage to ripple. I hoped it would be a normal water demon but considering that size¡­! ¡°GHIIIIII¡­!¡± The monster burst out of the water in one leap. ¡°Tch¡­!¡± I kicked off the sticky ground of the sewage to jump back. Kwang! The head of the monster crashed through the walls of the tunnel, but the monster had not a single wound on its head. I looked at the monster who red back at me with a growl. There were shells covering its deteriorated eyes and there were several dozens of cracks on the mouth of the monster, making it resemble something that woulde out of that one zombie game. ¡°Damn it¡­ How unlucky can I get?¡± Field Boss, Monster of the Underground Sewage. A pitiful monster created by the environmental pollution of the Tower of Mages. It was a Grade 1 demonic beast that was supposed to be defeated by a full party. ¡®It will draw the eyes of the mages if I take too long. I have to end it in a sh.¡¯ As soon as I concentrated a flow of mana into my left arm, a silver arm¡­ Airgem started to appear. Although I had yet to fully master it, thepressed power of the sun was surely going to be¡­ ¡°Kyuu?¡± It was then. The monster who was opening its gruesome mouth wide open, threatening to devour me in one swoop, suddenly let out a dumbfoundingly cute groan. -Kuek? Kuek?! As if someone was grabbing it on the back, the monster was dragged behind. The under-developed legs of the monster desperately tried to scrape the ground in an attempt to save itself, but there was an overwhelming difference in strength. ¡°KYUUUUU?!¡± Before long, the monster was lifted into the air by its tail and¡ª -Kwang! Kwagang! -Kwang! Kwarurung! Kwaang! It started being rammed into every edge and corner of the tunnel, and the death throes of the monster were covered up by the crumbling pebbles of the sewage. One-sided violence. ¡°¡­¡± To my knowledge, there was only one person in the world who could show such a devastating difference in strength. Walking out from behind the enormous body of the monster down the sewage tunnel was a girl wearing nun clothes. Hua Ran was carrying the tail of thete field boss. ¡°Can you cook this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s dirty. Throw it away.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Going up the underground sewage of the Tower of Mages, one would end up at an old control room. Despite being the control room of a sewage system this big, it was barren and unattended, but the room left behind by the ancestors proved to be a good safe zone for the yer. Those guys from the Tower. Maybe they werecent or something, but none of them looked after the sewage and didn¡¯t even bother approaching it in the first ce. All they did was throw in some chimeras and evil spirits. This was why the world wouldn¡¯t go around with only those so-called ¡®intelligent¡¯ mages. They just didn¡¯t know how there were some things in the world that had to be done in spite of being exhausting and unclean. ¡°Let¡¯s stay here for a bit while we wait for the rest of them to arrive.¡± I carefully put my bag down in the dusty control room. There was no knowing when Marie, Master Erin, and Lady Josephine would arrive, so I had to clean it up to some extent. ¡°By the way, how did youe here so quickly? Even though I was quite early.¡± The time we had decided on was in 2 days¡¯ time. We were generous with the time because unlike me, the others had to defeat demonic spirits on top of demonic beasts. Of course, most of the weaklings would immediately turn their tails and run away upon seeing Marie and Hua Ran, but this was still way too early. ¡°I turned into a cro¡­ I mean¡­ I ran.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ They didn¡¯t see you, right?¡± ¡°No.¡± It was true that it would have taken her less than a few hours if she sprinted across the ind at her full speed but¡­ for some reason, it felt a bit different. In any case, I was getting prepared to clean up the dust in this room when Hua Ran walked up to me inrge strides. ¡°You¡­ Are you hurt?¡± ¡°Huh? No, not really.¡± ¡°No.¡± She then suddenly turned around with a flick and walked away while mumbling something to herself. ¡°Turn into¡­ a cat¡­ he¡¯ll find out¡­? Then, a wolf?¡± It appeared that she was talking to Ran. Now that I thought about it, I could probably get Ran¡¯s help with the cleaning. ¡°Hua. Can youe here for a bit?¡± ¡°Huh? Me?¡± ¡°Yeah yeah. I have a favor to ask.¡± Her eyes turned evidently bright as she hopped her way across with a bright look on her face. Since when was she so happy to listen to my request? Was this the oue of an open heart-to-heart conversation? ¡°Why? What is it?¡± ¡°Can you switch with Ran?¡± ¡°¡­Why?¡± Suddenly her vigor took a massive fall. Although she always had an indifferent look on her face by default, it was very clear that she looked even more down than usual. ¡°I wanted to ask Ran to clean up with me.¡± You don¡¯t like cleaning, right? ¡°¡­I can do better.¡± ¡°R, really? Then can you lend me a hand?¡± ¡°Un.¡± After turning her head around with a flick, Hua started cleaning up the room. There appeared to be some verbal fight going on, but Hua ended her internal conversation with, ¡°Be quiet.¡± ¡°¡­¡± It was impossible to tell what was going on in the mind of a girl in puberty. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustr§Ñti§àn? on our ?isc§àr? ¨C discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! ¡ºWe are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server¡ª¡» Chapter 157: Remains of the Past (1) Chapter 157: Remains of the Past (1) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡»
? Remains of the Past (1) ? Estelle was treated like a gem wherever she was. Born with an incredibly high status, she was not only extremely capable but her aura itself gave off the atmosphere of a nobledy. She was still treated with respect even while she was imprisoned. Lying down on afortable bed of silk, inside the fancy prison cell decorated with ssy books, she grumbled about the food. ¡°Excuse me. If you are going to bring out a steak, shouldn¡¯t it be apanied with red wine? What kind of sphemy is T-bone and white wine?¡± ¡°¡­Can¡¯t you just be content with what you get?¡± ¡°Red winneeeeee¡­! 35-year old Duna wine from the southern vineyardssss!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ Alright. I¡¯ll go ask.¡± ¡°The meat¡¯s going to go cold so make another one. Ah, I will have the garnish now so don¡¯t take it.¡± ¡°Tch! Fine!¡± The low-level mage, who was in charge of supervising Estelle, felt like her mind was being eaten away having to deal with this picky prisoner. However, she couldn¡¯t ignore her requests because the personalmand from the Tower Lord was that they had to provide everything that the Saintess wanted. Aside from the Tower Lord¡¯smand, the mage herself still had some level of faith. She was slightly afraid that she would receive divine punishment if she were to mess with the Saintess, the representative of divinity. Of course, the faith of the mage was questionable considering that she was a part of the group that kidnapped the Saintess but¡­ In any case, Estelle¡¯s status as the saintess was still proving to be effective in spite of being a kidnapped prisoner. ¡°¡­¡± As soon as the mage disappeared from her sight, Estelle got on her knees and sped her hands together. ¡°Lord¡ª¡± Wishing upon herself was the amplification of her physical strength ¨C a supernatural power that would allow her to escape from this predicament. She could definitely feel divine energy flowing out of her body. ¡°Good.¡± After finishing her prayers, she held onto the iron bars of the prison cell as hard as she could. -Knng! Nnn! Aahh my palms! In the end, she gave up before long. Her divine energy and her prayers still weren¡¯t working properly. ¡®What¡¯s going on? The Holy Grail¡­ is that the reason why?¡¯ But that was still strange. Why would the Holy Grail nullify the effects of her prayer? ¡°Haa¡­ This is where a prince is supposed to show up to save the princess.¡± All she could rely on was not the results of her prayers and hopes towards the Lord, but the help of a heroic prince who could guide her out of this hardship. Of course, the kingdom and the order would have mobilized their troops already to save her, and the Tower of Mages would eventually fall no matter how great of a countermeasure they had prepared. ¡®The question is, what are they doing with my blood?¡¯ That was probably part of the reason why Estelle was being treated this well despite being a prisoner. To keep her healthy with as little stress as possible, so that they could take a few drops of her fresh blood everyday. Adelene and that guy with the Holy Grail called Dun Scaith must be doing something with her blood. She was frustrated that she had no idea what they were doing, but Estelle was just a feebledy without the aid of her divine energy. The only thing she could do was spend her overflowing resource of time on self-introspection and habitual prayers. ¡°Lord, please save me from this predicament, have mercy on the innocentmbs and¡­¡± While continuing with her prayer, the Saintess ¨C Princess Estelle harbored doubts. If there was a god, and if she really was connected to that god¡­ Why were they just watching this happen? She ended up harboring that rather natural, yet rather disloyal doubt inside her. *** It was hard to tell night from day inside the sewage without a single ray of light. Urged by the internal clock of my body, I opened my eyes and found something warm resting on my body. -Huu¡­ Hua Ran let out a long breath in the middle of her deep sleep. I rustled her hair with my fingers as she buried herself deeper into my body. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll let her sleep a little bit more.¡± There was still no one else here so I stayed lying down on the bed. ¡°Oppa?¡± That was when the girl slowly raised her head from my chest. The girl with blue eyes lifted her eyes and looked up at my eyes. ¡°Oh, did I wake you up?¡± ¡°Hua is still asleep.¡± ¡°Do you guys wake up at different times?¡± ¡°It usually depends on how tired the body is, but generally, the person that wakes up first has control over it.¡± ¡°Ohoh.¡± In other words, even if Hua was in control over the body, it seemed that Ran could gain control over it if she were to fall asleep. ¡°Shall we get up then? We need to make sure they aren¡¯t lost either.¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± Even though she was usually the first to actively help out with cleaning the house and such, Ran seemed hesitant to wake up. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Instead of replying to my question, she wrapped her arms around my waist and rubbed her nose on my chest. ¡°Ran?¡± ¡°I just¡­ want to stay like this for a bit.¡± I was momentarily lost as to what to do, but before long, I started giving her a few gentle taps to the back. ¡°It feels very warm and nice here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because iomh Sis gives out the Yang energy-¡± ¡°No, even if that wasn¡¯t there, it would have still felt nice. I am sure.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Ran never concealed her feelings for me. In fact, she was even more proactivepared to Marie. -Grip. I wrapped my arms around her waist and returned a tight hug. Ran muttered in shock. ¡°O, oppa?¡± ¡°Thanks. For liking someone like me.¡± ¡°¡­There¡¯s nothing wrong with you.¡± ¡°Even then, thank you. Thanks for everything.¡± Like that, we continued hugging each other for a while. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Leaving the control room of the sewage, I patrolled around the area and engraved a few runes throughout the sewage while I was at it. Thanks to my mana capacity that was now above 10,000, engraving runes was no longer as taxing as it used to be. In fact, I got greedy from the overwhelming supply of mana and got caught up with creatingrge and urate letters that I only wrote 40 today. ¡°Wee back, Oppa.¡± I came back after engraving the runes and saw Ran preparing the meal with dried jerkies and Korin Potato. ¡°Ohh~ Korin Potato.¡± ¡°You invented it, right Oppa? It¡¯s super popr!¡± Korin Potato was the military munition I created during the food tech lessonst year. The thinyer of pressed potato was something inspired by the military supplies from World War II. ¡°I even got an award and a prize from the military for making it, you know.¡± ¡°Wow~. That¡¯s amazing!¡± She pped to demonstrate her admiration while cooking Korin Potato on a pot with a woodendle. ¡°Mashed potato?¡± ¡°Yes. And this here is from a canned stew.¡± On a different pot was a bubbling stew that gave off an incredibly appetizing scent. It was usually a bad idea to cook something with a strong scent during an operation, but the sewage outside the control room would offset the smell with its disgusting odor so it was probably alright. ¡°Let¡¯s enjoy ourselves when we can.¡± The beef stew and mashed potatoes that Ran made were quite tasty despite being a modified form of military supplies. Although it wasn¡¯t at the level of unknowingly screaming out, ¡®Amazing!¡¯, this was a magnificent meal considering the environment around us. ¡°That was great. It wouldn¡¯t have been easy to make this, right?¡± Objectively speaking, her cooking skills were quite good. From the people around me, she was second only to Marie. As for Alicia¡­ she was just a professional eater. ¡°Oppa. I¡¯m learning how to cook these days. As well as making flowers and supporting parents-inw.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Cooking I understand, but why would she be learning how to make flowers and how to support parents-inw¡­? ¡°Why are you¡ª¡± ¡°Tada!¡± As soon as I opened my mouth for that question, Ran shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes into my mouth. With an alluring gaze that you couldn¡¯t find from Hua, she adorably gazed up with a bashful smile. ¡°To learn how to be a bride for one, and only one person in the world.¡± It was adding too much burden to my heart. At this point, this was pretty much a confession. Ran tended to approach me like this quite often ¨C despite pretending like it was a joke, she had a very serious look in her eyes¡­ as she conveyed an unwavering and certain intention. Hearing that passionate confession of love, I unknowingly lifted my hand. ¡°Ran¡ª¡± It was right when I reached my hand out to the passionate girl. She suddenly took a big step back after pping my hand away. ¡°E, eeek¡­!¡± Her cheeks flushed red like autumn leaves. Her eyes quivered as if there was an earthquake as she protected her head, which had almost been touched, with her two hands. ¡°Y, you¡­ Just then¡­¡± What were you trying to do? Hua asked, looking extremely agitated unlike her usual self. ¡°A, are you Hua?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She silently looked at me with a resentful gaze. Even though Hua had an indifferent look on her face by default, there were times when it was possible to glimpse at her emotions. ¡°D, don¡¯t touch!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Seeing the dumb look on my face, Hua hurriedly collected her breath and expressed herself again. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ touch me.¡± ¡°But why¡­?¡± Umm, aren¡¯t we as close as brother and sisters to have physical contact without restraint? ¡°I feel¡­ bad when you touch me.¡± ¡°Is it that bad?¡± This big brother will be hurt if you say that, you know. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°No, I mean¡­¡± It was then. ¡°Woof¡­!¡± An enormous dog-man busted into the control room after a fierce kick on the door. ¡°Woof woof! Krrrrhh!¡± Doggo unreservedly let out a ferocious howl as always. The fact that he was here meant that Marie had also arrived. ¡°Ugh~ Doggo! Can you smell your daddy? My nose is blocked, and I can¡¯t make out anything. Hnn?¡± 3 days after entering the Steel Archipgo, we were joined at the save point by Marie. *** That same afternoon, Master Erin and Lady Josephine also arrived at the control room of the underground sewage. ¡°I will stay here and prepare the teleportation so that we can leave whenever we are ready.¡± Lady Josephine was in charge of the escape n. Even though she would have normally been an incredible help in most fights with her teleportation, her abilities were rather restricted in the Tower. As mentioned before, during the Witch Revolution, the Tower of Mages had been absolutely demolished by the Dimensional Witch. Because of their memories of the past nightmare, not only did they install an interruptive device that covered the entire archipgo, but they also had such artifacts jam-packed inside the Tower itself. Actually, elevators were invented by the mages because they needed a mechanical device to travel between the floors of the Tower, because the interruptive devices stopped them from teleporting between floors as well. In any case, Josephine was unable to use any teleportation spell inside this ce without being interrupted, apart from the long-distance teleportation to the marker on the other side of the ocean. With that being the case, it was a better call to have Marie be the mage fighting with us in the battle, while leaving the escape to Lady Josephine. ¡°Student Hua Ran. You are going to leave behind as well. Our job will be to protect this ce.¡± ¡°¡­Nn.¡± That was something we had decided on beforehand, so Hua stayed behind at the control room without raising anyints. However, she was constantly looking into my eyes without turning around. She was probably worried, so I patted her head. ¡°¡­!¡± It wasn¡¯t even that rough, and yet Hua lowered her head and was unable to lift it back up. She was a little strange today, ever since morning. ¡°¡­¡± Meanwhile, for some reason, Marie was vacantly staring at Hua on top of that. ¡°Korin. Let¡¯s go.¡± Marie urged me with a cold look in her eyes so we quickly left the control room and started climbing up towards the Tower. *** Tower of Mages was like a tranquil paradise to those with an elitist mindset. Except for the Prohibited Forest, which was cultivated to be a forest where they could harvest and experiment with magical herbs, the entire archipgo was exposed to the severe cold and the harshness of nature. Because of that, the mages had to invite some outsiders to import food and goods, but those people could only live in a small vige on the outskirts and weren¡¯t even allowed to set foot near the Tower of Mages. These elitists were so secretive and did not let anyone set foot inside the Tower. Even the chores inside the Tower were done by the mages¡­ either the mages of the lower floors or their familiars and spirits. It was like a postgraduate student of a university preparing the food for the professors and cleaning the rooms. There was even a mage, who had been working in the Tower for 20 years, that escaped back to the main continent to create the Tower Restaurant. Both the previous world and this world were full of people who were forced to take a roundabout way when seeking wisdom and knowledge. ¡°Hmm¡­ It¡¯s a bit big. Maybe I should have looked for a smaller one.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be helped because you¡¯ve always been quite petite, Master. I can give you mine if you want.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ I will be alright, my disciple. You are so tall; even the biggest robe looks small on you.¡± Naturally, the Tower of Mages robe was one of the crucial requirements when infiltrating into the Tower of Mages, which was obviously filled with mages. We were wearing the robes that we found from the main continent to disguise ourselves as mages of the Tower. My robe had a badge that symbolized my status as a mage of the 4th floor. That was pretty high, but it seemed that even a mage of that level had to be in charge of cooking meals in the Tower. The Tower was such an inefficient and secluded organization, if anything. ¡°So¡­ What are we going to do now? We havee up to the 4th floor but¡­¡± ¡°Korin. Doggo says the Saintess is at a ce that¡¯s much higher than here.¡± Doggo was chasing after Estelle¡¯s scent from Marie¡¯s shadows. It was to be expected that they wouldn¡¯t keep the Saintess on one of the lower floors. ¡°The 4th floor is the highest we can climb without any problems. From the 5th floor onwards, we need the rights of a mage that¡¯s at the level of an ¡®assistant professor¡¯ at the very least. It¡¯s quite high-tech, actually, because they check your fingerprints.¡± The 5th floor required the rights of an assistant professor; you had to be a professor for the 6th, and¡­ the 7th floor onwards were only essible by the elders of each cult. ¡°We don¡¯t have to worry about it though, Master. We have an amazing mage that is going to help us with the process.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Marie soon proved my words with her action. She said one word as a humanoid figure started to climb up from her shadow. His skin was wrinkled-up, and his fingers quivered non-stop due to the physicalbor he was forced to undertake. The old man, who had been anxiously looking around the surroundings, gasped for breath immediately after finding us and Marie. ¡°Hello, Chunsik.¡± ¡°Hiiik¡­! Lady Dunareff! I, I mean, master¡­!¡± Chunsik quickly got on his knees and kowtowed in fear. Who would possibly guess upon seeing this shabby old man, that he used to be one of the 7 top mages of the Tower, Elder Admelech of the Red Cult? Now, he was nothing but a ghoul and one of Marie¡¯s numerous familiars. ¡°Chunsik. Like I said before, we need to hurry so quickly use your fingerprints.¡± ¡°B, but¡­!¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t want to, then I can cut off your hands and do it for you.¡± ¡°I, I will do it immediately!¡± Marie had an extremely cold-hearted and ruthless attitude against him. To be fair, he was someone who was trying to kidnap her to use as a test subject so there was no need to bepassionate for him, but there were times when she would spook me a little. In any case, thanks to him, we easily strolled through the 5th and the 6th floor. ¡°Go back inside, Chunsik.¡± ¡°Ah, yes! Yes miss!¡± After putting him back into her shadows so that he wouldn¡¯t be a nuisance to our secret mission, we wandered around looking for the stairs heading to the 7th floor. The 7th floor and above were the territories of elders. If I remember correctly, Estelle would probably be at the special unit of the 8th floor ¨C the ce where Adelene the Tower Lord stored demonic beasts that would be used for his experiments. Dun Scaith was probably here along with the Lord of the Tower. We had to try our best not toe across them at all cost¡ª ¡°Oi. You over there!¡± Turning around, I found a mage who was wearing a golden badge with 7 gems attached. He was a mage of the 7th floor; a professor of the Gold Cult. ¡®What do we do, Korin? Do we attack?¡¯ ¡®Wait. One second. It will get tedious if we create a ruckus here.¡¯ What should we do? Kill him? I was thinking most of the higher-grade mages would be at the battlefront, and was thus not expecting to be discovered already. ¡°You guys are¡­?¡± The mage slowly walked towards us. It was right when I was about to take out my spear which I had hidden beneath my robe. ¡°Hello, Professor Airac!¡± Master suddenly called out his name while taking a step forward. ¡°Huh? A, and you are?¡± Professor Airac instinctively took a step back when she unhesitatingly walked up to him. ¡°I¡¯m a postgraduate from the 5th floor, and my name is Aylea. Elder yne told me to get BF 1207FF3801 from theboratory on 6-8.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Okay?¡± ¡°Sorry, but can I please ask where 6-8 is?¡± ¡°Right¡­ Go that way and go three blocks to the left.¡± ¡°Really? Thank you so much!¡± Master skillfully dealt with the professor-level mage. Or rather, maybe it was more correct to say that she bewitched him. ¡°K, kuhum¡­! You over there¡­ Aylea was it? When you¡¯re free¡­ w, would you like to go for coffee?¡± ¡°Hnn? Sure?¡± ¡°R, right. Come to my office when you¡¯re done.¡± Master hopped her way back in joy, as we turned around and pretended to head towards 6-8. ¡°How did you do that?¡± ¡°I know all the important mages of the Tower, because I¡¯ve been here as Eriu Casarr a few times.¡± ¡°Right~¡± No wonder she knew the face of Airac, who seemed to be at the level of a professor who would tend to stay holed up inside the Tower the whole time. ¡°Then let¡¯s walk around the ce for a bit before heading upstairs.¡± ¡°Korin¡­ He¡¯s still staring at us.¡± Airac¡¯s eyes were still on us. In order to lower his guard, we turned left towards 6-8 and escaped his line of sight. He would be able to hear us walking down the corridor so we decided to enter one of the rooms for the time being. The ce we went to was the closestboratory immediately after turning the corner. As expected of theboratory of the mages, the room was extremely dark and gloomy all around starting from the entrance. ¡°Master. What was that just then?¡± ¡°Nn? Oh, you mean the code number? I just made that up because the mages of the Tower tend to give serial codes to their items.¡± ¡°No, I mean, that guy called Airac was head over heels for you in that short span of time.¡± ¡°Hnn? Stop it, Korin. What are you saying?¡± She said while gently pping my shoulder. Wait, did she not see that just then? That Airac guy had a pretty serious look in his eyes though? ¡°Hmm. For some reason, everyone has been very kind to me ever since the past. It¡¯s probably because they are all kind at the core, right?¡± ¡°Ah~. I think I know why.¡± ¡°Nn? What do you mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re beautiful. People are always weak to beauty, after all.¡± ¡°Oh dear¡­¡± ¡°¡­Korin?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you get that as well, Senior Marie? People always feel like doing something more when they see someone beautiful, you know?¡± ¡°Haht¡­!¡± Instead of staying there and doing nothing while waiting for the echoing footsteps of the corridor to disappear, I decided to look around theboratory. -Woof! Woof woof! That was when Doggo let out a restrained bark from Marie¡¯s robe. ¡°Doggo?¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Doggo¡­ sounds a little scared.¡± ¡°Scared?¡± ¡°Is there something here?¡± It was my first timeing to the Tower during this point in time so I also had no idea what it could be. For now, I looked around, searching for a clue. What you would find at aboratory was very random. Somebs were extremely normal and carried out experiments about household equipment, while somebs had human and demon experiments going on. If even Doggo was frightened by it, it was probably something serious, although I couldn¡¯t possibly guess what kind of crazy experiment it must be. ¡°Let¡¯s have a look¡­ just in case.¡± Even if everything was to go well, a full-frontal battle against the Tower of Mages was no longer avoidable, so we had to do whatever we could while we were here. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Thisboratory¡­ appears more like a whole building than a single room. Although the Tower of Mages was divided into 9 floors, each of the floors were much taller than that of normal buildings. It was like 9 huge department stores put together, with each of them being referred to as a single floor. The faint green fluorescent light was the only source of light inside theb, and the floor was slippery as if covered with sludges of oil. ¡°Master. Have you¡­ been to a ce like this before?¡± ¡°No. They never showed what was inside aboratory to the chairman of an academy, and even during the Witch Revolution, we were too busy destroying everything that I do not remember being here.¡± ¡°Korin¡­ Doggo is saying we should go over to the other side.¡± Unlike us, Doggo seemed to have sensed something odd. Theb was reeking of the scent of dried blood, and the mixed odor of old oil and rotten flesh. It was surprising that Doggo could smell something through all these disgusting scents¡­ ¡°Ah.¡± My feet came to stop as my heart instinctively lowered its rate. ¡°Korin¡­¡± Something was staring at us. Something enormous¡­ ¡°It can¡¯t be¡­¡± Master uttered in shock. We turned our eyes to the right and¡­ ¡°¡ª¡ª¡ª¡± Found a gigantic eye looking directly at us. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustr§Ñti§àn? on our ?isc§àr? ¨C discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! ¡ºWe are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server¡ª¡» Chapter 158: Remains of the Past (2) Chapter 158: Remains of the Past (2) Trantor: RainTL
Remains of the Past (2) An enormous eyeball was hanging in the air. The eye was so huge, thatrge rakes were being used to pull the skin surrounding the eyeball to force it open. That was how enormous and heavy the eye was. The pupil looked extremely profound; in fact, the cross-shaped pupil appeared so deep and profound that it seemed like it could see through everything itid its gaze upon. Anyone alive would feel their heart skip a beat. Calm down. As you can see its already dead. Masters words called for a deeper inspection. When we looked closely at the thing that was the size of the giants we saw on the floating ind if not bigger we realized the obvious. There was no way that one eye could move by itself. Korin This is very different from the giants we saw on the floating ind. This eye is already as big as one of those giants. Its in a whole different league, right? Thats the original. Giants were actually the descendants of the Sky Titans, the Titans of the past. After being defeated by the gods, they were forced to conceal themselves in tiny ces and banish themselves from the world, which resulted in their gradual decline. Unlike the time when they had control over everything and didnt have to worry about food, they had trouble scavenging for food so their race was forced to decrease their size, and the elders died before they could pass down their wisdom and knowledge of magic. There were less than ten titans left by now, including Searbhan the Sky Titan we saw in the east, and the Frost Titan of the Northern Kingdom, Utgard. They were as rare as dragons. And that was exactly why the Tower of Mages n of reviving the Titans was dangerous. This eye I have seen it before. Master said while looking at the leftover trace of the titan to reminisce about the past. She was one of the few survivors that actually lived through the era of Titans. Did you also fight against the Titans? Of course not. Erin pinched my cheeks and said while giving me a death stare. Does your master look that old? Nuooo Not at all Actually it seemed that it all finished before she was even born. The war between the Titans and the ancestors started after the Sky Titans went recluse. After two big fights at Mag Tuired, the King of Titans fell, thus ending the war. King of Titans Right. King Balor. Or Balor of the Evil Eye. He was a strong demon who killed the King of Gods, Nuada, and eventually lost to the Danann of Light, Lugh. The one who killed Ard Ri, Nuada the Danann of the Sun, huh I did remember seeing that in the records. It was quite ironic, actually. The reason why the Tower of Mages could even attempt to revive the Titans was because of the long preparations made beforehand by Tates Valtazar. Valtazar, the one who was continuing the legacy of Lugh who killed the King of Titans, was now trying to revive that very king. Korin I know the Tower is trying to revive the past Titans but how are they doing that? They died a long time ago, right? It is possible. As long as they have Undry, the cauldron of abundance and life which the New Faith calls the Holy Grail, along with divine blood. However, it wont be a full resurrection. It was hard to find an intact corpse anywhere apart from the Steel Archipgo and the Northern Kingdom, and even those would have half-rotted away already. But those bodies would be missing a few parts, so they need other things that can make up for the joints and the flesh. So thats where the Gold Cults golemse in. Changing the attributes of a material and mixing them together was right up the alley of the Gold Cult and their alchemic pursuit. If you add to that the Green Cult which would have learned the secret skills of the druids thanks to Valtazar, the result would be the resurrection of Titans that could be controlled by the mages of the Tower. I had done something before, which was why I knew about it. Master. You want to destroy it, right? But no. We cannot. What if we ignite runes at the same time, right as we are about to run away? Impossible. Rune Resonant Activation is what Tates and I used to often use when attacking the Tower of Mages. Just like teleportation, it cannot be used here. What about physical mes? If we pour bucket loads of oil, that could work, right? Most problems would be dealt with immediately in aboratory of this level. This ce is overflowing with mages, after all. Two of my proposals were turned down and that was when Marie raised one of her own. What if I take Doggo out from my shadow, let him destroy everything, and retrieve him back? I would refrain from that unless you were willing to sacrifice Doggo for it. Capturing familiars and forcibly getting rid of the connection between them is pretty easy for someone at the level of an elder. I can make Chunsik do it then! Flinch! For some reason, it felt like I saw her shadow flinch a little. If you give the power back to the ghoul, it would be able to use most of its previous potential. It will probably be at the level of a professor, but if you want to scorch the eyeball of the King of Titans, you will need 4 or 5 professors. Marie pondered after hearing that the ghoul also had to survive the attacks from countless mages that woulde here to defend the eyeball while destroying it. She seemed to be finding it wasteful to throw a mage of that level away as a one-off use. The salt pond has seen an increased efficiency thanks to Chunsiks me magic. I dont think its worth throwing him away for something uncertain. Using an elder mage to boil salt water, huh -Creak! That was when someone walked in through the doors that we had used ourselves. Korin. Hide! Master hurriedly pulled my hand to conceal us inside a mountain of experiment materials. Marie also looked around for a bit in a hurry before crawling underneath a nearby desk. Hihi. So just a little bit more and its done? Exactly. But Mr. Scaith. The damage done to the body is too big. For the other Titans, its okay, but this is the only part of the King of Titans that we Ahh ahh~. Thats why Im lending you this, right?? Dun Scaith said while taking out arge cauldron from his body. Thats Undry. Master and I immediately noticed what that was. The treasure of the King of Gods, Dagda. One of the 4 treasures of the Danann and the pot of infinite life. Absorb a little bit more of the divine blood, and I can fill the rest with my flesh. Kihihik! His uniqueughter which sounded like that of a lunatic faintly left his lips. As always, he was a disgusting guy. I see something like that was born from Undry. Mastermented at the sight of her ancestors treasure being misused. We were so close that our shoulders were touching, so I felt her breath as she sighed. Oops, sorry. Dont worry. Its a bit cramped in here. Im fine. More importantly Shh! The guy started to move so I quickly covered her mouth with my hand, so that we wouldnt let out a single sound. Whats wrong? Shh Wait a second. Warp warp! I could hear the change going on in his body. It seemed that he had changed into a demonic cow or a dragon. Are there some rats in here or maybe not? The sshing sound of his footsteps slowly drew near. Starting a fight here would make things quite tedious. Unless the seeds were starting to sprout, fighting against them with only the three of us was no different from an act of suicide. Please dont find us. Is there someone here? Or no? His mouth was right in front of the mountain of materials we were hiding in, evident from the disgusting odor being given off by his breath. Right as his eyes were about to find us through the gap -Squeak! Got ya! Scaith let out a breath at where the sound came from as the scent of something being reduced to ashes reached our noses. -Squeak! Squeak squeak! A group of rats started running across the room. Ehng? It was actually rats? Theyre our experimental rats. They must have escaped their cage because someone didnt do their job properly. Okkay~? Dun Scaith turned around from where we were hiding. That was a close call ncing at where Marie was hiding herself, I saw that Doggo was crawling back into her shadow. It must have been Doggo that brought those rats from somewhere. Great job Doggo! -Clomp clomp! Soon, his footsteps returned to that of a human as the two of them opened the door of theboratory to go outside. However, it was too early to be relieved, because there was a chance that they were faking it. Lets stay like this for a bit more. Master? She wasnt saying anything. When I turned my eyes towards her I realized that for some reason, her eyes were nervously rolling around as her face started to turn red. Whats wrong? H huh? No I was just thinking about how big your hands were Your face is just too small, Master. Even though my hands werent massive like the lid of a cauldron, they were slightly bigger than the hands of an average male. And Master was on the petite side in terms of both her head and her bodypared to an average girl so that was probably why. Its incredible, actually. Hmm? W, what do you mean? The fact that you can do such things with a spear with such a small body I really respect you a lot, Master. Ughh She twisted her body from embarrassment. Umm, if you twist your body when we are this close, thats not so good to your disciple! Korin 10,000 more swings when we go back. Wait why? I can, but can I ask why? I will be guiding you one-on-one, so look forward to it. Master? Wouldnt Prepare yourself, make more sense in this context? *** Atst, we arrived at the 8th floor and were forced to make a decision. T, there are a total of 19boratories. They are not personalboratories and all have different equipment installed, so it is hard to say which rooms would be upied and stuff Hearing the words of Elder Admelech, who was now Chunsik, the ace of the Dunareff familys salt pond business, we felt the need to separate ourselves. What do you think? Staying in a group of 3 would definitely be safer. No. Its not a good idea to stall a secret mission for too long. It would probably be a better idea to separate and create amotion if things go south, before grouping back together. I agree with the chairman. Doggo and I can also separate and search for the saintess. Like that, we all split up to search through the vast 8th floor of the Tower of Mages. As for how to go all the way underground from the 7th floor, we already had a n in mind. Hmm The 8th floor only consisted of theboratories of the Tower Lord and elders, so there were a lot less people walking around than on the other floors. Even so, I kept my footsteps as silent as possible as I walked across theboratories of the elders, which were therefore enormous and full of all sorts of strange experiments. Estelle Big sis Estelle. Where are you? She probably wasnt being mistreated except for being forced to provide some blood, but she was someone I had forged a good rtionship with alongside Miru in the previous iteration, so I couldnt help but feel concerned about her well-being. I was slowly advancing forward and at one point when I entered anotherboratory I noticed that the air felt rather different. It felt like a ranch a chicken coop. The defecations were clearly overstaying their wee. They gave off a disgusting odor and I could hear the faint growl of creatures. At first, I was surprised that they could survive in an environment like this, but unknowingly frowned after seeing what they were. Small creatures that were still connected by umbilical cords blended mixtures that looked way too entric to be called an organism were crawling across the floor. Chimeras They were amonly used familiar of the mages in the Tower, who actively undertook such experiments for their benefit. Ever since the Witch Revolution, the Tower of Mages had been regrly getting inspected by the Guardian Alliance, Academy, and the Royal Court. Inhumane experiments and unauthorized tests were prohibited, and that was why the mages of the Tower had secretbs outside. However, chimeras were different. Despite being a horrible sphemy to life, this act ofbining organisms went unrestricted. Themon consensus was that it was fine as long as it didnt concern or involve humans. Purruru I looked at the poor animal that had its neck and body restricted by the nks of the cage, that was only allowed to eat and give birth. It was a unicorn. A fairy pony with a horn. Rather than a demon, it was closer to being a spiritual beast. Even this existence that had a mysterious and holy presence was nothing but a viviparous organism that could give birth to chimeras in the hands of the Tower of Mages. It looked at me with a clear gaze. The unicorn gave off a pure and innocent aura despite being forced into this disgusting cage. It conveyed to me with its gaze its pure will, and its hope of death. Personally, Im the type of person who thinks everyone should strive to live no matter the circumstances. Pururuk. The unicorn somehow shook its head despite the restrictions on its neck, after seemingly understanding what I said. Krrrng! It pleaded while looking at the spear in my hands. When it looked back into my eyes with a resolute gaze, I realized that there was no other option. I lifted my spear as it lowered its forehead in response, allowing for an easy stab to its brain. -Stab! Honestly, it wasnt a pleasant experience. The warmth of life seeped out of its body. The head of the unicorn dropped low, matching my line of sight with the horn on its forehead. Horn of a unicorn. It was a legendary material that could be used when crafting high-end equipment that could cleanse every poison but I hope you have a better life next time. I didnt feel like damaging the corpse of the unicorn who had already had a hard life. It might be hypocritical but that was what I felt. *** Right when I turned my back to the unicorn that entered an eternal slumber, white light enveloped my surroundings for a bit before quickly going away. Drop! Hearing something drop, I turned to the ground and found that the horn of the unicorn was right next to my feet after being cut off clean. Was this some kind of revtion? Or perhaps the will of the unicorn? Ill gratefully ept it. Taking the horn, I left theboratory, enveloped by a myriad of emotions. I came across an elder once after that, but I managed to stay hidden thanks to my amazing stealth skills. And I found Princess Estelle when looking through the thirdboratory. Well, I knew you werent being mistreated but Uuun? Prison bars were the only thing here that resembled anything from a prison. Sitting down on an elegant mattress of fine silk the pink-haired saintess had a ss of wine in her hands while enjoying the ocean view. Seeing her enjoy a luxurious life by herself while others suffered made me feel a little frustrated, despite knowing well that it wasnt her fault. Wah! Junior! Youre here to save me! Her eyes and face turned bright the moment she saw me. But seriously, how unfortunate and hard was the life of a saintess? Quick! Get me out of this ce! Your Highness. Yes? May I get a kiss on my cheeks if I save you? Its every mans dream to get a kiss from an actual princess, right? I will give you one on your lips if you save me. That will be my first kiss by the way. Im on it. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 159: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (1) Chapter 159: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (1) Trantor: RainTL
Estelle Hadassa El Rath (1) The iron bars were thick and tough enough to hold back a demonic beast, and it was further reinforced through a magic spell. It would create a loud noise if I were to break it with sheer force. It might be possible to lift the spell if Marie was here but it was probably made personally by the Lord of the Tower, meaning it wouldnt be easy for her either. That one there is a low-grade mage so I dont think she would have the keys. Oh~. You mean her? I said while looking at the mage that was lying unconsciously on the ground. They had to monitor the Saintess but because the higher-ups were too proud to do that, it seemed that they had allocated the task to a low-grade mage. It might have been better for them had they assigned a veteran mercenary for the task but as expected of the secluded Tower of Mages, even chores like this had to be done by mages. It doesnt matter. Step back from the bars for a bit. I took out the red spear that was hanging behind my back and gently stabbed the lock of the prison cell. -Bam! Junior? What are you huh? The prison door started to open before she could even finish her question. It seemed that the lock had been purely based on magic. Wow Is that one of your abilities? Just something that nullifies spells. The red anti-magic spear, Gae Derg, was one of the spears you could get from Manannan Mac Lir and was the best weapon to use against mages due to its magic-nullifying capabilities. Shall we go now? I suggested while reaching out with one of my hands. She dly took my hand before walking out of the cell. Oh my. Thank you so much. The kiss can wait until we are done with everything. Pervert. Estelle didnt seem that displeased by my joke, but that was understandable considering that she was a chill person by nature. Did they do anything big to you? Apart from taking my blood, not much. Oh, right, Junior. We have to let the Kingdom know immediately. The Tower is using my blood to Attempt to revive the Titans, right? And theres also someone running around with Holy Grail arge cauldron, yes? Umm How did you know that already? Its a long story. Estelle was someone on my priority list that I had to invite into my guild. I would have to tell her one day but that could wait for now. By the way, Saintess, can you give prayers? It would be a lot easier with a buff. Actually I cant use any divine spells right now. It appeared to be the same as the game. ording to the original storyline, it was because of a traitor of the New Faith doing something, but what exactly they did wasnt revealed till the end. Lets first find our -Kwaaang! It was then. Along with a deafening thud, a cold mist of mana pervaded across from the other side of theboratory. Senior Marie? There was no one other than Marie who could lower the temperature of an entire floor Wait, there was another one that could. Elder Serarion of the Navy Cult. He was the strongest ice mage who would haveter appeared at the Northern Kingdom to show off his immacte strength. The Absolute Zero spell he would use after being baptized by the Frost Giants -Kwaang! Arge crystal spear of ice struck the wall behind us. Stay back. I think I need to help. Korin? Appearing from the wall that was stabbed open by the crystal spear was Marie, who was wearing an outfit that did not suit the cold and harsh environment around us. She looked at me while tilting her head. Standing behind her was Doggo, who seemed to have grouped up with her already. Before long, Master Erin also joined the party. I am here to help Ohh? She, who appeared from the other side in order to help us, covered her mouth in surprise. That was natural because Elder Serarion the strongest ice mage was covered in bruises and being dragged along by Marie. I guess hes the previous strongest mage. Congrattions, Senior Marie. You are officially the strongest ice mage now. Haht!? Dont put me on a pedestal like that. This person was weak. Now that I thought about it, it was obvious that he wouldnt stand a chance. Marie was already blessed with a heap of mana and yet after acquiring the power of a vampire, she was able to bash up most knights with her pure strength. Only the few highest-ss mages would be able to stand a chance against her with magic. They will starting here because of that fight just then. Lets hurry. Your Highness, so your body is like a normal persons right now, is that correct? H, huh? Yes. Excuse me, I whispered before supporting her by the shoulders and the back of her knees. It was the so-called princess carry. It wasnt wrong since she really was a princess. This is embarrassing Estelle said with a shy look on her face. After carrying Estelle, I marked the start of the next set of ns. Jump! Nn? Jump? What? Towards the wall that was broken by the spell to that empty wall and the ocean beyond! KYAAAAAK?! From the 8th floor of the Tower of Mages, we jumped out without even the slightest bit of hesitation. We fell faster and faster as the wind pushed harder into our faces. Whats the n? You had a n in mind; thats why you jumped right?! The Princess shouted out something while desperately sping onto my neck, but I couldnt really hear what she was saying. Well, she was probably asking about what we were going to do next. Dont worry! Senior Mar-!? It was then. During the free fall I looked up to the night sky and was met with 3 other faces. Master Erin, Senior Marie, and UHIHIHIHIT! Dun Scaith was falling with us along with theughter of a lunatic. Ugh that disgusting bastard. We had a n in mind. The n was to use the runes of deceleration and eleration appropriately to absorb the shock of the fall. However, there was no need for Dun Scaith to even do that. He was the King of Beasts; a culmination of snakes, toads, cows, and dragons. He was probably going to turn into a dragon and OUIIIIIIII! Huh? Hnn? We started to decelerate but Dun Scaith continued to fall without doing anything. Eventually, the exploding noise of flesh echoed from the ground and Kihit? Kihihi! He, who fell before us, turned himself into thousands of toads. Uwek Disgusting! Estelle was appalled at the sight of thousands of toads but there was something more important to worry about. Senior! I know! Marie fired dozens of spells at the thousands of monster toads weing us on the ground. They destroyed whichever toad they touched, but there were simply too many of them. -Tak! In the end, we couldnt avoid being met with a wave of toads the moment wended on the ground. Venomous toads, bomb toads, bow toads there was a whole parade of them. Master! Carry Senior Marie! Got it! Like how I was carrying Estelle, Master simrly lifted Marie with her arms. Doggo! Open up the path! Woof! He truly was a reliable party member. After shooting out of Maries shadow, the bloodhound crushed all the toads blocking our path, ripped them to pieces, and opened up a pathway. Sixth Style, Shura Immediately after that, I activated Shura to increase my physical stats to the extreme and kicked off the ground. The background changed swiftly as des of wind cut through my cheeks but thanks to that, we were able to escape from the toads before long. Like that, we once again entered the underground sewage of the Tower of Mages and hurried to where Lady Josephine and Hua Ran were, hoping that they would have prepared the teleportation beforehand after sensing themotion outside. MUOO! A sudden goosebump urged me to turn around, and I found a flock of things that resembled bulls chasing after us. Master uttered in shock after seeing the one in the lead. Thats the white-horned bull, Finnbennach! Do you know what it does?! I know it has a very good sense of hearing and you get cursed if you get struck by that horn! Whats with all these weird animals!? They have absolutely nothing inmon! Why does a bull have some magical abilities? At this point, why not start a war because of a bull, huh? Be careful not to fall! Entering the sewage, we started running across the sttering floor. The passageways were narrow and tooplex for bulls to run through, but the sound of their pursuit was still echoing behind us. Master. Lets blow this ce up. Right. If its here We each took out our Silver Spears and crushed the walls of the passageway. -Kwaaa! The sound of arge amount of mana exploding at once was incredibly impressive. We, being two rune mages, had nted several letters throughout the sewage beforehand. Although it might not have been possible inside the Tower of Mages, Resonant Activation was possible outside of it. GUWOOOOOOO! mes erupted from all sides of the sewage including the floor and the ceiling as the flocks of bulls got scorched to death by the soaring mes and turbulent storms. Although this wouldnt be enough to kill Dun Scaith, it would be more than enough to let us escape from him. Here! Atst, we were almost there at the control room after escaping from the chasers and found Hua Ran waving at us from a distance. Start the teleportation right now! There were only 100 meters between us. It was a straight line with no obstacles in the way. Inside the old control room that the mages of the Tower wouldnt even remember by now, Josephine opened up the alternate dimension, preparing for a long dimensional leap. Everyone,e inside the magic circle! We quickly entered the circle Lady Josephine set up. I was in such a hurry that I forgot to let go of the girl that I was carrying in my arms. 10 seconds! I heaved a sigh of relief after hearing her shout. This magic circle was linked to the marker that was ced on the main encampment of the Kingdoms military back on the main continent. 8 7! After escaping like this, all we had to do was wait for the seeds to sprout. Attack immediately after the curse implodes and that will be enough for us to sweep through the Tower. 6! -Kwang! A roar echoed from a distance one that shook the entire sewer. W, what? 5 seconds. -Kwangg! Junior. Next to you! -KWAAAAANG! Deafening thuds were reverberating on repeat from the other side of the wall. It sounded like something was being crushed time after time. This crazy bastard! Is he breaking through all the walls of the underground sewer? Senior Marie. Freeze the wall! In a hurry, she immediately froze the wall. At a nce, the frozen wall seemed fortified enough tost for years. 4 seconds. -Kwaang! The sound came closer and closer as Master and I pointed our spears toward the wall. For some reason, a strong inkling hit us that the toughened wall might be broken through like silicon. 3 seconds. -Kwa! It thudded. But it stopped and was blocked. The wall in front of us shook after the impact but remained firm. Right as we were about to heave a sigh of relief. -KWAAAA!! The wall and the ice covering it crumbled at once, and appearing from the other side of the cloud of dust was a standing bull with a white horn. That was the form of Dun Scaith that I had seen from him, back when we were at the floating ind to obtain iomh Sis. There you are~ Aht Someone let out a vacant mutter. We were almost there we were very close to escaping but in that split moment, with only 2 seconds left behind if not 1, the horn of the monster stabbed through me. KYAA!? Estelle, who was still in my arms, screamed as the bull did not stop its march even after stabbing my shoulder with its horn. I couldnt even do anything all I could do was desperately hold onto Estelle. KORINNNN! I saw the look of astonishment on Marie and Masters faces but only for a split second Before long, they jumped across the dimension and disappeared from sight. -Kwaaaang! After breaking through several walls of the sewer, we were thrown into the waterway. *** Korin! Korin! KORIN!! Marie screamed as she pounded at the magic circle. However, the ce they were in now wasnt the dark and gloomy sewer that they used to be in, but the military encampment. You are back Huh? Alicia closed her mouth after seeing the number of people who came back. Josephine, Erin, Marie, Hua Ran and Korin. Five people. If things went well, they should have returned in a group of six. However, all she could see was a group of three. The numbers werent adding up. Chairman! We have to go back! Right now! Calm down, Student Marie. Even if we teleport back now, well Please send just me at the very least! Marie ran up to Josephine, requesting for another jump back, but Josephine returned a shake. They must have strengthened their security. Going back now would be suicidal. We have to attack right now! Marie. There must be some troops that can! Marie! Erin was the one who put a stop to her desperate struggle. Like the experienced veteran she was, Erin calmly soothed her despite the disappearance of her own disciple. I am sure the two of them will be fine. B, but They would have died already or made it out alive. If its the former, going now wouldnt change anything. Holding onto her hands, the teacher of heroes said with a straight and believing gaze. Korin will make it out alive for sure. Believe that. That is something you can be assured of. Erin Danua, the teacher of heroes, believed in the destiny that was assigned to each hero. She thus had a firm belief that the hero of this generation, Korin Lork, would not crumble at a ce like this. Umm everyone? Right as they all started to settle their thoughts regarding this matter, Alicia carefully raised her hand for a question. Where is Ms. Hua Ran? Gently falling onto the magic circle that was starting to lose its light after the teleportation was the feather of a crow. *** They were gone! They were nowhere to be found! Kughh KUAAAAAHKK! Drenched with sticky and smelly wastewater, Dun Scaith screamed out in uncontroble fury. It was great that he smashed through the walls with an unstoppable march and stabbed through Korin, that little rat. Even better was the fact that he pushed both him and the Saintess out of the magic circle. The issue was what came after that. Due to his own unstoppable march, they all ended up diving into a strong underwater current. 10 minutes after swimming through the dark waterways of the sewage, Dun Scaith found himself at the port. M, Mr. Scaith! One of the mages that was protecting the port recognized him and immediately ran up, but his venomous gaze halted their feet. The Saintess has escaped! Find her! Korin his masters contender wasnt the important one here. No matter what, they had to find the Saintess because the divine blood of the King of Gods was crucial to garner enough divine energy for Undry to resurrect the Titans. In the distant past, a child was born between Balors daughter and Dian Cechts son. His name was Lugh Lamhfada. Lugh married the great-granddaughter of Dagda and gave birth to a hero, whose descendants were the royal family of the El Rath Kingdom. Because of that, the blood flowing through the members of the royal family had the blood of both Balor the King of Titans, and Dagda the King of Gods. Over time, that blood became thinner and thinner, but there was someone whose blood resembled that of their forefathers, and that was none other than Saintess Estelle Hadassa El Rath. Now that the titans and gods were no more, with only divinities left behind in this world, she was an omnipotent existence who could borrow infinitely from the energy floating around. That was why her blood was crucial for the resurrection of the Titans. People were mistaking her as the Saintess but Tates, the one who inherited the divinity of Lugh, was able to immediately see through Estelle and Miruam. That was why he had been preparing for the corpses of Titans ever since Estelle was born, and had been preparing for a long time by even dragging the Tower of Mages into it, and yet Kuhhgggg! That damned Korin Lork! And how I wish I could rip that Erin Danua to pieces! Those two bastards were trying to foil his masters ns again and again. That is not happening. It cant be! Scaith let out a furious roar that echoed across the entire port. *** Ughh So cold, and stinky Being thrown into wastewater and being swept by the currents for a long time felt horrible. It took Estelle a long time toe to terms with the situation because of everything happening at once, but what was certain was that it was really cold and that they were going to die from it at this rate. Junior? Junior, are you alright? She was better off at the very least, because her sacred outfit and the rosary had a divine spell cast on it which the Tower of Mages referred to as Magic of Light that somewhat controlled the temperature. While gripping onto the golden rosary on her neck, she crawled on all fours towards the junior who was swept away by the currents just like herself. Wake up. We will freeze to death at this rate! He didnt wake up. There was nothing but white snow around them and their body temperatures were dropping at an exponential rate. Goodness sake! Knnn! Now that she couldnt use her divine spells, Estelle was no different from a normal girl. While dragging a boy that was bigger than herself, she looked for a ce that could allow them to hide from the cold. Footsteps and a straight line were left on the white, level snow behind them. Fortunately, Estelle discovered a small cave that was hidden from the blizzard before long. L, look! Junior! Over there! If we go there, we can raise our temperature but its a bit far. It was far around 300 meters away from where they were. It would probably take her around 10 minutes if she were to crawl her way there by herself, but right now, she had a boy who was bigger than her that she had to take care of. Aigo Pushing herself forward, she dragged Korin all the way to the cave. The cold blizzard covered her sight and her wavering arms almost failed her, but Estelle advanced forward, step by step without giving up. Both Estelle and Miruam the royal family of this country were more used to physically taxing jobs than what one might expect. After arriving at the cave, Estelle grabbed a few twigs nearby and created a little fire. It wasnt that hard thanks to an igniting magic artifact that was hanging on her clothes. It was something that she bought on a whim when purchasing all sorts of things that had life magic cast on it, and she certainly wasnt expecting to use it in a way like this. Estelle thought about how her wasteful personality had turned out to be a positive trait. Junior? Hello? Can you wake up? Please? Youre starting to scare me here. She wasnt used to death, because the people under her blessing tended to stay alive unless things were incredibly rough for them. It would be sad to see a Prince Charming freeze to death after valiantlying to save her, right? Ugh his temperatures not going up. What should I do? What should I do? Thinking that his wet clothes might be the problem, she took it off of him but was then worried that it might have made him colder. There was nothing around them that could be used in ce of a nket, and she noticed that his chest was as cold as ayer of ice when she slightly touched it. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 160: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (2) Chapter 160: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (2) Trantor: RainTL
Estelle Hadassa El Rath (2) The feeling of bare skin on top of bare skin was something I wasnt very used to, especially if the skin was born soft, and felt good to touch thanks to being taken care of their whole life. It made me crave for it. My hand traveled up the soft hipline all the way to the waist, giving me the urge to pull it towards my body. You woke up. Looking back, she really liked watching my sleeping face. Mhmm When I opened my eyes, I found ady breathing softly in her sleep. I looked at her adorable pink hair, her exposed shoulders, and underneath that Oh dear. The parts of my body that were touching her skin had been warmed up to the point that it was hot. Thest thing I remembered was being pushed into the sewage waterway, and it seemed that she had done this to save me from hypothermia. Her warm and soft body felt so good to touch, that I felt the urge to stay like this for a long time. This is actually very warm. It was probably freezing outside because the Steel Archipgo was in a perpetual winter without any other seasons due to being located right next to the Northern Kingdom. Even though we were in a shelter that concealed us from the wind, this was still a lot warmer than it should be. I then realized that mana was seeping out of my body inrge bulks It shouldnt have been more than a day, and yet I was losing instead of recovering mana. Is this the Curse of Finnbennach that Master had talked about? ! The unicorns horn ced next to us was giving off light. Right, the horn of a unicorn had the power to cleanse curses and poison, so it was safe to say that the curse that had been ced on my body had been lifted So why was my mana Ah. Uuun Estelle slowly woke up after rubbing her eyes. Her emerald-colored eyes soon met mine. Good morning. I awkwardly greeted her as her cheeks immediately flushed red as if they were on fire. You will have to pay for this handsomely. Of course. No matter what I would have to do in return, this was a win for me. Get up. Yep. While waiting for Estelle to wear her sacred clothes that we had been using as a nket, I turned to the fire and found my shirt being dried next to it. Thanks for saving my life yesterday. Well You came all this way to save me so of course I should have done that. More importantly, how do you feel, Junior? Hearing that, I touched my shoulder which had been stabbed by Dun Scaiths horn. I could see that a part of my clothes had been used to stop the blood like a bandage. It probably wouldnt have done much because of my regeneration ability, but I was still grateful for the thought. I can move around just fine. Really? Then lets leave this ind right now. Thatll be tough at the moment. Nnn? Estelles voice turned noticeably soft as soon as I said that. They probably strengthened the borders after that. The port is most definitely going to be monitored heavily, and because of the characteristics of the Steel Archipgo, theres a limit to the number of flying beasts that can fly around. There was a reason why the Kingdom couldnt mobilize a group of wyverns for the war. Most wyverns would end up freezing to death from the blizzard, and the only monsters that could withstand the cold were massive ones like monster carriers. Is there no way for us to escape then? I shook my head in response. There are two options. They werent the best options, but they were the best that we could manage from our current circumstances. First is to stay holed up in this ce. We wait for about, lets say 20 days? And stand our ground until the Kingdom starts their full frontal assault to destroy the Tower of Mages. I dont think the Tower is so stupid that they wont find us for 20 days. Right, it was a strategy that relied purely on luck. There was a way to find food, but I didnt want to risk exposing our location just yet. The second option is to go north from here. But isnt this the north of the ind already? Wait, do you mean Estelle frowned and said after biting her lower lips. Even though she would have understood it already, she still looked at me in doubt. We will be crossing the ocean. Go further north from here, the Steel Archipgo, to the Dingle Penins of the Northern Kingdom. H, have you lost your mind? How are we going to cross the ocean? Its frozen all year long. If we stick to a path, it will be a lot easier than you think. The only issue with that n was that we might inevitably end uping across the Titan Archaeologists, but if we were lucky, we might, in fact, discover that thing before the mages did, considering how this was earlier than the battle in the original storyline. The biggest reason why the second n was better, was because it was difficult to hope for additional support even if we were to continue hiding here. Even if they did send help, how would they find us in this vast archipgo, and how would we escape, even if they were able to find us by some miracle? Running away in a small group of two had more chances of sess. Haa~ After a small sigh, Estelle shook her head and opened her mouth. Shall we find something to eat before that? Youre quick at adapting to the situation, arent you? Its not like crying would solve our problems. And like you said, we cant wait here and do nothing either. It was something I felt from thest iteration, but the princesses of this Kingdom were really wild. For Miru, it was probably because she was personally crushing all the wolves, and for Estelle, it was probably because of her demi-human protection scheme and her work as a part of the Inquisition. They were both quite used to arduous and taxing jobs. I do agree that we should look for food first. Lets fill up our stomachs and leave at night. Why is that? Because we need to look at the constetions to head north. Do you know how to follow the stars? I had to learn a few things to make up for myck of talent. It was something I learned in thest iteration to increase my chance of survival as much as possible. Well, you can stay here, Saintess. I will go out and find something to eat. Huh? Junior? Not with your body in that state. Its all healed now. But, still Are you sure its all healed already? Oh wow, youre right. When I took off the ripped piece of clothing that was acting as a bandage and showed her the skin beneath it, Estelle uttered in surprise. She then carried the red spear lying around her and quickly came after me. Whats wrong? You should stay inside; its cold. My clothes have cold-resistant spells on them, so its fine. She said with a giggle. It seemed that she really was fine. Even though it was already summer, the Steel Archipgo was as cold as winter and Estelle was wearing a thinyer of clothing in that cold blizzard. It didnt look right, but now wasnt the time for me to worry about someone else. Ahh, why are my hands so cold? I will try praying againter. Who in the world could possibly realize that she was the Saintess, looking at her warming her cold hands by cing them under her armpits? *** Haht! On the cold, snowy in, a cute bunny whose fur was of the exact same color as the surrounding snow, was munching on a small de of grass. Oh my god, oh my god! Its so cute! Its so cute!! Estelle tried her best to embed that adorable organism into her emerald eyes. In her eyes that had been perfect ever since birth, the bunny appeared pure and innocent like a child ying in paradise. Its poking ears added even more to its charm. She even wanted to invite that angel to her garden of -m! Kehk! The inhabitant of the snowy in cried out tears of blood while drawing itsst breath as the red spear mercilessly left its target. Lifted into the air by its formerly poking ears, the bunnys eyes met with Estelles. -Curse you. Curse you, damn humans! Those were the tears of blood of someone cursing from the bottom of their hearts. We were lucky. I hope there are some more lying around. You devil What do you mean? Did we have to eat a bunny? Its so cute though Everythings the same once you eat it. After that, Korin hunted another bunny and a squirrel. Hiing Im sorry, bunny. And sorry to you as well, squirrel Saintess. Can you hold onto the legs for a bit? Huh? W, wait! Estelle received the dead bunny in a stupor, but Korin ruthlessly gave the following orders. Stretch the legs out wide and hold them in ce. That way, its easier to take it off. Huh? Take what off? Korin put his fingers into the legs that he had already poked a hole in and pulled them just like that. Estelle almost fell because of the sudden pull but somehow stood her ground thanks to readying herself beforehand. -Rippp! Huh? In the blink of an eye, the flesh left its former shell. The red flesh with not a single bit of skin left over did not retain a fraction of its former cuteness. I, Im not eating this. Excuse me? Being picky with food is a bad idea. This little squirrel is so frozen, that I cant even remove its skin. Unlike the bunny, Korin used the spearhead to slice off the squirrels skin like one would with an apple and a fruit knife. He even scratched out the frozen innards and prepared the meat that could now be ced into a skewer. Its probably going to be in because we dont have salt, but its pretty fatty and should be edible. I, Im telling you no! Ill have some berries instead! While Korin continued his hunt, Estelle found fruits and berries and showed them off with pride. However, how could the likes of berries possibly stand a chance against meat? Smelling the scent that was given off by the grilled bunny and squirrel skewers, Estelles stomach constantly gave her a sign. -Growl! Why dont you just have some? Maybe a bite, then? Hueeng! Sorry, bunny! Its so deliciousss~. Im so soyy! *** Estelle realized how unbearably ufortable it was to be unable to use her divine energy. She knew very well that she was like luggage without her prayers, so she voluntarily looked for things she could help with. Thankfully, she used to work for the Inquisition and actively save demi-humans from discrimination, thus she was quite used to arduous tasks. It was only for a bit, but I had my power back for a second. Estelles power was to pray and have thate to reality. It wasnt always something that required a prayer. The environment, circumstances, instincts, and reflexes whichever it was, if there was something she wanted, her divine energy worked to make things happen for her benefit. They helped her skin remain dry even when she was under a storm, and if she were to run into a burning house to save someone, the fire wouldnt even dare touch her hair. But now that her divine energy had been sealed, her heavenly blessing was no longer working, untilst night. In order to stop Korin from dying from hypothermia, she took off her clothes, aligned her skin with his, and warmed him up with her own body. Naturally, her temperature was supposed to decrease, and yet her temperature also went up for some reason. It felt simr to the warm radiance that used to envelope her when giving a prayer it felt like she was next to the Lord, whose existence she was still uncertain of. Thats interesting. Maybe its because he has the divine artifact of the sun? She knew that he was in possession of one of the 4 treasures deemed divine by the order ever since she researched the Undead City, Nazrea, that was cleansed in a single day after being a nuisance to humanity for centuries. That was also probably why her sister was attached to Korin Lork. Symbolic value. Both Estelle and her sister saw symbolic value in Korin. A hero of the order; the owner of a sacred artifact given by the Lord. Both Estelle and Miruam were aware that they had to one day grasp that political symbol for themselves. Heres some squirrel meat and fruits. Have them regrly so that you dont feel hungry. Korin was like a veteran. Unlike Estelle, who needed the help of others when sleeping outside, he did everything without cutting corners or forgetting anything to survive. By the way, we do look a little funny. He looked quiteughable at a nce. Korin had attached bunny and squirrel skin all around his body to protect himself from the cold. Meanwhile, Estelle was still wearing her sacred clothes that clearly revealed her armpits and her thighs. People, who saw them wearing clothes like this in this cold weather, would probably find them crazy. Even though itsdies first, I was about to freeze to death after all. You can hold onto this spear. Korin handed the red spear over to Estelle. Red Spear, Gae Derg. It was the javelin that was several times more effective against beasts. Throw this if you see an animal. The spear will travel by itself if you throw it decently. Wow~. Is it a magic spear? Simr. It was a shame that she didnt have her favorite mace, but a spear was still better than nothing. Estelle dly received the red spear from him and Oops! The spear was a lot colder than she thought, and she ended up dropping it. -Rip! On the way down, the spear sliced apart the clothing around her shoulders. It was just a gentle graze but -Bam! Huh? A sudden gust of coldness struck her skin. Her bare feet, thighs, and armpits were immediately swallowed by the cold blizzard. Hugik! I, its so cold! Seeing her shiver desperately from the cold, Korin had to hold his words back for quite some time. Just then, the difficulty of their journey had increased by severalfold. We look a little funny, Estelle regretted saying that from the bottom of her heart because it jinxed her and made them look even funnier. Who could have guessed that the spear Korin used to hunt beasts was the one with anti-magic traits? Her clothes got sliced by the red spear and so did the anti-cold spell that was cast on her clothes, so Estelle was exposed to the harshness of mother nature without anything to protect her. Wait here. Dont ever leave the fire. After giving her the bunny and squirrel skin that he was wearing, Korin went outside and did not return for hours. Junior? Junior Im scared Left alone inside the cave, Estelle started to feel more and more frightened. The cold wind blowing from outside echoed through the cave and shook the fire, and yet all she could do was crouch there, trying to warm her body up as much as possible. Ugh Lord, please protect my Junior Junior Korin Lork and let hime back in one piece. And can you please do something about this cold? I can give a thousand prayers in a row after I go back if you want! Are you really not going to do that for me? Didnt you always do it even when I was less sincere?! It was a prayer that would shock the gods even if they heard it, but as if the world had heard her desperate wish, she heard someone walking in through the entrance of the cave. Junior Korin? Estelle carefully spoke up in case it was someone pursuing them from the Tower of Mages. Right when she was about to heave a sigh of relief from Korins short reply, she was startled by the thing that Korin dropped on the ground. Is this a sheep? What Korin brought was a sheep that was dead with its tongue sticking out. We are going to cut this guys skin up to use as a coat and a nket, so you have to bear with me even if you dont like it. Ugh Let me help you. It was surprising that he caught a sheep, but thinking of how he must have been wandering outside in this cold weather for hours to catch an animal withrge enough skin, Estelle felt so sorry that she couldnt even ask anything about it. Like that, they acquired the skin of a sheep that was still red with blood. Its small. Yeah. The sheepskin was barely enough to cover from the neck down to the feet. It was slightly big for one person but was way too small for two people to use after cutting it into halves. It cant be helped. I can use the squirrel and the bunny skin, so Saintess, you can We cant do that! Saintess? Letse up with an idea! There must be a way for us to both use it! It was way toote for him to find another one outside, and they had to leave as soon as possible to escape from the potential pursuit of the Tower. Estelle didnt want to waste any more time than what was wasted because of her mistake, so she thought deeply beforeing up with an idea. Right! I have an idea! Theres a way for us to both use it! You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 161: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (3) Chapter 161: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (3) Trantor: RainTL
Estelle Hadassa El Rath(3) Keeping oneself warm in a cold environment was a crucial element of survival. As such, many animals have evolved into having thick skin,yers of fat, or long fur. Sheep and their wool were an example; bears with their thick skin, and sea lions with their denseyers of fat. So what had humanity been doing all that time? Humans did not evolve themselves. They did not have thickyers of fat, skin, or fur. However, they did something horrible which only the terrible humans have done in the history of the universe, and that was making clothing. If we didnt have it, all we needed to do was take the wool from sheep and skin other animals to create clothing, right? Removing the skin of other animals and after getting rid of the blood and head, they tanned it to form clothes. That was the wicked and rightful deeds that only humans were allowed to do. And here we were, wearing the skin of another animal. Ugh So wet. Hold on. It was your idea in the first ce. But Both of us were inside the sheepskin that had been ripped out of the dead sheep. Like two people sharing a sleeping bag with holes for the arms and the legs, one of us was carrying the other, who had to stick as close as possible to avoid being a nuisance to the one walking. -Curse you! I wont forget you even in the afterlife! I curse you, damn humans! Looking at the deskinned head of the sheep that was discarded and buried in the snow made me feel like it was crying out a curse. Kyaak! T, the head! The head skin fell down! Its on my head like a hat! As if remorseful even after its death, the skin from the head of the sheep fell and pounced on Estelles head. Stop throwing your arms around! Itll keep your ears warm so thats even better! Arent you being too harsh just because its not you who has to go through this? Estelle was leaning on me inside the sheepskin. It was something that had to be done for both of us to escape the cold, but it was undeniable that it wasnt the most elegant of things. Ugh Are you okay? Junior? Fortunately, you are extremely light, Saintess, so that helps. Exactly. Im as light as a feather, right? Not that light, no. You should always say yes in a time like that, Junior. Otherwise, you wont be loved by thedies. Oh wow, I didnt know that. Thank you so much for letting me know. We shared a few banters without an end. Perhaps it was to keep ourselves sane in this excruciating weather and make sure the other person was still conscious, but it wasnt difficult because Princess Estelle was, objectively speaking, an easy person to talk to. It was to the point that one would wonder whether she really was the most nobledy of this continent or not. Arent you getting hungry? Do you want some melted snow? You can have that, Saintess, and give me some of the leftover blood. Ugh How do you drink that? Its to survive. And apparently, blood is not that bad to drink. Who says that? Someone richer than me. From time to time, Estelle handed over food from behind. They were mainly squirrel meat and frozen fruits, but with all things considered, they were a decent source of energy. Like that, we traversed across the Steel Archipgo. During the day, we dug a hole inside the snow and slept together while using the sheepskin as a nket, and followed the stars at night to travel further and further north. Sometimes, we almost got caught by the familiars who were searching for us, but we pretended to be a dead sheep that was half-buried in the snow to fool them. A bit, too close, arent we? Nothing new. R, right? It was when we started to get used to touching each others skin 24 hours a day. Saintess. Look I saw it. Estelle also widened her eyes after finding something down the snowy valley. Mages. They dont look like theyre looking for us. She muttered in a soft voice. At the bottom of the hill, a few mages were doing something alongside their familiars. Giant ice golems were carrying around rocks, and manifested spirits were digging the ground. There was even a chimera, but it seemed to be serving as a scout rather than as a part of the digging crew. Considering how heavy their bums are, it must be something pretty important for them to be here as a group. Are you going to attack them? I held myself back for a bit. I knew what they were doing there. They were the ones trying to excavate the remains of the Titans. Their goal was tobine as many actual bones as possible and cover the rest with artificial flesh and metal, and for that to happen, they needed to acquire as many remains as possible. The only issue was that I was in thepany of the powerless Estelle. It would have been a different story if I was alone, but defeating the excavators with Estelle hanging on my back wouldnt be easy. No. Lets move on. Theres no need to cause amotion. Right now, keeping you safe is my priority. Hmm Estelle let out a moody grunt. I was carrying her on my back so I couldnt see her face, but it wasnt hard to imagine the look on her face just by hearing her voice. The sun is starting to rise. We might draw their eyes if we go any further than this. Lets dig a hole around here. Digging holes was solely up to me. I wrapped her body with sheepskin and quickly dug a hole. Anything I can help you with? Just watch. What if you get frostbites? Estelle, without her sacred powers, was no different from a civilian. In other words, she had zero resistance to the cold unlike me, a knight. Besides, it wasnt like I was digging the hole with nothing but my bare hands. After covering my hands with some of the heat from iomh Sis, I continued increasing the size of the hole. Meanwhile, Estelle put the snow that melted during the process into a water bottle. The resulting snow was barely big enough for Estelle and I to lie down in. I could make it bigger, but making it bigger than this would just increase the risk of us being discovered by the pursuers. Lets go in. First off, I shoved the sheepskin inside the hole and went in first to create enough space inside. Estelle followed through afterward. She poked her face up through the hole towards my chest with an awkward smile on her face. These past few days, we were sleeping together in the sheepskin sleeping bag, but it seemed that she still wasnt fully used to it yet. Well, no matter what we did when we were awake, we would still probably give each other a tight hug in our sleep while desperately craving warmth. There was no room for embarrassment when we were close to losing our lives from the cold. Its all frozen and tough, but you should still have some of this. Okay. Do you want some too, Junior? Give me a small piece. Inside the snow cave where the only source of light was the faint ray of light seeping in from the entrance, we each held onto a piece of frozen meat with less than 10 centimeters between us. Ugh Its frozen and tough. Give it to me. I can warm it back up. I engraved a Rune of the Sun onto the meat that was handed over by Estelle. Kenaz was better when cooking meat, but that would likely create a fire. -Tchiiii! Themb slowly started to grizzle once the rune was carved into it. The ice around the meat melted into water as oil began to drip from it. I blew on it a few times before feeding her. Its hot so dont touch it. Just open your mouth. Ahh She seemed surprised even though she had already seen it quite a few times. Estelle appeared slightly embarrassed but before long, she opened her mouth like a baby bird getting fed by its mother. -Nom. Nom nom. A faint smile appeared on her lips as she chewed on the warm piece of meat. She was evidently in a slightly better mood after having some protein. This cold weather must have put a high toll on her stamina, and yet she was doing her best not to show it which was incredible. Its delicious. You should have some too, Junior. Yeah yeah. We enjoyed a small yet satisfying meal. Tonight, we will go all the way around the mages. Soon, we should be able to see a frozen path connecting to the Dingle Penins, and we will be set after crossing it. It wasnt me who hade up with this escape path. In the game, near the end of the Tower of Mages episode, all that was shared was that the mages ran away after discarding the Tower, but we managed to find the route they used in thest iteration. The mages of the Tower had gotten on a sled at the northern peak of Steel Archipgo and traveled to Dingle Penins down the frozen path. They were probably making the same preparations again in this iteration. Right as I was considering the details of tonights n, I found Estelle looking into my eyes. Even though it was dark all around us, I could still see that her usual smile was no longer on her face and that there was a rather indifferent look on it instead. Whats wrong? Nothing. I was just thinking how Im more of a nuisance than I thought. Now is not the time to feel guilty or down. Do you not regret it, Junior? You came all the way here and youre going through so much trouble just to save me. Nope. Of course not. Do you have any idea how important of a person you are? Why? Do you need a reason to save people? I replied. Umm Are you the type of person that feels satisfaction from that? Who wouldnt? Why would I feel bad after doing something good? Like, most people wouldnt put their lives on the line to do something good. If that was the majority, this world would have been a utopia. Thats true too. Something I realized recently was that I seemed to be on the fairly good side. Everyone, including Master, was so busy trying to praise me as a hero after all. But I have no regrets. Because I made the right decision. I slowly continued my sentence. I was aware of someone elses misfortune and had the power to resolve it. Thats why I did it. There were probably a lot of reasons not to. It was dangerous and difficult, and I could get hurt. If one thought about it, there were more reasons against doing something good than reasons for it. As long as theres one reason why you have to do something good, isnt that more than enough already? Wow Her eyes blinked in the darkness, like an ornithologist who found an extinct bird. I can tell if someone is telling the truth. Umm isnt it usually the other way around? Im not sure about lying, but a lot of people usually tell the truth and make authentic expressions in front of me. It must be because theyre afraid of the gods to tell a lie in front of the Saintess, she added with a bitter smile on her face. So I can tell when someone is being genuine with their words. Thanks to that, I can also somewhat tell if someone is lying or not. Really? That kind of sounds like, Whiches first; the chicken or the egg. I was just shocked that there could be such a genuine person in this world. As if she was sincerely impressed, Estelle muttered to herself in a whisper. Thats incredible. Seriously. Its not as great as you are making it out to be. No, it is. Its my first time seeing someone as incredible as you. You are embarrassing me now. Haa Every good man usually has a partner already though. Well There are two candidates. So you do have a goalkeeper, huh? Ehh? But having a goalkeeper doesnt mean I cant score, right? Estelle said with an adorable smile on her face. How can you say something like that as the saintess? Hmm? What did I say? Like, a goalkeeper and whatnot And what do you think that means? Kuhum She pushed her face even closer and said that with a bewitching smile on her face. As expected of sisters They were simr. Junior Korin. You are quite cute arent you~? Please! No more of that coquettish voice! Its not good for my heart! Dont wanna~. I dont wanna~. Your reactions are so cute~. She was more like a witch than a saintess at this point! Estelle continued teasing me a bit more before heaving a deep sigh. It would have been a lot different if I had recovered my sacred energy at the very least. Youre right. Back in the game, although Estelle herself was incredibly powerful, she was not someone who could be invited to the party. The only assistance you could get from her was through her temporary buff. Having that buff alone would have changed a lot of things already that was how overpowered she was. By the way, you said your sacred energy was sealed, right? Its already been 4 days since we ran away from the Tower though. Can you still not use it? Yeah. I can faintly feel it being recovered, but even that is being sucked out. That indeed was strange. From what I knew, Estelles sacred energy was the energy left behind by the gods, which she could gather and use at will as the one and only half-Danann left behind in this world. Even though it was a long time ago, she was still a descendant of Balor and Dagda, and the only one who had gone through the rare atavism to have a thicker concentration of the blood of the Titans and the King of Gods. I had no idea what the principle behind her loss of power was because both in the game and in thest iteration, her role was just that of a damsel in distress. They must have done something to me with the Holy Grail. But then, it wouldnt make sense that you got captured by the Tower Lord, right? They wouldnt have had the Holy Grail back then. Hnn? I had a proper fight against the Tower Lord. I lost because I ended up using all my sacred energy. Huh? Nn? That was strange. Was the Saintess power not sealed during the escort? Let me ask something. When was it, that you couldnt use your sacred energy? I was at the Tower when I woke up, and that was when I couldnt use it. In other words, they must have done something to Estelle after she arrived at the Tower of Mages. Formation Expert, Kang Ryun. He had forced Hua Ran to eat a piece of wood from a peach tree, which was detrimental to Jiangshis, to weaken her. Something simr could have been done to Estelle. But if they put it in her food, it didnt make sense that Estelle didnt notice it, and how was it that her powers were still weakened and sealed even though it had already been several days since we left the Tower? Oh right, Junior. I dont know why, but it feels like Im getting some warm sacred energy back after meeting you. Is this because of your Sun? The clues she was sharing were extremely hard for me to understand. How was the Tower of Mages sealing Estelles sacred energy? In fact, did the Tower even have the means to seal sacred energy? Wasnt that something that only the New Faith used when dealing with priests whomitted heavy crimes Ah. What is it? No. Its nothing. I came up with a hypothesis, but there was still the question of How. Besides, it was questionable whether saying it now in this situation would be correct or not. This would inevitably lead to a quarrel which could potentially create a crack between the two of us. In a situation where our life depended on every passing second, there was no time to quarrel with or persuade her. It would be better to tell her once everything is over. The fourth morning came to an end as the night slowly started to approach. We woke up from our sleep before it was time due to a suddenmotion outside. -Wararararaara! -S, stop them! Dont! Roars were followed by the sound of shing metal and screams. J, junior? Whats going on? Its a fight. Who are they fighting though? It was clear who one of them was they were the mages from the Tower that we witnessed at the bottom of the hill. The question, however, was the ones attacking those mages. Ugh Estelle anxiously shrunk her shoulders as the two of us instinctively killed the sound of our breath. !! It was a long, loud, and bloody battle. Who is it? An ally? No, but how and why would one of our allies make their way here? There were a series of questions but it was soon time to settle that line of thought. The battle seemed to be over, as something started to approach us from a distance. -Woof! Woof! Aoouuuh! A dog no, it was bigger than that; more like a wolf if anything. Did one of the mages have a wolf or a dog familiar? -Clomp! Clomp! Big. The sound of the footsteps wasnt that loud due to the snow, but I could tell from the sound of each of their steps that it wasnt a normal human. Besides -Clomp! Clomp! -Clomp! Clomp! It wasnt just one -Kung! What was that?! What was that sound?! I blocked her mouth but I was also flustered by that bizarre thud. How could such a sound be made in this field of snow? How big were they? Did they finish reviving the Titans? If not, how could With all my senses, I focused on what was going on outside the cave. Every sensor in my body was warning me of the iing danger. Did they find us? Otherwise, there would be no reason for them to climb this way after just fighting the mages -Woof! That same bark echoed once again. Junior. Look Without her having to say it, I was already looking at the entrance of the cave where her eyes were facing. - My eyes met with the beast that was poking its head into the cave. Clear blue eyes and a tall nose. Its huge and horrifying teeth were revealed with a smirk. That there was no dog. It was a wolf a Dire Wolf that resided in the Northern Kingdom at that. Fuu It saw us, didnt it? Yeah. -Kwaang! The snow caves ceiling crumbled as something snatched us from above. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 162: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (4) Chapter 162: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (4) Trantor: RainTL
Estelle Hadassa El Rath(4) The Steel Archipgo and the Dingle Penins, located at the very south of the Northern Kingdom, were not that far apart. Three days on foot was enough to cover the distance, and my original n was to look for a way to go back to our Kingdom after reaching the Dingle Penins. It all went ording to n. We crossed the ocean as previously nned. In fact, it only took us half a day. Guhahaha! The sled led by arge Dire Wolf was relentlessly speeding across the frozen ocean. Riding on the sled were us and the half-giants that were more than 3 meters tall, but the biggest eye-opener wasnt the sled or the half-giants but the beast at the head of the group. GUWOOOO! An enormous mammoth was marching north while trampling on the frozen ocean beneath. No matter how frozen it may be, it didnt make sense that the frozen ocean could hold on against this Blizzard Mammoth that weighed about 20 tonnes, but this Grade 1 demonic beast was like none other. Its gigantic feet were known to freeze everything including souls at least that was what it was known to do among the half-giants. Anything that touched the feet of a Blizzard Mammoth would freeze at a rapid speed. Seeing this reminded me of the huge monster wave that would happen in the Northern Kingdom in the future, where tens of Blizzard Mammoths would tread across the ocean to create an enormous bridge What was strange, however, were the things that the half-giants had put on the mammoth. They attacked the excavators of the Tower of Mages and stole the items they had been excavating in other words, the remains of the Titans, and quickly crossed the ocean. These half-giants were the ones that attacked the excavators. Why did they attack the Tower of Mages all of a sudden? In the original game, stories about the half-giants were revealed when following through the character scenario of Beazeker, who was a grade above the yer in the Academy. They were the descendants of the giants, the once-called Titans, that resided all across the Northern Kingdom. These half-human half-giantster appeared as vassals of Tates Valtazar. Not every half-giant was an enemy, but most of them wouldter turn out to be an enemy, but that didnt seem right, seeing as how they had attacked the excavators of the Tower of Mages Nnn That was when Estelle, who had been captured by the half-giants along with me, slowly opened her eyes. Junior? Did you have a good sleep? Where is this? I exined what happened, and the few things that I knew about the situation. Its somehow going ording to n though As long as we dont get killed by them, that is. Each and every half-giant was a monster that was at least at the level of a Grade 2 knight after turning into an adult. I would have fought them with my life on the line if they hadnt tried to capture us with normal ropes. But of course, if I wasted my energy by doing that, we would have been captured by the pursuers of the Tower of Mages anyway so that would have been pointless. Hmm This doesnt seem that bad actually, said Estelle. What do you mean? These people. I know what n theyre from. It didnt take long for me to understand what she meant by that. *** The biggest difference that separated the Xeruem, the Old Faith, from Zeon, the New Faith, was definitely in their treatment of demi-humans. Whether they be witches, vampires, or beastmen who were born a human, or those who had inherited it from their ancestors, humanity had been putting them in the same category as demonic beasts and demonic spirits for a very long time, and the religious order had been the one leading the discrimination. But after the Witchs Revolution and the reformation the birth of the New Faith gave birth to a different perspective on demi-humans. Although the Old Faith was still discriminatory against demi-humans, the New Faith had attempted to protect demi-humans and bring them back into society several times. The biggest evidence of that was Merkarva Academys admission of demi-humans. Hua Ran was the exception in my grade, and there were two representative examples from the grade above us. Vampire Marie Dunareff, and Beazeker the half-giant. Marie was from the Dunareff family, who werent afraid of anyone, so she was a different story, but what about Beazeker and Hua Ran? The reason they were admitted into the Academy despite having no connections and being faced with constant opposition was all thanks to Zeon, the New Faith especially the wholehearted support of Saintess Estelle. Look who it is! The Saintess of the Continentals! At the tip of Dingle Penins, inside therge tent, we came across the chieftain of the half-giants. Hello, Chief Kareem. Its been 3 years, has it? I believe that was when Beazeker was going to the Academy. The world perceived half-giants as a violent species that were closer to demonic beasts rather than demi-humans. However, Chief Kareem weed us like a gentleman and was much more respectful than I imagined. The warriors almost made a grave mistake! They must have mistook you as those bastards from that big tower. Chief Kareem was quite hospitable. Well, maybe that was natural considering how Estelle was like the chairman of a schrship foundation, while he was the parent of a student who was in the Academy thanks to that very schrship. I was in fact, kidnapped by the Tower, so it was thanks to them that we were able to cross the ocean with ease. Right, and is Beazeker doing okay at the Academy without making trouble? Of course. He is the highest-achieving student of the 3rd grade Knight Department, after all. Highest-achieving Does that mean hes the top? Pretty much. Guhahaha! Now thats my son! The Continentals arent bad but they cant bepared to us giants! I suddenly recalled a memory from the past. Beazeker, the top student of the Knight Department at the same grade as Marie. After getting closer to him, it was possible to visit Beazekers tribe with him. But there, the yer found out, alongside Beazeker, that the vige of the half-giants had been massacred and had to venture off to discover the culprit behind it. Titans revived by the Tower of Mages It wasnt just a random titan either it was Mata, the hundred-legged and four-headed giant. But this time, I attacked and destroyed theboratories of the ck mages, taking all four heads away from them, so Mata shouldnt be able to be resurrected this time around. Sir, since you are the father of Senior Beazeker, may I please talk about something? Hmm? Are you one of his juniors? Yes. He even said he would introduce Ms. Karin to me. Hoh Youre that close, huh? I wasnt lying because, in thest iteration, Beazeker did say he would introduce me to his younger sister, Karin. And saying that was one of the customs of the half-giant tribes, that he acknowledged me as a strong warrior. However, I turned down the offer because a half-giant reaching 2.5 meters in height didnt sound too appealing. Besides, I was almost with someone else back then. There is a question I would like to ask. A warrior acknowledged by my son certainly has the right to ask. May I please ask why the half-giants went across the ocean to attack the mages? Chief Kareem hesitantly held himself back from replying before throwing a nce at the Saintess. He seemed to greatly trust her for introducing his son to the Academy. You dide with the Saintess so Fine. They were disgracing our ancestors. Our ancestors fell asleep at the end of that glorious war and yet those bastards are digging their remains up to interrupt their eternal rest. I see. The Tower of Mages wasnt trying to fully revive the Titans. Their goal was to reinvent them through Alchemy and use them in wars like golems. Whatever their goal was, the half-giants must have considered them to be grave diggers stealing the remains of their ancestors. Ah I finally understood the full circumstances of Beazekers character scenario. These half-giants had probably been attacking the Tower of Mages on repeat, just like what happenedst evening. After the Tower of Mages incident, the mages of the Tower must have crossed to the Dingle Penins and massacred them for revenge. In other words, this tribe would have been destroyed by the Titans under the control of the mages if the storyline had progressed without a change. Half-giants, a connection with Estelle, and them worshiping the Titans as their ancestors Chief Kareem. For a long time, I had been thinking that Titans and giants were the true deities of this world that forged it into being. Junior Korin? Whenever I saw hints of their marvelous and supreme myths, my heart raced and I had been longing to go after their footsteps. Hoho. This young man sure knows his stuff! Kareem pped in admiration. And what about the great King of Titans, Balor? He was a true leader and a great warrior that would forever remain in the annals of history! Right! All the Continentals consider the history of us giants as a myth, but that doesnt seem to be the case for you. Of course not! He did exist. In fact, I saw the remains of Balor, the Great King of Titans with my very own eyes. What?! Kareem shot out of his seat after hearing what I said. He was among the taller ones of half-giants. He stood up with his height reaching 4 meters which instantly cast a shadow on the surroundings. I am not kidding. Those evil mages from the Tower! Those bastards! They were using the Eye of the Great King! Conducting evil experiments with it! It wasnt a lie, because there really was Balors eye in the Tower of Mages. These fucking mages! They disgrace not only the graves of our forefathers but even that of the King! This is unforgivable. The graves of the Titans must solely be under the protection and maintenance of their descendants, the giants. Of course! We must put a stop to their wicked ns! However, their numbers are many. And although they are naturally not as strong as you, giants, it is undeniable that they have a menacing force. What do you say we do? Lets join forces. Lets fight them together! Kareem immediately called for a tribal conference, with the topic being a full-fledged attack on the Tower of Mages and cooperation with the Southern Kingdom. Even though I used my tongue to give them a reason to fight, they werent instantly drawn into the idea of a full-fledged battle. I needed another promise to make the half-giants our ally. If you cooperate with the annihtion of those filthy bastards from the Tower, we will build a warehouse of potatoes for everyone who participates in the war! Considering the harsh environment of the Dingle Penins, arge-scale supply of food was always wee. Like that, after bing allies with the half-giants, we were able to return safely thanks to their help. Korin! Youre back! I knew you woulde back safely, my dear disciple! We were greatly received by ourrades. They appeared to have been very worried during the past few days. Huhu. Youd be surprised to hear about the awesome thing I aplished on the way back. Your safety is the most important, Mr. Korin. Same with the Saintess and Ms. Hua Ran. Huh? Why are you looking for Hua Ran? Heh? Huh? Wait, so where is Hua Ran? *** Saintess, this way please. Estelle moved to her tent following the guidance of a priest. Ohh, Saintess! Saintess, thank the Lord you were safe! She could feel the relief and joy in the voices of the soldiers and priests who weed her as she walked next to them. They were here to save her, so Estelle gave them a smile and a wave despite being exhausted. Where is His Holiness the Pope? He said he would see you after you have taken your well-deserved rest. I see. It probably didnt mean that the pope was here in person though; there was probably amunication device prepared for it. Estelle waved at the priest who guided her to her room and immediately headed to the bathtub. Although it was a preemptive one set inside a tent, it was made for nobles and members of the royal family and decorative rose petals were floating on top of the warm tub of water. Finally! Estelle hurriedly took off her clothes that had been drenched with the blood of sheep and water so that she could quickly clean herself after spending several days without a bath. In her hurry to take off her clothes, her rosary ended up crashing into the bathtub. Oops Despite being a Delinquent Saintess with questionable actions, she nheless quickly covered the rosary with her hands that represented the Lord. Even though it was just an essory, she was still a believer at the end of the day. Its made of gold so there shouldnt be any It was when she was observing the rosary that had just crashed into the bathtub that she discovered something strange a part of the rosary was dented, and revealed within that dent was a cold te of steel. There was no way that her rosary which should have been made of pure gold would change colors just from a bump. Paint? This couldnt be. All the ornaments and essories on her body were the best of the best that she had acquired with her own hands. What kind of crazy artisan would give the Saintess an essory of fake gold? Besides, the rosaries should have been made by craftsmen inside the order who poured molten gold into a mold but Was it switched by someone? But when? As a believer, she had never let go of her rosary so there was only one answer. It must have been when she was brought into the Tower of Mages, back when she was unconscious. But then why? Why would they switch the rosary to a fake one? In fact, what even was this rosary and what was it made for? Estelle arrived at the answer before long. Inquisition The Zeon Order had several conflicts with evil mages and the Xeruem Order. In order to seal the power of the heretic prisoners, the order developed a way to seal their power, but that was a secret only shared within the New Faith. In other words There was a traitor within the order. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 163: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (5) Chapter 163: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (5) Trantor: RainTL
Estelle Hadassa El Rath(5) Two weeks went by since the kingdoms military forces had been in the middle of a stalemate with the Tower of Mages. The navies retreated from the sudden tempest and a storm and stayed still for the next two weeks, and the mages of the Tower started feeling bored by it. Huaahm So when are these guys finally going to attack us? Thats what Im saying. Theyre such a scaredy-cat. I heard there were intruders in the Tower though Werent they all killed straight away? The lower-grade mages of the Tower werent even alerted that the Saintess had long escaped the Steel Archipgo. However, the higher-ups of the Tower of Mages didnt really care. There was enough sacred blood in their possession already, and the n to resurrect the Titans wasing to fruition. The resurrection ritual was going to be held in a weeks time, and from the looks of things, the border was looking like it would hold for another week. Although the Tower of Mages might fall, if they could cross the ocean with the revived Titans and their experiment records, and reach the Dingle Penins, they would be able to reach Tates Valtazar, the one behind everything, who was residing in the Northern Kingdom. The mages protecting the borders might be massacred by the royal navies but a loss of that level didnt mean much for them. Hmm I suppose I should tell the useful disciples about the n beforehand. It was when Elder yne of the Blue Cult was contemting on whom he should discard and whom he should save. Master! Master! What is it? The Kingdom! The Kingdoms ships are on their way towards us! Hmm Finally, huh. It seemed that the Kingdom was finally going to move their heavy asses after spending weeks doing nothing, distraught by the natural disasters. Prepare yourselves! Its time to show them our power! The might of our Tower! Even though they were all pawns that the higher-ups were willing to discard, the mages dispatched to the coastlines were undeniably powerful. Hundreds of the mages here could destroy enemy fleets with their spells, and the thousands of familiars under their control would devour those that somehownded on the shores. The Tower would eventually fall should the Kingdom decide to push on with numbers, but they would have to shed the blood of thousands if not tens of thousands in the process. Elder yne! We have spotted a flying beast in the sky! What? Wyverns shouldnt be able to fly in this weather though? Only a small number of flying beasts were able to fly around the Tower of Mages due to the severe weather around this area. Most of the flying beasts would freeze to death without having the energy to even p their wings. That was true for evenrge flying beasts like monster carriers, so the Kingdom hadnt been able to mobilize any flying monsters for this operation. Its not just any flying beast! Its a Hresvelgr!! Hresvelgr. An enormous flying beast that was famous for being used as a monster carrier in the South. That beautiful white eagle, unlike other monsters, was a descendant of a legendary heavenly beast. A monster of that level was probably one of the few that could persist within the chilly blizzard of the Steel Archipgo. Hoh~. Are they trying to drop a small number of elites behind us for a pincer attack? Tell those idiots from the Red Cult to shred that eagle to pieces. Theres probably only one or two so just shoot it down with numbers. M, Master. Hurry up and move. What are you doing? I, its not just one or two. Huh? Theres thirty in total. Of what? Wyverns? Hresvelgrs. ?????? Dont each of them cost 20,000 gold coins or something? -KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Thirty Hresvelgrs roared from the skies of the Steel Archipgo. Their mighty voice woke Elder yne up from his momentary stupor. Every Hresvelgr under the Dunareff Family, the Empire of the South, was called for the operation. The Purple Cult, in charge of chimera experiments, quickly sent up their mutant flying beasts but they were insignificant before the Hresvelgrs majesty. They struggled to keep their bnce from one flutter of the wings of the enormous monsters, and the giant eagle shredded the mutants with their beaks, ws, and their overwhelming weight. It was aplete defeat. After dealing with the cumbersome obstacles, the Hresvelgrsnded behind the defense line. What they momentarily forgot from their overwhelmingly destructive strength, was that Hresvelgrs did not specialize in battles. Their main job was to carry items and VIPs. They were the best methods of transport that could carry dozens of tonnes at once. Look! The Hresvelgrs are pouring out soldiers! The real fight was about to break out. Elder yne gazed at the enemy that suddenly appeared behind them and readied his men. Do not fret! Theres less than a thousand of them so W, wait! That uniform and that g Arent they the Arden Sword Squad? What are the swordsmen of the East doing all the way here? Look at them! Those mercenaries are the bastards that constantly raided ourbs! Warsky Mercenaries! Elite swordsmen under Lunia Arden, and the renowned Warsky Mercenaries that cost a fortune to hire. The former were the elites among elites that money couldnt even buy, while thetter were professional war veterans who ate up way too much money. Why are these monsters all here? T, that doesnt change anything! Wipe them out! Elder yne shouted from his guts. Things werent looking good. Their mages were supposed to focus their spells on stopping the navies at the front but a formidable enemy had suddenly appeared from behind! However, it was still doable. The mages here werent the only mages that the Tower had in possession. After sensing something strange, the Tower of Mages would send reinforcements and that strangebination of forces would be pincer-attacked to annihtion! Elder yne told himself that he simply needed to hold the line of defense until the reinforcements arrived. Huahn?! That was when someone let out a high-pitched voice. Who is that?! Whos letting out that strange moan?! Elder yne roared out in fury but what came in response were more of those strange moans. Hauht! Huaahn?! They were disgusting high-pitched moans, and hearing his men utter that disgraceful sound infuriated yne. These guys Uahk!? He was struck by sudden pain. His lower belly churned as his dder quivered like it was hit by a lightning strike. yne was surprised but the pain didntst long. Soon, his mana circled around his body and increased his magic resistance, but that was only possible for high-level mages like himself. All the mages of the shores except for the higher mages all cried out in pain exclusively the male ones. Uoohhhnng?! My belly, bellyyy! Mother! Huhh? W, whats going on? What is wrong with everyone? The ones who were flustered the most were the female mages who were made to hear those despicable moans that came from all around them. They were puzzled at the sight of the male mages crying out in pain as if their uteruses were contracting. Like, why were these people who dont even have a uterus crying out like a woman inbor? No one here knew none of them knew about the cursed seeds that had been scattered all around the Steel Archipgo by a small number of intruders. The horrifying curse that would make every man inside thends affected by the curse suffer the pain of childbirth when under attack. A high enough resistance to magic would nullify the curse and it was limited to areas that were the size of a small to medium city like the Steel Archipgo, but despite all things considered, this was still the curse of Macha, one of the three goddesses of war. This horrifying curse immediately rendered more than half of the mages that had been sent by the Tower useless. In turn, that meant that their familiars were also freed from the control of their owners. Uaahk! The chimeras are going crazy! Do something! Control your familiars again! A squadposed only of familiars like golems and chimeras becamepletely useless when half of the familiars started going on a rampage. Meanwhile, the troops that were dropped off by the Hresvelgrs Korin Guardians raided the mages. Look at them fall! Wipe them out! Kill the women! And the men, we! I mean, capture them alive! All of you will be like Chunsik! Do you hear that?! WAHAHAHAHA!! It was the beginning of the fall of the Tower of Mages. Although it was slightly more vulgar than how it went in thest iteration, it was still working out as nned. *** Kuooohng! Mommyyyyyy! The Tower of Mages was in utter confusion. All the male mages that were readying themselves to escape the Steel Archipgo suddenly started crumbling down onto the ground with intense pain. What?? In the middle of his search for the disappeared Saintess, the mages that were with him suddenly copsed, so Dun Scaith left them behind and returned to the Tower of Mages, only to find that there was nothing different in the Tower. Of course, it was unlikely that the mages that copsed from the intense stomachache under the blizzard would return alive, but that had nothing to do with Scaith. He quickly went to the 9th floor, looking for the Lord of the Tower. Adelene, the Great Mage of Gold, was peacefully gazing down at the uproar happening underneath from his office. Tower Lord~. What is going on? A strong curse. Its my first time seeing a curse this powerful. Curse? One that woulde out in the myths. There must be a limit, but that still renders half of our forces useless. It wasnt just half. Being a secluded organization that rejected outsiders, most of the work was done by familiars who were under the control of the mages. The great confusion that happened due to their rampage was certainly a lot more than a half. This marks the end of the Tower of Mages. Eing Thats too early though. The fall of the Tower of Mages itself was inevitable. Ever since they tried toy their hands on the oldest daughter of the Dunareff Family, they knew they wouldnt be able tost long. However, it was much earlier than expected. Adelene was expecting the Tower tost two more weeks at the very least and wasnt thinking that the defense line would break in less than a day. We still have the data we need for the Titans resurrection. All thats left now is the reproduction of the sacred blood That would have to wait until we get to the facility prepared by Sir Valtazar. What about the remains of the Titans? We have to take them. Might have to give up on some though. Dun Scaith did not ask, How? for that was a foolish question. With the help of his cauldron and infinite vitality, it was definitely possible to carry the Titans remains across. Hihi, then lets goo~. Master has most of the Titans bodies with him anyway~. After all, most of the ones here were only for research purposes that had been discovered from the surroundings. The two of them headed to the 8th floor, to the privateboratory of the Tower Lord. King of Titans, Balor. Next to the hanging evil eye of the giant were other remains of various other titans. Evil Eye of Balor. Leg of Mata. Right Arm of tha. Oil of Tethra. Rib of Cethlenn. Those were the remains of the Titans that had been brought into the Tower for research purposes, but they were still far from enough. Joints, flesh, and other organs. We are still short of 74% of the body. Hihihi! One second! Dun Scaith walked to the middle of the remains of the Titan bodies and stood up tall; into the magic circle that had been drawn beforehand by the master of Alchemy and the pinnacle of the Gold Cult, Adelene. And in his hands was Undry the Magic Cauldron, which was the true name of the Holy Grail that was considered to be a sacred artifact by both the New and the Old Faith. With Undry at the core, the flesh of tens of thousands of animals that made up Dun Scaith started to fill up the body of the enormous giant. Sitting in the control room which served as the brain of the Titan was Adelene. These bones arentpatible with one another, but I guess we have no other choice. Adelene used his profound magical abilities tobine the remains of the Titans with the chunk of flesh that was summoned by Undry. Before long -!! A gigantic Titan started to soar into the air from the middle of the Tower. T, Tower Lord? W, what is that thing?! Some of them recognized what it was but that wasnt the case for most of them, who were at the lower end of the hierarchy. Seeing the 20-meter-tall giant jump off the peak of the Tower was an appalling sight for them. Every mage shall hereby begin the process of scrapping the Tower of Mages. Those allocated beforehand are to follow the protocol. Adelene had no ns of escaping with all the mages of the Tower. This war was going to end in a year or two anyway, so he didnt even bother exining about the escape protocol to the lower mages. F, follow the protocol! Hurry up! E, excuse me, Professor Reina! What is this protocol? If you dont know what it is, just see what everyone is doing and copy them! Only a small number of them knew what to do as chaos enveloped the Tower of Mages. They were mainly higher-ranked mages that were positioned above the 5th floor, but because of the Curse of Macha, there were even fewer mages that were moving with a clear goal in mind. A fair few of them quickly noticed what was going on and moved themselves. They discarded the male mages that were rolling across the ground in pain and quickly chased after Balor the Titan. During that, they released several chimeras and magical creatures who would serve to hold back the Kingdom forces that were attacking the Tower. The resurrected King of Titans, Balor, headed north along with roughly 100 mages from the Tower. They nned to cross the frozen ocean and escape to the Dingle Penins, to be met by Valtazar. E, Elder Drerian! Where are you going!? To the forest! This is an emergency! I know there are all sorts of elixirs and herbs there but You have no idea how precious they are! There was even a Korean Ginseng from the East that costed us 10-years-worth of our budget! We must retrieve that at all costs! Ugh Hurry up. I dont think the Tower Lord would be willing to wait for you to finish. Just like that, one of the elders quickly left the group, but what they didnt know, was that the Prohibited Forest had long been wasted. That wasnt the end of their trouble. Arent those half-giants? Huh? Why are they there? I, is that a mammoth? It wasnt hard for them to reach the Dingle Penins across the ocean. The mages all had familiars that could help them with travel and were able to respond swiftly to most matters. Since most of them were medium or high-ranked mages, crossing the ocean itself didnt serve as a problem for any of them. The problem, however, approached them before they could fully cross the frozen ocean. On the shores of Dingle Penins, Balor and the mages found a group waiting for them. Everyone in that group ranged from 3 to 4 meters in height. On top of that, there was also that animal that those giants were stroking like a pet Blizzard Mammoth, a Grade 1 demonic beast of the North. Arent they the half-giants that were stubbornly harassing our excavators? Were they waiting for us? Hah, those idiots They were rambling about their ancestors being dishonored and whatever, and it seems that that will spell their downfall. The mages grinned while looking at the group of 50 half-giants that were blocking their path. Of course, half-giants were a menacing foe. They had high resistance to magic and were tougher than most knights. They were like a natural enemy to the mages, but not anymore. The King of Titans, Balor, had been brought back to life. To be exact, it was just a scrap of several Titans with the Evil Eye of Balor at the center, but its physical might was nothing to scoff at. Wipe them ou- It was then. Arge magic circle floated from the middle of the giants as a mage soared into the sky. A blonde-haired beauty carrying her characteristic whip. She was someone well-known among mages in fact, anyone who had gone to primary school would have at least seen her face once. G, Great Witch. Josephine ra Oh no. It was only then that they remembered that they werent at the Steel Archipgo. Although dimensional spells were restricted in the archipgo, they were already close to the Dingle Penins. Without the safehold, that was the archipgo, they had no option but to face a frontal battle against the Great Witch. S, someone! Stop the witch Before one of them could even finish their outburst, Josephine raised her whip. In an instant, an unbelievable phenomenon started to transform the world around them. I wasnt expecting I would use this again after the revolution 90 years ago. The sky opened. The white sky of clouds cracked open, revealing the dark void behind it. Dimensional Spell. The great witch who could freely make use of the dimension one who could go against the rightful regtions of this world. Meteor A disaster started to fall on them from the sky. Although it was called Meteor, it wasnt like she was actually summoning a meteorite. Usually, she would keep a piece of rock that was carved out of a mountain range inside her alternate dimension, elerate it, and throw it down through a gate when required for an absolute demonstration of might. What other name could you give to the rock that was more than 100 meters wide, if not the legendary meteor? The fall of that gigantic rock reminded the old mages of the Tower of a nightmare. Back when the Steel Archipgo the Tower of Mages shed head-on against the revolutionists without knowing anything about them. Two monstrous spearmen that could divide the heavens and a dimensional mage who could teleport them everywhere. Back then, when all the important facilities were crushed, leaving behind nothing but the Tower itself, the mages were shouting for revenge and fought to the death when the sky started to crack open. That spell which ignored all the theories they learned about magic showed the infinite possibility of dimensional magic, and atst, the Tower gave up after the disastrous meteorite, which inflicted more damage than what the two spearmen had done during the entire war. And that was why the Tower of Mages were frightful of the name, Josephine ra. But unfortunately for them, that legendary nightmare was being reenacted in front of their eyes. W, we are all going to be killed! Uaahk! Help me! Somebody. Do something!! As if responding to the cries of the mages, the Titan started to move. The eyelid was pushed up. The eye saw the light of the day, as mana started to pour out through it. The overwhelming supply of mana was overflowing out of the eye like tears. A radiant golden ball of energy started to gather before its eye. The Eye of Death that could destroy everything in existence, was what had killed the King of Gods, Nuada, during the war of Titans and the Danann. This mythological power was none other than the Evil Eye of Balor --!! The light that destroyed everything prated through the 100-meter-wide rock. When the Titan turned its head, the light continued up as it bisected the rock into two. It was such a powerful ray of light, that it separated even the clouds in the distant sky. The Great Witch calmly watched that happen. That spell was the strongest one in her arsenal, and the umtion of all her power, and yet there was not a single light of despair on her face. Student Korin. Looks like mine has failed. The situation calls for justice, friendship, and courage. Again with some nonsense Muttered Josephine as she clicked her tongue to his words. But what was incredible, was that Korin had been expecting her meteor spell to fail. The Evil Eye is down. It will take 5 minutes until its back up. Kranel, Yuel. Its on you now. As if he had been waiting for it, the knight called out the names of his two allied mages. Heeding his call was the Sage of the Forest, Yuel, and the elementary Golem Mage, Kranel. Alchemic Combination. Golem Formation. They threw dozens of Elemental Cores into the air, as the materials that had been stacked up on the Hresvelgr started tobine into one around the cores. That was thest reward of Golem Mage, Kranel Ludens character scenario quest. Grand Siege Golem Junk Golem The siege golem reaching 13 meters in height stood up on its two legs while disying its might, but there was more. Shell Reinforcement. Wicker Man. Branches and roots soared from the ground and surrounded the Junk Golem. Yuel, who had now be a Sage of the Forest, reinforced the Junk Golem and thus created the Master Form Junk Wooden Golem!! It was the two-legged golem made by the so-called Mecha Dream Pair of Heroic Legends of Arhan! This is not the end! Combine!! Kranel smirked before taking out the treasures he gained from Mag Mell, the Ind of Treasures. Danann of Smithing, Goibniu. Danann of Brasswork, Credne. Danann of Carpeting, Luchtaine. He took out the treasure left behind by the three Dananns, Maige Tuired Handicraft Set. It was one of the hidden pieces of Heroic Legends of Arhan, and whenbined with the cores! The Junk Wooden Golem started to gain size. Absorbing the surrounding environment, it used it to supplement its body and increased even more in size without an end. Supporting that were the Great Witch, the Sage, and the Golem Mage. An endless wave of mana crushed through the earth and pulled them inside to be one. Behold. That was the secret technique that the Danann craftsmen had created in order tobat the Titans. Added to that was the wisdom and knowledge of modern mages, which created a technological coboration. System All Green, You have Control Behold! The fruits of the earth havebined into one to call for new power! Be a star that sheds light upon the path! Umm, Kranel? Do you really have to say that? Tuning Combination! Dream Over Fusion! Golem is arrrttt!!!! Over Master Form Unlimited Union Nature Golem Wicker Warrior Go, Nature Golem Wicker Warrior! You can do it! Nature Golem Wicker Warrior!! You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 164: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (6) Chapter 164: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (6) Trantor: RainTL
Estelle Hadassa El Rath(6) The conditions for summoning the Over Master Form Nature Wicker Warrior were extremely tough to meet. Firstly, you needed toplete the character growth of Kranel Luden and Yuel the Druid. Secondly, one of them needed to acquire the Maige Tuired Handicraft Set from Mag Mell, the Ind of Treasures. Finishing the growth of two named characters was nothing easy to start off with, and the difficulty was further amplified by the fact that a party members acquisition of a treasure at Mag Mell was random. However, the final result matched its level of difficulty. -Kwang! Kwaang! The heavy golem hurled its fists to bash up Balor the King of Titans. -Kwang! Balor stumbled after being hit by the slow yet heavy punch but retaliated immediately. -Vuung! The titans fist sliced through the air andnded on the Wicker Warriors face with a fearsome force. The golems head turned to the side and it faltered, as stone fragments of its face crumbled down. 13% damage done to the face Knng! Kranel, are you okay? Not yet! Our soul! Our spirit will not waver just from this! Umm You mean, your soul, right? Dont drag me into this, Yuel added. In any case, Kranel was burning with a fiery spirit. Even though he was usually considered a gloomy nerd, he became passionate every time he got on his two-legged super golem. Go, Nature Wicker Warrior! The Wicker Warrior sprinted at Balor. Its fist, supported by the roots of Wicker Man, struck Balor on its face. Balor stumbled but fought back at a faster speed, and with more efficiency than the Wicker Warrior. The result was an all-out brawl. Neither of the two giants bothered to dodge and continued bashing the opponent like there was no tomorrow. -Kwang! Kwaang! -Kwagang! Kwang! Punch, crush, punch, crush, punch and crush. It truly was a battle of true men, and slowly but surely, the evil titan started to be pushed back. GUWOOOOO! Balor was the first one to retreat from that blood-boiling battle of punches. Balors fists had bones sticking out of its skin after striking the tough shell of the golem on repeat, and blood was dripping from the tears on its shoulders. Good! Lets push on just like!? That was when Kranel couldnt help but doubt his eyes. Balors shoulders, which were supposed to have been crushed, suddenly overflowed with snakes before transforming back into flesh! Regeneration, huh! The core of Balor, the King of Titans, was the Cauldron of Abundance, Undry. Due to that infinite source of vitality, the titan was able to regenerate its flesh in the blink of an eye. And regeneration wasnt the only tool in its kit. -Jiiiii! Along with a sharp noise, the Evil Eye of Balor shot aser at the Wicker Warrior from point nk. -Kwaaaang! Upon being hit by the ray of light from the front, the Wicker Warrior faltered and fell on its back. Kyaaaaak! Kuaaaahk! The fall of the Wicker Warrior was a disaster in itself. The ocean behind it erupted, creating a rainbow in its wake. Kugh A, are you okay? Its fine! This golem will not crumble that easily! No, Im asking about you, Kranel. Despite saying that, Kranel knew how dangerous that was. That attack just then had destroyed half of the Wicker Warriors armor. We have to deal with it before it can recharge its Evil Eye! Do you think Ill let you do that? As the Wicker Warrior tried to step back up, Balor picked up theyer of ice underneath it. The Great Mage of Gold immediately cast an alchemic spell that transformed the chunk of ice into a bullet and shot it. -Kwaaaaaang! The result was an enormous explosion. The pressure from the explosion created aftershocks as mes soared into the sky afterbusting all the air surrounding them. A cloud of dust crawled up from the ground. The two giants and a pit of mes surrounding them appeared like a scene marking the end of the world. Abination of Junk Golem and a Wicker Man, huh? An interesting approach but its too old-fashioned. Do you have any idea of how much we had to progress in our study of magic toplete this Balor? King of Titans, Balor. Using the old remains of that titan to resurrect it into this modern era was a miracle and a demonstration of cutting-edge technology made possible through thebination of golem studies, chimera studies, and alchemy. The amalgamation of two old-fashioned and outdated spells was definitely not going to be enough at the face of this progression of magic! Dont look down on us! Its not about how amazing or modern the spells are. What? Its about how deep the connection between the golem and the human is Thebination of their connection is the true progress that nothing could ever surpass! Utter nonsense! -Kung! Kung! Kung! Loud footsteps echoed from behind the thickyer of dust. Walking out from amidst the fog of dust was none other than the Wicker Warrior. Despite losing one of its arms from that explosion, the golem unhesitatingly pounced at Balor. Balor copsed onto the ground after a direct tackle from the golem that weighed several dozen tons, and that was when the golem followed through with a descending elbow drop. -Kung! Balor got ripped apart and parts of his body caved in, but that wasnt the end of the onught. The elbow, upon dropping on the titan, started to bend like the body of a bow before being opened right up. Posture/Bnce Control Form Check Magic Booster Form Check Target Tracking Radar On Natures Weapon Wooden Fist Equipped Forced Explosion of Elemental Core x 5 Unlimited Union, Wicker Warrior Elbow Rocket! Using the rampaging burst of mana as a boost, the upper arm of the golem shot forth. The fast and heavy Elbow Rocket of the golemnded straight on Balors face! GUWOOOO!! Balor fell back into the ocean along with a crack on his face. After making the golem stand on top of the titan who was powerlessly lying down in the middle of the ocean, Kranel shouted out loud. Yuel! Its time! Ugh You mean that? Although Yuel had trouble following through with Kranels excitement, she could immediately tell what he was referring to because they had been practicing it multiple times together. Instead of the control stick, she grabbed onto her oak staff and poured mana into it. -Jiiing! Click! nk! Nature Weapon 32. Opening theunching tube The chest of the Wicker Warrior flipped open, revealing dozens ofunching tubes from within. It was the super killer move that was made bybining Kranel and Korins ideal dreams into one! Super Killer Move!! Super Killer Move!! Do I have to say it? You have to shout out the name of the skill to increase the output by 50%! Korin said so! I dont think thats how it works. Yuel hesitated for a second or two, but they didnt have much time in their hands, so she decided to satisfy Kranels wish. Super Killer Move!! Breast Bomber. Her voice was crawling towards the end, but in any case, the name of the super killer move was atst unleashed onto the world Unlimited Union, Wicker Warrior Breast Bomber -Kwagagagang!! Elemental cannons were shot from the dozens ofunching tubes that were on the golems chest. It was a move that sacrificed a portion of the elemental cores that were powering up the golem, but its explosive power was spectacr. The direct hit to its body tore the titan apart! Nice! Did we do it?! But that was when one of Balors arms, which had been ripped out of its body from the explosion, tightened its grip around the Wicker Warriors ankle. Alchemic Spell Lighten -Grit! Suddenly, the Wicker Warrior started to fall down. Yuel let out a gasp, confused by the sudden turn of events. W, whats going on?! The right leg has been weakened! Theyre fighting back! The lightened leg of the Wicker Warrior couldnt support the weight of the body, and thus the fall! The two giants were in apletely different situation, with the titan now looking down on the golem. As long as Undry is at the core of the King of Titans, it will not matter how many wounds you inflict on its body. Proving Adelenes statement, the King of Titans was regenerating the flesh that had been bombarded by the Breast Bomber at a rapid speed. No matter how tough and powerful the Wicker Warrior was, there was a limit, and it seemed inevitable that it would soon kneel before the disy of infinite vitality. All ording to n. What? It was then. Adelene turned around after suddenly feeling a zing heat from behind. The sky was open, and descending from the center of the abyss on the other side of the dimensional crack was the Sun. So thats the Sun. That means that must be Korin Lork. The one who inherited the Divinity of the Sun. Sun Manifestation Descending onto the earth was the God of Sun with a spear in each of his hands. The mighty and oppressive Sun fell with nothing but a single gesture. -GOOHHH!! The Sun was incredibly heavy. Therge Sun, which had entered the Manifestation stage, weighed down on the King of Titans. KUWOOOO! Balor, the King of Titans, roared out loud. Although the Evil Eye was the only part of the kings body that persisted through the cold environment, it still responded to the reappearance of its rival from a thousand years ago. The Sun pressed down while the King of Titans retaliated the push. It appeared like a giant carrying arge on its shoulders. Dont be full of yourself. Did you forget that the King of Titans had killed the King of Gods during the war at Maige Tuired? The powerful Sun, which had overwhelmed Dun Scaith, the Kings subject, and had instantaneously cleansed Gerolge, the King of Undead, and his 1.2 million undead followers, was stopped by Balor. It was thanks to the special trait of Balor, the King of Titans. His resistance to all magic, which had allowed him to break through the ranks of the gods to murder the King of Gods, was exceptional. Even the Sun, iomh Sis, fell short of his magic resistance. Well, I figured that would happen. As if he had been expecting that all along, Korin went further down and jumped towards the flesh that had yet to fully regenerate. Red Spear, Gae Derg. He pierced forth with the red spear, as something iprehensible began to happen the moment his spear came into contact with Balors skin. It was but a simple stab that was all there was to it, and yet the flesh around the spear started to rupture and crumble at a rapid speed. What have you done? Gae Derg, the Red Spear one of the treasures of Manannan Mac Lir. The power of the spear was in nullifying all effects of magic. As such, the alchemic spell that wasposing the body of Balor returned to nothing as soon as it touched the spear. Havent even fully created the outer skin yet. Way too defenseless. Originally, it wouldnt have been this easy to have this much of an advantage. Even the red spear that nullified magic would be forced back if it was up against two or threeyered spells. But that wasnt the case here. Not only were they short of time, but the body was alsoposed of random tattered body parts of other titans, so it was much weaker than Balors original body. Balor would have resurrected in full without the assistance of Dun Scaith in the original storyline of the game, and hence would have been much stronger than now. Their shorings this time around, were all because they didnt have time. Look. I can see the core now. You! Korin said as he gazed at therge cauldron inside the great source of energy that acted as Balors core, Undry of Abundance. The moment he reached out trying to grab it, someone simrly reached out and held onto his wrist, stopping him from touching the cauldron. Peek-a-boo. Right. I was wondering where you were. Dun Scaith absorbed the flesh immediately after the interruption to the spell and transformed into a bull. You cant steal someone elses precious belongings! Whats mine is mine, and whats yours is also mine. Youre the viin; thats just how it works. Hihit! Holding onto Korins arm, Dun Scaith jumped out from inside the titan, andnded on the ground with the King of Titans behind him. Can you put the titan back into one piece? Dun Scaith asked. As long as you can hold that man off for the time being, I can do it once. Good good. Scaith lowered his waist and marched forward with his horns. It was the strongest attack of a bull, and one he had used several times to crush through everything in his path. Logically, the wiser move would be to dodge the attack but Korin showed no signs of avoiding the charge. Compression. Something strange started to happen. Therge Sun, which had been pressing down on Balor, started to flow somewhere like a river. The stream of mana from the Sun arrived at Korins left arm, which was radiantly gleaming in bright silver. Airgem Sun Compression The power of the enormous Sun waspressed into one arm. Carrying that infinite surge of power in his arm, Korin started to sprint forward to match the charge. Uhk! Thepressed form of the Sun was fast approaching Dun Scaith, who couldnt stop despite feeling his skin burning from the heat. He couldnt raise his waist back up, and his feet couldnt be stopped. He was already going too fast. As soon as he collided against the Sun, Dun Scaith foresaw his death. Their sh did not result in a thud or anything of that sort. Anticlimactically, his body dissipated like graphite before an eraser In fact, even graphite would havested longer than he did. Scaith somehow managed to twist his body at thest second, and was able to survive at the cost of his left brain, shoulder, heart, one of his lungs and legs. They were wiped clean as if they didnt exist in the first ce. KUHHKKK?! It was an overwhelming difference in might. Before the power of thepressed Sun, Dun Scaith was nothing more than graphite. Sorry but I stopped worrying about you the moment I acquired the Sun. You bastard! With a roar, Scaith moved his remaining arm. It was clear that Korin had used up too much mana to keep the Sun going. Even though his body was going to fall very soon, he decided to inflict as many wounds as possible so that he could defeat him after reviving through Undry. He reached out, but his arm was deflected by Korins Lan Na Zha. Scaith, with half of his body gone, was no match to Korin who was already under the buff of Shura and the Precepts. Uht?! And you just happen to be a beast as well. Dun Scaith has been affected by the Curse of Bestial Hunt. -350% additional damage will be inflicted. -Those under the curse cannot escape the hunting ground. -A mark has been engraved on the target. Your uracy has been increased with the Hunter Buff Korin swung his spear, which shredded through Dun Scaiths body all too easily. It started from his arm to his ankle, knees, stomach, and wrist. Spinning Heaven Turbulent Spear The red spear rotating dozens of times ransacked through his body. Even a little scratch left a critical injury on the body of the King of Beasts. Krrrrhk! In the end, Dun Scaith fell on his knees as the spearhead easily beheaded him. The head of the bull rolled down onto the ground, but that wasnt the end. Dun Scaith was the union of countless beasts. Even after death, he could gain a new body and be reborn through Undry, because his real identity was that of a group of beasts locked away inside the cauldron of Undry for eternity. Korin! Be careful! Kranel warned from inside the golem. While Korin was dealing with Dun Scaith, Balor had recovered its mana with the support of the mages and was in the middle of creating a beam of light with its Evil Eye. The Sun, iomh Sis, held an absolute advantage over Dun Scaith, the infinite union of beasts, but the opposite was true for Balor. Balor had the advantage over Korin, who had inherited the divinity of Nuada. That Evil Eye was the very attack which had killed the previous God of Sun. Ill try to stop it. Aftering to the judgment that it was already toote to dodge the attack, Korin unsealed all of his Aura Cores. essing Sebancias Aura Core, he directed the abundant flow of aura into his Silver Spear. The final demonic form of Sebancia Duke. This dragon-ying attack was one Korin hadnt been able to use until now, and it was a risky move that could leave detrimental damage to the Aura Core. He wasnt a fan of such gambles, but there was no other choice. Die. Heaven Falling on- Right when the mythological power was about to sh with the legendary attack, a nun wearing ck clothes started to descend from the sky with the fluttering wings of a crow. The nun gathered onto her leg a horrifying amount of aura that surpassed what even the legends were able to use, and from above Balors head Go away. -Kajik! She trampled on the titans head. -Kadudududuk!! It created a sound one wouldnt expect from the scene of a human stepping on the head of a titan it was a horrible sound of a skull being crushed all the way down. The flesh that had been quickly gathered to fill up the body of the titan was not from the original King of Titans, and was therefore unable to resist the Heavenly Yaksha trampling down with all her might. -Bang! Before long, the head exploded into pulps. Balors eyeball shot out of the erupted head like a cannonball and unfortunately for the mages, it dropped in the middle of them. Kuaahk! Huahk!? Mages were immediately crushed to death by the enormous eyeball. Seeing that, Adelene muttered from Balors neck while vomiting blood. Cough! You bitch! H, Hua Ran?! The sudden and unexpected appearance of the hidden trump card was a surprise to Korin let alone his enemies. Balor, however, was still alive. Even though its head was crushed and even though its eyeball was no longer a part of the body, the titan was still holding onto its shape. Korin didnt ask where Hua Ran had been until now. What was important was that they had to finish the titan off while Balor was at the weakest stage of its life. Kuaahkkakakkkk!! Flesh was bubbling out of the Holy Grail as Dun Scaith underwent the process of rebirth. Korin had to stop that, so he gave an order to Hua Ran. Hua Ran! Rip them to pieces! Okay. Without any hesitation, Hua Ran followed his order and jumped towards what was remaining of Balor. Large snakes without any scales and huge toads shooting out venom countless animals were around the cauldron protecting it, but Hua Ran ripped all of them apart. Hundreds of toads were crushed and hundreds of snakes were shredded to open up a path towards Undry. I, I, Ill kill you Noisy. Venomous serpents with terrifying fangs bit onto Hua Rans neck and arms, but the fangs were unable to pierce through her skin. Instead, their fangs ended up breaking after the attack. Atst, after massacring all the crawling beasts, Hua Ran carried the cauldron the source of all their lives and raised it into the air. Do you need this? Excellent work! Korin cheered at Hua Ran who shredded all the obstacles to pieces before he could even get to them, and raised a small sk towards Undry, which was about to pour out another thousand animals. Even if there is an infinite life inside it, what would happen if the bowl itself gets contaminated? T, that thing!! Dun Scaith shouted with a trembling voice upon instinctively realizing the identity of the poison inside that small sk. Anything with life couldnt help but notice what it was that was the strongest and the most wicked poison in the world that could destroy civilizations. Boiling Venom Lets end this once and for all!! N, NOOO! Using all of his energy, Dun Scaith tried to stop the venom but all the animals that left Undry were mercilessly ripped apart by Hua Ran. In the end, he couldnt do anything but watch the Boiling Venom fall into Undry. The sk shattered as the venom started to spread all across Undry. Hua Ran, that things dirty! Throw it away!! But make sure it doesnt go into the ocean!! As soon as Korin said that, Hua Ran tossed Undry towards the beach. The cauldron stopped after rolling across the sand several times, but the inside was very different. K, Kuaa, kukik! Kurrrk?! KAAAAAAAAAAHK! Kuraaaaaaaaaaaaa!! All sorts of beasts screamed out in pain as they crawled out of the cauldron. Thousands of them tried to force their way out. They ripped apart their skin and flesh, but could not escape from the poison that was putting them through an endless spiral of pain. N, NO AHKK! AAAGK! An enormous serpent tried to soar into the sky but fell, unable to reach heaven. Mas, ter With a pale countenance and nk eyes, the King of Beasts fell back down onto the ground. There were no more resurrections for the king. *** Its dangerous, Saintess. We must return to the camp! Im fine. Its only a bit, but I have recovered a small amount of sacred energy. Estelle left the dissuading priests and knights behind her and walked forward to watch the final battle of this long war. The well-ornamented golden rosary was no longer hanging on her neck. I have the duty to watch the fight of those who came here to help me. She thought she had the responsibility to watch the fight of the warriors who were putting their lives on the line, and the military which had been gathered to save her. Leaving the Tower of Mages and the archipgo which fell all too easily unlike her expectations, Estelle headed back to the Dingle Penins. On a Hresvelgr that was owned by the kingdom, Estelle watched the final battle unfold, and she, along with the priests and holy knights, all saw it. Sun Manifestation She saw the descent of the Sun its radiance, warmth, and magnificence. That truly was the Sun. It was the light that brightened up the world, gave life to the living, and chased out the darkness. But there was more to it in the eyes of the priests that prayed to the god T, thats The energy they could feel from the Sun was way too simr to the sacred energy they were given. Ahh Estelle unconsciously let out a mutter. She was the girl closer to the god than anyone else one who was connected to the god. And that allowed the girl who could feel the power of gods with her skin, to awaken the power lying dormant inside her. The Saintess, who could gather at will the divine energy that had been neglected after the era of gods, finally realized the truth. Not rationally or logically, but instinctively, she understood it. Lord. The god was in front of her. She couldnt help but think that. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 165: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (7) Chapter 165: Estelle Hadassa El Rath (7) Trantor: RainTL
Estelle Hadassa El Rath(7) The war against the Tower of Mages ended with a very one-sided victory. The Curse of Macha that fell on the entire archipgo with the budding seeds rendered all the male mages useless, and therge group of Hresvelgrs dropping off elite squads behind the enemy ranks allowed for a swift victory amid all the chaos. Finally, we also managed to capture all the mages that were trying to escape and defeated Adelene the Great Mage of Gold, and Dun Scaith, one of the Kings subjects. You have defeated two of the archnemesis of the world. Dun Scaith, Great Mage Adelene Difficulty: A++ Reward: Even distribution of 160 points -Aura Rank Increase {Low} -> {Very High} -Mana Rank Increase {High} -> {Very High} -You have obtained Ether Comprehension -You have obtained Battlefront g Bearer Huu The rewards for defeating Dun Scaith and Adelene were very sweet. Ether Comprehension -You gain an instinctive understanding of magic structures Battlefront g Bearer -You are the symbol of the battlefield. You are the brightest g bearer of every war and a central figure that must not fall. -You will be at the center of attention during a war. Your stats will change depending on your allys faith. -All your allies will be psychologically anxious if you fall. Both of them were passive skills that I had seen in the game. Ether Comprehension was a great skill for every mage and Mr. Park had it in thest iteration as well. It makes it easier to cast without a chant. That was the gist of the skill ording to him but would I have any use for it? Well, it would probablye in handy one day. Next on the list was Battlefront g Bearer which adjusted the yers stats depending on their reputation. The allied soldiers would have higher faith if the yer had a higher reputation level, which would result in higher stats, but the soldiers would fall easily if the yer were to fall during a battle. It might sound like a double-edged sword, but in truth, because wars heavily depended on the yer and the war would end in a loss if the yer fell anyway, there was practically no risk to it. I guess Im slowly starting to be a monster as well. As a reward for defeating Dun Scaith and Adelene, my Aura and Mana Ranks had gone up to Very High. Above this was going to be in the realm of Unique, which referred to the superhumans that far exceeded any ol regr human. The bare minimum of all the scenario boss characters was that they had to be at Unique Rank for something. Hua Ran with her Unique Aura Rank was an example, and so was Marie with her Unique Mana Rank. The All-powerful King of Beauty, Eochaid Bres had Unique Rank for both Aura and Mana, and the same went for Tates Valtazar. On top of that, Tates was a monster himself who had the buff from Precepts so the minimum threshold I had to reach was Unique Rank at both Aura and Mana just like him. Being at the Unique Rank for both Aura and Mana was at a level that far exceeded the realm of humans, and there had only been three such monsters to my knowledge. Final Boss, Tates Valtazar. King of Beauty, Eochaid Bres. Park Sihu. Radiant Light, Sun, and a Transcendent. Each and every one of them was a true monster that had reached those unprecedented realms. And I was about to set foot into a glimpse of that future In fact, I could even say that I was partially in it already. Well, higher stats arent going to be enough though. Right before the final war, Park Sihu should have definitely had higher stats than Tates Valtazar. Tates, with his Precepts undermined, would have most definitely been at a disadvantagepared to the yer. Despite that, Tates came out on top whereas Park Sihu lost the war. That contrasting result was evidently not in correspondence with their difference in stats. Korin! I finished sorting everything out! I was putting my thoughts together when Marie walked into my tent. How did it go? Un! We managed to bring all the captured mages over to our jurisdiction! Officially, they will be under my care though. Is that okay? Of course it is. How many were there again? 457! Quite a few of them died, but we still have 2 elders and 6 professors. Thats pretty good. The attack on the Tower of Mages this time around had been approved by the Kingdom for unlimited plunder. I stole all the herbs and elixirs that were being treasured by the Tower of Mages, and on the other side of the spectrum were human resources. Actually, in thest iteration, we even hired some workers to take all the items we could from the Tower of Mages but material possession? We had no need for that with Marie on our side. Giving up on chasing after artifacts and items, we focused on acquiring human resources during the war by collecting all the neutralized male mages of the Tower who were under the effect of the Curse of Macha. Hehehe. 457 mage ves huh? What a prize. Boiling stews for all of them is going to take too much time, so I think Ill just give them blood. That makes sense. The reason we even bothered to boil a stew with her blood when transforming them into ghouls in the first ce was to give them pain during the process, so there was no need to do that for 457 of them. But 457, huh? I was thinking how taxing it would be to produce all that blood, but that was when Marie said with flushed cheeks while twisting her body from embarrassment. So, Korin for the next few days, I think I need your help in producing fresh blood. Ah, right. Supplying that much blood for the mages was going to be extremely challenging for Marie, so that was definitely something I had to help with. As quickly as possible would be nice -Gulp! Although we had been doing it quite regrly, now that my rtionship with Marie was starting to progress a little bit, this bloodsucking action felt slightly different. When sucking blood Marie tended to press down hard with her chest, to the point that I could hear the sound of her heartbeat. That wasnt the end there was also the sheer amount of physical contact, and how she licked the wound after sucking on it hard. Uhh I do have some time now. S, shall we get started then? Looking back, Marie was never reserved when it came to sucking blood. Right when her sharp fangs were about to dig into my neck What are you doing? Huhp!? Hua Ran reached out with her hand, which Marie ended up biting instead of my neck. Uhkk! Marie frowned as if she had bit on a piece of rock but without paying any attention to that, Hua Ran nonchntly positioned herself between Marie and me. Hi Hua. Un. Now that Hua Ran was here, it was hard for us to do anything because it wasnt something I could show off to other people. It was a little bit embarrassing so I decided to change the topic. By the way, where have you been until now, Hua Ran? No one has seen you for quite a while, you know? I came out as well back then. By back then, did she mean back when we were pushed out of the magic circle by Dun Scaith? I was trying to find you, but couldnt. And it became noisy so I came. Was that how she joined during the fight against Balor? Looks like you were able to hide from the mages somehow. Un. I thought her only talent was in crushing and destroying everything, but surprisingly, it seemed that she was also talented in hiding herself. By the way, what brings you here? The Saintess wants to see you. Estelle? Was it something about the war? Or were they going to give me a prize for saving Estelle, the Princess, and Saintess? Standing up, I was about to head to the temporary tent where the Saintess was, but that was when a pink-haired beauty walked into mine. Hello, Junior. Estelle visited the tent with a happy smile on her face. The achievements made by the Korin Guardians in this war were, needless to say, spectacr. However, that didnt mean that it was politically a wise decision to meet one-on-one with the Saintess, the 1st Princess of this Kingdom and the psychological pir of the New Faith. It was rted to her safety, but also her prestige and status. However, Estelle shook off all the priests who were trying to dissuade her from a one-on-one conversation with me. Fufu. How does it feel to be the hero of this country? Its not something that monumental. Are you embarrassed? I like heroes though? Estelle had a bright smile on her face, endlessly pouring out goodwill. I suppose that was natural considering how we slept together under one nket. Kuhum! It might have seemed indecent, but it was all for survival, after all. You know how my sacred energy was sealed. I found the cause. Huh? Really? Estelle looked around before putting her hands together and closing her eyes. Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent, and who may live on your holy mountain? Live melessly, do what is righteous, and speak from your heart. Despise the eyes of the vile people. The moment she finished her prayer, a scared light began to wrap around the tent. Divine energy the so-called sacred power was not too different from the divine energy that resided in iomh Sis and Undry. That was because the true identity of sacred energy, was the energy of divinity that was left behind in this now god-lessnd. In the end, the sacred power and energy of all the religions in this world came from the divinity of the Danann. Not only was this difficult to prove, but it was also bound to create a lot of chaos so I wasnt going to reveal it to the public though. No one outside will be able to hear us now. What is this going to be about? First off let me start off with gratitude. Junior Korin, thank you so much for saving me. Her voice sounded a lot more warm and rxedpared to how she was in the Steel Archipgo. She must have regained herposure. I hope there are more rewards on the way. Fufu, dont worry. There will be a reward from the royal court, but as for the order it might take some time because it could get a little busy. Was something happening at the New Faith? To be fair, the Saintess was kidnapped so there were probably a lot of issues that had to be dealt with. Estelle was the psychological pir of the order and the true leader. In fact, her status as the Saintess was like a cheat code. The pope was elected by humans whereas the Saintess was chosen by god, and it was therefore obvious who the scale was leaning towards. It was only because Estelle herself wasnt interested in that side of things that Pope Sicarri Iscariot, the Defector, was able to have full control over the order before the final war andbine forces with the Old Faithter down the line. The defectors of the New Faith It was about time that I begun dealing with those who wanted the Advent of Paradise among the New Faith Theres a traitor within the order. Her voice suddenly turned cold as she dropped a glistening golden rosary on the desk. Whats this? An item that absorbs sacred energy its what the Inquisitors use when punishing priests. I see. I was curious how they managed to seal the sacred energy of the Saintess, but that exined things. This rosary was also touching my body at times, and that seemed to be why my mana or rather the divine energy of iomh Sis had been sucked out. Its going to get busy now. I have to return to the order and deal with all the rats. Hmm I pondered to myself for a bit. How much of the truth should I share, and would she believe me, even if I were to tell her the truth? Although she was like a delinquent as a believer, that didnt subtract from her faith and sincerity. As someone who had lived her entire life as the Saintess of the New Faith, it was highly unlikely for her to readily ept the truth. Therefore, I decided to say it in a roundabout way. Saintess. Nn? When youre carrying out your investigations, go through the cardinals as well. They must at least be at that level to take out an item like this for personal use. No, that cant be. It was a clear-cut refusal. Without her usual mischievous expression, she said while looking at me with an unwavering gaze. All the cardinals are faithful believers who have verified themselves with sacred energy. If they had evil thoughts in mind, they wouldnt have been able to be a cardinal, and any traitors would have been discovered already since cardinals need to regrly use their sacred energy. Unfortunately, she was firm in her belief that none of the current cardinals were like that, using sacred energy itself as the evidence. We couldnt start a religious debate about the origin of sacred energy. Having a discussion like that with a believer was going to be meaningless after all. Now, lets stop the serious talk there, Junior! Estelle pped once before continuing with a smile on her face. You know, we are a lot closer now, so should we talk casually now? Pardon? Werent you speaking casually the whole time? Calling me Saintess is too cold, isnt it? You can call me Noona from now on. Come on. Say it. Noona~. Come on, Korin-dongsaeng. No. I will be arrested for lese majesty.1ED Note: French for an offense viting the dignity of a ruler who represents a sovereign power. Its fine. You cant bring social status into the Academy. Thats the rule, right? She suddenly sat right next to me with a cheeky smile on her face. What the heck was wrong with her all of a sudden? By the way, you wanted a kiss after saving me, right? Uhh N, not in that kind of way. It was just something I blurted out because getting a kiss from a real princess is like a dream Ill give you a deep one so prepare yourself. What was with this sudden aggressiveness? She was gazing up into my eyes with a provocative smile on her face, and I just couldnt look straight into her eyes. At this rate I was going to fall into that mischievous pace! Excuse me? Can you look at me when Im talking? Like, you see. Umm What I meant was like how you would say, Knight Korin. I bestow upon you knighthood, tap the sword on my shoulders and make me kiss your ring Something like that, okay? I dont need one on my lips, and maybe my cheeks if anything Ehem! A soft finger blocked my mouth. After efficiently shutting my mouth, she brought her face closer to mine. Its your reward for saving me, Dongsaeng. -Gulp! When I returned a nod, she slowly got on myp. -Haa Her cheeks were flushed in deep red, and a warm breath reached my face along with her scent. It was sweet. Unlike Princess Mirus decadently sticky yet sweet fragrance, Estelle was sweet like a peach. If Miru was like honey that stuck on your body, Estelle was like a soft peach that would easily allow a bite. Khmm! I gave an empty cough, which slightly rolled up her sacred outfit that was touching my thighs. It barely even went up by 1 centimeter, but even that small exposure was nauseatingly erotic. Slowly, her lips came closer with their bright ambiance. Her body scent that I didnt have the time to take in back at the Steel Archipgo, despite our proximity due to being preupied with survival, was astonishingly provocative. As if she was embarrassed after a long-held eye contact, she turned her grass-colored eyes away with a deep blush. Close your eyes. Saying that, the Saintess also closed her own. When I closed my eyes to respond to her wish, I started to vividly feel our breathing closer, and our lips came together before long. Her lips felt very soft. Unlike my rough and blistered lips, Estelles were soft and fluffy. Our lips were starting to turn moist. Our lips separated for a bit, which was soon followed by something digging into my lips. It went past my teeth, mixed and intertwined with my tongue. Touching the roof of my mouth was something hard and wait, hard? Huh? Hehe. When I opened my eyes again, I found Estelle gazing down at me with a smile on her face. Her moist lips were already far away from my own, which meant that the thing inside my mouth was Estelle pulled her finger out and mischievously poked my nose with her thin, wet finger. Damn it. You naughty boy. Youre also a man, arent you? Were you thinking about something else? You were, right? Your face is so red! Do you want a mirror? Come on! Saintess, you I told you to call me Noona. How can I do that when there are rules in ce? In the order, Im thew and the rule. From today onwards, Korin-dongsaeng is to call me Estelle-noona! Bang! Bang! Bang! This is an abuse of power Regardless of myment, she squinted her eyes and closed the distance again. Leaning closely into my ears with her peach-colored lips which had been on mine just a while ago she ticked my ears with a whisper. Did you know? Unlike the Old Faith we allow marriage for priests and sisters. With a rather devilish smile that didnt suit her name as the Saintess, Estelle licked her lips. Lets continue with the rest after were even closer, okay? Korin-dongsaeng. Please stop teasing. Be careful with your words, Noona. *** Estelle could still vividly feel the lips that had been on hers, as she reflected on the memory from a few days ago. She was back at the order after dealing with the kidnapping incident. Fufu A warm red flush appeared on her cheeks since it was her first time. He was cute. At times, she looked back and thought to herself that maybe she could have given a bigger reward. However, the reason she couldnt do so back then was because her heart had been beating so fast that it almost exploded. That was after spending several days in the Steel Archipgo with her body right next to his. It was her first time being in physical contact with a male for that long, so she ended up being way too conscious of him. That should have been enough of a reward. Of course. Who is she? Shes the 1st Princess of the Kingdom and the one and only Saintess of the order, right? But of course, he had the right to receive a reward that big. Even apart from the oh-so-precious first kiss of the Saintess, he was going to be receiving a reward from both the Kingdom and the order. I guess I can see him again at the capital. She nned to return to the capital city before the end of the summer holidays, so she decided to see him again then. Saintess. Its time to see His Holiness the Pope. Alright. Before that, she had to deal with the rats within the order first. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server
  • 1 ED Note: French for an offense viting the dignity of a ruler who represents a sovereign power.
Chapter 166: Side Story - Park Sihu (1) Chapter 166: Side Story - Park Sihu (1) Trantor: RainTL
Side Story Park Sihu(1) This side story might, or might not be about a parallel universe. Fuck. I couldnt help but swear out loud. Haa It wasnt difficult toe to the conclusion that I had entered a game. Main yer Park Sihu. A system window the unique trait of a yer was right before my eyes and I confirmed that it was indeed working. There was the inventory box, crafting window, skills tab, quest guides, and a map, as well as the name of the yer. It was very clear that this was a world within the game, Heroic Legends of Arhan which I had been heavily obsessed with. Back in the day, I went around remembering everything about the game and used to be a famous veteran gamer in the forums, but that was a long time ago. Why was it, that I was now in the body of Park Sihu? My thoughts were running rampant to the point where I didnt even question the logic behind it. However, what I did know was that this world was going to be destroyed by Tates Valtazar and that only a select few would be able to survive by then. Whether I wanted to or not, I had to save the world. Fuck. Again, I couldnt help but swear at this stupid turn of events. I hated heroes. Whether it be novels or games, I hated seeing inefficient and annoying plot development of nosy people putting their lives on the line to save others. Fortunately, the genre of viinesses was on the rise so that was perfect, but it was really beyond me how people were able to read old-style fantasy novels. Thankfully, the main character, Park Sihu, of Heroic Legends of Arhan was far from being a cliche hero. To rify, this game had an exceptional level of freedom. The ending differed based on the good and evil actions of the yer, personally, I was fond of the anti-hero ending. It was a lot easier than the hero ending, and there were plenty of items you could gain during the game by going down that route. There was the issue that your rtionship with some good-natured NPCs could be ruined to the point they wouldnt enter your party, but the return was so big that it was still worth it. Alright. Were going the super efficient route. First off, I decided to get used to the system and acquire every hidden piece I could gain from the very beginning. Chairman Eriu gave a few short sentences at the entrance ceremony of Merkarva Academy. Erin Danua an NPC that teaches secret spells and hidden skills in the game. The strongest set of moves you could learn from her was the Six Ways of the Spear including Shura, but I had no ns of learning spearmanship. Not only was I not used to fighting with my own body, but it was just straight-up better to shoot spells from far away. It would be better for her to die early to ess the treasures though. Is there a way to somehow make her die a bit earlier? Thinking that, I opened the door of the bathroom when Kyaaak! What are you doing here?! Pervert! Ah fuck Damn it. I quickly walked out and headed to the other entrance. It felt like shit. Everything was fucked up. This stupid game, this Park Sihu body, and the system that forced me to save the world. Everything was disgusting. Im going to do everything the way I want to. Fuck the story. All I have to do is save the world at the end, right? Slow development I hate it. Fast plots are always the best, and Ill live for myself and myself only. Wait, you too? And that was when I met Korin Lork, a person from the same homnd who had been put under the same situation. *** Korin Lork. A useless trash and a side character of the game. Seeing him made me think, Wow. What an unlucky piece of shit to go into a side character. Well, I liked his face but there was a clear limit to his potential. DO YOU KNOW KIMCHI?! Im Korean. DO YOU KNOW PSY?! As I said, yes I do. DO YOU KNOW! Are you a boomer? Im not that old just yet. Korin said with a sulk. That did look a little cute but from the way he spoke, he seemed quite a bit older than me. Aiya~. I wasnt expecting to see someone from the same homnd. How old were you? I turned 26. Although I was actually a 22-year-old college student I lied about my age because Koreans had the tendency to look down on people younger than them. Oh yeah? Im a year older than you. Call me Big Bro. Damn it, I should have said 27. Big Bro my ass. Was he going to act bossy just because he was older? It was as clear as day what his personality was like just from that short conversation. By the way, Sihu. Have you yed this game before? You mean Heroic Legends of Arhan? No, I was about to y when I was suddenly forced into it Of course, I have. You will probably even know my name if I told you. However, there was no need to reveal my cards first, since I wasnt sure what kind of person he might be. If worse came to worst, he might be my enemy so I opted to give him as little information as possible. Okay. I am amazing at this game, so trust me. Ehew, alright alright. Oh right. Do you have the system window and stuff then? Yeah, well Wow damn. Im so jealous. From the looks of things, it seemed that he had entered the game without even a system window. That was obvious, I suppose because the system was a tool that supported the yer, not a side character like Korin Lork. I didnt like how he was acting all cocky just because he was older, but it didnt seem like a bad idea to carry around a minion with me. *** Korin Lork. A 27-year-old on Earth. He liked games just like an average man, but unexpectedly, he was more of an elite than I thought. From what he said, it seemed that he was from a famous athletic college in the capital, and had been working as a part-time personal trainer in a gym. Why were you working as a part-time trainer after graduating from a good uni? That stupid coach was getting lobbied and match-fixing. I told him off; he hated me for that andter chased me out of the team. What an idiot. He talked back to the coach even though it wasnt even himself that was disadvantaged by the match it was his junior. He was the biggest idiot I had ever seen. You said you were on the course to be a part of the national team. You went all the way down to a personal trainer, so do you not regret it? Huh? Of course not. His reply came out in the blink of an eye. I wasnt very knowledgeable in the field, but I still knew that being a representative of the country was nothing light and that it was much better than being a personal trainer at a local gym. If I didnt tell the coach back then, I probably would have earned more money and had gone to Brazil, but that doesnt mean anything. And why doesnt that mean anything? He would have benefited a lot more had he ignored that one event, and wouldnt have been forced to look at the belly fat of old women in the local gym or be sexually harassed all the time, so why was it that he could say that with such certainty in his voice? I stuck true to my conviction. And I think thats way more valuable So what if I didnt make it till the end? Im sure I would have regretted it to this date if I hadnt talked back to the coach back then My life isnt over yet, and I can start it all over again. Who says being a part of the national team would have been more valuable? Its up to me to decide the value. Conviction, justice, being right. Fucking idiot. None of those were anything but superficial. Despite my short time with him, I could tell that he was a man who was full of himself and whose brain was also infested with muscles. People who pretended to be good like him didnt tend tost long. All the pathetic guys that tried to get my number in college were all like that acting and pretending to be a nice person. They were bound to reveal their true selves in moments of danger. However, my impression of him slowly started to change over time. This guy he was the real deal. A bonafide idiot. Even on the mission board, instead of being efficient, he always prioritized the time-inefficient jobs about saving and helping the lower ss, and all of his ns for the future were difficult, round-about ways of saving people. Apparently, we were the only ones who could help out because we knew everything. A good-natured idiot. A foolishly nice person. Yes, I could admit that he had a good personality. But what about that? He was just an idiot that couldnt even look after himself. Well, it was still fine. He was a muscle-brain who spent all of his time training in the training rooms to raise a tiny bit of his pathetic stats, even though you could cover for all that with an elixir. Not to mention, he was a fool who thought of me as an ally just because we were from the same homnd, so he was easy to manipte. I could use him as a meat shield in the earlier stages of the game and then deal with him when the timees. *** Uhk! Damn it. I let my guard down. I thought I was well-prepared against Vampire Marie Dunareff, the boss of the 1st Arc but By killing Alicia Arden, I made Lunia Arden join our group earlier than scheduled, and rapidly nurtured Dorron Warsky and Kranel Luden. I acquired all the hidden pieces that could be acquired at the Academy in the early stages of the game including the Yellow Gold Mandrake. My current stats were on par with Marie Dunareffs before she turned into a vampire. Of course, it was still nowhere near the awakened Marie Dunareff, but she was still in panic mode and was just a bitch that ran away from the sorrow of turning into a vampire. It was possible to solo Marie in the game with a quarter of my current stats because all you had to do was suppress her for a little bit while she fought with her inner self. However, due to this being the first real fight, I made a mistake with my control and identally shot a spell at Kranels golem, destroying it in the process. It was because I was flustered after being wounded by one of the spells of the Blood Hound. To make things worse, another shard of ice destroyed my barrier and crushed the building behind me. A small mistake in the battle caused a gigantic mess. Ugh It hurts. Damn it. I waste in reacting with a defensive spell. I was pretty sure thest thing I saw was a massive chunk of ceramic falling on my head Fuck Fuck. Fuck With a sharp pain in my stomach, I was slowlying to myself and trying to see through theyer of dust with my hazy eyes when something started to drip onto my face. Uhht? It was a liquid smelling like rust. When I used light magic and saw what was ahead, I couldnt help but gasp. Hey, are you alright? Korin Lork. That man was covering for me, protecting me from the remains of the building. B, big Bro Korin-? Looks like youre fine. Ahk damn it this hurts like hell. Korin was in a terrible state. He was bleeding profusely from his head, and a Blood Spear that had been heading towards me was piercing through his stomach. Had he been slightly more unlucky, he would have died at once and was bleeding so much that he might die soon. Why? Hmm? Exhaustedly blinking his eyes, he returned a question in response to my question. For some reason, I was incredibly annoyed by that clueless look on his face. You have nothing to do with me. Why would you They say Even a slight touch of sleeves creates a destiny, so thats not true Fuck. You know thats not what I mean! Ahh, Buddy. My head hurts. Please dont yell He frowned as if it was extremely painful, so I forced my volume back down. Well I could hear the sound of people creating a fuss outside but all of my attention was on Korin and Korin alone. Why do I need a reason to help you? What? Reasons You dont need any of that. I just like happy endings. Pebbles and dust fell as the broken debris of the building started to be lifted from outside. He, who was drenched in blood and dust, slowly continued his statement. Its good if everyone is happy, right? People dying is not nice. You, uhkk! Big Bro? Wake up! You cant fall asleep! You might die! He woke up and looked back at me only after a few ps. He looked straight into me with his eyes that were dreamy and hazy yet within them was the strongest willpower in the world. You have to be happy You cant die in a ce like this Korin said while gazing straight into my eyes. Y, you retard. Idiot. Stupid fool! I couldnt believe how much of a fool he was. How could there be such a stupid person in this world? How could he put his life on the line for such a stupid reason? How could he do that? How was he able to do that like it was nothing? Big Bro No. Oppa. That was probably when the yer, Park Sihu or Park Sirin from Earth fell in love with this stupid idiot. *** For a very long time, Korin Oppa stayed in the hospital. It was partially because of the severity of the injury, but it was also because of his physical limitations as a feeble side character. Dumbass all that practice with his spear wasnt getting him anywhere. Marie Dunareff, the perpetrator of this incident, was unable to be found despite the professors and security team being dispatched out on a search. It was clear that she had run away somewhere, but they had trouble finding her traces. However, I had a rough idea of where she would be, and finding her would be easy with the help of Yuel the Druid. For the next month, I focused on making myself stronger and was already much stronger than the likes of Grade 1 mages. On the other hand, that bitch hadnt been able to suck human blood so she must have gotten even weaker. This way. I arrived at a corner of the Hunting Grounds with the help of Yuel, who was loved by spirits. There, I found Marie Dunareff who was surviving off of the blood of demonic beasts. Fucking bitch. Look at you enjoying your life after almost killing two people. U, uhh The vampire shed tears of blood with her fangs deep inside the neck of a demonic beast, but I knew those were crocodile tears. She was the one who hurt my Korin Oppa. How is Korin? Hearing her say that, I remembered the days of the past. She was a 2nd-year senior who was equally generous to everyone, but I could vividly recall her throwing more nces at Korin Oppa. You too, huh? It was only for a short moment, but I was able to notice her nces as another woman just like her. This bitch had feelings for Korin Oppa. Know your ce, you damn NPC. He is mine the one and only real one in this fake world. Hes not someone NPCs like you can even dare think about approaching. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 167: Side Story - Park Sihu (2) Chapter 167: Side Story - Park Sihu (2) Trantor: RainTL
Side Story Park Sihu(2) Fuck. Sihu or rather, Sirin, was experiencing some stressful stomachaches these days, why you may ask? The reason was none other than her first love. Wow, Mielle, your cake looks amazing. Let me try one. Nn? Sure. Thanks for saying that. Here you go~. Ill give you one more. Awesome. Not only is the cake delicious, but youre also incredibly nice, it looks like! Oh please. Stop with the ttery! Fufu. Fuck. Senior Riel. Where are you going with all that stuff? Huh? Oh, Im in the middle of carrying materials to theboratory. How are you going to carry that all the way there as a frail mage? Give me half. Oh, thank you. If you really are grateful you can just treat me to a meal as thanks. Are you hitting on me right now? Ehng? My mind is as pure as snow. Do you want to open it up for a look? Hahaha! Youre funny~. Lets decide on a dateter. Ill take you out to the town. Lucky~ Fuck. Oh~ Professor Deina! Are you still eating some patches of grass? Uhk You cant tease professors, okay? You have no idea how much Im struggling after the King of Iron Mountain incident I got some sandwiches from Senior Elza. Would you like some? I will. Thanks as always. And this isnt just some random grass. Im taking herbs to cook at home. Hoh, so you were having something good the whole time. Can you share it? I, if youe over to my ce then I guess I can give you some. *** Knight Ahjussi~. Do you want to drop by and see Navi? Sure. Is Navi being good these days? Yes! He never goes near the sewers anymore! Of course, he shouldnt. By the way, Lady Anna? Miss Anna McMin? Didnt I tell you to call me Oppa and not Ahjussi? Korin Ahjussi! Sob sob! Call me oppa just once, and this oppa will buy you one of those popr marinated chickens. You see, Im a very close friend of Boss Yoon. Hmm~, when I be an adult! Do I need to wait 10 years to be called oppa? Can I call you Honey when that timees? My parents said thats what you use after getting married! Thats one hefty n you have in mind Am I not allowed to have a girlfriend then? You cannot! If you do, Ill call you ahjussi your entire life! What the fuck is with this guy. Korin Lork the man that I fell for, had an ingenious talent at something. He was a genius at hitting on girls. After just sharing a few words with him, for some reason, all the girls started to harbor good feelings towards him. Honestly, it wasnt like I couldnt understand it as a girl myself. His face was beyond decent, and his personality was well-known across the campus for being great regardless of who he was talking to. On top of that, his manner of speech was also special each and every one of his words put the other person in a good mood. What was even more difficult to understand, however, was Hey, Professor Deina gave me some food. Do you want some? It tastes like something I had back on Earth. Senior Jenna wanted to grab a meal for dinner. Do you want toe together? A while ago, I went to watch a y with Ms. Juri and it was fun. I was kind of looking down on it because its like the Middle Ages right now, but damn, theyre using magic for special effects and stuff, and its incredible. Huh? Nah, dude. Haha, what are you saying? Were just friends. Ive never dated anyone before, so dont you go around teasing me like that. Ah~, but I do miss Younghee-noona. She used to invite me for breakfast every day for a sandwich. I miss those. I wonder what Hanbyul is doing. Oh right, she used to do Personal Training like me, and was such a nice girl. She gave me a free massage and even brought my lunch when I told her I was starting to get sick of chicken breasts. She was such a hard worker as well. Hnn? Why do I know so much about desserts? Have I not mentioned this before? You know, Seyoung? She was the one that had to be match-fixed because of the coach. We became friends after that and went around the city together. She was always so apologetic that I had to tell her it was fine every time. This guy. Hes clueless. It was extremely surprising, but he didnt have a single ulterior motive. Because he kept flirting without any ulterior motives, the girls epted his approachfortably, which naturally escted to them having feelings for him. In fact, listening to his stories, it seemed that even guys were into him, but he was under the impression that they were his best friends. What kind of normal male would ask their male friend to go to Hokkaido for hot springs and go to a gay bar together? Korin himself seemed to be thinking that his friend identally stumbled upon the bar because he was too drunk, but that certainly didnt sound like it. Even though he went down the route of all-boys middle school, all-boys high school, physical education college, and the military, which should have close to zero rtions to females, there were so many females around him that it was insane. And yet he was saying he had never dated anyone let alone gotten close to it, which must be the proof of his horrifying denseness. Haa After dropping some sweat in the training room, I went into the sauna and sighed after seeing my muscr body. There was no longer a single leftover trace of the top celebrity of Yonseis Maths Department, Park Sirin. Back on Earth, I was a popr female college student. The future ahead of me was bright, and there were a bunch of mening after me. And yet now, I was forced to physically train myself with a guy who used to be a Personal Trainer at a gym. I wanted to decline, saying that mages had no use for muscles, but there was no other way around it in order to be next to Oppa, who swung his spear the entire day at the training room. Besides, this guy was bound to attract girls if he was left to his own devices, and I had to avoid him ending up with a woman from this world. Because Oppa has to go back to Earth with me. He was already a very affectionate person, so there would be no hope if he ended up with a fake woman from this world and created a family. Phew~. These saunas feel amazing~. As expected of a Korean game. Until then I had to make sure this guy wouldnt turn somewhere else. Stop saying that all the time. You sound like an old man. I am an old man if you think about it. Im over 40 years old if you add my current age with how old I was back on Earth. Why would you even add those up? It seemed that these days, he was having an identity crisis as Korin Lork. I tried to make him think of himself as a different persona than the one in this world, but he was such an optimistic and non-cynical person that it was hard to do so. Huu~. I cant even bulk up anymore. Is this the limit? Well you look great already. Haa Look at that lineing down from his corbone to the chest and those abs Just look at those muscles. Haa How can a guy be so handsome? No wonder these bitches are constantly after him. By the way, Sihu, you have all these muscles but your face hasnt changed a single bit. Its the yable character so theres no way my face would change that easily. Although I had a six-pack thanks to Oppa, my face was still leaning more towards the beautiful side of the spectrum. It was thanks to Park Sihu being a rather femininely handsome character in the game. Sihu. N, nn? His face came closer in the blink of an eye. Damn it My heart started to race the moment he closed the distance. Calm down, my heart Calm down You know how theres an event at the start of the 3rd year. Theres more than one or two so I have no idea what you mean. The cross-dressing one. How about you try that? Ah, like Come on! Whats wrong? The rewards from that are pretty good, arent they? Besides, I can assure you it will work out with your face. Shut your nonsense. Theres no way guys can look like girls. No, like trust me. Youre really pretty, okay? Your eyes are big and you have a beautiful jawline. Honestly, I swear people will mistake you for a girl if you wear a skirt. Really? This wasnt my real face it was just the face of Park Sihu from the game. On top of that, I was a guy and yet it felt great when Oppa was giving mepliments about my appearance. Haa this is bad. Haa. If you are the one dressing me up, bro, then Ill think about it. Ohh~. Good stuff. Ill get you everything starting from a hat to tights. Whatever. Do you have time tonight? I happened to get 2 meal tickets for Holy Panda Ah, not today. One of our juniors called Yuna said there was something to consult about. She said shell buy me a meal. Hah, fuck. Why are you swearing? Haah What was fortunate was that this oppa was unaware of everything despite being one hell of a yer. I had been doing a great job stopping everyone until now, and there was only 1 year left. By then, everything would be over the final war as well as the main scenario. *** Shoot me down~ I wont fall! I am Titanium~~! The only downside to Oppa was that he tended to sing when drunk. It was rare for him to get this drunk but today, he drank without an end and this was the result. Ah, please. Can you stop singing? Are you trying to make an announcement to the city or what? We couldnt head back to the Academy in this state. I carried him by the shoulder, thinking that we should head to a nearby motel but that was when he flopped onto the ground. Im Im, so fucking sorry Oppa mumbled while shedding drops of tears for some reason. It was hard to tell what he was apologizing for. Marie Hua Ran Kranel, Yuel Fuck fuck. Fuck all this shit Whenever he was drunk, he recalled the people he couldnt save and wept. He was such an idiot though. Who cares about those NPCs? Fuck, fuck Fckkk! Why did that fucking dam! Why Why did it explode for no goddamn reason?! Ah, so today it was about Roteon River, huh? It was me who did that though. It cant be helped. No one knew that would happen. We we lost way too many people, Sihu Fuck What the fuck have I been doing? I fucking knew everything I I knew everything and yet We had been together for a very long time, but it was really difficult to understand what was going on in his mind. Why did he grieve for those fakes? Werent they just NPCs of a game? Why did he want to treat them like humans so badly? All he needed to do was look at me. We were the only real ones in this world after all. How is that your fault, bro? Its all because of Tates Valtazar and his vassals. You at least killed Fermack that fucker, right? Yeah. Fuck. I, I killed him. That son of a bitch. That mother fucker who killed Kranel Theres still a lot who we need to kill. Its going to be the demi-human vige episode soon; we need to rip those wolf siblings and Dun Scaith. You and I can do this Bro. Its not enough Maybe not you but Im too weak. I, I need to be stronger Oppas achievements were remarkable, to say the least. Unlike me, who had all the systems and the hidden pieces for myself, Oppa had nothing but a spear. I fed him all the good elixirs and tried my best to help him grow, but there was a clear limit for the feeble side character, Korin Lork. In fact, it was shocking that he was able to reach this far despite those restraints. Although I wasnt an expert at martial arts, I could still tell how much time he must have spent when looking at his maniption of the spear and footwork. Haa I knew of a way that would let Oppa be stronger. All I had to do was introduce him to her. Being an innate master of heroes that woman would probably help Oppa grow to new heights, but the only problem was What if Erin Danua also falls for him? It was a concern that this innate yer might even make his master develop a crush on him. Korin Lork hitting on girls was a very natural and inevitable turn of events. The important thing was to make sure the womens favorable impressions were never portrayed to Korin by making it so that the party wasposed of only men. Another important thing was to ensure Korin Lork wouldnt find out he was popr. In that sense, Park Sihu or rather Park Sirin did a fantastic job with her defense. She had been able to stop all sorts of approaches for two straight years, after all. Love letters? She ripped them apart before they reached him. The party? She even chased out Lunia, an incredible addition to the party, and filled it with men. In terms of actual personal interactions in the Academy, that was actually the easiest to prevent out of them all. Korin was always busy training in the training rooms, and Sirin took him out for a mission whenever he was free. Unable to ry their feelings to Korin, the girls naturally couldnt help but give up. Saintess that bitch was a bit of a nuisance though. Saintess Estelle Hadassa El Rath. She was a very powerful supporter even in the game, and her prayers were remarkable as a buff. Her prayers were essential to clear the scenario so Sirin couldnt get rid of her either. But still, she found a way. It was by putting the New Faith in utter confusion, by fueling Pope Sicarii Iscariots charge for heresy. It was an incredible incident that involved not only the pope but also 12 out of the 18 cardinals. The long fight between the high priests of the order, who denied their charges, and the Saintess was bound tost all the way till the final battle. Even though it was a shame that her buff wouldnt be avable until then, it didnt really matter as long as they could get a buff for the final war against Tates Valtazar. Sihu With a serious look on his face, Korin said to Sirin, who boasted of an insane defense rate that even managed to fend him off from the most cumbersome woman. Whats wrong? Is it something big? Do you want to chat at Holy Panda? I got a kid. What? Aiya~ you see. Like its a bit funny to say it because its with a boss character, but I became close with Princess Miru at the royal banquet. But anyway, Im a daddy now! Nows the time for your best wishes! Sihu? You freaking mother fucker. ??? You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 168: Side Story - Park Sihu (3) Chapter 168: Side Story - Park Sihu (3) Trantor: RainTL
Side Story Park Sihu(3) The royal pce stayed bright even in the darkest of nights. Magicmps were brightening up the entire area around the enormous pce, with the royal knights and security patrolling the pce at all times. There was a whole bunch of knights and yet each of them was also among the top of Heroic Legends of Arhan. Most high-ranked guardians would be cut off at the entrance. However, that didnt mean anything to me. Using shadow magic, I melted into the shadows all around the pce and easily disarmed the rms. When I was close enough, I stopped the time, which was on the same level as the Domain for knights, and went deeper into the pce. When I arrived at the inner court of the 2nd Princess, I found, lying down on the bed, a red witch. Miruam Elizabeth El Rath. The 2nd Princess of the kingdom and Valtazars coborator. A bitch with a fucked up leg who dared to snatch whats mine. Who?! The moment she was about to say something, I grabbed her by the neck and pressed her down onto the bed. Although I was a mage, I was stronger than most average knights after consuming all sorts of treasures and elixirs. Kuhk! Ignoring her distorted cry, I looked at her stomach which was bulging out a little. So thats where -Hissss! The evil hiss of a serpent echoed from behind as it rammed in with its head. I naturally had my shield on, but the venomous fangs of the serpent even managed to melt my barrier. Tch, already huh. I sliced apart the head of the snake with Wind Cutter. The venomous blood sttered on the ground and melted it but it was far from reaching me. -Hiss! -Hiss! There were snakes all around the room which reminded me of Dun Scaith. She was able to create serpents like this already, which probably meant she was close to perfecting Midgardsormr. I knew she had contacted the Frost Giants of the North but she was much stronger than expected. You have a lot prepared. Of course, I would when weing the hero of the kingdom. She knew that I wasing. How long do you think you canst with these toys? Itll take me less than 10 minutes to kill you. There would be not a single proof left behind. In fact, I could remove the entire pce and me Valtazar for it. Even though that might interfere with the main scenario in the future, it would work out somehow if I throned the saintess. My priority right now was to kill that serpent of a bitch. I made sure a letter would be sent to Sir Korin if I die. You will not be able to kill me. She wasnt lying. Judging from how she had been preparing herself for me and considering the meticulous personality of this witch, it certainly was possible. That wasnt good. I had to hide it until we cleared the game I couldnt let him find out about this. I knew something was strange with your eyes when looking at Sir Korin. I wasnt expecting you to be so explicit about it though? You dont know anything. Do you think I wanted to be in this body? How did you do it? A little drug and a mood? You damn slut. A hero of the kingdom and a virgin princess. Its a good trade-off, isnt it? But I wasnt expecting to bear a child in one go either. She said while caressing her stomach as if showing off. This crazy bitch Honey might be foolish, but hes responsible. Do you think hell be able to antagonize me now? She was talking as if it was all based on a cold-hearted and rational calction, but I could see her face blushing when talking about Oppa. I did know about the strange light of affection this bitch had when looking at Oppa, but I wasnt expecting a boss character of the other faction to do such a thing Do you really think you can be loved by him? I asked. I already knew what she was going to do down the line. She was going to be discarded by Oppa since he was an irritatingly generous and kind-hearted person. I know, she replied. He is a dazzling person who cant possibly stand on the same line as pathetic ones like us. Dont sneak me into the equation you damn serpent. I have been hiding it well, so if I return to Earth just like this Do you really think youre hiding it still? Jaeger Hinzpeter, and Lark Buhgman. Oh yeah~, are you hiding Marie Dunareff well? How did this limp bitch You saw it. There was only one possible exnation. Since she was Valtazars coborator, if she had borrowed Lia Fail to pioneer her own destiny there was a chance that she saw what it was that I was hiding. But then why didnt she reveal it to the South? Do you think I wont tell the truth to Marde Dunareff? If I told them this, you would be turning the entire South into your enemy. As frustrating as it was, it was the undeniable truth. Even though it wasnt revealed in the game, Marie Dunareff that mosquito bitch was pretty much a princess of the South. They were so powerful, that I always had trouble regting the information so that Oppa wouldnt find out about it. It would be tedious if the Dunareff became an enemy. At the very least, I had to keep it a secret until the South turned into a barren wastnd by Dun Scaiths venom. Lets make a deal. I knew you would say that, Sir Park Sihu. I wanted to rip that mouth and shred her to pieces but now was not the time. Fortunately, I had a crucial piece of information that would be very useful in keeping her mouth shut one that was so important that Oppa had to keep it a secret from her. Yes. I made up my mind. This bitch was going to die by Oppas hands. I will make her die a gruesome death before her stomach swelled up anymore before she could give birth. I know what you are looking for. The carefree smile on the serpents face finally went through a change. That was natural, considering how she had been pursuing it for 10 years. Her face crumpled visibly the moment I told her everything. I was confident that this woman would never be able to let that slip. For a moment, hesitation lingered in her eyes. She gazed down at the bulge on her stomach but soon, that light of hesitation was reced by a vicious fire. If this is true I would have to make a move. Its a check for me. Congrattions. Checkmate, more like. You will have no other option but to do thest thing that Oppa would allow. Your life, your background setting everything about you has been a continuation from that incident from 10 years ago, after all. *** It was extremely sessful. Miruam Elizabeth El Rath moved just as I nned and atst, fulfilled her dream. 10 years of obsession and madness was quitemendable. It was obvious what the venomous serpent, drunk in blood and madness, was going to do she would have no choice but to go on a rampage even if that meant she had to turn everything in the world into her enemy. Even though she knew of the pessimistic future ahead of her, she carried through her lifes purpose. Cough! On top of the white in of snow was a serpent coughing out blood onto the white canvas. A boss fight against Miruam, the Infinity Serpent. We defeated the bitch just like how it was in the game, and I intentionally instigated Oppa to stab through her with the spear. You stupid woman I, I told you to wait. Cough Fufu, youre right. Youre right but I couldnt. I really wanted to bear our children. Im sorry. me your mommy In Oppas arms was the red serpent whose body was turning cold at a rapid speed. I really hated the fact that the fake bitch was monopolizing his gaze instead of dying already. I love you. Sorry for saying that sote. I love you. I really love you, Korin. That fucking bitch. Hurry up and die already instead of doing something I cant do. You were my destiny. Now its already toote though Its way toote. -Cough! Knight Korin Kiss, me. Oppa was not cold enough to be able to turn down the request of a dying bitch. Every time I saw the tongue of that serpent bitch mix with my precious Oppas tongue, I felt my blood boiling inside. That fucking bitch shes using Oppas weak side That was when her eyes met with mine. Fuck was she going to tell him something? Smirk. After looking into my eyes, the woman raised the corners of her lips and silently moved her blood-stained lips. You. Will. Fail. Leaving behind that silent deration, the mes of life started to leave her eyes. After realizing that she was dead, Oppa kissed her on the forehead and closed her eyes. Bro, we have to hurry up. The Frost Giants are on their way. Just throw that thing away. He didnt reply and instead hugged the body for a long time without letting go as if that woman was precious to him. She was monopolizing him even after her death, that damn slut. Well, whatever. In the end, she couldnt give up on her lifelong aspiration and chose to die along with the baby inside her. It was lucky. She had no choice but to do it before giving birth, because she must have sensed that it would be toote had she given birth to the child. Im the one who got to stay behind with Oppa, and youre dead. Until then I thought it was my victory. I thought everything was over, and that the final battle was the only thing that had to be taken care of. Ah, fuck. Bro, calm down. Calm down my ass!! *** You, you! How could you do that to people! Bro, wake up. How are these guys, people? Theyre NPCs. Theyre game characters. You! *** Youre really driving me crazy bro. Youre driving me insane! Im not gonna hold back anymore. Your consent is not important bro. You are mine. My only real one in this fake world. *** It was a mythical and legendary battle. A final war with the destiny of the world on the line a fight that would decide everything. Victory seemed certain. Tates Valtazar, the boss of the enemy faction had all of his Precepts taken advantage of except for the 3rd Precept, and his strength was brought down into the realm of humans. On the other hand, Park Sihu was practically a god of magic after having everything for himself. He was a Unique Grade among Unique Grades, heaven above the heavens. Although it was a shame that his loyalrade and mediocre yet hard-working spearman was nowhere to be found in the final war, that didnt seem relevant in the slightest. That was what everyone thought except for one person the boss of the enemy faction. -GOOOOHHHH!! The world crumbled. Earths were crushed, seas were frozen and skies were lit up in mes. It was a scene straight out of mythology. The fight between Radiant Light Tates Valtazar and Park Sihu the God of Magic could only be exined as the war of gods. The difference in power was extremely evident. Aura, mana, equipment, army,ndscape, items, morale, and supporters. We were in the lead in every way and manner possible. Everything. Did you really think it was over the moment I stopped the Domain? Did you really think you won when you chopped one of my arms off? The man said while looking at me with a blood-stained gaze. Youre powerful. Indeed, its on a whole new level that Ive never seen the likes of. You are probably stronger even whenpared to the previous Kings of Gods. However, it seems that Destiny has decided on a different victor from us two. Even though I should be stronger Even though I was at the advantage for most of the fight and even though this man should have had more injuries than I did Uhk! You look unhappy with the result, but theres no need to feel that way. No matter how many times we were to repeat this fight, it would be me thates out on top. Shut up! This wasnt how it was in the game! With these stats, I should be able to massacre Valtazar and his faction by myself! You are strong but youre iplete as a fighter. So what if you lose an arm Even if your heart is about to be crushed, you should never stop until you kill your enemy Your desire to win is terribly weak! That damn bastard saying the same thing as Oppa. Korin Lork, the one chosen by my Master, would have been a better foe. This cant be it. Was this was this it? Was I going to die like this? What a shame. Back to square one. Lia Fail wont ept such a pathetic ending. -Stab! The Spear of Light stabbed through my chest along with his strange monologue. Ahh. It was fading away. The light of life my heart Everything started to fade. O ppa I havent even told him yet that I like him, and that I love him. If I knew this would happen maybe I should have tried telling him a lot earlier even as a male. Just like that, my vision faded away into nothingness. The yer has been killed. You have failed the attempt. Hukk! I opened my eyes. What I saw first was a very familiar ceiling. I, is this my room? This familiar sight was definitely that of my room. The digital clock was letting out a noisy rm and on top of the desk was my monitor that was still lit up. W, was that a dream? Was everything there a dream? Even though they were all so vivid? That cant be! I was turning my head away from reality when my eyesnded on my monitor screen. You have failed. All of your y logs will be reset. Thank you very much for your long contribution. It was Heroic Legends of Arhan, but it was my first time seeing a message like this I have to go. Kicking off the bed I set out to confirm the truth the proof of the 3 years I had spent inside. Sirin! Dont forget your meal! Ignoring my moms voice, which I heard for the first time in 3 years, I got in my car and pressed on the elerator as hard as I could. In less than 30 minutes, I arrived at a gym and found a trainer called Hanbyul. XX Oppa? He doesnt work today. More importantly, who are you? Do you know him? W, wait! You cant go in there! Dont touch the address book! Without paying any attention to her screaming that she would call the police, I looked up and found his address. It was nearby just 10 minutes on foot. I immediately dashed out without getting back in my car. The asphalt heated up by the summer sun was scorching hot, but I could withstand it because I was on the path to meeting Oppa. Because I failed, the world would have been destroyed with my death, and Oppa would have died there like me. I came back, So he must be back too. What should I say? How should I exin everything? He was a kind-hearted person who had been so affectionate to those fake NPCs from the game, so would he forgive me for everything I did? Its fine. Those bitches arent here. Im the only one here Oppa has no one else but me. Lets apologize first of all. Although I dont feel sorry for those NPCs, lets say its because I wanted to go home so badly that I had no choice while shedding some tears. He was a kind person, so he would probably console me before long. Because that was what he always did providing a warm and gentle set of words whenever I was going through hard times. This time would be no different. I arrived at the 5-story building. Unit 302. This was Oppas home. He said he was living by himself, so maybe he was still sleeping? My hand paused right as I was about to press the doorbell. I was in so much of a rush that I only now realized how I looked. I was still wearing my pajamas, my shoes were nowhere to be found, my hair was disheveled and messy and I wasnt wearing any make-up. Should I go buy some clothes at a nearby department store? Should I get some make-up first? No. I cant. I cant wait. How could I possibly take so much time? -Ding dong! The clear sound of the doorbell echoed from inside. I gulped as a flood of regret started to soar up. Maybe I should have dressed myself up a bit more *** -Ding dong! *** -Ding dong! *** Huh? Nothing. Was he not home? Did he go out? No way A sudden gush of anxiety swept past my mind. No, no. That cant be. Hes just a side character. A normal extra character. I came back, so there was no way he didnte back. -Kung kung kung! Oppa! I, its me Sihu! Can you open the door!? There was no response. My heart started to race as anxiety started to drench my body. -Grit! Crushing the doorknob, I pulled the door apart and raced into the house. Like that, I barged into Oppas house. He wasnt there. The only thing I found inside the dark room was a monitor giving off a brilliant light. No No, no. NO! DONT DO THIS TO ME!! The screen shed before slowly starting to fade. On it was a sentence that shouldnt be there. Sub-yer, Korin Lork, will thus begin seeding the role of the yer. My world came crumbling down. Side Story Park Sihu END You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 169: Summer and with it, Trouble (1) Chapter 169: Summer and with it, Trouble (1) Trantor: RainTL
Summer and With It, Trouble(1) Zollins day started off with a noisy rm. -BEEP~ BABBABBO! BBIBBIBBABA BBIBIBO! The deafening noise of that megaphoned instrument, which must be taking them for a fool, woke him up as always. Covering his ears and waking up from the bed, he found his bedroom that was jam-packed with his roommates. Looking at the 8 people lying down on the 8-story bed less than 4 meters tall on the bunk bed next to him reminded Zollin of the fish storage of a fishing boat. Who would believe that this tiny and dark room, less than 20 square meters wide, had 24 people inside? He didnt think it was possible until he went into one. Ugh Is it morning already? Even the upants of the 8th floor, which was the roomiest of all the floors, couldnt get up without hitting the ceiling, so they had to roll themselves down to thedder and get down. Most of the prisoners were still on their beds because there was no room for them to get up. Lining up behind the densely packed iron bars, the prisoners waited for the officers. It was so packed that they couldnt even stand properly, and while looking around with their eyes that were hazy from ack of sleep, they found the room of female prisoners on the other side of the corridor. Im so jealous That room only had 15 prisoners, because they couldnt fill up the room. Thanks to that, the prisoners of Room 109 were in possession of the luxurious one-square-foot of private space for themselves. Prisoners. We will now begin your morning roll call! The officers opened the iron bars after the sonorous shout of the head officer. Hundreds of prisoners walked out in perfect order as they unhesitatingly headed to one side of the corridor. -Trod! Trod! Trod! Trod! Despite hundreds of them moving at once, the prisoners moved in alignment like a well-trained army. They soon arrived at the training ground that was connected to the prison cells. That was where they were allowed to spend 1 hour of free time after dinner every day. We will now begin the morning roll call! Of course, there was no such thing as free time in the morning. Dunareff Morning Exercise! Ready~ Begin! One! Two! One! Two! One! Two! One! Two! 488 prisoners remained in ranks as they repeated the exercise in unison. None of them made a single mistake because they were all exceptionally trained at it. It didnt matter even if some of them made mistakes by tomorrow, those mistakes would be gone. To the g of Golden Potato Flower~ Bow! Finishing off with a bow to the Dunareff familys g, they headed to the public cafeteria. That was when someone called out to Zollin from behind he was a prisoner who came a tad bit earlier than he did. Oi Zollin. Whats for breakfast today? Hmm I heard its boiled potatoes, baked potatoes, and dried potatoes. Potatoes again? Fucking hell. They are freaking obsessed with potatoes. The moment he grumbled aint, an officer who was guiding the prisoners from the front suddenly turned around with a burning flicker in his eyes. What was that?! U, umm, O, Officer, what I meant to say is! Before he could even finish giving his excuse, an enormous wooden club struck him on the head. The prisoner fell from that single strike, but the officer did not let him go and continued kicking and bashing him without any hesitation. You pieces of trash are eating the potatoes! The potatoes! That the farmers! Shed buckets of sweat for! To harvest! Theyre! Precious! Taxes! Of our citizens! -Kaduk! In the end, the club broke before the person. It was amon sight in this prison. You damn garbage of society have no idea how merciful Duke Marde and Duchess Elencia are being to you! Crazy. This ce is crazy. Zollin inwardlyined with a gulp but even that earned a burning gaze from the officer. Oi, 4886. You got anyints? N, no sir! You better not. After the feeble breakfast, they headed straight away to the workce. The prison Zollin was in was connected to a notorious salt pond, that was among one of the most infamous ces in the South. It was an inhumanely arduous task where they stored up seawater and dried it out under the sun to acquire salt. Of course, there were more than enough salt mines in the South. Actually, most ces in the Kingdom used rock salt those were of higher quality and were much cheaper. The reason these salt ponds existed was not to earn profit but to fuck the prisoners up. Only the horrendous criminals who received a life sentence were sent to these salt ponds. They required a lot of incredibly difficultbor and the life here was so harsh that the prisoners didnt usuallyst long. In a way, it was a more cruel punishment than death. Haak Haak! Zollin repeated the difficultbor under the burning sun. He used to be an elite mage of the Tower of Mages back in the day, but he was now just a prisoner who was referred to by the number 4886. He was supposed to be a sessor of the elder of the cult, Chunsik or rather Admelech, so how the hell did he end up like this? It was all because of that woman who was crazy for potatoes and that gold digger! His future was going to be ever-so bright without those bastards! Just you watch Once I pass through these dark times, trust me, I will fly back into the skies. This Professor Zollin will not fall like this The Tower of Mages was strong. There was no way that they would leave them like this the whole time! He was sure that a team would be dispatched before long to save them from this hell! Spero spera. There is hope as long as you dont give up. Zollin was hoping for a better tomorrow when a group started making their way over to the wide salt pond. Were they new recruits? Looking at the prisoners that slipped and died on repeat every day, he had indeed been thinking about how it was time for new ones to be sent in. Huh? Seeing the one at the lead of the group, Zollin couldnt help but doubt his eyes. P, Professor Ronald? Professor Zollin Professor Ronald, one of his peers who was considered to be the future elder of the Green Cult was here! Looking behind, Zollin also recognized the faces of the ones behind him! All of them were powerful high-ranked mages! Professor Ronald! Youre finally here to save us all! No, we were also captured just like you. Hope was despair in disguise. *** A month went by in a sh after the Saintess Kidnapping Incident and the War against the Tower of Mages. On a bright summers day under the warm sunlight of mid-July, more than a thousand students were gathered in one ce listening to the closing words of Chairman Erin, which came to an end before long. Fuu~. Finally summer holidays, huh. It was my third holiday aftering back in time. A lot of things had happened in the meantime. I saved Marie, defeated the King of Iron Mountain and Fermack Daman, and was also enlightened about Maries fearsome background. Even aside from that, the hotel that I invested all my debt into almost got ruined by a random bat, which I somehow managed to save after a stressful job; put a stop to Hua Rans ascension to Hou during the festival and had a fake engagement with the Arden Household of the East. Many things had happened and those things had affected the continental state as well. The fall of the Tower of Mages. Time for the Old Faith now. There were a lot of things to do including the weeding out of the Hail Hydra bastards who were hiding inside the New Faith. I was able to befriend Estelle through this incident, so all that had to be done now was slowly persuade her into dealing with the internal traitors. Korin! Are you done packing up? I dont even need that much. One bag and two spears that was all I had to carry with me. Unlike me, however, Marie was carrying a bag that was bigger than herself. Why dont you make Doggo carry it? Nn~. Its fine. Im going to put it down on the Hresvelgr anyway. My n for the holiday was to head to the royal capital. It wasnt for anything serious; it was to meet my parents after so long and get rewarded by the pce. We also told other members of the guild like Yuel and Kranel toe to the capital for the awarding ceremony. Are you okay though? Nn? What do you mean? I was wondering if you didnt have to go down to your ce this holiday. Its okay! Theres going to be an award from the royal court! Thats an honorable event! I also have to inspect the stores in the capital! Most importantly Marie nced around and after noticing that no one was looking at us, she continued after carefully grabbing my finger. You are going to the capital so Iming as well. K, kuhum! Hehe How adorable was a girl in love for the first time? Just thinking how the target of that love was me made my face burn. Then shall we go? Korin, pass me your bag. I will tell Doggo to carry it. Ah, Im okay. This much is fine Even though Doggo was ying around way too much these days, I still didnt want to be a father that troubled their child because of something so trivial. By the way, Korin. That thing in your bag Marie hesitated with her eyes on my bag. There certainly was something that was incredibly eye-catching along with the red and silver spears. You mean Undry? Isnt that the Holy Grail? Is it okay for you to carry it around like that? Its just a big cauldron though, right? Nnn I guess no one would find out without carefully inspecting it. Magic Cauldron, Undry. It was one of the four great treasures of the Danann that I acquired after defeating Dun Scaith and was the treasure symbolizing the King of Gods Dagdas Divinity of the Earth. It was undeniable that Undry was a tremendous treasure that was at the level of iomh Sis but I had no use for it right now because Undry didnt choose me as its master. What a shame Its a powerful item and we cant even use it. Theres no one that can, so we cant help it. Unlike other artifacts, the 4 treasures were picky in the sense that they chose their owners. Even in the case of Dun Scaith, it was more like he was living off of Undry like a parasite instead of making actual use of it. This was going exactly like the previous iteration, where we couldnt make use of Undry despite acquiring it. Let me tell you a secret. Nn? What is it? If you boil potatoes here they be extremely delicious. Haht! Really? Every dish you create using this cauldron bes the best delicacy in the world. This is the best item you could hope for when camping. I, is that okay though? Treating a sacred item like that Well, even the mythsbel it as a cauldron that infinitely spawned food, so this must be how you are supposed to use it, right? R, right? Lets get going. Hua Ran and Alicia are waiting. Nn! I know a hotel in the capital. Im sure well be able to find a room there for everyone. A hotel you know? Its not like its yours again, right? The hotel franchise is under my sisters name. How far-reaching was the financial empire of the Dunareff family? I became genuinely curious. *** The residents of the 21st street of the capital of the El Rath Kingdom, Rudene Lork and Suel Lork started yet another busy morning. The couple ran a small restaurant, and their morning started off early where they peeled potatoes to prepare for the morning session. Although they were a normal andmon pair of civilians who were living a peaceful and modest life, these days, there was a slight concern in their minds. Dear, did you see the letter that came this morning? From who, the unfilial man of our family? No, I havent. How can you call him unfilial? Hes been sending letters all the time. So what if he sends letters!? He is an undutiful child who doesnt even show his face once! It was because their oldest son, Korin Lork, had never shown his face even once after entering the Academy in Marchst year. We raised him wrong! We really did! That little kid doesnt even remember about his parents anymore now that hes breathing the Academy air! Ehew, dont say that. He must have been busy. Busy? Sure! You mean he was busy ying in the Southst summer and strolling in the Eastst winter? He had been greatly concerned already that his son was entering a guardian academy that was full of risk and hazards, so it was natural for him to feel like rotting away on the inside because his son was refusing to show his face even once. Suel did not console her husband, who had a visibly sullen look on his face, because she knew it wouldntst long. If he was that worried, why didnt he write a letter to him? Seriously, the guys of this family were rather bad when it came to expressing their feelings. The same was true for her son as well as her husband. But Korin seems to be doing very well these days. He got promoted into something, and Guardians was it? He seems to have a club with his friends. Are there clubs and societies in the Guardian Academy? Why not? Its for young kids so of course there will be. Sia is also the head of a club in the Royal Academy, right? Theyre both leaders wherever they go. I wonder who they took after. It must be me. Where did all theints about the undutiful child go? Anyway, he said hesing to the capital this holiday. Really? Rudene suddenly turned with a flick with a bright smile on his face. Seeing that, Suel grinned while handing over the letter that they received in the morning. Look here. Hesing to the capital with his friends. Hmm Hnn? Royal banquet? Is he going to the banquet? The Saintess got kidnapped recently, right? I heard he did something important there. Hoho. That little boy must be really brave just like me. I hope hes not putting himself at risk. Of course, a man ought to put themselves at risk for a greater future! Haha! Seemingly proud of his son, Rudene couldnt hide the smile on his face as he read through the letter several times. Although Korin was an unfilial child who didnt show his face for one and a half years ever since he entered the Academy, he appeared to be pioneering his own path very well from what Rudene could see through the letter. That boy. I wonder if he has a girlfriend now. Well, he doesnt look bad, but probably not because hesing with his friends. Someone his age wouldnt be going around with their friends when they have a girlfriend, right? But what if hesing with his girlfriend to introduce her to us? He said friends though. Hmm Thats true. However, Rudene was still hopeful. Just like him and his wife, his son was tall and had a decent appearance. It was about time that he made himself a girlfriend. Hoho. We have to prepare an enormous feast. Dont be silly. The Lork couple started the day off with excitement as they waited for their son to return. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 170: Summer and With It, Trouble (2) Chapter 170: Summer and With It, Trouble (2) Trantor: RainTL
Summer and With It, Trouble(2) The capital was the most developed city of the El Rath Kingdom. Not only were all the administrative bureaus located inside the city along with the pce, but it also served as the center of transportation that was linked to every important city. Actually, despite all that, it was a ce that was rarely visited in the game. None of the scenarios took ce here unless they were events rted to the princesses, and the only one apart from that was when the yer officially became the Hero of the Kingdom. That was the same for me in thest iteration, so I had rarely ever been to this ce. Haa~ Whatsh wong? Alicia mumbled with a parfait in her mouth. You see, I dont have good memories about the capital. -Gulp! But werent you raised in the capital, Mr. Korin? Thats true, but the nobles were annoying and my childhood wasnt the brightest. Ah~ nobles. I think I understand what you mean. Their eyes are like Have you been to the pce before? Only for Unnising-of-age ceremony. Must have been rough. I could imagine how it must have gone. They probably talked down on her,beling her as an illegitimate child and whatnot. Nowadays, most of the nobles in this world only had honorary titles without any territories and spent most of their time in the pce. As such, they became simr to forums of yellow journalism. They didnt have the influential authority of the past and just turned into shady people who talked behind others backs. But how do you know that, Mr. Korin? Didnt you say you were a normal civilian? I was the consort of the prin- I mean, I had a few opportunities toe across them. Uuun? Boss. That was when Ren called me while pulling my sleeves. Unlike Ron, who now appeared like a middle schooler, Ren still looked like a child. Boss. That one. I want to try that. She was mesmerized by the fancy and ornamented streets of the capital. I will give you some cash, so you can go buy one. You have some too, Boss. Alright. What Ren wanted was a shish kebab that was being sold on the other side of the wide street. They were certainly not of the highest quality, but street food had its upsides. Koriiin~! Alicia and Hua Ran, who were behind me, were also having a skewer each alongside Ren and I. That was when Marie yelled out loud while running up from afar. Sorry for the wait! I had to take something! Did the capital branch give you a few presents? Nn nn! There was something I ordered through them as well! Marie was carrying a bunch of stuff, starting from boxes to shopping bags. Give them to me. We cant call Doggo out after all. Ah, thanks. I took the boxes off of her arms. These were quite heavy, making me wonder what was inside. Senior Marie. What are these? Hehe. Were going to see your parents, right? I prepared some gifts for them. You didnt need to Wait this is something Im now experienced with. Marie Dunareff the owner of 25 peerage titles and the master over several cities of the South. A super wealthy individual who was printing out money on repeat! Is there any chance that her gifts are going to be normal? You didnt put in jewelry or pouches of gold coins, did you? Uht I think you have a very big misconception about me, Korin. Am I wrong? You are! These are all foods. Like dried fruits and crops! Oh Sorry about that. Did I misunderstand her the whole time? I suppose even the wealthy wouldnt spend every day having a ss of wine with shark fins. They probably also did normal things just like everyone else. Mr. Korin. I also have some gifts for your parents. You really didnt need to though. Alicia showed a gift box that was wrapped in a pretty cheesecloth. She must have gotten that when she stopped by the Arden Dojo of the capital. This must have taken you guys so much time even though you didnt need to. By the way, whats inside? Horse jerkies from the East. Unni told me to take them. Hoh~ Now that was something I would like to try at least once. The two of them were presenting their gifts for the visit, while Hua Ran was standing off to the side, hesitantly looking around while shedding cold beads of sweat. I, Ill go buy Its okay. Its the thought that counts. How adorable. That was nothing strange, considering her limited experience in social settings. Sorry. Theres no need to be. It was still impressive though, that Hua, who used to be the most self-conceited and self-centered person in the world, was now social enough to care about others. I caressed her head but she soon pushed my arm away. Dont touch my hair Alright alright. And dont smile like that. Okay okay. Was she sulking? Her lips were pursed but even that looked very adorable. When dealing with Ran, who gave off a mature and alluring charm, I would miss the cute and sulky Hua sometimes. Ran liked me so much that it made my heart race. By the way, Korin. What kind of people are your parents? Theyre normal. They run a restaurant and my younger sister is a student at the Royal Academy. Wow~. A restaurant? Thats amazing~ When I first came to this world, the word home meant the same thing as awkward. I was always under the impression that I was an outsider from Earth who overtook Korin Lorks memories and his outer shell. Well, it was what anyone would go through. Park Sihu rejected that notion until the end, but I approved it and epted it as a fact. That all happened in thest iteration, and I started to simply believe that I was Korin Lork. I am me. I got all the memories so of course Im the same person! There might be some arguments against that line of thought, but I just decided to ept that as a fact. Huu~. Its been so long since I saw them that I feel slightly guilty and nervous. Thest time I saw them was before the battle against the Frost Giants in thest iteration so it had been a very long time. Plus, that was when I was slightly out of my mind *** Korins parents, Rudene Lork and Suel Lork were in a state of emergency due to the sudden visit of an unexpected guest. Hopefully Im not being a nuisance. Haha N, not at all. Its an honor for us. The silver-haired unrealistically beautifuldy, who made them wonder if a person could be so pretty, introduced herself as the Chairman of Merkarva Academy. If it was just her, they would have questioned how someone so young could be the chairman of an academy because the only other Chairman they knew was the fat and lethargic old man they saw at their daughters academy. However, another beauty who was standing by her side like a secretary immediately dispelled any doubt in their mind. J, Josephine ra? The Lork couple had also been to an academy during their youth because the education fees of the El Rath Kingdom were affordable for everyone unless they were from a very poor family. Because of that, they immediately recognized Josephine ra, the protagonist of the Witch Revolution, whom they had seen pictures of in history books. Unlike Tates Valtazar and Erin who had been covering their faces with a mask, Josephine was the one leading the fray with the spotlight on her as a previous victim of the Witch Hunt, and was therefore a celebrity that everyone across the continent could recognize. Umm By Merkarva you mean the one that my son If youre talking about Korin, he is a wonderful student. Hes the top student of the 2nd year students, after all. R, really? That wasnt something that was shared in the letters they received from their son. That damn little boy didnt really talk about himself so they had no idea. And I am also personally rted to Korin as a master and disciple. M, master and disciple? I am personally teaching spearmanship to that child, and Korin is an extremely fabulous knight. I, I see. By the way May I ask what brought you to a humble ce like ours, Chairman? Ah! Erin pped aloud as if she finally remembered the reason for her visit. My original n was to greet you alongside Korin, but Greet? But why though? The two of them didnt dare ask such a question. I have some urgent matters to attend to at the pce, so I had to arrange an earlier visit. ra? As soon as she called her name, Josephine gently waved her staff and created a dimensional fissure in the air which started to reveal various items. I couldnte empty-handed for the visit, so I prepared some gifts. Theyre nothing much though. Uhh, you mean all this? The couple dropped their chin after seeing all the items and couldnt hide their shock. This is a cab with pearl ornaments and a marble desk made by a friend of mine called Luchtaine, And that one there is a treasure chest that a friend called Credne made. Also, this is a magical steel skewer that I received from Goibniu. Apparently, every meat pierced by that skewer will be very good at providing men with energy. Each and every one of those items that were being shared by Erin were treasures with more than a thousand years of history. Although the two of them were oblivious to the long history embedded in those items, the presents given by the gods to their youngest goddess were all sparkling with radiance, which allowed them to assume how incredible these treasures must be. T, these are way too precious for They couldnt ept such a gift. All of them were priceless artifacts. Besides why was the Chairman of an academy giving them these presents? W, we cant Right as Rudene was about to turn the offer down, Erin wrapped her hands around his as well as Suels, before speaking to them with a benevolent voice. Its okay. The two of you have a wonderful son. All the things that Korin has done for me are worth much more than these. For some reason, even though the beauty before their eyes appeared 20 years younger than them she had a benevolent and loving attitude that they would usually feel from seniors who were much older than themselves. Hoho. Looks like Korin, that little guy is doing a great job at the Academy. Of course. You have no idea how kind and soft-hearted my Korin is. Hnn? My Korin? They were slightly puzzled by that rather strange choice of words, but they silently watched Erin, who continued on and on with a benevolent smile on her face. He learns two when you teach one, wipes the sweat off of his master when she sweats a little~, and hes also an amazing cook. Last time, he made chicken soup. Ah, but I am terrible with hot foods and you know what he did? He gently blew on it a few times and carried the spoon to my mouth. I wonder how hes so handsome and nice~ And the way he tries to protect his master even though hes the disciple is so dependable! Whenever he assures me, saying that everything will go well, is just so loving Hes a fantastic adult. Oh right. Korin said everyone over 20 are friends. Do you think the same too? D, did he say that? Of course. Thats why Im trying my best to be like friends. Ah~. Thats an amazing quote, isnt it? Everyone over 20 are friends Right, ra? Certainly. And he also said Im young and pretty! That it doesnt matter how old I am. You think so too, right? Your age doesnt matter when you are young at heart, right? She sounded more and more silly as time passed. Even though they were his parents, Erin sounded more like a loving parent bragging about their favorite son as time went on. In fact This is that, right? I guess so? The couple felt very confused. Thank you so much for giving us such a wonderful son. Ah, right Umm, thank you. Giving? Ah, its about time to go. There is a meeting at the pce, you see. Erin and ra left without waiting for the two of them to say anything. While being sent off by the Lork couple, the two of them whispered to each other in a voice they wouldnt be able to pick up. Umm Did I sound silly? A lot. Did you think so too, ra?! What do you mean by that? The couple watched the two of them walk away in a stupor. After some time, Rudene cautiously opened his mouth. Umm I think a slightly older wife should be fine for our son. But wouldnt it be a little strange for our daughter-inw to be older than us? Unlike their son, the couple could read the mood like normal people. While they were packing up the presents that Erin brought in piles which might be a dowry, another guest knocked on their door. Is this the house of the Lork family? Umm, yes! That is right! Who is Huhp! Honey? Whats wro Huhp! The one that made both of them react in the same way, was the most famous guardian of the Kingdom. My name is Lunia Arden. Are you the parents of Korin Lork? Lunia Arden. She was one of the top knights of contemporary times who appeared several times in Guardian magazines. Not a single citizen of the Kingdom was unaware of the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor Garrand Arden, who used to be reigning supreme over the era 30 years ago! M, may I ask what brings Sir Lunia all the way here? Hmm? Ah, I suppose you have not heard it yet. Father. Ehk? Father? Lunia walked into the house inrge strides and gave the couple a deep bow. Why was a celebrity of the Kingdom so respectful to some random restaurant owners? And what did she mean by Father??! Though unofficial, I am Lunia Arden, who had been engaged to your son. H, h, huh?! E, e, engaged??! It felt like they were struck by a lightning bolt out of nowhere. Engaged? Who? With who? My kid? With Lunia Arden? I had an errand at the pce and thought of visiting on the way for an official introduction. Jennie. As soon as she called her name, Jennie, one of the Five Swords of the First Sword Squad, walked forward like a maidservant with a long box in hand. She handed the box covered in fine silk over to Lunia, who then gave it to the couple. Please. This is the Sword of Dispersal, which chases out evil spirits. You can leave it as a decoration and it will create a barrier that inhibits the approach of demonic spirits. If you have an exceptional spiritual sense, you could use it personally to cut down evil spirits. That meant it was a magic artifact a precious item that not even money could buy. B, but, why would you I cannot allow wicked things to approach the parents of my fianc, after all. Please do not turn down this small offering of this Lunia Arden. Ah, ah yes T, thank you very much. Please speak casually. You are Korins father, and that will make you my father as well. Would it not? I, is that right? So youre our daughter-inw? Bam! That was when Rudene Lork was poked on his side by his wife. Watching the two of them, Lunia said with a faint smile. It seems that the young miss is not around. I heard shes a student at the Royal Academy, so I have brought some throwing knives that can be hung on her bag as essories. It is nothing much, but please ept it. H, h, huh? The two of them, who were pretty much forced to hold onto the present, didnt even know what to say in the face of this unrealistic reality as they nkly sent her off. Honey. Yes. Did Korin, that little guy, mention this in his letters? Not at all. This boy. What in the We sent him off to the academy to be a knight but hes only been hitting on girls or something! B, but He has a solid preference. It looks like he is into older girls just like you. K, kuhum! The couple cleaned the house after the storm while trying their best to calm themselves down. The Chairman of Merkarva Academy and the future head of the Arden Household of the East. Either one of them was quite burdensome to have as a daughter-inw. Lets take the day off today. Sounds good. Ehew, how much is all this? My heart is racing right now because of everything that happened. In the afternoon, they finally heard their long-awaited son knocking on the main gates of the house. Korin must be here! Kuhum! Let me quickly go ask him. How could he be two-timing? Two-timing! Rudene Lork and Suel Lork hurried to the gates to wee their son who wasing back for the first time in a year and a half. Like that, they opened the door and Hello. My name is Marie Dunareff. I, Im Alicia Arden. Mr. Korins friend. Hello. My name is Ren, and Im under the care of Boss I mean, oraboni. There were all sorts of beautiful girls next to their son, who were all incredibly nervous as if they were meeting their inws for the first time. MY FARRTHER! MY MORRTHER! Your son has returned! It cant be, right? Theres no way this little bastard went to the Academy to hit on girls all day, right? Their suspicion was quite close to the mark. You can rate this serieshere. Advanced chapters avable on Illustrtin on our iscr discord.gg/genesistls We are Recruiting! We are looking for Korean Trantors. For more details please join Genesis discord server Chapter 171: Summer and With It, Trouble (3) Chapter 171: Summer and With It, Trouble (3) Trantor: RainTL
Summer and With It, Trouble(3) Here, Korin. Try this too. Its fresh from our farms. Mr. Korin. Would you like some jerkies? Here. The Lork couple fell in deep thought as they observed their son who was visiting them for the first time in 2 years. Normally, kids tended to go straight into their rooms with their friends immediately after greeting their parents to y by themselves. But usually, that was only when it concerned normal friends. Korins friends, from the looks of things, were very different and were instead girls who were very obvious and explicit about expressing their goodwill. Darling. This is that, right? At least his three peers seem to be seeing him in that light. I guess we should be happy that he didnt touch that young girl Boss What is that? Dried fruits. Want some? Mhmm Aahh~ The little girl opened her mouth to have the dried fruits fed to her like it was the most normal thing in the world. The small, blonde-haired girl then said with a mature look on her face. Todays my wage day, isnt it? Can you buy me some clothes with the payment? Dont buy them with your own money. Save it. I can buy it for you instead. When did he change so much? the couple wondered. The son they remembered wasnt someone who could smoothly strike up conversations like that with female peers. They couldnt help but find him slightly unfamiliar, due to the discrepancy from 2 years ago. Is Sia doing okay? Is she still having honey bomb candies? Hope she doesnt lose all of her teeth. She loves dessert cafes nowadays, Rudene replied. Thats going to be hard with her allowance. Oh yeah, if she starts going around chasing after some weird actors again, tell me, and Ill break her damn legs. The couple felt rather relieved after seeing that his attitude towards his younger sister was the same as always. It reminded them that he was still the same son, despite having someplicated rtionships with females. Inside Korin Lorks body was the soul of a Korean from Earth. However, that didnt mean that Korin Lork had lost all of his original persona. The two souls co-existed in a manner that differed from Hua and Ran. In fact, it was more correct to say that they had been fused already. Because Korin had already finished his self-introspection in the previous iteration, he was able to treat the Lork couple like normal. Sometime during the conversation, Rudene carefully shifted the topic. Kuhum! By the way, son. Did you make yourself a girlfriend at the Academy? -Flick! -Swish! -Hatt! -! Wow The girls werent even trying to hide it, and that even included the young child who appeared to be around ten years old My dear son. What kind of life have you been going through these past two years? Hahaha. You know me. Im still single. Ive been single all my life. These days Im a bit busy and have no time for it. You sure? Umm I think I know six candidates already though? Rudene was thinking that to himself when Suel followed through with another question. Did you make a lot of friends? Yeah, I did. I wrote to you in the letter, didnt I? Lark, Jaeger Right, but what about female friends? Do you, by any chance, have More? Suel Lork carefully asked the question while telling herself that there couldnt possibly be any more than this. But despite her wishes, Korin started talking about his friends without any awareness of the situation. Oh~ right. I have a druid friend called Yuel, and ady friend called Renya who I became friends with at work. Master, Ms. Lunia Right, also, the Saintess might be dropping by sometime soon so dont be too surprised even if she does. S, S, S, Saintess?! Do you mean the 1st Princess?! We kinda became friends. You kinda became friends with the Saintess? How?! Its a long story. His epic tale of saving the Saintess was quite a heroic story, but the truly filial son, Korin, did not bother telling them the whole story since it might worry them. The four girls already knew that something had happened between him and the Saintess. Heaving out a sigh, they all watched Korin like puppies out in the rain but Also Theres more? Oblivious to all that, Korin dropped the real bomb. Soon enough Im going to be friends with Miruam, the 2nd Princess as well. *** Everyone was baffled by his confident deration. None of them knew what his ns were in detail, but they did know something. Your father! Did not raise you like that, you damn brat!! Huh? Wait what?! Son Im disappointed. Thats really disappointing. What they knew, was that he was going to hit on even more girls. Korin was chased out of the house by the infuriated Rudene. A normal person with a broomstick was obviously not a real threat to a knight, but Korin left the house with the wise excuse that he had to repair the roof. He was out of the house, as well as Ren who walked out with him, and that left behind three girls for an interview. The first of them was Alicia Arden. M, my name is Alicia Arden. Sir Lunia was here earlier today Are you her sister? Ah, yes! Was she here today? She did say she wanted to prepare some gifts. I heard she was engaged with Korin Right, there were a few circumstances behind that but Unni was serious about it so There will probably be some talks about it in the family. H, how did that happen? Does that mean you will be Korins sister-inw, Miss Alicia? Suel asked. Uhh I guess? Its highly likely that Mr. Korin will be my brother-inw. For that to be the case, the gaze she was giving Korin didnt make sense. However, after hearing her call him brother-inw, the couple decided that they must have been imagining things. Hell be a brother-inw for Unni as well Hnn? Sorry, what was that? Aht! N, nothing! Hua Ran. Hello. Nice to meet you. Hmm? Your eyes Her ominously red eyes turned blue like the ocean, and her oppressive apathy was reced by a gentle disposition. She felt like a different person, and the couple therefore couldnt help but feel flustered. Its a long story, but Unlike the terse Hua, Ran softly began telling a brief version of her story. During that, she praised Korin even more to appeal to the couple. Hkk! You must have gone through so much! Korin He did a great job. Im so proud of him. Seeing the two people who were absorbed in her story, Ran got down on her knees and gently held onto their hands. My life was saved by Oppa, so that means you are both my saviors as well. Thank you so much for loving our son so much. It must have been so rough for you. Youre a very resilientdy. The two of them empathized with Rans story and immediately lowered their guards. They quickly became fond of the kind and gentle girl. But ording to you, doesnt that mean that the child called Hua has a different mind? What if she doesnt like him? Ah, you dont have to worry about that. Because as much as I like Oppa, Hua also That was when her amicable atmosphere started to shift in the blink of an eye. The change started from her hair to her eyes. After that, her lips that were pointing up came down and turned stiff. Ran? N no. Are you Hua? With a blushing yet indifferent look on her face, the girl with crimson eyes replied while looking straight at the couple. T, thats not true. After that, she turned around with a flick and quickly escaped the house. Seeing that, the couple each gave ament. What a sinful son we have. Yeah. The two of them had the exact same thoughts regarding their son. Marie Dunareff. H, hello! Father! Mother! F, father? Kuhum I believe its a bit early. Haht! S, sorry! You see, Im very nervous!! She was a very innocent and gentle girl. This girl, who was one grade above Korin, also had a simr story to Hua Ran. Listening to everything that she went through, they couldnt help but admit that it made sense for a girl of her age to fall for their son. Huu, so Ms. Marie. You have feelings for Korin as well. Is that correct? Umm Is that okay? Of course. How can we say no to your feelings and emotions? The only concern we have is about Korin. What exactly happened, and why are there so many wonderfuldies that are There were too many. Way too many girls. Although each had their reasons, it was still obvious that many unrequited loves would happen with so many women going after one man. The Lork couple were worried about the young girls that might end up with broken hearts. Ah, thats okay. Time will solve the Hnn? Time? N, nothing. O, oh right! I have some presents, actually! She then handed out all the gifts that she had prepared beforehand. Haha, you didnt have to bring so many Are all of these fresh crops and fruits? Thank you so much. Theres even a spirit made with potatoes! Wait, I remember there being a ce in the South that makes potatoes into Huh? Nn? South. Potatoes. Dunareff. That rather naturalbination of words made the couple think of the same word. Dunareff Dukedom? Yes. My father is the Duke of Dunareff. Huhpp! Oh dear! Standing up from their seats in a hurry, the couple immediately got on their knees. Although the modern nobles were just government officials and peerages didnt mean much apart from the royal family, the Dunareffs were a different story. They were the most conservative yet most powerful feudal lords of the Kingdom. Even in the Royal Capital, countless merchants were derivatives of the Dunareffs, and the Lork couple themselves were also one of the many people receiving Dunareff potatoes and crops from a supplier. P, please dont do this! F, forgive us for our misconduct! Please speak casually, Young Lady! Ahht, Father, Mother You are making me sad. And I feel sorry for Korin as well. Mhmm Marie repeatedly dissuaded them and in the end, the two of them slowly straightened their backs. Their knees, however, were still on the ground. Uhh, i, it is the honor of our family, to have the Young Lady of the dukedom have such feelings for our stupid son Ughh, please dont do this. Oh! Right! You run a restaurant, right? Here, this is my family insignia. If you head to the Dunareff suppliers, you will be able to receive supplies for free from now on! S, supplies for free? The biggest expense in restaurants was the cost of goods. Good dishes required good ingredients and good ingredients came at a hefty price. Considering the margin that the middlemen had to take for themselves during the trip to the Royal Capital from the production area, it wasnt hard to guess how expensive good ingredients had to be. H, how can we possibly receive such an honor!? We cant ept it! However, they couldnt readily ept such an enormous gift. Korin and Marie werent even dating yet, so they could not afford to receive such a gift. Ahh, sorry. I wasnt trying to brag or anything about something that small. S, small? With a sincerely apologetic look on her face, Marie slowly took out a document. It was the document of the gold coin storage, operated by the Zeon Order. This isnt much, but Ive been putting a few coins into a new ount for Korin in secret. I was keeping it a secret from him in case he didnt want it, but please use this for yourselves and Korin. U, umm We cant take it. Rudene and Suel replied and tried to reject it, but Marie gripped onto their hands and requested of them with a face that was on the verge of tears. I have received way too much from Korin. I want to do whatever I can to repay the debt Can you please ept this small present? K, kuhum Indeed, it was undeniable that Korin had done her a huge favor by saving her life. Seeing her humble and desperate attitude, the couple considered it okay to ept the small gift. If you really want to then we can hold onto it and pass it onto Korin. Yes! Thats great! Its nothing much so please dont worry about it! Right. Hearing that it wasnt anything much relieved the couple. They carefully opened the document up and Recipient: Korin Lork Deposit Bnce: 140,000 gold. They ended up fainting on the spot. *** Meanwhile, after practically running away from the house, Hua crouched down near the brick wall, located next to Korins house. Why dont you admit it already, Hua? You like Oppa as well. How long are you going to be in denial? What if someone snatches him away in the meantime? Be quiet. It was the same thing on repeat. Hua just wasnt being honest. Even though she was brutally honest with most things, she wasnt admitting the most important fact. Ran couldnt help but feel frustrated and sighed as she saw her younger sister in denial but still decided to watch on for the time being. Although she wasnt as young as Hua, Ran was still a young girl who didnt know how to solve such problems. Ehng? What are you doing here, Sisterdy? Hua Ran was still crouching there when a girl walked up to her. It was a girl with a wild and free atmosphere, who had done up her long, bluish-ck hair in a ponytail. She looked familiar, but before Hua Ran could connect her with anyone else, the girl took out a piece of candy in the blink of an eye. Its a honey bomb candy. Do you want one? Yes. Perhaps it was because she reminded her of someone, but Hua epted the candy from the girl without being skeptical about her identity. The girl watched her chew and suck on the candy and let out a giggle. What Why? No, I was just thinking how adorable you are, Sister. Are you teasing? No? Im just being honest. Do you want another one? Yes. Honey bomb candy. It was a candy that Korin often gave her. Both Hua and Ran were fond of that numbing sweetness. Why are you crouching like this in the middle of nowhere? Do you have any concerns? Just like what she thought at first, she reminded her of someone. Thanks to that, Hua didnt feel very vignt against the girl, and after being urged by Ran, who told her about the benefits of an objective consultation, Hua startedying out her situation. Thats love. Right? I told you! How can you be certain? Hearing the two of them give a straightforwardbel to her feelings made Hua feel rebellious. With a sharper look in her eyes, Hua red at the girl, asking for evidence. Sister, think about it. How do you feel when that person is with anotherdy? It feels heavy What if he touches you? My heart races. What about when hes hugging you? Feels cozy. -p! The girl gave a sudden p for a change of mood, and once againbeled it with an irritating smile on her face. And thats what we call love. Uht! Hua couldnte up with a rebuttal but still hesitated while looking for something to say. Then how about you do this? Go ask him out on a date. A date? First off, you can try going out and ying with that person. Try it out and if you dont think you like him, then thats the end of it. But if you do If I do? Give him a big, fat kiss! !! Thats it! That was way too fast. Hua desperately looked for a rebuttal. T, thats too fast. ra said so. Kissing and the one after that has to be done after making kids Oh! Right! W, what should we do Hnn? Wait, didnt we do that several times already? Ah She was right. Even though there werent any storks living in this area, they had tried making children already, did they not? Was that enough for a kiss then? What was the right thing to do? Or were they supposed to start at baby-making again? Hua Ran was trying to sort things out by herself in confusion as the girl watched over her with a grin. That was when a boy walked over to them. What are you doing out here? Huh? Sia? Brother? Yo~. My dear sister. What were you doing here? I was giving life advice to a sister, my dear brother. ??? Hua became even more confused as she watched the two of them intimately share a conversation. Sia? Sister? Let me introduce you guys. This kids my younger sister, Sia Lork. And Sia? This girls Hua Ran, shes one of my peers at the Academy. Hoh~ I seeeee~~ Sia said while turning to Hua with a smirk. After realizing the nature of their rtionship, Hua finally understood what she had done she had just asked the younger sister of the person in question for love advice! Hohh~. Youre pretty good, arent you, Oppa? Getting yourself a girlfriend very soon, ey? What are you Grip! It was then. Hua suddenly gripped the sleeves of Korins shirt. Uhh Hua? With her head dropping low, Hua hesitated. Her mind spun in circles but in the midst of her confusion, her thoughts led to one conclusion. If he was going to find out anyway You Hnn? G, go out on a date with me. Chapter 172: Summer and With It, Trouble (4) Chapter 172: Summer and With It, Trouble (4) Trantor: RainTL
Summer and With It, Trouble (4) There were quite a few popr locations for dates in the Royal Capital, but the Bayt Royal National Garden, located on the outskirts of the city, was considered by many to be a must-visit. Not only did the garden look spectacr, but the trees and flowers of this ce had concealed the underground cave, which was dug out by the believers during the beginning days of the Kingdom to hide from the eyes of the persecutors. For the believers of the Order, it was a historical site that showcased their faith and was also a fabulous garden that provided a wonderful walking path for the citizens of the Kingdom. Due to the amount of historical significance in the Bayt Garden, itter became a national garden and underwent a few changes, but that wasnt important for the young couples. That popr national garden was what had been decided to be Hua Ran and Korins main venue for their date. Ugh In front of the ticketing office located at the entrance of the garden, a ck-haired girl was restlessly walking around in circles. Hua. Honestly, youre very distracting. Uht Hua couldnt say anything back to her sister. She was too nervous and her mind was so preupied that she couldnt even think of a response. Will hee? Theres no way he wouldnt. But What if Korin hated her? Like, even if he didnt hate her, what if he didnt consider her a potential partner for a date? Looking back, she was full of regret. She continued asking herself, Why did I say that? Just why? Even Korin seemed slightly befuddled by her sudden request, and he took a while to agree Sure. Anywhere you want to go? Everything went by in a sh after that. Korin decided on the date, and the girls returned to the hotel that Marie had booked for them. Fortunately, Alicia and Marie had zero clue that Hua Ran was going on a date with Korin. On D-day, Hua wore something vastly different from her usual, dry nun clothes. You had to wear something pretty for a date that was a fact that she had taken in from one of Josephines romance novels. Therefore, the two girls in one body withdrew cash from the Zeon Orders coin storage and immediately headed to a nearby clothing store. It wasnt her first time buying clothes. Estelle had taken her to clothing stores a few times, paying several gold coins every time. However, it was her first time going into a clothing store by herself. Not knowing anything, she just bought the dress that was rmended by the staff, but T, this is, is too bold. But everyone wears stuff like that here. Hua Ran was wearing an off-the-shoulder dress. This country was very open with bold outfits and skin exposure, but it was very embarrassing for the two, who hade from the East. Marie-unni and Alicia all wear like this. This is probably normal, right? Theyre all crazy. Let alone belly buttons and thighs, the women of this country all exposed either the top or the side of their breasts as if that was themon sense of ady! But its pretty. Is it? Yes. Hua, you look very pretty right now. Will Korin think the same? Its said in one of Senior Professor Josephines romance novels. Apparently, men are like rabid dogs and lose themselves when they see bare skin. What does rabid mean? They held hands together on the bed after that, so maybe its part of the ritual in calling storks? But why dogs? Do you need dogs to summon storks? Wait, so the reason there havent been any storks until now even though we slept while holding hands That cant be It seemed that being far away from the stork habitat wasnt the only reason behind their failure. Aftering across such a shocking truth, the sisters both thought about somehow getting themselves a dog. Its too early for a stork. Think about it though. A stork carrying a little baby that looks like us and Oppa. How handsome, and how pretty will the child be? Dont say us. Youre saying that again? Ran was the one that liked Korin, not her Hua once again put emphasis on that to defend herself. This date was just to confirm the fact that she did not like Korin. Sorry, Imte. Ohh~ new clothes, huh? Y, yeah Hua unconsciously gulped as she saw Korin arrive 10 minutes before the promised meeting time. It was her first time showing a casual outfit and was therefore visibly nervous. What will he say? Will he say its pretty? Or that it looked nice? For some reason, Hua had a feeling that she would feel hurt if he said something negative. You look pretty. Youve always been pretty but seeing you dressed up makes you look different. In fact, my question is, why havent you been dressing up like this until now? R, really? It was a magnificent reply from the male. With a shy look on her face, Hua fidgeted with the short strands of her hair. Lets go buy clothes togetherter when we have a chance. Im sure youll look pretty no matter what you wear, but we can buy essories that go well with you and your clothes as well. Nnn Hua was bashfully fidgeting with her hair when Korin reached out to grab her hand. She flinched from the sudden turn of events, but her surprise didnt end there. Korin gave a kiss to the back of her hand and asked to escort her, as he had been taught. Shall we go, mydy? If you give me the honor of escorting you, that is. Y, yeah Nn Unable to fling away or reject his hand, Hua found herself holding onto Korins hand as they entered the garden together. As expected of a popr garden, it was packed with people. There are a lot of people. Are you okay? Im fine. Hua, who hated being with arge crowd, leaned on his shoulder like a kitten relying on its mother. More parts of their body came into contact, from hand-in-hand to arm-in-arm. Oblivious to how the warmth of the touching skin was flushing up her cheeks, Hua Ran leaned in even closer. Smells nice. No wonder everyone rmends this ce. Yeah This ce is famous for the Pigeon Cave, which leads to an underground shelter. Going to that ce first seems to be the way to go, so do you want to try that one out first? Okay Following the signs that wouldnt have been there in the distant past, they walked forward until they arrived at the famous Pigeon Cave. Going down the stone staircase that led to the shelter of the persecuted believers, they found a wide entrance. Despite the expensive magicalmps ced here and there, the cave was overall still dark. The two of them therefore stuck close to each other as they walked down the pathway. On the walls of the dark cave, they found several equal-sized spherical holes. Hua, look. This must be where they kept the pigeons. Y, yeah Hua couldnt focus on the conversation. Her mind was solely focused on her arm that was locked next to Korins. The sound of her heart, which was always noisy when next to him, sounded even noisier inside the silent cave. Can he hear it? Can he? H, he shouldnt be able to. All she could do was hope that the sound of her heartbeat wouldnt reach the ears of the one next to her. Hua Ran was intoxicated by the sweetness of the situation. *** Hua didnt look too good. When we were exploring the cave, she didnt bother looking around and instead held tightly onto my arm with her head dropping low. Is she scared of dark ces? It was a mistake on my part for not checking beforehand whether she had ustrophobia or anything simr. I think we are done with the cave now. Do you want to go up? Without saying anything back, Hua silently gave a nod in response. The highlight of the national garden was sitting down on a mat next to the flowerbeds, enjoying the fragrant scent of flowers while having lunch. After finding a great ce to sit down, I opened up the mat and ced it on the ground. It was still a bit early for lunch though; it was more like a brunch. Sitting down on the mat, I took out some food. Honestly, kimbaps were the best for pics but it was hard to make those here, so I brought some sandwiches instead. It wasnt my first timeing here, but the Royal National Garden truly was a spectacr ce. Tulips were decorating the entirety of therge hills at the front. Tulips of all sorts of colors were each taking up a territory as they harmonically brightened the scenery, resembling the tulip fields of the Nethends. The beautiful background that was spectacr for both the eyes and the nose was further supplemented by Hua munching on the sandwiches like a squirrel. She really is Cute. Uhh Hua seemed to have picked up the word that unconsciously slipped out of my mouth. Seemingly very embarrassed, she dropped her head and said after throwing a nce. Me? Yeah. Cute and pretty. You would put anyone in a good mood just with your looks. Uhhh Her ears turned deep red as the heat rapidly moved down to her cheeks. I was not telling a single lie. Trust me. Youre the prettiest and the cutest person in the world right now. Hearing that, her eyes turned into circles. It was my first time seeing her open her eyes up that wide. Youre also looking, h, han Nn? What was that? Not bad. Ah Is it not that good? I tried my best though I dropped my head looking dejected which immediately put Hua Ran in a fluster. She rolled her eyes and moved her arms around in agitation, not knowing what to do, which looked very funny and cute. No, I mean like Im joking. Uht! When I mischievously said that with a smile, Hua atst realized that she had been fooled and turned red. She then took revenge. -m! Uahk! It was probably a gentle punch for her, but it felt like my shoulder was about to be ripped off. Even though I did deserve a little punch, from the looks of things, it seemed that one regeneration ability wouldnt be enough to let me tease her another time. I wont apologize for that. Haha. Sorry. After we were done with lunch, we got up and started walking around the garden. Look. This rose is gold. It must be magic, right? Shall we buy some souvenirs? How about a hairpin? Dont you think this red tulip pin looks great? Ohh! Theyre having a concert there. Should we listen for a bit? It seemed that I was the only one excited with the flowers. Despite going around and having the chance to look at all sorts of flowers and souvenirs, I found her looking at me whenever I turned around. In hindsight, it was to be expected that Hua wouldnt be interested in flower viewing. Ran might be interested, but it appeared that I had chosen the wrong venue regardless. We had an early dinner at a restaurant inside the garden and discovered the countless stars that were decorating the night sky when we left the restaurant. There was a great ce to see stars nearby, but I got the impression that she probably wouldnt enjoy it, just like with the flowers. Should we start heading back? I asked. No. And received apletely unexpected reply. *** In the end, we walked all the way to the cave which was great for seeing stars. Technically, we were no longer inside the Royal National Garden and were just outside of it. In the far-off distance on the grasnd going all the way west to the horizon were several bell-shaped caves. This was a ce that was shown in the game as a part of the background with no interaction possible. In reality, however, it was one of the many caves that were discarded by the government. Unlike the caves inside the national garden that the Kingdom maintained to be tourist attractions, the caves here were raw and untouched. Here. Going past the entrance that was wide enough for several adults to walk in side-by-side, we walked down the dark cave. Before long, we came across a single ray of light shining down. Where is this? Inside the enormous cave, there was a hole in the ceiling that gave way to starlight. This ce was the only ce inside this cave that had light. Iid myself down underneath the hole to bask in the light that was under the monopoly of this room. There was a time when I lived here due to some circumstances and reasons. Back then, I had to hide myself but that was when I came across this fabulous ce. I wanted to show this to you since we were here. Lie down, I suggested as Hua carefullyid herself down on top of the mat. I rmended my arm as a pillow like I had done a few times already, and she did not refuse the offer. When weid down on the ground, we could see several stars through the small hole of the cave. Theke of stars inside the hole was much smaller than the ocean of stars you would be able to see outside. Small. Hua seemed to have thought the same thing and gave her honest review. It is. You would be able to see a lot more stars outside. Then why? Sometimes, I think this to myself. As great as it is to share something beautiful with everyone else, sometimes I want to keep that all for myself. Nature belongs to everyone. I had no ns of refuting that, but was it so bad to think about being a little selfish? The people viewing stars outside gaze up at the broad space without even knowing what they are looking at. But right now, we are only looking at the stars that are filling up that tiny hole. We were the ones monopolizing those stars. We were the only ones gazing at those stars that filled up a small andpact area, which no one else in the world even knew of. Only us? As if she was intrigued by my idea, she followed the end of my finger when I pointed off into the distance. Its ours. Ours Perhaps it might be a severely selfish interpretation, but this had left quite a deep impression in my mind, even in thest iteration. All I hoped for was that this moment would be left behind in Huas mind as a memory worth revisiting, just like how it had been for me. For a long time, her crimson eyes were focused on the stars above while I looked at the side profile of her face. In her immersion, her eyes reflected the stars and sparkled like gems. The stars that were inside her eyes, which were even smaller than the tiny hole of the cave, were extremely close. The moment I realized that those stars were so close that she could feel my breath Kuhum. I cleared my throat as I continued gazing at the little artwork. Right now, I was the only one here; I was the one monopolizing the artwork called Hua Ran. For a very short moment perhaps one that barelysted for three seconds I continued that one-sided exchange. Whats wrong? Hua turned around after sensing my gaze which unfortunately put an end to that exchange. Nothing. Looking away from her eyes, I turned back to the sky as Hua soon followed suit. For quite some time, we silently gazed at the sky and focused our eyes on the stars that were ours and ours alone. The wide room of the cave, which amplified even the softest of whispers, remained silent for a very long time. Chapter 173: Summer and With It, Trouble (5) Chapter 173: Summer and With It, Trouble (5) Trantor: RainTL
Summer and With It, Trouble(5) -Thump Her heart skipped a beat. She couldnt feel anything else neither the beautiful scent of flowers nor the refreshing breeze of the dark cave and the buzzing cicadas. Her entire mind was focused on the man right next to her. Just the mere fact that she was next to him gave her joy. Her heart was beating so fast that it was feeling strenuous, and she felt like she was in a foggy dream. However Hua was happy. It was rxing and peaceful. Yet, all things muste to an end. Huu~. That was fun. Its a bit of a shame that we had to have dinner inside the garden though. Arriving in front of the hotel by carriage, they got off onto the dark streets. Did you enjoy the day, mydy? Korin asked with a grin as he reached out for her hand. Hua shyly whispered a soft reply. Nn It was really, really fun. She didnt know why but it was still a very enjoyable day for her. And you? she asked. Hnn? Was it fun? That question immediately put a smile on Korins face. Seemingly happy at the fact that the jiangshi girl, who used to be indifferent to the feelings of others, was now asking about another persons experience. Korin replied with a smile. Yeah. Today was fun. Really? It would be a great idea to go outside with everyone. We should bring along Alicia and Senior Marie next time. I knew Oppa would say something like that. Ran heaved a sigh and grumbled aint, but unlike her, Hua wasnt disappointed. She was simr to Korin in the sense that they were dense and slow to understand things that werent spelled out, so all Hua thought was that Korin must have considered this as an outing of friends because she didnt specify it enough. Now that Hua was fully aware of her feelings, she poured out 100% of her honest feelings. When I see you, my face turns hot. But I feelfortable when Im with you. My heart races when you touch me. Its hard to touch but I still want to be next to you. And when I see you with other girls I feel upset. She revealed her honest thoughts without a single lie. Following that was the conclusion she hade to. I think I like you. The girl straight-forwardly confessed that she was in love. What came after that was something extremely sudden and impulsive. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she stood on her toes to decrease the gap in height. Huh? Just like that, she kissed him on his lips. Korin, on the other hand, was frozen stiff like a statue with his eyes wide open. After the short yet seemingly long kiss, her feet came back down to the ground. Sorry. With her lips now wet, Hua looked up at him and gave a curt apology. Did that make you feel bad? she asked. N, no. Not at all Korin nkly replied with his eyes wide open, for he hadnt expected Hua, of all people, to suddenly do something like that. Hua, however, seemed embarrassed yet rather satisfied by her own impulsive action. I think it felt good. The corners of her lips pointed up as her eyes came nting down into a crescent. It was a smile an enormous improvement from her previous apathy. W, wait. Hua! Hello, its Ran now. They changed ces in the blink of an eye. Thinking of her sister who hid behind her due to an explosive surge of embarrassment, the blue-eyed girl smiled. She had to muster up a looot of courage. Didnt such a straightforward confession suit Hua quite well? Right. Korin appeared surprised by the fact that he was now being loved by both of the sisters. Ran wondered whether she should continue the confession that Hua started, but decided not to. She decided to dedicate today to Hua, and only take a little bit ofmission in the process. Oppa. Can you lower your back for a minute? Huh? O, okay Unlike Hua, who wrapped her arms around his neck and forced him to bring his body down, Ran asked Korin to bend his back to match his line of sight with hers. Ran could have done an abrupt kiss like Hua but she didnt want to do the same thing as her sister. Even though they were sharing the same body, she thought that things like this had to be done in a different manner, precisely because they shared one body. While Korin stood there nervously, Ran brought her lips to his ears and whispered in a ticklish voice. We are sisters so if you do it with Hua, you have to do it with Ran as well. Huh? She then gently bit on his earlobes. Even though it didnt hurt in the slightest, Korin was about to stand back up from that sudden and daring move, but Ran moved before he did. You have to equally love us both, okay? Ran smiled after wrapping her arms around his neck. Then, slowly but surely, at a speed that would leave behind a strong impression she aligned her lips with his, which had previously been wetted by her sisters lips. After that short yet memorable kiss Please dream about us tonight. Ran chuckled with blushing cheeks. She then walked away in satisfaction, leaving behind the agitated and clueless Korin. She hopped back in joy. Her feet were clearly as light as a feather. Uhh Korin nkly stood there as he watched the ck-haired girl dance into the hotel like a butterfly. bbergasted by the unbelievable turn of events, he stood there for a while beforeing to his senses. Huh? Huhh? Without going after the girl who was now in the main lobby of the hotel, he ced his hands over his face. T, this is not good for the heart, guys Marie, Ran, and now Hua Unable to support his weight, his legs gave in. Meanwhile, oblivious to Korin, there was someone near the windows of the 12th floor of the hotel, gazing down at him. Those eyes did not leave him until he was out of sight. *** Oh right, Oppa. You have toe to our academy, so keep that in mind. That was on a certain weekend afternoon. O my dear beloved sister, Sia Lork. Dont you think itsmon sense to talk about the context before you say that and ask for my opinion? O my dear beloved brother, Korin Lork. Do you think your opinion matters? Say that again, you little shit? I thought about giving her a punch, but it might be troublesome if I, a top-tier knight, were to punch my sister who was a normal civilian, so I scrapped the idea. Pufhp! That was when my damned sister let out a scoff. You are asking to get punched right now, arent you? Try it then. I know you cant hit me. I might die if you punch me, you know? she added. Fuu Damn it. Yellow card for you. I stopped you from being smacked and chased out of the house by Dad, shouldnt that offset it? Damn it! I will let you off just this once! Right when that short skit on the boring summer afternoon was about toe to an end Oh right, Oppa. Did something happen between you and that sister? Huh?! Hnn? Why are you asking that? You look very sus. Nothing happened okkwey! Stop jumping to conclusions! Alright, alright, Sia replied with an irritating look on her face. Dang it That reminded me of the date I had with Hua a few days ago. I could still vividly remember the kiss. I think I like you. You have to equally love us both, okay? Fuu As expected of sisters. Even though they werepletely different types of people, both of them were gifted at ying with a mans emotions So something did happen! Right!? Right? Shut up Anyway, what is this thing about the academy? Youre super famous now, arent you? My friends wanted to see you. Your female friends? She looked at me like I was a piece of scum. That in itself was nothing new but what was it this time? Oppa, do you still want to date more girls? W, what does that even mean? There were three of them on that day, werent there? Mhmm! We are not in that kind of rtionship yet. Marie, Ran, and Hua Huu three is a bit too many, isnt it? Ah, I mean four and not three. That sister has a split personality, right? Oh, and is that cute puppy-looking girl also one of them? Huh? What are you talking about, my dear sister? What kind of misunderstanding is this? Anyway, our professor also wanted to know if you coulde for a short job introduction. Maybe as a one-day instructor or something. I thought it was only in primary schools that kids brought in their family to talk about professions. We live normal lives, okay? Everyone has this fantasy about guardians. Hmm fair enough. So all I need to do is go there and show off, yeah? It sounded like it would be a shame to go by myself. Going around, I asked if anyone had time and noticed that Alicia was the only one who was free on that day. Ah, m, me? I, I can! I dont have any ns on that day! Ahaha For some reason, Alicia had an awkward smile on her face and couldnt make eye contact with me. In any case, it was decided that Alicia and I would be visiting the Royal Academy together. *** Guardians in this world were the target of admiration and respect. Because they were superhumans that far exceeded the imaginations of normal people, any one of them could make a living, even from doing something as simple as chores. Medium-graded guardians were usually able to find jobs as garrison captains post-retirement. As for the higher guardians above Grade 2, their names would be recorded at least once in the Guardians magazines, which had the most number of subscribers in the entire Kingdom. Korin Lork and Alicia Arden. The names of the two of us were widely spread during the past year as two of the greatest rising stars of the time. It was nothing unusual since I was someone who went up from Grade 5 to Grade 1 and was the master of the Guardians Guild that made significant contributions in the operation to save Saintess Estelle. As for Alicia, she was one of the sessor candidates of the renowned Arden household and a skilled veteran who was promoted to Grade 1 before finishing off her first year. At this point, it was practically without a doubt that the two of us would eventually be semi-Unique Grade, and we were therefore one of the most famous guardians of the Kingdom. There are some knights that have kindly visited us today. One of them is Student Sias brother The professor started notifying the students of our visit inside the lecture room while Alicia and I waited outside the entrance. Huu Mr. Korin, I really hope nothing goes wrong. Well, itll be fine. We just have to introduce ourselves, answer a few questions, and liven up the mood. How do you do that? You just do it. Its nothing hard. Then let me introduce them to you. Grade 1 Knights Korin Lork and Alicia Arden. That was the signal we had promised. Opening the door, we walked in and were met by a thunderous roar of cheers. Waaaahhh! It really is Korin Lork! Sia wasnt lying! Alicia Arden! Captain of the Fifth Sword Squad! Huhuhu. To the students of the normal Royal Academy living normal lives, we were the knights of their dreams celebrities and idols. I might havecked some customer service skills in thest iteration, but it would be different this time. Look at that burning passion in their eyes. It was time for me to crack open my secret stories! Although they were about the same age as us, the difference between guardians and normal students was quite dramatic. They viewed us asplete heroes and objects of admiration and focused on our every move. It was then. I looked up and the Blood Hound, who was the size of an entire mansion, was looking back at me. Its ws were sharper than steel; its hairs were crimson like blood, and its red eyes looked ominous as if it was made by mixing the blood of the worst prisoners of hell. The hound growled and tried to threaten me. It wanted to devour the tiny piece of meat in front of its eyes. There was no turning back, and only a small distance existed between me and the hound. I had to go forward. -Gulp! I could feel the hairs of my skin turning stiff, and all of my senses were focused on the dog. It happened in the blink of an eye. The hound pounced at me! Oh no! Be careful! The hound was enormous like a giant piece of rock, but I took heart. I ran towards the monster; the smell of blood seeped into my lungs and the violent storm fuzzed up my vision but my mind remained clear and in my hands was the unwavering spear. That was the decider. Huaah Thats amazing. Thats all real, right? Of course it is. Hes the one that killed the King of Iron Mountain as well. Technically, that was Alicia Arden. But what about the Tower of Mages? My fight with Doggo Kim, who was 3 minutes old at the time, was received exceptionally well by the students. That wasnt really surprising since it was their first time hearing the story from the actual knight that was involved, after reading it from a newspaper article. Well, I did spice things up here and there, but most of the story was true. I was about to end it there when a female student sitting next to Sia on the third row from the back shot her hand up into the air. That was Sias friend, Jenna, if I recall correctly. Sir Korin! Are you dating anyone right now! Ah~ of course. I was expecting a question like this toe because I had received the exact same question in thest iteration. Back then, I had Lady Miru so I glossed over it but not anymore. Currently looking for girlfriends! What about you, Miss Jenna? Any thoughts? OHHH! Date! Date! Date! Hmm~. What a nice response. Now thats what I expect from young teenagers! Eht I turned around after hearing a strange mutter and saw Alicia flinch. She was stealing nces at me cautiously in a suspicious manner. Whats wrong? Heh? N, nothing. Uhh, youre not dating? What was that? Her voice dropped off towards the end and I didnt hear what she said. What was going on with her right now? I whispered to her in a voice that wouldnt reach the crowd. Someone might ask you the same question, so think about what you want to say beforehand. They would probably even ask you to date them, so maybe you should think about that too, I jested. Umm Hearing my advice, Alicia lifted her head and looked straight into my eyes. She then tilted her head and asked. Why would I date someone other than Mr. Korin? The sun was dazzling through the windows of the lecture room, brightening up the faint smile on her face. It took 3 seconds of silence until I or rather we understood what she said, and Huh? Ah. Alicia covered her mouth with an expression that seemed to be saying, Oops, as a pink flower started to bloom on her cheeks. Chapter 174: Summer and With It, Trouble (6) ? Summer and With It, Trouble (6) ? After the one-off lecture, we headed to the academy cafeteria for a meal. As expected of the Royal Academy, the meals were of a spectacr quality and from what I heard on the way, it seemed that the Royal Academy was also getting supplies from the Dunareff Family. ¡°Oppa! I¡¯m going to hang out with my friends, so you two can go back without me!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± My sister was gone and we continued awkwardly sipping on our coffees inside an academy cafe. ¡ºWhy would I date someone other than Mr. Korin?¡» What she said back at the lecture room kepting back to the surface of my mind. There was no way that I couldn¡¯t understand what she meant by that. I¡¯m quite quick-witted when ites to things like this, aren¡¯t I? Thanks to my sharp mind, I was easily able to deduce that Alicia was harboring feelings for me. ¡°Umm¡­ Alicia?¡± ¡°Yepp! Huft! Ye¡ª cough cough!¡± She replied while coughing out her coffee. Judging from how she had been nervously stealing nces at me, it appeared that she was quite agitated by her own unconscious remark. ¡°Fuu¡­ What you said back then¡­¡± ¡°Sorry?! What? Me? What did I say?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Alicia shouted out loud, trying to erase what had happened from her memories. She was constantly trying to deny it, so I decided to shift the topic. ¡°Do you want to go training?¡± First off, we had to do something about this awkward atmosphere. *** The 6-star hotel from the Dunareff Franchise that Marie rented out was currently hosting most of the members of Korin Guardians. Except for Alicia and I who had houses inside the capital, it was acting as the temporary home for Marie, Hua Ran¡­ and other official members such as Dorron and Kranel, as well as the unofficial ones such as the Arden Sword Squad elites, and the Warsky mercenaries. Including the attendants for the Dunareff Dukedom and the Arden household, more than 600 people were staying at the hotel. As expected of the only 6-star hotel in the capital, the Dunareff Hotel was equipped with phenomenal facilities and a size that could amodate all 600 of them with ease. ¡°Huu¡­ It¡¯s empty.¡± Alicia and I headed into the renovated gym inside the hotel. It was one of the facilities that was revamped by the servants who we caught from the Tower of Mages, in preparation for the Korin Guardian¡¯s group event. ¡°People should being in soon.¡± The royal banquet was nned to be held in three days. It was likely that the hotel would start bustling with people starting from tomorrow. ¡°Let¡¯s start off slow.¡± I was going to stay here tomorrow and for the foreseeable future after that, so I decided to have a small practice duel with Alicia for starters. ¡°I, I¡¯m ready.¡± ¡°Right.¡± -Swish! The first attack was a stab of the Ominous Snake. The Ominous Snake wasn¡¯t the fastest stab in my arsenal. In fact, it was one of the slower ones for a spear, but¡­ ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± It had in itself a tricky and shy style that made even Alicia react half a secondte, despite her numerous practices against it. The slithering snake did not move in a straight line, hence the difficulty in blocking it. -Kang! But Alicia was also an elite swordsman in her own right, and a prodigy acknowledged by the Sword Emperor. As someone innately born to be a fiend of swords, she saw through the difficult paths of the Ominous Snake and retaliated in a sh. Deflecting the spear, she struck down with the sword, to which I responded with the principles of Lan. By slightly shifting the trajectory of the iing attack, I spun the shaft of the spear to immediately take the upper edge. Like mas intertwined, the opposing sword was naturally pushed down toward the ground by the spear, passing the initiative over to me. After parrying the enemy¡¯s attack ¨C Lan ¨C and suppressing the weapon ¨C Na ¨C I followed through with a stab ¨C Zha. Lan Na Zha. Alicia had to somehow react to the practice spear that wasing straight at her chest, but it was toote for her to retrieve the sword. What was she going to do now? ¡°¡­!¡± She dodged the spear by bending her back with a sudden twist. Those moves made her look more like a beast than a human, but she didn¡¯t end it there and used the momentum of the spin to support her counter-attack. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Her moves weren¡¯t exquisite but were rapid and intuitive. ¡°Let¡¯s up the ante a little.¡± Our practice duel became more extreme ¨C the attacks became much faster and much stronger. ¡°Hu¡­!¡± Alicia took a deep breath in and parried my spear with her sword. That was when I saw that she wasn¡¯t breathing any of that out. -Kang! The edge of her sword came straight towards my hand that was carrying the spear. Aftering to the decision that she couldn¡¯t beat me in a medium-distance battle, she pounced, aiming for close-quartersbat. -Kaang! Kagang! If this wasst year, I would have dominated her. That was how big of a discrepancy there was between me and her, and I also had the experience of going against the otherworldly powerhouses of this world. However, now that she had passed through the Sword Challenge of the Ardens and defeated the Sword Fiend in the process of acquiring iomh Sis, she had grown so much that she couldn¡¯t bepared to how she was in the game. ¡°Slow.¡± She remarked. -Kwaang! The rampaging sword pushed back my spear, as well as myself, with an overwhelming force¡­ It felt like my bare body was being bombarded by aura. ¡°Huuu¡­¡± Now that there was some distance between us, I stopped for a second to gaze at Alicia and found a sword fiend looking back at me with a nk look in her eyes. It was one of the unique traits of her style of being bewitched by the sword. Even though it was a practice duel, someone weaker than me might die if they were up against her. ¡®Actually maybe not.¡¯ Actually, that might not be the case because most wouldn¡¯t even be able to provoke Alicia into that state unless they were as strong as me in the first ce. In any case, Alicia was currently in a selfless and mindless state. The fight against the named boss, Sword Fiend, had allowed her to reach a level further beyond. ¡®Do we stop here? No, I suppose there¡¯s no style in that.¡¯ As a warrior and a knight, I couldn¡¯t jump into icy water even though my body was just starting to get heated up. I readied myself to burst out the built-up heat and energy into one attack. -KAAANG!! The weapons screeched out in pain as the heat dispersed with that single sh. ¡°Huu¡­¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡± Alicia and I lowered our weapons after taking deep ragged breaths. These days, it was getting more and moremon for us to stop our practice duels in this manner. ¡°We can¡¯t¡­ go anymore, can we?¡± she asked. ¡°One of us might die if we go any further, so no.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ Don¡¯t want that either.¡± We were using mock weapons with non-lethalizing spells cast on them, so there was no threat to our lives for now but¡­ ¡°Hey. There¡¯s a cut on your arm.¡± ¡°Aht? Uaahk?!¡± Alicia jumped on the spot after noticing the cut on her right arm. There was also a sh on my shoulder but that didn¡¯t mean much for me. ¡°This is unfair. You¡¯ll regenerate that soon anyway, right Mr. Korin?¡± ¡°You have a potion. Just take that.¡± ¡°Hing¡­¡± She took out a potion while I headed to the first-aid box to grab some bandages. It seemed we wouldn¡¯t be able to have any more duels in theing days at this rate. ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± I was wrapping the bandage around her arm when Alicia let out a sudden moan. I realized that I could smell her hair which was drenched in sweat and feel her breath. Until now¡­ I had never been this conscious around Alicia even when we got close but¡­ ¡°Mr. Korin. You smell sweaty.¡± ¡°¡­Says you.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± She suddenly stood up from the ground before I was even done with the bandages. ¡°L, let me go take a shower!¡± ¡°What?¡± Alicia then dashed towards the bathroom. Was she¡­ going to be okay? If you wash your body immediately after getting cut¡­ -OUCH! Her deafening scream echoed all the way out from the female bathroom. *** Alicia had to wrap new bandages after washing her sweat off. ¡°Ughh¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s your fault for taking a shower after getting cut.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± She whined with a sorrowful look on her face. Something I felt from time to time was that she was the type of person to sometimes do things without thinking them through. ¡ºWhy would I date someone other than Mr. Korin?¡» What she said back then in the lecture room was one example out of the many I could list. Alicia slowly opened her lips. ¡°Actually¡­ I saw you and Ms. Hua Ran in front of the hotel¡­¡± That must have been the reason why she was feeling down these days. ¡°Are you dating her?¡± she asked. ¡°No. Not yet¡­¡± ¡°What about Senior Marie?¡± ¡°Not yet¡­¡± ¡°Then¡­ It doesn¡¯t matter, right?¡± Alicia held my hands with a violent surge of desire in her eyes. She then nonchntly dropped off a shocking statement. ¡°Not that I care either way.¡± What do you mean by that¡­? What happened next came in a sh before I could even voice out that question. ¡°Mhmm¡­?!¡± She suddenlyid her hands on my shoulder and pushed down to match our line of sight, as her blue eyes started scanning through me. Her eyes were looking directly into my eyes. It was pressuring but I couldn¡¯t turn my eyes away from her, and her blushing skin gave off an alluring scent. Then, she pressed her lips onto mine. Our lips wereid on top of one another. Unlike my coarse and blistered lips, Alicia¡¯s were soft and warm. There was even more to it than the sudden and unexpected attack. Before I could even react to her unhesitant march, something prated my lips. ¡°?!!¡± The sudden intruder threatened to go further by scrubbing past the teeth. The softest of spears tickled the lower gum, but as if discontent by the tough and resilient castle gates that refused to let it in, she gently bit my lower lip. A soft yet coercive whisper. In the end, the gates failed and the fortress fell before temptation as the intruder started to ravage around the inside. It roamed around awkwardly and simply, not knowing what to do, but it was nheless the sweetest feeling in the entire world. Without the need to voice it out loud, we noticed how pleasant it had been to the both of us as soon as we unwillingly parted our lips. ¡°Haa¡­¡± Letting out a ragged breath and with an undisguisable blush on her cheeks, Alicia said while giving a passionate gaze. ¡°I like you.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Ever since you fought against Unni for me, and ever since we watched the moon at the secretnd of the druids¡­ for the entire time¡­ I¡¯ve loved you.¡± Alicia said with a wide smile that even made her appear like a fool. It was such an innocent and pure smile and a straightforward flood of emotions. ¡°Alicia, I-¡± She pressed her lips onto mine one more time before hearing me speak. After persistently sucking on my lower lips, she then started tasting my upper lips. She forced my teeth open, pushed her tongue inside, and ravaged until the sound of saliva reached our ears. Like a baby bird asking its mother for food, she desperately persisted. Unlike the innocent and simple kiss I had with Hua and Ran, this felt like I was being devoured by a beast. Despite our lips parting after that long and deep kiss, our saliva refused to let go of each other and created a silver string between us. ¡°Mr. Korin.¡± Alicia whispered, tickling my ears with her voice. Her flushed cheeks and her smile made her appear extremely enchanting. ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Only after pouring out her feelings in both action and words did her rampagee to an end. ¡°U, uah¡­¡± However, soon after, Alicia seemed to realize everything she had done. ¡°Auh¡­ Ahh¡­!¡± Her decisive proactiveness and her heated gaze were long gone ¨C she crumbled on the spot regretting her boldness. ¡°¡­Why did you do it in the first ce if you were going to be like that?¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ Y, you don¡¯t have to remind me that, okay?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­Can I hear your answer?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Sorry. Right now, I cannot go out with anyone.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ I know. You have to first deal with fighting Valtazar and all that stuff, right?¡± ¡°¡­Yeah.¡± Ran confessed to me; Marie and Hua whispered love but I could not ept any of their feelings. There was something I had to do and no one knew what would happen in the process. If I were to die during the fight¡­ things might go out of hand. I had gone back in time once, but there was no guarantee that I would be able to go back in time again after another defeat. Most importantly¡­ ¡º¡­I love you. Sorry¡­ for saying that sote. I love you. I really love you, Korin.¡» Being separated by death was more painful than what anyone could expect. The guilt of being unable to save your loved onested a very long time. That wasn¡¯t something that could be ovee and was¡­ something that just had to be buried down and endured. Unlike me, these girls had no likelihood of being given another chance. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡­ somewhat knew this would be the case.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°By the way, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± Alicia suddenly brought her face closer to mine. Her face was so close that I became nervous whether she was going to force her lips on mine once again but instead, she simply gave a wide and bashful smile. ¡°You see¡­ if you want to, I don¡¯t mind you going out with other girls, you know?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I like it because it feels like I would be getting more sisters. Yeah¡­ a hundred-people-family including kids¡­ We would need a big house!¡± ¡°W, wait¡­ what? Hundred people?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to bear 13 children, so we would fill up 100 in a sh, right?¡± As I previously thought¡­ there was something severely off about Alicia¡¯s view on marriage¡­ *** ¡°Oppa. Did something happen between you and Alicia-unni?¡± ¡°Huh? Nn? What? No!?¡± Sia, who was oddly quick at reading between the lines, mumbled with a worrisome look on her face. ¡°Will you be alright, Oppa? I wonder, will you be able to stay alive in the future?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She voiced her pure and honest concern. Huu¡­ I was actually starting to wonder the same thing as ofte. ¡°Be careful. You might be worn out by the age of 30 at this rate.¡± ¡°K, kuhum¡­ You wouldn¡¯t know this, but actually, there won¡¯t be any problems in that regard¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m saying, you idiot!¡± I could have dodged the pillow she threw but I intentionally remained standing there. I deserved to be hit¡­ ¡°Haa¡­ four people, huh¡­?¡± When did it go up so much? Why are there so many in this iteration? Ending up with one person wasn¡¯t the end of all problems either. Even if I did go out with someone, the future ahead wasn¡¯t clear. After clearing the scenario, I might be given the choice of going back to Earth. Some existence must have brought the yer into this world, so there must be a way to return us back to Earth at the end. When that timees¡­ what am I supposed to choose? *** Before the start of the banquet to congratte the victory against the Tower of Mages and the safe rescue of the Saintess, we had to stay in the waiting rooms of the Royal Pce until we received our Greatest Achievement Award. Marie was allocated to a personal room due to her status as a youngdy of a dukedom. That was nothing new, but unexpectedly enough, I was also considered a noble and was given a personal room as well as a maid. ¡°Would this be enough?¡± ¡°Ah, thank you so much.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t be, Sir Baron Lork.¡± The royal maid, who was just done tidying up my hair, replied in an extremely polite manner. Baron Lork. Although it wasn¡¯t a hereditary peerage, it was already a few months back that I was appointed as a vassal of the Dunareff Dukedom. It was something Marie desperately wanted to give and half-forced onto me, but thanks to that, I was being treated as a noble in the pce. My family was shocked when they first heard that, even though I hadn¡¯t even told them about me bing a Grade 1 JP yet¡­ ¡°Ehew¡­¡± Whatever. What¡¯s good is good. For the uing scenarios at the end of the holiday, the main story was going to be heavily influenced by peerage¡­ especially the status of being a Justice of the Peace. It might seem like I was leeching off of a girl, but¡­ -Knock knock! I was in the middle of getting ready for the conferment ceremony, which was going to be done in front of His Majesty and the nobles when someone knocked on the door. -Sir Baron Lork. Her Highness, Estelle Hadassa El Rath, hase over. A female voice echoed from outside, which appeared to be that of a maid. It was a sudden visit from Estelle, but I asked the Maid-noonim inside the room to help me open the door for her. Soon, the door opened, and walking in was none other than the real Princess Estelle. ¡°Korin-dongsaeng¡­¡± She looked miserable like a puppy out in the rain¡­ as she looked at me while on the verge of tears. ¡°What do I¡­ do?¡± Right, she finally knew the truth. I instinctively realized that the trouble from the kidnapping incident of the Saintess had yet to end. Chapter 175: Puzzle Pieces (1) Chapter 175: Puzzle Pieces (1) Trantor: RainTL
Puzzle Pieces (1) The investigation wasnt going anywhere. Immediately after the fall of the Tower of Mages, Estelle began searching all over her faction. There was a traitor inside the Order who created an item to seal her sacred energy, so she was eager to find and personally interrogate the rat that betrayed their faith and passed the Saintess over to the mages. Saintess. Priest Morrison, who was due to be interrogated today has been found dead. Again? Sincerest apologies, Saintess. All the way from the Inquisition to the lower priests, whenever Estelle was about to investigate them, they were either discovered as a corpse or found to have escaped the Kingdom. Plus, those priests who escaped the Kingdom were highly likely to be dead already. The rat that betrayed her seemed to be of a very high status to make all this happen. It even made her think that it truly must be a cardinal at the very least. When youre carrying out your investigations, go through the cardinals as well. They must at the very least be at that level to take out an item like this for personal use. No. That cant be. Cardinals were people of high faith who had their faith verified, so how could they possibly betray the Saintess who was being blessed by the god? They shouldnt be able to use their sacred energy, which was the proof of their faith if that were to be the case I must see His Holiness. The Saintess was having trouble making ends meet with her status. Now that it was highly likely that a high priest inside the Order was a traitor, she needed the permission of the pope to investigate them. Wee, Saintess Estelle. Estelle went to meet Pope Sicarii, and received a no to her request. That will be impossible, Saintess. Why is that? It is impossible for there to be a traitor among the cardinals. All of them are devout believers who have had their faith verified already. Dont you remember yourself, the Solemnity Day before you were kidnapped? He was right. Every year, there was a festival held at the sacrednd where the high priests volunteered for the sick, and this year, it was held just a few days before she was kidnapped. It was a grand event that involved not only the cardinals but also the Saintess and the pope, where they prayed for and cleansed the sick, the injured, and those possessed by demonic spirits. To Estelles knowledge, there wasnt anyone out of the 18 cardinals who could not use their sacred energy back then. There is not a single question about their faith. He was telling the truth. Her eyes used to seeing through lies, ascertained her that the pope was telling the truth. What happened was very unfortunate, but how can we possibly turn away from the will of god? Again, he was telling the truth. The culprit might be someone from the Old Faith. They too possess a simr technique. Huh? Saintess? N, nothing. Please continue. What was that just then? Estelle pondered on that strange feeling but there were moreing. The cardinals are all innocent. There is not a single high priest, at least inside our Order, who would inflict harm to the Saintess. A lie But we cant say that for sure, right? There might be a hooligan who betrayed their faith to Such a thing is impossible. Truth. Estelle was confused. She was the Saintess chosen by the god her senses exceeded that of a normal person. Her eyes could discern the truth and in turn, detect lies. The pope, who should be at the pinnacle of faith, was letting out a mixture of truth and lies, which was greatly confusing for her. That was why she added another question. It was a daring question asked in hopes of bringing her closer to the truth. Your Holiness. Do you really think there arent any traitors among the cardinals? None. For their faith has been proven by their sacred energy. A lie, followed by a truth. Estelle gripped onto the hems of her skirt. I see. Then I will look into whether there are spies from the Old Faith or not. The person in front of her was lying to her. After realizing that, Estelle controlled her expression and forced herself to float a natural smile. Shouldnt you start heading back to the capital? You can leave the rest to me and take a good rest at the pce. The moment she left the meeting room, Estelle barely held her knees back from failing on her. There was nothing certain; no proof and no logical motive she could think of. However, her innate senses and her intuition the intuition of the so-called chosen child of the god was pointing at one thing. The pope was a traitor. Lord. Suddenly she recalled a memory of the past the time she felt the Divinity of the Sun. Her thoughts that she denied back then were, for some reason, crawling back up to the surface. *** I am in a little bit of trouble. I could immediately tell what that trouble was. After our victory against the Tower of Mages, she had gone back to the Order, vowing to track down the traitors of the New Faith. The reason she was feeling so down must be because she was now somewhat aware of the real truth. We still have time before the banquet, right? Can we talk for a little? Sure. We sat down on the couch. Are things not going well in the west? Is it that easy to tell? Somewhat. I just figured there wouldnt be another trouble for you right now, Your Highness. Huhu. I told you to call me Noona Her voice didnt contain the usual energy. As expected it was going exactly like the original scenario. See this, Junior. Lifting her right hand, she changed the sacred energy in her hand to a ball of light. It was a manifestation of sacred energy, which was as easy as breathing for her. What do you think sacred energy is?, she asked. Isnt it the proof of faith? It was both true and false. Faith and belief the question, however, was in the origin and the source of the power. If sacred energy is the proof of faith, the origin must be the Lord that we believe in, correct? I suppose so? I had no ns of starting a religious debate with priests including her, but that was when an unexpected response came from her. You see, I dont believe in the Lord right now. Actually, I turned away for a moment. What? I saw something else and looked for god from another existence. What did she mean? Even though Estelle was a Delinquent Saintess, she wasnt someone who would betray her god. How could she turn away from her Lord? And yet this sacred energy did not leave me and still remains the same as always. That is probably the same for the traitors that betrayed me. With a serene and calm voice, she denied faith and questioned how she could still possess sacred energy despite denying faith. Isnt it strange? How can non-believers of the Lord still harness sacred energy? She was asking the obvious question, If sacred energy was the proof of faith, shouldnt faithe before sacred energy? Perhaps the god, the Lord is different from what we have been thinking until now. I knew the true answer to this question. In this world, the only beings that could be referred to as gods were the Sky Titans who created the world, and the Danann who decorated and adorned the world into its current state. The ones who had been looking after the world before humanity whom the Goidels had chased out the conceptual beings who had been harboring divinity in thisnd. Danann of Light, Lugh. Danann of the Earth, Dagda. Danann of the Sun, Nuada. Let light chase away the darkness. Let the earth grant a plentiful harvest. Let the sun cleanse all evil. Faith allowed things to happen to the believers, and it was the umtion of such concepts that formed a god in this world. However, the Goidels had chased away the gods; they killed them and rejected them. Thend lost its divinity and became barren. The world became polluted by evil creatures and only after forgetting about the gods that they themself chased away from the world did humans start to believe in the Lord again. Out of countless believers, only the ones with the blood of Danann or titans faintly flowing in their body were able to be enlightened about their talents and be high priests. In the end, the origin of faith was the Divinity of the Danann. That was the hidden mythological story of Heroic Legends of Arhan. The world was bound to be reduced to chaos the moment this was revealed to the public. Even in thest iteration, Park Sihu and I had to think about this for a very long time. What if we revealed the existence of Danann and aimed to crush the religious factions as a result? The problem was that we couldnt spread the belief to the world or prove it, and most importantly The pursuers of Paradise the high priests of the Old and the New Faith were aware of that already. The reason they were still able to use sacred energy despite turning away from the Lord, was because they simply changed the target of their belief from the Lord to the Danann. What are you going to do? I dont know. I am getting all sorts of evidence that proves against what Ive been believing my entire life. Both in the game and thest iteration, Estelle managed to discover the negative sides of the New Faith but never had the time to solve them. Simrly in thest iteration, she somehow discovered the truth about the betrayal of the cardinals and the pope, but could not resolve it until the final battle. If the same were to happen this time around Theres nothing certain, but its worth giving it a shot. Saintess I mean, Estelle-noona. Huh? D, did you call me Noona just then? She asked with widened eyes as if she wasnt actually expecting me to refer to her as that. If she was decently fond of me and if we had indeed formed a bond of trust during our escape Can you spare some time for me at the end of the banquet? Do you know something? Everything is up to you to decide after you see it with your own eyes. Would she ept the truth, I wondered. If she did, then what would her future look like? I had a strange intuition that no matter what action she took in the future, she would not be an enemy. *** The royal banquet began. Countless nobles, knights, and mages were called in, and their peerages, statuses, and regions were all introduced. Korin. Its our turn. Aiya~. I wasnt expecting there would be a day where I get to go into a royal banquet right before the royal family. We were scheduled to enter at the very end, only before the royal family. Kuhum! Be quiet! Cmon, dear. Why are you doing that to our Korin? H, honey?! Duke Marde immediately shrunk after being told off by Duchess Elencia. This old man appeared to be weak to his family. Anyway, as for the reason why I was entering with Marie and the Duke couple Korin can just stay right next to me! We are partners, after all! It was because I was entering as the partner of the youngdy of Dunareff for this banquet. Then shall we link our arms? Everyone seemed to be doing that. Haht! S, shall we? C, cross arms? Right? Thats normal, right? Y, yes! Itsmon for a gentleman to escort thedy after all! Marie said with her cheeks flushed. This was nothing special so I couldnt understand why she was so embarrassed by it. Y, you bastard! How dare you try to pull a move on Mari! I believe its normal to hold hands as the partner, though. Eeeek! Duke Marde looked like a te of metal inside a scorching furnace, but this was normal ording to the etiquette I learned so I remained confident. Oh my, you must have studied hard. Unlike Duke Marde, Duchess Elencia smiled and gave a short p. As expected of our son-inw oh, sorry not yet, right? Honey? Honey?! The duchess continued without caring about her husband. Please take care of Marie. Its her first timeing to a social event with a male partner of her age, you see. K, kuhum Ill keep that in mind. The beautiful duchess who appeared like an older version of Marie, whispered with a cunning smile on her face. By the way, when you go into an odd-numbered resting room on the 2nd floor of the banquet hall, a red lightes up, and it is amon rule to not interfere with the room. Sorry? I, I do know about that as well but why are you telling me this? I visited there often with my husband when we were young. That was where we had Mari- M, mom?! O, ohh How open and explicit. Is this family okay? Whats wrong? Mom wants to be a grandmother now. I had you when I was your age Honey. Please. Please stop there. Im sorry, apologized Duke Marde. Come on Mari is an adult already. Its nothing embarrassing to talk about either, is it? I, I am an adult but Korin still needs another year, okay!? Ah~. Thats okay. Unlikedies, gentlemen are usually more susceptible and epted even if there are obscene rumors about them. Mom! Please! What an incredible family. Personally, I would want to side with the mother. The Dunareff family was carrying out that shocking conversation when a pce attendant walked towards us. Lord Duke Its about time. Kuhum When you are ready. Finally, it was our turn. The Viscount of Crancia, Count of Card Riole, Marquis of Rangol and etc Duke of Dunareff, with 2 million hectares ofnd, 5.6 million hectares of farnd, the protector of 25 cities, 47 mines and 67 farms, Duke Marde Dunareff, and the high knight officially approved by the royal court, the feudal lord of Card Riole, guardian knight of Vanane and the Duchess of Dunareff, Sir Elencia! Long. Why is it so long? Even though they were the so-called Empire of the South, did they always have to go through all those formalities every time? I had been to banquets in thest iteration, and I had heard the introductions of several nobles with long peerages andnds, but it was my first time hearing such a long introduction that took ages to finish. Why was it that this time ah. The Dunareff must have confined themselves to the South after the disappearance of Marie or something. There wasnt any official mention of them after all The attendant then moved on to Maries peerage titles. The Baron of Collon, Count of Mongwol, a semi-Unique Grade guardian approved by the royal court and Baron? Count?, I asked. Kuhum! I inherited them a few years ago ahead of schedule because of taxation Tax deductions, huh? I see. Maries was fairly long as well. etc the oldest daughter of the Dunareff, Great Mage Marie Dunareff and Hoh? Was she even considered a great mage now? Honestly, Marie wasnt at that level yet unless it was solely in regards to destruction but they were probably calling her that to honor the Dunareff family. Anyway, it was my turn after that as the partner. I had a few titles myself, so I was looking forward to the introduction! and her partner, Baron Korin Lork. Right I see how it is. Grade 1 isnt even worth mentioning huh? Ahht Korin, thats weird. Why dont they talk about your guardian status and how youre a Grade 1 JP? Hmph! An introduction of your baron peerage that you got for free is more than enough. Lets go. -SLAP! Ahkk! H, honey? Duke Marde turned around in shock and looked at Duchess Elencia who pped his back It sounded more like a smack though. I cant believe you said that instead of saving your son-inws face. Umm technically Im not a son-inw yet but Without caring about the specifics, Elencia called the gatekeeper who was staring at us with a gaze that seemed to be asking, Why arent they going in yet? You there. Yes? Do it again. Sorry? His face was asking, Do I do the introduction again? but Duchess Elencia remained firm. Introduce, my son-inw, again. Ah, ye, yes madam! I, Im not your son-inw though? A, ahh! A high-grade knight approved by the royal family and! Not like that. Start from him being Maris partner. Ah yes! The PARTNER of Lady Marie Dunareff! And a high-grade knight approved by the royal family, a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace with incredible feats under his name and Only after the embarrassing introduction of the attendant were we finally able to enter the banquet hall. It was incredibly embarrassing after being called the guild master of the best Guardians Guild of the entire universe, and Duke Marde also had a disgruntled look on his face after getting pped due to acting childish against his daughters boyfriend. Both Duke Marde and I had rotten looks on our faces but the female leads of the dukedom looked incredibly satisfied instead. Now that is my son-inw. A, ahht M, mom. Dont say that Hes not the son-inw yet~. Hehe Watching the two of them walk down the red carpet with a proud countenance, Duke Marde and I remained silent for a while until I broke the silence. Shall we grab a drinkter on, Father? I am not your father. In any case, we were finally at the royal banquet. It wasnt a bad feeling to receive the spotlight and have all your achievements acknowledged and be named as an official hero of the kingdom. I entered the banquet hall with my arms crossed with Maries and found a familiar-looking beauty wearing an alluring ck dress chatting with the person next to her. Renya ire. She was one of the members of our guild and an executive of the Intelligence Guild. The person she was talking to was ady wearing a dress that appeared simple at a nce. That person was none other than the Grade 4 government official of the kingdom, Ednar. Her true identity was that of an SM Queen in control of the dark side of the capital. There were two people who tried to assault me in thest iteration. One of them seeded and the other failed. Ednar was the one who failed. Chapter 176: Puzzle Pieces (2) Chapter 176: Puzzle Pieces (2) Trantor: RainTL
Puzzle Pieces (2) Banquets were exclusive to nobles. Simply put, it was one of the few ces where nobles, in the midst of their decline, were able to show off and save face. Feudal lords were no longer as powerful as they were in the past, and being an official of the central government became the primary objective of everyone, which was why the royal family often held these banquets to appease their desire to meet others and show themselves off. From where? Ah, that peasant district, huh? From the East. Tch! Go look for my men by tomorrow. The road management team seems to have caught sight of a demonic beast. It wasmonce in games, was it not? Do this, do that, grab some herbs from the nearby hill, kill 100 demonic beasts Why the hell did these stupid NPCs treat national heroes like subcontractors? Park Sihu and I understood the reasoning behind this only after experiencing these nobles first-hand in thest iteration. Whether it be superhuman knights, mages, or national heroes, peasants were peasants and the yer was considered a barbarian from an unknown territory. Although the peerage system in this world was in decline, it wasnt gone just yet and no one looked at us favorably. They treated us like upstart peasants in thest iteration but Lord Lork. I am Baron Belver, a Grade 3 administrative officer of the royal court. If you do not mind, I would love to invite you to the Baron Club Count Poitie here. What a perfect pair you two make! Justice of the Peace, was it? Thats a magnificent post. If you happen to visit the Lopital region, please doe for a visit. Seriously It seemed that having the peerage of a baron was incredibly different from being without one. Actually, even this probably wasnt much in their eyes because it wasnt a hereditary title. The real reason they were being so amicable was probably Ah, hello. Lopital? I think Ive been there with my family once. Wow, Baron Club? My youngest brother is going to be inheriting the peerage of a baron very soon, so I will definitely send him there. There were a lot a bunch of flies going after Marie, the oldest daughter of the Dunareff Dukedom. They probably found it difficult to talk directly to a youngdy as male nobles, and their desire to create a connection with Marie through me was incredibly apparent. I wasnt very experienced in this field, so Marie stepped up and took care of all of them with ease. Fuu Heres some water. Nn? Thanks. She was busy dealing with the flood of nobles so I handed her a ss of water. You know, most people bring wine when they do that. Must be a shrewd little guy. Be careful of those people. Of course. I would have taken it anytime if it was from you though, Korin. Marie said with a suggestive tone and smile. Please dont provoke this Oppa too much. Be careful otherwise Its not very different from the time when I was at your house, Senior. Actually, it might be even worse. Nn. Its rare for our family toe up to the royal capital so thats why. Ive also only been here once for my debutante. Just like the banquet back in the South, she was at the center of everyones attention. I didnt see this in thest iteration because the Dunareff stayed inside their territory, but this proved just how influential they were. More importantly, Korin, dont you have somewhere to go? How did you know? Youve been throwing nces a few times already. Theres someone you need to meet, right? She appeared to have seen me stealing nces at Renya ire and Ednar. I felt sorry for being a bad partner but it couldnt be helped Quick. You cant keep that beautifuldy waiting. This was definitely a sign that I shouldnt go there right? Seeing my feete to a stop, Marie immediately loosened the tension on her face. Hehe, Im joking. Thats the person from the Intelligence Guild that you introduced to usst time, right? Dont worry about me. Ill make it quick. Okayyy~. She smiled while taking a sip from the ss of water that I gave her. For some reason, she seemed to be in a good mood today. There was a meeting ce that Renya and I had decided on beforehand it was the resting room, Room 2103 on the second floor of the banquet hall. By the way, when you go into an odd-numbered resting room on the 2nd floor of the banquet hall, a red lightes up, and it is amon rule to not interfere with the room. Kuhum It was a coincidence. I havent used this ce before Well, maybe a few times, but I was here for the secret discussion with Ednar, and nothing fishy. -Knock knock! The moment I knocked on the door of Room 2103, I was met with the beautiful voice of my acquaintance. -Drift?1TL Note: *Drift: In Korean novels, it tends to refer to plot drifts or sudden changes in genre. Ie. from romance to NTR, or sudden BL drift (Speaking of BL, BL is Boys Love, and hence the following countersign, Boys Not Love) Go to hell. -Boys? Not Love. -Click! The door clicked open from the inside after a set of countersigns. Wee, Boss. The executive of the Intelligence Guild who was now one of the top members of the guild, Renya ire, weed me in her dress. Looks good. How about you dress up like that all the time? Attracts too many bugs so that would be troublesome. Renya was a tall beauty and looked beautiful when she dressed herself up, but was still a normalmoner. She was invited to the banquet for being a member of the Korin Guardians guild but was probably being looked down on for being amoner, just like me from thest iteration. Are you the guild master of Korin Guardians? Grade 4 Officer Ednar. She was a youngdy with red hair wearingrge sses, who appeared just like an average government official. She started shivering before me and lookedpletely like a normal person. W, why would an esteemed guild master such as yourself look for someone like me Lets cut to the chase without wasting our time. Theres nothing in it for either of us to stay here for too long. W, what do you mean She still wasnt showing her true self. Her acting skills were astonishing, to say the least, but I knew of her true nature. Ednar the Leopardess, was it? Her face turned stiff for a split second, but she quickly regained her mask before long. She probably wasnt sure about what I was trying to get. Was I referring to Ednar the Leopardess of the SM world? Or was I hinting at something bigger? Ednar. She was a normal low-end officer of the Kingdom but that was her disguise. Her identity was that of the Queen of Night, infamous for what she did at night but Even that was a disguise. Ednar Illusan. The Queen of Cats. How is it? Is this enough for us to reveal our hands now? H, how did you find out? Still stuttering, huh? She had yet to fully remove her mask. Last autumn, the secret sexual preferences of you and the higher-ranked officials were almost exposed, and there was someone from the Intelligence Guild that warned you beforehand, right? Miss Renya ire. Ednar muttered while turning her eyes to the ck-haired beauty next to her, who returned a wave with a faint smile. One of the important pieces of information I told Renyast year to increase her contribution included the story of Ednar. An SM Queen in control of countless higher-ranked government officials. If that were to be exposed to the public, it would have resulted in a massive scandal and a great impact on the social power bnce of the Kingdom. The reason for that was obvious. Who would be happy to find out that their superior had a special sexual orientation where they loved being whipped and squealing like a pig? More important than the gazes of ridicule and disgust that they would have to ovee, it was difficult to imagine that they would be able to keep their post after that. In fact, after obtaining the information from Renya, the Intelligence Guild had tried to work on Ednar. However it resulted in a counter-attack and a massacre. A quick oppression of the executives and ming them for the illegal obtainment of information to send them over to the prison ind. Aiya~, that was pretty good Marquis Matona, Chief of Public Order, Gorgel, And Michelle, the deputy head maid of the 2nd Pce. Those were some of her esteemed customers. Thinking how these bigshots were masochists in a chicken race, trying to do their best in order to get rewarded by the queen was a bit revolting. We do have a slightly special preference, but thats just something we reveal at night. Trying to mess with that made the customers very upset. It wasnt just with your customers help though, was it? W, what do you mean? Anyway, putting that aside, it was thanks to the Intelligence Guild being half-crushed that Renya here was able to grab a position. Whats your position right now? District Leader of the Intelligence Guild. Right below the Guild Master, Boss. Right, and that was more than enough. The high executives of her level had ess to that event, which was what I had been after all along. Ku Shee. Ku Shee the Werewolf. Thats the name you were after, Boss. ! Ednar gave a deep scowl. There was no way that she wouldnt be aware of the value that name had in the Kingdom, and how dangerous it was at the same time. It might not mean anything to most people, but if that name were to reach the ears of someone specific it would most certainly result in an unimaginably enormous bloodbath. That wouldnt be something that Ednar Illusan could handle, as a beastman who already lost dozens of herrades to a brutal massacre. I see. Ku Shee, that motherfucker, huh? That was the name of a beastman who wouldter die in the game in the middle of the bloodbath. Unless I had filtered the information by specifying the time and range, the Intelligence Guild wouldnt have been able to find out that name either. This answered one of my questions from thest iteration. W, what are you guys talking about? I wonder, will you still pretend to be clueless even if I were to tell you that I knew of the location of the vige of Mound, the demi-human union? Mound, the demi-human union formed by several demi-human viges. If she continued pretending to be a fool even after hearing that name, I would congratte her for being so thick-skinned. Tch. Ednar copsed on the sofa along with arge click of her tongue. She took off herrge sses and crushed it with her hand. Stop showing off, young man. Now that she took off her sses and crossed her legs, she gave off a totally different atmosphere. The clueless Grade 4 official was long gone, and recing that was the Queen of Night, who was using just her voice and eyes to add weight to the atmosphere around her. Ednar Illusan a high-ranked executive of Mound, the demi-human union formed to protect themselves from persecution. They were one of the core parties of the 6th Arc, and a part of the swirling storm around Princess Miruam. Korin Lork. A young knight in the 2nd year of the academy, but with skills rivaling that of the Sword Master. Have you looked into me already? Of course. I certainly did look into the yer of the century, who has hit on more than 50 girls in that short time frame. That must be someone else. Even the intelligence of Mound had shorings, it seemed. I could understand up to 4, but 50? That was slightly less than all my female acquaintancesbined. So, what are you going to do? she asked. Send me off to Princess Elizabeth? That lunatic would love to see me. I would have done that already if that was the n. You might have guessed already, but I want information about Ku Shee. I want his details. Impossible. Thats a severe act of treason against the Union. I would rather die by myself. I knew it. I had never looked down on their bond. Considering the connection the persecuted demi-humans had forged together to survive, and considering the price that would be paid by betraying that, it was obvious for her to refrain from betrayal. Thats not how it is, though. What do you mean? Crazy. You You are the craziest human I have ever met. How in the world are you going to take responsibility for that? I gave her a reason and gave her faith. In a form that she would be able to seeter in the future. Why would you go to such lengths? No matter how I see it, theres not enough in it for you. There is only one thing I am after A happy ending. That was the only goal I had in mind until now. Hah, interesting. After hearing everything, she had a different look in her eyes she was looking at me with a smirk. Hmm Didnt she look at me with this same gaze in thest iteration as well? I have a condition though, she said. What is it? Look for me at night. If you let me eat you up for a night and if you can withstand it without changing your mind, I will dly lend you a hand. Damn Not again! For some reason, this woman was so eager to eat me up. Fine. Well, it worked out in thest iteration so it should work out the same. Fufu. I will treat you to a special course. You young little piggy wearing the skin of a wolf. Itll work out, right? Anyway, I managed to obtain two of the three puzzle pieces that I wanted to get. There was only one remaining, and my goal was to acquire that during todays banquet. *** After the secret meeting with Ednar Illusan, I returned to the banquet hall and enjoyed the night. His Majesty! And Her Majesty are now entering the hall! The introduction of the King and the Queen was very simple, unlike the long and fancy introductions of the nobles. It was proof of how the King of the El Rath Kingdom was fond of functional and practical approaches instead of formalities. -Creaakk! The door opened as a middle-aged man and ady wearing a pink dress stepped onto the red carpet. King David Joseph El Rath of the El Rath Kingdom, and the mother of Estelle the 1st Princess, Queen Asher. Following the two of them from behind were the two princesses of the Kingdom. The pink-haired saintess was wearing a white dress, which differed from her usual sacred outfit, and the red-haired princess was wearing her usual dark yet vibrant reddish-ck dress. Both of them gave a smile when our eyes met. The King and the Queen sat down on the highest throne, and the two princesses sat down on the seats that were located a staircase below them. Whether it be a noble or amoner, everyone present got on their knees and quietly listened to the words of the King. Today, A powerful voice, as expected of the King of the dominant Kingdom, echoed through the hall. His shoulders were broad and he was muscr, making him look more like a warrior than a King. We are here tomemorate the safe return of my beloved daughter and the Saintess selected by the Lord from the evil hands of mages. Although this was evidently thanks to the graceful mercy of the Lord, it is likewise thanks to the devout assistance of various guardians. He gave a simple praise to the Lord and continued with a few flowery words. After that, he summoned the ones worthy of a prize, so we kneeled before the stairs leading up to the throne. Marie, Hua Ran, Alicia, Lunia, Master, Lady Josephine, and me. Aside from us, there were also the Warsky Mercenaries and the half-giants that stopped the mages from escaping. All in all, it was everyone in Korin Guardians who monopolized the glory of this battle. First off, Baron Korin Lork. There are many words of gratitude that I must convey to you. I have heard great stories of your actions from my daughter. It is my honor. The 1st contribution award. Park Sihu and I had received that samepliment in thest iteration, and we were the ones who chose the reward and not the King. Baron Lork, o great knight. If you so wish, I will grant you anything you desire. There was a limit to the options that could be chosen in the game, but now that this was the real world, we were able to ask anything of the King. The Kings rewards were endless and vast. We could ask for precious treasures, elixirs of incredible effects, peerages, or even a piece ofnd, and Park Sihu had asked for things he did not have back then. As for me? Well, I took Princess Miruam. To be exact, it was an official proposal I had to make because she was already pregnant back then. However, this time it was different because I was able to keep myself sane from her seduction. Therefore, I was able to ask for thest puzzle piece that would finish the puzzle. 1 year. It took 1 year. For 1 whole year, I had to make Renya ire a high executive of the Intelligence Guild and used the information from thest iteration to persuade Ednar. And through this inevitable reward which I knew I would receive, I would be able to atstplete the puzzle that I had been longing to prepare. Your Majesty. There is only one reward I would like to ask for. Hoh? Is there something you have thought of already? King David looked at me with intrigue as the Queen and the princesses all focused their eyes on me. While feeling the countless gazes of the nobles and servants of the banquet hall I uttered the sentence that I had been holding onto the whole time. Legal Immunity. For one single asion. I would like to ask for a single Immunity from Persecution a promise that you would pardon any crime that I maymit in the future. Father-inw? It will just be a little treason, okay?
  • 1 TL Note: *Drift: In Korean novels, it tends to refer to plot drifts or sudden changes in genre. Ie. from romance to NTR, or sudden BL drift (Speaking of BL, BL is Boys Love, and hence the following countersign, Boys Not Love)
Chapter 177: Puzzle Pieces (3) Chapter 177: Puzzle Pieces (3) Trantor: RainTL
Puzzle Pieces (3) That single sentence broke the silence of the banquet hall. Even though the King had personally stated that I could wish for anything, no one would have been expecting Legal Immunity to be brought up. King David was someone who stayed faithful to his own words. He would have given me anything I desired, even if that involved a royal treasure. However, what I asked for was an Immunity from Persecution. Asking to be pardoned for any crime Imit, was ominously simr to notifying beforehand of a crime. To be fair, that wasnt wrong. But what they would never expect, was that it would be a crime of treason. Legal Immunity, huh? Was not expecting that, Baron Lork. The King appeared to be in a slight dilemma but soon gave permission. Good. Baron Korin Lork. I shall grant you a Legal Immunity guaranteed by the royal court. No matter what crime or sin you maymit, it shall be forgiven once, if you do indeed decide to use it. The Kings words had to be heavier than anything else, and they thus couldnt go against their own words. No matter the intention I had, the King could not withdraw what he said. Dont worry, Father-inw. This wouldnt be a bad story for you either. Next, Lady Marie Dunareff. We shall grant thee the staff of the Great Mage from the royal treasury The main named characters of Korin Guardians each received a reward depending on their contribution. After the award ceremony was over, the banquet hall regained its noise and excitement. It was gettingte, but the dishes were constantly being refilled for everyone to have their fill for the night. Knight Korin. The banquet was in full festival mood when ady came over with the help of a walking stick. Your Highness Elizabeth. Fufu. You are the academy senior, so why dont you be less formal? The pce has its own set of rules, after all. Were you really born amoner? How are you so knowledgeable about the rules? Im sure youve looked into it already. Princess Miru smiled impishly before changing the topic. His Majesty wants to have dinner together. I see. It was the same as how it went in thest iteration after I said, Please give me Her Highness Miruam! Well, it shouldnt be as spicy as it was back then at the very least. I left the banquet hall with Princess Miruam, and we were immediately greeted by a group of maids and servants who guided us to the venue. Unlike how it was back at the banquet hall which was rather open to the public, we came across more and more guards the deeper we went into the pce. Knights and soldiers were patrolling around the pce and barriers set up by mages were prohibiting intruders. I could still remember how it was impossible to get around the pce in secret unless you were following either the Great Mage or the Assassin skill tree. Everyones busy. Perhaps because of the crowd of people from the banquet, the guards and servants all appeared quite busy. However, none of them were running and there werent any loud conversations going on, as all of them were representatives of the pce. They had to be mindful of dignity and ss since the residence of the royal family was currently being visited by a bunch of nobles. Thanks to that, this ce had apletely different atmosphere to the outside world, as if it was in a totally different dimension. I had to leave before I even got used to this ce though. I recalled the times when I used to live here for a short period of time when Princess Miru spoke to me. An interesting reward you asked for. You mean the Legal Immunity? Yes. It sounded like a deration that you wouldmit something in the future that would warrant you using that Legal Immunity. Not wrong. A crime of treason, that is. May I ask what it is going to be? It will spoil the fun if you hear about it beforehand. Please wait for the surprise. Miruam suddenly stopped her feet and turned around, and so did the surrounding maids and servants. I am curious about what you are going to do with that Legal Immunity. I am very intrigued. Thank you for being interested in me. I looked around at the servants and the maids All of them looked familiar they were all people whom Miruam had persuaded into her faction. Although Princess Miruam had lost quite arge supporter with the fall of the Tower of Mages, she was still standing strong inside the pce. There was no need to worry about our current conversation being conveyed to someone else. Inside the secret and secluded room surrounded by the walls of maids and servants, she pulled my tie to bring me closer to her. My offer is still valid. You can do whatever you want to me. A shockingly sweet fragrance stimted my nose. She didnt even bother hiding the venomous light in her eyes those same eyes were so enchanting and captivating that she didnt even need to. It was a sensuous seduction proving how she was like a me, willing to sacrifice her own life to achieve her objective, however Did you wake up? I was just looking at your sleeping face. I could still remember the warm and bright smile she had beneath that venomous face, and her defenseless side which she showed only to me. Lets see. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her towards me. The maid next to her flinched but Miru held them back with a gaze. Soon, she turned towards me, and our crimson eyes looked into one another. Its an attractive offer, but I would have to decline for the time being. Meaning? Please wait patiently. I wille back with another offer. Hmm Princess Miru scrutinized my face as if trying to discern my intentions. Well, fine. But you better not be toote. With that, we resumed walking down the pce until we were at the entrance of the hall where the royal family shared their meals. Do you need me to tell you about the royal etiquette? Its fine. Ive learned them all. I wonder who taught you the royal etiquette. Was it Estelle? Its you. The dining room inside still looked familiar, because nothing had changed since thest iteration. Underneath the brilliant chandelier was arge dining table, covered by a white tablecloth. Three people were sitting down next to the table filled with all sorts of dishes. King David, Queen Asher, and Estelle the 1st Princess The King offered me a seat. Take a seat, Baron Lork. You too, Princess Miruam. I already greeted him at the banquet hall so I sat down without any formalities. On the other side of the seat was Estelle, who gave a faint wave after seeing me sit down. Hello~ She seemed to have regained some of her energy and looked a lot better than how she did before the banquet. Thank you for the invitation, Your Majesty. Right. I heard you are a vassal noble of the Dunareff Dukedom. It was thanks to a small connection we had. Saving the youngdy of the dukedom is more than just a small connection, I would say. As expected, the King was aware of Maries vampire awakening incident. The Dunareff is a long ally of the royal court and an important family in charge of the Kingdoms lifeline. Helping them is no different from saving the Kingdom. I am ttered, Your Majesty. I replied with a slight bow to hispliment. Hearing that, King David smiled and said while shaking his hand. Theres no need to be so formal, Knight Korin. You are a benefactor who has saved my daughter, and a hero that subjugated the wicked Tower. I am indebted to you both as a father of a child and as the Kng of a Kingdom. Its an honor. Haha. Like I said, dont be so formal. I still find the heroic tale of your infiltration into the Steel Archipgo impressive to this date. Estelle was talking about it all the time. Just like the princesses, King David was a blunt and straightforward King. Even in thest iteration, he didnt treat me with prejudice even though I visited him with the pregnant Miruam. Miru has found herself a good man. Although I did get vited, I was still amoner that impregnated the princess, and yet he glossed over it without making a big deal out of it. Instead, he sincerely requested while grabbing onto my hand. Please take good care of my daughter. Be a warm home and a ce to return to for that girl. Shes a pitiful child. He was genuinely concerned about Miru and entrusted her to me but Sorry Father-inw. What I did in thest iteration wasnt enough. Ah. Look at me talk the whole time with food on the table. Let us eat first. King David picked up his cutleries first so that I could start eating whenever. That was when Estelle cut off arge leg of a turkey to ce onto my te. Here you go, Dongsaeng~ Estelle said with a wide smile and a sparkling set of eyes, which did not go unnoticed by Queen Asher. Oh my, Estelle. You are being very considerate of Knight Korin, arent you? He is the one who saved my life after all~ The Queen teased but Estelle replied mischievously without concealing her goodwill. Ah, Korin-dongsaeng will now be my Dongsaeng so please treat him like a son. Father. Mother~. Oh my. Hoh? Queen Asher covered her mouth in surprise whereas King David had a look in his eyes that was inplete contrast to Duke Mardes. Dont make it embarrassing for Knight Korin, Estelle. Theres no way he would feelfortable if you do that as the higher-up, right? Princess Mirumented against her but Estelle continued without stopping. For others, maybe, but he will be alright around me. Right, Dongsaeng? Kuhum Lets stop there, Saintess. Come on~. You cant do that after taking my first kiss? Wait, Missy!? You cant say that here! Oh wow! Hmm So thats how it is. The King and the Queen were now giving me looks that were much more intensepared to before. I was chewing on turkey, but I couldnt even tell how it tasted anymore. Even Princess Miru was looking at me with squinted eyes! Hmm Ahh, that look, those eyes I could understand what they meant. Is that why you turned me down? was the look on her face Its a misunderstanding. Also, I have heard you slept with my daughter, is that correct? Kuhum! Did you say everything? Estelle! Hide some stuff from your parents please! Your Majesty. The thing is For several days with your bare body at that I turned to Estelle with a flick, asking her to say something, and shemented while covering her heated cheeks with her hands. I told you thats not the case. Korin-dongsaeng was about to freeze to death so I had to warm him up. Whatever the case, it is true that he has seen the bare body of a marriageabledy. How is it, Knight Korin? Shes acking daughter, but would you be happy to live with her? Ohe on. We are not in that kind of rtionship yet. Its just a matter of time, though. Matter of time? What is? Hello? Estelle-noona? You werent interested in any of the promising young nobles of the Kingdom, but its a different story for the hero, huh? This too I suppose is fate. Both in thest iteration and now, for some reason, I had this feeling that this old man couldnt wait to send his daughters off for marriage. I guess it did make sense, considering how neither Estelle nor Miruam had fiances let alone any prospects for marriage. There werent any sessors either, so maybe that was why he loved it so much when Miru was pregnant. Father. That was when Princess Miru opened her mouth after a long silence. Although Knight Korin has been granted Legal Immunity, that alone wont be enough to save face for the royal court. How does it sound, that you give him another different reward? Hmm? King David had a surprised look on his face, as if he wasnt expecting Princess Miru to show goodwill towards me. Another reward apart from Legal Immunity Knight Korin did indeed contribute enough for another reward. I am ttered. However, there is one thing I need to ask beforehand. Where are you nning to use the Legal Immunity? Apologies, Your Majesty. I refused to answer his question in a roundabout way, and the King seemed slightly troubled by it. How concerning. A crime that would warrant the hero of the Kingdom to rely on Legal Immunity I cannot imagine what you are trying to do using it. Treason, Father-inw. Just a little act of treason and betrayal. Let me ask one question then. What is the direction of that crime? After giving up on asking about the content, the king now asked about the direction and ultimate objective of the crime. This much was something I could tell him. There is one very important lesson I have learned from my Master. All the puzzle pieces were in ce. Thepletion of the puzzle was for one sole purpose. Justice. Justice. Justice. You are to seek only justice. Both in the past and now, all I want is a happy ending. The meal ended with rtivefort despite being in thepany of the royal family. After the meal, maids cleaned up the tes and brought cups of tea. King David took a sip of the tea, ced the cup down and said with a smile. Right. I do agree that we need to give another reward apart from the Legal Immunity. You have the right to receive more. Thanks for your kindness, Your Majesty. I wondered what I should give you, but you would already have many of your wants fulfilled. The Dunareff Dukedom is being generous with their sponsorship, are they not? Young Lady Marie. I know that she is harboring serious feelings for you, and the financial support of the Dunareff means you wouldnt need the royal treasures or peerages. Your words alone are enough, Your Majesty. I can see you are not disagreeing with me either. As such, I thought about what you would need and havee to a decision. What would it be, I wondered. Judging based on his words, it didnt seem to be a treasure or a noble peerage. Thy request for Legal Immunity must have been for an extraordinary and greater good. Thus, I shall promise thee, a noble knight pursuing justice. King David reflected his trust in me with his kind yet solemn tone of voice. Ask me for anything you wish. Like Legal Immunity, I will grant thy wish once no matter what it may be. ! A double reward and a tremendous promise at that. Only one wish had been given to the yer until now, and yet here I was being granted another one. The unbelievable deration of the King instead made me hesitant on epting his offer. Your Majesty. But Do not refuse it. I know thee and thy actions. I have heard of thy righteousness and magnanimity, guaranteed by the Saintess and I have confirmed it with my very eyes upon this encounter. Thou art apassionate hero. The financial supporters of Dunareff, reinforcements of Arden and Merkarva Academy are all aware of this. I have not a single doubt that thou art treading down the path of justice and good. An unusual movement is swaying the continent. A traitor hase out of Merkarva and the Tower of Mages have done iprehensible evil. There will be moreing. For a moment, King Davids eyes scanned past Princess Miru, who floated a sly smile that concealed her intentions even from her own father. Winter ising. It will be a harsh season for all of us, and the Kingdom must prepare for it. Please take good care of my daughter. Be a warm home and a ce to return to for that girl. Shes a pitiful child. The King was someone who was the most concerned about Miruam, while at the same time being the most conscious and vignt about her madness, fury and hatred. *** You werent expecting him to promise something like that, were you? After the dinner, Miruam returned to her pce. She was aware that the King was vignt of her. He was worried about where her hatred and fury would bounce off to, and kept an eye out on the factions that got along with her. Tower of Mages and the Old Faith. Upon seeing the highest authority groups of the world taking irrational and absurd actions, he appeared to have sensed somethinging. Thanks to that, what Miruam had said in order to buy the goodwill of Korin, ended up granting him another pair of wings aside from the Legal Immunity. Fufu Father, oh Father. Do you think this would be enough to stop me? This is partly your responsibility as well. The moment you buried my mother, you have lost all rights to dissuade me of my revenge. Those who knew of Miruam all said that she was like a venomous serpent. However, they were only half-right. She was indeed a serpent with a lethal dose of poison, but what they did not see was that her tail was on fire. Her body was on fire she was on mes that would scorch the disgusting dogs at the end of her destined journey. Even if that would end up scorching herself in the process, Miruam could not stop half-way. That had been her lifelong wish for the past 10 years. No one can stop me. No one. If you say so. This was her pce and her bedroom which should be safe from anyone and yet there was a guest who hade in before she did. To think you would enter the room of ady without permission. Youck the etiquette of a gentleman. I hope for your understandanding, Princess. There were too many people roaming around outside. He was saying that despite hiding from the eyes of all those people with ease. Miruam tried to pour him a ss of wine, but the man was already drinking it from the bottle. It has been a while, Danann of Light. Sir Tates Valtazar. Tates Valtazar, the usurper of the world aiming to seize the throne, had been waiting for Miruam in her room. Right. He was the same as always. Just like a middle-aged man strolling around the streets, he was leisurely and rxed. However, Miruam knew him; the grand goals he had in mind and his sense of justice whichid on the border of madness. Most importantly, she knew his otherworldly power that would rightfully let him call himself the King of Gods. You have been suffering a lot of losses these days, havent you? To a disappointing degree. At this rate, is there meaning in me sponsoring you anymore? She said in a rather insolent manner to the man who could single-handedly destroy the entire pce. It was only possible because she wasnt working under him the two of them were more like allies than a master and subordinate. Recently, the actions of her ally were disappointing to say the least. They failed to retrieve the Primal Rune through Fermack, and also failed at controlling the media through the awakening of the living jiangshi. The greatest failure of them all was the dumbfoundingly pathetic downfall of the Tower of Mages and their failed attempts. The fall of the Tower of Mages would have been a big hit even to Tates Valtazar and yet he remained as nonchnt as ever. Dont worry about it. Its just as usual. ? He looked used to it, which Miruam could not understand. This ursed world hates me too much. I suppose it cant be helped as Im the usurper. Despitementing his position, he drank from the bottle with the most rxed expression on his face. Well, fine. Im hoping you wont fall until I achieve my goal. Miruam wasnt interested in the new world or whatever that Tates was going to create as long as she could achieve her own objective. He had the power to obtain his wish, had arge faction supporting him as well as the fate to change his destiny but things of the future did not matter to her in the slightest. Whether he seeded or failed did not matter. Anyway, here. As per the contract. He threw something at Miruam, and a snake slithered out of her dress to bite it. The treasure that the snake bit onto was the greatest treasure in the world, Lia Fail, the Stone of Destiny. Treating such a treasure like a pebble on the streets Miruam was baffled by his carelessness but was at the same time endlessly drawn into the beautiful gem. Read your destiny, your undetermined fate. One of the conditions of the contract that he had forged with her 5 years ago included the temporary use of Lia Fail once a year, which would allow Miruam to read her destiny and Using that, she read her fate. Haak! Gasping for breath, she even dropped the walking stick that was supporting her body. Her aching legs couldnt support her weight and she ended up falling onto the ground. She, who cared the most about dignity and status in the entire pce, copsed miserably and couldnt even try to stand back up. It wasnt because of her exhausted body, nor the shock that came from reading her destiny. Fufu, fufufufu! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Like a madman, sheughed. In joy and ecstasy. Hoh~ Tates looked intrigued by that shift and her reaction, because it was his first time seeing herugh like that. Has destiny been modified? Yes. It has. Fufu. That damned destiny has finally changed. I found myself, not as a dead failure, but smiling happily and joyously more than anyone else in the world. Her fate had changed. The me called Miruam let out a genuineughter. Atst. The small change that happenedst year, had finallye to fruition and showed a full result this year. She saw a son of a bitch screaming in pain in death, proving of her sess, and standing next to her was her destined knight. I knew it. It was you, Korin Lork. Youre the one who changed it. My hero. My prince. My destiny. He is the one who will fulfill my lifelong wish. Chapter 178: True Faith (1) Chapter 178: True Faith (1) Trantor: RainTL
True Faith(1) The capital was in a festive mood after the victory against the Tower, which had kidnapped the Saintess. The bustling banquet of the pce was nned to be held for 7 days and nights. This was already the fourth day but I was still attending the banquet because I was one of the main protagonists of this festival. What was fortunate was that I had a partner to go with every day. Sir Korin Lork and the Captain of the First Sword Squad of the Arden, Sir Lunia Arden! The only problem was that the partner was being changed every day. Oh my, he has another partner again. The day before was the youngest daughter of the Arden household, and yesterday was a sister from the Chapel of Zeon, right? And it was Young Lady Dunareff 3 days ago. Countless whispers and gazes were on me. I even saw a newspaper this morning that said how I was scandalously swapping out partners each day, and from the looks of things, it seemed that I would be seeing the same article tomorrow. What are you looking around for? The surroundings were a bit noisy, you see. Today, my partner was Lunia. I was getting asked out to be a partner by the girls one by one but wasnt this something that was supposed to be done by the male? Having a fiance too superb is also something to consider, I suppose. However. She grabbed onto my tie and suddenly pulled me towards her, filling my vision with her proud and confident smile. Do not concern yourself over others. You have to look at only me today. K, kuhum! Is this what a girls crush is? As expected of the most popr female hero of contemporary times, she was unhesitant and proud in everything she did. You seem busy these days. Youve met with the King, the Saintess, and even the Queen of the Alleyway, have you not? Ah How did you know that? There is someone who testified that you spent a long time with her inside an odd-numbered resting room of the banquet hall. Putting aside the witness, do you know her? She did show off her sharp fangs once, saying that she wanted to eat me up. Hoh I already knew that Ednar was an all-rounder, but I wasnt expecting her to even reach out to Lunia-noonim. I assume it didnt go through? Of course not. I have no interest in getting whipped to satiate sexual desires. What I disliked the most was that I had to be on the receiving end of it. You are indeed more like an S than an M if we had to choose from one of them. I can fulfill your secret dreams if you want me to. Haha no thanks. I am extremely normal when ites to preferences. But Lunia in bondage, huh?Fu~, that would be a delight to the eyes. Not like she isnt already, though. By the way, Ms. Lunia. Dont you think your dress today is a bit too bold? Lunia was in an unconventionally shocking outfit. She wasnt wearing anything apart from her luxurious dress that was exposing an aggressive portion of her breasts and a pair of knot sandals. Thanks to that, her white and unblemished skin was practically on full disy, all the way from her shoulders down to her feet, and it was overall an outfit that no one would be able to wear unless they were extremely confident in their figure. It is quite warm in the East and most party dresses are designed like this. Plus, this is only a little less than what I usually put on in the first ce. I can see from the way you sisters dress up but please wear this only when its the two of us. It feels like a shame to show this to everyone else. If you so wish. As soon as Lunia clicked her fingers, the Five Swordsdies, each wearing a dress, walked up to her from all sides. One of them handed her a cigar, while another carried a thick and ck fox-furred scarf and put it around her shoulders. The men around usmented and went, Ah! but we ignored them and headed to a private area on the terrace. Youre very prepared. It is nothing much. It was just a little show for everyone to see what type of woman my fianc has brought to the banquet. Ahaha If you wish to be the son-inw of the Ardens, you must be proud wherever you are. Hmm My mind was already in a mess thanks to Alicia, and yet Lunia was saying a simr thing. Wasnt it a fake engagement? Oh dear. Was that your perception of it? That is a little sad. Wrapping her arms around my neck, Lunia gazed directly into my eyes. The vivid scent of her body came very strong. How far have you gone with my sister? D, did she tell you? Do you think that fool would have? I could see it from her expression though. Hmm I recalled what happened a few days ago Alicias confession and the deep and thick kiss we shared. Never had I imagined that the bashful and dotish Alicia would do such a thing. Say it. Quickly. W, we kissed. In detail. Lunia interrogated, with her face right in front of my nose, so I couldnt help but tell her the entire truth. After hearing the story from me, she seemed slightly surprised but soon let out an unreservedughter. Hahaha. Quite daring for that dimwit of a sister. Right. Now that is what I would expect from a sessor candidate of the Ardens. Umm technically speaking, shouldnt she be considered your rival, Ms. Lunia? It was weird for me to say it myself, but wasnt her reaction slightly odd? Two beautiful sisters contending for one man. As the man in question, you have to feel honored. It sounds like the introduction of a romantic drama full of blood though There would be more to the cast for the drama. My sister is not the only girl interested in you, after all. How did you know that? Only an idiot wouldnt. Sorry for being an idiot Well, do not feel too pressured by it. A hero must rightfully know how to take several women for himself and satisfy all of them. W, what do you mean? If you wish to walk the path of a hero, you must also embrace the heroic quality of obtaining every beauty youe across. What in the world is wrong with you sisters?! Are you sure there isnt some weird gene inside your head?! How could someone so easily tell their husband to take in more wives? What was wrong with both of their views on love? However, it is still upsetting that my sister has taken the lead. What belongs to her is also mine. I have the rightful duty and absolute right to steal from her. Saying that she suddenly wrapped one of her arms around my waist and grabbed onto my chin with the other. Gazing down into my eyes, she lifted the corners of her appealing lips. No matter what you do with my sister, you must do the same with me. N, Noonim? Her lips came closer and closer. The time spent with Lunia was certainly more indulging and sensual than the time with her younger sister. K, kuhum! While Lunia was having a business chat with a general of the royal military, I roamed around the hall grabbing food. Most of the dishes inside the banquet hall were in and were in small bite sizes, so I could not remove the taste of Lunia from my tongue no matter what I ate. Haa After Hua and Ran, it was Alicia and even Lunia Considering Marie on top of that, I couldnt help but think how others would view me as the biggest son of a bitch Why am I this popr? And why didnt any of this happen back on Earth? None of this ever happened, even when I was ying around with Younghee-noona, Hanbyul, Seyoung, Chulho, Sangwoo, Misha, and Fujiwara We were all single, so we used to go on trips with just the two of us as friends. I suddenly remembered the time I went to Hokkaido for the hot springs with Sangwoo. The scenery was great and I missed the awesome Winter Festival there. Everything was great except for the gay bar though. I wonder how he identally came across that ce? Ehew Maybe I should visit some hot springs when its all over. I wouldnt be able to go on friendship trips like back then, but it would be great if we could go together with the members of our Guardians guild. As such, I was reminiscing the memories of my time on Earth when I saw one of our guild members in the hall. It was a boy who looked rather gloomy despite his neat outfit he was Germain Luther, a spy from the Old Faith. Yo~ Germain. H, huh? Senior Korin? Were not in the Academy so just call me Hyung. Ah, you cant call me Bro okay. Mhmm Hyung. Are you enjoying the banquet? Its not bad. Ever since he realized that the Old Faith Chapel of Xeruem had been conducting a disgusting transaction with the Tower of Mages, Germain appeared to be in deep thought every time I saw him. I was just wondering if I had the right to be here or not because I didnt even do anything in the actual fight. Germain was one of our guild members, so he was also part of the fight against the Tower of Mages. But of course, he was probably tasked by the Chapel of Xeruem to monitor the movement of us and the Kingdom and secretly convey it over to the Tower of Mages. Well, you cant always be at the center of a war. Youre still young so you will have plenty of opportunities in the future. His conflicting emotions were on full disy on his face. He was probably feeling guilty for deceiving me right now. But considering how he had been brainwashed by the order ever since he was young, it was hard to imagine that it would be easy for him to change his thoughts and values. That was, however,pletely up to him. I had to make decent use of him until he made a decision. Here. Try this cake out. The patissiers of the pce are top-notch. Sorry, I dont like sweet stuff. There are too many sweets here. Although he was keeping it a secret, it appeared that he wasnt into the luxurious food of the higher-up nobles, as someone who had previously been a priest of the Old Faith. If you dont like the food here, you can request something else. Theres a restaurant on the other side of the corridor, and its in a buffet format. Really? I didnt know that. It was something I only knew thanks to Miru from thest iteration. The pce wasnt a friendly ce to firsters after all. Lets go grab a meal then. He came without a partner and must been pretty bored, so I decided to look after him. *** The festival came to an end, and we were almost done with everything that had to be done at the capital, but it wasnt over yet. It was time to meet her. Under the dark night sky, in the royal gardens located in the outskirts of the capital city inside the cave that had marked the finale of my date with Hua Ran, was Master, Lady Josephine, and me. Personally speaking, Im against it. Lady Josephine voiced her disagreement out of nowhere. Now now. ra. Its what Korin has decided on. He probably has his reasons and ns. Erin said to appease her but to be fair, it was strange that Master wasnt the one disagreeing with the n. Wasnt she being way too nice to me? Erin. You are way too weak to Student Korin. Look, even Lady Josephine is saying the same thing. In any case, I couldnt proceed with my n without their permission and assistance. Well, in that sense, the fact that they were both here in the first ce was proof that they were both supporting me on this. Honestly, I cant predict how this would span out either. That is a very irresponsible thing to say of you. The reason Erin hasnt been intervening in the works of the Order the whole time was to avoid confusion that would sprout with the spread of the Danann religion. The current belief of the Order has spread far and wide, and we cannot predict the oue that would happen if it is downright rejected. Whatever happens would be a lot better than the destruction of the entire world. The Old Faith has always been a shithead both in the past and the present, but the roots forged by the New Faith will be a detrimental hazardter on. Like I said, where is the evidence to- ra. Master spoke up, putting a stop to Lady Josephines question. Lady Josephine didnt know that I was from the future, but Master Erin knew of my regression so she trusted me 100%. Justice is sometimes unable to choose the best option. At times, we can only choose the second-worst option to avoid the worst possible scenario, like how we had to kill numerous priests and mages during the Witch Revolution. Frankly speaking, I cannot predict how the children would react either. But with Tates and his threat looming over us we have to make a decision. Master said once again to show her support. That was when someone spoke up from the other side of the cave. Chairman? Professor Josephine? The one who visited the cave in secret with a robe over her was none other than Estelle. She seemed surprised to realize that it wasnt just me here and that Master and Lady Josephine were also in ourpany. But soon, she regained herposure and said with a smirk on her face. Hmm~. I was expecting a one-on-one date with Dongsaeng though. How disappointing. Come on. Please. Lets be serious now. This noona is always serious~ She always tried to take the upper hand and tease me in our conversation. That was what made her annoying yet attractive at the same time. More importantly, you were going to show me something, werent you? Is it rted to the new Chairman and Professor Josephine? Theyre not just rted; in fact, they are the core personnel. Itll be difficult without their permission. Hmm Estelle Hadassa El Rath, the Saintess of the New Faith. A child of the god, who served the Lord of the Order more than anyone else. Today, I wanted to reveal to her the true identity of faith. Master. Lady Josephine. Please. Sure. Cant be helped. Erin. Student Estelle. Please stand in front of me. The two of them walked up to Lady Josephine while I watched over them from a distance. Are we teleporting somewhere? Yes, but to a ce very different from the real world. What do you You will see when you get there. Erin answered her question as the dimension started to crack open. It was a fragment of Paradise, Tir na Nog, which required Erins permission and Josephines dimensional gate. Mag Mell, the Ind of Treasures. My n for today was to send Estelle to thend of remnant souls of the gods. *** The three of them teleported away, and I watched over the stars in the night sky while waiting for them to return. What conclusion would shee to after seeing the real gods? She was an NPC that couldnt even join the party back in the game and was busy working as the Saintess of the New Faith in thest iteration, so this was a first. Now, she would witness and encounter the mythological gods at Mag Mell and hear the truth from her long ancestors. If lucky, she might even obtain a treasure from Dagda. Like that, I waited for one hour two hours and three hours, and only then did the sound of the dimension cracking open echo throughout the cave. Haa! Estelle copsed from the crack along with a heated breath. Saintess? Korin Dongsaeng? Drenched in sweat, she gasped for breath as if she had received a great shock. With trembling eyes, she turned at me and O god. She stared at me with eyes that were more desperate for a god than ever before. Chapter 179: True Faith (2) Chapter 179: True Faith (2) Trantor: RainTL
True Faith(2) It was a mysterious ce. The gentle ocean waves, for some reason, were void of the fishy scent of the ocean, and the grains of sand on the beach were warm and soft like finely granted flour. What was the most mysterious of them all, was that no signs of life could be felt from this ind. Ahh However, none of the above was why Estelle was shivering she was trembling not from horror or fear of the unknown but from being deeply moved. Her superhuman senses as the Saintess were informing her of the infinite flood of sacred energy within the ind. C, Chairman What, what is this ce? The moment she turned towards the chairman to ask, Estelle realized that she could feel the same energy from her. How did I not know this? How did I not see this incredible amount of sacred energy? Even the pope didnt possess such a brilliant color. As if she knew what was going through her head, Erin suggested with a benevolent smile on her face. Shall we walk? Erin started walking towards the center of the ind, so Estelle absent-mindedly did the same. I heard you had doubts about the existence of gods. Estelle quickly went through the report about Erin Danua a new chairman who suddenly appeared out of nowhere after the death of Chairman Eriu Casarr. She wasnt even registered in the Guardian Alliance and yet became the next chairman thanks to Senior Professor Josephine ras right to choose the proceeding chairman. It was nonsensical that a single Senior Professor had all the right to choose the next chairman instead of the board of directors or anything of that sort, but all the chairmans of Merkarva Academy had gone through the same process. Some even argued that it might be the same person taking the post of the chairman on repeat after changing their appearance, but that sounded way too far-fetched. Half-giants and witches Several of the so-called demi-humans were able to live an incredibly long life, but the biggest reason why that controversial argument wasnt even deemed possible, was because there had been both male and female chairmans. God exists. Thats what they teach in the Order, yes? Of course. Youre right. Gods did exist. For a very long time. You mean in the past? Gods. That was already against the teachings of the Order. With the spread of the Orders teachings, the gods of the indigenous religion were either ssified as devils or evil gods. Some of the myths were also included in the scripture, but there, they were ssified as angels or the subjects of the god. The scripture was full of errors and a little bit of insight showed that it did not make logical sense, but there was one reason why the Lord of the New and the Old Faiths was still deified. It was due to the existence of sacred energy a power that manifested in a few of those who had deep faith. Faith makes many things possible, but it is possible only to some. Why do you think that is the case? Thats because of the depth of their faith and Ah. Estelle was reminded in the middle of her speech of those who turned away from the Lord. They betrayed the Saintess, praised as the Child of God, and even betrayed their own god. Many priests, sisters, cardinals and even the pope. All of them were still able to use their sacred energy despite turning away from their god. In the distant past, although youngsters refer to it as just a mythology, the world had been carved into being by titans and gods. The concept of gods didnt even exist back then. Erin started revealing one by one the genealogy of the gods, which one would usually only hear from fairy tales. The War against the Titans. Migration of Goidels, and their betrayal. The disappearance of the transcendents and and turned barren. And how thend, void of gods and titans, then responded to the desperate prayers of the ones who had their blood flowing through them. Youre lying Those were words that she could not believe nor dare even try to. You and they were the gods? Gods, huh? Although you call them as such for conveniences sake, it is a little bit different. We are like concepts. Sun, Light, Earth, Curation, Flower, and Justice. You can see it as such concepts having a persona. That was an unbelievable story for the Saintess, who had lived her entire life as a devout believer. However, thedy in front of her and this entire ind itself were way too full of sacred energy for her to simply regard it as fake. If it was true that the remnants of the gods existed in thisnd, and if thedy in front of her really was a goddess then everything would make sense. Another guest, huh? And I see our kiddo ising here quite often these days. Someone said while walking out of the dark forest. Estelle turned to the voice and found a slim man with a braided beard. Dian Cecht-ahjussi. I told you to call me Oppa. Nonsense. Do you know how big our age gap is? Everyone over 1,000 years old is friends. Ugh! Erin, whose age was roughly revealed against her will, frowned but Dian Cecht simply giggled back while stroking his beard. Hmm? This girl After spotting Estelle, he walked up with intrigue while the Saintess stood there in confusion after feeling a torrent of sacred energy from him. I see. Dagda and even Balor in the mix. There is even Lugh and Oengus Its hard to see a lineage with this many twists. There is only one such lineage in this world. Another voice echoed from the woods. It was a man harboring an intense and ming heat an energy that she was ever-so familiar with already. Greetings to the Previous King, Nuada. Right. Is your little disciple doing alright? Thanks to your help. Nuada Airgem the master of the Sun, and one of the Ard Ri, the greatest Danann of all. He immediately realized who Estelle and her ancestors were. The King of Goidels. A descendent of that bastard who pretended to be the Great King after stealing our bloodlines, huh? Please dont say steal~. It was a pure fruit of love, Nuada. Oengus An incredibly young man refuted the King of Gods. He was none other than the Danann of Love, Oengus, who appeared with his father, the Danann of the Earth, God King Dagda. And if you wish to reproach me for it, you must do the same to God King Lugh. His grandfather-inw, Balor the King of Titans, is also in the bloodline, after all. Tch. The master of Mag Mell, Manannan Mac Lir, and the Danann of Light, Lugh Lamhfada gathered alongside several other Danann. Each and every one of them possessed an incredibly familiar aura to Estelle. It felt to her, that they each possessed further-ssified auras of the sacred energy. W, who are you all? She asked with a trembling voice and the Danann dly revealed the truth to their descendent. We are the long ancestors making up your origin and your bloodline. It all started with Balor, the King of Titans. His daughter and Dian Cechts son married to give birth to Lugh, the Danann of Light and Lughs son became the hero of Goidels, and Oenguss daughter got married to one of the descendants of that hero. That bloodler gave birth to the King of Heroes, the first king of the El Rath kingdom, who led the Goidels and chased out the gods. Flowing in your veins is the mixed blood of countless powerful gods and Balor, the strongest evil king. It is, however, still an incredible miracle that it has atavistically brought the power back to you after thousands of years. The priests that use the so-called sacred energy, are most of the time either our or the titans descendants. Erin added from the side, andmenting after that was Dagda, the Danann of Earth, along with a heartyughter. Kuhahahat! I guess I have sowed a bit too many seeds! Its not something to brag about, Dagda. Dont you remember getting stomped on by Oengus, your illegitimate child? Lets not dwell in the past, Uncle Dian Cecht, remarked Oengus. Tch tch. If that was me, I would have smacked his head with a sword if my son did something like that to me. It is quite scary when thatsing from you, Uncle, considering how you have a history of killing your son and opening his heart up But he had serpents that could destroy the world! Meanwhile, a gigantic man reaching 2 meters in height walked towards Estelle. Dagda Mor the great Danann of Earth stood before her and said with a smile. I see. So youre a long descendent of mine. I, I I have ced my bets on Korin Lork. A new era calls for a new Danann. Well, hes notplete as of yet but Erin! What is it, Dagda? Hes still got my cauldron, right? Estelle immediately knew what they were referring to the divine artifact recorded down in the scripture as the Holy Grail. It was part of a fabricated history of the scripture, which stated that the divine artifacts including the Sun, the Spear of Light, the Holy Grail, and the Stone of Destiny had belonged to them before being lost. It didnt take long for Estelle to admit that those divine artifacts must have belonged to these people first. Shes a descendant of mine with my blood flowing in her veins. If lucky, perhaps it might acknowledge her as its owner. Saying that Dagda took out a club a gigantic one that suited his enormous figure. However, the club decreased in size to suit her body size the moment she received it with her hands. Thats my magical club. Think of it as a souvenir for dropping by this ce. Its not fair that youre not even giving her a trial, Father. Theres no need to. She even has the power of Balor inside her. We dont need to go through no test. With that, Dagda ced his hand on Estelles head and gave her his final mission. Go, and take my cauldron. After that, whatever you decide to do is up to you. *** Erin returned with Estelle, who appeared exhausted and soulless after witnessing the shocking truth. Uhuk! On the bed, Estelle wrapped her arms around her knees and sobbed. That proved just how shocking the truth must have been for her. Dongsaeng. Korin-dongsaeng Was it that big of a shock? I thought you had a rough gist already. Ive been believing it forever though. And, and everything is wrong. Well, what can we do? Gods are whimsical and so must be faith. I have never believed in gods before so I could not understand norprehend Estelles emotions. I just knew based on my knowledge that gods existed in this world, and that the teachings of the Order were false. But, what I did know was Is it that important though at the end of the day? What? Think about what the gods say in every book and scripture. Whether it be the Lord or the gods of other cultures, putting aside the thing about paradise and hell, they all speak of the same thing. Love one another, be kind, and do not hurt others. Maintain the conscience of your heart. Cultivate yourself and walk the righteous path. They all practically say the same thing. I think those teachings are what you should focus on, regardless of whether they have been from real or fake gods. The gods of this world also had two faces. Some wanted the destruction and downfall of Goidels who betrayed their goodwill, while some wanted to protect them simply because it was unjust. Gods dont matter as much. Whats always important is yourself. Its your, my, and our actions that are important. Being sincere, loving our neighbors, and being a human regardless of what happens. Those are the things that define us. Apparently, religion is a method to stabilize human society and cultivate ones humanity. Both mythologies and religions were made for that purpose, at least ording to some sociologist on the TV that I heard from. The god doesnt exist? You were serving the wrong god? Is that important though? Do the love and goodwill of the believers disappear? Do they mean nothing if the god isnt there? No. Absolutely not. The amount of time that the person called Estelle has spent by serving others as the Saintess, and its significance, cannot be changed at all. Gods were not always good. The value of the world could not be determined solely by one god. Tates Valtazar, who wanted to destroy the world, was one such example. There is someone as powerful as a god, and hes trying to destroy the world because its not to his liking. I wont ept someone like that as a god. We need to be righteous; provide love and not hatred; justice and not evil; and hope for the good and not the bad. After all, that was what humanity was all about. That was the main lesson to be learned through religions, education, and philosophy to be a human, instead of just being born a human. My opinion was that religion was just one of such methods. But if there is no god then what do we need to believe in? If the real god tries to judge us, how would we resist? Together. Huhp? We can do it together. Whether it be hardships or trials, we will ovee them one way or another if were together. That was how the yer was able to defeat Valtazar in Heroic Legends of Arhan after all. All the good deeds and actions that the yer had built up would reveal their brillianceter during the final battle. Together we be stronger and can ovee any trial. Saintess Estelle. I know it might be difficult, but I would still like to shamelessly request this of you. I took out the cauldron, thinking that there must be a reason why Dagda wanted me to give this to her. Please stand with me. Estelle nkly reached out toward the cauldron andid her hand on the treasure. It was then. The Magic Cauldron of Undry acknowledges Estelle Hadassa El Rath as its Champion. Undry acknowledged her. She inherited the Divinity of the Earth. *** Her lifelong faith had crumbled to nothing. Estelle had no choice but to acknowledge it. Her faith, the verses of the scripture, and the heavenly being that she had been praising were all false. Haha Irreligiously enough, she instead became an existence closer to gods. Now, she knew what the origin of sacred energy was, and met the primal beings. Justice, Sun, and another god trying to destroy them; Light. With so many gods, it wasnt strange that believers would divide into groups. It also wasnt strange for believers to betray their faith after meeting an actual god. The traitors of the Order the ones that had betrayed the Saintess had in fact found their real god before she did. Hahaha Now, that god was trying to destroy humankind; the filthy traitors, and those who believed in a fabricated god. What rights did humankind have to dare go against a heavenly punishment? After finding out the truth, Estelle was so frightened and fearful that she couldnt even imagine resisting punishment. There is someone as powerful as a god, and hes trying to destroy the world because its not to his liking. I wont ept someone like that as a god. But the Sun spoke, saying that he would not ept such a future. He said that one must choose the right path without going against ones sense of justice, or the morality and philosophy of a human. If so I have to choose. Between the two opposing gods. Was she supposed to stand on the side of the god who was born a god? Or one who inherited the divinity despite being born a human? Neither of them were aplete and perfect fit to the human standards of a god who loved them. I have a duty. I have the duty of leading people and saving them Before long, she decided to side with him. She did not refuse his offer. The moment she made the decision, her mind returned from depression to rationality. She calcted what was right, tested the scale of justice, and formed a n for the uing future. The final conclusion she came to, was that she had to rule out from the Order encroached by the true believers, the traitors of humanity who wanted to be the few chosen beings of the new world. My dear brothers and sisters. At the headquarters of the New Faith, the Saintess stood before the pitiful humans who still believed in the fake god. Look at this. I have been chosen by the god. In her hands was the cauldron camouged to be the Holy Grail. -Is that the Holy Grail? -Ohh, it really is the Holy Grail! -As expected of the Saintess! She was chosen by the divine artifact! Everyone, both priests and believers alike, rustled inmotion. A few of the people in the crowd had been intentionally dispatched by her to re up the fuss. He has warned me directly, that countless seeds of evil have been sowed into the human world. The Saintess that used to believe in the Lord was no more. All there was, was a sly and clever princess, trying to modify the publics view of the Lord upon realizing how everything had been fake. As the Saintess chosen by the god, I will uproot all evil and serve only the true faith! Blowing in the Chapel of Zeon was a cold breeze of religious revolution. It created a gale that neither Korin Lork nor Erin Danua had ever suspected. Chapter 180: True Faith (3) Chapter 180: True Faith (3) Trantor: RainTL
True Faith (3) Pope Sicarii sensed a change in the atmosphere around the sacred chapel. It all began from the time Saintess Estelle returned with the Holy Grail. Holy Grail. The true identity of that divine artifact was the King of Gods; Dagda Mors Magic Cauldron, Undry, which appeared in the indigenous religions and myths. Nuada Airgem, the God of the Sun, and his iomh Sis. God of Light, Lugh Lamhfada, and his Areadbhair. And Lia Fail, the Stone of Destiny which proved the legitimacy of the King of Gods. Last but not least was Dagdas Undry, but Undry wasnt widely known because of its overwhelming ability or anything. Despite that, it had with itself a tremendous symbolic presence. Because they called it the Holy Grail, the Order treated Undry as the greatest divine artifact of them all. What they did not expect was that the Saintess would bring that divine artifact and im to have been chosen by God. But how? Although she was the oldest child of the royal family, who inherited the blood of both the gods and the Titans the most, who could have expected her to get acknowledged by Undry? How could a Saintess, who did not even know of the true faith, be chosen by one of the Danann treasures? -The Saintess will guide us all! -I knew it. She is chosen by God! -There are dirty traitors who sold the Saintess to the filthy heretics of the Tower! Immediately after her return, the Saintess grouped up the priests and believers of the New Faith underneath her without even attempting to hide it. iming that she had been selected by God, she incited the crowd, saying that there were traitors within the Order. Traitors? It sounded like nonsense to the Pursuers of Paradise, who wished for the Advent of Paradise and were aware of the true gods However, what was troubling was that it wasnt time for them to reveal themselves just yet. This wont do. We must seek aid from Xeruem Unlike the Zeon Order, where only half the cardinals and the pope were on the side of Tates Valtazar, all the executives in the Xeruem Order had already be one with the Pursuers of Paradise. It was all because of the Saintess. Because the Saintess had a significant amount of authority and symbolic presence in the New Faith, the Zeon Order had trouble forcing things through unlike Xeruem, the Old Faith. Plus, the presence of the Saintess also meant that they could not avoid the eyes of the royal court. However, there was less than 1 year left until the n. The Frost Giant would bring a severe winter in its wake. Wolves would rise up, blocking the light and bringing darkness into the world. Atst, the future foretold by the Titans, who lived alongside the Danann was about to be realized, and a great catastrophe was about to strike them. When the time came, worldly status, honor, and fame everything would be useless. The only discerning factor would be the amount of contribution they made to the new world. Ill be a god and stand on the right-hand side of the King of Gods. He could not give up on this. Despite being 80 years of age, Pope Sicarii Iscariot had a fiery ze in his eyes. -Kwang! It was then. Someone suddenly intruded into the popes office. Raising his old and feeble body up from his seat, the pope tried to rebuke the insolent intruder. Who in the!? Hello, Your Holiness. She, who had a familiar appearance, well-ornamented sacred outfit, and pink hair, was none other than the troublemaker of the decade. Saintess! What do you think you are doing!? Estelle barged into the room with countless Holy Knights, priests, and sisters behind her. All of them looked slightly uncertain with their actions except for the Saintess herself but I have received a revtion, and the Lord told me to verify it. Many people referred to the 2nd Princess Miruam as a venomous serpent. Anyone who witnessed the torrent of blood she brought around, ruthlessly killing beastmen ever since the incident 10 years ago would agree with that statement. However, the pope now realized that Saintess Estelle was no different from her. It was only that her true personality had been under a veil because she had only been protecting the well-being and rights of demi-humans until now. Upon returning to the Order, the Saintess looked more like a veteran politician than a saintess, as she instigated believers and ordered priests around like her limbs. Everything will be done in his will. The Saintess, who had been concealing the face of a snake all along, seized control over the New Faith in a breeze. *** One of the eighteen cardinals and pirs of the New Faith, Akeldama, was dragged out of his sleep. Stone walls were all around him, with cold iron bars in front. This interrogation room even had sacred sealing circles which made escapes absolutely impossible. This room, which had belonged to the Inquisition before the Zeon Order came into existence, was evidently insistent that they would not let out a single noise let alone the prisoner. It was a historical site where heretics, witches, and the like had been imprisoned and tortured for centuries until their execution. Akeldama was trying to fathom why he had been brought into this ce when people started to walk in from the only way in and out of this room. Their outfits were unsuitably bright in this gloomy and dark interrogation room. A Holy Knight in blessed sacred armor was led by the Saintess of the Order, who was decorating herself with white silk and brilliant golden ornaments. Greetings, Cardinal Akeldama. S, Saintess! Cardinal Akeldama was delighted yet horrified by her appearance. It was because her white clothes and her golden ornaments were drenched in blood. Everyone knew how the Saintess was invincible. She could not be wounded and was so blessed by God that any prayer she made would be fulfilled. So how can she be so drenched in blood? Ah~, is it this? Apologies. I was going through the traitors and there were too many of them that I didnt have the time to get changed. T, traitors? Before we begin. Sir? Please step outside for a bit. I would like to have a personal chat with the cardinal. Understood. The Holy Knight, who was tasked with bodyguarding the Saintess despite her invincibility, hesitated with aplicated look on his face before following hermand. Although Estelle was a rather free and unbound soul, she was well-known for her benevolence and kindness. Even so, the knight couldnt help but wonder if the things she had been doing all night long were indeed for the sake of the Lord However, he immediately dismissed that outrageous line of thought. The Saintess was a being chosen by God, and the very proof of that was the Holy Grail. As the person closest to God, she was iming that she had received a heavenly revtion so that had to be the truth. If not, it did not make sense that she would be holding such radiant sacred energy. Like that, Estelle and Akeldama were left alone inside the interrogation room. cing her blood-soaked mace on the desk, she calmly took her seat. S, Saintess For some reason, Akeldama sensed sharpness from her tranquil expression rather than her usual gentle demeanor. But his line of thought did notst long, because Estelle gave a loud p before opening her mouth. Now now. Dont be too nervous. Nothing will happen if you are innocent, Cardinal Akeldama. I, innocent? What do you- By the way, Im not good with interrogations. Harassing and torturing people intentionally to obtain a testimony is something the Old Faith would do. I do admit it is necessary at times, though. She still spoke benevolently like the saintess she was, but the drops of blood on her cheeks, clothes, and her mace were inplete contrast. S, Saintess I have no idea what it is about, but I am innocent! Why was I brought into this heretic interrogation room? My sacred energy is the same! If you give me one chance to prove myself then-! Do you serve the Danann? Sorry? Umm Do you mean those beings thate up in the mythologies of the heretics? He desperately tried to conceal his astonishment and somehow managed to stop himself from looking stupefied. Akeldama then told himself that he had to make her believe that he only knew of the Danann as a piece of knowledge. He could not reveal how he knew they were the true gods, and how the God King of Light was attempting to bring about a new world. As well as how his sacred energy was based on his belief of the Danann. Dont be like that. I know it too, that the Lord we know about is a fabrication made by humans. W, what? Saintess! How could you possibly say such a thing! It was then. A tremendous amount of sacred energy flooded out of Estelles body and filled the gloomy room with radiant light. It was a pure and white light a brilliant radiance that was only allowed to the one who had the most amount of sacred energy and divinity. Akeldama, despite being the one who sold her to the Tower of Mages to extract her blood for the resurrection of the Titans, was baffled by theplete brilliance of light before his eyes. She truly was a representative of God. It did not matter whether one was a believer of the Lord or the Danann to acknowledge Estelle. In fact, due to being a believer of the Danann, Akeldama knew very well how her power wasing from a divine bloodline of the gods. Do you serve the Lord? Or the Danann? He could not tell anything from her indifferent set of eyes, but Akeldama was not fooled by it. The Saintess was one whom the Pursuers of Paradise including the pope, along with ten of the eighteen cardinals had decided to purge. She was evidently someone who would be an interference to the God King of Light, and one who would not side with them ever. I have no idea! I really have no idea what you are saying, Saintess! Estelles senses as the saintess and the proof of his connection with the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages that her Holy Knights found during their search of his residence, gave her the certainty that he was not telling the truth. Dont lie. Absorbing the brilliant light of sacred energy back into herself, Estelle reached out for the bloodstained mace. *** Pope Sicarii was the son of the first pope of the New Faith, Sorter Iscariot who fought against the unreasonable doctrine and the Witch Hunt of the Old Faith. His father was a historical figure who contested against the Xeruem Chapel of the Old Faith and against the Tower of Mages of the Steel Archipgo. As his son, Sicarii fought for his faith and prayed to be a follower of the lord forever. One day, after seeding his fathers post as the next pope, he came across a being who infiltrated into his bedroom. My names Tates Valtazar. One whom you refer to as a god. It was such a ridiculous sphemy, but Sicarii had no choice but to believe it before long. He realized the fact that the Lord was a fake existence and that the true god was right in front of him. As such, he betrayed his Lord, turned away from the false faith, and served the real god, waiting for the new genesis to arrive. Unlike the Lord who gave vague descriptions of paradise and hell, the Danann of Light promised tangible and visible rewards. Plus, he even promised that he would bestow them with divinity within the new world, after punishing those of the fake world. Why did you turn out like this? And now, After having everything revealed by the Saintess and being brought down from his previous status, Pope Sicarii met ady whom he had met 80 years ago. You must be Sorters son. She was brighter than anything else in existence and was a living creature of divinity. Thedy had hair that was fine like silver, and her eyes were as beautiful as the blue oceans She appeared like a goddess straight out of a fairy tale. Erin Danua. Do you still remember me? Son of Sorter. Huhuhu Who wouldnt after seeing you? Although he met her back when he was only 5 years old, Pope Sicarii still vividly remembered that day. Compared to the past Youre still young. You havent aged in the slightest. I had no idea back then, that you were a goddess. Your father didnt know either. Yes! You yourself concealed the fact that you were a god! And you watched us, and my father, believe in a false god. How pitiful and stupid must have we appeared?! He remembered the first time he had doubts about his lifelong devotion and faith. At first, he refused to believe in and sought the Lord. However, he got no responses and his sacred energy remained the same. In the end, when his doubts grew bigger, he thought that his sacred energy would disappear for good. It was an obvious consequence in his mind. However, despite his doubts and disbelief, his sacred energy remained the same. When he realized that the sacred energy that he and his fellow believers used was simply because somehow the blood of the gods and the Titans became thicker in their generation The deep sense of despair he felt Upon realizing that it was but a coincidence. If the god was fake then isnt it natural to seek a new god? And out there, hes promising me that I could be a god myself; and that your youth that eternal life could be mine! Did you forsake justice just because of that? Erin Danua the goddess of the Divinity of Justice, gave a rare frown as she listened to the pope speak. Despite the betrayal of the Goidels, and despite the departure of her family of Danann, Erin had remained behind in thisnd. As the teacher and master of countless heroes, the Danann of Justice always tried to teach martial arts and guide students down the right path in the process. She found the weak and greedy human in front of her to be very pitiful. You should have followed the conscience and justice of your heart, instead of a god. Kuhak!? Unfortunately, the punishment of justice had to be firm. After being stabbed in the heart in the blink of an eye, Former Pope Sicarii fell down with a look of disbelief. Blood oozed out of the hole, creating a puddle beneath his corpse. It was a cold scene of execution, but someone walked through the rusty scent of blood without even a frown. It was none other than Saintess Estelle. Are you done, Goddess? Yes. I have personally blessed this child, so I must retrieve it with my own hands. I think we ought to have revealed the proof of his betrayal and publicly executed him though. Looking at Estelle, Erin could not suppress the myriad ofplex emotions budding up inside her. Just a few days ago, she had been such an active and bright girl, but now, Estelle looked rather ominous and fanatic. This internal purge was an example. Using the Holy Grail as her justification, she spoke of a revtion from a god she didnt believe in and instigated the believers of the New Faith. After quickly forming a public consensus, she decisively led thebatants of the Order who had absolute trust in her, tond the first strike quickly on the cardinals and the pope. Without bothering about all the procedures and trials, she jumped straight on and removed every Pursuer of Paradise from cardinals to bishops. Although there would still be some remaining within the Order, it was hard to believe that the underlings would be able to do anything, now that all the cardinals and the pope had been purged. The reason such an aggressive internal purge was able to go through, was thanks to the synergy of the Saintess and the Holy Grail as well as Estelles relentless and unhesitant set of actions. As a result of having her lifelong belief denied, she was going on a rampage in a direction that differed from Pope Sicarii. Dont overdose yourself with blood. No matter how correct it may be, too much blood will end up changing people. Like how ink on a white canvas couldnt be removed, the same was the case for people. I am aware, Goddess. Even though I may look like this, Im still a princess and Im used to seeing blood all the time. After purging the pope, Erin left the rest to her and withdrew from the Order. While seeing her leave, Estelle had an ever-so-refreshing smile on her face as she pondered about the future. The rats had lost their heads and their bodies. The few leftover tails should be easily removable upon viewing the documents of the dead cardinals and bishops for reference. It would lead to the true renewal of the Order very soon. Plus she had another goal in mind. I would have to review the doctrines one by one. While maintaining the current scripture, we have to slowly merge it with the Danann religion. Estelle knew that a sudden religious revolution would do more harm than good. Therefore, she nned to change over a long period of time, the faith of the Lord into the faith of the Danann. For example, the Lord into the King of Gods and Angels into Danann. It shouldnt be too difficult, as long as she could make slight modifications by adding renewed interpretations of the scripture and discoveries of new scriptures. After all, she was a child of the gods, one who received a divine revtion, and the master of the Holy Grail. Korin~. Oh, Korin. Korin, Korin, Korin My new Sun that will guide our future. The new faith of humanity. The Keeper of the Sun, who would protect humanity against the Evil God of Light and save the world. The Saintess, inheriting the legacy of the Divinity of the Earth, was heavily attracted to him. And besides, a king cant go without a queen, right? The harmony of the God of the Sun and the Goddess of the Earth. What a perfect delight to the ears that was. Chapter 181: Contact (1) Chapter 181: Contact (1) Trantor: RainTL
Contact(1) The dark underground was upied by citizens who could see no light. Dana Shee an underground city created by Dagda Mor, the Danann of Earth, in the distant past. This enormous underground city, which had been made for fairies, was now the hiding spot of demi-humans who gathered in the city to escape persecution. -Clomp, clomp At the center of that underground world was arge temple-like building. It was a temple at the start a temple built by the fairies to make offerings to the Danann of Earth who created the underworld of Dana Shee for them. Walking down the corridor, faintly lit by torches, the felinedy soon arrived at a room with numerous people, which she could see with her nocturnal eyes. Wolf and Vampire. Even the Fairy elders were waiting. Weve been waiting for you, Illusan. Ednar nced across the wide conference room. This temple, which used to host hundreds of believers at once, only had roughly 30 people. The conferences held here were organized to direct the new pathway of the Demi-Human Union, so they had to choose their members with caution, but this was still fewer than normal. Looks like were missing a few. Theyre dead. They were helping kids escape the Deand and did not pass the Full Moon. Deand referred to Xeruem, the Chapel of the Old Faith. Demi-human hunts were still taking ce away from the eyes of the New Faith and the royal family within the outskirts of the kingdom. More rules have beening into ce against discrimination but these guys are acting like theres no tomorrow. This is a bad omen. An old fairy Leprechaun shared their assumption alongside ament. He managed a small shoe repair shop in the vige but was the oldest fairy and was therefore the Chief Elder of Mound. Is it the Serpent again? Yeah. Serpent that title was used inside Mound as both a derogatory and frightening term. Countless numbers of theirrades had been captured at the Deands and ripped apart by the Serpent. Damn, that little snake We shouldve killed her back then. A ck dog growled from the crowd of the wolf and dog beastmen. However, the few who knew of the backstory simply sighed in response. A wolf with lustrous silver fur, the Wolf Elder of beastmen, Ku Shee, knew that this agenda was a negative one for him and kept his silence. That was when the Vampire Elder scoffed at him. All thanks to those little doggies that ruined everything cause of the Full Moon. What? istig! Are you picking a fight with me right now!? The provocative statement of a vampire, a rival faction, incited the wolves and the dogs. The Chief Elder of Mound did not wish for a fight between the top two factions of Mound and intervened in their conversation. Stop there. ming the past wont get us anywhere. This too is one of our mistakes, and a sin we must wear on our shoulders. Ednar didnt bothermenting. The rage that formed due to that mistake that day was what had been scorching them for a decade. As you all probably know already, the New Faith has been going through some serious changes. Before talking about him, Ednar first shared what was going on around the world. Right. The Saintess massacred the pope and the cardinals. Wasnt the Saintess a supporter of peace? I cant believe that girl smashed the pope and the cardinals to death. The Saintess rampage, which immediately changed the power structure of the New Faith was also a concern for Mound. Ever since the Witch Revolution 100 years ago, the Zeon Order had acted as a shield for demi-humans against open persecution. For the citizens of Dana Shee, who were only alive thanks to the permission of the Zeon Order, it was a concerning matter that they simply could not ignore. Considering how she was, the Saintess should be on our side though? Ku Shee opened his mouth for the first time in the conference. He was perhaps one of the ones who benefited the most from the help of the Saintess, and despite him looking down on most humans, he did not do the same for the Saintess. The Saintess is not the problem. Whats important is that the Zeon Order is being cleaned out. Cardinals and bishops alike. Dont tell me We found traces of Bishop Gress the one who we had been supporting to be the next cardinal, fleeing to the Chapel of Xeruem. Everyone became silent just like Ku Shee. Only a few people of the Zeon Order knew of Mound, the union located in Dana Shee. The pope, the Saintess, the cardinals and a very small number of bishops. Unfortunately, Bishop Gress was one of those few bishops. Thats massive trouble! If Bishop Gress speaks a word about Dana Shee! It will go into the ears of the Serpent. The elders of Mound could not conceal their distress. Ever since that incident, the Serpent had been indiscriminately hunting theirrades in search of them. Everyone in Mound knew upon seeing her irrationally stubborn hatred, that a conflict against the Serpent would not end until one of them disappeared from the face of this. The silence in the room of sighs andmentations was broken by Ednars sentence. What if there was a way out of this? What do you mean? Ednar decided to share his message, earlier than scheduled. This was a very risky gamble. Korin Lork. He reached out to me. Which side would they decide to stand with, she wondered. Tell them to elect a head of the union, Fairy King Finvarra. Its an old tradition but that shoe-making fairy should know it. We can lend you a hand if you wish. Join us for the new world. Korin Lork and a Sage of the Forest, who had contacted them quite some time ago. Whoever they decided to side with, Ednar knew that it would lead to an earth-shattering change. *** I recalled the fight I had against Tates Valtazar. Not bad! A bit faster this time! A repetition of Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon and consistent use of the Domain. Each and every one of his actions was an eye-opening enlightenment. Dont be overly conceited with the Domain. Its not an invincible, overpowered technique. Repeated entry into the Domain sounds great, but there is always a little gap before the activation and reactivation. Hemented, treating the Domain, which was the end goal of many warriors, as nothing more than a standard technique. His strides; the way he held his spear; his sense of bnce shifting with each strike and his artistic control over the weapon. It was an overwhelming defeat, not only in terms of physical stats but also in terms of control over the spear. I had met countless powerhouses until now, but I had only seen three people aside from him who dominated me in martial arts. Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden. King of Beauty, Eochaid Bres. And Dont lose your focus. m! The spear stabbed through the gap in my consciousness. Despite the non-lethalizing spell cast on the spear, the stab was still a heavy blow to my vitals. Kuhk! My body powerlessly crumbled down. I instinctively protected my head to avoid concussion, but I could not breathe due to the stab to my sr plexus. Korin! Thest thing I saw was the Master hurriedly running towards me after seeing me fall. Now that I think about it, I had never beaten Master a single time until the very end There was a soft feeling behind my head. It felt like I was resting my head on someone else. When I opened my eyes, I found Master looking down at me from straight above. How long was I out for? Around 8 seconds. You should have just left me be. How could I do that to you? She said while stroking my forehead with her soft hands. It was still unbelievable how she was one of the strongest spearmen, despite having such soft baby hands. More importantly, does it still hurt? I unconsciously put in too much power. I think youre being too generous to me, Master. You should be more strict. Fufu. Has the me in the future ever scolded you? Hmm I dont think so. Of course~. Why would I need to be strict to such a wonderful and magnificent disciple? It may be nothing new, but this person is way too doting. I had never heard anything negative or been scolded by her in my life. But still~, why dont you try pretending to be angry at least? Hmm She looked perplexed after hearing that. After rolling her hand, which was on my forehead, into a fist, she nced back and forth between me and her fist before finally making a tough choice. Gyaooh Kong! Master said as she gently pressed my forehead with her fist. What was that? Master embarrassedly shrunk a little in response to my question. She let out an empty cough to chase away the embarrassment but following that was a timid whisper. A, a tiger? Was she trying to mimic a tiger just then? Hahaha It was more like a cat than a tiger a cat soaked in water, at that. Ughh Master twitched her toes around, which made my head shake from the top of herp. She could not straighten her back and her shoulders and instead shifted the topic to a different question. B, by the way, what were you thinking about the whole time? The fight against Tates. Ah He might be an enemy, but I have to admit it. Hes strong. Both in pure power and skill I would need to improve a lot more to fight him on equal grounds. Im sure you can do it. I had been dominated despite the 740% amplification. Considering how that was only possible thanks to Dun Scaith, Dumnorix and Eochaid Bres also being present it would be much less than that in the actual final battle. The gap in our stats would drop if I make use of his Precept but Physical stats isnt the only difference in our caliber. His strength is in his terrifying proficiency of spearmanship and He possesses an otherworldly talent. Calling it simply talent wouldnt be enough. Honestly, the difference between Tates and Masters spearmanship wasnt that big. There was only a slight gap between their proficiency in spearmanship but I would probably lose a hundred out of a hundred fights. We only won 80 years ago thanks to ras help. What exactly is it? Ive seen Sword Emperor Garrand fight before, and I got a simr feeling from that when I was fighting Tates. Do you know theres a difference between being strong and being victorious? Is this about psychology? Master shook her head and replied. Sometimes, very rarely in the annals of history, there are beings that are born simply to fight. The Danann of Light, Lugh, who contended against Balor the King of Titans, the killer of the Previous God King Nuada, would be one such example. A mysterious talent to defeat a foe that should logically be undefeatable. An otherworldly talent that surpasses any difference in strength and technique the fortune of victory. There are people who are born with the destiny of winning as if the entire era wants to give them victory as a gift. I heard something simr before. From Sword Emperor Garrand Arden, Sword Master Lunia Arden as well as from the previous iterations Master. You are also in possession of that disparate talent. Think back on your fights. Have you ever overwhelmed your opponent in any of your battles? For most of them no. For all my fights, I prepared myself as much as I could. There was the support from my Precepts, and I always strived to gather everything that would let mee out victorious. That was how I was able to win. Whether it be power, weapon, geographical location or fortune Theres the talent of being able to pour everything into the sole purpose of victory The talent of victory. That was what she added. Right now, you might be weak and inadequate. However, I can tell you for sure, that you have the destined talent of a hero. And your talents arent any worse than Tates. That doesnt feel real though. I used to be a normal person on Earth, living a life far from violence. Do I really possess a talent like that? Whatever the case, I need to awaken my talents as soon as possible, because I will be fighting against him in the near future. Is that how it went in the future youve experienced? Yes. The unforgettable nightmare of you saving me with your life as the price. Dear child, my beloved disciple. Your Master will protect you no matter the cost. I have no doubts that your talents will bloom and that you will continue my legacy I lifted my fingers and pinched Master on her nose. W, what was that?! I told you not to say anything like that. Uht B, but Im your Master If you keep saying that, I wont even treat you like my Master. T, thats a mean thing to say. I pondered while looking at her reddened nose. This person was always so eager to sacrifice herself and I didnt like that. Youre the one being mean. Turning my head, I rubbed my face on her thighs and her belly to act like the child she suggested I was. Dont die no matter what happens. If you do that again I wont forgive you. Htt! Answer me. Haa How can I say no when you say that? Of course, you shouldnt, and dont try to beat your disciple in an argument! Master, you have to live with me for an eternity. You have no choice but to live forever with your disciple here. H, huh? T, thats Fuu For some reason, her voice sounded like a candy melted by sunlight. I turned my eyes to the sky and found her covering her bright red face with her two hands. Master? Ugh Lets, lets stay like this for now. I wonder whats wrong with her? This did happen in thest iteration as well, but it was happening more often in this iteration. Well, that was what my Master was saying so I didnt have any choice as the disciple. Besides, I could rub my face on her soft thighs so it was a win for me as well. -Jiing! Oh dear. Unfortunately, an end came to this joyous period of time. Student Korin. As you said What are you doing? I turned around and saw Lady Josephine looking at me with a frown. Can you lend me yourp as well, Professor? Haa Now is not the time for this. Student Korin, everything went as you said. So Yes. Its looking slightly dangerous. We have to start moving. 5 days before the start of the new semester, huh? Later than expected. Korin, is this about what you mentioned before? Master asked. Yes. Well, its still going ording to n. We didnt even have to bother mentioning the specific details again to make sense of what was happening. For security purposes, it was a secret shared only between us three. The final event that would be decorating this long summer holiday was picked up by Lady Josephines radar. Now, lets prepare ourselves. Its the final event before a new semester, so lets get this done quickly. Do you still have the thing I gave you? Wear that on your head. Nn I do have it because you gave it to me, but why? Dont ask questions; theres a reason for everything. You too, Professor Josephine. Wouldnt a mask be better if we are hiding our identities? Its not like Im nning to though? I said while wrapping the cloth circlet around my head, making sure in the process to have the little scratch at the front. *** They, who were attacking the freshman students who were returning to Merkarva Academy along with the new semester, were stopped by an unexpected foe. Despite standing before dozens of professional assassins, the young man didnt seem frightened in the slightest. He looked young, but there was not a single light of caution or fear in his eyes. Hmm Haa And standing behind him were twodies wearing cloth circlets with a strange mark at the front. He, who appeared with a beautifuldy on each of his sides, waved at the student who had been the target of the group of assassins. Junior Rashid. Long time no see. S, senior? Chairman and Senior Professor?! The target said with a stupefied face, which agitated all the assassins present. The chairman and the senior professor of the Academy? They didnt know much about the chairman, but there was only one Senior Professor at Merkarva Academy, and that was the Dimensional Witch. Oi, you folks. The young man who appeared with such big shots behind him asked a question while gazing down at the assassins. Do you know why we are strong? What the heck was this about? The assassins wondered, but before they could even say anything, the young man started shouting as if he had been longing for this moment and a chance to say the phrase. Its because we are Rogue Ninjas Uhk! Professor Josephine!? Youre embarrassing us so please stop doing that. ra Why are you being so mean to Korin? What? Chapter 182: Contract (2) Chapter 182: Contract (2) Trantor: RainTL
Contract(2) The freshman student of Merkarva Academy, Rashid Ad Din Mustali, was a descendant of the n of assassins called Hassin. He was the son of the chief and one of the peak assassins of his generation. However, he did not like the darkness looming inside his n. He considered it unjust to live off of assassinations, increasing infamy by stealing others lives. That was why he left. Escaping from thends of his ancestors, he arrived at Merkarva Academy but in the end, the pursuers of his n had tracked him down in a mere half a year. Come to the Forest of Demons on the east of the city. Otherwise, you will pay for your choice. It was on summer holiday. Maybe it was because he had been taking too many missions to earn money topensate for leaving the n empty-handed. When he went to the client after a personally appointed quest, what he found instead of a mission was a short threat. Hemented at the fact that they had found him so soon. It was only one semester. He had been here for a very short amount of time but made many friends at the academy and became attached to the party that he had joined to hunt demonic beasts together. He knew that his n wouldnt hesitate toy their hands on them. Youre here. That night, as soon as he set foot in the dark world of shadows inside the forest, they appeared out of nowhere like ghosts. As if they wouldnt let him escape a second time, dozens of assassins were here as well as the chief of the n, his father. Father How pathetic. Did you really think you could live in peace after betraying the n? I Was the fact that he wasnt killing him immediately a sign of his fatherly love for his son? Or was it simply because he needed a sessor to the n? Whichever the case, Rashid wasnt fond of this turn of events. Did you bring all the elites of the n just to take me back? Hmph. Dont be full of yourself. Its for a mission. This many assassins for a single mission? Didnt it cost thousands of gold to hire tens of elite assassins at once though? It is none of your business now that you have betrayed the n. Rashids father said after tossing him a scimitar. You have two choices left. Either kill yourself or return to the n. I will forgive you if you decide toe back now. So this is the end, huh? Thinking that, Rashid nkly gazed at the trees above that didnt even let him gaze at the stars beyond. Honor. Devotion. Justice. Those three words represent a knight he hade all the way to Merkarva in pursuit of those virtues. At the Academy where he ended up, Rashid faced a huge, insurmountable wall in the Hunting Grounds prac lesson. Not bad. He met a 2nd year student, who perfectly saw through his stealth, andpletely outssed him from the front. Rashid was in despair, thinking how that was the standard of high-ranked knights of Markarva Academy. What was fortunate for him at the very least, was that that particr senior was exceptionally stronger than the rest. Since you are here anyway, aim to be a knight. Rather than a sword that kills, go for a sword that protects. Thats all knights are. If you do that, youll be a solid knight yourself. It was thanks to the encouragement of such a strong senior that Rashid was motivated to achieve his goal. He was a slightly strange person but was extremely generous and kind to the freshmen so Rashid had a good impression of him just like everyone else. Plus, hearing about the legendary epic tales Korin wrote during his first year became the standard of a true knight. Rashid wanted to be like him. He wanted to be a real knight just like him. Finishing his line of thought, Rashid picked up the scimitar that his father threw in front of him. It wasnt to kill himself and instead A sword that helps and not kills. Instead of killing, I wish to focus on the path of saving people. Its to stand proud for his convictions. You fool. You stupid fool Perhaps he wasnt as emotionally dead as Rashid had been thinking. His father closed his eyes for a bit before unsheathing his sword. He knew that he couldnt stand a chance against his father but that was fine. All that mattered was that he remained true to himself. His final moments would be that of a knight instead of that of an assassin. It was a shame that no one would know about it but Senior Korin. Thank you very much for the short yet important lessons you have taught me. Thinking back on the senior who left a memorable impact in his mind, Rashid raised his weapon and Jiing! That was when a dimensional crack that he remembered seeing in the Hunting Grounds appeared before his eyes. Soon, a group started to walk out from the fissure. Junior Rashid. Long time no see. S, senior? Chairman and Senior Professor?! Wearing a strange piece of cloth around his head with a weird emblem, the three of them jumped onto a tree (for some reason) and gazed down at them. Oi, you folks. At the center of the crew was the senior whom he had been thinking about until then. Do you know why we are strong? Korin Lork was a great senior; a respectable knight and Its because we are Rogue Ninjas Uhk! Professor Josephine!? Youre embarrassing us so please stop doing that. ra Why are you being so mean to Korin? What? He was a very weird person. *** It didnt take long for us to neutralize every assassin of the Hassin n. I alone was honestly enough to deal with them, and yet Master as well as Lady Josephine, the Dimensional Witch, were here so none of them were able to escape. Frankly speaking, it was an unlucky matchup for them. The chief of the assassin n, Sinnan, was the boss of Rashids character scenario and was at the level of a Grade 1 Knight, and the rest were all elites at the level of Grades 2 or 3 at least. The only problem was that they were against three legendary semi-Unique Grades. Fuu~. Why bother trying to run away? Im just trying to make friends here. Throwing away the cloth around my head, I stood before the chief, Rashids father, and the group of captured assassins. Mr. Sinnan Ib Salman Mustali. Hello, I am Rashids senior. Kuhk You brat. This here is the chairman of the Academy, Miss Erin Danua, and thisdy here is Senior Professor Josephine ra. Guys, you have to say hello. We are having a parent-teacher interview right now. Haa It seemed that both Master and Lady Josephine were a bit too old to understand my humorous talks. Lets go straight to the topic then. Give up on Rashid. Having a meddlesome parent is not good for the childs future, okay? I refuse! One letter from me and the elite swordsmen of the Arden Family will attack your cave. You know the Sword Master, yeah? Lunia Arden? There is no way you know where our vige is! Rashid. Youll tell us right? I turned to Rashid who had a nk look on his face. After looking back and forth between me and his father, he slowly gave a nod. If you are going to do it, you have to do it thoroughly, he even added. All their elites are here anyway. Getting rid of an empty shell of a vige is just a matter of time. You! How dare you do this to your vige! A fathering to kill his son and a son selling his father away What a beautiful sight to behold. This was how the character scenario of Rashid Ad Din Mustali always went. It was a very unfamillial story. Whats your answer? Alright. I will let Rashid go. You say that, but I dont trust ya. You couldnt trust a group of assassins; they certainly wouldnt yield from just a threat. Now. Time to ept your mission. Mission? Are you asking us for a mission after capturing us? I already paid the deposit, havent I? Enough to employ all 35 elite assassins of the n. What? What was that? Both the father and the son widened their eyes in shock. I paid the deposit through a secret ount. Plus, I told you where your son was. Remember that? I could hear their brains working hard to make sense of what I said. Soon, the two of them finally understood how they ended uping here. You son of a bitch! Thanks for thepliment~. Rashid Ad Din Mustali Difficulty: C Reward: Even distribution of 40 points To be fair, I was just trying to save my junior ahead of time, okay? What I did wasnt anythingplex. I gave arge deposit through the Hassin ns contacts and at the same time, told them that Rashid was currently attending Merkarva Academy. They were going to find out about him going to the Academy sooner orter anyway, so all I did was make that happen ahead of schedule. Sinnans goal would have been to meet me for the mission and take Rashid back while he was at it. He probably also came here ahead of time to check if it was a trap but that clearly wasnt enough. So dont touch Rashid, and now its time to listen to my mission. Do you think we will listen to your By the way, the reward for a sessful job at the mission is 4,000 gold, and a clean job at it would be 2,000 more gold. What is the content of this mission, Employer? Money. Money was the solution to many conflicts. Naturally, I didnt have that much money to spare but I had gotten it confirmed by Marie beforehand. You need a few thousand gold? Korin, you dont have to ask me for an amount like that. I will give you a few nk cheques so use them as you see fit! This was why Marie Dunareff was the boss of the 1st Arc and not a party member. If Marie was on your team there would have been absolutely no need for the yer to go around earning money. Renting out the infamous Hassin n didnt even cost as much as the amount Marie earned in a single month Haa. Ah, the unfairness of life! What are you nning to do by hiring our entire n? Well, a poisonous sword can still be used for good. Rashid appeared to be in turmoil from hisplex emotions. I dont think hiring assassins is what a righteous knight would do. Technically, I didnt hire them for assassination. Then what? Just to kidnap a few people. They love to hide so its a bit difficult for me to go myself. Money, information, and justification. With all three of them in hand, there was nothing that could possibly stop me. Umm, even if its not assassination, isnt kidnapping still against chivalry? You need to learn how to gloss over things! Sometimes we all need to do what we gotta do! A young man like yourself should be more flexible with these things! *** The long holiday soon came to an end. I spent quite some time throwing the baits around, so all I had to do now was wait until the Union at Dana Shee reached out to me. The question was how fast Miruam would start making her moves and things were so different from thest iteration, that I couldnt say for sure how everything was going to go. In any case, I had set my preparations in case things were to happen any time soon. The only thing left for me to do was K, Korin Its my first time seeing something like this. Fuu Am I trembling right now? Hehe Marie and I couldnt hide our bliss at the face of the miracle in front of our eyes. Korean Ginseng It was one of the elixirs I farmed at the Prohibited Forest during the war against the Tower of Mages. Most of the elixirs I gave already to the girls, but this was something I had to take for myself. The 10,000-year-old ginseng, with a very very low drop chance in the repeat quest of the Prohibited Forest was a 10,000-year-old herb which even the gods would cherish as a treasure. K, Korin Are you really going to eat this? Shouldnt we leave this for generations toe? The graceful beauty of the Korean Ginseng contained a miraculous aura that even flustered Marie, the imperial princess of the Potato Empire. Anyone could see just how much of a treasure this was. Senior. Theres a saying that things can be useless if you do nothing but save it for the future. Ugh. Itll be good for you so I will try to make it. Ah, sorry I think you misunderstood something. We need someone elses help to refine this herb. Huh? Ah! So thats why you wanted me to call Daesik! Exactly. Marie immediately pulled out a ghoul from her shadow. Huahk! W, where is this? An old mage with green hair and a braided beard sprouted out of her shadow. He was one of the elders who used to reign supreme at the Tower of Mages, but now he was nothing but one of the many dirty prisoners. Elder Dreryan I mean, Mr. Daesik. Long time no see. Y, you are that bastard! Daesik, the previous elder of the Green Cult, shouted out loud while pointing his finger at me. He then unconsciously turned around to find Marie, before immediately getting on his knees in fright. M, Master! Hello Daesik. We captured more than 400 mages from the Tower as our captives. Most of them were turned into ghouls and were sent to the salt mines for punishment as Maries ves. Some of the government officials were against us taking so many mages for ourselves, but the royal court had permitted an unlimited plunder of the Tower of Mages to save the Saintess and had no justification to stop us. Mr. Daesik? Do you know what this is? W, wait! Thats! His eyes, which had already been in circles, widened so much that his eyeballs might pop out of his eyes. That might be nothing unusual because the Korean Ginseng was a heavenly treasure that he barely managed to bring in by using 10 years worth of the Green Cults annual budget. He even took care of it personally and used a Unique Grade demonic spirit as its guardian, which proved just how invested he was in this treasure. Of course, a spirit couldnt do anything to me so it was the easiest farm of my life. H, how is this in your hands!? Daesik? Thats not a very polite way to ask a question, is it? Huikk! M, my apologies, Master! He immediately got onto the floor on his knees. What in the world did he go through to be like this? Anyway, you need to refine these into an elixir for us. I can tell you the recipe so all you have to do is follow it through. A, ahhh Daesik, who used to treasure the herbs of the Prohibited Forest appeared like a soulless corpse. This wasnt good! If he was this nk-minded, he might make mistakes in the process so I decided to cheer him up. Mr. Daesik. Youre not thinking that this was the only herb I picked up from the Prohibited Forest right? I also picked up Jade Honey, Azerite Water, and Grrkk! His previously nk eyes regained their light as he red daggers at me. This time, his eyes were burning in mes of hatred and fury. Right. Anger! Anger is a good driving force. Light your body up with that fury, o avenger! Daesik. I threw more firewood into his burning me of hatred. Thanks for looking after my herbs. Kuhak! He threw up blood and fell on the spot. Umm maybe that was a bit over the top? Chapter 183: Contract (3) Chapter 183: Contract (3) Trantor: RainTL
Delinquent Saintess (2) It didnt take long for Daesik, the previous elder of the Green Cult, to refine the Korean Ginseng. This ginseng is an unprecedented energy amplifier. It boils the internal energy endlessly and expands their total capacity depending on the amount consumed. Korean Ginseng An extraordinary elixir that absorbed energy from leylines for ten thousand years. -Boiling it into a concoction will expand your Aura. -Consuming it raw will expand your Mana. -The maximum expansion will depend on the energy consumed. (10:1) -Consuming the ginseng will put you in an abnormal state and you will not be able to move. This will continue until your energy is exhausted. Simply put, it meant that I would be put under an abnormal state the moment I consumed the ginseng, and either my aura or mana would dry up until it reached 0. My Aura and Mana Capacity were roughly 15,000 and 13,000 respectively. Boiling the ginseng into a concoction, for example, would increase my aura by 1,500. Not much for the oldest herb in the world, you say? Actually, theres more to it. After consuming the ginseng, you must finish absorbing it within 3 days. Oi, Mr. Daesik. Anything you missed out on? Sorry? He immediately became nervous after hearing that, but there was still an undisguisable light of hostility in his eyes. His time at the salt mines must have made him quite spiteful. Daesik? Marie called him from behind with a chilling voice and that immediately reced the hostility in his eyes into fear. What did they do to this elder-level mage to make him so afraid just by hearing her voice? Were you hiding something just because I didntmand you? N, no Master! I, I was about to say it now! Behave yourself I even gave you a 3-square-meter room because I liked your work ethic. Or did you want to return to the group bedrooms? Hiik! H, how could I possibly forget your heavenly grace! Please have mercy! 3 square meters? Mr. Daesik What have you been going through? L, let me add to it now, Duke Consort! Duke Consort? Ahaha~. Daesik must have misunderstood something! Ehehe Marie said while throwing nces at my face. It was easy to tell that she was hiding something but regardless, I listened to Daesiks further exnation. While you are absorbing the energy from the herb, any external energy can also affect the expansion! We have no data on the 10,000-year-old ginseng, but we have tested it using 1,000-year-old ginsengs, so there shouldnt be any falsehood in that! Right. That is the reason why the 10,000-year-old ginseng is an overpowered elixir. An endless consumption of energy? But what if you replenished it with external sources? Whether it be potions or AOE buffs to increase regeneration or even the help of other allies. The most efficient use of the Korean Ginseng in Heroic Legends of Arhan was as follows. Firstly, acquire the Yellow Gold Mandrake and keep it for the future. Secondly, the yer had to increase either their Aura or Mana Capacity diligently before acquiring the Korean Ginseng, and the third piece of the puzzle was to raise as many party members with arge energy capacity. One of the examples was the unsealed Heavenly Yaksha, Hua Ran, and in terms of mana, there was Senior Professor Josephine ra. Using the Yellow Gold Mandrake, we could create an energy regeneration field, drink potions, and receive the help of up to five party members in the game to replenish the loss in energy. In the game, there was a limit because of bncing issues, but in real life? Yes, there are none. One of the fundamental reasons why Park Sihu was widely known as the God of Magic, was thanks to this. By consuming this Korean Ginseng and absorbing an endless supply of mana, he increased his capacity by a crazy amount. Park Sihu, thanks to his rising fame as the hero, was able to receive the full support of the Kingdom as well as Lady Josephines help to rally 158 mages. He received a national level of support. You would have to choose between aura and mana then, said Marie. Hmm Honestly, I still wasnt sure what to go with. Should I go with aura or mana? Fundamentally, I was a knight. Most of my skills ate up aura and Shura, out of all the skills, was one hell of a drainer. My current Aura Capacity was 15,000 and there were 12,000 aura stored up in my three Aura Cores, which added up to 27,000 in total. Increasing this by a dramatic amount would mean that I would never run out of aura until the end of the world. Mana I think I should go with mana. Alright. Is it because of iomh Sis? But in the end, I decided to go with mana. Of course, my current Mana Capacity was nothing to scoff at 13,000 was more than what most Grade 1 mages had in their arsenal. However, oimh Sis had a ridiculous and illogical mana consumption rate. In spite of the 200% mana increase set effect of iomh Sis and Airgem, the silver arm, that still wasnt enough to let me use Sun Compression for a long period of time. It reminded me once again how only a monster like Eochaid Bres would be able to make full use of the Sun. Considering how Park Sihu, who had less mana than him, had 410,000 It was to be expected of a monster. Good choice. There is a limitation to aura after all. Using my connection with Alicia, Hua Ran, Master Erin, Miss Lunia, and all sorts of other renowned knights, I might be able to receive the help of dozens of knights but There is practically no limit to mana, right? First off, we went to Lady Josephine. *** The salt mines in possession of the Dunareff were notorious for their merciless amount ofbor and their harsh environment. It was constructed to brutally harass the prisoners instead of aiming for profit and was essentially a ce that incited the life-imprisoned prisoners to die there. However, recently added to the list of prisoners here were ghouls, who would never die as long as they didnt run out of mana. They used to be promising mages of the Tower but were now nothing more than convicts imprisoned for life in the salt mines. These ghouls werent even given free time like the rest of the prisoners. Under the scorching sun and after treading through the boiling seawater underneath, the mages of the Tower poured saltwater onto another piece ofnd. A, ahht! Zollin, who had been nkly pouring saltwater, spotted movement inside the water and widened his eyes. J, jackpot! Jackpot? What! Thats a crab! H, hold up Zollin! You are not thinking of having that by yourself, are you? Boil it into a soup and many more would be able to enjoy it! Sometimes, during the process of moving seawater, the prisoners woulde across either fish or crabs and that was a blissful moment for them. It was because the rare source of protein helped awaken their long-lost sense of taste, in this harsh prison that gave potatoes, potatoes, and potatoes. Even if the dish they made was a in soup made with water and some random seaweed, that was always better than nothing for them. As such, anyone finding a crab or a fish inside the salt mines tended to call out, Jackpot! H, hands off! I caught this myself! You cant do this to me, Zollin! Do you not remember me helping you with your essay when you first came to the 6th floor?! P, Professor Zollin! No, Master! Look at me; Im your disciple Mandel, who studied under you for 27 years! All sorts of hyenas tried to use past connections but Zollin had no ns of sharing this crab with anyone. It had been half a year since he had any meat and his personal cravings were too strong to share the joy with someone else. -BEEEEEEEEEEP!! It was then. Mark, the Chief Officer of the Dunareff salt mine, called everyone to gather. All prisoners are to gather immediately! Look at yourselves! Move your damn asses! The irritated screams of the nearby officers were enough to immediately send the prisoners into a hurry. While carefully holding onto the little crab in his hands, Zollin raced towards the assembly area. Hello everyone~. Have you been working hard? Wee, Lady Marie!! In one voice, the prisoners shouted out loud like underlings greeting their mafia boss. Honestly, however, the status of being the oldest daughter of the Dunareff Dukedom was something mafia bosses couldnt even darepare to. She was the future empress of the Potato Empire and was a person who could make any mafia boss stand on their hands with one sentence. Uncle Mark! Are the prisoners I sent in working well? Haha, of course. Even if they werent good workers originally, inside this ce they would have no choice but to be. There was truth in his words because despite being from the Tower, all the mages were now expert salt miners. They were bashed up until they became one, and in the end, all of them had be veterans. Hmm, actually I was thinking of giving vacation to our little friends. V, vacation? Did she say vacation?? The 400 mages immediately became restless the moment they heard that. Ever since they were forced into this ce, they had never received a vacation in fact, they didnt even get to rest. Pouring salt water, again and again, they had to fill up tubs before moving the salt that they acquired from the water into a distant storeroom. Even on days when their work ended ahead of schedule, just a single mutter from the officer, Maybe we should pick up some vegetables from the rear mountain, meant that the 400 mages had to bend their backs and climb the mountain. For three days, Marie added. Three days! Three days?! Three days? What a joyous period of three days that would be! And enjoy some nice food. Nice food? Not potatoes?! Was she providing them with a meal? A proper dish instead of potatoes?! O the merciful Dunareff! We need a ce to sleep after work so please rent out a decent hotel. She was even promising them time off after work? How could this be real? How merciful could she be?! O, Your Highness!!! But I only need around 200. The air suddenly turned cold. People turned around, feeling the chilling res from left and right, and they all looked at each other while gritting their teeth. Who will it be? Who will be put off and who will be going after Master Marie? After Marie was finished with her sentence, the officer grinned before turning towards them. You heard that right. Nows your time to fight. Only half of you shall be redeemed. Three days went by. As a result of sucking out the mana of 200 free mages, themunity center that we rented out was filled with exhausted mages. You have fully consumed the Korean Ginseng. -A total of 375,644 mana has been exhausted. -Your Mana Capacity has increased by 37,564. -Your Mana Rank has gone up from Very High to Lower Unique. This is insane. I was lost for words upon seeing the message floating in front of my eyes. Yes. I did know theoretically about the effects of the Korean Ginseng. Even Park Sihu in thest iteration acquired a tremendous amount of mana through this method so there was no way I wouldnt know about it. By the way, Park Sihus final Mana Rank was Upper Unique, with his Mana Capacity reaching 430,000, thanks to all of his other amplifiers and buffs. He truly was a monster among monsters. With this, my mana went over 50,000. Of course, it was nothingpared to Park Sihu or the final bosses like Eochaid Bres and Tates Valtazar, but I had some amplifiers myself. The Precept and Airgem. Any battle rted to the salvation of the world, due to my Precept of I will save the world, would increase my stat by 100%. On top of that was the set effect of Airgem. -Equipping Airgem along with the Sun, iomh Sis, increases your mana by 200% With those two, my mana would be amplified by more than 4 times, giving me a shocking amount of 200,000. Fuu Im bing an actual monster now. Having 50,000 was already enough to be called a monster and yet 200,000 Well, the only way for me to use mana was through the Sun and Rune Magic though. Honestly, I wasnt sure beforehand, but with this, that should also be possible. I was certain that this would serve a very important role in the battle that I had been preparing for. Congrattions. Thats truly a shocking amount of mana. Lady Josephine, who carried us to and from the salt mines of the South,mented in awe while seeing how different I was in terms of mana. It was a great aplishment that even a great mage like herself acknowledged. Korin is amazing, right!? Mana is one thing, but its also amazing how hes not losing a single bit of it! My Mana Rank also went up, you see. Even though I cant even use anything apart from Rune Magic. Any mage with the same level of rank and capacity as me would have be a legendary great mage. Unfortunately, I was terrible at Math. I had long forgotten differentiation and integration already, and readingplex magical structures was already incredibly difficult. Park Sihu was in the Maths Department of Yonsei University if I remember correctly. I suppose someone like me, who was from the Physical Education Department was just more suited to moving my own body. Student Korin. What is it, Professor? At the end of this semester, we will be applying for a grading test. For Limitless Evaluation. Limitless Evaluation. It was an official evaluating system of the Guardian Alliance that the yer only had ess to in thetter portions of the game. Through this test, the yer would be tested on whether they were semi-Unique or Unique Grade. There was a massive difference in treatment between semi-Unique Grades and Unique Grades. Even Marie; although she hadbat prowess on the level of a Unique Grade demi-human, it would be difficult for her to be officially acknowledged by the Alliance as a Unique Grade Guardian. The word Unique Grade Guardian was the same as saying that they were the strongest of the generation, who could hunt down a Unique Grade demon by themselves. Spear Saint, Tates Valtazar. Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden. This could be seen from how these two were the only Unique Grade Guardians alive to this date. Besides, the Alliance usually only gave up to semi-Unique Grade and were quite hesitant tobel someone as a Unique Grade Guardian. Just like how there was a big gap between the rights of a Grade 1 and a semi-Unique Grade guardian, there was also a huge gap in authority and rights between semi-Unique and Unique. It was only when a guardian had everything including strength, background, and a record that they rarely gave their verdict. In Heroic Legends of Arhan, the final happy ending was only possible when the yer reached Unique Grade, so I had to obtain that title in this Limitless Evaluation. Well, Im sure it will be fine. By then, both the Kingdom and the Alliance would be going through a rapid change after all. *** On the main streets of the Academy, after the holiday came to an end, Miruam was walking alone through the campus for the first time in a month. She was someone who was always on the receiving end of attention. The 2nd Princess of the dominant country of the continent, the El Rath Kingdom; and the only rightful heir to the throne. As the daughter born from the previous Queen and not the current one, who used to be a concubine, she was the only legitimate heir to many nobles who fussed over such details. That was one of the reasons why she received their support. However, the daughter of the current Queen, Estelle, was a strongpetitor who even had the title of being the Saintess. Even though Miruam had zero interest in the throne, considering how the New Faith would interfere with her lifelong desire, she had to form allies with those opposing them. That was why she allied herself with the Tower of Mages and coborated with the Old Faith. The world was going to end anyway, and even if it didnt, she had no doubt that their support would be extremely helpful for her achieving her goal. But it half crumbled into pieces because of that man, Korin Lork. The living jiangshi n of the Old Faith ended up a failure, and the Tower of Mages was practically rooted out. She knew how Korin Lork had been at the basis of all that. However, she couldnt hate him for it in fact, she found him all the more endearing. Miruam gazed at the gem in her hands the Stone of Destiny with its dreamy radiance. One of the four great treasures of the Danann and the Stone of Coronation, which served to pick the next God King, was in her hands. Keep that for yourself until this is over. This is the proof of our alliance. This Is that okay with you? It doesnt really matter. When the timees, the treasures will all attract each other into one ce anyway. The Stone of Destiny should be an incredible treasure in itself already though Although Miruam was suspicious about Tates intention, he simply looked back at her with a smile. Carry on with your struggle. Good luck changing your fate. As if he was aware of something, he nonchntly gave up on the Stone of Destiny as if it was nothing. What a difficult person to understand. He was just like that person. Korin Lork. My prince. My destined knight. The one who would be fulfilling her desire, which had been lying inside her for 10 long years. She had to buy his goodwill for that to happen. If he took her for himself, vited her, and raped her to the point that she even bore a child, that would be the best-case scenario for her, because considering his actions until now, it was highly unlikely that he would discard his wife. As long as he could help her achieve her dreams, she was willing to pour out all her love upon him. She could give him everything for an eternity. I have remembered what he does during the day over the 1st semester. First, I should head to the training room to make contact and She was wondering how to enchant him when the walking stick that helped her walk identally poked into a hole in the ground. Uht?! Losing her bnce, Miruam started to fall forward. It was something that happened very often after she lost one of her legs, so she prepared for the shock and calmly closed her eyes but -Thud! Something stopped her before she fell onto the ground. It felt like shended on a piece of rock, but it only took her a moment to realize that she was leaning on the big and tough yet warm chest of someone. It must have been a passerby that helped her. She was about to say thanks but Got ya. The voice that reached her ears was very familiar it was the voice of destiny that she couldnt possibly forget. Knight Korin? We are in the Academy, so please call me Senior. Junior. As she rested on his chest, he gazed down at her with an oddly emotional smile on his face. Chapter 184: Mentor (1) Chapter 184: Mentor (1) Trantor: RainTL
Mentor (1) With the current decline in feudalism and a rise in centralization, the capital city had a significant weight in the Kingdom. A parliament establishingws; federal courts where citizens of the Kingdom had a final say; the administration and the finances providing proof of citizenship and currency Each and every one of those differences contributed to the immense gap in the living standards of the regional and central areas. But in turn, that also signified that the burden on the central administrative team was iparable to that of the countryside. Sir. Lord Manoska. H, hmm?! Miss Medina. I, I wasnt sleeping! You should wipe the drool off your face first. One of the officials of the administrative department, Medina, felt like bursting into anger as she saw the count, who became her superior just a few months ago. Even though nobles were no longer omnipotent like in the past, they still had some degree of power. One example was how a count from the Far West, with zero experience, suddenly became an executive of the administrative department. Considering how busy it was these days due to the after-measures of the Tower of Mages, looking into the aggressive actions of the New Faith and the secret demi-human hunts of the Old Faith, having a superior like this was far from being helpful. W, what was this again? Its an authorization application for an undeveloped area somewhere in the West where you came from. Hmm, huh? Count Manoska widened his eyes into circles the moment he saw the document. K, kuhum! I, I will review this and take care of it so you can continue with other tasks. Sorry? Umm, okay Medina was rather surprised by the unexpected reaction from the count, who usually wasnt interested in working, but soon returned to her own set of tasks. She had way too much on her hands to fuss over a single document for over 5 minutes. *** A guardian academy was a ce of learning that was only open to prodigies with innate talents. Being a noble didnt guarantee a way in, and statistically speaking, around the same percentage of nobles andmoners were found to be gifted. Due to such reasons, the legitimacy behind the thought of nobles being more lofty from birth began to subside, and a culture was born inside the Kingdom where they didnt concern themselves too much about social sses. But even so, there was still some level of favorable treatment that was given to nobles. As such, it wasnt strange that nobles wanted more favors to be given to them even inside the Academy, despite the Academys unwillingness. In whatever part of the society, it was difficult to turn down the offer of the rich. The higher sses were not only socially influential, but they also donated hefty amounts, so the Academy had to give them some privileges. One of those privileges was the Mentoring system. Simply put, it was a system where a new student with a promising future with a lot of donations could be taught directly by a professor or a proficient senior student. Professors were the normal targets of these mentoring systems, but sometimes, there were highly gifted and famous students who would also be flooded with several mentoring requests. Hmm Wasnt expecting you would actually ept it. Its from Your Highness, so how could I possibly refuse it? Miruam looked up at her mentor, who nonchntly spoke back to her. Korin Lork. He was a young 2nd-year student but was arguably the most famous knight inside the Academy. Normally, you would have to go through a body search before seeing a princess but its not like I can bring in servants here so I will exempt you from it. You could do it yourself, Your Highness. Doing what the servants do is not in alignment with my status. However Miruam gestured with her hands as the snake ornaments of her dress started to move. They slithered like serpents with an actual body. Technically they were real since Miruam was a summoner who could use her mana to create familiars to use for herself. Her snakes slithered across the ground, over his pants, and rose all the way up to his neck. By the way, my snakes are all venomous serpents with a lethal venom. Really? I suppose we wont be able to eat them then. The snakes were hissing right next to his neck and yet he remained still without wavering an inch. Even a veteran knight would usually flinch from venomous serpents roaming around their body but he didnt. Hmm? That was when one of the snakes found something from Korins small bag. Miruam asked while looking at his bag. Whats inside that? A small gift to present to the princess. Hmm? Normally, themon etiquette was to visit the royal family empty-handed. However, that was a rule which only applied to nobles and notmoners like Korin. In the first ce, it wasnt wise to expectmoners to be aware of the etiquette for visiting the royal family. Let me see. Korin took out the gifts from his bag it was a nameless bottle of wine that she didnt know of and a block of cheese. The fact that she didnt know the name of it meant that it was a lower-grade item that didnt suit the context. Is this the limitation of amoner? He gets the support of the Dunareff when hiring mercenaries and purchasing materials, but deals with his personal items with his own money, was it? Even though he was being sponsored by the richest family in the Kingdom, it seemed that he abstained from luxury goods that werent rted to his work. That was ording to the report of the spy from the Old Faith, Germain. Wine and cheese even though there is no maid around to taste-test it? For the members of the royal family, being poisoned was something they always had to keep an eye out for, and that was especially the case for Miruam who was hated by many people. Well, I did think about that, but this wine and this cheese were too good to pass by. Hmm She did enjoy drinking wine so Miruam didnt feel like refusing his gift. In the first ce, she waspletely immune to poison and on top of that, she couldnt even imagine this man trying to poison her. How about a ss before we begin? Sounds great to me. Miruam personally opened the cork of the wine and poured it into the wine sses inside her room until they were half-full. Let us celebrate our first lesson together, she added. And for my course units. Its only 2 units, is it not? For a busy kid that would be spending a lot of time outside, 2 units still goes a long way. I will be quite busy for a while, you see. Hmm She saved all of his words into her brain while trying to decipher as much as she could from his sentences. It was because all these subtle pieces of information could be extremely important in acquiring this man for herself. Just 2 years ago, he was the typical son of a normal restaurant on the outside, so Miruam found it hard to tell what he was thinking about and what his goals were. The smells not bad. In an attempt to appease her deepening thoughts, she took a sip of the wine. Upon feeling the refreshing scent of grapes as well as the aftertaste, she said with a look of slight surprise. Thats nice. Its a good wine. Not only was it good, but she liked it a lot. The small kick of sweetness towards the end of the wine was even better. I knew you would like it. Its something I obtained from a cathedral, where they make their own wine and drink by themselves. I see. She vowed to herself that she would look into itter on. Miruam was very fond of Korins present, which surprisingly suited her tastes. Rather than a lesson it will be more like tips and tricks. The fundamental purpose of mentoring is to teach realistic tips that will being in handy, after all. It is slightly questionable if you can teach anything as a knight to a mage like myself, said Princess Miruam. You cant say that when youre the one who applied for it. Im sure you know why I picked you as a mentor though? She said as her serpent-like eyes prated through Korin. Mentoring was not the important part if she really needed help, she would have asked Marie Dunareff instead. Miruam wanted to get closer to Korin. To be exact, she wanted to draw him into her faction, and her desire to do so only went up even more after seeing her future interlocked with Korin through Lia Fail. She wanted to have him for herself. Well, lets talk about that after we are done with mentoring. Right now is study time. This isnt a great ce to study. Lets go to the city and go to my Guardians office. There are a few things Ive prepared. Fuu Sure. Miruam agreed without talking back to him. It appeared that Korin wanted the serious talk to be done outside the Academy. The two of them headed to the Korin Guardians office. Waiting at the main gates was a carriage for her, who had trouble walking. Quite sensitive, she remarked to herself. Before long, the two of them arrived at the office, which had all sorts of magnificent facilities. As expected of the financial power of the Dunareff. Right? I wanted to turn it down at first though. The outside area that housed more than ten wyverns and a Hresvelgr was truly a shocking site. Miruam also possessed her own wyvern and a monster carrier, but because of that, she knew very well how much it costs to maintain them. It was ridiculous how a guild that was less than 1 year old was in possession of all that. Sword Captain of the Ardens, Lunia Arden, and her elite swordsmen. As well as Warsky Mercenaries, huh? Personally seeing the sheer size of Korin Guardians was eye-opening, even though she had been reading reports about them regrly. Korin Lork was certainly not a normal knight. Dunareff Vampirification incident. Lunia Ardens Sword Challenge. The subjugation of the King of Iron Mountain and the one-on-one battle against Fermack Daman. As well as the Old Faiths attempted ascension of Hua Ran into a Hou. Those were everything he went through in the span of a single year, despite entering the Academy as a Grade 5 knight. All of these achievements were at semi-Unique Grade if not higher. He came out victorious against the seemingly unbeatable monsters and solidified his foundations. After obtaining iomh Sis, he widened his influence even more to the point where he practically defeated the Tower of Mages with only the help of his own guild. This is difficult, she thought to herself. Her fate was linked to his, in other words, that meant that she had to get closer to him. Her destiny had yet to be set in stone and the future could change depending on her actions, so Korin Lork was a decisive card she had toy her hands on. However, Korin didnt seem like he wascking anything. Whether it be money, power, faction, or fame, he was in possession of everything, oddly so considering how he was still just a 2nd-year student of the Academy. And despite having all that, he didnt have any desires. Looking at him, Miruam couldnt help but think of all the things that she would have done if she were in his shoes. This is like the Orientation Day so lets just do a short 1 hour lesson, alright? Alright. Go ahead. It was tedious but she had to y along with it. Although Miruam didnt have a lot of time on her hands, it was an investment that had to be made in order to build a better rtionship with him. *** A mentors job was to teach things that would be useful in real life. That included reading maps, how to set a camp outdoors, and identifying what was in the wilderness to either track down or avoid being pursued by demonic beasts. Fundamentally, guardians were fighters who had to defeat demons, so seniors tended to focus on practical things when teaching their juniors. However, it was a slightly different story if the mentee were a noble or a member of the royal family. Why would they bother risking their lives working as a guardian for a small pay? Only a few of them rarely did such a thing, and that was usually to gain fame, not wealth. In most cases, nobles and members of the royal family chose mentors as a sign that they wanted to befriend the student. There is no way he doesnt know that already. Miruam thought to herself as she watched Korin diligently teaching her how to read a map, as well as first-aid. Although she was a powerful summoner of snakes and enjoyed hunting, she was fundamentally one of the only two princesses of the Kingdom and had more than enough men underneath her to take care of such tedious tasks. As if he saw through that line of thought, Korin said while shrugging his shoulders. You never know. If you go hunting and fall into a trap, where you either get lost or get separated from your maids and knights, things like this coulde in handy. He said as if he foresaw such a thing happening in the future. We will be making sure you learn all these things through actual practice. Actual practice? Whats wrong? Miruam frowned at his nonchnt attitude. It was true that going outdoors while mentoring was nothing new, but was he really suggesting that to a princess? Even though he should be aware of what the goal behind this mentoring was? However, she was the desperate one here. Treating a princess like herself as if she were an underling was very humiliating, but she swallowed her pride, telling herself that this was necessary to achieve her objective. Then, shall we start talking about my reward for the mentoring? Sure. Go ahead. Taking a princess to dangerous activities outside and still asking for a reward? Although it was amon tradition for the mentee to get something for the mentor, he was being very brazen about it. As you probably know already, Your Highness, Im quite sessful. Hah At this point, it was so dumbfounding how shameless he was and she couldnt even say anything back. It had been very long since shest found herself this speechless. There are only a handful of people stronger than me and you know that the Dunareff Family is sponsoring me, correct? Go on. Right, and that was the biggest problem. This man had no shortage of anything and the only problem he might have was that he had an overabundance of them. Whether it be money or fame and status, he had everything. His fame as the Grade 1 Knight of the Dunareff and a hero who saved the Saintess was enough to grant him anything he wished for. I know your lifelong objective. I know very well what it is that you are trying to aplish through me. ! Her eyes widened into circles the abyssal serpent immediately flickered her eyes in a venomous light. There were quite a few people who were aware of her objective already. Almost everyone who remembered what happened 10 years ago knew it. However, Korin was amoner; he was just a citizen living inside the capital city. If so, how could he possibly be aware of the wolf hunt that was being carried out in secret, away from even the eyes of the New Faith? How much about it do you know? I know everything. Way too well. He muttered with a rather dispirited look on his face, making her wonder why he was wearing such an expression. So, what do you want from me? Asked Miruam. I can grant you anything except for one thing. She said without even trying to hide the passion in her voice. In fact, she deemed it needless to hide it because he was her destined partner who would be helping her acquire her lifelong desire anyway. He was bound to find out, so she decided to be frank and instead inquire about his own wishes. What I want, huh? Korin pondered to himself but not for long. Soon, with a bitter smile on his face, he turned back to the princess. Unlike Miruams blood-red eyes, his red eyes sparkled like the sunset as he gazed into her eyes. He said with a mischievous smile. Every week at the end of every mentoring session, Inside the room devoid of everyone else, his voice echoed clearly and reached her eyes. I want Your Highness, Princess Miruam Elizabeth El Rath, As if desperately trying to hold back the avenger who no longer put value in her own life, To look at me and Actually, towards anything Hoping that she would have a lingering attachment, more wishes, and an extension to her life. Just give a smile. Show me a smile, and I think that would be enough. He ended with a bitter smile, reminiscing in both the past and the future, of the memories of his past regretful life which only he could remember. Her lips ceased to move as if they were forced to a close. The 2nd Princess of the Kingdom; the likely sessor to the throne with the support of countless nobles, was telling her to share what he wanted. She told him she would grant any of his wishes, only if it didnt go against her one lifelong desire. Even if he wanted to rape her at this very moment, she would have dly given herself to him. And yet A smile. A smile? Is he really asking for something so trivial? You Is he mocking her? Is he looking down at her? What exactly are his intentions? Hearing that simple and trivial request instead deterred her from epting it. Her eyes turned cold and her voice even colder. How dare Her spiteful eyes quivered from fury but without minding that a single bit, Korin simply re-stated his wish. A smile would be more than enough. Asking for something so useless! Why do you think theres no value in it? Value is always a subjective matter. Miruam calmed herself down and settled her thoughts. Just like how she was so stubborn with her goals that others couldnt understand it, it might be the case that her smile was that valuable to him, beyond what others couldprehend. It was difficult to understand but Korin was so firm as if there was zero falsehood in his words. Is that really all you need? Of course. She felt like he was trying to deceive her, and mock her, but still decided to rationally listen to his trivial request. -Flinch! Wait. That was when she thought to herself. How do you smile again? It was nothing new she used to smile a lot when scoffing and sneering at others. She often did that to the hateful dogs, but it felt nonsensical to give such a smile to the man in front of her. -Flinch! Flinch! But she still had to. If raising the corners of her lips a little could intertwine her fate with the one who would be fulfilling her goal, she could do it any day. Like this? She said with an awkward smile on her face. It was closer to a sneer than a bright smile, but her distorted lips were still in the category of a smile. Beautiful. Uht!? Miruam immediately scowled and removed the smile from her face, but for some unknown reason, Korin remained looking at her with a wide smile of joy. *** The room stayed silent for a very long time. Chapter 185: Mentor (2) Chapter 185: Mentor (2) Trantor: RainTL
Mentor(2) Miruam was a princess of the royal family. She tended to actively participate in risky activities for thest 10 years but was still one of the only two princesses of the Kingdom. Everyone in the Kingdom would vouch for how valuable and priceless she was to the country. When hunting outside, she would be surrounded byyers of knights and mages, and maids would cast arge umbre on top of her on sunny days to keep her away from the intense sunlight. A drink was always ready when she felt thirsty, and a table full of food was offered whenever she started to feel hungry. That had been the norm for her life. Haak Haak! Her breath fell short as sweat flowed down her cheeks. The walking stick stepping across the ground became a pir that supported not only her leg but her entire body. Krrrrh! The growling of a hunter going after its prey reverberated through the dark forest. Korin Lork! Miruam was being chased by arge dog. We are going to train in the mountains today to simte a real-life situation. On the second week during the mentoring session, Miruam couldnt help but frown in response to Korins words. Why? She asked but was met with a response that made this sound like the most natural thing in the world. Practice makes perfect. There were a lot of things she wanted to say. The reason she had asked him to be her mentor wasnt to learn anything from him it was an expression that she wanted to sponsor the promising knight, Korin Lork, and draw him into her faction. He isnt stupid enough to not know, right? Instead of revealing her real thoughts, she replied using a different set of logic. Ive had enough real-life practices already. Of course. Considering how many hunts youve been out on. She had to contemte what he meant by that. Hunting. It was a widely known hobby of hers, but only a few of her subordinates knew what they actually hunted. Looking after viges is the duty of the royal family, after all. I have hunted more than enough demonic beasts. Were they really demonic beasts? Her face crumpled into a venomous frown. She was irritated not because the truth had been revealed, but because of his sarcastic attitude. Well, lets do something more valuable than a hunt like that. No. Theres no need for me to receive this kind of Do you want me to stop mentoring you then? It was a provocative statement and one that made her severely displeased. He was practically asking her, Didnt you want to get closer to me? Dont you want to forge a connection? Are you going to give up? You are a lot more annoying than I initially thought, Sir Korin. There is a story about a King who visited a magnificent strategist three times to earn their favor. Maybe you should follow their example and model that kind of behavior, Your Highness. Will you join hands with me after three mentoring sessions? That depends. Tell me what it depends on then. Korin shrugged his shoulders in response to her straightforward question. Lets make sure to follow the session properly before anything. That marked the beginning of a real-life practice in the mountains. Why am I doing this Her legs were heavy. The dress that she put on to decorate herself was nothing but a nuisance when hiking through the harsh mountain slopes. Tell me if you need help. I can carry you up there. No thanks. Despite the disability of one of her legs, Miruam gritted her teeth and continued climbing the mountain. He didnt mention helping out again. She liked it better that way. Her disability had brought the pity of many others and there were even some people who tried to help her without her consent. She wasnt fond of being on the receiving end of pitying gazes and preferred this kind of normal treatment. Korin was often slightly annoying, but for some reason, she couldnt bring herself to hate him for it. In any case, Miruam wasnt a normal civilian either she was a Grade 1 mage and knew of several spells that could support her across the mountain. Shh. That was when Korin called her to stop. Can you feel that? He asked. Not really. She gave an honest reply. They were about halfway up the western mountain, and she couldnt feel anything different. Try smelling the air. See what kind of smell this is. How would I know that? It did smell slightly funny. The air felt very fresh, but there was a hint of something that stimted her nose. From now on you should. Korin took a few steps forward before rustling through the bush. Demonic beasts live in a way that is actually pretty simr to that of normal animals. You know, like the dog family, the pig family, and the cat family of animals. Feline demonic beasts are quite clean so theyre hard to track down. They hide their feces and regrly groom their own fur so they dont smell. Pigs have a unique scent to them but these guys actually hide from people quite well. They can even smell the steel in a knights equipment and tell whether they would be a threat to them or not. Due to that, they tend to think of mages as easy prey, because they carry around staves that smell like wood. After atst finding something from the bush, he gestured to Miruam with his hand. She walked towards him and found arge pile of brown that was giving off a strong odor. Did you have to show me this? Youre raising snakes so why are you taken back by poo? Theyre very different in size. Anyway, do you know whose poo this is? A dog. Miruam had a long history of hunting. She didnt personally track animals down due to her status as a royal princess but was experienced enough to tell apart the feces of dogs and pigs. Correct. This is one of the habitats of hounds, you see. Hounds were demonic beasts that Miruam was very familiar with they were a low-grade beast who could only reach Grade 4 at best. However, they had the habit of obeying an alpha entity in the group, and she therefore came across several werewolves, whom she hunted frequently, using them like pets. Lets go up a little bit more. We will be at their habitat very soon, and well be able to see roughly how many there are from their footsteps. Why were they heading to their habitat in the first ce though? Miruam had that question in mind but didnt linger on that topic because it was hard to imagine them being a threat. Korin Lork was essentially a semi-Unique Grade knight, and he might truly be acknowledged as a Unique Grade if the power of the Sun was also taken into ount. With someone like that next to her; Miruam didnt feel threatened in the slightest. Climbing up the mountain, they came across more footsteps and traces of canine beasts. Fuu~. Now, let me give you another tip as your mentor. Thats very sudden. Not really. This is all part of the mentoring process. Miruam wasnt sure how this so-called mentoring could be beneficial to her. What would hiking and researching the habitat of Grade 4 demonic beasts going to do for her? So What is that tip? Question: How do beasts of the dog family hunt their prey? It was a rather horrifying question to suddenly ask in the middle of a demonic beast habitat. That was when Korin kicked off the ground andnded on one of the branches of the tree next to them. What are you doing? Hounds are low-grade demonic beasts at Grade 4 at best, but its a different story when they have someone to lead them. DOGGO~! As soon as he yelled out loud, a howl echoed back from amidst the mountain. Knight Korin What are you trying to do? One real-life experience is always better than listening to a lecture one hundred times. Try your best to survive. Unfortunately, she could notst more than 3 hours. *** Thanks for the hard work. Miruam, having been suddenly forced to run away through the mountain, red daggers at Korin who was looking at her with an annoying pair of eyes. Behind him was Doggo, who had been chasing after her like she was a prey. That was Vampire Marie Dunareffs familiar. From what Miruam heard beforehand, Marie appeared to only suck Korins blood which meant that Blood Hound was like thebined monster of Korin and Maries blood. The two of them seemed to be treating that dog like it was their son, but it was aughable concept to the princess, who was also a summoner herself. Lets climb down the mountain first before we have another chat. Yousted much longer than I expected so the suns already starting to set, so I think we should go down a bit quicker. He didnt bother exining how. Sending a gaze to Doggo, he signaled it to carry Miruam. No thanks. I dont like the smell of dogs. Grrrhh! Doggo immediately rebelled in anger but Miruam wasnt trying to be mean either. She simply hated and detested dogs. That was when she came up with an idea. Floating a sensuous smile on her face, she grabbed onto Korins arm. You do it, Sir Korin. You forced a princess toe all the way here and put me through so much trouble, so you can do that much, can you not? How would he react? She wondered. Would he refuse her like he did with her seductions, or unwillingly ept her request as a chivalrous knight? He responded, however, in a different manner. Aht? Without even the slightest bit of hesitation, he put her in a princess carry. With a leisurely look on his face, he looked down at the real princess, who was mumbling nkly like a goldfish. Hold on tight. Uht?! Korin then sprinted down the steep slopes of the mountain with his superhuman legs and vision and even though it was her own request, she couldnt help but gasp at the unexpected speed of his dash. It was so fast that Miruam unconsciously clenched onto his shoulders. Sir Korin! She lifted her face to ask him to slow down a little but the moment she saw his face, she couldnt utter another word. There was a mysteriously blissful smile on his lips the likes of which she saw for the first time on the face of this crafty knight, and it was therefore difficult for her to grasp the meaning behind it. What a strange man. Now that she thought about it, it was her first time having someone treat her like this. Brazenly telling a princess his desired rewards, he forced her to hike across a rugged mountain and even made a massive Blood Hound go after her for a test. Knowing fully well that she wouldnt criminate him for an attempted assassination of a royal princess, he dauntlessly carried out such rather insolent actions but A smile would be more than enough. Why did he make such a weird request? The princess of the Kingdom was telling him to request anything of her, and yet all he asked for was a smile. Besides, she knew all too well how boring her smile must have appeared, but he called it beautiful. What is he scheming? She belonged in a world full of crafty and cunning people a world where reading the hidden intentions of others, be it personal benefit, ideals, or authority, had a direct corrtion to her likelihood of survival. Compared to the people of that world, Korin Lork was like a little puppy. Regardless of his personal strength, he was an inexperienced student of the Academy. Despite that, she just couldnt see through his true intentions. She had no idea what he was scheming nor what he wanted to achieve through her. By the way, another piece of advice is that dogs heavily rely on their sense of smell to track down their prey. As long as you can do something about that, it shouldnt be that difficult to escape from them. Why would I need this information? Just dont think to yourself that you will always be the hunter. She just couldnt tell what he was nning. What a weird man. However, her memories of that day were deeply engraved into her brain. One real-life experience was sometimes all it took to change a lot of things. *** The reason I took her out for this practice was quite simple. In the uing hunt, her position as the hunter would be fully reversed, and that would mark the start of the arc against Mound. Stopping the hunt wouldnt mean anything so I couldnt rely on that either. Whether she was attacked first or not, the arc would definitely begin, and Miruam would make that happen even if she had to forge a fake event in the process. Tell me what it depends on then. There was only one condition that had to be fulfilled for me to join her faction, but it was one that she would never let go of. How much about it do you know? I know everything. I know just how strong your convictions are. Because it was to the point that she would discard me and our child for it to the point that she would turn into an enemy and cross the line I could not forgive. This is it for the day. Arriving at the Academy, I escorted her back to the dormitory. Well, even though I called an escort, we were both living in the Special Dormitory together anyway, but that was my intention, to say the least. Enjoy your weekend. Yeah. She was about to turn around so I called her to a stop. I believe I havent received my reward yet. Uhk! Miruam frowned with a questioning look in her eyes, but a frown of that level was nothing inparison to all the vicious expressions she could make. Do I really need to? Of course. Every week, at the end of the mentoring session You want me to smile, right? I know that already. To this date, I wasnt sure why Miruam was so obsessed with me in both thest and the current iteration. However, all that mattered was that I could still remember the words she spoke to me on her deathbed. I love you. Sorry for saying that sote. I love you. I really love you, Korin. I remembered the girl who turned cold along with that bitter smile on her face, so Try smiling. Im telling you youd be pretty. But youve never even seen me smile. Im certain it would be the prettiest smile in the world. I simply wanted that heart-rending smile to turn into one of pure joy. Haa Alright. If you really want to see my smile. She soon twisted the corners of her lips to give an awkward smile that looked more like a sneer than a smile. Hope its a little bit better next time. How rude, replied Miruam with a faint pout. After that, she moved on to the same topic as always. So, any thoughts of bing my consort? If you ept my offer, I can give you everything I have. I am afraid of the things that I would be forced to do once I ept that offer. It was only for a short period of time but I enjoyed my short marriage life with the princess until it all crumbled to pieces due to everything that happened afterward. You were my destiny. Now its already toote though I could have made you happier I could have helped you smile and yet Be patient and wait. One day, both you and I will be in front of a crossroad. It would be impossible to persuade her. She would never stop and would never give up. In the end, she would achieve her long-cherished desire. So now wasnt the time just yet. I had to force the choice onto her after overpowering her; trampling and oppressing everything she had. Only after I destroyed everything she had up her sleeve would we be able to talk on equal grounds. In order to do that Lets go in. Its getting cold. I am going to crush you, Miru. *** I walked into the dormitory with Miru. It was going to be weekends so I had to train hard orplete some missions. Plus, I had to teach Ren and Ron over the weekends so it was going to be a busy one. And although Ron looked like a fourteen-year-old teenager, Ren was still growing very slowly which was a little bit of concern. I had to thank Marie for letting me borrow Doggo for the day, practice entering the Domain with Alicia and train bare-handed martial arts with Hua Ran. Usually, I spent most of my time training with Master, but the only problem this week was that she wouldnt be here until Sunday. It was going to be a very hefty weekend. Normally, Park Sihu was the one nning and taking care of other external matters, while I focused my time on training. It is a little bit daunting that I have to worry about the big picture every time. These days, I was starting to understand the amount of weight that Park Sihu had been carrying in thest iteration. However, that still didnt justify his actions. Recently, the anger I had against him was starting to fade along with my memories about him but I still couldnt ept his way of doing things. Korin youre back. And Your Highness Elizabeth. Please dont be so formal, Senior Dunareff. Marie took what I was carrying and carried it herself like it was the most natural thing in the world. I felt a bit sorry but thankful at the same time. Oh, right! Korin. The Princess came back! Princess? I was wondering which princess she was talking about and saw the Saintess walking down the stairs from the second floor with her usual pink hair fluttering behind her. Korin~! Korin-dongsaeng! Oh my. You came with my dearest sister Miru. I told you not to shorten my name Glossing over Miruamsint, Estelle hopped her way towards me, which gathered everyones eyes on us. Korin-dongsaeng! Umm y, yes? Saintess? Ehem! Like I said, call me Noona. Whats wrong, Noona? It was obvious that she would be pestering me until she got what she desired so I immediately called her the way she wanted me to but for some reason, the surroundings suddenly started to go cold. Lets go on a date tomorrow! Pardon? This feels like deja vu But like, why are all thedies around me so proactive with their sudden attacks? Ive been thinking about you every day, and thats why I came back as quickly as I could! You can spare some time for me, right? I certainly can but Then meet me at the za with the clock tower tomorrow at noon! She immediately returned to the stairs after finishing her sentence. Suddenly, she went, Ah! as if she remembered what she forgot to do, and came back to give a sudden kiss on my cheek. I will be going to sleep early today to prepare for tomorrow~! A beautifuldy must sleep early and wake up early, you see. I am beautiful, right? Estelle added along with a wink. Is she intentionally trying to put me in a rough spot? It was hard to bear the gazes of the ones around me. Miruams eyes were especially colder and were as frosty as a blizzard. Chapter 186: Mentor (3) Chapter 186: Mentor (3) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡»
? Mentor(3) ? Korin Lork¡¯s offer conveyed by Ednar Illusan sent a huge wave ofmotion throughout Mound. Normally, they would have ignored his word, however, he revealed his knowledge of their group, the members, and even its location at Dana Shee. Most importantly, his offer was backed up by the Saintess. Some voiced out their wishes to follow what he offered ¨C they were the ones who were exhausted from the long life of living in secret and hardships, but they were a minority. The majority didn¡¯t wish for a change despite trusting the Saintess. There was also a small group that was strongly against the offer. The problem was that their group was one of the groups with the biggest amount of say inside Mound. ¡°What is Leprechaun that senile old man thinking!¡±¡°Why wouldn¡¯t he turn it down on the spot? Illusan that bitch should also be considered a traitor for even bringing such an offer!¡± ¡°It must be one of the dirty tricks of the Kingdom!¡± Werewolves. They were a group of beastmen, who prided themselves in being one of the top military forces within Mound alongside the vampires. ¡°Mr. Ku Shee. What is your opinion on it?¡± The question directed at Ku Shee immediately gathered the eyes of the surrounding beastmen. Suppressing their will to discuss their frustration and anger, they waited for the alpha of their pack to make a decision. For vampires, elders who lived the longest tended to take the lead, whereas beastmen were led by the bloodline. The blood of the sublime king who gathered all the beastmen who had been roaming across the world in fear of the Full Moon ¨C the proof of that bloodline was the fur gleaming in silver. It was proof that their blood was pure. For beastmen, gold and silver wolves were the symbol of power and legitimacy. ¡°I¡­¡± Ku Shee carefully parted his lips. What happened 10 years ago was most certainly his fault, and that was what was pushing their entire race into the pit of annihtion. However, he didn¡¯t regret his actions. He would have made the same choice even if he were to go back to the past. Despite the tragedy it led to, it was an inevitable deed that had to be done. The ones that escaped the purge of the Saintess over to the Old Faith would probably start talking about their union, and he would be the number one target of their fury. ¡®Turning back now will not resolve anything.¡¯ It would be great if things could end with just his own life but¡­ Their race was able to be one only because of the presence of a silver wolf, which was him. They were able to aim for one goal because they had a silver wolf as the leader. It was toote for him to shoulder the responsibility and guilt by himself. ¡°Princess Miruam and us¡­ One of us must cease to exist.¡± If one of them had to be gone, it was clear what their choice would have to be. ¡°We cannot co-exist with her. Even if this may be a huge sin, I would dly be the worst evil of the world if I must.¡± In the end, it was just an extension of what happened ten years ago. Like how they took everything Miruam had, and like how Miruam had been hunting them down over thest ten years. They had to kill each other to survive. *** Throughout the Summer Holiday, I was a bit worried about Estelle after her journey to Mag Mell. At the start, I was concerned about the reaction she would have after realizing the true identity of the god she had believed in her entire life but I thought everything was fine after seeing her behave as normal. She then returned to Zeon while saying that she had some errands to run but¡­ ¡ºSaintess Estelle, punishing the corrupt traitors of the Order!¡» ¡°¡­What the heck.¡± What I heard in the news was that Estelle had crushed the heads of the pope and the cardinals after her return. It wasn¡¯t technically a bad thing for us. Unlike the Old Faith, the Pursuers of Paradise weren¡¯t able to seize control over the entirety of the New Faith because of the Saintess. Considering how the role yed by the Saintess during the final war was to go around fighting half of the Order as they yelled out, ¡®All hail Valtazar!¡¯ It was good that we dealt with them beforehand but¡­ I don¡¯t remember her being this type of character? -Ding! Ding! Ding! In any case, on that Saturday, I was waiting in front of the clock tower in the za, as the tower¡¯s bell signaled the start of the afternoon. ¡ºSuperb! O mighty warrior! A mere humansting this long against this king is a wondrous feat!¡» ¡ºI don¡¯t want to hear nonsense from a tyrant who got chased out of his own country.¡» While waiting for the Saintess to arrive, I recalled the power of Eochaid Bres¡¯ Sun ¨C therge star that threatened to scorch the world. ¡®It is going a lot better so far than it did in the game but¡­¡¯ We exterminated the Tower of Mages, acquired iomh Sis and Undry, and even dealt with Valtazar¡¯s faction that was hiding inside the New Faith. Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran were all looking exceptionalpared to how they were in the game, and both Master and the Saintess were on my side. Even the wolf siblings, who used to be the subordinates of Dun Scaith, were with us. ¡®So then what is it? What is this ominous feeling in my mind?¡¯ Is¡­ something going wrong? For some reason, I had that ominous doubt budding in my head. I was thinking about all that when I spotted Estelle getting off a magic carriage at the stop. ¡°Dongsaeng~!¡± Recognizing me from a distance, she hopped her way towards me. I was worried that the people around us would notice her due to how much of a celebrity she was, but no one even spared her a nce, which must have been the power of a magic spell or her prayers. ¡°Give me your hand!¡± She immediately asked for my hand upon arrival. ¡°But¡­ why?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to?¡± Why is my hand the first thing she asks for? It¡¯s not like I hate it but¡­ ¡°It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t want to but¡­¡± ¡°Then give it to me right now!¡± Saying that she snatched my hand for herself. I know we pretty much saw each other¡¯s bare bodies but isn¡¯t she still being way too bold? ¡°Wow¡­ Maybe it¡¯s nothing new, but your hand is really big. It¡¯s big, coarse and reliable!¡± ¡°Can you please stop stroking it?!¡± With her usual cunning smile on her face, Estelle gazed up into my eyes. ¡°You wanted a kissst time for saving me, and now you¡¯re pretending to be a gentleman?¡± ¡°I meant a kiss on the back of your hand. I¡¯m not that inconsiderate, okay? Plus, it¡¯s one of the dreams of a guy to¡ª¡± ¡°It was my first kiss, though.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± She emphasized how it was her first kiss with a cute smile. Yes; it was true that the first kiss of a Saintess/Princess was very significant and was worth emphasizing on, however¡­! ¡°Dongsaeng. I¡¯m hungry. Buy me food.¡± ¡°Fuu¡­ Do you like pasta?¡± ¡°Yes! Do you know a good ce?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go grab a meal first then.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡­ After finishing our meal at a nearby pasta restaurant, we naturally moved on to a cafe. A normal coffee was fine for me, but girls really liked the fresh strawberrytte here. Including thest iteration, all the 70 or so girls that I brought here loved it, so I was sure that even the Saintess would take a liking to it despite her being a picky eater. ¡°Wow~ this is great! How did you find this ce?¡± ¡°I was on my way back from Professor Deina¡¯s house and just dropped by.¡± In thest iteration, after I went to her house for a rice cake that she wanted to share, she suggested buying me a meal but I knew how impoverished her life was so I took her to a nearby cafe instead, which happened to be this one. Surprisingly, the drinks here were very good. Maybe I shoulde here next time with Hua Ran and Alicia. ¡°Korin-dongsaeng. Are you thinking about something else?¡± ¡°Hmm? Ah, sorry.¡± Hearing me admit that I wasn¡¯t focused, Estelle looked at me with a small pout of dissatisfaction. ¡°You have to focus on Noona when it¡¯s just us two.¡± ¡°By the way, why are you telling me to call you ¡®Noona¡¯ all the time? It¡¯s not like we are rted.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Are we strangers then?¡± Estelle immediately turned dejected the moment she heard me say that. She¡¯s¡­ acting, right? She must be but¡­ Seeing that dispirited look on her face made me feel bad. ¡°We are not strangers. I guess, more like friends¡­¡± ¡°We even kissed though.¡± ¡°Friends that are more than just friends¡­¡± In the middle of my own words, I stopped to think for a little bit more. What even was one step above being just friends? ¡°Hmm hmm. I am fine with that for now,¡± she remarked. ¡°More than friends but less than lovers. It might sound ambiguous but¡­¡± I was about to restate our rtionship but she cut me off instead. ¡°After you graduate, let¡¯s get married. Okay?¡± ¡°Where did thate from?¡± What is wrong with her? I almost choked on my coffee! ¡°Think about it, Korin-dongsaeng. You are a hero who saved the princess from evil mages.¡± ¡°If you put it that way, I guess so. Yes. And?¡± ¡°From time immemorial, it¡¯s been a tradition for a princess to get married to the hero who saved her life. That¡¯s a fitting reward for having her life indebted, isn¡¯t it?¡± Estelle said while trying to entice me with a bashful smile on her face. Just like Princess Miru, the two princesses had an alluring charm to their smiles that was detrimental to men. ¡°I¡¯m giving you a chance to propose to the most noble and beautiful princess of this continent. My hero~¡± Hearing that from a princess like Estelle with her cheat-like appearance from head to toe was rather nauseating. She rested her chin on her two hands like a flower pot, showing off her appearance. As always, she really was sickeningly beautiful. Her appearance was no longer in the spectrum of human beauty and was like the textbook example of an ideal beauty. Adorable pink hair, clear facial features, jade-like skin, and an abundant body line. A master of beauty¡­ Even the word, ¡®goddess¡¯ wasn¡¯t enough to describe her beauty which could make countries fall. ¡°What are you thinking of?¡± ¡°Hnn? What do you mean?¡± ¡°What are you thinking about looking at my face?¡± ¡­The seductive pink Saintess stared at me with an enchanting smile. ¡°You know lies don¡¯t work on me, right? Be honest.¡± ¡°¡­I was thinking you were pretty.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°Yes, well¡­ And how you¡¯re very pretty.¡± ¡°More. Tell me more.¡± ¡°You are exceptionally beautiful, Noonim.¡± ¡°Am I like, adorable?¡± ¡°What? I guess¡­¡± ¡°Do you feel¡­ like kissing me?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this sexual harassment?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind you doing it to me, Korin-dongsaeng!¡± ¡°Please, stop making these weird jokes!¡± Seeing me shake my head, Estelle instead lifted the corners of her lips and gave an alluring smile that could topple kingdoms. ¡°You are quite cute, aren¡¯t you~?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t joking though.¡± Estelle said while poking the tip of my nose with her finger. ¡°Well, leaving the jokes aside.¡± After teasing me a whole lot, she suddenly changed the topic in joy. She was very cheeky. ¡°As you said, there were a lot of rats inside the Order that were above cardinals.¡± ¡°I heard from Master that you have dealt with the pope as well.¡± ¡°Nn. Pope Sicarii¡­ That traitor betrayed all of us. Of course, I understand that it¡¯s the true faith that he was following, but he wasn¡¯t on ¡®our side¡¯, was he?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Fortunately, it appeared that the Saintess wasn¡¯t in great despair despite witnessing the truth behind her faith. ¡°Korin.¡± She suddenly reached out and held onto my hands, before talking about somethingpletely unexpected. ¡°We have to lead them.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± Where did thise from all of a sudden? ¡°We have to lead the pitiful believers that are following the wrong god. We have the duty to guide them to the correct path.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ R, right.¡± ¡°Right now, I¡¯m working on changing the principles of the New Faith little by little and our interpretation of the scripture.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t take long. In just 10 to 20 years, it should be possible to change the target of faith from the ¡®Lord¡¯ to the ¡®Danann¡¯.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°And when that timees, we will be the master of their new faith. Because we have the right to do so.¡± ¡­How am I supposed to react to this? ¡°When that timees¡­ the believers of the Order will worship you as their god.¡± ¡°¡­Huh?¡± For a very long time, I was simply lost for words. It literally took minutes toprehend what she was saying, and my brain froze the moment I understood what she meant. Is the Saintess¡­ suggesting I be the god of the new world right now? I wasn¡¯t misunderstanding this, was I? The Saintess, who used to be the most faithful believer, was now trying to make me a god after her corruption! ¡°Fufu. I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡± Estelle pulled my hand towards her and gave me a loving kiss on my cheek. ¡°I did well, right?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± I, is this¡­ okay? *** Estelle was the Saintess ¨C a believer who believed in the Lord more than anyone else both in the game and in thest iteration. She was one of the key characters of thest arc, leading the few faithful Holy Knights against the Pursuers of Paradise who sang ¡®All hail Valtazar¡¯. Even aside from her faith, she also had the kind heart of a Saintess so I was expecting a positive response even after revealing the truth about gods to her. ¡°¡­So how did it turn out like this?¡± A new world? A new god? They¡¯ll worship me?¡± Uhh¡­ how did this even happen? ¡ºThat is because you are the inheritor of the Sun. The moment iomh Sis acknowledged you as its master, you have already technically inherited Nuada¡¯s divinity.¡» I suddenly recalled the words from Lugh Lamhfada at Mag Mell. The inheritor of the Sun¡­ inheriting Nuada¡¯s divinity. Besides¡ª ¡ºBrat. This is not the fight between Goidels and the Danann. It is an honorable battle between a Danann and a Danann.¡» ¡­They were acknowledging and supporting me based on a different reason to the game. All of them including Nuada, Dagda, and Lugh said that their desires would be fulfilled regardless of the winner. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± Is this because I was selected by the Sun, unlike how it went in the game? ¡®Looking back, I remember Master constantly saying that I was her sessor¡­¡¯ I thought she was talking about the Six Ways of the Spear though! -Knock knock! My mind was turning into a mess when someone knocked on the door. I could only think of one person who would knock on my door thiste into the night. Thinking that it must be Hua Ran, I opened the door. -Creak! ¡°Who is it¡­¡± Outside the door was apletely unexpected guest. ¡°Hello, Sir Korin. Did you enjoy your date with Estelle?¡± She said with a cold smile on her face as I turned to the object she was carrying in her hands. It was none other than¡ª ¡°You want this, don¡¯t you? Let¡¯s make a deal.¡± ¡ªLia Fail, the Great Stone of Destiny. Chapter 187: Mentor (4) Chapter 187: Mentor (4) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡»
? Mentor(4) ? What Miruam showed me, along with her sudden demand for a deal, was one of the 4 treasures of the Danann, the Stone of Destiny Lia Fail, which determined the next King of Gods. Why does she have this? ¡°Why do you-¡± ¡°Is that important? What¡¯s important, more than the reason why, is that it¡¯s in my possession right now.¡± She said with a confident smile before falling on the bed while still holding onto Lia Fail. Her crimson gaze, rumpled clothes, and crossed legs that defenselessly revealed her thighs waited for me to join her on the bed. ¡°You are fighting Tates Valtazar, and you need this to beat him, do you not?¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°Embrace me. Ravage me and pour out all your sexual desires¡­ Help me achieve my goal, and I will give you everything I have.¡± Miruam suggested an astonishing offer. ¡°How does that sound? A great deal for my hand in marriage, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Indeed, rationally speaking, taking her offer would be the right choice. Taking it by force would simply make me a sinner who tried to steal a princess¡¯s belongings. That wasn¡¯t what the Legal Immunity was for. All I had to do was turn my eyes away once and embrace her. I walked towards the nest of the serpent, who was defenselessly revealing her skin. ¡°Come here. It is fine to do me as you wish. You have the permission of this very princess.¡± Her sensuous set of gestures, coquettish voice, sweet body scent, and captivating gaze were certainly very powerful. It appeared especially sweeter since I had tasted it beforehand. Anyone would say that I was the one winning on this deal. ¡°Are you ready?¡± I asked. ¡°For a long time,¡± she replied. I remained silent without saying anything back to her. Right, this was the type of woman she was ¨C burning herself to the ground, and only realizing what she had burned after looking at the ashes. ¡°Give me your hand.¡± Reaching out, I locked my fingers with her long and thin fingers. It was a perfect fit as if our hands had been made for each other. ¡°Yes. Just like that¡­¡± ¡°Shh.¡± Her lips momentarily turned stiff. She was surprised by my ill-mannered ¡®shush¡¯, but smiled before long, as if none of that mattered as long as she could obtain her goal. She was a venomous serpent, and I knew that all too well. Her hands and her suggestive gestures were constantly provocative and painfully attractive. She was a woman I had once embraced and a wife I had promised a future with. Although the start of our rtionship had been through drugs, I knew best how enticing her body was. Everything from the mole on her thigh, which only I knew of, to her soft belly, bouncy breasts, and sweet tongue¡­ I definitely couldn¡¯t deny that there was a burning desire and lust inside me, urging me to take the addictive woman for myself one more time but¡­ ¡º¡­I love you. Sorry for¡­ saying that sote. I love you. I really love you, Korin.¡» My brain rapidly started to work. She almost enticed me again with her explicit actions. cing my thumb on her lips, I ran it across and rubbed it. ¡°¡­Sir Korin?¡± A questioning light appeared in her seductive and coquettish voice. ¡°¡­Fuu.¡± She appeared to have sensed my rejection from that sigh, as her eyes immediately turned cold. Ah, I bet she hates me now. ¡°Right. I see¡­ so that¡¯s your decision.¡± Unlike the first time we met in this iteration, she did not try to even conceal her disappointment and anger. She said with a sharp voice. ¡°Did you say the reason you refused my offer regardless of the conditions was because of pride?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯ve made a grave mistake. If you embraced me, I would have willingly bet everything on you.¡± Then, she dered that there was now an unclosable gap between us. She must have deemed it worthless to try other conditions, now that I even declined Lia Fail. Leaving those words behind, Miruam stormed out of my room. *** That night, with unresolved pleasure and silence, I bent my back with a deep sigh. ¡°She¡¯s angry.¡± *** Miruam knew that Estelle had feelings for Korin Lork. After all, the endless proud repetition of stories of how he saved her from the Tower of Mages had been digging her ears out. However, she was confident that she could entice Korin Lork and make him hers. It was because she saw the future through Lia Fail; how he helped her achieve her goal and showed her the corpse of that son of a bitch. ¡°Estelle¡­ There¡¯s no way she would cooperate.¡± That damn bitch and traitor, who became the 1st Princess despite being a child of the second wife after her mother¡¯s death. If Korin Lork spent time next to her, a protectionist of demi-humans and a practical leader of the New Faith, there was no way that he would help her because Estelle wouldn¡¯t allow it. ¡®Has destiny been¡­ changed? Did I do something wrong?¡¯ Miruam thought to herself as she gazed at the Stone of Destiny in her hands. Apparently, ording to Valtazar, none of the fates were set in stone except for those who were born with a great destiny. That in turn meant that she could change her future and fate depending on her actions. ¡°Show me¡­ my future. My destiny.¡± She poured mana into the stone and Lia Fail responded to her call. A bright sh covered her sight. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª ¡ª It was a frosty and cold world. A world full of snowy-white ins. She knew where this was. The world of the Northern Frost Giant ¨C a world protected by the giant god of the northern myth, who joined hands with Valtazar. The fact that she was here¡­ meant that the n must have seeded. She must havee here after that sess to pay the price that she had promised with Valtazar. ¡°Ha, haha¡­ I see. I made it.¡± Miruam was satisfied with that result. That was when she spotted a woman vomiting out blood on the white ins. ¡ºCough¡­!¡» That was her. That woman, who looked the same as herself, was vomiting blood with a spear piercing through her, and on the other side of the spear was Korin Lork. ¡°¡­¡± Is this the new destiny now? Well, this was good in itself because she managed to confirm that Korin Lork was now her enemy. Although it seemed that she would be dying in the end, the world afterward did not matter to her as long as she could achieve her goal. ¡ºYou stupid woman¡­ I, I told you to wait.¡» But for some reason, even though he was her enemy, he hugged her dying body with a sorrowful light in his eyes. Why? He¡¯s her enemy. He¡¯s the one who killed her so¡­ Why did he look so¡­ That was the end of the future shown by Lia Fail. ¡°Huht¡­!¡± Due to an overuse of mana in an attempt to glimpse into her fate, Miruam was sweating buckets as she shot out of her bed. The frosty world was gone and what remained was a dark ceiling. She was back inside the Academy in her own room, and the white snowy ins just then were nowhere to be seen. However, she knew that was no mere illusion. She had experienced beforehand an existing form of her destiny. ¡°I made it.¡± What she could tell from that glimpse into the future was that she seeded before dying to Korin Lork, her enemy. More than anything, what was important was that she seeded. ¡°Yes¡­ That¡¯s enough. The thought that I needed someone¡¯s help for this was wrong in and of itself.¡± I can do it even without his help ¨C that¡¯s the most important takeaway from it. ¡ºYou stupid woman¡­ I, I told you to wait.¡» ¡°¡­¡± But why did that man, who killed her with his own hands¡­ look so sad? She couldn¡¯t continue that line of thought for long because someone knocked on her windows. ¡°Come in.¡± Ady opened the window and came in before getting down on one of her knees. ¡°Your Highness Elizabeth.¡± ¡°Youngest daughter of Ktin, correct?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± Thedy slowly stood up after a polite greeting. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°There has been an urgent notice from my father. He said they spotted a ¡®wolf with silver fur¡¯¡­¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Her eyes widened into full circles. The wolf with silver fur ¨C the main culprit behind the tragedy 10 years ago; the wolf she had been chasing after her whole life. ¡°Hah¡­ Finally after ten years of silence.¡± She immediately stood up. Now that they found the silver wolf, she could not wait any longer. ¡°We set out immediately.¡± ¡°¡­Please give me a moment.¡± The youngest daughter of Ktin waved her hands and summoned arge crow and Miruam got on it without making any preparations. ¡°What should I say to the Academy?¡± she asked. ¡°It¡¯s going to be annoying so¡­ Yes, you can go to the Academy in my stead.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± Saying that, Arba, the youngest daughter of Ktin, gave another wave which immediately changed her outer appearance to be the same as Miruam. The three daughters of Ktin the Wizard were all masters of illusion, summoning and using familiars, so changing their appearance was nothing difficult for them. The crow summoned by Arba carried Miruam and soared off into the skies of the Academy. Due to the mask of illusion, no one saw the crow disappearing into the horizon. *** ¡°Korin-dongsaeng~¡± Ever since Mag Mell, Estelle was always rather excessively intimate whenever she saw me. She would give me a surprise hug from behind, y around with my cheeks as if they were slime, ask if she could touch my arms and do it¡­ or even give a short kiss to my cheeks. ¡°¡­Korin?¡± The problem was that she would do all of that regardless of the time and asion. ¡°Wow¡­¡± Ron, the younger brother of the wolf siblings, sighed as he saw the clingy Estelle. ¡°Still hitting on more girls, Big Bro?¡± ¡°What?¡± How could Ron say such a thing to me? Ren?! Can you train your little brother a bit better? ¡°Hmph¡­!¡± I turned to Ren with a questioning gaze but she flicked her head away in response. ¡°Big Bro¡­ you only need one spouse in your life. Any more than that¡­ will just hurt you.¡± ¡°W, what are you talking about?¡± Ron replied with a sincerely worried look on his face. ¡°Sometimes when I look at you, it feels like you live without thinking about what might happen.¡± I have¡­ absolutely no idea what you mean, Ron. ¡°Anyway,¡± I changed the topic. ¡°Estelle-noona, sit down for a bit. Let me finish off with these kids first.¡± ¡°Hing~. Make sure to y with me when you finish, okay?¡± ¡°I have mentoring after this as well. You can join if you want to.¡± ¡°That real-life practice thing? Miru would hate it but, oh well~ I¡¯m bored, so I will join.¡± Anyway, today was abat practice day with Ren and Ron. Their skills were getting better and better these days, and it might be time to introduce them to Mound. ¡°Leaving Ron aside, I think you grew a bit, Ren.¡± ¡°D, do you think so too? Nn¡­ I did get a bit taller.¡± ¡°Yeah. You look around 12 years old now.¡± ¡°I am 17 years old, okay?¡± ¡°Yes yes. I¡¯m just talking about how old you look.¡± The different growing speeds of beastmen were yet to be fully researched, especially for ¡®golden wolves¡¯ like them, who were as unique as Elders or Lords for vampires. Ren and Ron appeared as grown-ups in the game, and the only difference between that and now was that they weren¡¯t sold as ves. Whatever the case, this must be a better life for them, because there was no way that living as a ve would have led to a good life. ¡°By the way, how¡¯s everything going with your friends? Are you doing fine?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ except for one.¡± ¡°Princess Miruam?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The siblings didn¡¯t reply but their silence already gave it away. They must have somewhat sensed the deep sense of hatred and hostility she had against their race. ¡°But these days¡­ she¡¯s a bit more mild.¡± ¡°Hnn?¡± I asked back, not understanding what Ron meant. ¡°Even when our eyes meet, these days she doesn¡¯t have the cold¡­ killing intent? Or anything in her eyes.¡± That Princess Miruam not having a reaction against beastmen¡­ and werewolves at that? Is that even possible? *** After the lesson was over with the two of them, I headed off to meet Miruam for mentoring. Things did end on a chilly notest weekend, but that was something we had to resolve over time. ¡°Are you reallying?¡± ¡°Nn~. It¡¯s not often that we sisters can y around together, so why not?¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡± Estelle wanted toe with me by all means but since I knew about the nature of their rtionship, I was worried that it might end up lighting up the fuse of a bomb. ¡°Sometimes I wonder if you know everything about our rtionship,¡± Estelle said. ¡°¡­I do know that you¡¯re siblings.¡± ¡°With different mothers.¡± Estelle was the daughter of Queen Asher, the current queen, but she wasn¡¯t Miruam¡¯s mother. Miruam¡¯s mother was Queen Maria, the previous queen of King David. Queen Asher was originally a concubine, so the 1st Princess of the El Rath Kingdom was technically Miruam. ¡°I can understand her hatred against beastmen,¡± she said. ¡°If the direction of her anger was right, I wouldn¡¯t have stopped her either but¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s what revenge is. You never know where it¡¯ll bounce off to.¡± ¡°Fufu¡­ Looks like you know it, but how? It¡¯s a story that even the royal court is trying to hide.¡± ¡°Although I might look like this, I am fighting to save the world. There are a few things here and there that I have to know about.¡± There was nothing wrong with Miruam¡¯s anger itself. Anyone would agree to that but¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t want her to be a monster.¡± ¡°Me neither. That¡¯s why you wanted my help right?¡± Estelle asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°That certainly is a bold move. Not sure if it will be possible though.¡± ¡°Well, it will work out one way or another.¡± Estelle giggled after hearing the certainty in my voice and asked. ¡°Is it because I will be blessing you?¡± ¡°There¡¯s that too. Because that will increase my chance of sess by several-fold.¡± ¡°But are you sure you¡¯ll be okay? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to use me or your other teammates? Honestly, the power level of your guild is unimaginable, and it will be a lot easier that way.¡± She wasn¡¯t wrong. Marie, Hua Ran, and Alicia¡­ Even with just the help of those three, I would be able to manage a full-frontal fight. But that wasn¡¯t an option. Any help I received from someone else had to be to the degree where it could be kept a secret. ¡°I have to do this by myself. Because I have to be the only ¡®traitor¡¯.¡± ¡°¡­So that¡¯s what the Legal Immunity was for.¡± We needed ¡®justification¡¯, and this was the only way to stop Miruam. While having a light discussion about our n, we arrived at the office of our Guardians Guild and found Miruam who had been waiting for us already. ¡°You¡¯re here. Sir Korin and¡­ Estelle.¡± Her eyes immediately turned cold the moment she saw Estelle. Estelle returned an awkward wave but Miruam didn¡¯t even reply back. That was a very urate response. Miru would have responded that way to Estelle. But¡­ what was it? Something didn¡¯t feel right. For half a second, I skeptically scanned through her and immediately noticed it. ¡°So, what are we doing to¡ª¡± ¡°Who are you.¡± This woman isn¡¯t Miru. Chapter 188: Mentor (5) Chapter 188: Mentor (5) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡»
? Mentor(5) ? A blunder. Her over-excitement ended up causing her to make a mistake. The silver wolf, whom she had been chasing after for a long time, was finally discovered at the Chapel of Xeruem. The reason for that was simple ¨C he must have gone there to save his kindred, who were imprisoned in thends of Xeruem, which they referred to as the deands. For a long period of time, there had been a long strife between the Xeruem Order and these unidentified group of beastmen, who refused to share their headquarters despite the intense persecution and torture they had to endure. It seemed that Estelle knew who they were but refused to tell her the truth. However, that didn¡¯t matter. Miriam was sure that at least one of them would eventually spill the truth so she continued chasing after them with her subordinates. Each and every one of her subordinates that she took out on those ¡®hunts¡¯ were high-grade guardians and she also took hundreds of private soldiers with her. She considered that to be enough and¡­ ¡°They caught me off guard.¡± She ended up falling into a trap. Fairy Shift. It was a skill that swapped locations of different people like the pranks of a fairy. They didn¡¯t have the delicate control over dimensions that the Great Witch Josephine ra had, but they were nheless sessful in isting Miruam to a mountain by herself. -AWOOOOOOO¡ª!! The mountain range under the night sky echoed with the howling voices of wolves. It was evident that the werewolves looking for her were quite angry. ¡°Fuu¡­ Quite irritated, aren¡¯t you?¡± She could feel their hatred and fury from all the way here. She vividly sensed their hatred with her skin, but that failed to affect her in any way. It was because she hated them even more. *** Miruam Elizabeth El Rath was born as the 2nd Princess of the El Rath Kingdom. Just like Estelle, who was already showing signs of the Saintess, Miruam was at the center of expectant gazes of those hoping that she would be a great queen in the future. Her nanny from a young age, the maids that had been looking after her ever since she was a baby, and the royal mage teaching her magic¡­ ¡ºMiru, my daughter!¡» And more than anyone else, she had her mother who loved her the most. -AWOOOOOOOO¡­! -AWOOOOOOOO¡­! That night was the same as today, in the sense that she could hear the howling wolves all around her. Their destination that night was the mansion not so far from the Chapel of Xeruem to the west. Her mother was a devout believer of the Xeruem Order, and they were thus visiting the chapel for a religious festival. She could still remember falling asleep from the long and exhausting carriage trip¡­ ¡°Uun¡­ Mommy?¡± As well as how she woke up from the bed hearing themotion outside. ¡°Your¡­ Highness.¡± ¡°Nanny?¡± Her nanny, who used to gently talk to her every time, looked powerless and dispirited. -Flop! ¡°Nanny? I¡¯m scared. Wake up¡­¡± She rocked the powerless body of her nanny, but all she got in return was a feeble voice that resembled a weak ember on a matchstick in a storm. ¡°Your Highness¡­ Run away¡­¡± Her head dropped to the ground as the nanny stopped moving. Soon, something rusty started to create a puddle underneath her. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± Miruam looked past the nanny, beyond the door of the carriage. It was filled with blood no matter where she turned. That was the day when she lost everything in the world. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Despite being isted in a mysterious mountain range, Miruam was able to hide from the eyes of the wolves for a lot longer than expected. ¡ºDogs rely heavily on their sense of smell to track down their prey. As long as you can do something about that, it shouldn¡¯t be that difficult to escape from them.¡» That piece of advice, which she rebuked for being worthless for her at the time, and her experience escaping from the Blood Dog leading Hounds were a lot more helpful than she initially thought. She unleashed her serpents to the Hounds that were receivingmands from the werewolves, killed one of them, and covered herself with its blood and skin. Although she wasn¡¯t a diligent student, she was a genius at making use of what she knew, which had a great impact on her ability to escape from the werewolves. ¡®It¡¯s as if¡­ he knew this would happen.¡¯ He knew something ¨C and it was apparent that he knew a lot more than she had initially assumed. She wanted to have him; with him by her side, it was certain that these wolves wouldn¡¯t even be able to serve as a threat. However, she met her limits before long. Although she tried her best to hide her scent and remove her traces, werewolves were still masters of hunting and tracking. It was too hard for the limping princess, who was always under the protection of knights and mages, to escape them and¡ª ¡°Found you.¡± She was soon surrounded by the wolves. The one who stepped up to the lead was a silver-haired werewolf. ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°Been ten years, Princess.¡± ¡ºMom?¡» She still remembered that ursed silver fur, and his nails that pierced through her mother¡¯s heart. ¡°Been a while, hasn¡¯t it? I got the guy that drove his nail into my leg but I couldn¡¯t find you anywhere.¡± ¡°His name was Beckel.¡± ¡°I know. I made him spit out everything from his ce of birth to his wife¡¯s name. But he just refused to talk about where your doggy headquarters were.¡± Torture. That was one of the most infamous things the Serpent Princess did to the beastmen for the past 10 years. Hunting beastmen all over the Kingdom, she tortured them in horrifying ways and at times even used the corpses to bait more beastmen. ¡°That damn bitch¡­!¡± ¡°Why are we even talking to her right now!? Let¡¯s kill her immediately!¡± ¡°Rip her limbs to pieces and console the souls of our brothers!¡± 10 years was a long time. How many beastmen died under her hands, and where did this chain of hatred begin? ¡°Let me apologize, first of all, Princess.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± ¡°Mr. Ku Shee!¡± The werewolves were startled by his sudden apology whereas Miruam¡­ ¡°¡­!¡± She stayed there ring daggers at Ku Shee with a wretched gaze. ¡°Mere words¡­!¡± ¡°However, I do not regret it. Even if I went back in time 10 years ago, I would have tried to do the same thing. But¡­ I wouldn¡¯t have let you go¡­ instead, I would have killed you on the spot.¡± ¡ºLet her go, Beckel.¡» ¡ºSorry? But, Mr. Ku Shee! This girl is that bitch¡¯s daughter!¡» The beastmen raided Queen Maria¡¯s carriage. Despite the numerous knights, mages, and soldiers protecting it, they could not stop the onught of determined werewolves. It was also because Ku Shee the Silver Wolf was a descendent of a sublime bloodline, who was as powerful as a semi-Unique Grade knight. That night, he led the beastmen to murder Queen Maria and let go of Miruam. ¡°It was worthless pity and a momentary conscience clouding my judgment. Back then we¡­ or I should have made sure you were dead.¡± ¡°Huhuhu¡­¡± Miruam retracted her wretched gaze and started to giggle. Her giggle sounded so fearful and insane, that no one would be able to link that to a 17-year-old young girl. ¡°Hihi. Of course. Of course, you should. Of course, you should regret not killing me back then!¡± Being pitied did not mean her grudge wouldn¡¯t build up. ¡°I will kill every single one of your race without leaving a single seed behind. I will poison all of you to death.¡± Ku Shee admitted he should have done the same. ¡°Your mother was hell-bent on discriminating and killing us. She sent our kindred over to the wicked priests of the Deands, under the name of ¡®cleanse¡¯ and ¡®reformation¡¯!¡± He still remembered the day he led the beastmen, who could not hold themselves back anymore, to the queen¡¯s mansion and ambushed the carriage despite the discouragement of the union. ¡°That was¡­ how my daughter died as well.¡± That was why he killed the queen. Unlike King David and Queen Asher, Queen Maria was a believer of the Old Faith and saw demi-humans as ones that had to be cleansed. ¡°This is just that kind of fight where one side must fall. That¡¯s all there is to it.¡± As such, he did not regret his actions because he would have killed the queen regardless. ¡°I agree,¡± said Miruam. ¡°However, one thing I can say is that I won¡¯t be the one falling.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t beat me.¡± ¡°For now, yes. I would probably be killed.¡± She took out a stone from her dress ¨C she took out Lia Fail, the Stone of Destiny, which had the luster of a finely cut piece of gem. ¡°However, this is not what my fate is supposed to be.¡± It was then. After immediately sucking out Miruam¡¯s mana, Lia Fail let out a brilliant light as the dimension started to crack before it. Lia Fail. The symbolic treasure of the King of Gods, which either altered or ascertained destiny. Even the goddesses winding the strings of fate could not unwind the destiny enforced by this stone. Every treasure, including the three other great treasures, existed under a rule but that rule did not apply to Lia Fail. Lia Fail, regardless of the process, was able to enforce an oue under the name of ¡®destiny¡¯. For example¡­ ¡°Thank goodness I was next to Lady Josephine.¡± It could suddenly summon a helper who could jump through the dimension. ¡°Josephine ra? Korin Lork?!¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on!?¡± The beastmen were greatly confused as they saw Josephine, the Dimensional Witch, appear alongside Korin Lork, the hero of the Kingdom. ¡°I thought it would be my soldiers, or me teleporting out.¡± Miruam¡¯s question was answered by Korin. ¡°Even though Lia Fail is overpowered, it still does follow the rules of cause and effect. Of course, if it really can¡¯t make things ¡®look natural¡¯, then it does sometimes throw that rule down the drain.¡± Korin added another sentence, saying that it wouldn¡¯t be possible with her Mana Capacity. ¡°Lady Josephine, who can teleport, and me, who just ¡®happened to be next to her¡¯. That would make more sense than your soldiers appearing out of nowhere. Right?¡± It felt weird to hear him say that so confidently as if it wasn¡¯t his first time, but that was beside the point. ¡°I see. Well, whatever. Those guys have attempted to assassinate the princess. Kill them.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have to say no to that.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Without replying to the princess¡¯s question, I approached Ku Shee and the beastmen. ¡°Your assassination has failed the moment we came here. Do you intend to fight me to death or run away?¡± Neither was the best option, but Ku Shee was a wise leader. ¡°We¡¯ll fall back.¡± ¡°Sir!?¡± ¡°We can deal with them!¡± Ku Shee remained calm in the middle of the over-excited beastmen. ¡°We cannot fight two semi-Unique Grades with our currentposition. The princess can still fight on top of that.¡± Saying that, Ku Shee led his group back, butmented onest time before leaving the mountain. ¡°In the end¡­ there¡¯s no other option than a frontal battle, huh?¡± ¡°No. You can still ept my offer.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He didn¡¯t respond. He probably had a lot of things on his mind, including how he had to report to Mound about his arbitrary judgment to assassinate the princess and its failure. ¡°¡­¡± The beastmen disappeared but Miruam continued ring daggers at Korin. She was holding herself back quite a lot just by maintaining her calm on the outside. ¡°We should have killed them,¡± she said. ¡°Fighting dozens of beastmen while protecting the princess is easier said than done.¡± ¡°I can protect myself.¡± ¡°But what if you die? How will you take revenge or whatever when you¡¯re dead?¡± ¡°Student Korin. That¡¯s¡­¡± Josephine tried to intervene and remind him about his attitude but Korin stopped her instead. He turned to Miruam and looked straight back into her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s what revenge is,¡± said the princess. ¡°It¡¯s about putting everything on the line. My life is not even a part of the equation.¡± ¡°From where till where is the scope of your revenge?¡± ¡°Everything and everyone. Korin Lork. Isn¡¯t it natural?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t fool yourself, Princess. There¡¯s no ¡®end¡¯ to ¡®everything¡¯, nor is it possible.¡± ¡°Then what do you want me to do?¡± ¡°Draw the line. Draw the end goal of your revenge. Achieve that goal and put an end to it.¡± -Otherwise, there will be no end to your revenge. *** The attempted assassination of Princess Miruam immediately after the kidnapping incident of the Saintess, was enough to send the Kingdom into another fit of chaos. However, it was difficult for the Kingdom to respond to this incident, because it wasn¡¯t certain ¡®who¡¯ the target was. They knew that Ku Shee was a werewolf, but they didn¡¯t know where he was and which group he belonged to. Who could possibly imagine that there was an underground city of demi-humans that has existed for centuries? But that was when an unexpected testimony came from Xeruem. ¡ºThe people that attacked Her Highness Miruam are from a union of demi-humans, called Mound. They reside in the underground city of Dana Shee and¡ª¡» One of the bishops who escaped the New Faith from Estelle¡¯s purge reported to the Kingdom about Mound and Dana Shee. Now that the direction of the Kingdom¡¯s sword had be clear¡ª ¡ºI, Miruam Elizabeth El Rath, will eradicate the demi-humans that tried to assassinate the princess.¡» What followed was a natural course of events. The Kingdom raised its army, and the Alliance gathered guardians to join the battle against Mound. Xeruem Order dispatched Temr Knights as if they had been waiting for this moment and pressured Estelle and the Zeon Order, who could not voice out their protective stance for demi-humans due to the seriousness of the incident. An army was being gathered to annihte demi-humans and Dana Shee. ¡°It¡¯s a bit earlier than expected, but it¡¯s because of a mistake from your end. What are you going to do?¡± I asked Ednar Illusan, the Queen of Cats, who came looking for me in a hurry. ¡°¡­Is the offer still valid?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± It was time for the next phase. Chapter 189: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (1) Chapter 189: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (1) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡»
? Miruam Elizabeth El Rath(1) ? The Kingdom was in turmoil after an attempted assassination of the princess. The astonishing incident of the Saintess¡¯s abduction was still fresh in the minds of the citizens, so something simr happening one after another warranted the royal court to take action. It was different from how Queen Maria died ¡®by ident¡¯ on the mountain 10 years ago. ¡°There has been a letter from the Alliance asking for our participation.¡± Lunia brought a letter of cooperation which was dered by the royal court and signed by the Guardian Alliance. Anyone would immediately decide to follow the orders of the royal family unless they had a death wish but¡­ ¡°We won¡¯t be participating in it.¡± ¡°Yes. I did hear about it.¡± Lunia replied while shrugging her shoulders. ¡°I am a part of your guild, so I can follow the Guild Master¡¯smands, but that is not so much the case for our household.¡± ¡°Has a letter already been sent to the Ardens?¡± ¡°The 2nd Princess was very zealous.¡± It was fortunate that Lunia was officially a part of our guild. ¡°Have a look at this, Miss Lunia.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± She appeared slightly confused by the document I gave her. ¡°A long-distance mission to the Duff City of the South?¡± ¡°Yes. You and Alicia will be working with the security guard in Duff City.¡± ¡°Right now?¡± ¡°All the other members are all busy doing missions at a distant location. How unfortunate! Looks like we won¡¯t be able to respond positively to the letter of cooperation because we¡¯re too busy.¡± ¡°Hmm~¡± Looking intrigued, Lunia came closer and yed with my hair. ¡°Are you really going to do it by yourself?¡± ¡°Senior Marie will stay behind and help. Of course, I will be the only one on the front end, though.¡± ¡°What a shame that I cannot view the valiant actions of my husband.¡± It seemed that her way of calling me had evolved from ¡®fianc¨¦¡¯ to ¡®husband¡¯¡­ ¡°You should go around with Alicia and enjoy some of the food there.¡± ¡°Right. I will.¡± We had a cup of tea together inside the office before parting ways. It would be difficult to see her for the time being until everything was over. Lastly, I put up a sign reading, ¡ºKorin Guardians away on Long-distance Missions¡» on the way out of the building. *** The assassination attempt of Princess Miruam ended up a failure and the Xeruem Order revealed information about the demi-human union. This was the biggest peril of history for Dana Shee. ¡°You stupid dogs!¡± Vampire Elder istig shouted while ring at the beastmen with bloodshot eyes. Normally, the beastmen would have retaliated back, telling those mosquitoes to go away, but they weren¡¯t thick-skinned enough to do that right now. Ku Shee heaved a sigh and sincerely admitted his mistake. ¡°It¡¯s my fault.¡± ¡°Of course it is! If you were going to do it, you should have done it seamlessly! The Kingdom is now forming an army against us! How are you going to stop them!?¡± ¡°¡­The entrance of Dana Shee is a heaven-made natural fortress. We can stop them on the small pathway.¡± ¡°It will be breached at one point! Unlike us, humans have infinite numbers!¡± ¡°We have hidden several wolves across the continent. While their army tries to squeeze their way in through the narrow entrance, we can carry out gueri tactics and drain their munitions. If we pressure the South¡­¡± ¡°Enough.¡± The Chief Elder of Mound, Leprechaun, cut off Ku Shee¡¯s words with a cold gaze. He was usually a benevolent elder but was currently ring daggers at Ku Shee with a sharp light in his eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve been preparing for a war the whole time.¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯ve simply been preparing for the worst.¡± ¡°Have I not told you time and time again, that violence gives birth to nothing but more violence?¡± ¡°However, it was only a matter of time until the Deands became aware of our presence. It just happened slightly earlier.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡± Leprechaun let out a deep and exhausted sigh. ¡°I would still prefer to avoid a fight if possible.¡± ¡°Is there a way, Chief?¡± ¡°That would be me.¡± That was when an outsider¡¯s voice started to echo across the union¡¯s conference hall. ¡°Korin Lork¡­!¡± ¡°Illusan! How dare you bring an outsider in here!¡± Behind the young man brought by Ednar Illusan, hiding from the viciously hostile eyes of the beastmen, were a pair of blonde-haired siblings. ¡°It¡¯s our first time seeing each other but you know me right? I¡¯ve reached out to you guys once through Ednar.¡± ¡°You bastard¡­!¡± Seeing the appearance of the one who ruined their n to assassinate Miruam, the beastmen were on the verge of pouncing at him but Ku Shee stopped them before they could. ¡°You stopped the assassination of the Princess, so why are you deciding to help us now?¡± ¡°Come on. I stopped the assassination but I didn¡¯t help her kill you guys, did I? Just because I wasn¡¯t an ally doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m your enemy.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Ku Shee didn¡¯t say anything after that. He deemed that he didn¡¯t have much say in this hall after the failed assassination. Continuing on was another elder, istig the vampire. ¡°Korin Lork. The guardian of the new vampire of Dunareff, huh?¡± ¡°Not a guardian per se.¡± ¡°Should I say a partner, then?¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s better.¡± ¡°Marie Dunareff was supposed to join us as one of ourrades.¡± ¡°That¡¯s only for people without a background or a ce to go.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true too. We are very poor after all.¡± istig thought to himself as he gazed at the young man, who was like a guardian to the newborn vampire girl. He was very much aware of the intense blood-sucking impulse of a new vampire. It was like a curse ¨C just like how werewolves under a Full Moon couldn¡¯t control themselves, the urge to suck blood was the same for vampires. At least one person should have died at her hands. ¡®But no one did. And he¡¯s the only one that girl¡¯s sucking blood from, huh?¡¯ As someone who knew just how painful it was for a vampire to go through their first blood-sucking impulse, he couldn¡¯t help but empathize with Marie Dunareff and Korin Lork, who helped her push through that. Because he understood the pain unique to vampires¡­ ¡°Good. I will agree to your offer.¡± ¡°istig?¡± ¡°What are you thinking!?¡± He was met with voices of disapproval but istig already made his decision. ¡°That is the most viable option left for us at this moment in time. Old Man Leprechaun. I agree.¡± ¡°What about the rest?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± No one replied. It was natural because no one was stupid enough to risk the lives of their entire vige on a single outsider. Therefore, a long battle of discussion was normal but Korin Lork had no ns to wait for them. ¡°I have received documents from Ednar Illusan. Everything is going well already.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Of course, it won¡¯t pass without your final consent. This is quite a risky fight of justification, so you have to make a decision. Right now, right at this moment.¡± -War? Or gamble? The conference hall was clustered with noisy discussions. Although Ednar Illusan and istig had already demonstrated their agreement, there were still many who couldn¡¯t readilye to a decision. ¡°What¡¯s the need for a long discussion? You can prepare for a war or prepare to evacuate. That¡¯s up to you; you just need to give me that one reason to move.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He was right. It was an offer where Mound had nothing to lose since a semi-Unique Grade knight was offering to help for basically nothing in return. All they would be doing was giving him a traditionally acknowledged justification while losing practically nothing. ¡°Why¡­ are you doing this?¡± Ku Shee, who ended up lighting the fuse on fire, couldn¡¯t understand Korin Lork. He helped Miruam and yet he was now helping Mound. It was hard to consider him a selfish traitor since he had nothing to gain from either of them. ¡°What is it that¡¯s going through your mind? What are you doing this for?¡± That was why he had to ask that question. He needed to ask why this young knight was risking his life for this. ¡°Peace. An end to the repetition of revenge.¡± ¡°Do you think that¡¯s possible?¡± ¡°It is. I¡¯ll make it possible. Fewer people dying is always the best option.¡± ¡ºLet me raise an offer. If you beastmen join the ranks of Sir Valtazar, then we will invite your union into the new world.¡» ¡°¡­¡± It sounded simr yetpletely different to the offer given by the old druid who visited them quite some time ago. Ku Shee nkly looked at the ceiling in deep thought. Not killing was better than killing. It was an obvious truth. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡ªWe will now elect Korin Lork as the ¡®Fairy King Finvarra¡¯, the leader of the union of five Dana Shees. Raise your hand if you are against it. *** The army to annihte Mound was formed in less than a week. It was only possible because it hadn¡¯t been long since the army against the Steel Archipgo had been disbanded. The guardians, who could not contribute much to the fall of the Tower of Mages, were eager to do something this time around. Most importantly, the biggest factor was the active participation of the Xeruem Order, one of the two biggest religions of the Kingdom. Shouting out loud that this war was for the lord, they printed out thousands of indulgences, saying that those papers could grant them a path to heaven. And how three papers of indulgence could erase the sin of murder. ¡°Your Highness. We are almost there!¡± One of the future cardinals, Bishop Gress was one of the ones who had escaped to Xeruem from Estelle¡¯s religious revolution. He decided to use the attempted assassination of Princess Miruam as his ticket to sess and sold information about Dana Shee and Mound without holding back. Mound, despite their secretive connection to the New Faith, was designated as the culprit behind the attempted assassination of a member of the royal family. They were a group of vagabonds, who weren¡¯t even a citizen of the Kingdom in the first ce, so they didn¡¯t even have the right to rely on legal measures. ¡®We can definitely wipe them out.¡¯ There were thousands of soldiers from the Kingdom, alongside hundreds of knights and mages. Including the crusaders actively gathered by the Old Faith, their numbers reached 20,000. Their goal was the underground city of Dana Shee and theplete eradication of Mound, which would fulfill her lifelong wish. ¡°Just wait a bit more, everyone. I will soon give a burnt offering for all of you.¡± This was her destiny. It was this moment where she would fulfill her desire, which had been promised by Lia Fail. Even though one person was missing from the destiny she saw, that didn¡¯t change anything because she was desperate to achieve her goal, regardless of what she had to do. ¡°Y, Your Highness¡­!¡± That was when a messenger arrived in a hurry at the central encampment. He was a part of the scouts, and afternding his wyvern at a slight distance, he had sprinted all the way to her in one breath. ¡°U, urgent news! An ¡®enormous Sun¡¯ has appeared in front of us. A gigantic Sun!¡± ¡°A gigantic Sun?¡± What did that even mean¡­? But before long, Miruam made sense of what was happening. Her skin had been prickling for a while and the air was way too dry for an autumn day like today. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­!¡± There were more than 30 kilometers of distance between the scouts and the central encampment so this level of heat didn¡¯t make sense unless¡­ Miruam immediately hurried to the wyvern that the scout was on, and soared into the sky. And she found arge sphere off in the distance. ¡°Korin Lork¡­!¡± Arge sun¡­ was blocking the path. *** There were more than 15,000 troops in ce. Considering the number of knights, mages, and priests included in those numbers, their sheer amount of power was hard to fathom. And yet stopping an entire army, the likes of which were only visible during the final battle, was one single man. Korin Lork. The Hero of the Kingdom. The knight who crushed the Tower and defeated the Tower Lord, who had been praised as the hero until just a few weeks ago, was stopping the army in its tracks by himself. Behind him was a scorching sun. -Guwooooo¡ª!! Heat rays of the sun were mercilessly scorching the ground beneath. Every living creature concealed their drying tongues, and instinctively protected their eyes and body from the sun. ¡°Uhht¡­!¡± Its overwhelming weight was mightily suppressing everyone on earth, making their faces turn pale. All the soldiers understood that the fall of that sun could only mean their death. That was the Sun. That was Korin Lork. The Hero of the Kingdom and one chosen by a divine artifact. Who could possibly stand their ground without being breath-taken in front of that might? ¡°That much mana¡­ Impossible.¡± ¡°Is he really human?¡± The sphere of heat floating intensely in the air threatened to scorch everything in existence, and the amount of mana they could feel from it was unfathomable. Is that really a feat possible for humans? ¡°Korin¡­ Lork!!¡± Miruam clenched her teeth seeing the Sun and the Champion of the Sun after arriving at the front on a wyvern. Why? Why is he interfering with her goal? ¡°What are you all doing¡­!¡± The reproachful voice of the princess urged the knight captain of the Kingdom to set up an example. ¡°Sir Korin Lork! My name is Rendal, captain of the Third Knights! We havee here under the sternmands of the royal court, to eradicate the heinous criminals that attempted to assassinate Her Highness the Princess!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Despite the sonorous shout of the knight captain, Korin stayed his ground like arge, immovable boulder. However, it was obvious that it was a moving boulder. Proof of that was the scouts who were all lying unconsciously on the ground. It was fortunate that none of them were dead. ¡°Why are you blocking our path, Sir Lork?¡± ¡°So noisy.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Hearing that insult, Captain Rendal gave a deep frown. ¡°It cannot be helped. If you so wish to ept head-on the sword of the royal court.¡± ¡°B, but Captain. Behind him is the Sun¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. If he wanted to kill us, he would have killed the scouts first. I am not sure what he is thinking, but regardless, I must follow my due duty as a knight.¡± Captain Rendal dismounted his horse and unsheathed his sword. His post as one of the knight captains of the Kingdom wasn¡¯t for show, and he was a powerhouse at the level of Grade 1. Korin Lork was officially a Grade 1 knight of the Alliance, which meant he was on the same level as him. Trusting his sword, Rendal confronted the spearman as they each raised their weapon. ¡°Sir Korin! Prepare yourself¡­!¡± Knight Rendal widened his eyes into circles while racing forward. He created a gust of wind behind his trail, which lifted up the dry leaves on the ground. The charge of a heavy-ted knight was as powerful as an explosive bomb. -Kwang! In the blink of an eye, the knight was gone. With his explosive kick, he was already flying forward, leaving behind a big hole underneath where he was standing. ¡°Ohh¡­!¡± The knights roared in admiration from the explosive burst of their captain. Rendal was so fast that his honest charge might even be taken as a surprise attack, and he arrived before Korin in a single breath. ¡°Huhp¡­!¡± The sword filled with aura struck down like a bolt of lightning. It was a deadly sword that could cut down ogres but¡­ his sword failed to have any impact. -Tuhp! With just one hand, Korin grabbed Rendal¡¯s wrists in the middle of his downward strike. He couldn¡¯t move any of his hands, and all he could do was make them quiver in ce. ¡°W, what kind of power¡­!¡± [Herculean Strength] ¨C Momentarily increase your Strength by 200%. Korin overwhelmed his opponent with superhuman strength that a mere knight couldn¡¯t contend against, and used his other arm to strike his face. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Rendal took several steps back after having his nose crushed, but Korin followed through. Using one of his legs, Korin kicked Rendal¡¯s left leg to crush his bnce before hurling a fist at his chest. -Kwang! A deafening thud echoed across as Rendal¡¯s body drove straight into the ground. Hukk¡­! The knight gasped for breath. ¡°C, Captain¡­!¡± ¡°You bastard¡­!¡± His knights charged forward to make Korin pay the price for beating their captain. Each and every one of them was a strong knight and veteran master of group battles, which was proven by their immediate formation. Anti-Unique Grade Group Hunting Formation Number 7. There wasn¡¯t a single person who had made it out of this formation alive. ¡°¡­¡± That was when a smile floated on Korin¡¯s lips. At that moment, the knights felt that something was wrong; it felt as if there was a gap in their unbreachable formation. The world surrounding them felt slower as their instincts warned them to be careful. ?Silver Spear Resonant Activation? ¡°Run¡ª!!¡± The deputy captain screamed after sensing danger, but it only reached five of them in the span of 0.1 seconds that it took. mes and storms soared out from the ground. The Rune Spells that had been prepared beforehand all exploded at once. ¡°Runes¡­!¡± More than ten of their knights were immediately covered by those mes, making the deputy captain utter in confusion. ¡°How could Rune Magic have this much power¡­!?¡± They didn¡¯t know about [Rune Amplification] and were under the impression that Rune Spells were only as strong as low-grade spells, so they were taken aback by the mes roaring in front of them. ¡°Hukk¡­!¡± It was then. Korin dashed out from the scorching mes and smacked the deputy captain with the shaft of the spear. ¡°Kuahk!?¡± After allowing an attack to his ribs, the deputy captain flew all the way across the side. Half of the squad was immediately neutralized; both the captain and the deputy captain fell powerlessly withoutsting a single bout. ¡°¡­¡± He was in apletely different league. The Master of the Sun gazed down at Miruam¡¯s army with a ferocious smile on his face. ¡°Is that all?¡± It was the start of a rebellion. Chapter 190: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (2) Chapter 190: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (2) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡»
? Miruam Elizabeth El Rath(2) ? ¡°Why did you stop the march, Commander?¡± Miruam asked themander of the army. She obviously had the highest status out of everyone present, but control over the army was a different matter altogether. ¡°My apologies, Your Highness, but we just cannot advance.¡± ¡°¡­Is it because of the Sun?¡± ¡°Yes. To think one person would be stopping our army¡­¡± One man stopping an entire army? It was hard to imagine something like that being possible but it was happening in real life right before their eyes. The Sun, iomh Sis. That enormous manifestation of the Sun was drying up the ground beneath, and pushing an army through that narrow passage was like forcing them to die. ¡°He won¡¯t drop the sun.¡± Korin Lork¡¯s personality was widely known already. High-ranked knights like him were bound to have several people talking behind his back after a thorough investigation, but all they could talk about was how good-natured he was as a person. Even though he wasmitting a semi-rebellion to achieve his objective, he wasn¡¯t the type of person who would be wiping out the innocent soldiers of the Kingdom. ¡°Yes, but it is still a problem regardless. It¡¯s not that we are afraid of casualties; it¡¯s simply impossible for us to move forward.¡± The mere presence of the Sun was covering the ground with severe heat. ¡°The horses refuse to advance, and soldiers cry in pain from the heat. Even the water magic of our mages evaporated without evensting half a minute, and they¡¯re all exhausted from it.¡± ¡°What about knights¡­?¡± ¡°Only high-grade knights would be able tost under that Sun with their aura.¡± ¡°Then if we use them to defeat Korin Lork¡­¡± ¡°As you¡¯ve seen already, he is¡­ very strong.¡± It took him less than 5 minutes to destroy the entirety of the 3rd knight squad. Grade 1 knight, Korin Lork. He was still just a student, and unlike Marie who had the support of the Dunareff Dukedom, his status in the Guardian Alliance was nothing spectacrly unique. However, one thing to note was that Hua Ran was also a Grade 1 knight like himself, and how Korin Lork, Alicia Arden, and Hua Ran were due to carry out a Limitless Evaluation this winter. In other words, he was officially a Grade 1 knight but was at the very least a semi-Unique Grade knight and one of the few superhumans among superhumans within the Kingdom. ¡°As long as that Sun stays there¡­ we won¡¯t be able to advance normally.¡± Miruam couldn¡¯t force them to make the attack either. There was, after all, a big difference in an order that could make the soldiers lose lives, and one that would certainly kill them. However, they couldn¡¯t find a different path either because the ce Korin Lork was standing at was the only entrance known into Dana Shee, and that small passageway of the canyon was being blocked by the Sun. ¡°It¡¯s visible just how much mana he is using for that Sun. His mana will run dry before long.¡± It was a logical approach so they waited for a whole day. Night came. The moon rose up and the morning arrived again. But the Sun was still there. ¡°Commander, Your Highness¡­ we have an urgent report.¡± A high-grade knight of the army, who scouted out the area beyond the canyon while enduring the heat of the Sun, reported the grave situation beyond with a pale look on his face. ¡°Mages¡­ An army solely made of mages is supporting Korin Lork from behind.¡± More than 400 ¡®ve mages¡¯ were pulling out their mana inside the dark canyon. *** Anyone would agree that Korin Guardians was the group that benefited the most from the battle against the Tower of Mages. Not only did they neutralize the male mages with mysterious means, but they also used countless monster carriers to drop an army behind the enemy ranks. After that, they ravaged through the half-destroyed Tower to take the plunder for themselves. Treasures, elixirs, and artifacts¡­ Out of all sorts of potential treasures, what Korin Guardians focused on the most were none other than the mages. Firstly, they killed the resisting female mages and obtained the rest as captives. They were the few officially acknowledged ves in the Kingdom, which abolished very, and they had more than 400 mages as their ves. A group of 400 mages including higher-grade mages was ridiculous to even think about. There were even talks inside the capital, about how they should obtain them for the kingdom even if they had to pay something in price. Their inability to snatch the mage ves wasing back to bite them. ¡°¡­How long would 400 mages be able to maintain the Sun?¡± Her mage Ktin replied to the princess¡¯s query. ¡°There are many variables, but it would be at least 3 days.¡± It wasn¡¯t just 400 weak mages ¨C the number included a bunch of professors and lords. ¡°Commander. Do you still have no ns to advance the army?¡± ¡°¡­My apologies.¡± Themander could not force the soldiers to charge toward the Sun in a suicide mission. Seeing that, Miruam didn¡¯t bother trying to persuade him and instead walked out of the tent. ¡°Y, Your Highness?¡± She mounted a horse, which immediately made themander and her knights run up to her in a hurry. ¡°W, where are you going¡­!?¡± ¡°Go!¡± Shaking off the dissuading knights and soldiers, Miruam marched forward towards the Sun. ¡°Fuu¡­!¡± The closer she got, the hotter it became. The extreme heat from the Sun started to heat up her body but that wasn¡¯t enough to stop her feet. -Hihihing¡­! When the horse refused to go any further, she got off the horse and started to walk forward. One step at a time, she moved forward without knowing when to stop. It was dangerous. Walking any further than this would make the Sun scorch her to death but that wasn¡¯t enough to stop her. ¡°Hakk¡­!¡± The buckets of sweat flowing down her cheeks evaporated before they could drip down and each of her breaths were steaming hot like magma. It felt like she was in a hell of mes with her dress repeating the process of bing sweaty and dry. Every step forward was daunting to take but she did not stop. Miruam Elizabeth El Rath could not stop. That was the type of person she was. However, her body soon reached its limit despite her unshakable willpower. The surrounding air and sweat drained her body and even forced her to close her eyelids. That was how tough it was to even approach that immeasurably enormous sun. She forced her feet forward, which refused to listen to the brain by grabbing her legs with her hands. Like a machine, she was slowly advancing but that was when someone grabbed her to stop her from going forward. Miruam immediately recognized who it was. ¡°I¡­ knew it. You¡­ have no guts¡­ to kill me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡± The man sounded appalled, but despite the tone of his voice, he forced open her mouth and poured some liquid inside. She hurriedly satiated her thirst like a desert traveler finding an oasis. Her half-ruined body, which did not even listen to hermands, finally regained a bit of its vitality as she slowly opened her eyes. The Sun¡­ was gone. ¡°Huhuhu¡­¡± Yes. This was the kind of person he was. A needlessly kind-hearted person who put too much value on human lives. Someone like him threatening an army with the Sun was bound to lead to such a result. She proved it with her own body, that Korin Lork could not kill anyone with the Sun. ¡°It¡¯s over for you. As I thought¡­ you can¡¯t kill people to save others.¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re right, but this is all going ording to n.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± Miruam felt skeptical seeing him so full of confidence. That was when she turned and looked at the army, only to find that they were still standing on the spot without marching forward. What were they doing when the Sun wasn¡¯t even here anymore? Shouldn¡¯t they be marching forward, and even if that wasn¡¯t the case, what were her bodyguards doing? After some thought, she realized that it must be because of the man in front of her eyes. ¡°What¡­ have you done.¡± ¡°With 400 mages in one spot, you can carry out some interesting things.¡± Miruam realized what he meant the moment she saw a piece of contract flying towards her. 1. Only one warrior may be sent into the arena by each side. 2. The defender, Korin Lork, will fight a warrior chosen by Miruam Elizabeth El Rath once a day. 3. The army may advance during the duel. 4. The army must stop advancing the moment the duel ends.The above contract will begin when Miruam Elizabeth El Rath enters the arena by herself. ¡°What¡­?!¡± What was this? How was it possible to force such a contract? Miruam realized what was going on after sensing the ridiculously abundant pool of mana surrounding her. The 400 mage ves under Korin Lork ¨C regardless of how weak each individual mage was, 400 of them in one spot were enough to operate several grand spells, let alone if the number included a few professors and elders¡­ ¡°It¡¯s a geass; a contract that must be followed. That¡¯s a checkmate, right?¡± The mages weren¡¯t there to be an extra battery for him to charge the Sun; they were here to create a grand spell that could forcefully dere a contract on this area. ¡°Korin Lork¡­!¡± She gritted her teeth at the man who was adamant about interrupting her lifelong wish. ¡°Don¡¯t push yourself too hard. Even with the elixir you just had, you still need to look after your body for the time being.¡± ¡°Go¡­ away!¡± Throwing her arms around, she removed herself from his arms. She red at him with a venomous gaze but he remained nonchnt with an irritating smile on his face. ¡°Put everything on the line, Princess. Because I will crush them for you.¡± After predicting all of her actions, he was now forcing her to take the unavoidable battle. What exactly is his end goal? Is he going to pressure her into giving up on her lifelong desire? Miruam was afraid he would make her do that. *** ¡°My name is Rojo! A brave warrior of Her Highness Miruam Elizabeth El Rath!¡± ¡°A named character from the get-go, huh?¡± Korin clicked his tongue at the appearance of a familiar face. Tamer Rojo. He was a powerful knight himself but was a tamer who tamed demonic beasts to use like pets. Behind him were an enormous wolf, a cow, and a snake. ¡°It¡¯s a one-on-one battle. Are you allowed to bring that many inside?¡± Korin turned to the contract floating in the air inside the arena, hoping that it would intervene by putting a limit to the number of familiars. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª However, the contract didn¡¯t respond in any way, after seemingly judging that a tamed animal was considered as one with the tamer himself. ¡°Fuu~. Weren¡¯t these flexible approaches only allowed to be favorable for the main character?¡± He grumbled how this was an unfair treatment to a sub-yer. ¡°Make it quick. I need to take a rest for the next one.¡± ¡°There will be no next one for you!¡± Rojo charged forward with his three animals. The wolf was at the vanguard with the cow following suit¡­ and the snake was at the rearguard. ¡®That snake is the biggest problem.¡¯ That snake wasn¡¯t originally a part of Rojo¡¯s familiars, because his original one was an electric eel. Therefore, that snake must be Miruam¡¯s familiar that was given to him, which I had to deal with first. Korin stabbed the Silver Spear into the ground and raised Gae Derg, the Red Spear. ¡°From this close¡­ this is going to be a piece of cake.¡± He tossed the spear at the snake slithering across the ground. ¡°Dodge it!¡± Rojo the tamermanded it to dodge and the snake immediately listened to his order. The slithering snake added more evasive measures to its approach. However, that meant nothing against Gae Derg, the anti-magic spear of hunting beasts. ¡°¡­!¡± The flying red spear immediately turned its course in the middle of the air. It wasn¡¯t so drastic that it was obvious, but the spearhead quivered a little as it started aiming at the snake. -Stab! The spear prated through the snake¡¯s body. -Hisssss¡­! A spear going through its body was painful even to the snake. Although it didn¡¯t die immediately from that one spear attack, there was more to the effects of Gae Derg. ¡ºThe Snake of Infinity has been cursed by the Red Spear, Gae Derg.¡» All sorts of curses began to bind the snake, and it didn¡¯t take long for the wounded snake to lie t on the ground. ¡°Woof¡­!¡± In the meantime, therge wolf approached Korin Lork. It kicked off the ground and tried to bite Korin¡¯s neck off with one attack. ¡°No, you don¡¯t¡­!¡± Korin put his right arm forward and shoved it into the wolf¡¯s mouth. The wolf changed its target from his neck to his arm, but in return lost its eyeballs to Korin¡¯s left arm. ¡°Awoof¡­!¡± The wolf thrashed around in agony but its death throes didn¡¯tst long ¨C Korin Lork trampled on the neck bones of the wolf to make it turn silent. -Moooo¡­! As soon as he dealt with the wolf, he was met with the charge attack of the cow. The demonic cow, reaching 3 tonnes in weight, pushed him away into the distance. Korin rolled across the ground to push himself back on his feet but Rojo shed down at him with his sword before he could stand up. -Kang! Rotating the spear, Korin protected his back from the attack with the shaft of the spear. His eyes, however, were on the cow that was preparing itself for another charge. ¡°I¡¯m sick of cows.¡± He rotated the spear once again to strike Rojo on his forehead with the blunt tip of his spear. Rojo retaliated by slicing at his shoulders but only ended up creating a small cut. ¡°Mooo¡­!¡± Korin casually tossed the spear to the ground between him and the cow, but that was more than enough to make the cow fall on the ground. ¡°Without a weapon, you¡­!¡± Eight Trigrams First Palm¡ª ¡°Won¡¯t be able to¡ª!¡± ¡ªSecond Palm, Third Palm. ¡°Block my¡ª¡± ?Eight Trigrams Three Heavenly Palm Strikes? ¡°Attacks?!¡± A small gap was created after Rojo allowed three hits on his vitals, and without letting that slip by, Korin tripped him with his left leg all the while grabbing his face with one of his hands to drive his head into the ground. He then got into a mount over Rojo and hurled fists. ¡°¡ªAhk! Ahk! Ahk! Ahk! Ahhk!¡± It took less than 3 seconds for him to have his vitals attacked several times, fall to the ground, and receive more than ten punches. Rojo lost his consciousness after the thirteenth attack. ¡°Stop right there¡­!¡± -Trod! Trod! Trod!? -What? Already? His deafening roar immediately put a stop to the army¡¯s march. ¡°I won.¡± Korin Lork. 1 win. *** Three days went by, and the third warrior fell to Korin Lork. ¡°What a useless bunch.¡± No one inside the main tent was able to appease Miruam¡¯s cold fury. It was three losses in a row including Rojo, who pompously left on the first day only to be defeated in a breeze. Due to that, the army wasn¡¯t even able to advance more than 100 meters in the span of three days. ¡°Is there truly no one here that can defeat Korin Lork?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Miruam wasn¡¯t necessarily disappointed despite the crowd remaining silent. Although it wasn¡¯t official yet, Korin Lork was at the very least a semi-Unique Grade knight, and it would be difficult to beat him one-on-one unless they summoned Lunia Arden or someone of that level. ¡°Your Highness.¡± But that was when an old mage confidently took a step forward. ¡°Ktin.¡± Royal mage Ktin. He was one of her helpers who supported her even in her hunts, at the price of her unending help in return. ¡°Are you going to fight him?¡± ¡°Hohoho¡­ This old man is too old to join a battle between warriors, but I can send in my son.¡± ¡°Your son? Your son is¡­ Hmm.¡± Miruam smiled after contemting his words. His three daughters might not be able to do it but his son¡­ ¡°Please look forward to tomorrow morning. This old man will get rid of your obstacles, Your Highness.¡± Ktin the old mage left the tent with a wicked smile on his face. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The next morning, Korin observed the soldiers, who were once again preparing themselves to march forward. The army, after advancing less than 100 meters in the span of three days, was eager to make today different. There was less than 1 kilometer left until the entrance of Dana Shee, and a simple calction meant it would take more than a month. ¡®So they are making a move today huh¡­¡¯ Korin thought to himself as he watched an old mage standing before the arena with a 5-meter-tall giant. Technically speaking, it wasn¡¯t a giant and was instead a horrible chimera monster that was formed by forcing several dozen humans into one. ¡°Now! Let¡¯s start the battle! It would be between my son and the noble knight, Korin Lork!¡± As expected, Ktin¡¯s son began to separate as soon as the fight began. Ktin¡¯s sons. These chimeras, which were made from Ktin¡¯s blood, spent the day like one giant to save energy and separated themselves into ¡®27 people¡¯ when necessary. ¡°They are all a part of my ¡®one son¡¯ that came from my blood!¡± ¡°Do you even hear yourself, old man?! What kind of bullshit is that? Does that look like one person to you?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not up to you to decide that, young man!¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The geass didn¡¯t react to the 27 monsters of Ktin. It acknowledged those monsters as one. ¡°What kind of math is this?¡± The 27 monsters each carried a spear as they slowly walked towards him. ¡°Seriously? Is that really considered one person?¡± Chapter 191: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (3) Chapter 191: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (3) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡»
? Miruam Elizabeth El Rath(3) ? The 27 sons of Ktin were one of the mid-bosses you had to fight in the boss fight against Miruam Elizabeth El Rath. Rojo the tamer. Thirty of Ktin And Persia, the Great Warrior of Domnu. There was a researched method to beat all of them but that was only when you were fighting them as a party. Especially out of these enemies, the 27 sons of Ktin¡¯s Thirty were cumbersome foes, because they were anti-knight chimeras made personally by the previous lord of the ck Cult, Ktin. ¡°Krrrrh¡­!¡± ¡°Gyaaaak¡­!¡±Despite being in the form of a human, the monsters let out noises that humans couldn¡¯t possibly make, and each of them was carrying ck tainted spears. The normal way to defeat them was by relying on a tanker but¡­ ¡°Haa¡­¡± Although the three daughters of Ktin weren¡¯t in the mix, his 27 sons were already difficult enough. Not only were each of them as strong as Alicia at the start of the game, but they were also equipped with those cumbersome spears. ¡°Kill him.¡± The chimeras kicked off the ground at once. It was quite fortunate that the three illusionist daughters weren¡¯t with them, but Korin still couldn¡¯t help but grumble to himself. ¡°If only their greatest counter, Hua Ran, was here.¡± He raised the Silver Spear and threw it at them. The ¡®Orb of the Grim Reaper¡¯ inside the spear absorbed his mana and drew a strange parab in the air that avoided its foes. -Kwaang! The mana embedded inside the orb exploded everywhere. It was an AOE skill that ruined the connection of souls, and the sons of Ktin paused momentarily after being enveloped by the energy of the Grim Reaper. It was only for 3 seconds, but that was more than enough for Korin to get started. -Paback! Kicking off the ground, he stabbed his spear several times in a row and pierced through three of the unmoving chimeras. ¡°Kii?!¡± The Sons growled horrendously after seeing three of theirrades fall in the blink of an eye. Korin followed suit by smacking one of their necks with the shaft of his spear. ¡°I don¡¯t value chimera rights on top of human rights, you see.¡± ¡°Kikk¡­!¡± It was right after he defeated four of the 27 monsters. His ¡ºIntuitions of a yer¡» warned him of an iing danger to the back of his head. With a casual snap of his wrists, he rotated the shaft of the spear and bounced it off of his ankle to further elerate the spear. Spinning Heaven Second Move ¡ª Rotating Demon Spear The spear, upon being elerated multiple times through the snap of his wrists and his ankle, rapidly shed through the monster behind him, all the way from its groin to its head. ¡°Fuu¡­!¡± Without giving him the time to take a breather, a shadow was cast from behind yet again, and upon turning around, he saw a giant twice his size striking down with its spear. ¡®Fusion?¡¯ Like how they shared one body and could separate at will, they could also fuse themselves again at will. The new giant, which was at least five chimerasbined, pressed down from above with its oppressive weight. ¡°Hoh¡­!¡± It was heavy but bearable. By activating Herculean Strength on top of that, Korin flung the giant off with his spear. ¡°GUWO?!¡± The giant tilted back after losing the battle of pure strength and Korin stabbed at the confused giant with his First Demonic Spear. His repeated stabs left behind a ck trail of aura. -Pababak! Thebined giant fell on the ground after having three huge holes in its body, but that was when three monsters tossed their spears at him from behind the falling giant. ¡ª¡ª! Korin responded with Spinning Heaven to deflect the iing spears but they all ended up slicing or stabbing some parts of his body. They were magic spears with the spell of ¡®100% uracy¡¯ cast on them. Unlike the Spear of Light, Areadbhair, which boasted of 100% lethal uracy, these spears were only ¡®urate¡¯. Slicing past any part of his body was seen as urate, so none of them were deadly by any means but¡­ ¡°Kuhp¡­!¡± A sudden feeling of nausea made him fall on one of his knees. The magic spears of Ktin¡¯s sons had lethal poisons on top of that. ¡ºThe Sun cleanses all poison.¡» However, against him, they were like weak doses of paralysis that made him slightly nauseous for a short period of time. ¡°Let me return them to you.¡± ¡°Kiek?¡± He kicked up the spears on the ground and threw them one by one. The spell of uracy was only in effect when used by the sons of Ktin, but javelin was Korin¡¯s forte so he didn¡¯t have to rely on such effects. -Thud! Hisst spear stabbed through the chest of one of the sons and prated through them before lodging itself into the ground. The chimera¡¯s body bounced back and forth from inertia before soon bing deathly still. ¡°Try harder guys.¡± ¡°Kiiik¡­!¡± ¡°Kieee¡­!¡± Several of the remaining monsters screamed and darted towards him. ¡®Two at the front preparing for a throw. I can protect my vitals and cleanse the poison. The real deal is the one guy behind them preparing for a stab.¡¯ Just like he predicted, the two of them at the front threw their spears at him, and Korin deflected the spears from his vitals. He still couldn¡¯t avoid getting hit by them, but immediately cleansed the poison, and bent backwards to dodge the following stab by a hair¡¯s breadth. That was when another monster pulled his neck from behind. ¡°Kigick¡­!?¡± He threw a palm strike upward at the jaws of the monster pulling him by the throat, and turned around for a flying knee kick before the monster could lower its head back down. After a knee to the belly, the chimera¡¯s body curved into a right angle and flew off into the distance. ¡°Kiiik¡­!¡± The first monster, who failed its stab, ran up and followed through with more stabs. One, two, and three¡­ it was a rapid repetition of three stabs made possible only because of the superhuman strength and agility of the chimera, but Korin was even faster. He dodged each of the spear thrusts by shifting his body slightly and made a fool of the monster. ¡°¡®A¡¯ for effort.¡± It was right after the spear thrusts when the chimera had to collect its breath and readjust its grip on the spear. In the blink of an eye, Korin grabbed onto the shaft of the spear and snatched it for himself. Before the monster could even make sense of what was happening, he shed down with the spear, crushing it head-first. ¡°Kiii¡­¡± Seeing theirrades fall on repeat, the remaining sons of Ktin turned even more spiteful. There were 15 of them left. It was good that he managed to deal with 12 of them, but he couldn¡¯t let his guard down yet, because from the Thirty of Ktin, the 27 sons shared the same energy source, which meant the remaining energy would be reallocated to the surviving sons, thus making them stronger when there were fewer left. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to waste my Aura Core already, but¡­¡± Six Ways of the Spear. Sixth Style, Shura¡ª He unleashed one of his three Aura Cores, which immediately began to unravel more than 4,000 aura into his body. -Kung! Kicking off the ground, he disappeared into the air. He kicked off the ground three times, but it was done quicker than what they could perceive. His first target was the monster preparing for a javelin at the back. The chimera appeared to have sensed the iing danger ¨C its bloody eyes widened to look for the enemy but Korin stabbed forward before those eyes could find him. ¡°Kieeek!¡± The monster barely reacted in time by ducking its head but it was futile. Korin swung the spear down after the stab, and the body of the chimera was unable tost against the dark aura of Sebancia Duke and was cut in a straight line from the shoulder to its thigh. Even the chimeras were shocked for a moment, wondering how he disappeared from their encirclement and reappeared elsewhere to kill one of their allies so easily. ¡°If you¡¯re all next to each other like that¡­ I can¡¯t help but use this skill, alright?¡± A colossal amount of aura started to gather on the demonic spear. The onlookers were frightened and some of their knees even gave in. A dark cluster of aura started to gather around the spear to form what was closer to a magic spell than spearmanship. Sebancia Duke¡¯s Second Demonic Spear Korin Style Falling Heaven on Five Dragons The spearhead gathering a ridiculous amount of aura started to slice through the air. The spear that yed dragons endlessly grewrger andrger as it sliced through the monsters. -Pababang! The five chimeras that were hit by the aura evaporated on the spot, leaving behind nothing after their death. ¡°Tch¡­ That ate up a stupid amount of aura.¡± Only 9 of the chimeras were still standing. Suddenly, all of them threw their spears at once. -Pabak! A spear pierced through his shoulder, stomach, and thigh. Apart from the three that prated directly through his body, the rest grazed past his body due to the power of 100% uracy. He looked like a hedgehog, and anyone seeing him would think to themselves that it was over for him, but Korin instead floated a haughty smile as he gazed at the pouncing chimeras. ¡°You just threw away your only chance of victory.¡± *** ¡°Aigoo¡­!¡± ¡°Korin¡­!¡± Marie was waiting for me when I returned to the camp in tatters. ¡°For goodness sake! Don¡¯t push yourself too hard!¡± ¡°Well¡­ we won so that¡¯s enough.¡± ¡°Come here! Take this and take a rest!¡± She quickly forced me onto a bed that had the magic circle of recovery, connected to countless mages. ¡°Fuu~ Chunsik and Daesik~. Working hard, yeah?¡± ¡°O, of course, Sir Korin.¡± ¡°We have already prepared an herbal concoction for you! Drinking this will help you recover from your internal injuries!¡± Although I relied on the Regeneration of a Tenacious Warrior to regenerate from most wounds including lethal ones, the wounds I got today were ones that would be difficult for me to recover from in just one or two days. It would have been dangerous without the help of these mages. ¡°Korin¡­ the army came a lot closer today. There¡¯s less than 400 meters to the canyon¡­¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting the remaining ones to run around buying time.¡± It must have been Miruam¡¯s order to buy time and inflict as many wounds on me as possible. Confronting the hatred of ady head-on was quite taxing indeed¡­ ¡°Take this elixir here too. It¡¯s a fresh one I made today.¡± ¡°Thank you as always.¡± Marie made me rest my head on herp and gently poured the elixir into my lips. Her breasts which were the size of my head were blocking my vision but¡­ oh well, there was nothing bad about it. ¡°Fuu¡­¡± All the measures for recovery had been taken at this point, and all that had to be done now was for me to rest and recover as much as possible until the fight tomorrow. ¡°Take a good rest, Korin. Just one more day should be enough.¡± It must be ufortable to have my head on her thighs, but I didn¡¯t have the energy to refuse it. I¡­ really needed some rest. My heavy eyelids slowly closed by themselves. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ -¡­dent Korin¡­ Student Korin¡­! I shot my eyes open after hearing someone call my name. What I found was Marie, who was still directly above me, and a blonde-haired beauty with an unfriendly appearance. ¡°Professor Josephine?¡± What is she doing here instead of being in the capital city with Master? ¡°The thing you had nned for in the capital was rejected. The deputy minister of Administration seems to have noticed it.¡± ¡°Fuu¡­ Wow, great. So they finally started working. At the worst timing for us though¡­¡± ¡°They must have sensed that something was up from the timing. The deputy minister is from Princess Miruam¡¯s faction too.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think Miruam has noticed it yet though.¡± ¡°This ce is quite far from the capital, after all.¡± ¡°Huu¡­¡± Getting up from her thighs, I turned to Marie. ¡°Senior. Can I ask you to handle it?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll do something about it, but¡­¡± ¡°You will need time, right? How much?¡± ¡°Two days at the very least¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll trust you. Professor Josephine, please.¡± ¡°Alright. I will take Student Marie to the capital.¡± Josephine grabbed Marie by her hand and prepared to leap through the dimension. ¡°Professor,¡± I stopped her. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°After you go to the capital, please go straight to the Chapel of Zeon.¡± ¡°Zeon? Do you want me to bring the Saintess?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve dealt with them for a few days, and I¡¯m starting to roughly understand how the geass works.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± After saying that, Josephine took Marie and teleported to the capital. ¡°Huu¡­¡± With the two of them gone, what I had left were Doggo and hundreds of mages. By the way, when Marie wasn¡¯t here, I had the right tomand these mages. ¡°Now~ listen up everyone.¡± ¡°¡°Give us yourmand, Lord Korin!¡±¡± ¡°If I die, all of you are to kill yourselves.¡± ¡°¡°???¡±¡± The suddenmand for suicide widened the eyes of the mages. ¡°Now now. Use that to motivate yourselves. It¡¯s for motivation. This is very important.¡± ¡°W, what do you¡­¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t help me recover until the fight tomorrow, you¡¯re all dead. Understood?¡± ¡°Huikk¡­!¡± Even if I¡¯m going down, I can¡¯t go down by myself, can I? -Jiiing! A minute went by after Marie disappeared, and Lady Josephine returned with the Saintess, Estelle-noonim as I had requested. ¡°Korin-dongsaeng~. Wait! What happened?! What happened to you?!¡± ¡°Student Korin. I¡¯ve brought some spare clothes. Hmm? What¡¯s wrong with them? They look gloomy all of a sudden.¡± ¡°¡°¡­¡±¡± The desperately motivated ¡®Chunsiks¡¯ tried their best to support me. *** The next morning, someone unexpected came to the arena. ¡°Knight Korin.¡± ¡°Princess Miruam.¡± She didn¡¯t have the cold and vicious look she had on the first day and instead looked slightly dispirited. ¡°I knew¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be easy.¡± ¡°Honestly, I would like you to give up already.¡± I already defeated Rojo and part of the Thirty of Ktin. All she had left was Ktin the mage and his three daughters. Of course, there were probably a few strong people from the military or the Guardian Alliance, but I was still a semi-Unique Grade knight. I was confident in fighting any of them for the next four to five days. ¡°You didn¡¯t kill anyone apart from Ktin¡¯s chimeras.¡± ¡°Human lives are very precious after all.¡± I was voluntarily going through all this trouble to save lives in the first ce, and killing people who weren¡¯t viins in the process would be putting the cart before the horse. ¡°Give up. You have done enough. You should step down now.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you to try to persuade me this far in.¡± ¡°Knight¡­ Korin Lork. You are still my destiny. You¡­ you can¡¯t do this to me. You¡­ have to be on my side,¡± she muttered. ¡°¡­¡± There was a time when I did stand on your side. There was a time when I wanted nothing more than to do. I was wishful, thinking that a bit of persuasion and a promise of the future would be enough to stop her rampage. ¡°No, I will not stop. Just like you.¡± Her tail was on fire. The serpent with its tail on fire was going to bind the enemy with its body¡­ and burn to ash along with it. ¡°I will crush everything you are putting on the line, and stand on top of you. This is not a matter of persuasion; it¡¯s of victory and defeat.¡± The victor would stand at the top and the loser would obey. There was no other way to persuade her. ¡°¡­I see. So that¡¯s how it¡¯s going to be.¡± Miruam dropped her head like a puppet with a cut string. It seemed that she had also given up on persuading me. ¡°Your next opponent will being shortly¡­ Don¡¯t die.¡± Leaving those words behind, she turned around and headed back to the army. ¡°Don¡¯t die¡­?¡± I was d to hear her worry about me, but it was difficult to understand at the same time. Is there still someone inside the army that¡¯s strong enough to kill me? The answer to that question came before long. -Kung! A longsword fell straight from the sky and pierced through the ground like a lightning bolt. That wasn¡¯t the end. A rapier, a greatsword, a spear, a halberd, a shield, and a hammer. Each one of them fell one by one, cut through the air, and mmed into the ground at an astonishing speed and force. ¡°How lofty it is to stand against the enraged arrow of destiny!¡± A voice echoed from the sky. ¡°The fighting spirit of a warrior contending against the ocean of strife is bringing light back into this long life of mine!¡± The man who threw¡­ No, summoned those weapons slowly descended from the sky wearing white ted armors. He was radiant and bright, to the point that his presence deterred even the sunlight. He was an astonishingly beautiful man, exceeding the concept of human beauty. ¡°Greetings, Warrior. Meeting you is like finding a pearl on a pathetic shore of sand.¡± Despite speaking like an old theatrical actor, the man gave off an ever-so-overwhelming amount of aura. Neither his ornamented armor nor his personal otherworldly beauty¡­ was enough to hide the turbulence of violent energy overflowing out of his body. ¡°Nice to meet you. My name is Eochaid Bres.¡± As if the countless weapons weren¡¯t already enough, more rays of light started to descend around him, ranging from traditional treasures to modern weapons. Everything around him were weapons he used in a battle. Eochaid Bres. Tates Valtazar¡¯s strongest subject. A weapon master ¨C one who had mastery over every weapon. The Tyrant, Eochaid Bres. He was the first ever King of Gods of the Danann. Chapter 192: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (4) Chapter 192: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (4) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡»
? Miruam Elizabeth El Rath(4) ? Fermack Daman, Dun Scaith, Dumnorix, and Sword Fiend¡­ Each and every one of Tates Valtazar¡¯s subordinates was a horrifying monster who appeared as the final boss of their respective arcs but Eochaid Bres was like none other. When the war began against the Titans, the Danann needed a perfect king to group themselves together. The strongest god of Danann, who was perfect in appearance, intellect, and mana. The first candidates for the position were Nuada Airgem, the Danann of the Sun, and Eochaid Bres, the Danann of Beauty. Both of them were as powerful as one another, but when Nuada lost his arm against the Great Warrior Sreng, he no longer fit the criteria of ¡®perfection¡¯ and Eochaid Bres, therefore, became the first King of Gods. The Danann of Beauty. It was a divinity that had nothing to do with fighting at a nce, but every Danann was aware of how that wasn¡¯t necessarily the case.¡°Fuck¡­¡± ¡®I¡¯m fucked.¡¯ That was the most fitting sentence he could think of to describe this turn of events. He had been expecting the strongest warrior of Miruam, Persia to appear next. ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°Our allied princess seemed to be having trouble, you see.¡± Did she contact Tates Valtazar the moment the duels began or something? ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°No, I was just thinking how Nuada has chosen a good sessor.¡± Eochaid Bres¡­ the so-called King of Beauty appeared to be fond of me. ¡ºYou look quite decent. You¡¯ll probably make a fewdies cry.¡» ¡°Why? Because I¡¯m handsome?¡± ¡°Hoh~. It is as you say.¡± King of Beauty. He was a god glorifying beauty, whether it be a piece of artwork, song, or humanity itself. His life was filled with praises of beauty, and he himself was a possessor of otherworldly appearance. ¡°Well, you look quite handsome too.¡± ¡°Not just ¡®quite¡¯. For there has been no one in the records of history to be more beautiful than myself.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know about that.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Eochaid Bres immediately wiped the smile off of his face and stared at me with a serious gaze after hearing me doubt his beauty. However, I went on, just like I did in thest iteration. ¡°Beauty is not limited to what you see on the outside.¡± ¡°Hoh. Do you dare try to teach me about beauty?¡± cing my fist against my heart, I mocked him in a way he couldn¡¯t forget. ¡°It is about what lies here, the heart. ¡®Bres must know the joy of providing help.¡¯¡± ¡°¡­A little brat pretending to be Cairbre.¡± Bres said with a frown on his face. That was natural because the reason he was chased out by the Danann despite being the king before Nuada, was because, aside from his own misdeeds, of the satirical poem made by Cairbre, the son of Ogma the Danann of Language. The poem from Cairbre towards Eochaid Bres, who was more tyrannical and stingy than anyone else despite craving beauty included the line below. ¡ºBres must know the joy of providing help!¡» After seeing that sentence, red blisters started to appear on his face, which was a physical defect that couldn¡¯t be allowed for the King of Gods and thus provided justification for him being chased out. In other words, it was a humiliating memory of the past for him. ¡°Considering you¡¯re the nemesis of Esteemed Valtazar¡­ I hope you can endure through this.¡± He flicked his hand as an enormous weapon began to appear from the dimensional gap behind him. That was one of the weapons of the Danann¡­ which he, the King of Beauty, stole when being chased out of his throne. ¡°This is the Mountain Severing de. Dodge and do not try to block it.¡± The enormous 50-meter-long sword began its rapid descent towards me. ¡ºSystem Back-up in Operation. Reviewing the Precept.¡» 1st Precept: Duty ?I will not disregard the misfortune of the good.? 2nd Precept: Restriction ?I do not perceive spirits.? ?Support: 50% Additional Damage? 3rd Precept: Pledge ?I will save the world.? ? Rtivity: A++? ?Support: 200% increase in Stats.? ¡ºHero Korin Lork, defeat all evil and save the world.¡» *** Grade 1 knight in Miruam¡¯s faction, Persia, was incredibly confident in his strength, but regardless of his achievements, the Guardian Alliance never made him semi-Unique Grade, let alone even let him take the ¡®Limitless Evaluation¡¯. When he asked the Alliance about the reason, all he got in response was, ¡®You are still human.¡¯ Semi-Unique and Unique Grade. Anyone who exceeded the realm of humans was used to being referred to as a superhuman. Knights and mages were powerful. There was no doubt about that. They defeated demonic beasts and returned demonic spirits to the abyss, and from the eyes of normal people, they were already superhumans and transcendents. So what kind of beings were the ones at the pinnacle, the ¡®Unique¡¯ ones? Sword Master Lunia Arden. Vampire Marie Dunareff. Dimensional Witch Josephine ra. Sword Emperor Garrand Arden, the strongest of his generation. Persia tried asking an executive of the Alliance ¨C a retired knight who experienced the Witch Revolution ¨C about Josephine ra, who had the most records left under her name and was the most famous historical figure of thest century. ¡°I can still remember it to this date. Her magic was tremendous and no other mages were like her.¡± It was an ambiguous reply, so Persia asked for more. ¡°Magic fell like raindrops. The sky opened above 10 mages and rocks began to fall, and 5-meter-tall golems were buried by tonnes of rocks. ¡°Tower of Mages? Their strongest and most fortified constructions evaporated under the minget falling from the sky. None of their defensive spells were able to protect them against the meteorite. ¡°Ahh, I also remember Sir Tates Valtazar. The Spear Saint was also in that battle.¡± Spear Saint, the strongest of the previous previous generation, and the main protagonist of the Witch Revolution. If Josephine ra was that strong as a semi-Unique Grade, then how strong was the Spear Saint, a Unique Grade? ¡°The Dimensional Witch was indeed an incredible mage. You could that she was a transcendent being.¡± Then what about Spear Saint, the only Unique Grade of that generation? ¡°If you saw the Spear Saint fighting back then, you would only think of one thing. A ¡®disaster¡¯.¡± Semi-Unique Grades were powerful. They were very incredible, but the retired knight said this about Unique Grades. ¡°Would you me the hurricane if you were caught up in one? If your ship broke from the ocean waves during a voyage, would you me the steersman or the ocean? That¡¯s what Unique Grades are ¨C natural disasters that you cannot even me.¡± Even after hearing those exnations, Persia didn¡¯t know what he was supposed to work towards. How exactly were you supposed to train to catch up to a disaster? And besides, a superhuman among superhumans was a concept he couldn¡¯t fully grasp either. Lunia Arden ¨C she was an example that he could refer to. Seeing her forming aura into dozens of sword strikes was incredible, but wars weren¡¯t won based on how much aura or mana you had, right? Leaving aside the Arden¡¯s ¡®nonsensical¡¯ stories of training in swordsmanship to cut through the sky (which was simply ridiculous to him), humans just needed to be strong enough to kill others with one sweep, right? That was why Persia was confident that he had the sharp sword to pierce through knights and mages, even if he couldn¡¯t slice the sky. ¡°Ah¡­¡± And his confidence waspletely shattered today. His shattered ss-like confidence was further reduced to ashes the more he saw what was happening before his eyes. -Kuuu¡ª! -Kwaaa¡ª! Deafening thuds were buried by thunderous noises. The earth boiled from the intense heat as ravines were sliced apart by sword strikes. His eyes could not pick up anything. It was clear that things were bouncing left and right ¨C unlike his eyes, his ears were able to pick up that much. However, he couldn¡¯t see anything. When a cluster of ck aura was scattered across, and even when a sword strike suddenly struck down on the earth from above¡­ He could see the phenomena happening to thendscape around the arena, but couldn¡¯t see the ones that were making such things happen. ¡°We need to¡­ charge.¡± Charge? Right now? Hearing themander mumble, Persia realized for the first time how much rubbish someone could say. That ce was a scene out of hell. Both living and nonliving were being crushed to smithereens. Was he telling them to charge through the canyon, around that arena? Was he telling them to die? ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Strong, aren¡¯t you!¡± The Hero of the Kingdom, who was using the Sun for the first time after the duels began, finally stood still and gazed at the princess¡¯s helper, who was equally as unfathomable. They weren¡¯t human. That was a natural disaster. Without exaggerating it a single bit, they looked invincible and everyone including Persia realized it was stupid of them to even try to contend against that power. Who in the world were they? How could such invincible and ground-breakingly powerful deities exist in the mortal world? Who was that Sr Knight manipting the Sun at will, and who was that beautiful-looking man, summoning all sorts of weapons and armor against the Sun? A war of non-humans was unraveling before their eyes. ¡°Huhahaha¡­! To think there was someone else who could use the violent Sun like Nuada! I thought I was the only one other than him who could do such a thing!¡± Despite standing before the immense Sun, Bres had a smile on his face. Was he enjoying the situation at hand and this battle? That was a usible conclusion considering his violent personality despite his pursuit of beauty. Thus, Korin increased the power of the Sun. From Concentration to Manifestation into Compression. Airgem in his left arm embraced the infinite power of the Sun, and the Silver Spear in his right hand oozed out with the sharp aura of Darkness. Both the holy and the evil were in his hands. That was how he appeared in the eyes of others. The sheer amount of power he was using made it hard to imagine that he was fighting another human being. It looked like he was trying to directly defeat a Unique Grade monster like the King of Iron Mountain or the King of Titans. However, Eochaid Bres confronted the attack head-first. -Kaang! His longsword shed against the spear as embers red up from their collision. Korin was the one who was pushed back after the engagement. ¡°Tch¡­!¡± He was flung away not because of a difference in power, but by a delicate control of strength. Through exquisite control of his sword, Bres deflected the frontal burst of the Compressed Sun and the Demonic Spear, empowered by Shura, without breaking a sweat. ¡®Half-swording.¡¯ It was a technique where the sword-wielder grabbed the de with a thick glove to have greater control in closebat. For typical longswords, it was used to stab or twist the opponent¡¯s weapon to look for a gap. ¡°That is an impressive amount of power. I don¡¯t necessarily hate a head-to-head bout of pure strength but¡­ that won¡¯t be an elegant approach.¡± This time, he raised a long and slim rapier and dashed in so rapidly that Korin barely reacted to it despite his amplified stats. He fought back with an Ominous Snake. With the peculiar stab of a slithering serpent, he stabbed an equal amount of times to fend off the attack. -Pabak! ¡°Uht¡­!¡± The spearman, despite his weaponry advantage, allowed several attacks from the rapier ¨C that proved just how terrifyingly fast the rapier was to nullify the disadvantage in reach. Korin tried to increase the gap after allowing three stabs to his left shoulder, but that was when a shadow was cast over him from the sky. An enormous hammer was right above his head as streams of lightning flickered around the hammer of the God of Lightning. -Kwaaaang! The falling hammer of the God of Lightning was blocked by the Manifested form of the Sun. Their shockingly destructive sh let out a deafening shockwave that erased sound from the world albeit momentarily. The sh between two immense powers resulted in a disastrous aftermath. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± In the midst of that deadly explosion and surge of heat, the two warriors remained unscathed. After removing the Sun and the hammer, the two of them stared at each other. ¡°Hoh~. You even fended off the Frost Giant¡¯s hammer, huh?¡± ¡®As powerful as always.¡¯ He had the power to wield the Mountain Severing de, reaching 50 meters in length, the ability to carry out closebat with a rapier and have it faster than a spear; his nonchnt use of the God of Lightning¡¯s hammer, and a ridiculous pool of mana that allowed his original self to manipte the Sun. King of Beauty. The reason he was referred to as the King of Beauty, was because he had nothing he excelled at the most. He had overwhelming talents at everything, hence the reason why Korin called him ¡®all-powerful¡¯. That was why he was able to make such good use of a rapier and the hammer of the God of Lightning, despite them not being his main weapon. A monster like that having the Sun on top of that¡­ was truly a horrible nightmare. ¡®I remember barely putting him down with Park Sihu and our strongest party.¡¯ Korin¡¯s spear was shivering. His mana was rapidly being drained and his aura was also hitting its limit. The one in front of him was the man who truly had been the King of Gods. Even with the backup of his Precepts, he was still far from reaching Eochaid Bres¡¯s level. ¡®I cane up with a few risky moves but¡­¡¯ Would he be able to defeat Eochaid Bres? Without the help of his team? Korin was aplete counter to Dun Scaith; Fermack Daman was one who focused on technique more than power, therefore, there was some likelihood of victory; As for Dumnorix, it would depend on what kind of state he was in, but there would always be a solution. However, that wasn¡¯t the case for the man before him. Tates Valtazar and Eochaid Bres weren¡¯t enemies he could defeat by relying onpatibility, petty tricks, or pure strength. Only through a long and thorough preparation would there be some chance of victory against those monsters. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been in worse situations.¡± Regardless of probabilities, Korin decided to do it simply because it had to be done. He collected his breath and prepared himself. Korin Style Final Demonic Spear¡ª ¡°Hohh¡­!¡± Eochaid Bres had to contain his excitement upon feeling the constant waves of power that was being gathered andpressed before his eyes. His heart was pounding, and it seemed that he was being ¡®fearful¡¯ for the first time in a very very long time. And fear was an element that made the heart race. By relying on the pumping heart, Bres raised his fighting spirit. ¡°Good. Very good! I have also noticed that I must use everything in my arsenal to defeat you!¡± He reached out into the air and took out a single sword. It was a bewitchingly mysterious turquoise sword, which Korin also knew the name of. ¡°Fragarach¡­¡± ¡°You know it? The annoying little Lugh left it behind, but somehow, it ended up in the hands of the northern God of Abundance.¡± Magic Sword Fragarach. A sword of certain victory on the level of iomh Sis. No armor could withstand it, and it was a sword that could not miss its target. It was one of the strongest weapons of the Danann race. ¡°That¡¯s why I killed him and took it for myself. It¡¯s a treasure belonging to the Danann after all. That was already more than 1,000 years ago.¡± Despite the vicious smile on his face, Bres took care not to lose his beauty. Stingy Bres. Violent Bres. He, who was powerful enough to be nominated as the King of Gods despite those qualities, started pouring an unimaginable amount of mana into the magic sword. ¡°I¡¯ve gone through this before.¡± In response, the spearman gathered every bit of aura and collected it into his spear. ¡°¡°¡­!!¡±¡± Suddenly the earth started to quiver as the two of them started to casually walk towards each other. The magic sword and spear flinched with each of their steps. The closer they got, the more they vibrated, crying out their wish to destroy their foe. It was excruciating for those watching. The onlookers felt their blood churning, and standing still was proving to be extremely difficult. That was the aftermath created due to an unimaginable amount of energy going turbulent inside the limited frame of weapons. The turbulent storm of energy only stopped when the two of them were close enough to reach each other with one step. ¡°One final attack will seal the deal. Young spearman.¡± ¡°I guess¡­ I won¡¯t be a man to not ride on it.¡± The two men gazed straight at each other in tranquility with their backs straight for 2 seconds. After that¡ª ¡ªFinal Demonic Spear ¡ªFragarach By the time anyone realized it, the spearman and the previous King of Gods were standing on opposite sites with their backs facing each other. Without caring about the blood on their arms and shoulders, the two had their backs turned but were still gazing at their foes over their shoulders. That was the end ¨C they weren¡¯t following through with another attack, and they stopped their fight after that one move. Even the onlookers could tell why. ¡°M, my word¡­¡± ¡°O god¡­¡± The Final Demonic Spear that could y dragons and the strongest sword strike of the King of Gods ¨C the two attacks didn¡¯t end just by attacking their enemies. The tiny canyon was widened by force and clouds off in the distant skies were cut off into two. The earth was reformed after their attacks which had even reached the distant sky. Everyone watching was in awe and trepidation. Who could possibly create such heaven-defying disasters? These men were all-powerful deities of monstrous might; a heaven above heaven and a one-man army. That was a Unique Grade. This was the historical moment where another transcendent being was born into this world. ¡°¡­Impressive.¡± Bres had to ponder to himself after that attack. A mere human had reached this level in such a short period of time, so how could he not praise him for it? In turn, however, that was why it was a bit of a problem. When Valtazar was considering this brat as his destined nemesis, Bres thought he had gone senile, but after seeing him with his own eyes, Bres could say that he was a perfect fit for that position. But that was why it was a problem regardless of who died at the end of this war; whether it be that brat or himself surprisingly. This was finally going to be a fight between a ¡®Danann¡¯ and a ¡®Danann¡¯ and one of the main actors falling before the final act would mean his long-cherished wish would not be fulfilled. ¡°I give up.¡± ¡°Ehk?¡± ¡°Aiya~ I give up. It¡¯s my loss.¡± ¡°What the f-!¡± The ¡®Danann of the Sun¡¯ seemed discontent by the sudden letdown, but the ¡®Danann of Beauty¡¯ shrugged his shoulders and replied with a smile. ¡°Well, don¡¯t worry about it. I am not your destined contender.¡± Leaving those words behind, Eochaid Bres vanished from the spot. As the King of Beauty, he was elegant even in his escape. ¡°Hah¡­¡± Korin fell back after that anti-climactic ending and collected his breath. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The army, who had been watching the fight unfold, could not advance a single step forward and were struck speechless at the devastating remains left behind by godly monsters. ¡°Fuu¡­ That bought us another day at least.¡± It was when he was heaving out a sigh of relief ¨C a piece of paper slowly fluttered down in front of Korin¡¯s eyes. 1. Only warri r be sent the are a each . 2. The , Korin Lo , will fight w rrior n by Miruam Eliza El Ra once . . The army advan during . 4. The ar y stop advanci g mom the ends. Th above ract will gin when Miruam Eli eth El Rath en the aren by hers . ¡°Huh?¡± The content of the geass ¨C an obligatory contract ¨C was being scorched to ashes. What was going on? Why was this contract made with the help of 400 mages falling apart? ¡°Wait¡­¡± Did the contract get damaged during the fight against Eochaid Bres? That was impossible, right? A contract made through thebined mana of 400 mages wouldn¡¯t be broken unless it was affected by heaven-defying weapons like the Sun or the hammer of the God of Lightning¡­ ¡°Fuck.¡± It was me, huh? From a distance, the princess riding on her horse slowly raised her hand before decisively lowering it down. ¡°All troops. Forward.¡± Chapter 193: Chapter 193: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (5) Chapter 193: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (5) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡» ? Miruam Elizabeth El Rath(5) ? ¡°What¡¯s with this proposal?¡± Deputy Minister of Administration, Barohk tilted her head after seeing one of the documents that required her confirmation. ¡°Who¡¯s the one that sent this through?¡± It was by sheer coincidence that Barohk found that document, during the busy times of recruiting an army against demi-humans. ¡°Tell them to revise this again. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to pass something like this in this time and age? Huh? Do you wanna die?¡± She was in the aristocratic faction and was a devout follower of the Old Faith. Therefore, she heavily rebuked ¡®Count Manoska¡¯ for passing a bill like this. After that, Count Manoska¡­ ¡°So uhh¡­ I couldn¡¯t get it to pass.¡±¡°Haa¡­¡± He quickly sent the news to Renya and Josephine who were waiting at the royal capital for the bill to pass. ¡°This is a little bit of a problem.¡± ¡°I, I have done my best! So please do not expose my hobbies!¡± Without caring about the count, who was worried about his cross-dressing hobby being revealed to the public, Josephine went to Korin. ¡°Who¡¯s the problem?¡± And came back with Marie Dunareff. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The one who returned the bill that Count Manoska tried to pass was Deputy Minister Barohk of Administration. ¡°She¡¯s a pure blue-blood to the core.¡± ¡°And she¡¯s a faithful believer of the Old Faith.¡± In just the span of an hour after Marie Dunareff arrived at the capital city, she gathered all sorts of professionals from the Dunareffpany. There was only one goal in mind. It was to pass the bill that Korin wanted to pass. ¡°Would it be possible to persuade her?¡± Marie¡¯s question was answered by Toroppo, the branch manager of the royal capital¡¯s Dunareff Supplies. ¡°It would be possible, but that depends on what level you are willing to permit.¡± ¡°Level?¡± ¡°I mean the level of pressure. We could bribe the servant who takes Barohk to and from her mansion to find her secrets. It¡¯s a strategy we used often in the past to withdraw restrictions in agricultural and marine product trades, and it works quite well¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s too aggressive! And we don¡¯t have time either! We have to deal with it by tomorrow!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ So we don¡¯t have much time at hand.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be faster to go straight to the Minister? I believe that gentleman was a quick-thinker.¡± ¡°The Minister is currently on an inspection in the East. The two strongest authorities right now in the Administration are the two Deputy Ministers.¡± The task force brainstormed more to find the fastest route to have the bill pass, including the time it would take to send the bill for a reexamination. That was when Renya from the Intelligence Guild added a statement. ¡°Ah~. By the way, Deputy Minister Barohk is allergic to potatoes.¡± ¡°Haht¡­!¡± ¡°Hmm!¡± ¡°Oh dear¡­!¡± It appeared that she wasn¡¯t blessed by Mother Earth. The Dunareff Familymented at the fact that there was such an unfortunate person in the world. That night, after returning home from work, Barohk went out to have food and had a sudden allergic reaction after having bread made with potato starch. The fact that that restaurant belonged to the Dunareff Merchants, and how a sudden one-day free meal ticket was sent to Barohk ¡®by coincidence¡¯ was a secret hidden from everyone. *** Gorgol, the Deputy Minister of Administration, went to the Administration Department for work after lunchtime. Today was supposed to be his day off, but he had to work because the other Deputy Minister, Barohk, suddenly got sent to the hospital for an allergic reaction. ¡°Hah~. If only she was a bit more careful¡­¡± Thanks to that, he had to work on his day off. -Knock knock! -Deputy Minister. Count Manoska is waiting outside. Count Manoska ¡ª he was a noble transferred from the western regions of the Kingdom and was immediately sent in as a rtively high member of the department straight after his post began due to his status as a count. It was strange why a count bothered to start as an official of the Administration department. Normally, nobles tended to follow an elite course that allowed them to be a Minister or Deputy Minister, instead of bing an official. ¡°Tell him toe in.¡± However, Deputy Minister Gorgol was also a noble himself and was unperturbed by the status of the other party. He straightened his cors and permitted his entrance. ¡°Deputy Minister Gorgol. I am Team Leader Manoska.¡± ¡°Hmm~. What brings you here, Count Manoska?¡± ¡°P, please speak more casually, Sir.¡± Count Manoska was a rather fragile yet good-looking man with fine lines. His body was so slim that people might mistake him for a woman from a distance. ¡°A, actually, I¡¯vee here for your permission regarding this bill. It is urgent, so I was hoping you could stamp it as soon as possible¡­¡± ¡°All things have procedures for a reason but¡­ Let me read through it.¡± Deputy Minister Gorgol read through the document as his face slowly started to turn stiff. After finishing it to the end, he threw the paper at the count and raised his voice. ¡°What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing?!¡± ¡°Uhkk¡­! I, I¡¯m a count¡­¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter whether you¡¯re a count or not! Don¡¯t you know what this agenda will imply?! The royal court is resolute with its subjugation army. Do you know what will happen if we let this through?!¡± -Deputy Minister? You have another guest. ¡°Who is it now¡­?! Tell them to wait¡ª¡± -It¡¯s Lady Marie from the Dunareff Dukedom. ¡°What?! Dunareff?!¡± Was this the Dunareff of the South? Gorgol immediately shot out of his seat. ¡°You step outside! No, wait! Get rid of this document! Quick! I¡¯ll help you!¡± After a weird situation where the Deputy Minister personally picked up all the papers that he himself threw, he quickly told his secretary. ¡°T, tell her to pleasee in!¡± Marie Dunareff stepped into the room after hearing that, and Deputy Minister Gorgol gulped in nervousness before quickly bending his back. ¡°Lady Dunareff. It is a great honor to see you. I am Count Gorgol Lucard.¡± ¡°Ah¡­! Hello, Count Gorgol. You were here too, Count Manoska?¡± ¡°Ah, do you know ¡®Lord¡¯ Manoska?¡± Gorgol asked. ¡°Yes. He has some rtions with our dukedom.¡± Damn it. Had Gorgol known that he had a connection with the Dunareff, he certainly wouldn¡¯t have tossed the papers at him. ¡°Is Lord Duke still well? I would love to greet him one day but¡­¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s okay. Dad¡¯s very busy after all.¡± It sounded like a normal response but Gorgol saw it otherwise ¨C there was no way that someone like Duke Marde would bother spending his time meeting someone like him. That cold-blooded duke and an emperor of his own empire would never bother seeing a mere Deputy Minister. There was a time when the Administration department had requested the Duke of Dunareff for assistance to send through a neww regarding crops. The Minister had to beg the South for 3 months straight to barely pass the bill. ¡°M, may I ask¡­ why the Young Lady has visited this little office?¡± ¡°Ah~ it¡¯s nothing much, but our family runs a small farm, right?¡± A small farm? Were 2 million hectares small? The amount of farnd under the influence of the Dunareff family was roughly 5.7 million hectares. It was the lifeline of not only the Kingdom but the entire continent. Running the biggest farm on the continent and calling it a small farm was¡­ very modest of her to say the least. ¡°My dad has been very worried these days. Because of depoption(?), there have been a lot of young people going to big cities.¡± ¡°Haha. I see.¡± That was his first time hearing such a thing. Weren¡¯t there plenty of people in the South? Weren¡¯t thends so rich there that a few potato seeds could let them support raising a child, hence their massive poption? ¡°So it¡¯s hard to find people to work these days¡­ Wahh~ Look at thisss!¡± She sounded like a machine reading a textbook. What Marie turned to while saying that was the document brought by Count Manoska. ¡°Wow! I can see this is a very important agenda!¡± ¡°Sorry? It¡¯s been less than 3 seconds since you¡¯ve started to read¡­¡± ¡°This will solve all of my dad¡¯s concerns!¡± ¡°Really? I don¡¯t think¡­¡± ¡°¡®Deputy Minister Gorgol.¡± Marie looked straight into his eyes with her golden eyes. ¡°Can you please work on this bill immediately?¡± At this point, Gorgol clearly knew what she was asking for. She was telling him to pass the bill right now, right at this moment. ¡°B, but¡­¡± However, he couldn¡¯t do so readily because this was like a political suicide. It could have negative implications on the subjugation army formed directly by the royal court. Casting dirt on the royal court¡¯s n was something he could not dare do, as someone who wished to be the next Minister in about 10 years and work in the royal pce. ¡°Deputy Minister. Do you know the Secretary of Law, Wolpe Schacht?¡± ¡°O, of course. Isn¡¯t he the widely respected gentleman of the pce? Ah¡­!¡± As expected of an elite official, Gorgol immediately realized what she was implying. Viscounty Schacht ¨C a coteral family of the Dunareff Dukedom. Wolpe Schacht, the head of the family and the head of the Ministry of Justice and Public Affairs was a bigshot of the central government. That wasn¡¯t the end. Secretary Tocqueville, Minister Lamartine, and Director Dan¡­ There were many big shots of central politics that were from the South. Although the Southerners tended to remain in their region without bothering too much about the central affairs, they needed people to represent their voice in the central government, and the above-mentioned were the representatives of the South. ¡°Next month, there will be a small party in our house to celebrate the harvest.¡± Marie passed him a ring ¨C it was a golden ring with a potato flower. ¡°It¡¯s a party where only the really really close ¡®friends of the South¡¯ are invited to. If youe with this ring, my dad will treat you as a friend.¡± ¡°Ohh¡­¡± This was the entry ticket of the royal club ¨C a free pass ticket dedicated to the true higher-ups of society. Dunareff was in a whole different league to Manoska or himself, who had peerage and nothing else. The Dunareffs were actual nobles. Unlike the aristocrats nowadays, who were losing power, and how the central nobles had to buy the favor of the royal family as officials instead of feudal lords, the Dunareffs were a true family of nobles with theirnd and private soldiers. The conservatives of the South were still in possession of a great amount ofnd and were huge supporters of the primary industries of the Kingdom, and even the royal court could not dare touch them with ease. That was the type of family the Dunareffs were. A true untouchable dukedom with everything in possession, whether it be history, customs, authority, or finance. And now, he was given a chance to enter the Dunareff. As long as he passed this ¡®bill¡¯. ¡°I, is this really¡­ the only thing I need to do?¡± ¡°Yes, and you will be a ¡®voice of the South¡¯, Deputy Minister. Why don¡¯t you work as a Minister next year? And after retirement, maybe you should be one of the presidents of ourpanies.¡± Be a minister in just one year, instead of the 10 years that he had been thinking about? And a post-retirement measure like none other on top of that? Now this was a connection; this was background! Elite courses meant nothing! That was like a stem whereas this would be like a root connected directly to Marie, a future head of the dukedom! ¡°¡­¡± His mind was very confused by the sudden turn of events. It was such a good deal for him, but he became concerned instead. What would happen if he took on this deal? Unfortunately, the Young Lady of the Dunareff family did not wait for him to finish that natural line of thought. ¡°Hmm~. I suppose you¡¯re not interested. I will have to visit Deputy Minister Barohk then.¡± Deputy Minister Barohk, his rival for ministry. Hearing her say that she would visit his rival put Gorgol in a hurry. ¡°W, wait¡­! L, let me stamp on it right now!¡± ¡°Are you sure~? Shouldn¡¯t you read through it one more time?¡± ¡°No need to! If it could help out Lord Duke Marde, then why would I even need to revise it? Let me stamp on it right now!¡± -Bang! The bill was passed. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Oh right. Count Gorgol?¡± ¡°Yes, what is it, Lady Marie?¡± Marie fidgeted her fingers with a blush and barely managed to add more words. ¡°This is¡­ umm, a very¡­ personal question.¡± ¡°Yes yes. Please ask me anything.¡± Now that he had officially be a voice of the South, Gorgol was so submissive and respectful that he could lick her boots if she told him to. ¡°If I hand in¡­ a registration of marriage without the spouse¡¯s permission, can you still pass it through?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± It was a rather petty question to ask a Deputy Minister of Administration. Before Gorgol could even process the question, Marie blinked her eyes and took a step back. ¡°I, I¡¯m just joking! Forget it! Ahah~¡± Was that really a joke though¡­? *** Miruam advanced the army as soon as the contract forged by the mages was reduced to ashes. I wanted to reactivate the Sun to stop them on their tracks but¡­ it disappeared before I could even fully materialize it and I just ended up wasting mana. The fight against Bres had utterly drained me of my mana. All we could do was destroy the walls of the canyon with the help of our mages to buy time. ¡°Chunsik. How much time do you think we¡¯ll be able to buy?¡± ¡°If we bombard them with magic¡­ then we canst a few more days.¡± ¡°One that doesn¡¯t kill people, you idiot.¡± When I smacked the old ghoul on his head, he replied while groaning in pain. ¡°Uhkk¡­! If we focus on debuffs, then maybe a few hours¡­¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s the limit since they have mages as well.¡± The biggest problem, however, was the knights. Hundreds of knights would certainly be able to charge their way in through the canyon as long as there was a small path avable for them. ¡°Are you¡­ not going to be firing spells?¡± A voice reached us from behind ¨C it was from Ku Shee the werewolf. ¡°People will die if we do.¡± ¡°¡­This is a war.¡± ¡°Right. So many lines and boundaries are crossed in a war like they are nothing. But not yet.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Ku Shee nkly stared at me like how he often did whenever I was on a break after duels. He still looked confused. ¡°Why¡­ are you pushing yourself to this extent?¡± he asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you at the start?¡± -Fewer people dying is always the best option. ¡°¡­I see.¡± ¡°Hey. Now¡¯s not the time to feel sentimental. Tell your men and the vampires to crush some parts of this canyon. We might be able to buy a few more hours.¡± ¡°If we use our energy destroying this canyon¡­ we won¡¯t have enough mana for the war.¡± ¡°As I said, we¡¯re not going to be in a war. And I¡¯m your leader, Finvarra, right? Listen to me.¡± ¡°¡­Alright. I¡¯ll trust you.¡± He seemed a bit different after seeing me stop an army for several days through various means. Without raising any objections, Ku Shee and his beastmen followed my orders and we were able to buy a few extra hours. However, the thousands of soldiers from the Kingdom were quick at removing debris from the canyon. Right when they were about to catch up and we were starting to hear the sound of their pickaxes¡­ ¡°Student Korin!¡± ¡°Korin¡­!¡± The dimensions opened up as Josephine and Marie jumped out. ¡°We¡¯re done¡­! The bill has been passed!¡± ¡°Uwaaaht!¡± Marie appeared like the goddess of fortune descending from the heavens. I was so happy that I gave her a few pecks on her cheeks. ¡°K, Korin?!¡± ¡°That was really quick! Thank you so much!¡± ¡°H, hmm¡­! R, right!? I had to try my best!¡± ¡°It would have been impossible without your help, Senior! You really are the goddess of fortune for me.¡± ¡°R, really? Umm¡­ Feel free to give me more rewards.¡± -Thud! That was when pebbles fell from the ceiling. A road was carved up through the broken debris of the canyon and behind the holes were soldiers of the Kingdom. After receiving the document from Marie, I stood before them. ¡°All of you. Stop right there¡­!¡± The army ceased their movement after hearing my shout. They were in awe and fearful due to everything I had shown them. ¡°Now. Have a look at this!¡± ¡°Korin¡­ Lork?¡± I could see Miruam gazing at me in the distance, while I shook the bill that just passed in the Administration. ¡°It is an official document from the Administration department that states how the ¡®2,895 people of the five Dana Shees¡¯ have been epted as citizens of the Kingdom¡­!¡± -Citizens? -What does that mean? -The demi-humans are citizens now? The document that I was trying to pass through Count Manoska was the residency registration of all the demi-humans of Dana Shee. Now that this was confirmed, the 2,895 demi-humans of Dana Shee were now full-fledged citizens of the Kingdom. And what did that mean, you might ask? ¡°Citizens of the Kingdom have the right to undertake legal procedures before being pronounced guilty!¡± From now on, these people were citizens of the Kingdom who had the right to ask for a trial and defend themselves. ¡°You¡­ Don¡¯t tell me!¡± We had a victim and a suspect. As for awyer? There was no need for one, and they could just defend themselves. The most important people in a trial are the judge and the prosecutor, but who am I? ¡°I, Korin Lork! As a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace verified by the royal family¡­! Will now begin the trial of the attempted assassination of 2nd Princess, Miruam Elizabeth El Rath!!¡± A judge and a prosecutor who had the right to carry out an emergency trial in ¡®outer regions¡¯ that were far from the reach of legal action. That was me. You weren¡¯t expecting this, were you now? /genesisforsaken Chapter 194: Chapter 194: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (6) Chapter 194: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (6) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡» ? Miruam Elizabeth El Rath(6) ? Our continent full of demonic beasts and demonic spirits was so wide that many areas were out of the legal reach of the centralw system. The tyrannical reign of local authorities in small societies was verymonce and the role of JPs was to be the legal authority in areas like that. They had tremendous power. Like the secret royal inspectors of the Joseon dynasty, they had the right to carry out private investigations, revise, and give out punishment on the spot. And thanks to that authority, the narrow canyon had quickly shifted from a battlefield to a court. No one could deny Korin¡¯s right as the Justice of the Peace to carry out a trial with enough justifications in ce. ¡°Defendant, Ku Shee. Step forward.¡± He, who had been watching everything unfold from behind while I was stopping the army, obediently followed mymand as the judge.The name of his crime was the attempted assassination of the princess. Previously, it was the entirety of Dana Shee that had been charged for this, but it was now limited to one single werewolf. ¡°I am not going to beat around the bush, because I prefer trials to be short and concise as the Justice of the Peace. ¡®Citizen¡¯ Ku Shee. You have attempted an assassination of the 2nd Princess of the El Rath Kingdom, Miruam Elizabeth El Rath. We also have a witness.¡± Right now, I was the prosecutor getting Ku Shee to admit his crime. ¡°Witness! Korin Lork!¡± The prosecutor called for a witness, who happened to be the prosecutor himself. It might be weird, but no one could say anything about it, because it was widely known that I was the one who saved the princess. ¡°I, as the witness, saw the scene of the defendant trying to inflict harm on Her Highness the princess. Do you admit this, defendant?¡± ¡°¡­I do.¡± ¡°That solves things then. Now that the defendant has admitted his guiltiness, I as the judge¡ª¡± ¡°What kind of¡­ skit is this?¡± I turned to Miruam, the victim who walked forward while gritting her teeth. The man who had been trying to protect demi-humans until then was now on trial with one of those demi-humans. Yes; it was true that it might be a bit questionable ¨C if this was in the modern-day court, I would have been used by thewyers of conflict of interest and whatnot. ¡°I am the only judge here at this moment and am urately adhering to the legal procedures. Your Highness. I ask you to respect the formality of the Kingdom¡¯sw.¡± Miruam shivered in fury, swallowing words of criticism against me. However, she was probably aware logically that this seemingly pathetic justification was in fact a checkmate for her. Now that I was pushing forth the legality of things, there was only one option left for the army which had gathered to annihte Dana Shee and Mound for the attempted assassination of the princess. ¡°Your Highness¡­ Korin Lork¡¯s actions¡­ are verywful as a Justice of the Peace.¡± They had no option but to stop. The ¡®attempted assassination of the princess¡¯ was the only justification the army had for annihting the demi-human union. Now that the suspect admitted his own crime, it was impossible for them to directly attack the demi-humans of Dana Shee. In thest iteration, Miruam was able to wipe out Dana Shee because Mound wasn¡¯t able to go through those procedures. They had been non-citizens, without the right to even ask for a trial. However, the 3,000 demi-humans of Dana Shee were now officially citizens of the Kingdom who had the right to defend themselves in a trial. Killing 3,000 citizens of the Kingdom without a rightful cause or legal procedures? That was impossible even for the King himself. ¡°He¡¯s a traitor¡­ Korin Lork hasmitted treason.¡± ¡°He¡­ has Legal Immunity, Your Highness.¡± Right. Everything was a part of my n. Buying time, we had to pass the bill for the demi-humans to be official residents of the Kingdom, after which I could hold a trial for them. The army wasprised solely of soldiers, so I was the only one with the right to hold a trial. I was the prosecutor, the witness, and the judge. Not to mention the suspect, Ku Shee, had no ns of defending himself on top of that. And to those that might say I didn¡¯t have the qualification to act as a JP as a traitor¡­ Unfortunately for them, I had Legal Immunity and an official promation from the King that he would pardon any sin I maymit. The justification was purely on my side. In this war of justification, a small victory was all that was needed. ¡°I, the judge, announce the confinement of Ku Shee, for an attempted assassination of Her Highness, Princess Miruam.¡± That small victory was what led to a great difference. ¡°Also, the private organization of Mound is to head to the federal court and defend themselves against the charge of being the power behind the attempted assassination.¡± It was a checkmate. ¡°¡­¡± The trial was over. Ku Shee would be sent to the royal capital and would receive his punishment for the attempted assassination of the princess, and what hemitted 10 years ago. That was the end of the official ount of this incident. There were, however, some unofficial things happening in secret. *** That night after the marriage was decided, she confessed her situation. ¡°Revenge. That¡¯s been my sole desire from that day 10 years ago.¡± The motive behind her revenge was a simple one that anyone could understand. Her mother was murdered; her nanny and all the maids of the pce that had been next to her as a big family were all killed, and she became crippled. Because they were killed and because she had to live her entire life as a cripple. Her revenge was therefore extremely valid and reasonable. ¡°Will you help me, Knight Korin?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I would like to help out as the husband.¡± I misjudged it. I should have talked about it with her then. Little did I know the extent she would go, all for the sake of her revenge. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Fuck.¡± The survival of Dana Shee and Mound was an important element of the end game because their survival was linked to another group being added to the yer¡¯s allied factions. Their survival and putting a stop to Princess Miruam¡¯s revenge were important not only for Princess Miruam and the innocent demi-humans but also for the ending. ¡°How¡­ did she find out?¡± Miruam suddenly attacked Mound. It was much faster than the original storyline; she made up her justification in the blink of an eye while ¡®we¡¯ were gone and carried out her actions. After dealing with what we had to do at the time, we quickly came back upon hearing the sudden news about the war against Mound but¡­ by that point, it was already toote. ¡°Bro. This is already over.¡± I was overwhelmed in helplessness at the sight of Dana Shee reduced to ashes. ¡°Why¡­ did this happen?¡± ¡°Well. Princess Miruam doesn¡¯t know who the culprit was.¡± We didn¡¯t know who the culprit was either because Miruam¡¯s target for revenge in the game was just lumped up as demi-humans. Apparently, she started off by telling Mound to hand over the culprit behind the tragedy 10 years ago. However, Mound retaliated against the princess and the army. None of them trusted the Serpent Princess, who had been hunting them for 10 years, enough to hand over one of their allies. ¡°Ha¡­ Haha¡­ Fuck. Fuck.¡± But did she have to kill everyone because of that? Simply because one of them must have been the culprit? She was crazy. She ended up going crazy. She was already too encroached in hatred and revenge. My legs almost failed me, but what kept me standing was the sight of a young werewolf child quarreling with a soldier of the Kingdom. ¡°Huh? There was a survivor. Bro? Where are you going!?¡± Ignoring Park Sihu, I walked towards the child. ¡°Go away¡­! Go away¡­!¡± The little boy who was half my size was hugging something wrapped up in a towel that was even smaller than himself. The soldier was looking at him as if the little boy was a nuisance. ¡°This disgusting little wolf. How dare you¡­!¡± ¡°Enough.¡± ¡°Huh? Prince Consort? What brings you¡­¡± I stopped the soldier and made him step away from the boy, but the boy appeared to have sensed that I was the husband of the princess who destroyed this ce. ¡°You¡­! You are also on that serpent¡¯s side! I will kill you! I will kill all of you!¡± His burning eyes reminded me of Miruam. How simr were the hateful eyes of those who lost their loved ones? And why hadn¡¯t I sensed the deep sense of hatred lying within? This boy perhaps wouldn¡¯t be able to forget his goal of revenge for the rest of his life, just like how Miruam was. He might even put his life on the line, and carry out revenge even if he had to lose his life in the process. Taking revenge against a murderer and a nemesis was a very natural thing to do, so this hatred would again lead to more hatred in an unending cycle of revenge like a gue. ¡°Fuck.¡± ¡°Prince Consort?¡± ¡°Not anymore.¡± I had to cut the line of revenge. I should have done so. *** That night, after the army against Mound and Dana Shee became pointless just from a single person, I went to visit Ku Shee, who was bound with a rope for formality¡¯s sake. ¡°Fairy King.¡± ¡°You look more rxed than I thought.¡± ¡°Is that so.¡± The silver wolf¡­ the leader of werewolves nkly gazed up at the moon. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting a day like this to arrive.¡± What stood out to me the most ever since our first encounter was the empty light in his eyes. He was a werewolf who hated humans, the Kingdom, and the Old Faith. He was by no means a good person; he couldn¡¯t be considered one. ¡°You are most definitely evil and you¡¯re a damn son of a bitch but¡­¡± ¡°Not a nice thing to say.¡± ¡°¡­But it¡¯s not like I don¡¯t understand it. I know someone simr.¡± ¡°The Serpent Princess, huh?¡± I admitted it through silence. ¡°The start of your revenge must have been due to something valid as well. You lost your daughter, was it?¡± ¡°Yes. The shitheads of the Deands kidnapped my daughter. They tortured her, experimented with her, and skinned her.¡± ¡°And is that why you killed the previous Queen for being a helper of the Old Faith?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°How many people did you kill based on that logic? Whether it be the priests of Xeruem or their helpers, you saw them as one of a kind, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Is that wrong?¡± ¡°Yes. They would have had some level of responsibility but¡­¡± Why were demi-humans being ostracized? It was because people pointed the arrowhead of hatred at the entirety of demi-humans after losing their family or friends to one of them. If Marie Dunareff, Or Hua Ran, If they killed someone in the process of bing a demi-human, would the family of the murdered one have forgiven Marie and Hua Ran? No. Those bricks of hatred built up history; it became a principle of the Old Faith that turned itself into a monster. Their hatred became a monster that persecuted demi-humans, who must have gritted their teeth in resentment and retaliated as the true monsters that humans had feared them as. It began with innocent victims, but revenge and hatred were easy causes of further cycles of hatred. The things that had been done in the memory of their lost family members ended up leading to evil and violent actions. ¡°Then what was I supposed to do? What were we supposed to do? What could we do apart from killing our enemies?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I would be a god if I knew that. But¡­¡± A serpent slithered in the darkness. The snakes, who couldn¡¯t ept this as the ending, were moving under the night sky. ¡°I can tell you one thing.¡± From the veil of darkness appeared a snake wearing a reddish-ck dress. ¡°This is the ce where it will alle to an end.¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Miruam stared at me with a cold pair of eyes. ¡°You knew we wereing.¡± She had a group of troops behind her. ¡°Is that everyone? That¡¯s a lot less than I expected.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I knew who these people were. Ktin and his three daughters, Rojo, Persia, as well as soldiers whose names I did not know and priests of the Xeruem Order. They were followers of Miruam both in the game and the past iteration ¨C a group that shared the same objective as her. All of them were willing to put their lives on the line¡­ ¡°I¡¯m sure you know already, but a group that small won¡¯t be able to wipe out Mound.¡± ¡°I know,¡± she replied. ¡°But that¡¯s not the important part. We don¡¯t care about our own lives.¡± Ktin the mage once had a son. His three daughters had an older brother whom they were proud of ¨C a talented young man who became a royal mage and a teacher of the princess at a young age. Rojo once had a younger brother who took care of the horses of the royal stable. He used to follow the royal family around and cater for the horses. Persia once had a lover. A maid of the pce, who used to talk about the toddling princess as if she were her own little daughter. Many of their lives had been crushed apart when Ku Shee killed Queen Maria and her group. And¡­ all of them were here to finish their goal of vengeance. ¡°Move aside, Champion of the Sun. You know we are going to fail, so let us be. Just watch us burn ourselves down.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t beat you. We know that. All of us do.¡± ¡°But we still have to do it. Because that¡¯s what revenge is.¡± [The chimera monster I bring around is something I made using my son¡¯s blood¡­ I know. I don¡¯t put unnecessary meaning on it but¡­ Right. It¡¯s just an empty wish of a stubborn old man.] [Yo. Prince Consort. Did you spend a good night with Her Highness?] [You¡¯re strong. Thepany of a strong powerhouse is always most wee.] Side characters whose role was to simply be defeated in the game. It was only in thest iteration that I was able to hear about their stories. I understood their reasons. It was valid for them to aim for revenge. But precisely because their reasons were right, they had to end it where it was right without going too far. ¡°I won¡¯t let you activate the ¡®Infinity Serpent¡¯.¡± ¡°¡°¡­!!¡±¡± All of them were shocked by my words, wondering how I even knew about it. Just like how the Danann left behind countless mysteries on this continent, there were other omens of great destruction that could even destroy whole myths. What Miruam received from the Frost Giant, through Tates Valtazar, was one of those omens. The awakening of the Infinity Serpent, Jormungandr. Using that world-ending power in the depths of Dana Shee would certainly allow them to crush it to pieces. They were risking their lives all for the sake of that one opportunity. Through my marriage with Miruam, I was able to hear more about their stories. I was convinced that their hope of vengeance was justified, and I still think that way. Their call for justice was very natural. And that¡¯s why¡­ ¡°Stop here. I won¡¯t let you take another step forward.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make meugh!¡± Unable to hold herself back, Miruam yelled out loud. She red at me with such anger that her eyes were about to burst out in fury. ¡°Something like this¡­ A skit like this can¡¯t be the end of my revenge!¡± Ku Shee stepped forward as if to fill her vision of hatred. ¡°I was the one who decided to do it, and I was the one who carried it out. I am the one responsible for it. Princess, kill me and¡­¡± ¡°Shut your mouth! Who do you think you are!? Who do you think you are to take the responsibility for it all by yourself!!¡± A snake pounced out of her dress. Her snake slithered through the air and dug into Ku Shee¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You are just the tail of a snake. This is just the beginning¡­!¡± ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± There was more than just one snake. Another snake rapidly became enormous after eating up her mana and pounced at the werewolf, trying to swallow him whole. ¡°Stop.¡± I cut off the snake¡¯s head to save Ku Shee. He couldn¡¯t die just yet; instead of dying in a ce like this, he had to pay for his sins and receive his punishment. ¡°Korin Lork¡­!¡± ¡°You said this was the beginning, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Move!¡± ¡°This guy here is the son of a bitch that killed your mother and your family 10 years ago. You probably don¡¯t care too much about the reason.¡± Even in thest iteration, Miruam had killed Ku Shee; all of his subordinates and¡­ And¡­ ¡°And who¡¯s next? The beastmen that support Ku Shee? Or the other elders of Mound? The other rted personnel? And what about after that? The citizens of Dana Shee that benefited from the event 10 years ago? The followers of New Faith that concealed information about Dana Shee? How far will you go?¡± ¡°Everything. I will crush everyone. Only then will this end.¡± No. It won¡¯t end. People who benefited directly, benefited politically, survived, cooperated, and condoned¡­ There was no end to it. Miruam Elizabeth El Rath would keep moving forward without an endpoint just like a runaway engine on a rampage. All the way until her own body was reduced to ashes. ¡°You have to choose an endpoint, Miruam.¡± ¡°Why should I?¡± ¡°Because otherwise, it will create another cycle of revenge.¡± I still remembered that young wolf boy ¨C that child who lost his family and had the same re as Miruam. Ku Shee¡¯s hatred was passed onto Miruam, and from Miruam down to the young wolf. There was no end in sight. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to tell you that revenge is futile and you shouldn¡¯t do it. Of course, you should take revenge. Of course, you need to punish those that need to be punished. However, you need to follow the rightful procedures instead of swinging your weapon around, hoping to crush everyone it hits.¡± ¡°Hah¡­ What a saint we have.¡± Miruam walked forward with a sneer, and stood face-to-face with me, who was standing before Ku Shee. ¡°My family was killed. These guys killed them. Why would I need to think about anything else?¡± Squeezing her chest with empty yet sorrowful eyes that could break out into tears, she asked. ¡°Why should I?¡± ¨C Shaaa! A snake jumped out of her dress and wrapped itself around my neck. It hissed and showed off its venomous fangs that were dripping with poison. ¡°Move.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Are you¡­ really saying you will protect the demi-humans? Even now¡­?¡± ¡°What I want to protect is¡­¡± I raised my spear. A persuasion with words wasn¡¯t going to be enough. What I had to do was simple. ¡°You are not going past me.¡± I will crush everything they can do. Trample on all of their ns and coerce them into the future I want. ¡°Get rid of him!¡± I charged towards the marching soldiers. A group this small couldn¡¯t do anything. Soldiers flew with every punch I threw, and the knights couldn¡¯t advance past me. Illusion spells tried to mislead me but did not work due to my blessing of the Sun. ¡°Just¡­ go away!¡± Rojo, who had lost his demonic beasts, raced forward with a single sword in hand, but I used the Silver Spear brimming with dark aura to cut off his sword into two. Appearing from behind the bbergasted Rojo, Persia swung his ax but I parried it with Lan Na. ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± I then pushed him aside. Being a Grade 1 knight, he was also a tough foe that wasn¡¯t pushed back that easily but¡­ ¡°Miruam¡­!¡± In that small gap that was created, I ran forward to the core of their suicide n ¨C the snake mage that could hatch the Infinity Serpent. ¡°Korin Lork¡­!¡± Her vicious eyes of hatred were looking straight into my face. All her snakes that had been hiding under her dress and as her hairpin reared their heads but¡­ poison didn¡¯t work on me. ¡°Kuuh¡­!¡± Miruam¡¯s walking stick which had been supporting her leg turned into a snake. That was herst resort ¨C the ¡®Baby Serpent of Jormungandr¡¯. It was a snake that could kill even gods after bing big enough. However, I was faster. Before that walking stick could be a proper snake to bite me, I could easily stab her and neutralize the snake. The Silver Spear gleamed under the moon. [Korin. I love you.] ¡°¡­¡± But naturally, I couldn¡¯t stab her. I knew from the start that I couldn¡¯t. *** Indomitable. Korin Lork closed the distance all too easily and could thrust the spear in his hands at her at any time. No one could beat him. In the end, her wishes had been stopped by this man. Her destiny and Lia Fail had shown a future where she would be with him so why¡­ ¡°Huh?¡± Miruam let out a stupid mutter, unlike her usual self. The pain she had been waiting for didn¡¯t strike her, and her body was instead wrapped up in warmth. The warmth of the human body was stopping the cold night breeze. She slowly opened her tightly sealed eyes. ¡°¡­Knight, Korin?¡± He was hugging her. As if his goal wasn¡¯t to stab with the spear in the first ce, his hands were no longer holding onto a spear. However, the snake ¨C with venom that could even kill gods ¨C was biting him. ¡°¡­Why?¡± He could have definitely stabbed her, much quicker than the snake could bite him, so why¡­ ¡°I¡­ I can do everything for you¡­¡± The voice of the proud knight who had been standing against her as an enemy until now, confident that he would trample on all of her ns¡­ ¡°Let¡¯s stop here. This, this just doesn¡¯t seem right¡­¡± His voice was unprecedentedly powerless andcking in confidence. ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ just end it here. Please?¡± ¡°Why, why¡­?¡± This time, her question of, ¡®Why?¡¯ Was directed not at herself but towards him. Why was he going so far as to¡­ [You stupid woman¡­ I, I told you to wait.] The future shown by Lia Fail ¨C in that future, she saw the back of the man filled with remorse and regret. What did I tell him in response back then, she wondered. ¡°Miru¡­ Miru¡­ Let¡¯s stop here¡­ We can still stop. We can¡­ end it here.¡± Despite forming such intricately designed strategies, at the very end of everything, this stupid man was relying on the goodness of her heart. ¡°Let¡­ go.¡± She, however, couldn¡¯t push him away. As if she was broken, she could not escape from his warm hug. However, she had to escape. She had to quickly get away from this warm and peaceful embrace. Since she couldn¡¯t do so herself¡­ she decided to rely on Lia Fail! ¡°¡®This is not what my fate is supposed to¡¯¡ª!?¡± [Cough¡­ Fufu, you¡¯re right. You¡¯re right but¡­ I couldn¡¯t. I really¡­ wanted to bear our children. I¡¯m¡­ sorry. me your mommy¡­] ¡°Huh?¡± Chi¡­ ldren? [¡­I love you.] She saw herself in a short glimpse of the future, [You were my destiny. Now it¡¯s already toote though¡­] She saw herself confessing her regret afterpleting her lifelong objective; after losing everything. It was as if Lia Fail was warning her through the image of the teary man hugging a cold corpse, that this was going to be her ¡®fate¡¯ if she were to go any further. A future ever so cold and heartrending. /genesisforsaken Chapter 195: Chapter 195: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (7) Chapter 195: Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (7) ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡» ? Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (7) ? The army returned. Now that their original justification of punishing the ones behind the attempted assassination of the princess was of no use, the united army of the Kingdom, the Old Faith, and the Guardian Alliance had no choice but to disperse. The first to go were the guardians of the Alliance, followed by the soldiers of the Kingdom. The believers of the Old Faith scowled and gritted their teeth but couldn¡¯t do anything by themselves when the Kingdom had already shown their position by retreating their army. ¡°Korin. They all left.¡± ¡°Wow. We can finallye out~¡± Marie and Estelle hopped out towards me. Because of their social positions, the two of them couldn¡¯t openly show their support, so they had been hiding from the eyes of the army the entire time. ¡°Thanks for your hard work. On another note¡­¡±Next was the core of our n, Lady Josephine, who tapped on my shoulder a few times before looking around the surroundings. ¡°Quite the¡­ damage you have done to the environment.¡± Josephine clicked her tongue as she gazed at thepletely ravaged canyon. On the other hand, Marie and Estelle seemed amazed by the change done to thendscape and looked around in curiosity. ¡°It might be safe for now, but there will be follow-ups that need to be dealt with.¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m aware.¡± The army had retreated, so it was time to deal with Dana Shee now. We went back into Dana Shee and came across countless demi-humans. ¡°Fair King¡­¡± ¡°Korin Lork¡­¡± Their eyes were all on me, which Estelle exined in a soft voice. ¡°Most of them should be very friendly. I spread the news while helping them as a volunteer.¡± ¡°You did?¡± ¡°Un un. They need to know who it was that was fighting for them, right?¡± She replied with a wide smile on her face. ¡°The Order will send essential supplies after this is over. Of course, it will be in the name of our Fairy King, Finvarra. A job well done, right?¡± ¡°You know, I needed them to call me a King here to provide justification behind my actions, but if they do that elsewhere, that will be an actual crime of treason, okay?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just an honorific title~. And a public propagandized image or two is a must to rule them properly~. So it¡¯s a job well done, yes? Yes?¡± Well¡­ To be fair, ruling them directly would be the best way to guide Dana Shee down the right path in the future. I wasn¡¯t interested in bing a leader but¡­ ¡°Yeah. Well done. It will be a lot easier thanks to that.¡± ¡°Right? Give me a kiss then.¡± ¡°Ehk?¡± ¡°A kiss on my cheek~¡± ¡°Ah, please! What is wrong with you!¡± I shouted in disgust but Estelle kept on clinging with a smile for some reason. ¡°Noona, can you please save this for when it¡¯s just the two of us?¡± ¡°Korin?¡± ¡°Uhmm¡­ Senior Marie.¡± ¡°W, why am I ¡®Senior¡¯, and why is Her Highness ¡®Noona¡¯? Is this discrimination?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you now, Senior¡­¡± ¡°¡­This is making me sad.¡± ¡°Come on, Senior. You¡¯re not a baby.¡± What is wrong with these twodies all of a sudden? Turning around, I found Lady Josephine slowly shaking her head. The little quarrel only came to an end once we arrived at the conference room of Mound, the Temple of Dagda, with the intervention of another person. ¡°Look who it is~ it¡¯s our hero. Fairy King, Finvarra.¡± The Queen of Cats, Ednar Illusan, walked straight towards us before suddenly whispering in my ears. ¡°I pledged to myself once again after seeing you this time around, that I want to tie your limbs, and eat you up until you beg and beg for mercy.¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± ¡°You know I¡¯m still waiting for my one-night reward, yeah? I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡± You mean the¡­ SM right? Yes, I do remember but did you have to say that here? ¡°Korin?¡± ¡°Dongsaeng?¡± ¡°Student Korin. Don¡¯t forget you¡¯re still a student.¡± ¡°¡­This isn¡¯t what it looks looks like!¡± Their eyes were very cold. Fuu¡­ This reminded me of the pranks and jokes Misha used to make back when I was on Earth. It was a problem because she kept on making sexual jokes even in front of my friends. Both Fujiwara and Seyoung were giving her a serious look, but Misha never paused her tongue of destruction. She was a very nice girl but was much more open due to her upbringing in thend of grizzly bears. Despite how beautiful she appeared when doing gymnastics, she was very different around her friends.1EDMin Note: So after a quick Google search of ¡°Land of Grizzly Bears.¡± I didn¡¯t find much. I initially thought it was either Russia or California and then another Google searchter I found out Russia doesn¡¯t have grizzled bears. (You learn something new every day, huh?) So this is either California, the Northern U.S. including ska, or Canada. But considering that he says she did Gymnastics and Canada has a total of 0 Olympic medals in Gymnastics I¡¯m leaning towards Korin talking about the Northern U.S. or California. Anyway, enough rambling about my curiosity on this throwaway line, go enjoy the rest of the chapter. ¡°Now¡­ Let¡¯s go in.¡± Looking away from the cold gazes pointing at me, I entered the conference hall and saw the demi-human leaders. Ednar weed me with an exaggerated set of movements before asking the crowd. ¡°Is there anyone who still refuses Korin Lork as the leader of Mound?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± None of them could say anything. They all knew that I was the one who single-handedly stopped the army and saved them. ¡°Fairy King Finvarra¡­¡± Unlike the first time we met, their eyes were filled with goodwill and awe. Some of them, however, were different. ¡°I assume it would be difficult for Sir Ku Shee¡­ to make it out alive. Is that correct?¡± Voiced out one of the beastmen that used to follow Ku Shee. They could not stop their leader from being dragged away from them, but that was what Ku Shee himself wanted as well. ¡°He¡¯ll probably die.¡± He had killed too many people. Regardless of how the beastmen thought of him, he was a great sinner in the eyes of the Kingdom. Considering how the future of Miruam¡¯s subjugation of Mound was the set of guerri battles led by werewolves against the Kingdom, I had to get rid of any of their questions and dissatisfaction here. ¡°The golden wolves will now be the ones leading the beastmen. Ren and Ron ¨C they are pure-blooded descendants of the Wolf King.¡± They had been the leaders of wolves even in the game and beastmen had the tendency of assigning a lot of meaning to bloodlines, so it shouldn¡¯t be too big of a problem. ¡°Speak up right now if you have anything you want to say. I will not allow anyone to carry out hostile actions against the Kingdom from today onwards.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Some understood Ku Shee¡¯s sacrifice while others could not, but regardless of their personal take on it, Dana Shee had to obey thews of the Kingdom from now on. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will make sure to drive it into the minds of the young ones.¡± Saying that was the Chief Elder of Mound, Leprechaun. He was a kind-hearted shoe-making fairy and was one of my supporters from the very start. ¡°Beastmen¡­ To be precise, the ones that had been following Ku Shee carrying out fights will leave Dana Shee and join my guild.¡± ¡°Are you¡­ telling us to leave our homnd?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just going to be for one year. After that, you can do whatever you want. I can introduce our golden wolves to you in the meantime as well.¡± Ku Shee was from a very noble status for beastmen. He was like a descendent of a duke, but golden wolves were literally descendants of the King. As soon as I mentioned them, the beastmen also turned quiet and swallowed any of their frustrations for the time being. ¡°Putting that aside, what¡¯s going to be happening now?¡± ¡°There will be an official group of messengersing from the Kingdom. They will check the state of the city and talk about taxation.¡± ¡°We are poor. Frankly speaking, most of our iees from working as mercenaries or through Illusan¡¯s business.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. We will be supporting you for the time being.¡± As soon as I said that, Marie and Estelle took a step forward. ¡°Firstly, we will be providing you with food. When I had a look, I saw there was a severe shortage of food, which is probably because of how hard it is to farm underground.¡± ¡°Hmm? How much are you thinking of¡­?¡± Leprechaun, who had always been greatly concerned about the food shortage of Dana Shee, flickered his eyes after hearing that. ¡°Hmm~. Let¡¯s start off with 100,000 tonnes of potatoes.¡± ¡°Hukk!¡± ¡°H, hundred thousand tonnes?¡± ¡°T, that much?¡± ¡°I can find jobs for you as well. We are always looking for helpers for agriculture, animal husbandry, mining¡­ and also physical jobs like bodyguards for businesses or roads.¡± Next up was Estelle. ¡°There will also be supplies and volunteersing from the New Faith. You would know because of our previous interactions, but the believers of New Faith don¡¯t have a prejudice against you guys, so don¡¯t worry about that.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ If you say so, Saintess.¡± ¡°But Saintess. Remember that the god we serve is Dagda, who has built these underground cities. We have no ns of following the god you serve.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Don¡¯t worry about that either.¡± Estelle then took out therge cauldron from behind her back. It was the divine artifact which the world knew as the Holy Grail. She also took out arge club along with it. ¡°T, that¡¯s¡­!¡± Leprechaun was astonished. Not only that, but the old fairies who had lived through the era of gods all recognized the cauldron and her club. ¡°That¡¯s Lord Dagda¡¯s club!¡± ¡°Even Undry¡­¡± Some of them even got down on their knees after seeing Undry. ¡°I met him in Mag Mell. I am his descendant, and Undry has acknowledged me as its master as well.¡± ¡°Ohh¡­ So the Saintess was¡ª¡± ¡°A descendant of Lord Dagda¡­¡± They were already fond of Estelle, the Saintess of the New Faith, but now they were even on the verge of worshiping her. Estelle grinned before locking her arms around mine. ¡°And Korin-dongsaeng is the official inheritor of Lord Nuada the God of the Sun, so~ I look forward to your missionary work in the future~!¡± ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m not going to act as a god, okay?¡± Things went pretty well in Mound. When I went back there after some time, I found them worshiping me as the new God of the Sun and Estelle as the Goddess of the Earth. *** After the huge storm of demi-human subjugation died down without leading to much of anything, the capital city was in an uproar for quite a while. The resident registration of demi-humans, the sudden act of betrayal from a hero, and his trial as a Justice of the Peace. There were many talks about it, and some voiced out how my Legal Immunity shouldn¡¯t be permitted and how the trial should therefore be nullified, however¡­ ¡®They¡¯re missing the core now.¡¯ Everything went wishy-washy since Miruam, the head of the greatest faction of the Kingdom, wasn¡¯t making a move. Seeing Deputy Minister Gorgol of the Administration department vehemently speaking for the rights of demi-humans at the royal conference¡­ was rather bizarre. You weren¡¯t that kind of person before, were you? Since Princess Miruam¡¯s faction was keeping their silence, everything ended peacefully. The royal court was satisfied by the fact that they could punish Ku Shee, the culprit behind the incident, and was content without bothering to delve into the beehive, that was Dana Shee. ¡®King David seemed relieved as well.¡¯ I had to have an audience with King David and Queen Asher to officially use my Legal Immunity. ¡ºThank you.¡» That was what he said to me back then. He also confessed the truth about what happened after Queen Maria¡¯s death, just like he did in thest iteration. ¡ºShe was a rather extreme believer of the Old Faith. She wasn¡¯t a bad person but¡­ when she was young, her older cousin was killed by a vampire.¡» Even Queen Maria was also just a part of the endless cycle of hatred. ¡ºBack then, demi-human rights and harmony with them wereing to the surface. Afterward, Estelle was revealed to be the Saintess of the New Faith and their harmonious approach to demi-humans only elerated the process¡­¡» ¡ºIf I publicized what happened to her back then¡­ The Old Faith would have still had the upper hand to this date.¡» As a King, he was trying his hardest for a harmonious Kingdom with demi-humans and a brighter future for everyone. What happened 10 years ago, was a crucial event that could render all of his hard work useless. And because of that, he glossed over the incident. Despite fully knowing that it would greatly hurt Miruam, he chose not as a father or a husband, but as a King. After an audience with the King, I asked the attendant to lead me to the basement. ¡°Can I visit the underground prison?¡± ¡°Certainly. Let me guide you.¡± Following his lead, I headed to the prison located in the basement of the pce. It was to send off Ku Shee onest time before his execution. ¡°Hmm?¡± When I got there, I realized there was already a guest. ¡°Your Highness Miruam?¡± ¡°¡­¡± It was Miruam. ¡°You are here. Fairy King.¡± Ku Shee greeted me inside the prison cell with his arms bound in ropes. I nced at Miruam, who said while ring at the prisoner with a cold gaze. ¡°You will die.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Your limbs will be pulled apart until you die.¡± ¡°Hanging was the only method of execution permitted in the Kingdom, was it not?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m just joking. Princess.¡± ¡°You¡­!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± His sudden apology made Miruam shut her mouth. She wanted to speak curses and spout about her desire for revenge but swallowed those words because she knew she couldn¡¯t do that anymore. Looking at her, Ku Shee continued with a confession. ¡°My daughter died. She was brutally murdered and I couldn¡¯t save a single bone. ¡°I wanted to take my revenge. I hated the world and cursed the humans. ¡°The priests of the Deands that killed my daughter; those pigs; the believers that followed them; the politicians supporting them; and the royal family turning a blind eye¡­ I wanted to kill everyone ¨C all of them. Every day, my only dream and thought was how I could rip them to pieces and burn their flesh. ¡°It didn¡¯t even hit me that the only thing we had aplished was¡­ spreading the pain and agony to their spouses and kids. We turned a blind eye to it and scoffed at them, thinking they were getting what they deserved. ¡°I must have passed the end at one point. I had crossed the line.¡± Everyone was the same. The future was non-existent to the parent who lost their child and he continued the unending chain of revenge and hatred. ¡°All of your anger towards me is valid. Sorry. But please¡­ do not harm the innocent like I did. Do not make the same mistakes I¡¯ve made.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Miruam turned around without replying to him. She probably wouldn¡¯te back anymore. That left behind Ku Shee and me in this old prison cell. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°For what?¡± ¡°Everything. The devotion, love, and mercy that you have shown.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± We remained silent for a while, as if both of us had something we wanted to tell each other. ¡°This will be ourst time having a chat.¡± I was the one who started it off first. ¡°That¡¯s right. It will end with just myself, so that¡¯s a lot of spare change on our end.¡± An attempted assassination of the princess alone was enough to warrant an execution. Besides, the incident from 10 years ago was also being investigated again so after a few more trials, Ku Shee would most certainly be hanged. I didn¡¯t feel bad about that because it was the price he had to pay for his sins. But¡­ ¡°This was only possible because you voluntarily put yourself on the line. I will have to thank you for that.¡± ¡°It is nothingpared to the devotion you have shown.¡± ¡°The golden wolves, Ren and Ron, will be taking your lead. You¡¯ve seen them once haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Right. Even my men would follow them without aint.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I have something else that needs to be said.¡± He collected his breath for a bit before revealing the past. ¡°Dumnorix. That man came to us and gave us an offer.¡± *** I couldn¡¯t find Miruam anywhere after leaving the prison. She didn¡¯t even wait for me! ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to go looking for her myself.¡± Since I didn¡¯t have an official invitation, I climbed up the walls and tried my best to avoid the defensive spells of the pce. -Beep! Unfortunately, I identally activated one of the rms. Kuhum, it seems that I can¡¯t do it like Sihu. In any case, I continued beforending on the terrace of the 2nd Princess¡¯s pce and encountered Miruam, who happened to be on the terrace for a breather. ¡°You are looking better than I expected.¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯re trespassing illegally.¡± Perhaps due to the sincere apology from Ku Shee, her voice sounded rather empty and venomless. ¡°I¡¯ve alreadymitted treason, so they¡¯ll let me off the hook for this.¡± ¡°Hmph¡­¡± She powerlessly leaned on the terrace before turning her head towards me. ¡°So what is it that you wanted to achieve in the end? Are you just a good-natured person? After making such a thorough set of ns?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just a man acting out of goodwill.¡± ¡°Hah. Says someone stopping an army of a dozen thousand.¡± I do admit that it was rather risky. It probably would have failed if even one thing went wrong. However, it worked. I believed in myself and it worked. ¡°It all began with me saving a girl called Marie.¡± I saved Marie Dunareff. The reason for that was simple; she was a good person and I wanted her to be happy. ¡°That was the beginning, and I realized that helping people made the good thingse back to me.¡± Only because I saved Marie, helped Alicia, and protected Hua Ran¡­ that everything leading up to today was possible. Master, Estelle, Lunia, and Lady Josephine saw what I did, believed in my goodwill, and gave their whole-hearted support. It was thanks to the reputation I built up that Mound did not refuse my help. They too would most certainly help me down the line if something went wrong. Like how my way of life in this iteration and the origin of my goodwill¡­ stemmed from Master, who protected me with her life on the line, I was simply doing the same. All this was what goodwill could do instead of hatred. ¡°People are more drawn into provocative and stimting things like revenge, murder, and hatred. But those hostile feelings are not asmonce as they appear. ¡°The case with most people is that they act more out of goodwill than hostility. I¡¯m sure this world is full of countless cycles of goodwill.¡± I won¡¯t say every good deed will see a return but¡­ ¡°It would still make the world a slightly better ce. That¡¯s why.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Miruam looked at me funny. It seemed like she was finding me beyond help, and looked quite lethargic at the same time. ¡°You¡­ are seriously as good-natured as an oaf. You are the type of person to kill an enemy and cry.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I¡¯m not that much of a dimwit, okay? I think I¡¯m quite firm.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re an oaf. If you view someone as your enemy, you need to make sure they¡¯re dead and throw their corpse on the streets.¡± ¡°Surely not that much.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I would have done.¡± She grinned before chasing me out with her hands. ¡°Looking at you makes me question myself. Go away. I don¡¯t even want to see you.¡± ¡°Well¡­ the rm¡¯s going off and the knights are about toe in so I do need to run away but¡­ there is something I need to receive from you before I go, Your Highness.¡± ¡°¡­What is it?¡± ¡°I need my reward for this week¡¯s mentoring.¡± ¡°¡­Reward?¡± She asked with a clueless look on her face, and her expression went through a rapid change after realizing what I meant. She dropped her chin as if she couldn¡¯t believe what she just heard. ¡°Smile.¡± ¡°You¡­!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve worked this hard, so you need to give me something in return. And a smile is all I need.¡± In this iteration; at least in this iteration. ¡°Haa¡­ You really are an oaf. I heard there¡¯s no cure for being an idiot.¡± I want you to smile. I want you to smile brightly like a fool. I want you to drop your hatred; your revenge and show me an innocent smile. ¡°Stop being stupid.¡± She was about to go back into her room until her feet came to a stop. She then said in a voice that was evidently much softer than before. ¡°Right. You were quite cool. If I wasn¡¯t the viin, I might have seen you as a cool knight from a heroic tale.¡± For a while. For quite some time, she had her back towards me while fidgeting with her fingers. She even brought her fingers to her mouth to raise the corners of her lips. And, After being done with the preparation, She turned around. She smiled brightly like the most innocent person in the world.
  • 1 EDMin Note: So after a quick Google search of ¡°Land of Grizzly Bears.¡± I didn¡¯t find much. I initially thought it was either Russia or California and then another Google searchter I found out Russia doesn¡¯t have grizzled bears. (You learn something new every day, huh?) So this is either California, the Northern U.S. including ska, or Canada. But considering that he says she did Gymnastics and Canada has a total of 0 Olympic medals in Gymnastics I¡¯m leaning towards Korin talking about the Northern U.S. or California. Anyway, enough rambling about my curiosity on this throwaway line, go enjoy the rest of the chapter.
/genesisforsaken Chapter 196: Love Consultation (1) Chapter 196: Love Consultation (1) ? Love Consultation (1) ? Germain scratched his head while looking through the timetable of the uing yearly examination. ¡°It¡¯s yearlies already¡­¡± It was a stressful period of the year for all students. For most guardians, test results also mattered to some extent when getting a job post-graduation so they couldn¡¯t set it aside for good. Of course, it didn¡¯t really matter for Germain, a high-ranked Grade 2 knight, however¡­ ¡°Haa¡­ This is bad. This is bad. I haven¡¯t studied at all¡­!¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Hopefully, it will be alright if you start studying now, right?¡± ¡°Maybe for you because all you have to study is the scripture, but I have to study every theory subject!¡± One of the few acquaintances that Germain, a well-known social outsider of the freshmen, interacted with was a mage in his year group, Melina. She was a cute girl with freckles and red hair braided into a ponytail. Germain had no idea how he was able to befriend such a cute girl. Actually, he had some idea about how it happened. She was one of his peers who wanted him to introduce her to Senior Marie, the third-year-senior of the Magic Department. He wouldn¡¯t have even received such a request if he hadn¡¯t been a part of Korin Guardians, the most famous student guild in Merkarva. It was a miraculous connection for him, considering how he lived as a diligent priest his whole life. ¡°Wow. Germain. Do you see that?¡± On the way out of the lecture hall, Melina pointed at a wide grass garden. It was a popr site for students on a day as good as today, and Germain saw a group that was especially more eye-catching than others. It was none other than the famous Korin Lork and some female seniors. The heavily gender-disproportional group was having lunch on the grass. Seeing Korin being fed rice balls while ying the harp was very impressive in many ways. ¡°He is a very unique person,¡±mented Melina. ¡°Big Bro Korin¡­ is indeed amazing.¡± He was a famous and popr senior but¡­ ¡°¡­Isn¡¯t that still a bit too¡­ debaucherous?¡± It was quite an ufortable sight for Germain who was a faithful and devout believer. Of course, it didn¡¯t feel so good as a man to watch that happen either. ¡°What about it? He is just that good of a person.¡± However, Melina seemed to think otherwise. ¡°Thanks to him, I am using items that I wouldn¡¯t have been able to use without saving up for two more years. It¡¯s a lot easier to run missions because of that. There are many more options I can choose from.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± During the Hunting Grounds prac lesson at the start of the semester, he was an irritating enemy who yed around with the freshmen students at the beginning of the lesson, butter gave out a high-grade magic stone to all the new students. He heard Korin had to use almost all of his money for that, so Germain asked him the reason for pulling such a student and Korin simply replied after a shrug. ¡ºIt was supposed to be for something else, but something unexpected happened.¡» ¡®O well, it was a good thing for the juniors so it¡¯s fine, isn¡¯t it?¡¯ He added at the end. ¡®Seriously¡­ what is he thinking?¡¯ He was definitely a weird person. As a spy from the Xeruem Order hiding inside Merkarva Academy, he could only assume that Korin Lork was someone far exceeding the limitations of his imagination. ¡°Haa¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why are you sighing?¡± Melina asked. ¡°Nothing¡­ I¡¯m just¡­¡± Jealous¡­ Instead of saying that final word, Germain rested his eyes on the red-haired girl for a while. *** Although the conflicting opinions of the demi-humans of Dana Shee and the royal court had yet to fully be resolved, things were getting better with the proactive help of Marie and Estelle. In any case, since one of the big concerns of the year was over, it was time to focus back on our Academy life for now. The yearly examination and the Autumn Harvest Festival were both getting quite close. Through the fight against Eochaid Bres, I felt first-hand how I hadn¡¯t fully grasped Sebancia Duke¡¯s power yet. I might be strong already, but I had to get even stronger. People were already treating me as if I were a Unique Grade guardian, but my skills were still subpar without the Precepts backing me up. ¡°Dongsaeng~. Dongsaeng~.¡± ¡°Uhhk¡­!¡± Estelle suddenly threw her arms around me from behind. She appeared to enjoy teasing me with her unhesitant hugs and touches. She wasn¡¯t the only problem. Ever since our trip to the royal capital, there were even more girls actively trying to get closer to me. Alicia and Hua Ran were the prime examples¡­ Whenever they had the chance to, they either linked their arms with mine or threw their arms wide open for a hug. Well, Hua would hide and push the burden onto Ran after doing that, but¡­ In any case, there was Marie, Alicia, Hua Ran, Lunia, and even Estelle¡­ ¡°You little bastard.¡± ¡°Can you even¡­ handle it?¡± Right. Hearing things like this was thereforepletely deserved. Jaeger and Lark, being close friends of mine, were in fact on the better side. My other peers who used to treat me nicely tended to look at me these days with faces going, ¡®Wow¡­ What the hell is with this guy?¡¯ Like, roughly 90% of students in schools don¡¯t have any experience dating right? And yet here I was walking around the campus with my arms linked with the well-renowned beauties of our Academy so¡­ I could understand why. -Look. Look at that piece of shit. He¡¯s hitting on all the girls in our Academy. -It¡¯s not just girls. He¡¯s even hitting on professors. -And he¡¯s still pretending like he¡¯s not interested in dating. These days, rumors and discussions about me were getting increasingly worse. In that sense, it was simr to thest iteration, but recently, it was bing so absurd that nonsensical rumors were being thrown out here and there. ¡°There¡¯s no way people are believing that I flirted with 100 girls, right¡­?¡± ¡°Stop your bullcrap buddy.¡± ¡°Are you really saying that for real?¡± Jaeger and Lark were always like this whenever we were on this topic. What a terrible bunch of friends! ¡°This is very incorrect. Yes, there is indeed a bit of a problem with my rtionship but¡­¡± ¡°There has been a report from Manager Owel of the cafe, Mister Suit, that you have brought more than 30 different girls to that ce. What do you think about that rumor, in particr, Mr. Korin Lorkkkk?¡± It¡¯s more than 70 including thest iteration, but this is an unfair attack on my character and a terrible misunderstanding. ¡°That¡¯s not how it is. I was just taking some girls so that they could try out the Strawberry Milk Latte menu of that cafe. By the way, isn¡¯t it funny that they put ¡®milk¡¯ in the name of the drink even thoughtte is already milk?¡± That was what it said on the actual menu. ¡°Scrap that, Mr. Korin, you freaking scoundrel of a man. Exin your deplorable actions; not some drink menu.¡± This Jaeger guy¡­ He was venting out his anger on me just because it didn¡¯t go well with his crush. It wasn¡¯t anything difficult so why was he at it for 6 months? ¡°I know this stupid Jaeger failed at his rtionship, but how are you going these days, Lark?¡± ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you dare change the topic, you freaking yer! Exin yourself!!¡± Ignoring his outburst, I focused on our magic nerd friend. ¡°Haa¡­ I¡¯m not you, so how would I have any rtionship with girls?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you, though?¡± I asked. ¡°You have a decent appearance, a bright future¡ª¡± ¡°Hello? Mister? Do you remember who broke my dream upation along with the Tower of Mages?¡± ¡°Ohh¡­¡± Right. I recalled him going to the Tower of Mages as an intern during one of the holidays. ¡°Think about it this way; it was a blessing in disguise. The Tower of Mages is one hell of a bad ce to work at and your superiors would have been horrible.¡± ¡°Haa~. But it¡¯s hard for a Grade 3 mage to find another ce to work. I wanted a research post at the least.¡± ¡°Hey. You came into the Academy as Grade 5 and you¡¯re already in Grade 3 so that¡¯s a bright future already.¡± ¡°Not as much as Mr. Unique Grade.¡± ¡°Buddy. I¡¯m still officially Grade 1.¡± ¡°What kind of Grade 1 stops an entire army by themselves and changes the terrain with a spear?!¡± In any case, the issue was that Lark¡¯s future was looking grim due to me destroying the Tower of Mages. ¡°If you want to head into research, how about you work as an assistant professor or head South?¡± ¡°The assistant professor one I¡¯m thinking of, but¡­ the South? Isn¡¯t it all farnd over there?¡± ¡°Senior Marie and my ves are all over there. You can take a few mages that can work under you for free forever and set up a research facility.¡± ¡°¡­You said they were working in the salt mine, right?¡± Lark seemed appalled by the idea and shivered. I still remember him turning pale when he first heard how we were whipping the high-ranked mages at the salt mines and working them as ves. They would have been his superiors after all. ¡°I heard the n was to send a few of the hard-working ves over to research. And maybe a few as a reward for working hard this time around. Actually, do you want a professor-level mage? You can have them teach you all their secrets.¡± ¡°Holy¡­¡± He was baffled by me treating a professor-level mage, who could be tranted to a semi-Grade 1 guardian, like a lunch box. Jaeger and Lark ¨C these two guys had a bright future ahead of them just because of a good friend that they made. I was quite well-known for being nice to my friends back in the day as well! Even on Earth, when Sangwoo, that bloke, was about to give up on baseball due to an injury, I took care of him and did everything! That was the kind of loyal friend I was! Eventually, when that guy won the Asian Cup, he even mentioned me during an interview. ¡ºEverything is thanks to my most beloved friend.¡» Kyah~! That was quite touching to hear. Talking about love and whatnot sounded a little corny but that was fine. I was reminiscing about the past when a young man walked towards me with a stiff look on his face. It was Germain Luther. ¡°H, hello. Bi¡­ I mean, Seniors.¡± He was about to call me ¡®Big Bro¡¯ as always but changed to ¡®Seniors¡¯ after throwing a nce at Jaeger and Lark. ¡°What¡¯s up, Germain?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I have a consultation to make.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s something I can do for you, sure.¡± It was about time to reap the seeds I had sowed with this guy, but putting that aside for now, I focused on what our cute little junior wanted to consult about. ¡°Uhh¡­! Please help me advance my rtionship with this girl!¡± ¡°Oh damn.¡± ¡°Hoh~¡± Now this is a first¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Germain bought a drink and joined our table. ¡°What¡¯s with this all of a sudden? Do you have something going on with a girl?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Something like that, I think.¡± ¡°Wow! 1st-year kids going out? That wasn¡¯t even an option for us back in my days!¡± Jaeger shouted in anger, but Lark responded to him with pure facts. ¡°Jaeger, that¡¯s because you were making jokes with a mushroom during cooking.¡± ¡°Uhkk¡­!¡± ¡°Thanks to you, I also received some damage to my social image for being around you. I hope you know that.¡± Lark added with a sigh. ¡°What about Korin!? He¡¯s also my friend!¡± ¡°He¡¯s an exception among exceptions. An innate¡­ how do I say it; an innate son of a bitch?¡± ¡°I think that¡¯s a bit too mean, Mister.¡± I was the nicest person you would see alive. ¡°Anyway, Junior Germain. Why me of all people?¡± I asked. ¡°So¡­ this is my first time having an experience like this, and you were the only person I could rely on for it. Senior Korin.¡± ¡°You probably know already, but I¡¯m like these guys and don¡¯t have much experience dating gir¡ª¡± Jaeger and Lark suddenly intervened before I could finish my sentence. ¡°Excuse me, hello? Mr. Ko-douchebag? Can you stop fucking around?¡± ¡°Do you have no shame saying such a thing?¡± ¡°Far out¡­ What¡¯s wrong with you guys?¡± In any case, ording to Germain, it seemed that he was recently getting closer to this freshman student called Melina. It started off when he helped her out during a theology ss, and it seemed that they had meals together a few times at the Academy cafeteria and chatted a fair bit. When he talked about how they went shopping together in the city, Jaeger and Lark showed a positive reaction by going, ¡°Ohh~,¡± but¡­ ¡°That¡¯s just being a helper, isn¡¯t it?¡± I had a different perspective. ¡°R, really?¡± ¡°That¡¯s just how it seems to me. You are not even that close, and yet she wants you to help out in the city for her shopping? You are being used¡ª¡± ¡°Ko-douchebag¡­ I don¡¯t think so¡­¡± Jaeger showed his disagreement with myment, but Lark followed through with a question asking for my opinion with intrigue. ¡°Then what do you think is the requirement to be sure that someone likes you?¡± ¡°¡­A kiss?¡± ¡°What the fuck¡­¡± He immediately swore in response. I thought mages were supposed to stay calm and collected at all times. ¡°Even if it¡¯s not on the lips¡­ shouldn¡¯t there still be some level of a kiss?¡± ¡°Wait. Korin you idiot. What kind of girl starts off with a kiss when you¡¯re not even dating?¡± ¡°¡­There were.¡± ¡°There must have been some kind of tingly interaction before that!¡± ¡°S, senior! Don¡¯t you think kissing is a bit¡­ too early for people to do before going out?¡± ¡°Not¡­ necessarily?¡± The three of them immediately paused after hearing that, and Jaeger slowly opened his mouth as if he noticed something from my response. ¡°You fucker¡­ Is this from experience?¡± ¡°¡­!¡± How did he know?! ¡°W, who is it!? Who did you kiss?!¡± ¡°U, uhh¡­ So! Who should I talk about first?¡± ¡°What??!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not just one person!?¡± ¡°Big Bro Korin?!¡± This is a misunderstanding, guys¡­ I mean, not really but¡­ ¡°Wait, guys. That¡¯s not the important part right now. Of course, it didn¡¯t start off with a kiss and there were some interactions before that that you might not do with friends, but I don¡¯t think itsted that long.¡± ¡°K, Ko-doucebag¡­ Tell us just one thing.¡± ¡°¡­What is it?¡± ¡°¡®How many,¡¯ was it?¡± *** I closed my lips shut in silence as they also remained quiet. They red daggers at me, pressuring me for a response. ¡°Umm¡­ So just the ¡®kiss alone¡¯ would be four; I mean five¡­¡± Alicia, Hua, Ran, Lunia¡­ and Estelle. I haven¡¯t kissed Marie yet and Miruam¡¯s pregnancy was in thest iteration so it should be okay not to count them, right? ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The silence went on for a long time. Before long, their eyes were filled with curiosity and awe. ¡°Maybe¡­ We had the wrong idea all along.¡± ¡°Korin was living in the real world, which singles like us couldn¡¯t even imagine.¡± ¡°¡®Start off with a kiss¡¯¡­ Write that down, WRITE THAT DOWN!¡± You don¡¯t have to write it down¡­ Germain called me. ¡°So¡­ Sir Love Master.¡± ¡°Love Master¡­ That¡¯s a heavy title for me.¡± ¡°If a guy that takes dozens of girls to a cafe isn¡¯t the Love Master, then who is?¡± Jaeger added from the side. ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s a misunderstanding. They¡¯re just friends.¡± They refused to listen no matter how many times I tried to correct them. ¡°Umm¡­ What¡¯s the secret?¡± ¡°What secret¡­¡± Even if you ask that, how was I supposed to answer that question? In the first ce, I had never dated anyone properly. Miruam assaulted me so that was a separate issue. Even back on Earth, I was so busy ying around with my friends that I didn¡¯t have the time to worry about dating anyone. For some reason, no one around me was interested in finding a date either. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± But I did have experience with marriage so I could talk about how it went with Miruam but¡­ there wasn¡¯t much. ¡°Eat together, dance together, and¡­ that¡¯s it.¡± It would probably be best if I didn¡¯t include the, ¡°Get assaulted and bear a kid,¡± part. ¡°Stop your bullshit.¡± It really worked though? I even married her! ¡°How do you eat together in the first ce? And how do you dance together? How do you do all that naturally?¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± To be honest, it wasn¡¯t anything hard. ¡°First off, get rid of your ulterior motives.¡± ¡°Ulterior motives?¡± ¡°Note¡­ Get rid of¡­ ulterior motives.¡± Luther? You don¡¯t have to write down everything. ¡°Anyway, people are generally quick at noticing when others have ¡®other thoughts¡¯ about them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re the one to talk.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him. He¡¯s just unique.¡± Lark and Jaeger were getting noisy so I quieted them down. ¡°Stop your chatter, students.¡± ¡°Yes yes, Sir. Please grant us your heavenly knowledge.¡± My logic was simple. Actually, rather than a simple dating tip, this was more about my attitude to other people. ¡°When you¡¯re talking about famous restaurants or fancy cafes, you can tell them it¡¯s a bit awkward for you to go by yourself as a guy. You can tell them you are buying.¡± -Ohhh. -That¡¯s smooth. -But what if they ask, ¡®Why should I?¡¯¡­ ¡°First off, see if there¡¯s anything you can help them with. If they¡¯re carrying something heavy, ask them if they need a hand.¡± Don¡¯t be so kind that they take you for a fool though. After hearing all my tips on human rtionships, Germain smiled in joy and gave a deep bow with the note in hand. ¡°T, thank you! I¡¯ll try doing as you said, Senior!¡± ¡°Yeah. Go ahead. You can have a meal together and that¡¯s how you be friends.¡± However, on the next day. ¡°¡­Senior. It¡¯s not working.¡± Germain came back to us and confessed his failed attempt with a disappointed look on his face. ¡°You can¡¯t even get her to have a meal with you? Doesn¡¯t that mean you have absolutely no chance?¡± ¡°No. Korin, it¡¯s not that easy¡­¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t having a meal already quite hard?¡± Jaeger and Lark were saying the same thing as yesterday. ¡°Come.¡± Fortunately, both the 1st-year and 2nd-years had a lesson today at the same time, and the 5th subject for freshmen started at 1 o¡¯clock, so thinking that she must be at the cafeteria having lunch, I took the three to the Academy cafeteria and found Melina. I was also somewhat acquainted with the junior with freckles and a red braided ponytail, so I walked up to her. ¡°Junior Melina. What¡¯s the special menu today?¡± ¡°Huh? Sir Senior Korin?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so formal. Drop the ¡®Sir¡¯.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Yes. Senior. It¡¯s meatball spaghetti today.¡± ¡°I see. Huh? Your hairstyle looks a bit different. Did you go to the one in the city?¡± ¡°Yes. I did it recently.¡± ¡°Ina Perm?¡± ¡°O wow! How did you know?¡± ¡°A lot of people do it there. The noonim there is amazing and that¡¯s also where I get my hair done. Actually, do you want a coupon for scalp treatment? I have a few 10% discount coupons.¡± ¡°Umm! Yeah I would love to!¡± ¡°They also do scalp massages if you go there during the weekday. By the way, do you know a lot about the city? Something better than the meatball spaghetti we have over here. The ones here are okay, but that¡¯s pretty much it.¡± ¡°Of course I do! I didn¡¯t know you liked spaghetti. Do you want me to tell you about some famous restaurants?¡± ¡°I like them, but it¡¯s a bit awkward for me to go by myself. There¡¯s also something I can only ask ¡®girls¡¯ about. Can you help me buy something when you¡¯re going out for your hair? I can buy dinner.¡± ¡°Okay. Then I can do my hair the day after tomorrow, and we can have dinner after that.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± I came back after the simple dinner appointment and realized that the three of them were looking dumbstruck with their eyes stuck on me. ¡°What¡­ in the world just happened?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask me¡­¡± ¡°How is that? Super easy right?¡± I said while shrugging my shoulders but Germain looked very depressed. ¡°But why¡­¡± This guy didn¡¯t suddenly ask her out for a meal out of the blue or anything, right? ¡°¡­Wait. Isn¡¯t this¡­¡± ¡°¡­Shh. Be quiet.¡± ¡°¡­Interesting.¡± Chapter 197: Love Consultation (2) Chapter 197: Love Consultation (2) ? Love Consultation (2) ? These past few days, Germain was in deep agony. It was because Melina, his peer that he was fond of, had a date nned with Korin. ¡®Why¡­ Why is she okay with Big Bro Korin, and not me?¡¯ He was the one who spent a lot more time with her, so why? Germain was anxious. Who was Korin? He was the most popr knight and yer of the Academy with countlessdies surrounding him. What if Melina is interested in him? ¡®No. No. Big Bro Korin knows that I like Melina. There¡¯s no way he would betray me¡­¡¯ But putting aside Korin, what about Melina? isn¡¯t it pointless if Melina was interested in Korin? Despite being a future priest of the Xeruem Order and a spy, Germain was just a seventeen-year-old boy. Unable to keep it to himself, he immediately went looking for Melina. ¡°Melina¡­¡± ¡°What is it, Germain?¡± ¡°Umm, on Friday, by the way¡­ are you doing something with Big Bro Korin?¡± ¡°Yeah. How do you know that?¡± ¡°Like¡­ I, I just heard it by ident. Umm¡­ Why?¡± Melina smiled before giving a p as if she found Germain cute. ¡°Are you asking why I agreed to his offer and not yours?¡± ¡°Y, yeah¡­¡± ¡°Well, because it¡¯sfortable.¡± ¡°Huh? Comfortable?¡± T, then what about me? She replied before he could continue with his questions. ¡°He doesn¡¯t have any ulterior motives in mind. I can tell he isn¡¯t hiding anything.¡± ¡°T, that¡¯s the same for me too!¡± Melina sneered in response, evidentlyughing at him. ¡°Yes yes. Of course, of course.¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m serious!¡± It was widely said that girls were mentally more mature than boys at a young age. The restless Germain and Melina teasing him were arguably a piece of evidence supporting that statement. ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Senior! Did you have to wait a lot?¡± ¡°Yeah, nice clothes. It¡¯s a great match with your straw hat.¡± ¡°Wow~. You have amazing eyes!¡± ¡°My friends had a thing for fashion. And they always became sulky whenever I didn¡¯t notice they were dressed up.¡± Of course, there were always exceptions to that statement. *** Asking Melina out on a meal was to show an example, but I had to keep my word. We went to the hair salon together and asked for some advice that only girls could help me with. During the meal, I was nning on making her have a favorable opinion of Germain but she brought up that topic first. ¡°Actually, the reason I agreed to have a meal together is because I had something to consult about.¡± ¡°What is it? Is it something I can help you with?¡± ¡°Hmm~ probably. If it¡¯s you, Senior Korin who¡¯s collecting all the beautiful girls of the Academy, I would assume so.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with everyone¡¯s evaluation of me¡­¡± Why are they all misunderstanding me so much? ¡°So what is it about?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about Germain.¡± Is this¡­ a coincidence or fate? Melina grinned before picking up a spoon to cut the caramel custard, which we were having as dessert. ¡°I actually like Germain, and I¡¯m even thinking that maybe I should go out with him.¡± ¡°Germain had a simr thing in mind.¡± ¡°Hahat~¡± She swirled the custard around with a mean look on her face. ¡°Of course, I know that already. He makes it so obvious, but he¡¯s quite cute so I¡¯m pretending I don¡¯t know it.¡± ¡°What a nasty attitude.¡± ¡°But that could be considered a quality, right?¡± I thought she was just a young junior, but she was a lot more mature than I thought. In any case, the content of her consultation was rather simple. ¡°So you are willing to ept it if he asks you out first. Is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes. Confessing first as a girl is a bit¡­ weird, right?¡± She was right ¨C even though there were elements of the modern world mixed into the world, the foundation was based on thete Middle Ages. Machismo wasn¡¯t considered machismo and was instead an obvious virtue of a male. The same went for females. In other words, there was a slight tendency to consider girls who approached men first as being immoral. ¡°Knn¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong all of a sudden?¡± ¡°No. I was just thinking that I might have been a bit mean to the girls.¡± As for me though, they all approached and confessed to me first. Marie, Alicia, Hua, and Ran¡­ it was an element that I didn¡¯t take into ount due to being in the mindset of a modern world person. ¡°There are so many possible things you could be thinking about, that I don¡¯t know what to say.¡± ¡°Really? Is it that bad?¡± ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why I am consulting you in the first ce, Senior.¡± Simply put, she was asking me for advice because I had the experience of hitting on multiple girls here and there. ¡°So what you want is for Germain to confess to you first, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll tell him to be a bit more proactive.¡± ¡°Yes~! Thank you, Senior! Thanks for the meal as well!¡± ¡°Hold up.¡± I stopped Melina in the middle of her thanks. ¡°You have to buy the meal today because I listened to your worries.¡± ¡°What~? Come on~ Mr. Senior~¡± A girl asking for a favor like this might work on everyone else both in this world and on Earth, but not on me. ¡°Ehem! Ms. Mel, don¡¯t be like this. This won¡¯t work in this time and age.¡± ¡°Uht¡­¡± ¡°Consider this as mybor cost. You are paying for the meal.¡± ¡°Tch¡­ You¡¯re so cold.¡± ¡°But I¡¯ll buy you coffee.¡± ¡°This is not a date though.¡± ¡°You are too young for a date,ss. We¡¯re just ying around and having a meal.¡± ¡°Wow¡­ So that¡¯s the mindset huh~¡± The sun was starting to set. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to your dormitory. And thanks for helping out with my shopping today.¡± ¡°Thank you too. And please don¡¯t forget my request.¡± Making Germain take the action was going to take some work. *** Germain was restless for the entire day. Melina and Korin were pretty much on a date, and it was driving him crazy. Objectively speaking, Korin Lork was an attractive person. He had a wild-looking appearance and a great personality. The only downside was his rather messy rtionship with girls, but there were so many who were willing to stay with him despite that drawback. He was a fabulous senior, even in the eyes of a teenage boy, but it was a different story if that senior was going on a date with the person he liked. The plentiful imaginative powers of a teenager acted as poison. ¡ºSenior¡­ I actually, for a very long time¡­¡» ¡°Ahhhk¡­!¡± He was a faithful believer and a spy of the Old Faith but was nheless a seventeen-year-old young boy. ¡°Fuu¡­ Are they not here yet?¡± That was also what kept him waiting for five hours straight in front of the dormitory. The night breeze was hitting cold, but he was still waiting for Korin and Melina toe back from the city. His wait was not in vain, and Germain spotted the two of them walking together from a distance. Korin and Melina. The two of them were looking at each other with an evidently friendly smile and were chatting while walking toward the dormitory. In their hands were a bunch of shopping bags. ¡®Why¡­ Why are they so close to each other?¡¯ Really? No, there¡¯s no way Melina would¡­ well she could, but there¡¯s no way Big Bro Korin would do such a thing. He knows¡­ He knows I like Melina so he wouldn¡¯t¡­ ¡­But what if he did? Germain suddenly remembered all the rumors about him. No one denied the fact that he was a nice person, but he was at the same time a shameless person when it came to rtionships, who reached out his octopus legs at a bunch of girls.[mfn]TL Note: Two-timing in Korean is called two-legs; three-timing is three-legs and so on. Therefore, a person sticking out legs like an octopus implies they¡¯re hitting on a lot of people (because octopuses have 8 legs) ED Min Note: Remember this, it¡¯lle back upter.[/mfn] There was even news of people spotting him with Professor Deina, Professor Lra, Senior Professor Josephine, and Chairman Erin Danua around the campus. In the city, he was even seen going around with Sword Master Lunia. He was the most alpha man out there, with such a wide spectrum of followers, that even a few male students were interested in him. ¡®No. I, I trust Big Bro Korin.¡¯ It was weirding from a spy roaming around Korin for information. Despite knowing that himself, he still trusted Korin Lork¡¯s personality and the sincerity of his attitude. ¡°Huh? Germain?¡± The two of them stopped after noticing Germain in front of the dormitory. Melina and Korin nced at each other before turning to Germain and realized from the look on his face that he was having a misunderstanding. Even though the usual approach would be to exin the misunderstanding¡­ Korin pulled Melina by the shoulder towards himself instead. ¡°Senior?¡± ¡°Germain. What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Ah. U, uhh¡­¡± It was because he was worried about having Melina taken away¡­ but he naturally couldn¡¯t say that. ¡®Why is he touching Melina¡¯s shoulder like that!? Even though I haven¡¯t even done that yet!¡¯ Germain was deeply frustrated but couldn¡¯t do anything apart from throwing nces at Melina and Korin. ¡°Do you have something to talk to Melina about? Melina. Go have a chat with him.¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­¡± What was with that attitude? It was as if he was giving Melina permission to talk to him! He was quite displeased by everything but there was nothing he could do. He took Melina as far away from Korin as he could and whispered in a soft voice. ¡°You were¡­ umm, quitete.¡± ¡°Y, yeah¡­¡± ¡°Are you¡­ by any chance with Sir Senior Korin¡­¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Melina flinched from his question but quickly understood what Korin was doing and followed along. ¡°Senior is very kind, right? He was worried about sending me off ale at night so we came together.¡± ¡°A, all the way to the female dormitory?¡± ¡°What were you doing here by the way?¡± ¡°M, mhmm¡­ I was just passing by.¡± ¡°Really? It¡¯ste so you should head back.¡± ¡°O, okay¡­¡± She then turned around with a cold flick. She hopped her way over to Korin and gave him a bashful smile. ¡°Stay safe on your way in, and let¡¯s y together again when we have time.¡± Korin said with an amicable smile while naturally tapping her on the shoulder, and Melina sent him off with a rather shy look on her face. ¡°¡­¡± This was bad. Melina was about to go to Korin, that man. Maybe not yet, but what if she settled her mindpletely on their second date? It was more than possible for that to happen. ¡°N, no.¡± He had to make a move before it was toote. Germain made up his mind in the span of a single day. ¡°M, Melina¡­! P, please go out with me!¡± ¡°Wow¡­ It actually worked. This senior is innately gifted or something.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°N, nothing! Sure! Today¡¯s our day 1 then.¡± ¡°Hukk! R, really?! Thank you! I love you!¡± Watching that unfold from the side were the three 2nd-year seniors. ¡°Ohh. Look at him go. Kids these days~¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Looking at the oue of Korin¡¯s ¡°Jealousy Invoking Strategy¡±, Jaeger and Lark shook their heads. ¡°He knows very well so¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with his own freaking rtionships?¡± No one had the answer to that question. *** Recently, Erin was a lot busier than usual. Even aside from her personal lessons to a few students including Korin, she also had to organize the yearly examination and the Autumn Harvest Festival. The Harvest Festival was especially an important event that substituted for the ¡®Festival¡¯. Actually, it was more correct to say that usually, the Academy wasn¡¯t able to attend the Harvest Festival due to the ¡®Festival¡¯, where academiespeted against one another. In any case, it was decided that this year, Merkarva Academy would be cooperating with the City to carry out the Harvest Festival in full. This nationwide celebrationsted a whole week so there were many things to be prepared to liven up the mood all the way till thest day. ¡®Recently¡­ Hasn¡¯t there been a rumor that a couple spending the midnight of thest day together would get married? A 500-year-old legend, huh~?¡¯ It was funny. She had lived in this city for more than a century and yet it was her first time hearing such a legend. Naturally, such rumors did not exist before, and it was probably an empty rumor considering how teenage girls were the sources of those gossips. But even so¡­ ¡°I want to spend time with Korin~¡± Even though it was her saying it, hearing herself say that made her cheeks turn red. Erin questioned if she had been such an open yet childish person the whole time. -Knock knock! ¡°Come in.¡± The old wooden door creaked open. It was around a 100-years-old, so it was about time to change it¡­ ¡°Master.¡± ¡°Haht?!¡± She shot out of her seat upon hearing a familiar voice and saw Korin, her favorite disciple. ¡°Why¡¯re you so surprised?¡± ¡°I just happened to be thinking about my dear disciple.¡± Erin smiled bashfully at her disciple before opening the drawer of a cupboard. ¡°I¡¯ve received some good biscuits from Josephine. Let me prepare them along with some tea.¡± ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for her to finish her preparations because she also had a treasure that immediately boiled water. ¡°So what brings you here?¡± ¡°Weird of you to ask that when I alwayse here when I have free time.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true too. Fufu¡­¡± While carrying the biscuits and cups of tea over to the table with Erin, Korin nced at the pile of documents on her desk. ¡°It¡¯s the yearly exam followed by the Autumn Festival straight away, right? It must be busy for you.¡± ¡°Yes. I would love to have another body if possible.¡± ¡°Do you want me to help you?¡± ¡°You are also busy. And it wouldn¡¯t be right to receive help from a student.¡± Korin shrugged his shoulders. ¡°It would be a win for me since I¡¯ll get to spend more time with Master though.¡± ¡°H, huh?¡± ¡°Plus when we finish early, we can spend the time training.¡± ¡°R, right. Yes. Of course. Kuhum¡­¡± She knew she was being silly, and Erin found herself pathetic to be so shaken by every sentence of her much younger disciple. ¡°Master.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Happy birthday.¡± ¡°Huh? How did you kno¡ª Ah.¡± Korin was from the future and had spent time with her there, so it wasn¡¯t strange for him to know when her birthday was. ¡°This is my present for you.¡± He took out a small box. Inside it was a beautiful gold ne, and he said after picking it up. ¡°Can I hang it around your neck for you?¡± ¡°S, sure.¡± Erin sat modestly with her arms right next to her body. Her disciple slowly walked towards her and wrapped the ne around her neck. Korin was standing right behind her. Each of his breath was tickling her ears; his eyes were on her neck and his fingers were scraping past her hair. -Gulp! It had been a very long time since shest received such a gift, and it made her quite timid and embarrassed. That was probably also because the young man behind her was special. ¡°All done.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡± Erin gently breathed out her nervousness as soon as it was done. Then, she gazed down at the gold ne around her neck. ¡°It¡¯s very pretty.¡± ¡°Had to get some advice for it.¡± It was an expensive ne he bought with the help of Melina. The reason he asked a girl that he wasn¡¯t close with, was him being as considerate as he could. ¡°I also prepared a set bracelet and earrings that go with the ne. Please wear them at the Harvest Festival.¡± ¡°I certainly will.¡± ¡°And also¡­¡± Korin hesitated a little out of embarrassment. However, the embarrassment wasn¡¯t big enough for him to swallow the words that he was about to say. ¡°You¡¯re very pretty as always. Master.¡± ¡°Nnn?¡± He looked so serious that Erin could not turn her eyes away from him. Right when her cheeks were about to blossom like warm flowers¡­ ¡°Oh right. Master.¡± ¡°Y, yes? What is it?¡± ¡°You know thest day of the Harvest Festival.¡± ¡°Thest day?¡± This was an amazing coincidence, considering how she had just been thinking about the girlish rumor of a couple celebrating thest midnight of the festival getting married. ¡°Yes. At midnight on thest day, actually.¡± ¡°M, midnight?!¡± What a coincidence among coincidences! Erin¡¯s hand quivered and created numerous waves on the tea inside her cup. ¡°Can you stay with me that night?¡± ¡°Uhht!?¡± Embarrassment made her heart race. Is it that? Really? Chapter 198: Reaping What You Sow (1) Chapter 198: Reaping What You Sow (1) ? Reaping What You Sow (1) ? It was when we were waiting for thepulsory course to begin in the lecture room after the Advanced Herbal Studies course. ¡°Huahm~.¡± Lark yawned several times on repeat and seemed very exhausted. ¡°Did you not sleep well? You¡¯ve been looking tired all day.¡± ¡°I was studying for the exams¡­ My major courses became a lot harder this year.¡± As expected of a study freak, I suppose. I was about to advise him to sleep when necessary but Jaeger interjected with a grin. ¡°Procrastinating before a test means nothing. Exams are there to test you based on your everyday knowledge pool.¡± ¡°Okay, Mr. First-from-the-bottom. Mind your own business.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care~. I¡¯m just gonna be an adventurer after I graduate.¡± Lark clicked his tongue before turning towards me. ¡°Korin. Are you studying these days?¡± ¡°This is one of the few areas where I agree with Jaeger. Exams are supposed to measure what we know, not how much we study before them.¡± ¡°I thought your marks were okay though? If you are getting mid-to-high marks without studying, then I¡¯m sure you would be getting much better marks if you did.¡± ¡°We are going to forget themter anyway. Besides, having good marks doesn¡¯t really matter to me.¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s true, for the future Unique Grade.¡± Even if I were to fail the written exam, I could make up for it through the prac exam, which is why my grades were always in the upper spectrum. I didn¡¯t need better grades nor was I nning to head into research in the future like Lark, so there was no need for me to study for the exams. ¡°That face you¡¯re making is very annoying.¡± ¡°Kekekek¡­! If you don¡¯t want to study, just be a Grade 1 guardian. Easy.¡± Jaeger giggled as well from the side. He also got promoted to Grade 2 knightst holiday, so neither of us really cared about doing well in the tests. Two out of the three of us weren¡¯t interested in the exams, so we naturally started talking about something else. ¡°The Autumn Harvest Festival is going to be held inside the Academy this year, right?¡± ¡°I guess so. We had the Academy Festivalst year, after all.¡± Autumn Harvest Festival. It was a festive period that existed in every culture whichmemorated the harvest of crops. Unlike the Academy Festival, the cultural exchange with other academies which happened once every two years, the Autumn Harvest Festival was held every year across the nation. The Academy Festival wasn¡¯t on this year, so it appeared that the Harvest Festival was going to be held inside the campus. ¡°Who do you think is going to be the Lady of Autumn this year?¡± asked Lark. Ah~ I remember something like that being a thing. Jaeger replied with a smirk of excitement. ¡°Hehe, I¡¯m looking forward to that. How does it even work here though?¡± ¡°Hmm? Does it depend on the region?¡± Isn¡¯t it just a beauty contest? ¡°Of course it does! In my city, it was given to thedy that gave birth to the most number of kids that year.¡± ¡°Hoh¡­ What about you, Lark?¡± ¡°It was like a vote for us. The candidates of the Lady of Autumn would travel across the city in a fancy carriage, and the winner was decided by the number of bouquets they received by the end.¡± It seemed that every region had a different way of choosing their Lady of Autumn, but that was to be expected for a national event in a world without the inte. ¡°It¡¯s quite different for Merkarva, right?¡± I said, ¡°It¡¯s also like a vote but with a unique system involved.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah yeah. I remember hearing how Merkarva had an unusual way of choosing their Lady of Autumn.¡± Lark agreed and tried to remember where he heard it from, while Jaeger asked what the specifics were. ¡°How are they different?¡± ¡°The Lady of Autumn is decided on the final day of the festival, and there are ribbons that are given to the people thate 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the contests leading up to that. You have to give them to the Lady of Autumn candidates.¡± It was one of the main quests of the game. If the yer was a female, she would have to run a campaign to be chosen as the Lady of Autumn, and if the yer was a male, he had to win at least one contest to give the ribbon as a gift to one of the heroines. ¡°Hunting Contest, Cooking Contest, the Auction, Knight of the Year, Magic Exhibition, Cross-dressing Contest, the Tournament, Mock Trials¡­¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a lot.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a limit to the contests that you canpete in based on your department though.¡± Jaeger went through the contests that I mentioned before throwing a question. ¡°Are you joining the Tournament? Honestly, I swear you¡¯re going to clean everyone up.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The Tournament was apetition where students gathered, whether they were a knight or a mage, to fight each other in a tournament format. It was a straightforward event where the winner of the grand final would obtain the prize, and was one of the events that the yer could partake in during the game. I did participate in thest iteration but¡­ this time, I was prohibited from even joining it. Right when I was about to exin the reason, someone walked up from behind. ¡°Hello, Oppa.¡± It was Ran. She also greeted Jaeger and Lark after saying hello to me. ¡°We were just talking about the rules of the Tournament.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ Sorry about what Hua did.¡± Jaeger replied in curiosity after hearing that. ¡°What did Hua do?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you remember Hua attending the Tournament inst year¡¯s Academy Festival and wiping everyone up? There¡¯s a new rule now that Unique Grades, whether official or not, are not allowed to join fightingpetitions like the Tournament.¡± This was a background story that also existed back in the game. ¡°Are there any contests you are looking to join, Ran?¡± I asked. ¡°Hmm~. I¡¯m thinking about cooking.¡± ¡°Do you mean the Sales one? Or the Cooking one?¡± The Food Sales Contest was about student stores that had topete for revenue, whereas the Cooking Contest had judges who evaluated the dishes of the contestants. ¡°The Cooking Contest! I think I can win because I practiced cooking a lot to eat with you, oppa!¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± ¡°I¡¯m so damn jealous¡­¡± Lark and Jaeger each threw ament after hearing Ran¡¯s adorable sentence, but I ignored them. ¡°The Tournament though¡­ It would be a shame to miss out on the prize.¡± I turned to Alicia, who was still sleeping right next to me. Just like me, she was another example of someone terrible at the written exams with great marks for the prac exam. ¡°Alicia. Quick. Wake up.¡± ¡°Hmnya¡­ Mr. Korin?¡± Alicia was drooling in her sleep so I wiped the drool off her lips and said to the sleep-deprived girl. ¡°Can you join the Tournament?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I want the prize.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ Alrighttt.¡± She barely nodded her heavy head. This should be more than enough ¨C after her enlightenment during the fight against the Sword Fiend, Alicia was at the very least semi-Unique Grade. Unlike me, she wasn¡¯t the type to interfere with other¡¯s business more than necessary, which was why she was able to hide under the radar and stay as Grade 1 both officially and unofficially. Victory was in the bag already. When I lifted my head back up, I realized that my peers who had been listening to our conversation, including Jaeger and Lark, were giving me a funny look. -What a freaking yer. -Gold-digger. I had long decided to bear with such gazes. It was then. ¡°Koriin~. I¡¯ve got some snacks!¡± The one who appeared through the front door of the lecture room was none other than Marie. Carrying a basket of boiled potatoes as always, she greeted everyone on the way but headed straight towards me. ¡°Senior. Do you have sugar?¡± ¡°Of course! Just wait!¡± She ced the basket down and started taking out boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, and potato chips. Lastly, she took out sugar and ketchup, marking an end to the potato setup. ¡°You guys should have some too! The potatoes are looking very good today! Here¡¯s some juice in case you need something to drink!¡± ¡°¡°Thank you!!¡±¡± It was quitemon for Marie to visit with a bunch of potatoes so none of our peers inside the room were surprised by it. The room was filled with the smell of potatoes as everyone each carried one including Alicia, who woke up from her sleep after sniffing the boiled potatoes. ¡°Oh. Ms. Senior Marie. Are youpeting for the Lady of Autumn this year?¡± ¡°Nn?¡± Marie tilted her head and scratched her cheeks after that question from one of our peers. ¡°Not really. I¡¯m always busy during the Harvest Festival, and I was more interested in other contests when I was in my 1st year, so I¡¯ve never really done it either.¡± That made sense because the foundation of the Harvest Festival was in celebrating the harvest of crops. As ady of the Dunareff Family which was in charge of the continent¡¯s lifeline, she probably had more important things to do than worry about being the Lady of Autumn. ¡°Actually¡­ Beforeing to the Academy when I was in the South, I was chosen as the Lady of Autumn every year¡­!¡± ¡°Hoh¡­¡± Honestly, it was hard to find another candidate than Marie from the south but¡­ let¡¯s not discuss the fairness of the voting system. In any case, as for Merkarva¡¯s Lady of Autumn this year, it was hard to predict who it would be since we didn¡¯t even have a proper ¡®yer¡¯. Normally it would be the heroines but¡­ ¡°Korin-dongsaeeeenggg!¡± It was then. The Saintess who could change the atmosphere simply through her presence appeared from the door. ¡°Saintess¡­¡± ¡°Call me ¡®Noona¡¯!¡± Without caring about the eyes of other students, she ran up and wrapped her arms around me. ¡°People are watching¡­¡± ¡°Who cares? Were you bored without me? Do you want to y together after the lessons today?¡± ¡°Do you have nothing to do?¡± ¡°I just returned after all! And everyone feels ufortable around me.¡± It was true that normal students would consider returning students, who were therefore much older, to be frightening but it was probably a different story for Estelle. Who could possibly treat with ease the princess and saintess of our kingdom? ¡°Oh right, Dongsaeng! See this!?¡± She suddenly showed me a piece of paper, the content of which made me a little surprised. ¡°Are youpeting for the Lady of Autumn? In Merkarva?¡± ¡°Yep! It¡¯s going to be a sweeping victory!¡± ¡°¡­Like, don¡¯t you have to go back to the Chapel during the Harvest Festival?¡± Estelle was the Saintess. Of course, she was no longer a pure saintess of the New Faith, but that was still her official position. Didn¡¯t she have to show her face in events as the Saintess and bless all the believers who had to travel a long way to get to the Chapel just to see her? I would assume her role became even more important after doing something as crazy as cleaning up half of the higher-ups of the Order. Now that the pope and many of the cardinals had their heads beaten in, Estelle was fundamentally the only religious leader of the New Faith and therefore had a very important role. ¡°So I¡¯lle back around the middle of the festival! I can spend the first 4 days at the Chapel and make it back by thest day for the Lady of Autumn selection!¡± ¡°Do you think that¡¯s physically possi¡ª Did you get Lady Josephine to help you?¡± ¡°We¡¯re super good friends!¡± That would certainly be possible. Estelle was going to y a very important role in our uing strategies in the future, and that seemed to be why Lady Josephine was very willing to help her in any way possible. ¡°Anyway¡­ Congrattions, I guess? Honestly, I think it¡¯s a little bit unfair for a Saintess like yourself to attend though.¡± Wasn¡¯t the winner already decided then? Since she was both the princess and the saintess? ¡°Korin-dongsaeng. Will you give me a ribbon?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ But I need to attend a contest if I want to get a ribbon.¡± I also had to be top three to get a ribbon. ¡°Yeah. So you should just win one of the contests and give me a golden ribbon.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t be bothered though¡­¡± My n for this Harvest Festival was to do nothing but eat and y. There was something I had to do with Master on thest day as well. ¡°Ah! Please! Pleaaase~! I¡¯d be very sad if you didn¡¯t!¡± ¡°Uahk! Saintess! Noonim! We are in front! We are in front of others! This will be a scandal!¡± ¡°Then take responsibility and marry me!¡± -T, t, t, that bastard. -Even the Saintess?? -I want to kill him so bad. O please, God! Grant me the power to punish that wicked man! At this rate, it would be difficult to expect the public evaluation of me to get any better until graduation¡­ ¡°Saintess.¡± ¡°Un? Junior Marie?¡± They were in the same grade, but Estelle started the Academy before her, which was why she was calling Marie her junior. ¡°Korin is not liking it.¡± Ohh. Yes, Marie. Go. Only the imperial princess of the Potato Empire can say a few words to the saintess and Princess Estelle! ¡°I don¡¯t think so? He doesn¡¯t hate it? Right~ Korin-dongsaeng?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t necessarily¡ª¡± ¡°Korin. You have to be clear-cut with this,¡± Marie said with a serious face, ¡°Higher-ups will always be stubborn until you clearly tell them the truth.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± For some reason, Marie¡¯s eyes looked very cold. It seemed like her eyes were telling me that there was only one possible answer I could give and that she would not tolerate anything else. ¡°Hmm~¡± Estelle and Marie turned to each other. Surprisingly, the two of them had simr lights in their eyes. Their lips were curved up but their eyes were frighteningly still! Marie broke that icy silence. ¡°Korin. I¡¯mpeting for the Lady of Autumn as well.¡± ¡°Huh? I thought you weren¡¯t interested in¡­¡± ¡°Of course, you¡¯re giving me the ribbon, right?¡± ¡­Wait. It wasn¡¯t just me ¨C everyone in the vicinity was shocked since she was clearly throwing a letter of challenge at the Saintess. ¡°Korin-oppa.¡± And. ¡°Mr. Korin.¡± There were more. ¡°I¡¯mpeting too.¡± ¡°I will apply for itter today.¡± There was more than one contestant. ¡°Huh?¡± This was bad. The silence inside the room felt like the calm before the storm. ¡°Oppa. You are giving it to me, right?¡± ¡°Mr. Korin. I will be looking forward to it.¡± Huhhh? T, this is not what I expected! ¡°Ehew. I knew this wasing.¡± ¡°This was bound to happen one day.¡± Jaeger and Lark shook their heads and looked at me like I was reaping what I sowed. Am I¡­ fucked? *** In the staff meeting discussing the uing Autumn Harvest Festival which had everyone ranging from Senior Professor Josephine and Chairman Erin down to assistant professors, Erin was nk-minded, not really hearing what was being thrown around the room. ¡ºYou know thest day of the Harvest Festival.¡» Her mind was filled with the still-vivid memory of her disciple¡¯s face ¨C that splendid night when her dearest handsome disciple stroked her neck and ced a ne around it. ¡ºCan you stay with me that night?¡» He wanted her to stay with him. Why? Why specifically the midnight of thest day? Why that particr day with rumors that a couple spending that time together would get married? I, is it a proposal? N, no! I¡¯m the master and you¡¯re the disciple! -Chair¡­ But if her disciple confessed his love to her and she were to turn him down, wouldn¡¯t he be very sad? -Cha¡­ man¡­! That wouldn¡¯t do. It terribly ached her heart to just think about that boy bing heartbroken and looking sad. Was she supposed to ept it then? However, she had lived for thousands of years already. How could she possibly get married to a young man around the age of 20¡­ ¡°Chairman!¡± ¡°Huh?! ra? Ah. W, what is it?¡± Erin flinched when Josephine tapped her and mumbled random words in the midst of her confusion. ¡°I know you are tired from overworking yourself, but please focus on the meeting.¡± ¡°Y, yes¡­ Alright, Senior Professor Josephine.¡± She was scolded. Josephine was looking at her with rebuking eyes. She appeared to have sensed the reason why and was silently telling her to stop daydreaming, and Erin shrunk like a deted leather ball. ¡°By the way, isn¡¯t it about time for us to choose a person?¡± Professor Orgen from the Knight Department changed the topic, which was agreed upon by the counselor of the Magic Department, Professor Edgar. ¡°It is about time for one of our female staff to think about it. What about you, Professor Lra?¡± ¡°I joined 4 years ago and won~. And it isn¡¯t nice for a previous winner to join again.¡± ¡°I see. Under that same logic, I suppose Senior Professor Josephine won¡¯t be able to do it either. From here¡­¡± Edgar turned towards Professor Deina, who immediately shook her head frantically in denial. ¡°Not me! I have so much to prepare for the Magic Exhibition this year! We have to report our research projects, and if I can¡¯t find a sponsor again¡­!¡± Professor Deina was desperate to escape her life of poverty ever since the King of Iron Mountain incident took ce. Unable to follow the discussion, Erin was about to ask Josephine but it was then. ¡°How about you participate in it, Chairman?¡± Surprisingly, the one saying that was Old Man Haman Welsch. The old muscr professor was looking at Erin. ¡°Hmm? Me?¡± ¡°Yes. I believe you are one of the only staff that can join the ¡®Lady of Autumn¡¯ contest this year.¡± Professor Orgen agreed to Old Man Haman¡¯s words, followed by Professor Edgar. ¡°Ohh. That sounds like a great idea!¡± ¡°Indeed¡­ The Chairman would have a high chance of bing this year¡¯s Lady of Autumn.¡± The meeting was progressing rapidly and before Erin could say anything else about it, she became the staff member participating in this year¡¯s Lady of Autumn contest. ¡°Umm¡­ I will try my best.¡± Although she was pushed into the post, Erin was somewhat looking forward to it. ¡®Would¡­ Korin give me a ribbon?¡¯ The start of a fiesta was fast approaching. Chapter 199: Reaping What You Sow (2) Chapter 199: Reaping What You Sow (2) ? Delinquent Saintess (2) ? After the lectures and a few of the extracurricr activities were over, the students would all head back to their dormitories. The dormitories were divided up depending on gender and departments, but apart from those, there was also the Special Dormitory, built for a very small number of students. It was built on the top of a hill to be at the summit of nature and absorb the natural aura of a mountain and, therefore, required a fair bit of walking to get to. It wasn¡¯t in an essible location like the other dormitories, but that added to its uniqueness. At the start, this two-story mansion was built to iste the risk brought by Hua Ran after her misdeeds in the Far East, but the number of tenants kept going up. Inside the sunroom that was recently cleaned up alongside the garden were three people¡­ Marie, Hua Ran, and Ren were studying for the uing exam in pure silence. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Scribble scribble. Pencils were the only sources of sound inside the sunroom. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Scribble scribble. I, I can¡¯t breathe. Ren, who hade to the sunroom to study for her exam, wanted to get away from this horrifying ce but couldn¡¯te up with a valid reason. It was all because of that Lady of Autumn thing. Ever since it was decided that both Marie and Hua Ran were going to attend that same contest, there had been a strange atmosphere around the two of them. Theirpetitiveness for one man¡­ was making them stay silent without saying a single word to their rival. If they really didn¡¯t want to speak to one another, why didn¡¯t they just study by themselves inside their own rooms? Apparently, that wasn¡¯t an option for them; probably because they thought the one giving up first was the loser. Ren was the first one here, so she felt it was very unfair that she had to study in this kind of atmosphere. Ron¡­ Hurry up and take me away¡­! She sincerely begged for her twin brother to create a reason for her to leave, but he was still wandering around the entrance, not daring to take a step inside. Quick¡­! I, I don¡¯t think I should go in. My instincts are telling me not to¡­ How could you¡­! These days, he was refusing to listen to more and more of her words, just because he grew up first! Did you forget the grace of your sister who bravely fought against the restaurant owner, protected you from thugs, and scavenged through garbage for food?! All she could do now, however, was underline words in her textbook. Like a person living with carnivorous beasts, she remained vignt against the potential strife that could burst out at any given moment. -Kow kow! That was when the sound of a cuckoo broke the silence. The cuckoo of the clock leaving its nest at noon and 7 pm sounded like a delightful song in her ears. ¡°¡­Looks like no one else is back home,¡± said Ran, who was studying instead of Hua who had already given up. Normally, someone else or Professor Josephine would have gathered everyone to the dining room but it seemed that no one else was here for dinner. ¡°I studied so, yes. You do it, Hua.¡± As soon as she said that to herself, her hair started to faintly change colors and her eyes began to flicker in red. ¡°I will cook.¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯re cooking, Hua?¡± Marie lifted her head and asked, finding it quite surprising. ¡°I¡¯ll help you,¡± she offered. ¡°No. I¡¯m practicing. So I will do it by myself.¡± Hua walked out of the sunroom without even waiting for her to reply. Marie tried to stop her but Hua was already gone. ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± It would be weird for her to go all the way to the kitchen after Hua already refused her help. ¡°Hua¡­ cooking?¡± But on one hand, she was intrigued by the dish that Hua would make. ¡°Are you done studying, Ren?¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­! I, I mean no! Not yet¡­¡± ¡°I see¡­ I will help you until the meal is ready.¡± ¡°Y, you don¡¯t have to¡­¡± ¡°Ron. Come on in as well.¡± The girl with water-colored hair called in Ron, as if she was long aware of his presence. Her eyes alone were enough to pressure the two golden wolves into politely sitting down. ¡°You know.¡± ¡°¡­Yes, what is it? Marie-unni.¡± Marie was usually verypassionate and pleasant. Ren liked her, but certainly not on a day like today. ¡°Who do you think Korin will give his ribbon to?¡± Ahh¡­ I knew it. ¡°¡­I¡¯m not sure.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Marie had been feeling blue the whole day. Recently, there has been an increase in physical contact between Korin and Estelle. Since Marie had previously been the only one in the ¡°Noona¡± position, she felt endangered by the new rival who was obviously fond of Korin and was an unstoppable force on top of that. Besides, Estelle even dered that she wouldpete for the ¡°Lady of Autumn¡± and forced Korin to give her a ribbon against his will! As a senior and noona of Korin, Marie couldn¡¯t let it go and counter-attacked. ¡­She only realized that something was going wrong when Hua Ran and Alicia joined the fray. One rival was tough enough already, and yet, now there were three of them. But it was okay. It shouldn¡¯t be a problem ¨C Korin will choose me. Marie told herself to remain firm and trust Korin. She was sure that the amount of devotion, love, and affection that she poured onto him¡­ did not fall short of what anyone else did but¡­ ¡°I, it will be me, right? It has to be me. Yes?¡± ¡°E, even if you ask me¡­¡± She was anxious. There were four people ¨C which meant a 25% chance of being picked. What if he didn¡¯t pick her? She would definitely be disappointed. In fact, she might even bawl her eyes out. Despite realizing that she was forcing Korin to make a difficult decision, there was a part of her that sincerely wished for him to pick her. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± This was Korin¡¯s fault if anything. One blink of an eye and there would be more girls around him, but Marie was tolerant with the girls that Korin was simply ying with. He didn¡¯t have any ulterior motives after all and was just trying to make friends. However, she couldn¡¯t do the same against the girls who liked Korin as much as herself. Hua Ran¡­ Ran was especially a long-time rival for Marie since her love had been going on for a year. ¡ºUnni, you don¡¯t like me, do you?¡» She still remembered that bold statement of that girl. She clearly saw her as an enemy, and Marie therefore had the same outlook on her. I definitely won¡¯t lose. Marie told herself. She was Marie Dunareff ¨C one who could obtain anything she wished for, even if that was love. She could not let a foreigner from the Far East steal Korin away from her. Wake up, Marie Dunareff! Marie was adding fuel to her fighting spirit again when Hua pushed a food wagon through the entrance of the sunroom. ¡°I¡¯m done.¡± The dish she brought was¡­ ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Uhkk¡­? Cough cough!¡± The wolf siblings had indescribable looks on their faces after a single sniff. Inside the bowls was a darkish-red soup that was still boiling. ¡°Huh? This is¡­?¡± Objectively speaking, Ran was a good cook. She had been cooking consistently ever since she first came to this dormitory, and always cooked with love and affection so her food was always nice to eat. As for Hua? She found every delicate activity tedious. That was why Marie didn¡¯t even have high expectations of her ¨C she hoped it would be okay as long as they didn¡¯t have to throw away the ingredients but¡­ ¡°What, is this?¡± Even Marie was struck speechless. ¡°An udon?¡± Hua replied, albeit with a question mark despite being the cook herself. She then ced the cutleries and the dish onto the table with speed. Udon. Right. Kimchi udon ¨C it sometimes came out in the cafeteria as a special menu item. It was a dishbining the udon and kimchi of the East; it was quite popr and it was understandable that Hua would pick it as someoneing from the East. However, there was a fundamental difference between the cafeteria and Hua¡¯s dish. An udon was not supposed to boil likeva. The soup wasn¡¯t supposed to stick onto thedle, nor should it be deep-red like fresh magma scooped up from a volcano. Even the noodles looked like tentacles thrashing around in the depths of a volcano than normal noodles. ¡°This is¡­ udon, right?¡± ¡°¡­Yes. Korin said he likes fried noodles.¡± This was clearly not a normal udon, nor was it fried noodles which were supposed to have no soup. This dish was something sitting in the middle¡­ and it was an insult to categorize this as udon. ¡°Have some.¡± Was this perhaps an attempt to poison her foe? Marie picked up a fork with her trembling hands and pushed it through the so-called fried udon. -Chiiik! ¡°Hiik¡­!¡± This was not it. This was clearly not right. An udon was not supposed to sound like that! ¡°Uweek¡­¡± ¡°I, I can¡¯t¡­ Ren.¡± The wolf siblings, due to their sensitive noses, could not breathe from the Scoville units soaring up from the surface of the udon. ¡°Korin likes it.¡± ¡°Korin does?!¡± There was no falsehood in her words. It was true that Korin liked kimchi udon, and he also ate it without leaving a single scrape behind. However, that wasn¡¯t because he liked the vor of this specific dish that Hua made, but because his pride as a ¡°spicy-loving Korean¡± kept him going. ¡°Ugh¡­ R, really?¡± If Korin liked it¡­ then Marie could even jump into a pit of mes with straws of hay. Ahh, how brilliant was the power of love? Despite wearing a deep frown, she carried the fork over to her mouth just to enjoy the same dish that Korin did. And¡ª ¡ªSO SPICYYYYY!! A deafening scream echoed across the dormitory. ¡°¡­Did I do it wrong?¡± Hmm¡­ You know the 10,000 SHU that Korin-oppa was talking about¡­ is that really something people can eat? Eating the noodles that she herself made, Hua licked her lips and tilted her head. *** That night, I had dinner with my friends at the cafeteria. ¡°I¡¯m fucked.¡± ¡°Yeah. Damn right, you¡¯re fucked.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I asked you if you can handle it.¡± Four people werepeting for the Lady of Autumn position; Estelle, Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran. Four people! Those four people were telling me to give them a ribbon. A big problem here was that there was only one me! ¡°Simple. Just pick one and give them a ribbon,¡± Jaeger suggested. ¡°No. I can¡¯t do that. The rest will be disappointed¡­¡± ¡°What if they were all drowning in the ocean and you could only save one person? You have to make a decision.¡± ¡°I will save all of them without letting anyone die!¡± ¡°Yep. Ain¡¯t happening here.¡± Jaeger and Lark were grinning like it was fun. Such terrible friends! ¡°T, there has to be a way¡­¡± That was when I spotted Master walking from far away. ¡°Korin~!¡± She greeted me before asking the usual questions with sparkling eyes. ¡°Have you had dinner? How are you feeling? Are you having a rough time because of the uing exams?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°ra prepared some healthy dishes so why don¡¯t we¡­ Oh. Student Jaeger and Student Lark.¡± Master was so focused on me that she btedly noticed their presence. She praised them for their work and gave them a tap on their shoulders. ¡°You both got promoted before the summer holiday, didn¡¯t you? Excellent work. Keep it up.¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­ T, thank you!¡± ¡°Gulp¡­! T, thank you.¡± Jaeger and Lark were evidently nervous from how beautiful she was. She turned her head towards me straight away and that was when I saw the golden line around her neck. ¡°You¡¯re wearing your ne today.¡± ¡°Ah? Yes¡­ Considering who gave it to me, of course I would.¡± ¡°It¡¯s pretty. You¡¯ve been wasting your beauty for far too long.¡± ¡°Uht¡­ Seriously. This disciple of mine¡­¡± Master said with a smile but she suddenly slurred the end of her sentence while looking somewhat awkward. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. ¡°Ah¡­ The thing is, there has been some trouble at the staff meeting.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Was it happening already? It should be impossible but considering how different this iteration waspared to the previous one, anything could happen. ¡°The thing is¡­¡± ¡°Please tell me what it¡¯s about. I will help you no matter what it is.¡± ¡°A, aht¡­ It¡¯s very reassuring to hear that. Actually¡­ It¡¯s been decided that I will be attending the Lady of Autumn contest this year.¡± ¡°¡­Pardon?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a custom for one of the staff to attend the Lady of Autumn contest every year. Everyone else was either experienced or turned it down so¡­ Kuhum! What a childish thing to do at my age.¡± Seeing her shake her head in embarrassment made both my face and mind turn white. ¡°Oh right. What contest are you nning to join, Korin? I know you are a wonderful boy who will receive a ribbon no matter the contest, and I am wondering who you are going to give that to.¡± Umm¡­ ¡°Ah! I¡¯m not telling you to give it to me¡­ Ahaha, it would be immature of me to be a Lady of Autumn at my age. I just need one ribbon from someone.¡± Without noticing the pale look on my face, Master continued with a wide smile. ¡°Then¡­! Let¡¯s have some food togetherter today! Good luck with your studies!¡± My body shivered as I looked at her walking away with featherweight feet. Jaeger and Lark shook their heads while looking at me. ¡°It¡¯s fine dude. It just went up from four to five.¡± ¡°Aiya~ this is gonna be an interesting sight to behold. Who are you giving it to?¡± Marie, Alicia, Hua Ran, Estelle, and even Master¡­ I couldn¡¯t pick any one of them. If I chose one person to give the ribbon to¡­ that would make everyone else terribly sad. ¡°There¡¯s only one way out.¡± Lark shook his head and said, which sparked Jaeger¡¯s curiosity. ¡°Is there a way out of this?¡± ¡°Suicide. That¡¯s the only option.¡± ¡°Hoh. I second that. That¡¯s the only option indeed.¡± These useless friends. However, there definitely is a method where everyone wins. ¡°At this point¡­ there¡¯s no other option but to give all five of them a ribbon.¡± ¡°What!¡± ¡°Is that even possible?¡± It was possible. Theoretically. ¡°I just have to attend five contests in the Harvest Festival and win all five of them. Huhuhu¡­ Huhahahahaha¡­!¡± ¡°¡°¡­Good luck.¡±¡± There waspassion and pity in their eyes. Stop! Don¡¯t look at me like that! Chapter 200: Reaping What You Sow (3) Chapter 200: Reaping What You Sow (3) ? Reaping What You Sow (3) ? Not a single ce around the city was exempt from the recent rise of excitement. Certain stories were being shared even at a small street-food restaurant where people were talking over shots of soju. ¨C I heard the Saintess is attending this time! ¨C Wasn¡¯t Marie Dunareff also attending this year¡¯s contest? ¨C This year is gonna be on fire. Naturally, the topic of their conversation was the popr event of the Harvest Festival. Lady of Autumn. The contest marking the climax of the Autumn Festival was gaining even more poprity due to its extravagant lineup of contestants. ¡°Everyone¡¯s talking about the Autumn Festival,¡± said Alicia. ¡°I hope they instead put all that effort into studying for their yearly exams,¡± replied Korin, ¡°Studying is what students are supposed to do.¡± Late at night on a Saturday, Alicia and Korin were out for snacks. ¡°Here you are! Four servings of spicy rice cakes, four bowls of oden soup, and a deep-friedbo!¡± ¡°Can we add some blood sausages on top?¡± asked Korin. ¡°Of course,¡± the owner replied, ¡°would you like some organs as well?¡±[mfn]TL Note: Sundae (Korean Blood Sausages) are usually served with cooked liver or lungs.[/mfn] Turning to Alicia, Korin asked her the question instead. ¡°Alicia, do you like organs?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pass.¡± ¡°There you go. No liver, but can you add more sausages instead?¡± ¡°Sure thing~¡± When the owner returned to her post, Korin sneaked a nce at Alicia and hinted at something by pretending to drink a ss. ¡°No drinking.¡± replied Alicia after seeing through what he was suggesting. ¡°A ss or two can¡¯t hurt, right?¡± ¡°I have to go to Unni¡¯s room after this so¡­ she will tell me off if I go there drunk. Besides, we are still underage. You know that, right?¡± ¡°Haa~¡± Korin sighed at her orthodox yet boringment. Although he was underage right now, he was more than double Alicia¡¯s age if he were to add up all the years he had lived, so the prohibition of alcohol was a huge deal for him. ¡°An oden soup without soju¡­?!¡± Hemented as he nkly looked at the bubbling pot of oden soup, which seemed closer to the J-style of making it rather than the K-style. ¡°You are getting much better these days,¡± said Alicia, pulling him out of his grief, ¡°Ah, I¡¯m talking about your control over the Domain. I have no right toment on anything apart from that, after all.¡± ¡°You¡¯re being too modest. I¡¯m on a loss streak thanks to you.¡± Korin replied while carrying his fork over to the soup. He scooped up a piece of konnyaku from the soup, brought it to his personal bowl, and used adle to pour the soup into his bowl. ¡°But I will still lose in a real fight. I just¡­ can¡¯t imagine myself beating you, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know about that.¡± He sipped the soup while reflecting on the spar they had moments ago in the training room. Recently, Alicia was on fire. Ever since her fight against the Sword Fiend, she was on a rampage. Although the Heavenly Sword she demonstrated during that fight was still far from being within her reach again, that life-or-death fight had enhanced her overall potential. ¡°I should have practiced more. I was afraid of swords for a foolish reason.¡± ¡°What matters is not the amount of experience, but the quality.¡± Korin himself was a great example of that. The amount of time he spent wielding the spear was 3 years from thest iteration, added to the 2 years he had in his current life. Quantitatively, he fell shortpared to other knights who spent all their lives polishing themselves, but the reason he was on par with Lunia, the Sword Master, in terms of his mastery over the spear, was because of the density and quality of each and every experience he had. Oveing the threat of death numerous times, he fought against and defeated the strongest powerhouses of this world, so it was safe to say that he had reached his full talent even before the regression. ¡°Ugh¡­ Maybe I should beat up Grandpa or something.¡± Alicia let out a tremendously unfilialment while casually biting off a piece of oden. Surprisingly, she looked very serious. ¡°I feel bad for that old man.¡± said Korin. ¡°He deserves it.¡± Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden. In the game, he simply appeared as an NPC empowering Alicia or Lunia. Although he contributed quite significantly to the final war, it was a story that wasn¡¯t covered in the game. ¡°How about we instead force Grandpa to fight Tates, that scary old guy? He¡¯s¡­ frighteningly strong but grandpa is not weak himself either.¡± ¡°It will be a good battle.¡± It was a set of events that did not happen in the game. Korin tried to make it happen in thest iteration but¡­ ¡°That old man has other things to attend to.¡± There was a reason why he wasn¡¯t the main character of the final battle, and a big shot like the Sword Emperor not showing up during the final war had a reasonable exnation behind it. ¡°I see.¡± Alicia didn¡¯t ask for more in spite of his short exnation. Unlike Marie and Estelle, Alicia didn¡¯t really intervene in the process ofing up with the overarching strategy. She was in the mindset that there was no reason to bother chiming in when everything was already going decently well¡­ and only asked about what she had to do. ¡°Mr. Korin.¡± ¡®Huu~. Huu~.¡¯ After carefully blowing on a piece of oden, she brought it over to his mouth. ¡°Ahh~¡± ¡°¡­This is a bit¡ª¡± ¡°Quick. My arm¡¯s sore.¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± It was a corny thing that new couples would do, but as the grave sinner, he had no choice but to eat it. ¡°You know, about the ribbon.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± The food almost went down the wrong pipe. It was a sudden shift of topic into a rather sensitive one. ¡°What are you going to do? There are five in total including the chairman.¡± ¡°Kuhuhum¡­!¡± Alicia didn¡¯t show it on her face, but she actually found the whole situation quite funny. Even though everyone else was hoping that they would be the one being chosen, Alicia had a slightly different perspective. It was something she realized after submitting her application. ¡°Fuu¡­¡± ¡°Alicia?¡± She deliberately fidgeted with her fingers, before gazing up into his eyes. Then, she floated a bitter smile and re-confessed her feelings. It was a little prank. ¡°You know I like you, right?¡± ¡°U, uhhm¡­ Y, yeah.¡± Korin failed to see through the mischievous tone. Meanwhile, Alicia was feeling rather satisfied after seeing Korin lose his usualposure from just a few words. ¡°I like you. I really do. I really like you, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°T, thank you.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± Please choose me. Choose just me. That was thest thing she would ever say. Because it would be troubling for him, and because she didn¡¯t have the right to say something like that¡­ ¡°You don¡¯t have to give it to me.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± She said words that were inplete contrast to her real feelings with a bitter smile. She liked him. She was certain that she wouldn¡¯t lose to anyone in terms of the depth of her feelings. However, she was still afraid of how she would feel after being rejected, so she decided to give up from the start. Instead ofpeting with everyone else, she was demonstrating the virtue of conceding to others. Although in reality, it was an escape to protect her pride, she took a step back while telling herself that she was giving the opportunity to others. ¡°¡­No.¡± Despite his usual denseness, Korin picked that up from her tone. ¡°I¡¯m giving you a gold ribbon.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ What?¡± ¡°You might call me a coward and unfair¡­ but I¡¯m giving a golden ribbon to everyone.¡± ¡°B, but¡­! You need to win five contests to do that though?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no other option, is there?¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m okay. I¡¯m fine so¡ª¡± ¡°Stop right there.¡± Korin put a firm stop to her words. Having him stare at her with such a serious gaze in his eyes, Alicia felt her pride being filled up to the brim. ¡°You have the right to receive it. Full stop.¡± ¡°Htt¡­¡± Alicia couldn¡¯t find any words to say in response. *** After ate meal, the two of them returned to the guild office. The 10,000 square meters ofnd that Marie had built the headquarters on, was filled with all sorts of convenience facilities. An example of such was the amodation, tailoring to the needs of hundreds of men from the Warsky Mercenaries and the Sword Squad elites. On top of that were the caretakers and trainers of the wyverns and the Hresvelgr. There were a lot of people working for the guild. ¡°Wee back, Boss.¡± ¡°Did you enjoy your meal, Captain?¡± Sentinels affiliated with the Warsky Mercenaries and the Arden Sword Squad weed them from the entrance. As expected of the top elites among elites, they were doing a spectacr job keeping the office safe. ¡°Oh actually, Boss. You have a guest.¡± ¡°A guest? Who is it?¡± ¡°They wanted to surprise you and didn¡¯t want to be known.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Korin and Alicia turned to each other and immediately realized who it would be. ¡°Why do you think she¡¯s here?¡± Alicia asked. ¡°Not sure. Lunia¡­ won¡¯t be there to help us because she goes to bed early.¡± Unfortunately, there were no reinforcements avable. Left with no choice, Korin headed to the guest room. However, suddenly, soft hands covered his eyes from behind. ¡°Guess who~?¡± Her signature energetic voice and the soft strands of her hair tickled his ears. ¡°Est¡ª¡± ¡°Surprise! The answer was the most beautiful person in the world, Estelle-noona!¡± ¡°It¡¯s interesting how you cane up with these silly lines every time you show up.¡± Korin shook his head, while Alicia cleared her throat a few times before being as respectful as she could. ¡°G, greetings to Her Highness¡­¡± ¡°You are always so rigid, Ms. Junior Alicia. As I¡¯ve been saying, you can rx a little bit more around me, okay?¡± ¡°Y, your servant is deeply¡­ appreciative? Of your benevolence, but please have mercy¡­!¡± ¡°It¡¯s all mixed up now. Just be normal.¡± Korin suggested from the side. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Alicia grumbled, saying that only someone like him would be able to do that. The monarchy was still standing strong in this country, and yet in some ways, you could even argue that Estelle was even loftier than the king himself. Even though Alicia had not a single grain of faith ¨C especially after realizing the truth of the Danann ¨C that didn¡¯t mean she could treat the royal family like friends considering all the time she spent viewing them as a higher-up. ¡°You don¡¯t have to force yourself,¡± Estelle said, ¡°I¡¯m fine as long as I¡¯m close to my dear Korin~¡± She unhesitatingly wrapped her arms around him as she said that. Korin frowned but Estelle dug in closer with a bashful smile. ¡°Come on¡­!¡± ¡°Why? Are you embarrassed? We¡¯ve done more, haven¡¯t we?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Alicia didn¡¯t feel very happy seeing her flirting with Korin. My dear Korin¡­ Those words constantly echoed in her ears, as she wondered when the princess suddenly started being around Korin. She was taking a break from the Academy, right¡­? Estelle had been taking a break from the Academy due to her busy life as the Saintess. She was turning 22 this year, which meant¡ª ¡°Four years older than Mr. Korin, huh¡­?¡± Alicia unconsciously blurted those words out. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± It was a shocking remark that no one sawing. Korin and Estelle looked dumbfounded and appalled at the same time. ¡°Y, y, you¡­! Are you insulting me for my age?!¡± ¡°Huh? Sorry? Ahht¡­!¡± Only then did she realize what she said. Her face quickly started to lose color. ¡°A, a four-year difference is not even that much, okay?! That¡¯s nothing! Youuu¡­!¡± ¡°N, no! That¡¯s not it! That¡¯s not what I meant! It¡¯s fine! My sister is also ten years older than Mr. Korin!¡± ¡°¡­Hoh.¡± Suddenly, a voice intervened in the conversation, ¡°This little sister of mine must have been finding meughable this whole time.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Alicia turned stiff like a statue. She slowly turned around and found Lunia Arden ¨C age 28 ¨C standing behind her. ¡°U, unni¡­ W, what I was trying to say is¡­¡± ¡°Forget it. You are attending the Tournament, correct? Let me personally help you train for that.¡± She then turned around with a flick before walking off into the distance. Alicia chased after her while screaming, ¡°Unni~. That¡¯s not what I meantttt!¡± but Lunia kept walking off. ¡°¡­¡± Meanwhile, Estelle¡¯s shoulders were still shivering from the shockingment about her age. ¡°Umm¡­¡± With her head turned away from him, Estelle fidgeted with her fingers, which was very rare for her, and carefully raised a question. ¡°A, are you perhaps not fond of¡­ older women?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Not really? I put more importance on appearance than actual age.¡± He himself was an old man over 40 years of age if he were tobine all the years he had lived, so he didn¡¯t really care. ¡°More importantly, can you contain yourself a bit more? You always try to get so close that it¡¯s troubling.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with being affectionate with the person you like!? And you don¡¯t hate it either, do you?¡± She truly was a confidentdy. ¡°There¡¯s no way a guy would hate a beautifuldy like me hugging them, is there?¡± That was the objective truth. In fact, Korin didn¡¯t necessarily hate it either. ¡°You are right but¡­ I¡¯m just asking you to hold yourself back a little in front of others. Do you know what people are saying behind our backs these days?¡± ¡°I saw the newspaper, so yes.¡± ¡°Wait, it¡¯s in the newspaper?¡± Korin yelled out in shock. He thought it was just a rumor going around the campus, and definitely didn¡¯t expect it to hit the newspaper! ¡°Well, I won¡¯t be able to get married anymore, so you have to take responsibility, Korin-dongsaeng~¡± Estelle giggled with a brilliant smile. Added on top of her flushed cheeks, she looked stunningly beautiful. It would be a lie to say that she wasn¡¯t appealing. ¡°Phew¡­ Anyway, what brought you here?¡± ¡°To tell you about Miru.¡± ¡°¡­What is it?¡± ¡°Technically she¡¯s the victim on the outside, so she will probably spend the Autumn Festival in the pce, even after Ku Shee¡¯s trial is over.¡± ¡°A break from the Academy, I suppose.¡± ¡°Well¡­ It seemed that there were a lot of things going through her head, so it¡¯s best to leave her be for now. On the other hand, everything is sailing smoothly with Mound so far.¡± Korin was relieved to hear that Miruam wasn¡¯t taking any strange actions after thest incident at Mound. If she were to take her stance and politically make it difficult for them, the paperwork for Mound would have taken much longer to process. ¡°How are the beastmen fairing and how are they being treated? You know as well as I do that not all of them are innocent.¡± Even though Ku Shee had taken all the me, there were undoubtedly some criminals among the beastmen. ¡°Nothing so far, but there are people against the idea of letting them stay under your wing. They seem to be finding it a little threatening that you¡¯re getting even more manpower.¡± He immediately understood what she meant. It was all about ¡°safety¡± and ¡°politics¡±. Korin already had more than 400 mages from the Tower of Mages. On top of that, now Mound was serving Korin as the Fairy King, Finvarra, which made them appear as his subordinates. That was definitely dangerous. It was inevitable that there would be people dissatisfied with an individual possessing that much power. Besides, their worries weren¡¯t unwarranted either, because Korin Lork now had a history of going against the royal court¡¯s orders andmitting treason. ¡°That¡¯s annoying. It was obviouslying, but still.¡± ¡°Fufu¡­ You don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡± Her slender fingers grabbed onto his chin, and she gave him a smile with her seductive emerald-colored eyes. ¡°I, the Saintess, am on your side.¡± It was such an attractive and absorbing smile. Estelle found it adorable how Korin tried to conceal his embarrassment by clearing his throat. ¡°I am the Order, and the Order is always on your side. You can make use of that however much you want.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s call it¡­ cooperation.¡± ¡°Hehe, so don¡¯t frown every time I cause a little bit of trouble! If you can¡¯t let me off for something so small, I will be sad.¡± ¡°Kuhum! But still¡­ please hold yourself back in front of others.¡± ¡°I have to do it to show them who you belong to! I can tell it¡¯s going to be rough just from seeing that girl called Alicia.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± ¡°Seems like you already knew that she likes you.¡± ¡°Haa¡­ I am receiving a lot of undeserved love.¡± Estelle slightly changed the topic. Her lips were still forming a smile, but her eyes were a little bit stiffer this time. ¡°By the way, that girl just then is attending the Tournament, right?¡± ¡°Ah. Yeah¡­ I asked her if she could get me the Winner¡¯s prize.¡± ¡°I see. I can get that for you.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°I will attend the Tournament.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to¡­ And are you even eligible?¡± In Korin¡¯s eyes, Estelle had to be a semi-Unique Grade at the very least. Although there was a stronger image of her being a supporter than a member of the party, that by no means meant that she was weak. Her ability to tweak reality with prayers was immensely powerful and had few limitations. ¡°I have never officially, or unofficially, taken any evaluations yet. It was just because of a political reason that I entered the Academy, after all.¡± She had taken a break after spending 2 years at the Academy, and the Academy didn¡¯t force any of their activities on her during that period of time either, because they knew how busy she was. Her campus life was supposed to end with just an honorific certificate that only society viewed as important. ¡°I will give it to you. You don¡¯t need that Alicia girl.¡± Seeing her say that with a rather serious look on her face, Korin revealed his doubt. ¡°¡­You¡¯re being too immature just because she mentioned your age.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it¡­!¡± Estelle banged him on his chest with a yell. Her punches were so soft that it was hard to imagine her overpowering others by force but¡­ This is bad. As someone who knew first-hand how overpowered Estelle¡¯s ability was, Korin couldn¡¯t help but feel troubled. ¡°How are you even going to move back and forth?¡± ¡°I will ask Professor ra for a favor! We will have to make a lot of markers ahead of time!¡± She was saying that she would teleport here just for the matches. Normally, it would be hard for even Lady Josephine to teleport so often but¡­ I guess it would be possible. If Estelle were to bless her with her prayers, then it would definitely be possible. It seemed that the Tournament would turn out to be more challenging than expected. ¡°Haa¡­¡± Unfortunately, he had too many things at hand to worry about that. He had to get himself prepared as soon as possible if he wanted to acquire more than five golden ribbons during the 5 days of the Harvest Festival, which would happen a month from now. ¡°Let¡¯s do it. I have to do it. Let¡¯s go¡­!¡± He had to do it. To at least show that he was trying to reap what he sowed. Chapter 201: A Perfect Plan (1) Chapter 201: A Perfect n (1) ? A Perfect n (1) ? There were three weeks to go until the start of the Autumn Harvest Festival. Two weeks before that, which was in one week¡¯s time from now, was the yearly exam. Normally, students would have around two weeks to prepare for the Harvest Festival but¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll give up on the yearly.¡± ¡°¡­Are you serious?¡± ¡°Bro, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a¡­ good idea.¡± Ren and Ron, who I called over to the sunroom of the dormitory for a strategy meeting, were dumbfounded by my strategy. ¡°There¡¯s no way around it. I don¡¯t want to disappoint them.¡± ¡°¡­You do know that you are reaping what you sow, right?¡± Ron said. ¡°Uhk¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t deny that anymore so instead, I yelled at him. ¡°Buddy! Don¡¯t think you can fool me about what¡¯s happening with you too!¡± ¡°Sorry? What have I done?¡± ¡°You know! You are quite popr among the freshmen girls, aren¡¯t you?!¡± Even from an objective standpoint, Ron was a handsome boy. He looked like a middle schooler on the outside, and each of his gestures must have been quite appealing to the girls. There were even some freshmen girls who wanted to talk to me because they were interested in Ron. ¡°I don¡¯t stick my octopus legs out everywhere like you do though, Bro.*¡± ¡°Where did you learn to say such things? Who taught you these mean words?!¡± ¡°More importantly, Boss. There must be a reason you called us here, isn¡¯t there?¡± Ren asked while looking up at me with calmness in her eyes. She still looked like a 9-year-old on the outside, but she was far more mature and rational than Ron in many areas. So why was it that she wasn¡¯t growing physically to match her mental growth? For someone like me who was aware of her future appearance, it was a big unanswered question. ¡°Simply put, I have to win five contests to acquire the same number of golden ribbons.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you still get a ribbon bying 3rd?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bronze ribbon though. Same for the 2nd ce ¨C they get a silver ribbon. They¡¯ll be disappointed if they get a different color¡­¡± ¡°So that¡¯s the mindset of someone with octopus legs, huh?¡± ¡°Uhk¡­¡± Basically, all of the ribbons I earned had to be golden. I had to win 5 contests and give the same ribbon to all of them. ¡°Is there anyone else you have to give a ribbon to, Boss?¡± ¡°¡­For now, no.¡± Just in case, I asked Lunia if she had any thoughts of participating in the Harvest Festival. ¡ºThere are errands to run during the Harvest Festival, and I would rather not add any more burden on my fianc¨¦.¡» ¡ºM, Ms. Lunia! No! Let me call you, Lunia-noonim¡­!¡» ¡ºPlus, I am looking forward to beating my sister right as she is in the midst of her joy.¡» ¡º¡­Lunia-noonim?¡» I saw a glimpse of impure intentions, but what was important was that Lunia wouldn¡¯t be attending the Festival as a contestant. ¡°What about the Serpent Princess?¡± ¡°Miruam has to run a festival at the royal capital so she¡¯s out! The princesses each have their duties, after all!¡± Therefore, all I had to take care of were Marie, Alicia, Hua Ran, Estelle, and Master. Saying, ¡°All I had to take care of,¡± for five of them was a bit funny though. I opened up the Festival pamphlet that had the dates of various events and all the contests. ¡°This is the list of contests that will be taking ce during the Festival. They will start epting participants from the day after the yearly exam, and for some of them, you can even join on the day of.¡± ¡°Looks like there are some contests with prizes and no ribbons.¡± ¡°The Tournament is one of the main examples. There are a lot of interesting events apart from that. Ah, maybe you guys should join the Design Contest. There is a senior called Elza in the grade above me who likes making clothes, and she wanted to have you guys as her model.¡± ¡°How about you stop meeting more girls?¡± ¡°¡­She¡¯s just a friend.¡± It seemed that the misunderstandings about me were running deep. She and I were just friends who sometimes went to the cafe, had meals, and went shopping together. ¡°Kuhum¡­! Anyway, I picked the five contests that I would be joining.¡± I pointed at the events that had been circled with a colored pencil, which Ren and Ron looked at with intrigue. ¡°Hunting Contest, Food Sales Contest and¡­ the Auction Contest?¡± ¡°The Auction Contest is basically a poprity contest, and it¡¯s one of the things with a high chance of me winning so I have to do it.¡± ¡°Anyway, apart from that is the Mock Trial Contest¡­ which I can understand because you are a JP, but¡­ Magic Exhibition? I don¡¯t really understand thest one.¡± ¡°Yeah, bro. You are not a mage.¡± ¡°There is a way around it. Anyway, the reason I called you guys is to ask for help during the Hunting Contest.¡± ¡°The Hunting Contest?¡± They tilted their heads not knowing how overpowered they would be in this Hunting Contest. ¡°The contest is literally about hunting. There will be unique demonic beasts scattered intentionally across the Hunting Grounds and you have topete against others by the number of points.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t join this contest as a group though?¡± Right. The Hunting Contest indeed only allowed 1 person entries. ¡®1 person¡¯, that is. ¡°In the Hunting Contest, you can use professional hunting dogs.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The two of them turned stiff over time as they looked at each other and back at me. I drove in the final nail. ¡°Me, hunter. You, hunting dogs.¡± ¡°Oh wow.¡± ¡°Boss. Is that how you thought of us¡­¡± ¡°I do know that this is a little questionable! And I do feel very sorry! But no matter how I think about it, this is the best solution left for me!¡± Ren and Ron were golden wolves ¨C in other words, they were the best innate hunting dogs. If they were to beastify into their golden wolf forms, then no other hunting dogs would dare reach their level! ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not asking for your favors for free. I will do anything you want! So please, just this once! Help me out just this once!¡± ¡°¡­How about you ask Doggo for help?¡± ¡°He told me to f off.¡± Doggo was the first one I went to. That little guy¡­! All he does these days is wear loads of branded clothes and hit on the female dogs around the town! He doesn¡¯t know anything about being filial to his parents! ¡°¡­What do you think, Ren?¡± After some thought, Ron asked Ren, showing that he was willing to follow her opinion, and Ren came to a conclusion in a bit. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll help you.¡± ¡°Ohh, Ren¡­! My little cutey!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve done a lot for us, after all.¡± Yes! With this, the Hunting Contest will be mine! ¡°Do you have ns for the other contests too?¡± ¡°Fufu, of course. I have a perfect n for all of them.¡± ¡°¡­Most of your ns fall short in strange areas though.¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s true if you put it that way but¡­¡± The only downside Ren had was that she was too negative! She ought to be more positive like me. ¡°By the way, Senior Hua Ran has two personalities, right? Shouldn¡¯t you give her two ribbons?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± That¡¯s a horrifying conjecture. No way right¡­ ¡°No. It can¡¯t be. She¡¯ll¡­ understand.¡± She¡­ will, right? Think positively! Think positively! *** Ever since the Mound incidentst time, a change had struck the ve mages. Some mages were now stationed at the Korin Guardians office. It was a system that allowed the elite prisoners of each cult to take a breather. Only 5 from each cult, for a total of 35, were allowed toe outside, and it was a benefit that was only granted to less than a tenth of all the ve magesbined. It was nothingpared to their glorious days at the Tower of Mages, but everything was subjective. The mages who were finally allowed to breathe in fresh air without having to do the horrendous salt mine work did not want to give up this part of their life. ¡°You guys have to make the exhibition work for this Magic Exhibition Contest.¡± As a result, they had no choice but to obey Korin¡¯smands. ¡°For the¡­ Exhibition Contest of this festival, is it?¡± Professor Zollin of the Red Cult tilted his head at Korin, who suddenly blurted that out after gathering all the mages into one ce. ¡°Umm¡­ we don¡¯t have enough time. There¡¯s only three weeks until the Harvest Festival¡­¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do it? Oh right. That¡¯s understandable.¡± Seeing him back down like that made Zollin anxious because he had already experienced many times that this lunatic had a different thought process from others. ¡°I¡¯m sure there are some that will be willing to do it. Let¡¯s see¡­ I wonder who I should choose from the list of office mage applicants¡ª¡± ¡°W, we can do it!¡± ¡°Please let us do it. Three weeks! No, even two weeks will be enough!¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t even told you about the topic yet. Well, it still makes me d to see how enthusiastic my guild members are!¡± Korin said while casually tapping on the shoulder of the middle-aged mage who looked twice, at the very least, his age. Zollin was deeply humiliated by it but was smart enough to hide it. No one would know how hard he had to work to gain the right to be stationed here. He definitely did not want to go back to the days of baking salt day in and day out until sunset! ¡°Our goal is the grand prize of the Magic Exhibition Contest! I don¡¯t care about the means, but we need to acquire the golden ribbon.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ It won¡¯t be easy to achieve that with anything normal.¡± ¡°I have everything nned out already.¡± Korin opened up the n he had drafted. ¡°Hohh¡­ this is!¡± ¡°How revolutionary. What an idea!¡± The mages responded positively. Korin gave them an idea from Earth, which they could re-enact through the power of magic. The resulting item was one that would certainly gain the spotlight in the Exhibition Contest. Besides, it wasn¡¯t hard for the mages to understand the principle and structure of the design. Although they were nothing more than ves now, they had been and still were the top intellectuals of this world. The group was full of elites, and therefore analyzing a rather elementary design of a person from modern Earth was not too difficult. ¡°But this structure. Although it is mindblowing, it is hard to imagine how we can make this possible.¡± ¡°I am not sure if our metallurgy technique can catch up to this idea. Theoretically, we would need thousands of pumps to be done in a single minute.¡± They agreed that it was a great idea, and in fact, there was something simr in existence already, and this was just a smaller and morepact version of it. The problem, however, was this ¨C how were they supposed to create this revolutionary item? ¡°So how do we make this?¡± one of the mages asked. ¡°Why are you asking me?¡± Korin replied. ¡°Hnn?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± All the mages, who had been in admiration for his revolutionary idea, turned to him at once but Korin simply shrugged his shoulders in response. ¡°That¡¯s something for you to work out from now on.¡± This fucker¡­ The mages barely held their tongues in ce. *** There were a total of five contests that I had topete in during the Autumn Harvest Festival. The first of them was the Hunting Contest. So long as I had the best partners, Ren and Ron, the Hunting Contest was going to be a no-brainer. Besides, I also had the magic spear Gae Derg, which excelled in hunting beasts. The second of them was the Magic Exhibition Contest. Although it was going to be submitted under the name Korin Lork, the mages of the Tower were the ones who would be making it. I just gave them a rough idea and told them to make it, but victory was guaranteed as long as they could make something basic. I knew that because Park Sihu had won this contestst year with the same idea. In the first ce, the Magic Exhibition Contest was designed for the yer to be able to win with rtive ease. None of the other contestants made anything grandiose. I guess Professor Deina would be the only other person with a notable project? She might get the second-ce prize or something. Normally, because the Tower of Mages was still around during this time of the scenario, they were the ones who normally grabbed all the prizes rted to magic. If the yer didn¡¯t join the contest, they would have been the ones winning it. The thing about the Magic Exhibition Contest was that it was a ce to show off your potential and future possibilities, instead of creating something perfect. There was no need to create the finished product to win it. Apart from the Hunting Contest and the Magic Exhibition Contest, there were three others. The Auction Contest, the Food Sales Contest, and the Mock Trial Contest. The Auction Contest was like a poprity auction, where knights and mages put themselves up as the prize and had a meal with the highest bidder. The money used in the auction would be used for the poor, and the prices never went over the top, so it was easy to win even with a little bit of money. I was going to put myself up for auction and I was going to buy myself; of course through another person. Five gold coins should be enough. There¡¯s no way people would be stupid enough to spend more than that for a single meal, right? I guess I will stop Marie from going to the auction though, just in case. Everything rted to money would be a mess with her in the fray, and I wasn¡¯t going to leave any rooms open for surprise anymore! With that out of the way, the remaining two contests to worry about were the Food Sales Contest and the Mock Trial. The Food Sales Contest was quite literally a contest where students put up food stalls andpeted for profit. This should be an easy win for me, just like thest iteration. Andst but not least was the Mock Trial Contest. This was something I decided to attend after studying as a Justice of the Peace. It was quite an interesting event where Professor Edgar Linton would toss out difficult conundrums for a mock trial betweenwyers and prosecutors. The other reason why I chose this contest as the final one, was because I wasn¡¯t confident in winning the other contests as much as the Mock Trial Contest. I couldn¡¯t attend the [Crossdressing Contest] and stuff, right? Ah, actually, we did do it in thest iteration, but it was Park Sihu and not me. He won because as the yer, he looked quite feminine yet handsome. Besides, even the cross-dressing contest was just a poprity poll. Speaking from my experience as the one who dressed Park Sihu, I could say that winning the contest wasn¡¯t that difficult. There aren¡¯t many proper contestants and the prizes are decent but¡­ I ain¡¯t doing it! Never in my life! I wasn¡¯t crazy. There was no way I would join the crossdressing contest and embarrass myself like that! ¡ºSihu. Trust me, you can do it, okay? To be honest with you, you look really pretty. So just take that in as a fact and be confident. We can do it!¡» ¡­Hmm, I suddenly feel like a piece of trash for saying that in thest iteration. But seriously, crossdressing did suit Park Sihu quite well. Even though he swore every second sentence and had zero manners, he looked like an angel when dressed like a girl! It was an easy win so why wouldn¡¯t he do it? Right? It was only natural that I ended up thinking that way. As opposed to that, it was impossible that I would look good dressed like a girl. Look at me ¨C these awesome biceps and triceps; the fruition of working out! Crossdressing would only work for feminine-looking guys like Park Sihu and Ron, and it would be horrible for a person like me. ¡°Maybe I should ask Ron to do it.¡± It would be a sure win if Ron were to do it. He didn¡¯t even need to wear makeup. He looked the same as Ren except for the t chest, so as long as we put him in a dress¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Uwek. No. Were you¡­ looking at me like that, bro?¡± ¡°What are you thinking, Boss? How can you ask him for something like that!¡± ¡°¡­Wait, you¡¯re making me look like a piece of trash now! I¡¯m telling you; the prize is pretty good, so let¡¯s halve it between us!¡± ¡°Why would we halve it!? Even if we were doing it, we would have to take the whole thing!¡± Tch. As expected of Ren, she was clever despite her childish appearance. It seemed that I had no choice but to give up on this round¡¯s Crossdressing Contest. Chapter 202: A Perfect Plan (2) Chapter 202: A Perfect n (2) ? A Perfect n (2) ? Time flew by until it was Friday. ¡°Uwahhhhhh¡­!!!¡± The exams were over. Cheers and sighs of relief could be heard all around the campus. The smiles blooming on the faces of the students weren¡¯t solely because it was the end of the official courses. Although the exams were over, they still had toplete theirpulsory missions before the winter holidays, but even that couldn¡¯t take away the excitement of the uing festival. Merkarva Academy was going to be open to the public on a scale iparably bigger thanst year. Parents who were here to see their kids, tourists, and the citizens of the city ¨C all of them would be stopping by the Academy for this enormous event. Which means there will be a loophole in their otherwise perfect security. Thinking about all the incidents that would hit us throughout the Autumn Festival put me in a jittery mood, but I was doing my best to prepare for it already. But would it be okay to do it the same as thest iteration? I was slightly skeptical because the current situation at hand was incredibly different from how it was in thest iteration during this same period of time. Whatever the case, the preparations were all in ce. It was hard to predict all the butterfly effects that might ur, but all of our strongest cards were already in y. I returned to the dormitory with such thoughts running through my mind. Everyone was already back home by the time I came back, which I noticed after going to the sunroom as previously ordered by Lady Josephine. I went into the sunroom and saw Marie waving her hand. ¡°Korin! Here¡­! It¡¯s empty here!¡± She shouted while tapping on the sofa she was sitting on. I was about to sit next to her as usual but¡­ ¡°¡­¡± That was when I felt a re from behind. It was Hua Ran. Ignoring the gaze, I sat next to Marie. Then, Hua Ran followed suit and sat next to me. ¡°Kuhum¡­¡± I ended up having a flower in each hand against my will, and it was by no means a positive urrence. Having the two of them re at each other in silence made me break a sweat. ¡°What wonderful teamwork you are demonstrating already.¡± Lady Josephine clicked her tongue and gave a sarcasticment the moment she walked into the sunroom. ¡°¡­Please help.¡± ¡°You reap what you sow. Deal with it yourself.¡± She raised her sses with her fingers and cold-heartedly dismissed my plea for help. Unfortunately, I was stuck in that ufortable state until Ren and Ron came for my help. ¡°Looks like everyone is here.¡± ¡°Hmm? What about Princess Estelle?¡± Two of the tenants of the dormitory, the two princesses, were nowhere to be seen. Miruam was in the capital so that was natural, but Estelle had taken the exam today with everyone else, so where was she? ¡°Student Estelle said she will apply for the Tournament today. This does not apply to her so we will go straight to the topic at hand.¡± It seemed that everyone that needed to be here was here. Josephine started to speak before the tenants. ¡°The preparations for the Harvest Festival start today and so will the qualifying rounds of the Tournament. ¡°Normally, we wouldn¡¯t speak separately to a group of students like this, but there is still a leftover uproar from the recent demi-human incident. ¡°Everyone here except for Student Korin are referred to as ¡®demi-humans¡¯ by society and are feared by them. Unfortunately, this is an undeniable fact and reality. ¡°And as you know, Student Hua Ran and Student Marie had to be under severe surveincest year during the 1st semester, with restrictions on leaving the campus. ¡°There are no longer any restrictions and you are free to participate in any contest you wish to but¡­ ¡°As you know, there will be arge number of normal civilians in the Harvest Festival, andbined with the free, outgoing atmosphere surrounding the Academy, it is bound to result in several incidents. All types of people will gather including those with impure intentions and prejudices so please avoid having unnecessary conflicts.¡± It was a long speech but she was basically telling us to not create amotion. It reminded me of the time when I was going on a vacation in the military and was told how fighting against a civilian would do me no good and only bad things would sprout from such a bout. ¡°Well then¡­¡± Near the end of her speech, Lady Josephine scanned through the audience before closing it off. ¡°Everyone, please enjoy a fun and happy festival. That¡¯s all.¡± Autumn Harvest Festival. This would mark the end of the ¡°sophomore episode¡± of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. In turn, while it was a festival for everyone else, it was an event that I couldn¡¯t let my guard down against. Only after this was all over and we hit the winter would I finally be able to take some actual rest. Plus, I had to seriously prepare myself for the festival. The Hunting Contest, Auction Contest, Food Sales Contest, Magic Exhibition Contest, and the Mock Trial¡­ I also double-checked to see if there were other contests I would partake in, but it was difficult because some of them ovepped with others. There was one though ¨C the Crossdressing Contest. It was an unpopr contest that took in participants until the very date of the contest but¡­ Wait, am I setting up a g for myself? For some reason¡­ I was getting some uneasy vibes about it. It was also because my ns, which should normally be perfect, would sometimes go haywire in the most unexpected ces. ¡°Wow~. The festival really is just right around the corner. How do you feel, Korin? This is the first Harvest Festival you¡¯re having in Merkarva, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Marie said she wasn¡¯t participating in any other contests except for the Lady of Autumn Contest. Most people would rather choose to be part of the audience than participate in many of them, so that made sense. ¡°I have friends that are attending the Tournament, so I have to cheer for them.¡± ¡°I see. Should we go together?¡± ¡°Sure. Oh, by the way.¡± Just in case¡­ I decided to ask just in case. Like, I wasn¡¯t going to do it but¡­ ¡°Senior. How do you think you¡¯ll feel if I crossdress?¡± ¡°Haht¡­!¡± Marie suddenly lost her words in a fluster. ¡°Uhh, mhmm¡­! I understand! P, people all have their own set of hobbies! Yes! T, there¡¯s nothing wrong with that! But¡­ you¡¯re not¡­ going to do that with a male after that, right? That¡¯s not right! That is one thing I cannot allow!¡± ¡°Why would you even ask that? That¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°Phew¡­ Thank goodness. Nn. Even if you crossdress¡­ Mhmm! I can understand!¡± Hmm, I knew it. As a southerner, it seemed that Marie was quite conservative. It was a fun contest though, so that was a shame. Again, the time flew by until the first qualifying round of the Tournament. *** There were many different events in the Harvest Festival, but the highlight of the festival, the Tournament, required some qualifying rounds before the actual start. It was unavoidable because of the sheer number of contestants, and they cut the number down all the way until the top 32 were decided. ¡°Korin, are you going to watch the Tournament? Ah, this is something I made by the way.¡± ¡°Ohh~. Potato chips.¡± Marie handed over her homemade potato chips. I took a bite into it as a salty and crispy vor filled my mouth. ¡°I¡¯m a little busy but I do need to go have a look. There are a lot of them attending from our side, after all.¡± Including Alicia, there was also Dorron, Kranel, Yuel, Ren and Ron, Rashid, and Germain¡­ The prizes were decent even if one only reached the top 32, so half of the entire Academy usually went in for it. ¡°That¡¯s true. I¡¯m the deputy master so I will go cheer for them too!¡± She said that while stealing nces at me, so I asked her for herpany. ¡°Should we go together?¡± ¡°Sure! I have some snacks that we can have while we¡¯re watching!¡± Marie said while showing me her favorite basket. She appeared quite excited. The arena for the Tournament was set in the so-called Colosseum, which was located at the center of the campus. It hosted all sorts of events including the recent interim and the final exams so it was a familiar venue for all the students. ¡°If I remember correctly, there are 8 different qualifying rounds, right? Two per grade, was it?¡± ¡°Yep. I also did it once back when I was a freshman.¡± ¡°That would have been exciting to watch. Did you win?¡± ¡°Hehe. I was 2nd from our group!¡± ¡°Was Senior Beazeker 1st?¡± ¡°Yeah. He excels in fights like that, after all.¡± Beazeker. He was one of the named characters that would serve an important role in next year¡¯s episode, whose half-giant tribe I met by pure coincidence during the Tower of Mages incident. Well, I was quite close to him in thest iteration, and he even tried to introduce his sister to me. By the way, I actually participated in the Tournamentst iteration but came 15th from Group 2 and failed the qualifiers. I was semi-Grade 1 and quite strong back then, but there was an unfortunate course of events. In any case, I was walking into the arena with Marie when a familiar set of steps as well as an energetic shout struck me from behind. ¡°Korin-dongsaeeenggg!¡± Estelle gave a tight hug from behind, leaving not even a millimeter of gap between us, which inevitably made my back touch something incredibly soft. ¡°¡­I told you not to do that when we are in front of everyone.¡± ¡°Hehe! Are you here to cheer for your noona?¡± ¡°That too.¡± She rubbed her cheek on my face while smiling like a fool and I heard voices saying, ¡®That son of a bitch,¡¯ from all around. ¡°Korin¡­ Are you smiling?¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± Marie¡¯s voice was so cold that I immediately freed myself from Estelle¡¯s hug. After letting go of me, Estelle looked back and forth between me and Marie. ¡°Ms. Junior Marie. You are not attending the Tournament, are you?¡± ¡°What a shame,¡± Estelle added with a smile. Even I could tell the provocative tone behind her smile. ¡°I will be winning today so cheer for me!¡± She immediately darted off after saying that. ¡°¡­¡± Marie remained silent for a while after that. It might be just me¡­ but she seemed like a volcano ready to erupt any time soon. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ There were 8 different qualifying rounds. It was two rounds for each grade, with about 100 of them fighting at once. ¡°So Alicia and Kranel are in Group A of the 2nd-years!¡± I recognized a lot of the names of the people in our grade. Alicia, Yuel, Dorron, Kranel, and Jaeger. I took monopoly of all the key talents with promising futures when founding the guild, so all of them were affiliated with Korin Guardians. They were pretty much the strongest from our grade and were all strong enough to reach the actual Tournament but¡­ ¡°Hmm~. Do you think Alicia wille 1st?¡± ¡°Who knows.¡± Alicia was indeed the strongest from our grade except for me, and in terms of closebat based on pure skills, no one came close except for maybe Dorron and me. ¡°She might get disqualified in a sh though. And it¡¯s highly likely that Kranel will lose in the first 10 seconds.¡± ¡°¡­I guess that¡¯s true,¡± Marie nodded. She knew the nature of this qualifier. Well, she did experience it firsthand in the previous Tournament. As for me, I was also aware of its nature due to experiencing it firsthand. ¡ºThe participants of the 2nd grade qualifying Group A. Please enter the stage.¡» 2nd-grade students started crowding the arena immediately after the announcement until there were roughly 110 students inside the arena. There were around 220 participants from our grade alone, which meant Group B would have a simr number of students. ¡°Ah~ I found Alicia and Kranel. Good luck, both of you!¡± It seemed that Dorron and Yuel weren¡¯t in the same group as them. Alicia, who stood out even amongst her peers inside the arena, waved her hand after finding me. ¡°Ah, now¡¯s not the time to care about us though.¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯re right.¡± Marie and I watched the innocent smile blooming on Alicia¡¯s face with the same line of thought running through our minds. Her innocence was in stark contrast to everyone else around her¡­ and it was even more evident from a distance. All of them were vignt of her. Unlike the ¡°Festival¡±, the cultural interchange with another academy, the Tournament of the Autumn Harvest Festival put a lot of emphasis on efficiency and saving time. It was because there were a lot of other events apart from the Tournament that warranted the same amount of effort. That was why the qualifiers were done swiftly and efficiently, and that was achieved by putting more than 100 contestants into one area for a battle royale. Losing consciousness and leaving the arena would immediately have them disqualified. Only 8 people from each grade were able to reach the actual game. For the 2nd year students, there were 220 divided into two groups of 110, which meant only 4 would make it out of Group A. It would go on until 4 were left on the stage. So, what would they do first when 110 people were standing in the arena? The answer to that question was straightforward. ¡°Take him down first!¡± ¡°Beat him up before he can summon his golems!¡± ¡°Huh¡­?¡± Gang up on the strongest people. It was the most rational and obvious n for them. The first to be disqualified was Kranel. It was so quick that it seemed extremely cruel. *** Before the start of the match, Alicia vowed to herself that she woulde out victorious from this Tournament and give the prize to Korin. The Saintess is participating as well, isn¡¯t she¡­ Alicia didn¡¯t want to lose to her. Korin had asked her to do it, so she really wanted to win. Of course, a battle against the Saintess would only happen if Alicia were to pass the qualifiers but she wasn¡¯t concerned in the slightest because she couldn¡¯t imagine herself failing at the qualifying rounds. Fortunately, Mr. Dorron is in the other group! And I know how to y around Mr. Kranel! He can¡¯t use that Super Golem without Ms. Yuel, so I can do it! There was a time when she had such innocent thoughts running through her mind. ¡°Get Alicia first!¡± ¡°Gang up on her!¡± ¡°Huaaang¡­! Stop following me! What have I done wrong!?¡± The qualifying round of the Tournament was a battle royale of more than 100 students crammed into an arena that went on until there were 4 standing. In other words, anyone could pass as long as they survived the longest. However, most of the participants were either Grade 3 or Grade 4 guardians, and they knew very well that they had no chance in the actual rounds against higher-grade guardians in a 1-on-1 battle. Right. Therefore, the qualifying rounds were the only ce where they could defeat the higher-ranked guardians, and everyone had a simr line of thought in their minds. If we deal with Alicia Arden here¡­ If we deal with Kranel Luden here¡­ Maybe I can be one of thest four? That same rule applied to other groups as well, therefore, it was harder for higher-grade guardians to reach the actual stage surprisingly. It was because they were themon enemy of every participant of that group. ¡°You guys are so mean!!¡± Thanks to that, Alicia had to run around the entire round and barely pass as the 4th. ¡°Huek¡­ Hueeek¡­! That was scaryyy¡­¡± Korin in thest iteration got disqualified by them ganging up on him, but it appeared that Alicia was better than Korin at running away. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ After that round of shock and horror, Alicia became a part of the audience and watched the next qualifying rounds unfold. ¡ºNext up is the 3rd grader¡¯s Group B! Everyone, please enter the stage.¡» 3rd grade Group B. There was someone in that group who immediately gathered the eyes of others. ¡°Hello everyone~¡± Standing nonchntly despite the vignt and cautious gazes of everyone around her was Estelle Hadassa El Rath. Her lofty status and appearance made her the target of awe and admiration, but it was a different story inside an arena. Not many people knew about the Saintess¡¯s ability to fight. She was a prayer rather than a fighter. She was the one closest to the Lord, who had the power to bring forth miracles like healing the sick and recovering pollutednds. Was she strong? She must be, right? The only answer they had for that question was, ¡°I heard she¡¯s strong but¡­¡± Beazeker was in Group A so¡­ Marie¡¯s not here either, so the Saintess is the only one to be wary of from this group. Whatever. Let¡¯s just attack her first. The Tournament had an appealing prize for the winner, but there was a rather decent reward given just for reaching the top 32. The 3rd year students, who were blinded by those rewards, weren¡¯t willing to show respect, even to the Saintess. ¡°Unfortunately, Saintess, this is a formal battle and it cannot be helped.¡± Everyone was looking at the Saintess even before the start of the round. Back when Alicia started her round, there were around 50 of them that pounced at her at once, and the same appeared to be true for the Saintess. No matter how strong, it was hard for anyone to deal with arge group running in at once unless one had arge AOE skill like Korin¡¯s Sun or an overwhelming defense like Hua Ran. ¡°I didn¡¯t bring my weapon so that you don¡¯t get hurt by ident,¡± the princess said in a light tone. ¡ºReady yourselves!¡» ¡°Pleasest more than 10 seconds.¡± ¡ºStart!¡» Immediately, a powerful and sublime energy started to gather in the Saintess¡¯s hands. ¡°No trials will be given except what ismon to mankind.¡± The 3rd-year students all ran in at once, not knowing the future waiting ahead of them. Meanwhile, the Saintess continued ¡°praying to herself¡±. ¡°The trials I give might be a little¡­ difficult to ovee.¡± Her fingers closed one by one. It was a natural course of action to form a fist, but the air around her was beingpressed along with her grip. ¡°This is the will of not the lord, but myself.¡± Sacred Energy ¡ª A Slightly Strong Punch She mmed down her fist towards the ground of the arena. As soon as the unimaginablepression of energy collided with the ground¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª!!! The world lost its sound. ¡°Ehk?¡± ¡°¡­Heh?¡± Silence befell the crowd. An unimaginably destructive explosion was followed by a thickyer of dust covering the arena. Soon, the dust settled back down and revealed the shocking state of the battlefield. ¡°What the heck¡­ is that?¡± ¡°Like, what in the¡­¡± The arena waspletely destroyed as if it had been struck by a grand spell. It was useless to even talk about who was disqualified and whatnot. Most of the qualifying contestants who had been running towards her were blown away just like the arena itself. Alicia, thanks to her incredible eyesight, witnessed Estelle scratching her head in the midst of the thinningyer of dust, whispering to herself with her tongue sticking out. ¡°Amen~¡± Can I¡­ beat her? I don¡¯t think I can¡­ Chapter 203: A Perfect Plan (3) Chapter 203: A Perfect n (3) ? A Perfect n (3) ? Located north of Merkarva City was a small mountain called the Moonlit Hill. The slope wasn¡¯t intimidating and the scenery from the hilltop was a sight to behold, which invited many hikers to the mountain. And recently, rumors started to spread about the mountain climbing tracks, with the primary people involved being middle-aged women. ¨C I¡¯m telling you. His body is incredible and it¡¯s just¡­ yeah! Amazing! ¨C I heard he¡¯s a student of the Guardian Academy. ¨C Juste along for goodness¡¯ sake. It¡¯s good exercise as well! Finally, when a middle-aged woman sessfully persuaded four of her friends to reach the middle of Moonlit Hill, they came across a strange sight. ¡°Let¡¯s go. One two! One two! Shout out loud¡­! Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°One two!¡± ¡°One two!¡± ¡°Louder! Brothers and sisters! Is this all you got!? LOUDER!¡± ¡°ONE TWO!!¡± ¡°ONE TWO!!¡± ¡°Knees down for ¡®One¡¯, and hands on the ground for ¡®Two¡¯! And jump at ¡®Three¡¯! Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°¡°ONE TWO!!¡±¡± ¡°There you go! You¡¯re nailing it!¡± It was a puzzling sight toe across. A young man wearing a short pair of pants that were sticking to his skin and a sleeveless shirt was shouting out loud, with around a hundred middle-aged men and women mimicking his movements. ¡°W, what is going on?¡± ¡°He¡¯s a knight student of the Guardian Academy, and he¡¯s teaching people how to exercise these days.¡± It all began around 2 weeks ago when the Guardian Academy was busy preparing for the finals. A young man wearing a sleeveless shirt began speeding through Moonlit Hill, which was a popr hiking spot for middle-aged men and women. Even though the slopes were quite gentle, it was still shocking to see someone skipping across the hiking tracks like it was nothing. The hikers began to call him the Flying Squirrel of the Moonlit Hill and noticed that he started to exercise in the middle of the mountain after around 3 days. At the start, people approached him wondering who this handsome young man was, which was nothing strange because experienced hikers were always happy to see young and fresh blood added to the group. Their rtionship quickly escted thanks to the young man¡¯s exceptional speaking skills and amicability. ¡°Korin-dongsaeng. How are you so exceptionally fit? Is it because you are a knight?¡± ¡°Even if you are not a knight, anyone can do it with consistent exercises and a controlled diet. Do you want me to teach you some exercise?¡± ¡°That would be great!¡± ¡°Can I have the muscles you do just by following what you say?¡± ¡°Trust me. Let¡¯s do an in-body checkup, and we¡¯ll start from your cores!¡± Seeing a student of the Guardian Academy was nothing out of the ordinary, but they were nheless elites with a bright future ahead of them. No one was against the idea of a young elite knight helping them exercise for free. Rumors began to spread until the number of people who came to see the knight from the Academy reached over 100. There was especially arge number of middle-aged women. ¡°Oh my~ Korin-dongsaeng. Look at your muscles.¡± ¡°It¡¯s my first time touching muscles this solid.¡± Middle-aged women groping young and fit trainers was quite amon sight in the gym. It was something that personal trainers had to withstand and ovee to earn a living, but the innate insider knight here was unperturbed by it. In fact¡­ ¡°Oh dear!¡± ¡°Did you twitch your chest muscles just then? How did you do that?¡± ¡°Oh wow! Look at them move!¡± ¡°Huhuhu! It¡¯s a muscle magic show only for you, sisters!¡± Korin Lork. An ex-national athlete and a personal trainer. He was an amicable young man who thought nothing of the middle-aged women being a little over-the-top. In fact, he even went as far as to provide them with an extra bit of fan service. Even back in the gym on Earth, he used to be a super popr trainer who led an army of middle-aged women. It was to the point that there were more women in his group exercise sses than in yoga sses. The owner of the gym that he used to work at even grabbed onto his pants and pleaded as such. ¡ºI can retire in peace if you be the director of this gym. Can you please work here forever?¡» ¡ºWait, boss. What are you doing?¡» ¡ºNormally, dating is not allowed but I will turn a blind eye to it, even if you date Hanbyul!¡» ¡º??? What does Hanbyul have to do with any of this?¡» He was a gifted personal trainer who used to promote the gym the most. Of course, some of the people around him had to suffer constantly because of his dense nature but that was a different story. ¡°Make some noise! Let¡¯s pump out our chests¡­!¡± ¡°Oh my oh my!¡± ¡°Kyaakk! Oppa, you¡¯re so hot!¡± Only after an extra bit of fan service as a cherry on top did Korin finish the training for that day. ¡°Oh right, brothers and sisters. Do you guys know about the Harvest Festival happening soon in our Academy?¡± ¡°Yeah, I heard that.¡± ¡°They¡¯re hosting a big event, right? My daughter wanted to have a look as well.¡± It was finally time to reveal the real reason behind all this. Korin naturally shifted the topic to the Harvest Festival and handed out the pre-organized pamphlets. ¡°I¡¯m nning to make some food on that day, and I¡¯ll give them to you at a cheaper price. 10% discount for everyone here!¡± ¡°Oh wow. Really?¡± ¡°We will definitely go to your store, Korin-dongsaeng!¡± ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it!¡± After making the move on thedies, Korin then approached the group of men who were here to learn from him. The men were looking at his bare upper body and his pumped-up muscles with gazes of jealousy. ¡°Brothers. We need muscles like this by next Summer, don¡¯t we?¡± said Korin. ¡°There¡¯s no way¡­ people like us can make muscles like that.¡± ¡°I am jealous though¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that hard. Trust me ¨C just control your diet for 3 months and that sets the foundation. That¡¯s all! Just a little bit of hard work after that and by next Summer, you will be set for a Body Profile and you know? Go to the beach and¡­ well, you guys know, right!?¡± ¡°D, do you really mean it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m saying! And I was trying to avoid saying this because it¡¯s not the most sophisticated way to put it but¡­ if you have muscles, it¡¯ll be amazing at night.¡± ¡°H, hoho¡­! Ehem ehem!¡± ¡°What, kuhum, nonsense are you saying!¡± ¡°I¡¯m serious though! If you work out and eat this then¡­ Kyaa~. It¡¯s really good for men. I¡¯m not¡­ supposed to tell anyone this.¡± Good for men? From past to present, regardless of where one was, thatbination of words was something that men simply couldn¡¯t ignore. After raising their expectations to the extreme, Korin was about to open his mouth but hesitantly shook his head. ¡°Fuu¡­ Nah. I have to keep this for myself. Otherwise, the price is gonna skyrocket.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do this to us! After making all of us curious like this!?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! Don¡¯t hoard all the good stuff by yourself and share it!¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­ You see.¡± Whisper! Whisper! The menmented in shock after hearing his story. ¡°Is that really that good for men?¡± ¡°Absolutely. I only have a small amount being supplied by a friend of mine and I don¡¯t have much in stock either. I was just nning to test out if it is viable for sale during this Harvest Festival.¡± Some of the men, however, immediately looked at him with distrust the moment he said that. It wasn¡¯t strange though, because it sounded like he was trying to trick them. ¡°You¡¯re not doing this just to make money, are you?¡± One of the men voiced out his doubt but he was immediately faced with a rebuttal; not from Korin but from the other people there. ¡°Watch your words, brother. Old man Gan! How dare you say that to Korin-dongsaeng?!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you know he¡¯s the fabulous young man who deals with the trivial and small missions around the city?¡± ¡°E, ehem¡­ What I mean is¡­¡± ¡°If this young man didn¡¯t remove all the Water Demons from the sewage for us, our summer this year would have been rough as hell!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! Back when that freaking pervert kidnapped the youngdies from Beimber Street, something could have gone real bad if he didn¡¯t deal with that in time!¡± Korin Lork was an innately good person, and because he knew about the future, he would often be able to promptly deal with issues before they even became a problem. On top of that, he helped the citizens with missions that didn¡¯t even him much in terms of rewards, therefore, it was inevitable for people to know about his good deeds. ¡°K, kuhum¡­ My bad. Sorry for doubting you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. The world is rough these days so I didn¡¯t take any offense at your words.¡± Korin, who felt a prick in his conscience after seeing the citizens stand up for him with conviction, readily epted the apology. ¡°Then I will see you all at the Harvest Festival, brothers! Let¡¯s all work out together for a bright future!¡± Leaving those words behind, he then headed to the barbershop. The connections he had spread like a cobweb around the city were wider and deeper than what others could imagine. *** With the Autumn Festival right around the corner, Merkarva City had to begin its preparations ahead of time. Merkarva City was the biggest and the most prosperous city among the cities located around the capital. In a cruel world full of demonic beasts and spirits, safety led to prosperity and a gathering ce for many people. Therefore, the higher-ups naturally started to sponsor guardian academies, and arge part of the Chairman¡¯s job was to maintain and deal with those sponsors. ¡°Haha. You really are as beautiful as the rumors say, Chairman Erin.¡± ¡°Do you by any chance have spare time after?¡± Erin ignored the men trying to hit on her and spent a boring day greeting the sponsors of this year¡¯s Harvest Festival. ¡°Ahh~ I miss my disciple.¡± ¡°Sorry? What was that?¡± ¡°Ah. Nothing. By the way, are you participating this year as well, Sir?¡± Glossing over the slip of her tongue, Erin continued the conversation. It was bing more and moremonce recently, and she frequently had to shake her head to remove the image of a boy faintly glimmering before her eyes. ¡°By the way, Chairman Erin. Your ne suits you perfectly.¡± ¡°Really?¡± The man thought it was a good topic to bring up, but it ultimately ended up being a mistake. ¡°This is a gift I received from my disciple for my birthday. He has great eyes for things, doesn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°R, right.¡± Erin, who seemed bored by the sponsor party, suddenly became over-excited, and even the man became slightly agitated, but Erin showed no signs of stopping her bragging. ¡°My dear disciple is so handsome and lovely; he treats his master with so much respect even without being told anything. And there¡¯s nothing toin about his progress either. You teach him one thing, and he learns ten different things and¡ª¡± In the end, she continued bragging about her disciple until the man had to escape in fatigue. ¡°Fuu~¡± She took a break by heading to the bathroom, where she turned to the mirror after washing her face, which had not a single bit of make-up on. ¡°Hmm¡­ Was I a bit¡­ too bold today?¡± She was wearing an open-shoulder dress that explicitly revealed the contours of her body. It was a simple ck open-shoulder dress. She could have worn something better and fancier, but she deemed it inappropriate considering her age. What still put her in a good mood was the gold ne that shone brightly by itself. ¡°Hmm~. Hmm¡­ S, still, I don¡¯t look that bad¡­ Do I?¡± Erin murmured to herself while looking at herself through the mirror. After realizing what she said, her cheeks reddened in embarrassment, but the words of her disciple echoed in her ears and enlivened up her mood again. ¡ºIt¡¯s pretty. You¡¯ve been wasting your beauty for far too long.¡» ¡°Heh¡­¡± It was just a single sentence but it meant a lot to her. Erin took a deep breath to contain the rush in her heart. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ Leaving behind the excited banquet hall, Erin walked out onto the terrace. The party on the night before the Harvest Festival was gaining more and more momentum over time. ¡°So the Harvest Festival¡­ still continues even this year.¡± Erin was one of the few leftover gods in thisnd who knew of the thousand-year-long history. She knew how this Harvest Festival, which had begun even before her birth, had a long and ancient history to it, and how it was originally a thanksgiving festival to Dagda, the Danann of Earth. On this grand festival, several Danann used to receive gratitude in an order. The first of them was Dagda who brought fertility to thend. Then it was Nuada of the Sun and Lugh of Light for supporting the growth of the nts. After that was the Danann of water and rain; followed by the Danann of Music who brought life and energy into the festival. Marking the finale of them all was the Lady of Autumn event, which picked the beauty of the year to be blessed by the Danann of Beauty. Erin remembered the time when the world had been abundant with harmony and joy. However, the ancestors that she used to enjoy the festival with back then¡­ were left behind as nostalgic yet unretrievable fragments of memory. ¡°It¡¯s been 2,000 years, has it? I thought you passed away back then.¡± She said while turning to the beautiful young man, who appeared on the terrace next to her. ¡°Oh dear. Looks like our youngest is quite mad at me.¡± Eochaid Bres ¨C the Danann of Beauty. Even Erin was unaware that he had been alive the entire time. ¡°I remember we couldn¡¯t locate you ever since Nuada banished you from thend. We certainly weren¡¯t expecting you to have been staying under the wing of the northern gods.¡± ¡°I was not staying under their wing. It was a conquest. They too met an apocalypse of the gods, so I ended up returningter than scheduled but¡­ our re-encounter is thanks to that little coincidence.¡± The ce that was now referred to as the Northern Kingdom ¨C that ce filled with demonic beasts used to be prosperous in its own right, and Erin remembered the horrendous disaster that had struck that part of the world. It was even more of a distressing memory for her because there was a time when Erin used to teach the Valkyries of the God King there, back when there was still an ongoing connection between them. ¡°So why are you back here again¡­ and why did you go under Tates? Are you perhaps merely meddling with the affairs of the world on a whim? ¡± Erin barely managed to stop herself from talking about him wounding her disciple. It was because she wasn¡¯t confident that she would be able to hold herself back from pointing her spear out the moment she voiced that out loud. ¡°Well, that is because Valtazar would most probablye out victorious. That is also the reason why the Frost Giants are supporting him.¡± Bres took a sip of the wine that was provided at the banquet for free, before pouring it away as if it was worthless. ¡°The world will realize when the battle is over; about their fake gods and the true existence of gods.¡± But one thing was certain to him¡­ It didn¡¯t even matter who the winner would be at this point. Bres was quite certain of it. ¡°Your boring era of Justice ising to a close. The new world will either be led by the Light or the Sun. ¡°On that note¡­ ¡°Unlike Justice or Beauty, the Light and the Sun are on a different level of necessity.¡± Chapter 204: Autumn Harvest Festival (1) Chapter 204: Autumn Harvest Festival (1) ? Autumn Harvest Festival (1) ? It waste November. Atst, the Autumn Harvest Festival began. It was the biggest festival of the year that went on from Monday till Sunday. The grand opening of the festival began with the entrance of visitors from the city and those from nearby viges. Only during this time of the year would the tightly sealed gates of the Academy crack open. Both the ¡°Festival¡±, which was between Academies, and the Harvest Festival were opportunities to meet the young heroes of the generation and citizens were eager to meet them anytime. ¡°Ren, is the delivery here yet?¡± ¡°Not yet, Boss. What about charcoal?¡± ¡°It¡¯s all done. Ron! Open up the store!¡± ¡°Got it, Bro!¡± From early morning, Korin and the wolf siblings were busy preparing the store. The Food Sales Contest went on for 6 days out of the 7 days of the Festival, and because of the sheer number of applicants, each store was only given 2 days to sell. Every store would then be assessed at the end of the 6-day period, with the top three being named based on their revenue and profit margin. ¡°But are you sure we can win? There are so many contestants. Are you sure we have a chance to win?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that.¡± Korin answered Ren¡¯s doubt while picking up a piece of charcoal with a pair of tongs. ¡°What does it mean to have a lot of contestants? It means it¡¯s a red ocean, and all thepetitors are pretty much the same.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I mean. So there¡¯s no reason why people woulde to your specific store¡­¡± ¡°Huhuhuhu¡­ Just prepare the food. I will show you what magic really is.¡± For some reason, Korin seemed extremely confident. Although Ren and Ron were helping out as assistants, they still found it difficult to understand his confidence. Korin¡¯s store was located at the center of the main streets of the Academy. It wasn¡¯t a bad location but there were tens ofpetitors nearby. How was he nning to differentiate himself from thepetitors and make sales? That was when a group of people approached from a distance while pushing a carriage across. Korin gave them a big wave. ¡°We¡¯re here. Brother Bae!¡± ¡°Aigo, Sir Korin! I hope you¡¯ve been well!¡± The eastern man hurried himself after finding Korin. He was Mr. Brite Bae, who ran a business in Merkarva City. ¡°What do you mean, ¡®Sir¡¯? Just call me brother. We¡¯re brothers, aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Haha, if I may. Brother Korin. This is what you¡¯ve ordered.¡± ¡°Ohh~. Let me take a look.¡± Inside the carriage led by Brite¡¯s workers, was arge fish tank with a bunch of eels. ¡°Haha. Look at these folks! Look at them thrash around! You got us some high-quality eels, I can see that!¡± ¡°They were hard to find so we barely filled up the number you requested. There are a little more than 300 in total. Are you sure you can sell all of it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure I can.¡± Ren looked at the price tag. Half an eel with chives sd was going for 2 silver coins each. It certainly wasn¡¯t a cheap price. Are these really going to sell well at a festival full of kids? Surprisingly, her doubts were answered before long. ¡°Korin-dongsaeng! I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°Ohh! So this is the thing that¡¯s good for men?¡± ¡°Dongsaeng~ I¡¯m here~. Oh wow. Look at how minimalistic the store is. It looks so cute~.¡± People were gathering one by one. The numbers grew in the blink of an eye. ¡°¡­Haa?¡± ¡°Who are¡­ these people?¡± ¡°Guys. Do you know what¡¯s most important in an Academy festival?¡± ¡°Is it¡­ price?¡± ¡°No. Everyone¡¯s willing to spend a little bit more during a festival. In a festival like this, customers are bound to visit the people they know first.¡± Korin Lork. He was the most famous person in the Kingdom right now. On top of that, he was the guardian who dealt with all the annoying missions on the Mission Board to meet the needs of the citizens of the city. Added on top of that were the rumors he spread while teaching the people how to exercise for the past three weeks. All of thembined were enough to increase his revenue in a sh sale like this. ¡°¡­It tastes pretty normal though.¡± ¡°Huhahaha! No one goes around expecting the best food at a festival! What¡¯s important is that they get to meet me!¡± ¡°Uhmm¡­ I feel bad for the other people now.¡± The people visiting their store weren¡¯t limited to the hikers or the middle-aged men and women who worked out at the mountain. ¡°Uncle Knight~. Hellooo!¡± ¡°Ms. Anna. It¡¯s been a while! Is Navi still making trouble for you?¡± ¡°Yo. I did hear you were doing Sales. Is this it? Can I get one of these chicken breast sds?¡± ¡°Yo, Mielle. You¡¯re selling cakes too, right? I¡¯ll definitely drop by.¡± ¡°Grilled eels? It smells¡­ nice.¡± ¡°Professor Deina. You can get them for half-price, so stop having sd all day and grab some.¡± ¡°I, is that okay?¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The sales were going very well. Way too well, even. ¡°Wahh¡­¡± There was no shortage of customers, and the lunch boxes of pre-prepared eels were already sold out. Therefore, they had to move their hands rapidly to grill the new eels. ¡°We¡­ really sold all of it.¡± ¡°How was that ¨C it went pretty well, right?¡± ¡°Absolutely¡­ I think we will easily take 1st ce.¡± Ren was shocked. Only now did she realize that his confidence hadn¡¯t been groundless. ¡°Nothing new anyway,¡± he murmured. ¡°Have you done something simr before?¡± ¡°In the past, yeah.¡± Korin remembered selling a simr amount in the past. To be exact, he was helping a female senior sell grilled skewers when his friends came by until they were all sold out. They weren¡¯t even that good. He only agreed to do it because it would serve to be a good memory but he never expected it to go as well as it did. ¡°By the way, these eels were selling very well¡­ Is there a reason why?¡± ¡°I spread rumors that eels were good for men.¡± ¡°Nn? Only for men?¡± Ren asked back. She wasn¡¯t able to see through the connotation behind his sentence. The environment she grew up in never educated her on such aspects. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°Is it true?¡± ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not.¡± ¡°Ehkk?¡± She looked appalled, seemingly asking, ¡°You lied?¡± with her face. ¡°Actually, chives are good for men but not the eels.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ then why don¡¯t you just sell the chives? Instead of the eels?¡± ¡°Chives are too cheap, and there¡¯s no margin in that. Besides, who would eat chive sd at a festival? Eels work better in both ways.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡± Ren was both dumbfounded and awed by his sales strategy. She wondered that maybe he might be a good salesperson, if not for his personality. In any case, his store ended up a sess with an overwhelming revenue. *** Although the city was enveloped in a festival mood, there were still people who maintained their usual routine. Alicia was one of such people ¨C at least she was this year. She normally wouldn¡¯t be like that, but¡­ she was recently being pushed by a sense of urgency. The Round of 32 she had this morning was easy. She was against someone who barely reached the top 32 by surviving the qualifiers. However, the Round of 16 after that wasn¡¯t so easy. She achieved a narrow victory against Dorron Warsky of the Flying Swords. ¡°Ayayah¡­¡± In one of the private training rooms, Alicia unwrapped the bandages around her shoulder when her wounds started to ache after swinging the sword a few times. Next up would be¡­ The quarter-finals and the semi-finals¡­ And if she were to reach the grand final, it was highly likely that she would face off against the Saintess. Saintess Estelle. Based on the overwhelming might she disyed at the qualifiers, it was evident that she would be a tough opponent to defeat. It¡¯ll be hard I suppose. Unbeatable ¨C that was the objective conclusion she reached, and Alicia could tell simply based on her eyes that Estelle was on the level of her sister. She was a superhuman that should have the title ¡°Unique¡± attached to their name. They were humans who had exceeded the realms ofmon sense. She would probably lose; perhaps it might even be a humiliating defeat. Alicia might be flung off the arena by her punch that half-destroyed the groundst time¡­ But Mr. Korin asked me for a favor. I was the one he relied on. That was why she had to be the one to win. She wanted to do it herself and didn¡¯t want that opportunity to be taken away by anyone else. Besides, it was obvious that the only reason Estelle entered the Tournament was to snatch that away from her. ¡°No¡­ Never. I can¡¯t have that happen.¡± Alicia wasn¡¯t a greedy person by nature, but it wasn¡¯t to the point where she would back down before a love rival. *** A 3rd year student of Merkarva Academy, Isabelle Kirmin, was not very fond of the event called the Auction Contest. The Auction Contest was basically like a chance to go on a meal date with an idol. If the student that put themselves on auction got bought, they would be a knight for that person for that day and spend the whole day with them. It was a contest that aimed to fulfill the chivalrous admiration people had of knights, and it was indeed quite popr. However, most of the people who attended the event were in one way innocent but also immoral¡­ and most of them had implicit intentions. ¡°Senior Buck is on auction today!¡± ¡°Kyaaah~! I¡¯m going to bid on him!¡± ¡°You remember Jane from 1st year? She¡¯s in the auction.¡± ¡°Wow, for real? Can we have a date with her if we have the highest bid?¡± ¡°Alrighty¡­ where¡¯s my wallet¡­¡± The voices echoing around her were from people who were ambitiously aiming for someone. If the person they wanted to date was on auction, they would spend a lot of money to bid on them. People tend to be irrational with anything rted to love and rtionships. Isabelle¡¯s friend was a prime example of that. ¡ºIsabelle! Please!¡» She still couldn¡¯t understand her best friend, Marie, even though she was here to fulfill her wish. ¡ºYou want me to bid on Korin in the Auction Contest? Why don¡¯t you go yourself?¡» ¡ºKorin told me not toe! But I can¡¯t have other girls snatching him away from me! Isabelle! You have to bid on him for me!¡» ¡ºSeriously? Do you really have to?¡» ¡ºWe¡¯re¡­ friends, right?¡» ¡°Haa¡­¡± Due to being warned heavily by Korin, who was cautious about Marie wasting her money, Isabelle had to do it for her as a friend. ¡°Can¡¯t be helped.¡± She had already gotten a lot of money from Marie and, therefore, didn¡¯t see the potential chance of any problems popping up. Most of them are students who barely earn four to five gold coins. They probably can¡¯t spend more than ten gold coins. Of course, there were some diligent people like Korin Lork, who earned a consistent ie by consistentlypleting missions from the Mission Board or those from a wealthy household. However, the former wouldn¡¯t involve themselves in a contest like this, and Marie was the epitome of thetter group so Isabelle didn¡¯t see any chance of failure. ¡®Even when considering Korin¡¯s fame and poprity, 50 gold coins should be the highest.¡¯ ¡°This way please, sir. We have the VIP seat ready.¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± ¡°When was that freaking guying out?¡± ¡°Pretty sure he¡¯sst.¡± She thought it was just a small auction for those with a pink brain, but there were more people present than she expected. The Auction Contest, happening at the small auditorium, was soon filled with people as the auction kicked off. ¨C Hello, our dear guests. A 4th year student weed the guests as the host of the auction. ¨C We would like to thank everyone for visiting our Merkarva Academy today¡ª People apuded when he was done with his greeting. It might be because he wasn¡¯t a professional host, but there wasn¡¯t much ttery in his words and the show moved on fast. One by one, people were auctioned off until one of them reached the highest price to date. ¨C With that, 3rd-year Ms. Junior Luna from the Knight Department has been auctioned at 13 gold coins! Isabelle, who had been watching the auction unfold, frowned at the price. Why would anyone spend so much money for a single day? If not for the fact that the money spent in the auction would be used to save the poor, there would have been many talks about the Auction Contest already. ¡°Ms. Senior L, Luna! C, could you please spend the day with me today?¡± ¡°What, Junior Jun? That was a bit unexpected.¡± The person who bid on the 3rd year senior was a young freshman junior. Hoh, so was this how some people started their rtionships? Isabelle felt like she could somewhat understand why Marie was so cautious about it. ¨C Next up on the auction is the rising celebrity! The one who stopped an entire army by himself! A hero who saved thousands of people! The pride of our Academy, who would definitely be a Unique-Grade knight in the future! Korin Lork-hoobae-nim!!! The 4th grade host sounded extremely energetic and proud to announce him. Following the announcement was Korin Lork walking onto the stage. ¨C The pride of our Knight Department! A genius who was already fighting on equal grounds with the famous Sword Master, Lunia Arden! Champion of the Sun, Korin Lork! What were his other titles again? ¨C Booooooooo¡­! ¨C A yer ying with the hearts of women! ¨C Die! Go dieeeee¡­! The envious boys reacted with boos and cries of disapproval but the girls had a contrasting opinion. ¨C Korin¡¯s here too? Should I bid on him? ¨C Thepetition¡¯s going to be rough though. ¨C A yer, huh¡­? Not wrong. ¨C But he¡¯s not doing that with evil intentions. Korin¡¯s nice. I can vouch for that. ¨C That¡¯s true too. Unlike the guys who were flooding out with negativity, the girls were showing a fairly positive reception towards him. They were true though ¨C Korin was indeed a nice person. He didn¡¯t turn away from people who were in trouble; he was considerate and most importantly, he didn¡¯t have any ulterior motives. He approached everyone with pure goodwill and a great amount of friendliness, and anyone was bound to be positively receptive towards him. Although the boys were booing like that, none of them really hated him from the bottom of their hearts either. ¨C Do you want to bid on him together? There¡¯s no rule saying we can¡¯t share the date, right? ¨C That won¡¯t be bad. Korin¡¯s fun to just speak to. ¨C It¡¯s for a good cause anyway, so let¡¯s grab a few more people and bid together. This will be rough. Korin was a celebrity. Luna, the well-renowned beauty among 3rd year students, was 13 gold coins, so it was obvious that the price tag would skyrocket for Korin. Someone from the audience decided to group up after seeing through exactly that. Even though Isabelle had received a nk cheque from Marie, that didn¡¯t mean she wanted to see her friend waste an astronomical amount of money to bid for a guy. ¨C Well then! Let¡¯s start off by introducing Mr. Junior Korin Lork! ¨C Mr. Junior Korin entered the Academy as a Grade 5 but proved his overwhelming talent by reaching Grade 1 in the mere span of a single semester. His fight against Sword Master Lunia back then demonstrated to everyone what it meant by heaven above heavens. ¨C Last year, during the legendary breakout of the Unique Grade demonic beast, King of Iron Mountain, he yed a crucial role in defeating it. ¨C And led our Academy to victory during the group phase of the Festival against the Purple Hawk Academy! The legends of Immortan Lork still go around today. ¨C This year, he caught countless heinous criminals and became a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace! And we can¡¯t miss out on the famous Dana Shee incident either. ¨C To unravel the knots of misunderstanding tied due to a small group of extremist werewolves, he stood in front of an army of 30,000 soldiers all by himself. He truly was the Champion of the Sun! ¨C The recordings of his victory against the strongest knights and mages of contemporary times and the final legendary duel that changed the map are still being sold at a high premium. The highest official price was 5 white gold coins if I recall correctly! The unending records of his legends made the audience drop their chins in dismay. Few of them were unaware of all of that, but even they were reminded of how otherworldly this person was as they listened to the host list all of them down. A knight in their 2nd year at the Academy was writing down epic tales that were not only legendary but also worthy of leading an entire generation. Everyone present instinctively realized the same truth. Like how it was the Spear Saint¡¯s generation 80 years ago, And just like how the Sword Emperor led his generation 40 years ago, This was the start of Korin Lork¡¯s generation. ¨C Well then, Mr. Junior Korin. What is your hobby? ¨C Don¡¯t bother with the ¡®Mr. Junior¡¯ title. Just call me brother. Brother Rondon. ¨C Huhahahah! Shall I then? Can you talk about your hobbies? ¨C Hobbies, huh? I have a few of them but¡­ I¡¯m not allowed to say ¡®training¡¯, am I? ¨C Hahaha. Please don¡¯t hold yourself back. ¨C Recently, I¡¯ve gotten into cooking. As you all know already, there is no shortage of potatoes in our Academy, right? I¡¯m learning how to cook potato dishes so that we can consume some of those potatoes. ¨C Hahaha! That¡¯s right. The potato warehouses we have in our Academy are definitely quite famous. If only Ms. Junior Marie was here to join us today! The host went on with a free-style and unnned conversation, but Korin answered all of them with ease and even included his own speeches. ¨C You know Senior Elza from the 3rd year, right? She¡¯s making clothes and she said she¡¯ll disy them on the second floor of Liberty Hall B. You should definitely try that out. ¨C One of my peers, Mielle, is selling desserts starting tomorrow, and I rmend them a lot. They¡¯re amazing. ¨C My friend Lark will be hosting a showcase of lifestyle grimoires. Anyone that ns on going to the Magic Exhibition should keep that in mind. Instead of appealing about himself, he introduced his friends and gave rmendations in an interesting manner. He was already famous for being nice, but it must be that consideration he showed every time that he was so popr among his peers. ¨C Let¡¯s start the auction then. What is the price that you are wishing for, Brother Korin? ¨C Can I be honest? ¨C Go ahead! ¨C I¡¯m thest in line, and the highest bid so far was Ms. Senior Luna in the 3rd-year. Nothing more, nothing less. 14 gold coins. That much would be enough. ¨C Hoh~. I can see your confidence seeping through! That was when Isabelle noticed Korin ncing off into a specific part of the audience when saying the estimated price. Turning there, she found a young girl with her golden hair shining brightly in the dark auditorium. Hoh~. Trying to bid for himself, huh? It seemed that he had a n for it already. He was attending more than just a few contests, and it seemed that he really was keen on acquiring five golden ribbons. ¨C Then let us begin with the Auction! Since we are talking about Brother Korin, the lowest bid will begin from 3 gold coins! ¡°3.1 gold!¡± ¡°3.4!¡± It started off slow with silver coins but before long, the number rapidly started to increase in gold coins. ¡°Five coins!¡± ¡°Six coins!¡± ¡°Nine coins!¡± The price reached 14 gold coins in the blink of an eye. As expected, the union of girls was what was driving the price up at a rapid rate. ¡°Nn?¡± That was when Isabelle realized that there was a group of boys that was trying to bid on Korin. The group consisted of Jaeger¡­ and other boys in Korin¡¯s grade. Isabelle was dumbfounded when she spotted the gazes of jealousy in their eyes. ¨C We ain¡¯t gonna sit around watching Korin, that bastard, have a meal with more girls! ¨C Huhehehe¡­! You¡¯ll be stuck with us, Korin! ¨C We won¡¯t let you steal more girls! Ahh¡­ what kind of filthy jealousy is this? Isabelle couldn¡¯t believe the level of jealousy they must have had toe up with such a strategy. It¡¯s not like girls would take interest in you even if you do that¡­ She wanted to lose to them, but Isabelle was also cheering for the sessful romance of her friend, so she raised her hand. ¡°Twenty coins.¡± ¨C Ohh! Twenty gold coins. We have reached twenty! Isabelle¡¯s sudden bid invited the eyes of a few curious people, and one of them was Ren, the golden-haired wolf girl. ¨C Hmm? When Korin found Isabelle, he sighed after looking into her eyes. I know what you mean, she thought to herself. But she had no other choice either. ¡°Twenty-one gold coins!¡± ¡°Twenty-two!¡± The union of boys and girls shot their hands up to not lose. Some of the audience thought it was being too heated up but theoretically speaking, the 2nd ce was 13 gold coins and double that wasn¡¯t even that much considering Korin¡¯s value. ¡°Fifty gold coins,¡± Isabelle said to fling all the flies away to the shock of those listening. Wasting fifty gold coins for a single date? That price tag was enough to astonish even Korin Lork himself. ¨C Wait, Senior Isabelle. I know what¡¯s happening but¡­ isn¡¯t this too much? Just ept your fate and go on a date with Marie. There weren¡¯t any more contestants now that the price reached fifty gold coins. It was an unimaginable price for the Auction Contest but was far from reaching Marie¡¯s monthly allowance. In fact, it was less than her day¡¯s worth of allowance. It felt like the winner was about to be decided but¡ª It was then. ¡°One white gold coin.¡± Another crazy person joined the fray. Chapter 205: Autumn Harvest Festival (2) Chapter 205: Autumn Harvest Festival (2) ? Autumn Harvest Festival (2) ? One white gold coin. That equated to 100 gold coins. There were a multitude of things that could be done with that amount of money. It was enough to purchase a whole floor of a decent building in the CBD, and although it might not be enough for a wyvern, it would certainly be able to buy you the best-bred horses of the South. It was rare for famous and veteran guardians to be paid that much money. Only a few would ever earn the ¡°qualification¡± to handle such high-paying tasks. White gold coins were a type of currency that was hard to see unless they were in semi-Unique Grade subjugation missions, which only epted Grade 1 guardians or whole parties of Grade 2 guardians. Grade 3 guardians wouldn¡¯t even be allowed near it. And yet paying that much money¡ª For a single day? In fact, it would only be half a day ¨C and even then, it probably wouldn¡¯t go all the way till midnight, so it was practically just for a single dinner. How could anyone sane possibly waste a white gold coin for that short period of time? Isabelle, as well as everyone present, turned their eyes to the one who confidently bid a white gold coin. Who in this Academy other than Marie Dunareff was able to waste their money to such an extreme extent? The person that everyone found in search of the lunatic who spent a white gold coin¡­ was a middle-aged man to everyone¡¯s surprise. ¡°Who in the¡ª Uncle Marde?!¡± ¡°It has been a while, Isabelle.¡± It was none other than Marie¡¯s father, Marde Dunareff. Marie might be the imperial princess of the Potato Empire, but he was the Potato Emperor himself. The ruler of the southern empire with the biggest financial influence throughout the continent, Duke Marde, was sitting among the audience of the Auction Contest. ¨C Duke Marde? Why is he here? ¨C And why is he bidding¡­? ¡°W, why¡­?¡± ¡°Huhu. Isabelle. Do you think I wouldn¡¯t know what you¡¯re up to? Marie must have asked you for a favor. All for a single d, d¡­ date with that little guy!¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± The duke barely finished his sentence with his teeth chattering in fury. ¡°Korin Lorrrkk¡­! I won¡¯t let Marie stay next to you for a single minute today unless you go over my dead body! Because she will be having a date with her father the entire day! WAHAHAHAHAH¡­!!¡± ¨C Oh my gosh¡­ ¨C Wow¡­ ¨C Damn. That¡¯s a bit overboard. ¨C That¡¯s a little gross. Right. Duke Marde ¨C he was simply here to stop Marie from having a sessful bid on Korin. In order to monopolize the time with his daughter, he was here to bid on her boyfriend so that he wouldn¡¯t be a nuisance! ¡°Uhh, Father?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you dare call me ¡®Father¡¯!¡± Korin dumbfoundedly raised his hand but Duke Marde yelled in return. Regardless, Korin stuck with his conviction and finished his sentence. ¡°It¡¯s a bit¡­ unsightly.¡± ¡°History¡­ is written by the victors!¡± He seemed to have lost himself from jealousy towards his daughter¡¯s boyfriend. Isabelle concealed her agreement with Korin¡¯s statement and carefully raised the price. ¡°110 coins¡­¡± ¡°Haha, Isabelle. My daughter has a lot of money but not as much as I do. 1,000 gold coins!¡± ¡°Uncle¡­¡± The duke lifted his hand with a confident shout but little did he know that that made him look even worse. I can¡¯t beat him with money though¡­ No matter how much money Marie had, she was still nothing but the next in line to the empire. Competing against the emperor himself with money would be a foolish move. ¡°Fufu. Looks like there are no more bidders. So I¡ª¡± ¡°Dear. What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Hahp!¡± That was when an unexpected someone entered the auditorium. Elencia Dunareff ¨C the queen of the empire. The Duchess of the Dunareff Dukedom was here to stop her husband. ¡°H, honey¡­! I thought you were going to Marie¡¯s Exhibition with the kids!¡± ¡°I came here for a look because I heard our Korin was going to be auctioned. But I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here though.¡± Duke Marde froze stiff as if he were in front of the god of death. It didn¡¯t matter whether he was the Potato Emperor or not. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re trying to interfere with Marie¡¯s date. Are you?¡± ¡°Ahhkk¡­! H, honey¡­!¡± To Elencia, he was nothing but a husband. ¡°What an embarrassment! The kids are all waiting for you! Come here!¡± ¡°Honeyy¡­!¡± Duke Marde cried like a beast being forced into the ughterhouse as Elencia pulled him by the ear. He was a renowned mage and the emperor of the Potato Empire, but couldn¡¯t do anything before his wife, who used to be a high-ranked knight in the past. ¡°Son-inw Korin~. Let¡¯s have a family meal together sometime soon~¡± ¡°I, I will see youter, Mother.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call her ¡®Mother¡¯! Alright?! She¡¯s not your mother! KUAAAHK¡­!¡± After the duke was pulled away by the duchess, silence returned to the auditorium, and Isabelle carefully raised her hand back up. ¡°¡­1,001 gold coins.¡± It ended up being much higher than expected, but this was still within the eptable realm. As expected, no one apart from Duke Marde was invested enough to call a higher number than that. Korin heaved a deep sigh and waited for the bid to go through but¡­ It was then. ¡°2,000 gold coins~¡± ¨C What? ¨C T, two¡­? ¨C Two thousand?!¡± The appearance of another unexpected bidder surprised everyone in the audience including Isabelle who was astonished after confirming who it was. ¡°Korin-dongsaeng~¡± A returning 3rd year student, and the Saintess of the Order who was supposed to be at the Chapel of Zeon right now¡­ Estelle was waving her hand at Korin with a smile on her face. ¡°Why are you here?!¡± Korin was confused. If she wanted to have a meal together, why didn¡¯t she juste any other time? Why bother using so much money to¡­ ¡°T, two thousand and one gold coins¡­¡± ¡°Three thousand! I just finished my match.¡± ¨C ¡®Match¡¯? Is she talking about the Tournament? I thought the quarter-finals began 30 minutes ago? ¨C Did she just beat her quarter-final opponent in a sh or something? Everyone in the auction was appalled and so was Isabelle, who was starting to feel nauseous. She was increasing the bid by one gold coin, while the opponent was raising it up in thousands. A thousand gold coins was a massive leap. One gold coin amounted to a month¡¯s expenses of a four-person family and yet¡­ a thousand of them? There were rumors these days about how the Saintess had gone crazy and it seemed that those rumors had been true all along. ¡°Ms. Junior Isabelle~. I know who asked you toe here, but are you sure you¡¯re alright? That¡¯s not your money, is it~?¡± Saintess Estelle. The beauty with adorable pink hair was someone who couldn¡¯t resist not having what she wanted to obtain. ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± Isabellemented and hesitated before the biggest religious leader of the entire continent. Of course, Estelle was far from being a direct rival of the Dunareff in terms of financial power. In the end, she was a Saintess and a religious leader of the Order, and not a businessman making a profit from business models. There wouldn¡¯t have been any problems had Estelle been ¡°nothing but a Saintess¡±. Estelle Hadassa El Rath. She was one of the only two heirs to the throne in this country and had recently confiscated the material possession of the traitor pope and the cardinals. A faithful saintess would have dly used that money for the Order, but Estelle no longer fell in that category. The unfaithful believer, who discarded the fake god and found a new faith along with a big aspiration of bing the Goddess of the Earth herself, swallowed the entirety of their wealth for herself and confiscated an amount that even the Dunareff wouldn¡¯t be able to scoff at. Naturally, it was impossible for Isabelle to know the ins and outs of everything happening, but regardless, she did not have the guts topete against the Saintess in this war of attrition. Marie said she didn¡¯t care about the amount of money required but¡­ From what Isabelle knew, Marie received dozens of thousands of gold coins every month as an allowance directly from Duke Marde. That didn¡¯t include the profit she made from her mines,nds, and farms. She was certainly super rich, and could definitely spend 100,000 gold coins in a single day and say to herself, ¡°Ah. Let¡¯s be a little bit more frugal next month.¡± Even the Saintess wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with that, but it was different in this case because Isabelle was the one who had to spend the money. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Isabelle had a very average sense of money. She was a normal person who was afraid of hundreds of gold coins being spent at once let alone thousands. ¨C A, a, a, a, a, any more bids¡­? T, then that will be it. Even the host, Rondon, couldn¡¯t speak properly due to the astronomical amounts of money being thrown around. That was nothing strange because 3,000 gold coins¡­ 30 white gold coins were around what normal guardians would be able to make during their entire lifetime. Using that much money for a single meal was astounding, to say the least. ¡°Well! He¡¯ll be mine for the whole day then~¡± Estelle hopped onto the stage with light steps which was unthinkable for someone who just spent 3,000 gold coins. She wrapped her arm around Korin¡¯s waist and tantly dered to the whole auditorium. ¡°He is mine after all.¡± Everyone was speechless at the face of her confident show of obsession. ¡­¡­ ¡­ Immediately after the auction was over, Marie looked for Isabelle with excitement in her eyes. ¡°Isabelle~. How did the auction go? Where is Korin?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Marie. You see.¡± Marie was looking for the boy who wasn¡¯t anywhere near them with a bright smile on her face. There was not a sliver of doubt in her golden eyes. ¡°Isabelle?¡± ¡°T, the thing is¡­¡± Isabelle began to exin what happened, starting from the sudden interruption of Duke Marde and how Estelle took the final bid with 3,000 gold coins. ¡°W, why? I, I told you you can use as much money as you want¡­¡± ¡°Spending that much money for a single meal just doesn¡¯t make sense¡­ And besides, you can have a meal with Korin whenever you want to.¡± ¡°T, that¡¯s not the important part! I mean! Of course, it is important but¡­!¡± That wasn¡¯t the problem here. What was important was to win, without giving anyone else an opportunity to even get near him. ¡°Even a million would have been fine!¡± ¡°What?! What¡¯s wrong with you!? Wake up!!¡± Isabelle started to feel afraid because Marie was, in fact, rich enough to spend that much for a single meal. *** A suite room of a fancy hotel in the city was quickly being filled with dishes. It seemed that Estelle had made the orders beforehand as if she had never even considered defeat. Fancy steaks and century-old wines were being ced on the table and yet the table was surrounded by silence instead of a merry and romantic atmosphere. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The reason for that was because Korin had been quietly staring at Estelle for a while without saying a word. His eyes did not contain the kindness that they used to. ¡°U, uhh¡­ Dongsaeng?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡± ¡°Hiing¡­¡± ¡°And close your mouth.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ Are you, mad?¡± Estelle shrank back after sensing the anger concealed in his voice. On a scale of 0 to 10 in terms of anger, he appeared to be around a 6. It was hard to say if it was on a serious level or not, but it was important because this was Estelle¡¯s first time seeing him reach a 6 in the first ce. ¡°I really feel like punching you, but I will hold myself back in case you get hurt.¡± ¡°Whyy¡­?¡± ¡°Do you really not know why?¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t¡­¡± She looked puzzled and clueless, and that only served to increase Korin¡¯s anger by another level. ¡°You think 3,000 gold coins is a joke? Both Senior Marie and you, Saintess. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to be so reckless.¡± ¡°I, it¡¯s not that big a money though¡­¡± ¡°It is, and it¡¯s certainly not something you should be throwing away like that.¡± ¡°Then what¡­! Should I have just watched Ms. Junior Isabelle buy you? If it was Duke Marde, it might have been fine, but¡­¡± ¡°Like, that¡¯s not important¡ª¡± ¡°It is to me.¡± Estelle looked straight into his eyes. She too was just as serious as Korin. ¡°3,000 gold coins? It was a donation anyway. Arge amount of money? Sure, it¡¯s not a small amount of money, but I used it in a meaningful way and I am very satisfied by it.¡± She said with a bright smile without a sliver of regret, but that only made Korin ufortable. ¡°There should be a limit though,¡± Korin said with a sigh, ¡°Thest thing I wanted was this whole thing looking like you were buying ribbons with your money.¡± Korin¡¯s goal was to hit the highest price and get a golden ribbon. His n was to bid on himself through Ren and was expecting 2~30 gold coins to be the maximum price. And he was going to fairly distribute those ribbons to the people who liked him to disy his gratitude. He couldn¡¯t ept how the contest turned into the girlspeting to buy their own ribbon. Her face stiffened and turned serious after hearing his words. ¡°Buying ribbons with our money?¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s how it looks like now.¡± Estelle grabbed him by one of his arms and brought it to her face so that he could touch her cheek with hisrge hand. ¡°Right. It might seem that way but both Ms. Junior Marie and I would probably do the same thing regardless.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What we were trying to do has nothing to do with buying ribbons. We were stopping you from being sold.¡± There was no longer even a hint of mischievousness in her eyes. She knew it might seem unsightly, but she did not regret it nor was she ashamed of it in any way. ¡°I know why you were in the Auction Contest, and how you are attending multiple contests at once. I do get that we gave you a burden. ¡°But at the same time, I¡¯m happy to see you pushing yourself. I love your seriousness and responsibility. I know. You are not someone money can buy, and money is not a way to obtain you. However¡­¡± In her eyes were scorching mes of jealousy, envy, obsession, and her wish to possess¡­ All those emotions were in rtion to one person. ¡°I cannot allow it. The thought of you officially belonging to someone apart from me even for a split second¡­ is very, very unpleasant.¡± ¡°You are assigning too much meaning into this.¡± ¡°Everyone has a different perspective.¡± Estelle retracted her burning eyes and floated a smile. ¡°At least it means a lot to me.¡± Why did she like him so much? Korin could notprehend the fanatical obsession she had toward him. Even before the regression, she did seem fond of him but it was within the realms of normality. Now¡­ Maybe it had something to do with her turning away from her faith. The Saintess, who sang praises to the Lord, seemed to have now shifted the target of her faith to him. ¡°Haa¡­ Please be carefulter on. Unlike you, Noonim, I am a coward.¡± ¡°Hehe, I will! Oh right! The food¡¯s getting cold. Do you want me to cut the steak for you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Estelle poured the wine with a smile blooming on her face. Korin decided to look at it from a positive perspective. He finally got to drink alcohol again, so he was about to bring his hands to the ss but¡­ ¨C Swoosh. That was when something crawled up from his ankle to his calf. He couldn¡¯t tell what it was due to his long trousers obscuring his sense of touch, but knew logically that there was only one thing underneath the table that could be touching him. ¡°You know, Dongsaeng.¡± With her chin resting on her hands, Estelle floated a seductive smile. ¡°Should we do something naughty together?¡± Her smile was ever so charming and captivating. Chapter 206: Autumn Harvest Festival (3) Chapter 206: Autumn Harvest Festival (3) ? Autumn Harvest Festival (3) ? I could feel her feet slithering across my legs through the singleyer of clothing separating us two, and I unintentionally ended up imagining her soft and bare feet. Ignoring what was happening beneath the table, I looked straight into her eyes but she returned a provocative smile. ¡°¡­¡± She seductively rested her chin on her two hands and continued fidgeting with her toes, sensing my flustered reaction which I was trying to conceal. This girl¡­ ¡°Kuhum¡­ More importantly, how is Undry these days? I know you were chosen by Undry, but did that change anything? Can you do anything with it?¡± ¡°It is a magical cauldron, but the cauldron itself serves no value in a fight. The only thing interesting, I guess, would be that food bubbles out of the cauldron. I can even take out a living pig or a cow.¡± ¡°Hoh¡­¡± If that really was the case, wouldn¡¯t that solve all problems regarding food? Estelle forced my thoughts to a stop by lifting the hems of my trousers and pinching the flesh underneath with her toes. ¡°The problem was that they all died withoutsting more than an hour.¡± ¡°¡­And why is that?¡± ¡°My best guess is that it¡¯s because there is not enough divine energy in thisnd after the disappearance of the gods. This world is no longer the paradise it used to be, after all.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°That is why we are so important, Dongsaeng.¡± She said after wrapping her hands around mine. ¡°We need the real faith brought back unto thisnd.¡± ¡°What does that have to do with me¡­?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pretend like you don¡¯t know what I mean. Dongsaeng, you are the God of the Sun, and I¡¯m the Goddess of Earth. The moment we were chosen by iomh Sis and Undry which represent divinity, we became the sessor gods of Nuada Airgem and Dagda Mor.¡± ¡°¡­¡± It was too big of a scale for me to find the words to say in response. Danann. The real gods that truly existed in this fantasy world. It wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t know what those ancient symbols of divinity were able to achieve. In the first ce, my Master, as well as Eochaid Bres and Tates Valtazar from our opposing faction, were all real gods, so I was aware of what a Danann was capable of. The same goes for the Frost Giant and thosedies of the North. This world used to have gods, but it was now a world where divine energy was left behind with the gods no longer in existence. There were so many things that new gods would be able to do in these inhabitednds and the level of their influence would surely be extraordinary. ¡°We need more gods. We are the only ones who can save the people who have fallen to misery.¡± ¡°That is¡­ quite an arrogant mindset.¡± ¡°Perhaps, but we have the power to make that happen. And we also have the responsibility so~¡± Why don¡¯t we increase the number of gods? Estelle added mischievously with a suggestive smile. Her bare foot was now even trying to crawl all the way up to my thigh. ¡°Fufu~. You really have very thick thighs.¡± ¡°Can you stop doing something so weird?!¡± ¡°Weird? How is it weird? Can you exin it to me? Come on~¡± ¡°Eek¡­!¡± Despite my reaction, she continued to delightfully indulge in my thighs with her bare foot. ¡°Oh my~. Look at you blush. I guess you are a man after all!¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± ¡°Stop saying no ¨C I know you like it. Be honest. You don¡¯t hate it do you?¡± ¡°W, well. That¡¯s true but¡­¡± It seemed that I couldn¡¯t be like those cool web novel protagonists. I didn¡¯t necessarily hate the unfathomablyrge number of girls who showed their affection toward me. ¡°Ehew¡­ Was that why?¡± I muttered to myself. ¡°Nn? What do you mean?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± It wasn¡¯t to this extent when Park Sihu was with me¡­ What was the difference between the current andst iteration? In any case, I found Estelle and Miru to be quite simr. They were both aggressive with their approaches and incredibly proactive. If I lost the initiative, I might be devoured like I was in thest iteration¡­ ¨C Thud! ¡°Dongsaeng?¡± When I stood up with a thud, it became immediately obvious that Estelle was slightly flustered. Reminding myself once again that I couldn¡¯t let either her or her sister get the upper hand, I pushed through with the initiative. I picked her up into my arms before she could react. ¨C Kya! Lifting the princess into a princess carry, I lowered her onto the top-ss bed inside the suite room. It took less than a second for me to be basically on top of her. ¡°A, aha¡­ Very assertive, aren¡¯t you?¡± She said while rolling her eyes around, unable to look straight into my eyes. ¡°W, wah¡­ A, a bit hot, isn¡¯t it? Maybe we need some air. S, should we open the window?¡± She seemed panicky. Even though she had been extremely touchy and mischievous the whole time, she was frightened when push came to shove. To be fair, that was pretty normal. She was the first princess of the royal family and the Saintess, raised up like a priceless gem. Like a nt in a sshouse, she was kept away from holding hands with a male let alone having a rtionship. It was therefore natural for the pure-white-canvas of a princess to sweat and blush from mere closeness with a member of the opposite sex. ¡°Uhh, umm. Dongsaeng? Now that I think about it, I was in a rush and didn¡¯t even take a shower¡ª¡± ¡°Should we go in together?¡± ¡°¡­!¡± Her eyes widened into circles. Frightened, she thrashed her arms and legs in an attempt to break away. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a bit¡­!¡± As expected, she was still a kid. Well, a 22-year-old was far from being a kid but¡­ In any case, she soon gave up on breaking away from the bed and prudently suggested a deal. ¡°Why don¡¯t we just¡­ hold our hands for tonight?!¡± ¡°Not something a maiden in a marriageable age should be saying.¡± ¨C Thud! ¡°Aht¡­!¡± I gave her a flick to the forehead, which made a small portion of her pure-white skin turn red. ¡°So rude¡­ I¡¯m older than you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what you get for trying to prank a grown-up man.¡± ¡°Peh¡­ Not like I was joking though¡­¡± Estelle grumbled with a pout. ¡°Anyway, don¡¯t you have semi-finals tomorrow?¡± ¡°Semi-finals are in the morning, and the final is in the afternoon.¡± Since the Tournament was just one of the many events in the Harvest Festival, the matches were held in a quick manner, and it was definitely very different fromst year where the Tournament was the main event. I guess they couldn¡¯t waste too much time on the Tournament, considering all the other events that required an audience. ¡°If Junior Alicia wins her semi-finals, she will be against me in the finals.¡± ¡°¡­What if you don¡¯t make it past the semi-finals?¡± ¡°Me?¡± Estelle grinned. Her smile disyed the confidence of a strong veteran. That was when she suddenly asked a mean question with her mischievous yet lovable smile. ¡°Will you be cheering for me?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ That¡¯s, unexpected.¡± She tilted her head after hearing my quick response. She seemed puzzled by how quickly I said that. ¡°Did you¡­ by any chance say the same thing to Alicia?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Come on! After having my hopes up like that!¡± she said with a yful smile, but couldn¡¯t entirely conceal her disappointment. It was unfortunate but I couldn¡¯t choose one of them. ¡°Noona.¡± I held her by the hands. Her hands were beautiful and soft. ¡°N, nn?¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°H, huh? Okay? Y, you¡¯re wee¡­?¡± ¡°Thank you for everything. But there¡¯s nothing much that I can do for you.¡± ¡°Fufu. A kiss will be fine.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit embarrassing¡­ and I feel bad.¡± There woulde a time when I had to make a decision, and that would make me a horrendous bastard to the remaining ones, so I couldn¡¯t do such a thing. ¡°Hmph~. Can you not say, ¡®I like no one else but you, Noona,¡¯ even as a lie?¡± Estelle said with a smile despite seeming rather disappointed. There wasn¡¯t much that I could do for her but¡­ ¡°But I can give you some advice.¡± ¡°Advice?¡± ¡°Alicia is weaker than you in terms of stats because you are at an unprecedented level in terms of pure power.¡± One who could make miracles happen just with prayers. Although Estelle sounded overpowered and invincible, there was a way to break through it. Whenpared to the rest of the party members, Alicia was around the bottom in terms of stats. Compared to the strongest party member, Hua Ran, Dorron and his overwhelming utility, Yuel and Kranel with their shockingly powerfulbo when in a group, Alicia Arden was indeed quite boring in some ways but¡­ ¡°To bepletely honest with you, there is no one in my guild that I can¡¯t win against. I am confident that I could beat anyone there.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­ But there¡¯s those two in your guild.¡± Vampire Marie and Sword Master Lunia. I was not excluding those two with that statement. ¡°I can beat anyone. One way or another.¡± ¡°I like your confidence.¡± Even in thest iteration, back when I was much weaker and without the Sun, I was able to beat Lunia somehow but¡­ ¡°But not Alicia Arden. No matter what situation, I don¡¯t see myself winning.¡± ¡°Really¡­?¡± ¡°I am much stronger in terms of pure power, and to be honest, maybe I have a slightly higher chance of winning in a real fight to death but¡­ even then, I¡¯m not entirely sure.¡± Don¡¯t be careless and always be vignt. I gave the most sincere advice I could to Estelle. *** On the third day of the Harvest Festival, Wednesday, I went to the Hunting Contest with Ren and Ron. ¨C What¡¯s that? ¨C Is that even allowed? All the contestants of the Hunting Contest had their hunting dogs. Some were veteran hunters who used to enjoy hunting in their hometown, but most of them had hired their dogs from hunting dog lenders who had recentlye to town for business. Of course, there were also those who came by themselves out of blind trust in their ability and those without anything nned. ¡°¡­ Are you sure these are dogs?¡± ¡°Yep~!¡± ¡°They¡¯re more like wolves if anything and¡­ like, how are they so big¡­?¡± ¡°I bought them overseas for a hefty price.¡± ¡°But like, even then this is¡­¡± I was definitely the most eye-catching out of every contestant present. The two golden wolves, Ren and Ron. They were in their beast forms and were both at least 3 times bigger than the biggest hunting dog here. They looked so frighteningly intimidating, that the other dogs were hiding behind their owners in fear. No matter how you saw it, my hunting dogs were clearly unfair. ¡°They¡¯re trained very well. Goldie, give me your hand!¡± In response, Goldie ¨C Ren ¨C gave a disgruntled pout before reluctantly giving me her front paw. Thank you, Ren! I will cook you your favorite boiledmb cutlet when we go back! ¡°Hmm¡­ Do I pass this or what¡­¡± The supervisor in charge of the Hunting Contest was hesitant due to the two enormous golden wolves. ¡°Are there any regtions about the breed or the size of the hunting dogs?¡± I asked. ¡°N, no¡­ There aren¡¯t but¡­¡± ¡°Sir. Do you know why we have rules?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ To protect them and make sure nothing goes wrong?¡± ¡°Nope. It¡¯s to make use of everything that wasn¡¯t decided on by the rules!¡± ¡°That¡¯s bullshit¡­ you idiot!¡± The supervisor gave me a nce like I was an idiot but that didn¡¯t change anything. The Hunting Contest was just for kids to y around at best¡­ and thus the rules weren¡¯t that strict! In the end, it was my victory. ¡°WAHAHAHAHAHA¡­!¡± ¨C Aren¡¯t those hunting dogs way too unfair? ¨C Where did he even get those? ¨C I swear¡­ I¡¯ve seen them somewhere though¡­ With this, I had my third¡­ or rather, my second golden ribbon. Fuu¡­ *** After oveing the semi-finals in the morning, Alicia had to face the finals. She took a deep breath out to chase away her nervousness. She fought against a senior in the 4th year for her semi-finals. This was hisst year and he, therefore, put up quite the fight, but Alicia was able to barelye out on top. Atst, it was five in the afternoon. The finale of the third day of the Harvest Festival was just around the corner. Her opponent for the finals was, as expected, Saintess Estelle. ¨C WAAAAHHH! ¨C SAINTESS! ¨C Saintess Estelle! Please look here! The Saintess and 1st Princess of the Kingdom, Estelle Hadassa El Rath. As a nationally famous celebrity, she was weed with the passionate apuse and cheers from the audience. Since this was the final round and the finale of the Tournament, the host went on and on with the introductions of the two fighters. The overboard introduction and ttery made the timid Alicia shrink her shoulders but¡­ Estelle took them all in with a smile on her face as if that was nothing new. From the start to the end, her eyes were on Alicia and nothing else. ¡­She¡¯s strong. Estelle was strong. Not only did she leave a strong impact in the qualifiers, but she also dered as such when she first entered the tournament stage. ¨C Sorry. I¡¯m a bit busy so¡­ the matches will be quite boring. As she said, it was quite boring for the audience, because she dashed forward at a speed that most knights couldn¡¯t even follow and punched her opponent out of bounds to end all of her matches with a single blow. With just a single blow and a single punch, she both KO¡¯ed and disqualified the opponent by making them fly out of the designated stage. ¨C Oh, Saintess! Looks like you have brought a ¡®weapon¡¯ this time! That was why this final was so special. It was because this time, Estelle was armed with a weapon for the first time in the Tournament. ¡°Yeah. Pretty cool, right?¡± In her hands was a 1-meter-long club. It was bigger than her favorite mace, but wasn¡¯t even made of metal ¨C it seemed like a wooden club. It was bizarre. Usually, guardian weapons and armor were made by refining high-quality magic stones. Superhumans, who far exceeded the realms of normal humans, also required weapons that exceeded the normal scope of weapons. In that sense, it was unthinkable to have wood in a piece of equipment. No matter how strong, wood was never tougher than steel and even steel fell short of weapons made with magic stones. Even the shaft of a spear was made with refined magic stones, so what could a wooden club possibly achieve? ¨C Do you n to reinforce it with your prayers, Saintess? The host asked a reasonable question. With the omnipotent prayers of the Saintess, it was possible to make a wooden club on the same level of weapons made of magic stones. That was the basis of his question but Estelle denied it with a smile. ¡°Ah~. Is that how everyone thinks?¡± Estelle didn¡¯t say anything else but there was something Alicia could tell. There were only a small number of people here that could tell the identity of that club. At Mag Mell, Alicia had received from Oengus, the Danann of Love, the treasure of Nemain, one of the three goddesses of war. The red horse. Thanks to receiving divinity from the goddesses of war who guarded the God of the Sun, Alicia could tell that the club was a godly treasure. ¡°Alicia, right? You¡¯re pretty strong. So I brought a weapon.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± Alicia shrunk at the face of Estelle, who was like the personification of pride and confidence. As an illegitimate child who had been cautious of her standing in her household the whole time for 16 years, she couldn¡¯t help but feel pressured by people like Estelle. ¡°Korin-dongsaeng wanted the winner¡¯s prize. So I¡¯m going to get it for him.¡± ¡°¡­¡± It was an obvious provocation. That was the only thing they had inmon and yet she was unwilling to let her have it. Can I win? Alicia asked herself. Honestly, she didn¡¯t see herself winning. She would most likely lose but there was a strange feeling ofpetitiveness soaring inside her. It was a rare feeling for Alicia, who was always selfless and fearful, but surprisingly it was budding against the first princess of the Kingdom and Saintess. ¡°I saw the semi-finals. You were pretty good. It was against a Grade 1 knight in hisst year at the Academy, right? You did quite well.¡± Estelle kept speaking with a faint smile on her lips, and Alicia didn¡¯t like it. She didn¡¯t like the leisure the princess was giving off, as if she wasn¡¯t even an opponent worthy of her vignce. ¡°Well, it would have taken me less than 30 seconds though.¡± She was scratching at her with her absolute confidence, and Alicia decided to break that first. ¡°I¡¯m winning.¡± ¡°Nn?¡± It was a resolute voice that didn¡¯t suit Alicia. She was ready to pour a bucket of icy cold water on Estelle¡¯s absolute pride. ¡°Hmm~¡± Estelle gave her a nce before reflecting on the advice she got from Korin the night before. She sensed that it certainly wouldn¡¯t be an easy battle. ¡°No. You can¡¯t.¡± That was why she was trying to intimidate her opponent with an even more exaggerated demonstration of confidence. It was different from her normal disy of built-in confidence. ¡°You received something from a goddess in Mag Mell, didn¡¯t you? I got mine too.¡± She continued while resting therge club on her shoulders like a rogue in the streets, but no one dared to connect the two even in their minds. ¡°When the new eraes, I guess you will be standing on ¡®our¡¯ side as well. But¡­ I suppose I¡¯ll teach you the new hierarchy ahead of time.¡± Autumn Harvest Festival ¨C Tournament. Sessor candidate of the Arden Household, Captain of the Fifth Sword Squad, and a user of the Domain, Alicia Arden. Fighting against her was the one who could make miracles happen through her prayers, the child of god who now became a goddess herself, Estelle Hadassa El Rath. The final round of the two began¡ª ¡°Stand your ground. It¡¯ll be boring if you lose in one go.¡± ?Holy Burster ¡ª Semi-Open IMPACT? ¡ª And with that, half of the arena was already gone. Chapter 207: Autumn Harvest Festival (4) Chapter 207: Autumn Harvest Festival (4) ? Autumn Harvest Festival (4) ? Holy Burster Semi-open Impact. It was a physically explosive attack only made possible by amplifying divine energy through prayers. Whether it be knights or mages, all skills worked the same way ¨C one had to refine their energy into skills or spells. However, it was slightly different for Estelle. She was simply letting out a ridiculous amount of energy. It was the same as blowing out a balloon until it exploded. It was a simple and rather wasteful use of energy, but it had its upsides. Like instant casting spells, there was no visible sign of preparation which made it difficult for the opponent to react to. ¡°Aigo~. I feel bad for the people who had to build the arena.¡± Despite saying that, Estelle didn¡¯t feel apologetic in the slightest. Her confidence, bordering arrogance, was so potent that she didn¡¯t find anything wrong with half-destroying the arena. ¡°Hmm~. Is it over already?¡± Even though it wasn¡¯t her strongest attack, it was still powerful enough to destroy half of the arena. It would be difficult for anyone to withstand an attack of this level unless they were a mage relying on barrier spells or knights with high resistance to magic. Alicia Arden, however, was a ssic example of an agile swordsman. She shouldn¡¯t possess any measures against an explosive frontal attack like that, however¡­ ¡°¡­¡± When the dust cleared away, Estelle found an armed swordsman standing within the remains of the half-destroyed arena, ring her way with a sharp gaze. Despite taking on the attack head-on, she hadn¡¯t taken a single step. Don¡¯t tell me¡­ Did she offset the shockwave with just her sword? Is that even possible? In that short period of time? Unless she¡¯s able to ¡°stop time¡± or something¡­ ¡°I see¡­ So that¡¯s the ¡®Domain¡¯ thingy, huh? Interesting.¡± Despite there being countless personnel and warriors within the New Faith, there was still a widespread belief that such a realm of swordsmanship wasn¡¯t possible and that it was but a result of legends and exaggerated rumors. Although Garrand Arden, the pinnacle of his generation, had been very famous for his use of the Domain, even that was in the distant past for many. The Domain was well-known but only a few had ever witnessed it and¡­ it was a realm that a saintess like Estelle had an even lesser chance ofing across. ¡°Hmm?¡± Estelle was still in awe when Alicia closed the gap in the blink of an eye. Alicia then swung her sword horizontally as it went straight for Estelle¡¯s arms. And¡ª ¨C Kang! ¡ª It was blocked by Estelle¡¯s bare skin. ¡°H, how could normal skin¡­¡± ¡°I shall be an iron fortress stopping the enemy chariots.¡± A splendid light started to cover her body. The horrifyingly denseyer of divine energy was fundamentally different from the likes of aura and mana. It was a demonstration of divine energy that even Korin Lork had only seen during thest moments of Erin Danua and Eochaid Bres. After acquiring Undry, Estelle had gotten even closer to divinity. However, she didn¡¯t approach divinity as the Saintess¡­ Instead, she started to be a divine being herself. Only a few were able to sense the change in status that she had gone through. From those present, Erin Danua and Korin Lork, as well as the ones who possessed eyes that could see through anything, were the only ones. ¡°I, I thought you¡¯re a saintess¡­¡± ¡°Not anymore.¡± Estelle raised her club with a smile. The magic club of Dagda was a very fitting weapon for the Divinity of the Earth. ¡°Call me goddess, little human,¡± she jested. Alicia blocked the downward strike of the club with her sword, but she felt like she was up against a mountain crumbling down from above. ¡°Uguk¡­!?¡± The magic club of Dagda was the heaviest weapon in existence, even 8 of the strongest Danann could barely carry it together. Only the one with the Divinity of the Earth could control it at will by absorbing the aura of the Earth. It wasn¡¯t something that a mere human like Alicia could hold off against. ¡°Uguk¡­!¡± She deflected it slightly to the side before being crushed to death as the clubnded on the floor of the arena. Kwaang! The arena exploded beneath. Despite avoiding direct contact with the club, Alicia was bombarded by the pressure from the collision. ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± ¡°Your skills aren¡¯t too shabby.¡± Estelle sounded rxed but her movements were like that of a lightning bolt. Her body reinforced with divine energy was at a level where she could apply tremendous pressure on Alicia with just the aftershock of her movements. ¡°Huu¡­!¡± Alicia took a deep breath out and calmly fended off the bulldozer called Estelle. Her movements were fluent and elegant unlike the aggressive style put forth by Estelle. She had be very experienced through her countless duels against Korin on how to parry and deflect the opponent¡¯s attacks. Whenever Estelle swung the club, she dodged and deflected it carefully before aiming at her thighs, stomach, chest, and neck. Compared to the heavy club, Alicia¡¯s sword was much faster andnded on her vitals several times. However, Estelle didn¡¯t even flinch a little and tanked all of Alicia¡¯s attacks before continuing to march forward. ¡°Ugh¡­!¡± Her opponent was not used to fights. She was just charging forward and relying on her overwhelming physical stats, and that reminded her of someone. Heavenly Yaksha Hua Ran. Hua Ran also had a ridiculous defense partnered up with her nigh-infinite supply of aura. Alicia had a feeling that she was up against Hua Ran. But they¡¯re different. There has to be a limit. Compared to Hua Ran, whose imprable defense was there as a passive, Estelle¡¯s was based on her ¡°prayers¡± which was considered an active skill. In that case¡ª ¡°Stop running away all the time¡­!¡± Estelle focused arge amount of divine energy into her feet. She then stomped down on the arena, which made the floor ¨C or what remained of the stage from the first attack ¨C slightly float up from the impact. ¡°¡­!¡± Alicia was flung into the air alongside the crumbled remains of the arena floor. Seeing that she was in the air with no footing, Estelle grabbed tightly onto her club. It was over. The moment shended, Estelle was ready to strike her intimidating club at Alicia. ¡°Huh?¡± That was when Alicia vanished from her sight. It wasn¡¯t as simple as eleration. Estelle¡¯s eyes, after being reinforced with prayers, were able to pick up even the most minute of movements. In the first ce, how was anyone able to elerate from the middle of the air with nothing to set ones foot on? But the moment she perceived that Alicia had vanished, Estelle also noticed that she was right in front of her nose. Is this Domain? Domain was an extreme level of concentration that allowed one to take ¡°an impossible step forward¡± inside a realm of suspended time. It did not obey the principles of time. Korin Lork. Erin Danua. Garrand Arden. Eochaid Bres. Tates Valtazar. These people were the prime examples of there being a sky above the sky ¨C heaven above the heavens. They were able to take a full step forward within the Domain. But Alicia Arden was different. I thought you could only take a step inside the Domain? That was what wasmonly passed down to the people, however, the amount of distance Alicia covered was something one step could never aplish. Three steps. Alicia Arden treads three steps. Eyes of the Boundary. She had innate gifts that allowed her to see through the Domain much better than anyone else. Added on top of that were her unparalleled talents that scoffed at those who had to countlessly push themselves to their limits. Her unfair attack ignored the limitations of distance and¡ª Alicia Style: Thousand des¡ª ¡ªInfinity. Exceeding the Domain ¡ª Itnded on the hems of the Saintess¡¯ outfit. ¨C Swish! ¡°Ehk¡­¡± A foolish mutter escaped from her lips. She had exceeded the Domain while withstanding the pain of her body being shredded to pieces and yet her final attack with everything on the line ended up missing its target. ¡°Uhmm¡­ This wasn¡¯t the n.¡± Despite being caught off guard, her opponent made a dumbfoundingly foolish mistake which gave her the chance to fight back. Estelle¡¯s face, however, was stiffer than ever before. She mumbled with her lips toplete a prayer as her club started to give off an extraordinary level of pressure. It was so concentrated that Alicia¡¯s brain was ringing with rm bells. ¡°W, wait. I, I give up¡ª!¡± Divine Energy Full Power ¡ª Bashing Everything A ridiculously deafening barrage of attacks was thrown at the arena and at Alicia. *** ¡°Hiing¡­¡± Alicia grumbled and growled in the medical room of the Tournament. ¡°Some moderateness would have been great,¡± said Korin. ¡°I know right!¡± ¡°I¡¯m talking about you.¡± Korin gave her a flick to the forehead which made her even more teary-eyed than before. ¡°I¡¯m a patient, okay¡­!¡± ¡°Ehew¡­¡± ¡°¡­I wanted to give you the winner¡¯s prize though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what¡¯s important right now, is it?¡± Domain and Full Impact Burst. Both had far exceeded what would normallye out in a simple event like the Tournament. Seeing the two of them fight each other to death in what was supposed to be a friendly event, Korin couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of guilt. ¡°Anyway¡­ I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s my fault.¡± It was his fault that the two of them had to fight each other with the prize on the line. ¡°Like, this is not even that overpowered of an item or anything.¡± He just wanted to get one of the prizes, and yet that innocent wish ended up causing the two girls to fight like it was a life-or-death situation. ¡°Hehe. I think it will hurt less if you blow on it.¡± ¡°¡­Seriously.¡± Korin felt like giving her another flick but retracted his hand after seeing the coy smile on her face. He felt both apologetic and grateful. ¡°Why do you seem so happy after getting injured like this?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just feel¡­ happy that I was able to do something for Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°You are¡­ seriously beyond saving.¡± Unable to find anything to say, he patted her head as Alicia returned a wide and unreserved smile. ¡°Mr. Korin. Can you tighten the bandages a little?¡± Korin did as she said while Alicia lifted both of her arms in the air. He was wrapping it tight from the armpit to her chest but for some reason, there was a constant smile and a blush on her face from the start till the end. ¡°Mr. Korin~¡± She wrapped her arms around his neck and locked her fingers. Nonchntly with an innocent smile, she locked him up in her arms. ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± ¡°Why are youughing?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Ever since her confession during the summer break, Alicia tended to asionally reveal her feelings by being extra touchy. Unlike how she used to blush from a little bit of touch, she was being very expressive with her emotions. ¡°Getting hurt is not so bad once in a while, because I get to monopolize you like this. Hehe¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say things like that. And don¡¯t think about getting hurt.¡± ¡°Hehe. I tried my best, you know?¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°If you do, then give me a kiss¡­¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°¡­No?¡± ¡°Yeah. I haven¡¯t made up my mind yet. I¡¯ll feel bad.¡± ¡°Tch~. I¡¯m fine with anything though.¡± Alicia did say that she didn¡¯t care and that she preferred a big family. ¡°I get you sisters have a slightly weird preference but¡­ that¡¯s still not a correct thing to do.¡± ¡°I think you should be a little bit more thick-skinned though, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t want to. And that¡¯s why there are a lot of things I have to keep in mind.¡± Being loved was an extremely joyous yet troubling thing. Whether it be giving love, or choosing someone who would make everyone else sad¡­ or even worse if something happened to him¡­ He was worried about all those scenarios and couldn¡¯t answer any of their feelings. However, he did feel very sorry for all of them. ¡°Sorry, but please wait for now.¡± He patted her head and tightened the bandages onest time. During that, he identally caught sight of her over-abundant chest and turned slightly red. ¡°Seriously. Kids these days.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a kid anymore! I¡¯ll be an adult soon.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Korin replied while looking straight into her eyes. Without being embarrassed in the slightest, Alicia looked straight back at him as Korin gave his honestpliment. ¡°You¡¯ve gotten a lot stronger.¡± ¡°Right?¡± Alicia was much stronger than before. Of course, she still had low self-esteem and wasn¡¯t very confident, but she was iparably stronger than how she was at the start of her first year at the Academy, where she was bashed around by Korin due to hercking foundations. ¡°It¡¯s all~ thanks to you, Mr. Korin.¡± Alicia had stayed with Korin the longest. All the way from when she was miserably defeated in the Hunting Grounds, to when she was looking for an easy way out in fear of fighting others¡­ He had always been with her, protecting and believing in her. ¡°If not for you, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to look straight into the Domain, nor fight against Unni, or directly face my gifts.¡± The gift she was born with was simple. It was the talent of being bewitched by the sword and the act of cutting others. It was a fearsome talent for Alicia to face, as a girl who had been wanting to be normal despite her gifts. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything without you, Mr. Korin.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true.¡± Korin Lork knew how this girl would have faced her talents to be one of the heroes to save the world even without him. All he did was give her a gentle push from behind and show his trust. ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Her eyes looked straight into his eyes. The deep feeling of love that he could sense from those eyes deepened his own feelings of gratitude and remorse. *** It was the third night of the Harvest Festival. While the entire continent was in deep sleep after an exciting day in hopes of having an even more exciting tomorrow, there were those who were indulged in their work regardless of the moon outside. ¡°Huu, huu¡­¡± ¡°I, is this it?¡± In aboratory located inside the Korin Guardians office, 35 mages were finalizing the stability test for the product that would be showcased during tomorrow¡¯s Magic Exhibition Contest. Korin had assigned to them an extremely difficult job. They could understand the concept ¨C both the design and the fundamental concept were easy to grasp. The problem, however, was how they would manifest it with current technology. It had already been 3 weeks since he dropped the idea and irresponsibly told them toe up with a way to make it happen. The ve mages who were all from the greatest magic research facility of the continent brought their minds together and shared their thoughts. That in itself was already a marvelous feat. Even back when they were all affiliated with the Tower of Mages, no one wanted to share their secret ideas and ns with others ¨C even disciples and masters kept their secrets to themselves. It was an inefficient method but the mages of the Tower had been stuck to that method in order to lift their status in a world where monopoly of knowledge equaled power. And yet 35 of those doctorates, the conservative mages that loved to monopolize knowledge, were surprisingly cooperative and open with sharing their secret skills. As a result of the world¡¯s very first full-on cooperation of the seven cults of the Tower of Magic, they atstpleted a wonderful result. ¡°T, then¡­ let¡¯s do a test run.¡± Professor Zollin of the Red Cult, who was in charge of energy and heat control, nervously activated the product. ¡ª¡ª!!! It roared ferociously like a beast. Hearing that, the mages of the Tower hugged each other in joy. ¡°We did it!¡± ¡°We made it work!¡± ¡°Uhahaha! We actually did it!¡± It was a joyous and touching moment. At the same time¡ª ¡°We won¡¯t be chased out!¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have to go back to that hell!¡± ¡°Huhuhuk¡­!¡± It was also joyous because their lifetime career had been secured. Chapter 208: Autumn Harvest Festival (5) Chapter 208: Autumn Harvest Festival (5) ? Autumn Harvest Festival (5) ? Thursday ¨C the fourth day of the Harvest Festival. Although there were still several events and contests to be held, the most eye-catching contest today, now that the Tournament was over, was most certainly the Magic Exhibition Contest. Guardian academies tended to have a greater focus on nurturing guardians who could fight against demons, but there were a few who focused on academic progress. In fact, many professors preferred working at Merkarva because of the sheer array of books avable including forbidden ones, the experiment-friendly environment, and the tendency to be open about sharing knowledge and wisdom. They had more matters to attend topared to the mages researching at the Tower of Mages, but even then, some preferred the open attitude the academy had toward magic. The Magic Exhibition Contest was one of the events that demonstrated Merkarva Academy¡¯s openness to the development of magic and its desire to share with the public. Whether it be students of magic, merchant groups, or guardians, anyone was eligible to volunteer and showcase their achievements. This year, there were so many more applicants than usual that there had to be a limit put on the number of participants. The reason for that was the downfall of the Tower of Mages. The Tower had served as one of the top two schrly institutions for magic in the continent but due to their fall after they kidnapped the Saintess, the mages had to turn their eyes to the only remaining top institution, Merkarva Academy. ¡°Fuu¡­ Let¡¯s start from that end!¡± Marie was also participating in the contest this time. She disyed a semi-permanent water filtration artifact and a water-quality enhancing magic circle, which would bothe in handy for hydroponics. Although the Dunareff hadid their roots down in many industries, the fundamental basis of everything they had was still in their million hectares of farnd and agriculture. Recently, they started focusing on magical herbs after ¡°encountering¡± some experts. ¡°Daesik. Clean it up.¡± ¡°Y, yes! Master!¡± When the Tower of Mages disbanded, all the core mages ended up under Korin and Marie¡¯s wings, and they were able to make use of mages of the Green Cult who excelled in raising magical herbs and nts. Marie used tens of high-ranking Green Cult mages for free to aid in her research for agriculture, and there was a surprising level of progress as a result. Thanks to that, her water filtration artifact and the water-quality enhancing circle were very well received. But of course, she wasn¡¯t here looking for sponsors. ¡°Huhaha¡­! Mari! How incredible! Your papa is greatly moved!¡± ¡°Hehe, it¡¯s nothing. Not like I did it all by myself.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t let an idea as great as this get an unfair treatment! Let me invest in it!¡± ¡°Hmm~. I think we will need a fair bit for us to producerge numbers of mandrakes and tweak the details with the replica of the 10,000-year-old ginseng.¡± ¡°How much do you need?¡± ¡°Around 5 million a year should do! We should be able to get results within 3 years!¡± ¡°Of course! Since you¡¯re the one doing it; I have no doubts! I will add another million to that, and you can use the rest on whatever you want.¡± Former Elder Drerian of the Green Cult¡­ who was now Daesik, felt like he was losing his mind seeing the different scale of transactions happening before his eyes. He had once visited Duke Marde about a potential business with an immacte idea, but all he had received was an aloof and uninterested gaze. But look at him now ¨C using up almost 20 million gold just to invest in his daughter¡¯s business? ¡°But Mari, I¡¯m worried about you. Please don¡¯t focus so much on research that you ruin your health.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. Our head and deputy researchers will be in charge.¡± Daesik felt goosebumps the moment he heard that. Recently, his master had been hand-picking mages to establish a research institution to rece the Tower of Mages. It had horrendous working conditions of no pay and no day off, but researching was much better than living as a ve in the salt mine and the ratio of applicants to the number being hired was 40:1. Elder mages, who had yet to fully let go of the dignity they once had at the Tower of Mages, were stubbornly against the idea of sharing their knowledge for free but¡­ Daesik witnessed Chunsik, the former head of the Red Cult, preparing an interview by answering possible questions in front of a mirror. He had to grapple with the reality that he had be a traitor. ¡°Hkk¡­!¡± Where has our once glorious past flown off to? Daesik had to swallow his dry tears. ¡°Then, my dear daughter, shall we go have a meal together?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ Maybe in a bit.¡± Today was the day when the first group of contestants had to move out and be reced by the second array of contestants. Marie was waiting for the person who was going to be opening a booth from today till the end of Saturday. ¡°Korin said he was participating as well.¡± ¡°¡­That brat?¡± Marde knew that little brat wasn¡¯t a mage, but it wasn¡¯t like mages were the only ones who could join this contest. There were several merchant groups who sponsored mages to attend the Magic Exhibition Contest. ¡°He must have prepared something incredible. I¡¯m looking forward to it!¡± ¡°Hmph! He knows next to nothing about magic. There¡¯s no way¡ª!¡± ¨C KIYOOOOOOOOOOOT¡­! Let your voices run wild! Bang the drums! Go, 8 cylinders¨C!! ¡°Drums?¡± ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung dung! ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung dung! ¨C KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK¡­!! ¡°W, what is going on? What is with this noise?¡± ¡°Drums and¡­ harps?¡± A solemn yet ominous BGM. It was a sound Marie was familiar with. ¡°Uhmm¡­¡± Everyone, including Marie, who had witnessed ¡°that event¡±st year facepalmed and sighed. Meanwhile, those new to it such as Duke Marde were appalled at the sight. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­What in the world?¡± ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung dung! ¨C Dung dudududung! Dung dung! ¨C Bababababam! Bam bam! ¨C KIYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!! ¨C KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!! Arge demonic carriage was speeding down the road towards the contest venue. Prototype 1: Cabic DeVille x2 the Giga Horse. Prototype 2: Chebrolet Fleetmaster War League. Prototype 3: Karmageddon Dupe Wagon. Behind Immortan Lork wearing funky muscr armor were people wearing red pajamas. One of those was Jaeger, ying a ming guitar and Lark mming his drums like crazy as well as some part-timers. ¡°Scream aloud 8-cylinders! Till we arrive at Valha, we go! We will revive with the shiny chrome teeth in a world reduced to ashes!¡± ¡°Immortan! Immortan! Immortan!¡± It was Immortan Lork, back from the underworld, and War Boys being paid 80 silver a day. The Magic Exhibition Contest was ready to ept Korin Lork¡­ or rather Immortan Lork¡¯s piece of art. It was an apocalyptically designed demonstration of technology! Thebination of machinery and magic engineering. Its name: Mad Mex. ¡°Mari¡­ Does it have to be him?¡± ¡°¡­He¡¯s usually very calm andposed.¡± ¨C KIYOOOOOOOOOOT!! *** The primary focus of the Magic Exhibition Contest was future potential. How good of an idea was it, and what were the future possibilities avable with the development of the said technology? In most cases, non-student participants were here to announce their ideas and acquire sponsors, while students didn¡¯t have anything magnificent. That was why I was honestly a bit surprised when I saw Marie¡¯s filtration system. However, even that fell shortpared to our revolutionary invention. Although I got a bit carried away and did a cosy of a movie during the process, the invention that we were showcasing this time around was ¡°engines¡±. The current magic carriages were too slow but these engines were powerful. The deficit in metallurgy technology was solved with magic stones and instead of the delicate robot arms, we relied on the hard work of mages to build it. Cars were surprisingly easier to make than expected. To be fair, there was already a moving vehicle in this world that moved by consuming the energy stored in a magic stone, so it wasn¡¯t a strikingly new concept or anything. We came first with this ideast time as well. Our invention was still far from perfect. The mages all expected the engine to break down before exceeding 100 kilometers, but¡ª ¡°Baron Korin Lork? What exactly is this¡­? I would love to invest a portion if you don¡¯t mind. Do you mind a quick conversation?¡± ¡°Wow¡­ What is that? It¡¯s a strange-looking carriage.¡± It didn¡¯t matter as long as it couldst us the 3 days of the contest. ¡°Zollin!¡± ¡°Y, yes! Master Korin!¡± ¡°I have to attend another contest so I¡¯ll leave the booth to you. Make sure you¡¯re nice to all the guests.¡± ¡°Y, yes sir!¡± My n was to one day make an automobilepany with these guys. It would be a shame to waste these doctorates and master degree ves, right? First off I would be copying Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Intellectual property rights? What is that? *** Leaving the Magic Exhibition Contest to the ves, I went to watch the long-awaited Cooking Contest to see Ran. It wasn¡¯t as popr as some of the other events, but there were a lot of veterans among the participants, and it was one of the harder contests to win, even in the game. ¡°Oppa!¡± Without paying regard to the surroundings, Ran threw her arms around me. In one of her hands was the first-ce trophy. ¡°Congrats oning first.¡± ¡°Hehe~. Did you have lunch?¡± ¡°I had a few snacks on the way from the stalls.¡± On the way here, I had a look around the food stalls and it was pretty much certain that I would be winning the Food Sales Contest this year. All that was left was the Mock Trial and¡­ Haa¡­ ¡°I¡¯m a bit tired after cooking all morning. Can we go straight back to the dormitory?¡± ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s go.¡± It was good because I had been quite busy the past few days as well. Marie said she would be spending the night with her family and¡­ ¡°Ren and Ron are participating in a contest at night so let¡¯s just wait at the dormitory until then.¡± ¡°Okay. Sounds great.¡± We came back to the dormitory. Everyone was busy at the Harvest Festival and the dormitory was empty so we went to the sunroom to enjoy all the sunlight by ourselves. ¡°Oppa.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Should we take a nap?¡± ¡°Are you tired?¡± She floated a smile in response to my question and snuggled close. ¡°Not really, but it would be nice to take a nap together.¡± Weid ourselves down on the two sofas of the sunroom. One was too small for us to sleep together on, so weid down on two opposing sofas and looked at each other. ¡°It¡¯s already been a year.¡± Ran said, reminiscing on what happened a year ago. She was right ¨C it had already been one year. A lot of things happened back then. After stopping Kang Ryun¡¯s n to transcend Hua Ran into a Hou, I was worried whether Hua and Ran would be able to acknowledge one another and cohabit, and it was therefore a pleasant surprise how well they managed their situation. ¡°Are you two getting along well?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course. We have a lot of differences, but we understand each other more than anyone else.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great to hear.¡± Honestly, I wasn¡¯t expecting them to get along so well because for Ran, Hua was an uninvited guest who suddenly took over her body. ¡°We like the same person after all,¡± she suddenly added out of the blue. ¡°Kuhum¡­¡± I cleared my throat while scratching my suddenly itchy nose. Everyone was like that these days, but Ran was especially more flirty than others. ¡°I would like a son that takes after Oppa, and a daughter that looks like me. Hmm~. Having as many kids as possible would be best, right?¡± ¡°It is slightly rming that you are having ns to have kids already¡­¡± ¡°Hehe¡­ Sorry if I¡¯m being annoying, but please let it go kindly. That¡¯s just how much I like you.¡± ¡°¡­Thanks.¡± ¡°About what?¡± she asked. ¡°For liking me, and for waiting.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± One day, I would have to respond to their feelings. Sometimes, I thought to myself, although it was highly unlikely to happen, that it might be better to live with everyone just as Alicia had said. But¡­ Haa. That won¡¯t work. Someone like me having a harem? That will be disgraceful to everyone who likes me. I had to make a decision one day. When that timees¡­ I pushed that line of thought to the back of my mind, in the midst of my fading consciousness. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ How long has it been? I forced open my hazy eyes and realized that Ran was nowhere to be seen. Instead, what I saw was a red-eyed cat meowing while gazing down at my face. ¡°Navi, huh?¡± It was the cat that had beening to visit me quite frequently these past few months. I wanted to keep it but the free-willed stray cat always vanished without me knowing. ¡°Come heree here. Let me pat you.¡± ¨C Meow¡­ Being a smart cat that could understand human words, it had a very strong standard of likes and dislikes. Seeing the cat lie down with its stomach facing the sky, I gently scratched its belly. ¨C Meoww¡­ The cat rubbed its face on my hand as if greatly content. It started off quite cold but was extremely adorable and touchy these days. Maybe I was chosen as a potential butler candidate? But that wasn¡¯t right because it always disappeared during my sleep, while sometimes crawling onto my bed at night. ¡°You remind me of Hua.¡± ¨C Nya?! ¡°These days, she doesn¡¯t want to sleep together. I guess she¡¯s starting to be old enough to feel embarrassed.¡± Last year, Hua loved crawling onto my bed whenever she had the chance to sleep together. It was because she liked the warmth of my body or something. ¡°She tells me off all the time for having bad sleeping habits though.¡± Apparently, I touch weird ces during my sleep? Like, I was very sad that she was saying that about things I unconsciously did in my sleep. Despite having the Unbreakable Vajra Body, her body was still very soft and because of that, I sometimes hugged her to sleep like a body pillow. ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s a part of her bing an adult.¡± She was an adorable girl. I could still vividly remember how surprised and grateful I felt when both Ran and Hua expressed their feelings for me¡­ ¨C ¡­ The cat quietly listened to me speak just like Hua. It was a very quiet and docile cat. ¡°Mhmm¡­¡± While scratching Navi¡¯s belly, I saw the Red Spear, Gae Derg, that I left next to the sofa before going to sleep. The beast-hunting magic spear disenchanting magic was certainly not a good spear to leave next to a cat. I was just about to move it aside when it suddenly lost bnce and started to fall towards Navi. ¡°Be careful¡­!¡± I instinctively reached out but the red spear had already slid past Navi. If not for the spearhead being wrapped up with a protective cloth, it would have been injured. Navi must have been surprised though, so I immediately tried to soothe it. ¡°Navi. It¡¯s oka¡ª¡± ¨C Bam! That was when the cat burst into smoke. ¡°¡­Huh?¡± Suddenly the weight jumped up several-fold. The smoke started to clear and¡­ what I realized was that, not only was it too heavy for a cat, and he silhouette resembled that of a human. ¡°Haht¡­¡± When the thickyer of smoke lifted, Navi, who had been showing me its belly on my knees, was nowhere to be seen and was reced by Hua Ran in her nun-clothes, looking up at my eyes in a fluster. Chapter 209: Autumn Harvest Festival (6) Chapter 209: Autumn Harvest Festival (6) ? Autumn Harvest Festival (6) ? I was a fan of small animals just like many others and liked the images and videos of dogs and cats being uploaded on Youxube and Instargram. So when Navi came to me, I screamed, ¡°Atst! I was finally chosen as a butler!¡± And yet¡­ that¡­ ¡°That was you, Hua¡­?¡± ¡°W, wait¡­ Like, it¡¯s¡­ this is not¡­ like¡­¡± As if she wasn¡¯t expecting this in the slightest, Hua mumbled and couldn¡¯t properly finish her sentence. ¡°How did you¡­ do it?¡± ¡°At M, Mag Mell¡­ Oengus¡­¡± Deeply embarrassed, her head was drooping low as she quietly mumbled her response. Basically, it went like this. In the Treasure Ind of Mag Mell, Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran were each introduced to a goddess by Oengus. They were the Morrigans ¨C the three goddesses of war: Badb, Macha, and Nemain. The three goddesses of war, who supported the God of the Sun Nuada, each gave them a present. Alicia was given the red warhorse from Nemain; Marie the Curse of Macha and Hua Ran¡­ ¡°The Shapeshift of Morrigans, huh¡­?¡± ¡°¡­Yeah.¡± The Shapeshift of Morrigans was a unique skill that also appeared in the game. It was fairly useful in open fields and life skills because one was able to change into all sorts of animals. However, it was a skill that would have others questioning, ¡°But why this instead of all the other treasures from Mag Mell?¡± because of how it fell shortpared to other treasures, and was, therefore, a skill that was only asionally picked by the game-enjoyers. ¡°So you shapeshifted into Navi and¡­ for all this time¡­¡± I was quite shocked. No wonder there was a cat that was following me so well. It was all an act, huh¡­? ¡°S, sorry¡­ That wasn¡¯t¡­ my n.¡± Hua was very fidgety, not knowing what to do. She looked quite adorable which made me want to pull a prank. ¡°Can you do me a favor then?¡± ¡°What¡­ is it?¡± ¡°Let me scratch your belly.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± ¡°Puhup¡­!¡± She responded immediately after realizing that I was teasing her. At a speed too fast for me to react, she swung her fist filled with demonic aura. ¡°Wait¡ª!¡± The punch that I couldn¡¯t even react to in time stopped right before my nose. She then said with a rare pout on her face. ¡°Don¡¯t tease me.¡± ¡°Sorry. My bad.¡± Her face immediately returned to being indifferent as she flopped down onto the sofa. She seemed quite depressed so I sat next to her. ¡°Cheer up. Embarrassment is only temporary.¡± ¨C Bam! ¡°Uhk¡­¡± ¡°I told you not to tease me.¡± ¡°This is such a precious opportunity so how can I¡­ W, wait. I understand! I won¡¯t tease you! Let me just hear the reason behind it though!¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯m not like Ran.¡± Hua wrapped her arms around her knees and quietly muttered. ¡°Ran is adorable. She¡¯s cute and social. It¡¯s natural for her to be loved. ¡°But I¡¯m different. I don¡¯t talk. My face doesn¡¯t change much, and I have a terrible personality. ¡°That¡¯s why¡­ I thought it would be difficult for me to be loved by you.¡± She honestly revealed what she had been feeling whileparing herself to Ran. I had no idea she had been having such concerns. ¡°It¡¯s the same for me,¡± I confessed. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You, Ran, Senior Marie, Alicia, and even Saintess Estelle. They all like me, but am I worthy of all that? I¡¯m a nobody. Who am I to receive all that love from everyone?¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s not true.¡± Hua Ran said calmly, as though none of her words were made up. ¡°You are nice, kind and cool. You deserve all the love.¡± ¡°Same goes for you.¡± ¡°Me¡­?¡± ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re cute, adorable, and kind.¡± ¡°¡­Really?¡± She tilted her head in disbelief, so I gave her a hug and reaffirmed it for her. ¡°¡­Yeah.¡± I patted her head with a smile. She was a very cute and lovable girl ¨C a girl that I saved myself; a girl who loved someone like me. ¡°Can I¡­ actually ask you for a favor though?¡± ¡°¡­What is it?¡± ¡°O, once in a while¡­ Can you turn into Navi and¡­¡± ¨C Bam! ¡°Kuhum¡­! If you don¡¯t want to, I don¡¯t mind dogs either!¡± ¡°No.¡± That can¡¯t be! Was I unable to see Navi anymore? I was depressed beyond belief when Hua put her hands on my cheeks and forced my eyes to turn towards and remain looking at her. ¡°You have¡­ me.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You said¡­ I¡¯m adorable. Just¡­ touch me instead.¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± It might be nothing new but¡­ Hua was a very straightforward girl. ¡°Can I scratch your belly?¡± ¨C Nod. Recently, I was starting to notice that I was bing more and more shameless. *** [Trials of Linton] was a small event that wasn¡¯t even introduced in the game. Aspiring students of Justice of the Peace were able to attend the contest and by having them partake in actual court cases from the past, they were assessed on whether their decisions were closer or even better than the precedent cases. It was basically a Mock Trial. A Justice of the Peace was essentially a judge with the power to enforce their orders. Mountain sides, inds, or viges close to borders without courts were like small closed-off societies. In those areas, the vige chiefs or the nobles were the judges and the prosecutors. What would happen if an outside judge were to show up and give them a sentence they didn¡¯t like? They wouldn¡¯t give a crap about the decision and proceed to crash the head of the judge. That was why a Justice of the Peace had to be powerful, hence why most of them were guardians that thugs or normal soldiers couldn¡¯t dare contend against. A Justice of the Peace was like a walking courthouse. They had to take the role of the prosecutor, the scribe, and the judge all by themselves. Knowledge was something that could be enhanced and strength was generally not a problem for superhumans, but the biggest issue was in their ability to make sound judgments as a judge. It was very difficult to learn that. That was why Professor Edgar, a former-JP, asionally opened mock trials to teach students how to make impartial and informed judgments. ¡°Are you confident, Boss?¡± Ren voiced her concern. ¡°Didn¡¯t you like, get your license in an underhanded manner?¡± ¡°That I cannot help but admit.¡± I was able to be a Grade 1 JP thanks to Marie¡¯s help, and I was able to make use of that very effectively when it mattered the most. However, that one experience during the Mound incident was my only experience as a Justice of the Peace, and fundamentally, I wasn¡¯t much different from the other peers of the course. ¡°I had terrible marks for the written section, but I was still among the top students, you know?¡± ¡°¡­How is that even possible?¡± ¡°Well, I had full marks for the prac exams.¡± ¡°Prac exams?¡± As I said, Professor Edgar liked hosting mock trials to teach students on how to effectively make decisions, and the results of those mock trials were also reflected in the final mark. ¡°13 wins out of 13 trials. I have a 100% win rate.¡± ¡°¡­How is that possible? Didn¡¯t you say you were bad at theory?¡± ¡°Fufu. You see, the legal knowledge doesn¡¯t really matter as long as you know the fundamentals.¡± Leaving aside her skepticism, we went to the venue for the Mock Trial where Professor Edgar found me and said with a sigh. ¡°Student Korin.¡± ¡°Professor Edgar.¡± I must be a strange student for him, considering how I failed the written exam and yet I was strong at mock trials. Plus, there was also how I suddenly became a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace in the middle of the semester. He appeared slightly hesitant after seeing me. ¡°To be frank,¡± he said, ¡°I was considering stopping your entry because you are a Grade 1 JP, but that wouldn¡¯t be fair in an event that is supposed to be for every student.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty much just a Grade 1 JP in name only, so please let it slide.¡± ¡°Others won¡¯t be thinking the same thing.¡± Professor Edgar adjusted his sses with a frown. ¡°A more difficult set of court cases will be assigned for you, Student Korin. You won all the mock trials during the course anyway, so that should set the bnce.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ Are they very difficult?¡± ¡°We have only taken actual cases that were personally dealt with by myself and my peers. There will be a way out in all of them.¡± Somehow, I was starting to get some bad vibes about this. ¡°I guess there¡¯s no other choice. But please, don¡¯t be too strict on me. I do need that golden ribbon.¡± ¡°Ah~. I heard it from others. Marrying into the Dunareff does have its hardships, I assume.¡± ¡°Uhk¡­ It breaks my heart that even a professor like you is saying that.¡± ¡°Anyway, Student Korin. You are a great fit for the position of a Justice of the Peace. I wish you all the best.¡± Leaving those words behind (it was hard to tell whether he was trying to console or reprimand me), Professor Edgar returned to his seat. The small auditorium, where the Auction Contest was held, was once again the venue for this Mock Trial but this time, the host was Professor Edgar himself. ¨C Thank you very much for attending the 9th [Trials of Linton] today. ¨C I would, first off, like to convey my words of gratitude to former Justice of the Peace, Sir ud, and Justice of the Peace, Madame Samantha for providing us with various court cases today. Please give them a round of apuse. p p p p! Although it wasn¡¯t a big event with arge number of contestants, this contest was still a very legitimate one. It was because a lot of important figures in the industry woulde visit to build a connection with former Grade 1 JP, Professor Edgar, and the future JPs. They would mostly just be officers of the Public Security Department or some former JPs, but it was still a great opportunity to see seniors in the field. ¨C Today, we are joined by the Deputy Minister of the Public Security Department, Mr. Ronan, Superintendent Sir Barohk, Minister of Public Security Sir Dorman, Deputy Minister Gerald, and Minister Magar of the Department of Justice. ¨C Wow! That¡¯s all the big shots of the Public Security and the Department of Justice! ¨C But like, why? Uhh¡­ This was weird. I heard the guests two years ago were just some former JPs and a team leader of the Public Security Department¡­ Looking around the small auditorium, I couldn¡¯t help but feel even more skeptical. It was because most of the people here appeared to be officers of Public Security and the Department of Justice. The big shots on the stage must have been the ones that brought them here. Even though it might be a fairly important event to meet potential JPs of the future, for them it shouldn¡¯t be anything more than a yhouse of little kids, so why were these guys here? ¨C Well then¡­ Before we begin, let me invite Minister Dorman of Public Security to have a word for us. Professor Edgar also seemed to be finding it odd but handed the microphone over to the minister, as he couldn¡¯t ignore the current powerhouses. ¨C Hello. I am Dorman, Minister of the Public Security Department. Haha, there¡¯s no need to be nervous, everyone. I¡¯m just an old man and a human like everyone else. The middle-aged man with graying hair introduced himself like a gentleman. This guy¡­ he didn¡¯t even show up much during the game so why was he here? ¨C Using this opportunity, I would love to send praises to one specific Justice of the Peace. Grade 1 JP Korin Lork! The hero of the kingdom and a treasure to the legal industry! ¡°Ehk?¡± Me? Why me? Before I could say anything, the minister walked down the stage towards where I was sitting and gave me a hug as if we were close. ¡°Everyone!¡± he then shouted at the crowd. ¡°Please remember this amazing Justice of the Peace! He is a legendary JP who has caught numerous heinous wanted criminals!¡± Umm¡­ Sorry? Did I? I didn¡¯t catch anyone though¡­ After finishing his shout, Minister Dorman whispered in a voice that no one else could hear. ¡°Please convey my greetings to Lady Marie Dunareff, Sir Baron.¡± Hoh¡­ I see. Now I understand why all these big shots are here. They were trying to make connections with Marie through me, and that¡¯s why they were giving me empty praises. At this point¡­ I couldn¡¯t even deny the rumors that I was a yboy marrying into Marie¡¯s family¡­ The big shots of the industry took turns giving me praises to no end. Only when it became excessively long did Professor Edgar chime in to put a stop. Finally, the event went on and I was the first to go. ¨C Good luck, Sir Lork! ¨C So coooool! ¨C I love you! Korin Lork! The officers, who must have been told to do that by their superiors, cheered out loud in voices that didn¡¯t sound very genuine. Is this¡­ the sweet taste of authority? Normally, I would have joked around to enliven up the mood but I was afraid of the excessive reaction they might make so I decided to refrain for today. Thankfully, Professor Edgar also sensed the mood and quickly proceeded with the event. ¡°Well then, herees the first trial. Student Muller, you will be the Justice of the Peace this time and Student Korin will be the defendant.¡± A trial held by a Justice of the Peace was very special. The JP took the role of the prosecutor and the judge, and the defendant didn¡¯t have awyer. That was normal considering how difficult it was to findwyers in countryside towns and viges. Besides, time was of the essence in most cases so the defendants had to defend themselves. This was also why JPs were unproportionally overpowered. They were the judge and the prosecutor and yet the defendant didn¡¯t even have ess to awyer. Systematically, it was heavily unfavorable for the defendant. In mock trials that took the form of Best of 3, what mattered the most was thus how you responded as a defendant. If one could win in a situation that should be unfavorable for yourself, it was highly likely that would lead to your overall victory in the mock trial. That¡¯s why the case is important. I need to at least find a way to prove my innocence. Naturally, most of the cases here would be examples of the JP winning the trial. However, that didn¡¯t mean the judge had a definitive chance of winning in the mock trial between students. Both the judge and the defendant in this case were newbies of the same level. As long as I could dig in through the logical gaps, I could flip the case as easily as a coin! ¡°Defendant Korin Lork. You were prosecuted for allegations of immorality.¡± Easy. Sexual crimes don¡¯t have much evidence. As unfortunate as it is, it is going to be favorable for the defendant. There weren¡¯t any DNA tests in this world. As long as I could find where the gap was in logic¡ª ¡°Defend yourself for the wicked act of bestiality you havemitted by raping a goat.¡± ¡°¡­Dafuq did you say?!¡± Chapter 210: Autumn Harvest Festival (7) Chapter 210: Autumn Harvest Festival (7) ? Autumn Harvest Festival (7) ? ¡°Defend yourself for the wicked act of bestiality you havemitted by raping a goat.¡± ¡°¡­What the fuck did you say?¡± What kind of bullshit was this¡­ Defend myself for what?! The small auditorium turned awkwardly silent. Everyone was appalled, including the contestants that had been waiting for their turn as well as Muller, who was on the opposing side of the trial. Raping a goat¡­? Public Immorality? Like, we had to do a trial on this? However, no one was able to call it nonsense, because these were all taken from actual cases that the JPs had experienced themselves. ¡°Before we get to the trial, we will give each side 5 minutes to check the details of the case.¡± I quickly confirmed the details of the said trial. It was an event that urred at a small country-side vige called Hamarakar. One day, Mr. Tomberra the shepherd was witnessed raping a goat in the middle of the night by the farm owner, Mr. Aleha. JP Samantha, who had been passing nearby, oversaw the trial of the man who had been imprisoned in the vige hall and gave a harsh sentence. She gave the sentence of cutting off one of the testicles of the young man, Tomberra. It was quite a harsh punishment for immorality, but it was such a shocking case that the defendant was the only one against it. ¨C Oh shit¡­ ¨C That¡¯s¡­ All the guys who were given the documents rted to the case couldn¡¯t help but unconsciously cover their private parts. Well¡­ female judges did tend to be more harsh towards sexual crimes, but this sentence was still within the realm of possible punishment in this era. Unlike modern day Earth, harsh and extreme punishments like this were certainly a lot more viable. And yet here I was, having to defend myself to be acquitted or prove my innocence in this case. Being acquitted free of charges gives the most marks but that would be impossible because the defendant was caught red-handed in the act. And as for innocence¡­ Wouldn¡¯t that be difficult? Leaving innocent in a sexual assault case? On top of public immorality? ¡°Fuckk¡­¡± ¡°Are you okay, Boss?¡± Ren, who was here as an assistant, asked after pulling her eyes away from the documents. Despite her initial astonishment, she was trying her best to scrutinize the details of the case. ¡°This is over. We can¡¯t win¡­¡± ¡°B, but this might not be the worst. There might be worse cases¡­¡± ¡°Do you really think so? Can you name me three possible scenarios that are worse than this?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She closed her mouth, unable to give a response. However, she muttered something different quietly under her breath. ¡°The goat might have liked it though.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know what the animals were thinking. It might have¡­ liked it, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Despite saying that herself, Ren blushed from embarrassment. But her words gave me a clue. ¡°Wait. Let me go through the documents.¡± I quickly confirmed the details again. In most cases, JP trials did notst a long time. The main legal formality was the most important, and there was less regard for precedents and specific legition, unlike the major and minor courthouses. Because JPs had to go around the country, it was a waste of administration for them to stay glued to a single town for months. As such, they didn¡¯t have time to investigate the matter. That was why there could be less congruency in the verdict. Only a small fraction of information was avable, which meant¡­ ¡°Ren! Can you find me a use rted to this incident in Civil Law 39!?¡± ¡°Huh? Uh, okay!¡± We scavenged through the thick book of legition and quickly gathered the material. This case¡­ It might be more winnable than I initially thought! ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Then let us begin the trial. Judge Muller. Please begin,¡± said Professor Edgar. In response, Muller opened up the thick book and said. ¡°The defendant is alleged to havemitted the act of public immorality specified in Criminal Law 255. The rape of a goat is¡ª¡± ¡°Objection!¡± ¡°What?¡± Muller seemed puzzled by my objection. He didn¡¯t see how I could have objected to anything he had thus outlined. However, the ¡°word choice¡± was extremely important for me, so I couldn¡¯t let it slide. ¡°It was not a ¡®rape¡¯. It was consensual!¡± ¡°¡­What the fuck did you say?¡± ¡°Objection! Judge Muller, please use proper words that are suitable in the context of this solemn asion!¡± ¡°¡­Judge Muller, be aware of your word choice.¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­ U, understood.¡± Muller shrunk a little from Professor Edgar¡¯s words, but immediately continued his words. ¡°Consent? By that are you referring to an intercourse of male and female agreed upon by both parties¡­?¡± ¡°The goat of this incident, Ms. Merilda, was a female goat! That stays true to the definition of intercourse under consent!¡± ¡°When the heck did youe up with a name¡­ Like fuc¡ª Kuhum! But that is only for humans¡­¡± ¡°Is there a sentence stating that it has to be a ¡®human¡¯ in the book of legition? I could not find it! Please answer me!¡± ¡°Well, obviously¡­¡± ¡°¡®Obviously¡¯¡­? Please use ¡®justified¡¯ and unbiased terminology in the court, Your Honor!¡± Muller appeared greatly shaken by my constant nitpicking of his word choice. However, as expected of a peer who had listened to the same lectures as I had, he soon retaliated. ¡°There was no mutual consent. How can you prove that the goat has given its consent?¡± ¡°That is true. But is there any proof that there wasn¡¯t any mutual consent?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± ¡°¡®Well¡¯? Your Honor?¡± ¡°You freakin¡¯¡­!¡± ¡°I, Korin Lork! Will hereby dere to the public! Ms. Merilda and I¡­! Were lovers!¡± ¡°What?!¡± ¡ª¡ª!! ¨C What?! ¨C No way! ¨C He¡¯s gone mad¡­! ¨C How badly does he want to win this¡­? The audience was baffled and awe-struck by my shocking deration. Love with an animal? It must be an unimaginably despicable thing for the people of this world. However, this was the only move I could make to reduce my sentence. I had to win! ¡°You! You¡¯re saying whatever you wish to during this trial! Can you prove yourself!?¡± As if he had witnessed the most wicked and vile criminal in the world, Muller shouted in fury. Even though this was a mock trial, he must be thinking that I had crossed the line. ¡°I can prove it!¡± ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Your Honor! I can promise you right at this moment!¡± ¡°O, on what?¡± ¡°I will marry Miss Merilda! Please allow us to prove our love!¡± ¨C Oh dear¡­ ¨C This is crazy. This is insane¡­ ¨C O lord. Why are you making me listen to these horrifying words? ¨C KIEEEEEEEEEEEEK! This can¡¯t be reaaaaaalll!! ¨C This cannot be real! Chaos was starting to fill the crowd, but I had to push through with the initiative. ¡°I will pay the dowry to my father-inw, Sir Aleha, and let him know about our decision! Please bless our love!¡± ¡°¡­Fuck.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡± In the end, Muller couldn¡¯t hold himself back from swearing out loud again while Edgar brought his palm to his face. Goats didn¡¯t cost that much. If the defendant were to pay more than that as the so-called dowry, then it was highly likely that the owner of the farm would let it go. He might be appalled at how crazy of a guy the shepherd was, but that wasn¡¯t a reason for him to ignore free profit. ¡°Immorality only applies to public immoral acts without consent! However, if it was a rtionship formed on love! And if it was with a fianc¨¦e whom I had promised the future with, there aren¡¯t any problems, are there?¡± ¡°Korin you fucking madman! You¡¯re throwing too much of this random bullshit just because it¡¯s a mock trial!¡± ¡°Your Honor! Please maintain a dignified lexicon in the court!¡± ¡°Yeah. Good for you for being a creative lunatic! Your existence itself is a minus in terms of dignity, alright?! I knew it the moment I saw you doing that Immortan Lork or whatever!¡± It was bing more and more of a disgraceful conversation towards the end but all in all, the trial ended in the way I wanted¡­ Actually, it was better than I expected. Proven innocent. It was my victory. ¡°K, kuhum¡­ I see. I see¡­ So you can do¡­ things like that, Boss?¡± Ren appeared to be having a great misunderstanding. In the next trial, it was my turn to prove Muller guilty, which I did a magnificent job of. It was my clean victory. And in the next trial¡ª ¡°Defendant Korin Lork. Defend yourself against allegations made due to your messy love life.¡± ¡°Haha¡­ Is that all? Even if you say ¡®messy love life,¡¯ I¡¯m sure it can¡¯t be¡ª wait, three people?! This guy ¨C what a freaking bastard!¡± ¨C Like he¡¯s one to talk? ¨C How many girls does he have his octopus legs on? ¨C No idea. I stopped counting past 100. I lost. It was aplete defeat. Like, how did I lose that? *** ¡°Korin Lork. Congrattions oning second. Here is your silver ribbon.¡± ¡°¡­¡± How¡­ how did this happen? This was terrible. What I wanted had been a golden ribbon, and yet in what was supposed to be myst contest, I ended up getting a silver ribbon! I failed at the veryst moment! ¡°Well. Four golden ribbons is already amazing, isn¡¯t it? You¡¯re missing one, though.¡± ¡°¡­¡± H, how could this be¡­ Fuu¡­ Let¡¯s calm down. So far, I had earned four golden ribbons and one silver ribbon. Normally, having this much would have been an impossible feat already. The problem was that I had five golden ribbons to give in the Lady of Autumn Contest, which would be happening very soon. Marie, Alicia, Hua Ran, Estelle, Master Erin¡­ Considering the undeserved love I was receiving from everyone, I wanted to give everyone a golden ribbon without any discrimination. However¡­ ¡°Ren¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°If I¡­ had to give a silver ribbon to one of them¡­ Who do you think it should be?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Senior Marie would probably go¡­¡± ¡ºKorin! Thank you! Nnn? A, am I the only silver ribbon? Umm¡­ I see! Okay! No no no. Don¡¯t worry about it. Yeah. I¡¯m¡­ fine.¡» ¡°Well, she might pretend like she¡¯s okay, but she would probably feel hurt the most, right?¡± ¡°Damn it¡­ What about Alicia¡­?¡± ¡ºAh¡­ I see. Yes. It¡¯s okay. I am far toockingpared to everyone else anyway. That¡¯s normal.¡» ¡°She would probably go like that, right?¡± Ren said. ¡°Ahhk¡­! She is probably going to talk herself down. I can¡¯t have that!¡± ¡°What about Hua Ran?¡± ¡°Hua Ran is out of the question. Ran will cry and Hua will bash me up.¡± ¡°¡­I guess so.¡± ¡°If it was Estelle-noonim¡­¡± ¡ºHmm~ Okay? Sure. But you see, Dongsaeng? You owe me a favor.¡» ¡°Aren¡¯t you scared of what she will ask you to do in return?¡± ¡°¡­¡± That left us with¡­ Master. ¡°If it¡¯s Master¡­¡± ¡°I guess she will understand.¡± She was the only one who wasn¡¯t connected with me through romantic feelings. If it was her, she would certainly understand my circumstances and be considerate. ¡ºFufu, that¡¯s okay. You have done a wonderful job getting all these ribbons.¡» That¡¯s right! Master will definitely say that while gently patting my head! ¡°Nn? Korin?¡± That was when I saw Master walking by. ¡°Huh? Master? Why are you here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to host an event. What a coincidence that I have met my dear disciple on the way.¡± She said after walking towards me. Instead of her usual working outfit, she was wearing a fancy autumn dress with some level of exposure. ¡°Wow~. That¡¯s a pretty dress.¡± ¡°Fufu. I¡¯ll be attending the Lady of Autumn Contest after all¡­ So I dressed myself a little. Is it¡­ strange considering my age?¡± ¡°Absolutely not. You look gorgeous. You should dress yourself like that more often.¡± Master gave a benevolent smile in response while tucking her hair behind her ear. ¡°See this?¡± she then asked. ¡°This is the earring from my dearest disciple. I am wearing the ne and the bracelet as well!¡± She was wearing all the essories that I had given her as a gift. She was beautiful already and was now even more stunning after fully dressing herself up. ¡°Master. You know for the Lady of Autumn Contest¡­¡± ¡°Ah~ Yes! I¡¯m looking forward to it!¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± I immediately swallowed the scream that almost left my mouth. ¡°Lady of Autumn¡­ it¡¯ll be full of beautiful girls in the prime of their youth so I¡¯m not expecting much but¡­ It¡¯s fine. I will be happy with one golden ribbon from my dear disciple.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t say it ¨C I couldn¡¯t ask if she could be content with just a silver ribbon¡­ She probably would understand if I gave it though, and what she said must have been an unconsciousment on her part but¡­ ¡°Really¡­ It is my first time feeling like this. What a disgrace! Anyway, I will nheless try my best to put on the most beautiful appearance I can just for you, my dear disciple. Look forward to it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± After she was done speaking, she disappeared off into the distance. ¡°¡­That was your chance to say it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Boss?¡± ¡°AHH~ How grateful! Is the teacher¡¯s graceee!!!¡± ¡°Are you okay in the head?¡± ¡°AHH~ How amazing! Is the teacher¡¯s graceee!!!!¡± There was no way around it. I couldn¡¯t betray that smile and her expectations! ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake¡­! My n always falls off like this!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Of course, I had a backup n. Huhu, huhahahaha¡­!¡± This was my second year trying to save the world. Having the n go astray against my will was nothing unusual. Of course, I had a back-up! ¡°Student Korin Lork, 2nd year of the Knight Department, yes?¡± ¡°That is exactly the case!¡± ¡°You weren¡¯t showing up until thest minute so I thought you weren¡¯ting.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to attend if possible.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Anyway, now that you¡¯re here¡­¡± ¨C Congrattions on attending the Crossdressing Contest, I guess? A wise man always has a n B. ¡°HUHAHAHAHA¡­! WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Chapter 211: Autumn Harvest Festival (8) Chapter 211: Autumn Harvest Festival (8) ? Autumn Harvest Festival (8) ? The ns that I had created until now had a high chance of going off-track in the strangest of ces. To be fair, I wasn¡¯t the best thinker. In the past, Park Sihu had always been in charge of the brain while I was the brawl. Because of all the bad luck that I witnessed until now, it became a habit for me toe up with ns B and C. The Crossdressing Contest was a n C, and naturally, I had already meticulously crafted the specific details of the n beforehand. ¡°You seem very¡­ calm?¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be calm?¡± ¡°Because you are a celebrity attending this contest? I thought you¡¯d be more worried.¡± Ms. Senior Shana of the reception desk seemed to know who I was and appeared surprised to see myposure. ¡°How many participants do you have so far?¡± ¡°Twenty-one.¡± ¡°Good. Not that many to beat.¡± They were pretty mediocre in thest iteration as well, so I should be able to win this. ¨C Wait. Isn¡¯t that Korin Lork? ¨C Is he attending the Crossdressing Contest? For real? ¨C Oh look! Korin is signing up for the Crossdressing Contest. ¨C Oh wow. People recognized who I was and started staring at me with intrigue. ¡°We can hide your name during the contest if you want,¡± she prudently suggested. ¡°Fufu. Don¡¯t worry about it. Senior. Did you know?¡± I was not embarrassed in the slightest. Why, you ask? ¡°Crossdressing into a girl is the most manly thing that only men can do!¡± ¡°¡­Well, that¡¯s obvious, I guess?¡± ¡°Since I have to do it anyway, why not enjoy it along the way!?¡± ¡°Ohh¡­¡± She gasped as if she was surprised but¡­ this senior ¨C she was looking at me funny. It isn¡¯t that weird to join a Crossdressing Contest, is it? A gentleman crossdresses once or twice in their life, do they not? Embarrassment is only temporary! These things will stay behind as good memories once the embarrassment disappears. Like the man I was, I confidently signed my name at the reception before looking for a 3rd-year senior. ¡°Senior Elza! Gimme clothes! And makeup!¡± ¡°Oh wo! Are you actually going to do it? Good on you! I have the perfect design for you!¡± **** The Crossdressing Contest wasn¡¯t an embarrassing and contemptible contest that some might think of it as. The boys all looked quite horrible anyway, and they applied mostly because of peer pressure, a dare, or as a penalty for losing a game. ¡°Fuu¡­ Fuck my life.¡± Jaeger Hinzpeter. The 2nd-year student of the Knight Department with a shaved head grumbled with a frown, which made his face look even more sinister. ¡°Wait a second. Let me make you look amazing.¡± ¡°Shut up, Lark!¡± ¡°Ah~ Korin is missing out for not seeing this.¡± The reason why Jaeger and Lark were here was simple. After the shocking day job at the Magic Exhibition Contest, they were drinking with peers of the Knight Department. ¡ºOi. Should we y a game? The loser has to join the Crossdressing Contest.¡» Jaeger, who was always a fan of mischievousness, came up with that idea. All of his peers were quite drunk and none of them were in their proper mind. ¨C Sure¡­ Let¡¯s do this. ¨C The loser has to join. Okay? There was a saying that the reason why men died earlier than women across every culture was because of their tendency to rush into doing stupid things just for fun. Of course, the price of embarrassment that had to be paid was solely on Jaeger to shoulder¡­ ¡°Haa~. Done with the make-up.¡± Lark finished his awkward make-up after a while. As a result¡ª ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­Puhup!¡± ¡°Don¡¯tugh.¡± Jaeger scowled at Lark¡¯s reaction. ¡°As I thought¡­ Crossdressing doesn¡¯t automatically make someone look better or anything~¡± ¡°Shut up!!¡± ¡°It¡¯s funny though. Kuhuhuk¡­!¡± Having this reaction as the result after sitting still for an hour, Jaeger was quite irritated. The only saving grace was that the people around him were looking about the same. ¡°Look. You¡¯re not the only one~. They¡¯re all enjoying it.¡± It was embarrassing that he would have to show this to others but he felt relieved to find that he wasn¡¯t the only one. Surprisingly, there were quite a few people who joined this stupid contest. With all these people, he felt a lot less embarrassed. After all, Jaeger was still young enough to be easily swayed by peers and the atmosphere around him. ¡°Haa¡­¡± ¡°Why am I doing this¡­¡± Most of the participants were here after losing a bet and were thereforementing about their reality. Seeing them sigh and pull their hair out, Jaeger felt quite relieved. He felt especially more relieved after seeing a guy who was taller than others. Despite being more than 2 meters tall and being massive, he was wearing a one-piece dress of flowers. ¡°Damn it¡­¡± Quickly, he turned away from the horrible sight. Jaeger didn¡¯t like how he himself looked, but at the same time, didn¡¯t really enjoy staying in this horrifying waiting room. ¡°Korin that idiot should have been the one doing this¡­¡± ¡°He probably would have enjoyed it, saying that it¡¯s fun. If only he wasn¡¯t so busy this time around.¡± The peers of the 2nd year Knight Department got along quite well, but Korin was definitely the most easygoing of them all. He had the rxed attitude of, ¡®We can only do this while we¡¯re young,¡¯ and didn¡¯t hesitate to do anything. He might not be fond of the Crossdressing Contest as a whole, but would certainly try his best to enjoy it if he had to do it. It must be because of that attitude of life that he could do the Immortan head-banging while singing with a metal harmonica. ¡°They all look like they¡¯re in it as a penalty for losing a bet.¡± ¡°I guess there¡¯s a lot of people like us.¡± The level of the boys¡¯ cross-dressing skills was subpar. Everything was within Korin¡¯s expectations. *** Again, for most of the guys, the Crossdressing Contest was a sort of penalty game. In other words, the main reason for the audience being here was to tease their friends, rather than expect something amazing from the participants. ¨C Oh wo~ Bongpal looking hot! ¨C So sexy haha! ¨C Did you film it? We have to show this to his future wife! Both the participants and the audience weren¡¯t here with much expectations so the auditorium was filled with deafening cheers and shouts. ¡°Huu¡­¡± Seeing the other participants get roasted on the stage while waiting for his turn, Jaeger heaved a bitter sigh. It certainly was funny. It was interesting to see teenage boys show off dresses andughable makeup. Everything would have been good if only he wasn¡¯t one of the ones doing it. ¡°Haa¡­ Maybe I should have had a concept in mind like those guys.¡± There were some who took a strategic approach while being fully aware of how absurd they would look. Some showed off their decent singing and dancing skills that they had honed for a while. They were using the ¡°self-appeal time¡± after the introduction to the fullest. ¡°¡­I should have prepared something too.¡± Doing it like them would have been better. Everyone pretty much looked the same anyway, so the points had to be earned elsewhere, right? They were of the mindset that, since it was going to be a ridiculous memory anyway, why not at least make something out of it by winning it? It was a very logical approach. ¨C Puhahahaha! Look! ¨C Uwaaaaahk! So sexyy! Kyaaak! ¡°Damn it¡­ Like, why are there so many girls? Wasn¡¯t this mainly just a contest of boys?¡± The male students weren¡¯t the only ones here trying to watch their friends being reduced toughing stock. There were a lot of female students and citizens of the city for some unknown reason. It was weird. Why were there so many people watching this weird contest, so much so that the auditorium was jam-packed? ¨C It¡¯s here¡­ ¨C Is he really doing it? ¨C Yeah¡­ Because of the ribbon¡­ I feel bad now. ¨C Boss wanted you to look forward to it. ¡°Mhmm?¡± Jaeger found a group among the countless people in the audience that was much more eye-catching than anyone else in the building. They were bigshots that everyone ¨C whether it be people of the kingdom or the Academy ¨C knew of. Those girls of a different league were here watching the contest unfold. Now that was very weird. Why would people like them watch something like a Crossdressing Contest? They all had different likes and dislikes, and the only reason they would gather in one ce was¡­ ¡°¡­Wait. Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± It was when Jaeger was thinking something like, ¡°It has to be that guy right?¡± ¨C Herees Participant Number 17! Aiya~ I certainly was not expecting this gentleman to attend this specific contest! The host suddenly became more excited than before. Jaeger turned towards the one walking up the stage and ended up tilting his head. ¡°Huh?¡± It was a rather familiar-looking face. His sharp and wild appearance was not something that others could mimic, but the reason Jaeger still couldn¡¯t tell for a split second was because of how he surprisingly looked decent when dressed like a girl. ¨C Korin Lork! That¡¯s right! It¡¯s the Korin Lork we all know! A round of apuse everyoneeeee!! The appearance of Participant Number 17, Korin Lork, was met with a loud round of apuse that was different in nature from the cheers of ridicule that had been showered at the previous contestants. ¨C Hoh¡­ ¨C Is that Korin? That¡¯s¡­ ¨C Not as bad as I thought? Without any hint of embarrassment, Korin walked onto the stage with a confident set of steps. It was hard to call him ¡°beautiful¡± by any stretch of the imagination. Because of his tough body and muscles, he wasn¡¯t the best fit for cross-dressing. However, the difference in body shape was covered with make-up and clothes. His muscles were concealed by a suit that didn¡¯t reveal the lines of the body. He was wearing a skirt and tights to appear feminine, and those tights were of a higher denier level to conceal his muscles.[mfn]ED Min Note: A denier is a unit of measurement for the thickness of individual threads of fabric.[/mfn] Of course, it was still difficult topletely hide his masculinity, but the right amount of make-up made his face look more feminine. Added on top of that was his confidence andposure which was in stark contrast to the previous contestants. ¡°Kyaaaahk! Korin-dongsaeg you¡¯re so pretty! So cool! So handsome! Waaaaaak¡ª!¡± Estelle pped and screamed like crazy once Korin was on the stage. It was a very undignified set of actions considering her position as a princess and a religious leader of millions of believers, but the people in the Academy didn¡¯t think much of it because of her recent actions making her more approachable, as if she were ady in the neighborhood. ¨C Ohh¡­ He gives off this cool older sister vibe. ¨C Is this a girl crush? He looks cool. The reception from the audience was quite positive. Since he already had a good appearance to begin with, he didn¡¯t appear ridiculous, even when crossdressed, and instead gave off a neutral appeal. ¨C Student Korin. You¡¯re at the top of the 2nd year Knight Department if I remember correctly. Is that correct? ¨C Yes. ¨C Wow. You look very good. Ah, please don¡¯t misunderstand. What I mean is that you have more of a special appeal going onpared to the previous participants. ¨C Pretty handsome, right? ¨C Hahahat! Look at you say that yourself! I like that! ¨C You can call me sis everyone. Korin¡¯s joke was well-received by the audience as theyughed and cheered in response. He was certainly differentpared to the previous contestants who had been embarrassed and busy trying to pull their skirts down. ¨C Your make-up is fantastic. I didn¡¯t recognize you for a second. ¨C Yeah? Honestly, I think I¡¯m prettier than most girls. Wahahahahaha! The audienceughed without an end. Normally, the people attending this contest tended to stutter from nervousness or embarrassment but Korin was looking confident with not even a hint of such emotions present in his expression. Korin Lork. Back on Earth, he used to be a part of the band at his university. His characteristic amiability and social skills shone through even in a contest like this. Since we¡¯re at it anyway, let¡¯s win it. Since we¡¯re at it anyway, let¡¯s enjoy it. Since we¡¯re at it anyway, let¡¯s have a st doing it! He was the type of person who was the first to go out to school festivals to enliven up the mood. He didn¡¯t mind putting himself on the line to make things more interesting. ¨C Well then, Student Korin. Have you prepared anything? ¨C Of course. It¡¯s a musical performance and a dance. ¨C Oh wow. A performance and a dance! Looking forward to what you will show us. The host was indeed looking forward to his performance. He instinctively knew that people like Korin were great at lifting the excitement of the audience and was looking forward to how that would make the contest more exciting as a whole. As if to answer his expectation, Korin put on sunsses and¡ª ¨C Come! Uaithne! He shouted as a harp flew in from a distance. The treasures of Dagda, the Danann of the Earth. Titan-killing harp, Uaithne. The godly treasure that could fly from anywhere in the continent with the summon of its ownernded right before Korin with an aftershock left from its trail. Leaving the harp hanging in the air, Korin smirked. ¡°Do you want music!?¡± ¨C What? ¡°If you want, p aloud! Scream out of your guts! ¨C Right¡­ Everyone, a round of apuse! ¨C WAAAAAHHHHHH¡ª! The host reminded the audience to quickly p, and only then did Korin pick up the harp. He then yed the strings of Uaithne like it was a guitar. ¡°Hear MA MUSIC! Hear the echoes of MA ROCK N ROLL!¡± ¨C Diring~ He then let go of Uaithne, but that was when something shocking urred. After leaving his hands, the harp started to perform on its own. ¡°Here we go. Heavenly Mic Hael Jackson. Billie Jean.¡± ¨C p! p! Korin wasn¡¯t the first one dancing and singing but he was definitely the most attention-grabbing with the self-performing Uaithne. On top of that, the song he was performing was what marked the turning point of the pop culture of Earth ¨C an inheritance of a great musician. ¨C Ohh¡­ ¨C That¡¯s a good song. It had a different style of music from what wasmon in the continent, but it had its unique charm to it. However, the greatest reason this marked a historical moment on Earth was its unique dance performance that hadn¡¯t been fully demonstrated yet. In the middle of the harmony of beat and rhythm added to a sensational melody and choreography¡ª He suddenly turned his head with a flick. The cheers started to settle. The audience was instinctively sensing a change. It was then. ¨C Swish Going against gravity; like a person walking on the moon¡­ ¡°Moonwalk¡±. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°What¡­?¡± ¡°A human walking backwards?!!¡± ¡°Mommy! He¡¯s walking backwardssss!!?!¡± The Moonwalk onlysted a little. Korin rotated on the spot before abruptlying to a stop and throwing a nce at the audience. The crowd bursted in an uproar. ¡°UAAAAAHKK!!¡± ¡°KYAAAAAAAAAAHK! UNNI, PLEASE NOTICE ME!¡± ¡°OAAAAAAHK! WHAT DID I JUST WITNESSSSSSS!!?¡± ¡°IMMORTAAANNN! AS EXPECTED OF IMMORTANNN!¡± Like the first time Moonwalk was introduced on Earth¡­ Actually, the first demonstration of Moonwalk on this continent served as a greater shock than how it was received on Earth. An incredible culture shock. His dance and song shown in a mere Crossdressing Contest was put on the first page of the local newspaper the following morning. * There is an illustration of him crossdressing. Chapter 212 – Autumn Harvest Festival (9) Chapter 212 ¨C Autumn Harvest Festival (9) by Penguin Squad ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡» ? Autumn Harvest Festival (9) ? The Lady of Autumn Contest was practically a parade around the city for a whole week. Arge number of girls took part in it ¨C they wore beautiful dresses and appealed to the public, receiving ps and ribbons. The citizens were able to give ribbons to the one they liked ¨C throughout the festival, the stalls gave out several ribbons of all sorts of colors, and at the end, these ribbons were tranted into different points. But of course, not all the ribbons had the same number of points. For example, the gold, silver, and bronze ribbons that could only be acquired bying top three at the various contests were worth many more points. ¡°Oi Kane. You got a silver ribbon, right? Who are you going to give that to?¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­! Well of course¡­¡± The third-year student of the Knight Department, Kane, replied while scratching his reddened cheeks. ¡°M, Marie¡­¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± His peers, however, couldn¡¯t cheer for him. Giving ribbons in the Autumn Harvest Festival meant much more than it might seem at face value. It was based on a legend that giving a golden ribbon at the festival would connect the two together. These legends were verymonce, but aside from the legend, it definitely meant a lot to give a ribbon that one earned through sheer effort. That was why giving a ribbon was taken the same way as a confession, and surprisingly enough, it had a high chance of sess due to the festival mood everyone was in. ¡°Marie, huh¡­?¡± ¡°Won¡¯t that be difficult?¡± But that only applied when the girl didn¡¯t have a partner. Marie Dunareff. She was the top celebrity of the 3rd year students of Merkarva Academy, and everyone knew who she liked. ¡°I don¡¯t think you stand a chance¡­¡± ¡°I have vowed to myself already! Korin Lork! I can make Marie happier than that damn yer of a guy!¡± Kane had no ns of turning away from his feelings, which he had been steadily building since his 1st year at the Academy. He calmly waited for Marie, who should be on the way to the Banquet Hall. ¡°Ehew¡­ Sure. I guess it¡¯ll help you settle your mind after getting rejected.¡± Ignoring his friend¡¯s concerns, Kane was looking forward and found Marie leaving from one of the dressing rooms. ¡°M, Marie!¡± ¡°Huh? Kane?¡± Marie truly was stunningly beautiful. She was wearing a vibrant blue dress that suited her blue hair. Her priceless silky dress was adorned generously with jewelry and on her shoulders were blue potato flowers folded with silk. Although she usually went around carrying a basket of potatoes, she was undoubtedly the youngdy of the dukedom to the south ¨C a princess that everyone adored and admired. ¡°Y, you look pretty today.¡± ¡°Thanks. You¡¯re wearing a tuxedo, Kane? It suits you!¡± Marie replied the same way as usual, and seeing that, Kane bit his lips. He knew how she was viewing him as just a peer and an academy-mate. But that was going to change today. Kane was going to confess his feelings today ¨C after receiving this ribbon, Marie was sure to have a different perception of him. ¡°M, Marie! Here!¡± Kane handed over the silver ribbon that he hard-stakingly earned from a contest. It was widely agreed upon that this ribbon reflected the giver¡¯s emotion of love. How would she react after receiving it, he wondered to himself. ¡°Wow! Thank you! Are you giving it to me?¡± ¡°Huh? Y, yeah¡­¡± ¡°I knew it ¨C you are a great ¡®friend¡¯. Thanks!¡± That was the end. Thinking that he might catch a glimpse into her feelings by seeing her face, Kane lifted his head up. What he saw was the same smile as always. It was beautiful and bright, but that was it. It seemed that she wasn¡¯t aware of the confession he had just made. ¡°I, I¡­!¡± It was when Kane was about to reveal his feelings in words. ¨C Senior Marie~ A voice echoed from behind. Korin was waving at Marie from a distance. ¡°Ah, Korin! Thanks, Kane! I¡¯ll give you some boiled potatoester on!¡± As if she didn¡¯t even hear him mumble, Marie ran across the corridor until she was right in front of Korin. ¡°Look! It¡¯s a beautiful dress right?¡± Kane dumbfoundedly watched from a distance as she spun on the spot, showing off her dress to Korin with a smile. ¡°I told you it wouldn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°¡­Hkk.¡± His friend came up and tried to console him, but Kane couldn¡¯t escape from the bitterness of his emotions. *** The final selection of the Lady of Autumn Contest was here. On thest day of the festival, the Main Auditorium that could fit everyone on the campus was decorated like the banquet hall of the royal family, and everyone present was looking forward to this year¡¯s Lady of Autumn. ¨C Seventh Candidate, Miss Alicia Arden! She also happens to be the second top student of the Knight Department in her grade! Everyone, please wee her to the stage with a round of apuse! Alicia walked onto the stage under the apuse of the audience. As expected of ady of the Arden Household, in charge of the border to the east, her dress had a different style to what was shown until now. It was like a fusion dress that had elements of the East. ¨C Wow¡­ ¨C I didn¡¯t know Alicia was this pretty. ¨C Marie was even more amazing. I¡¯ve never seen just a fabulous and wonderful dress. ¨C The Saintess was something else as well. I thought she was a goddess. ¨C I really liked Hua Ran. I thought she was scary, but she looked really pretty dressed up. Looking at the young girls of the Academy standing on the stage, the only old person in the group, Erin Danua, felt slightly awkward. Girls in the prime of their youth were decorating themselves. She had to join them soon, but how different was shepared to them? ¡°Haa¡­¡± ¡°What is with the constant sighs?¡± An old friend and disciple, Josephine ra, asked. ¡°I¡¯m just thinking¡­ how I don¡¯t really fit in here,¡± Erin revealed her honest feelings. ¡°You have to remember that I had also participated and won the contest once.¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t that¡­ 70 years ago?¡± That was back when Josephine was still considered ¡°young¡±. After seeing through what she meant, Josephine said with a smile. ¡°Do you know?¡± ¡°Know what?¡± ¡°Someone 1,000 years old is less repulsive than someone 100 years old.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Someone that is 100 years old sounds like a grandma and makes people feel repulsed but a 1,000-year-olddy is just someone from a long-living race. In terms of attractiveness as ady, thetter is surprisingly more appealing.¡± ¡°W, what do you mean¡­?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a fact. A wide-spread concern for witches and their longevity.¡± Erin looked puzzled like she didn¡¯t understand what she was trying to say, but Josephine continued while fixing her hair. ¡°You are beautiful. You look stunning. There is no male in existence that can turn you down.¡± ¡°Ugh. You are embarrassing me now¡­¡± ¡°So don¡¯t back down and be more confident. Go show him how much of a waste it would be to not choose you.¡± p! Josephine tapped on her bare back which was revealed due to the design of the dress. 100 years. They had been together for 100 years. Erin had picked up a persecuted and poor young witch, fed her, gave her knowledge, and honed her skills. Despite living a life longer than other humans, even Josephine couldn¡¯t darepare herself with thedy in front of her. That was why she wished sincerely from the bottom of her heart. ¨C Herees the luckyst! The only staff member in this contest is our new chairman! Chairman Erin Danua! ¡°You have every right to win. My beloved master. My mother.¡± Like a mother sending off their daughter in love, Josephine gently pushed Erin towards the stage. ¨C WAAAHHHHH¡­! Erin slowly walked out from the back. The cheers and ps slowly started to dwindle, until it eventually became dead silent. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The new chairman, who came to the position afterst year¡¯s Tower of Magic incident, was already a celebrity. Leaving aside the question of how strong she was, it was because of her otherworldly beauty. Although she herself was uninterested in decorating herself, Erin had an appearance that suited her status as a goddess. Her fine silver hair fell gently like silk, and her blue eyes were clear and bright like sapphire. Her mature appeal that peers could not dare imitate had stolen some of the hearts of the young teenage boys. That was back when she wasn¡¯t even dressing up and now, she was wearing a pure white dress. Her hair, which was usually braided up into a ball, was undone and flowing gently in a long wave, and clear crystal heels were covering her bare white feet. ¨C Wow¡­ ¨C She¡¯s so pretty. The audience nkly gazed at the stage. Erin¡¯s awkwardness as if she wasn¡¯t used to a stage like this was the cherry on the top. Every girl participating in this year¡¯s Lady of Autumn Contest was beautiful but¡­ Erin Danua stood out the most with the mature appeal of an adult. Despite feeling burdened by those astonished gazes from the crowd, Erin kept ncing at the audience seats until she finally found the person she had been looking for. ¨C Master! You are so pretty! Seeing her disciple cheer out loud, Erin floated a beautiful smile that further shocked the audience. ¨C Chairman. You look¡­ absolutely stunning today. The host finally broke out of his stupor and proceeded with the event. He asked several questions until it reached a question that meant a lot to Erin. ¨C Is there anyone specific that you would like to show this to? It was the same question that the host asked everyone but it sounded differently to Erin. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Her lips quivered. Her heart started to race and her trembling lips refused to part. ¡°My disciple,¡± she wanted to say. My dearest beloved disciple. The boy who willingly signed a contract with the Grim Reaper, for her sake, and ended an endless cycle that had continued for more than 300 years in a city of death. A hero who returned from the future and was pushing himself on the path of suffering. ¡°Yes. There is someone I would like to show this to.¡± ¨C Ohhhh¡­! ¨C Chairman! Look this way, please! The audience mored but Erin couldn¡¯t perceive them anymore. Her eyes were fixated on nothing but her disciple, who was waving and cheering at her. *** Every participant in the Lady of Autumn Contest was confident in themselves, and their outer appearances were indeed incredible. The most eye-catching of them all was the top student of the 3rd year Magic Department, Marie, and the second top from the 2nd year Knight Department, Alicia. There was also the unconventional Hua Ran and the pride of the Kingdom, Estelle. Despite the strong candidates on the list, the ribbon holders with the votes still had bitter looks on their faces. ¡°Hah~. So what if we give ribbons? They all like someone already anyway.¡± ¡°One guy at that¡­¡± The Lady of Autumn Contest was a beauty contest but at the same time, it was an opportunity for boys with ribbons to publicly reveal their interest. It didn¡¯t always lead to something, but the boys couldn¡¯t help but hold such expectations regardless. But all the top candidates had a love interest already. And it was one single person at that. ¨C Korin Lorkkkk¡­! ¨C I¡¯m so jealous¡­! It was time for the vote. Numerous candidates stood on the stage including Marie, Alicia, Hua Ran, Estelle, and Erin. Several girls lining up after making themselves as beautiful as possible was truly a sight to behold. ¨C Now, herees the question! Who will get the most ribbons to be this year¡¯s Lady of Autumn!!? The first giver will be the one who acquired the most golden ribbons in this Harvest Festival! With the shocking number of five! ¨C The unprecedented character who won golden ribbons in the Auction Contest! Magic Exhibition! Food Sales! Hunting! And the Crossdressing Contest, as well as a silver ribbon in Trials of Linton! KORIN LORK! There were a lot of interesting sights and talks at this festival and one of them was the Struggle of Korin Lork. Getting a prize in six different contests was nothing easy. Considering how five of them had been golden ribbons, including the Crossdressing Contest that he had to attend, even other men had to give him his due credit. ¨C Wow¡­ So you need to do that much to have a harem, huh? ¨C That enviable bastard¡­ Crazy in a lot of ways¡­ ¨C But still, this is too much, no¡­? Ignoring the crowd, Korin walked onto the stage and took out the golden ribbons he earned. ¡°Senior Marie. Thank you for everything you do. ¡°Alicia. Great work in the Tournament. ¡°Hua, Ran. I¡¯m counting on your help. ¡°Estelle-noona. Congrattions on winning the Tournament. ¡°Master¡­ You look absolutely gorgeous.¡± Each and every one of them turned bright after receiving a golden ribbon from him. Although they weren¡¯t the only ones being chosen, they all knew how hard he had to work for the past week and seemed content enough. ¨C Next up¡ª The night went on. The final night of the festival was nearing the end. *** Night time when the festive mood of the city was starting to fade, the clock tower, located at the central za of Merkarva City, was quietly fulfilling its duty regardless of the noise it had been surrounded with recently. On top of that clock tower where one could gaze down at the entire city was a boy carrying a spear. ¡°What a view.¡± Despite the nauseating height of the clock tower, the boy stayed there on thest night of the Harvest Festival, waiting for both the midnight and the guest to arrive. ¡ª Before long, footsteps started to echo as a goddess reflecting the ambient moonlight appeared next to him. ¡°I loved your dress.¡± ¡°Fufu, that is great to hear. You can ask meter if you wish to see it again.¡± Erin, who was back in her normal outfit, slowly took her seat next to her disciple. ¡°How do you like my city?¡± ¡°It¡¯s great. It¡¯s a really good city.¡± Korin had spent thest 5 years in this ce. Waking up as a foreigner, he initially let himself be swept away by the flow of time, but aftering back in time, he began doing whatever he could for a better future. For the past 5 years, he had experienced a lot of things and came to notice a lot about this city. He also knew how beautiful the city looked¡­ even in its downfall. ¡°You should dress up like that more often. Wasting your beauty should be considered a sin.¡± ¡°Who would I dress up for?¡± ¡°You can do it for me.¡± ¡°¡­Seriously. You and your smooth tongue.¡± In an attempt to conceal her reddened ears, Erin leaned on his shoulder. ¡°Are you cold?¡± He seemed to have understood it the wrong way though. To be fair, although it was still autumn, it was approaching midnight and the breeze up above was certainly blisteringly cold. It wasn¡¯t irrational for him to misunderstand it as such. ¡°Do you see that there? The fruit shop in the market streets? That¡¯s where we had our first school.¡± ¡°You mean Merkarva Academy?¡± ¡°Fufu, it started as an orphanage. It was me, Josephine¡­ and a few children who lost their families to demons.¡± 100 years ago. That was when the wandering goddess settled here. She founded an orphanage with children including a young witch who wouldter be praised as a Great Witch. A vige was formed around the orphanage she created. The orphanage became a school and the vige became a town¡­ it grew all the way until it reached the current stage of Merkarva. ¡°That was the starting point. It was one of the most intense memories I had from my long life.¡± The darkness started to thicken and noises from the people were starting to fade. Only the moonlight remained strong, as it ambiently shone on her. Korin was staring at Erin as she continued with her story. His beautiful master was always smiling. Even in her veryst moment, she smiled and protected the children. Today was her final night. ¡°Master.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Korin turned silent. As if looking for something to talk about; as if trying to hold onto thisst conversation as dearly as possible. Atst, he opened his mouth. ¡°I want happiness.¡± It was a sudden change of topic but Erin quietly lent her ears. ¡°Not just for myself but for many other people. Some might see everyone as worthless; others might see them as fake or call me out for being overindulged but¡­ ¡°Since we are at it, I want everyone to be happy. ¡°Being alive ¨C I wanted to help everyone maintain something so fundamental.¡± Erin couldn¡¯t understand everything he was saying. She could not possibly understand what he experienced outside this world; the three years he spent as an outsider and the two years he spent aftering back in time. However, there was still one thing that she could feel. She could feel the sincere goodness in his heart. ¡°If it¡¯s you, you can do it,¡± she said. ¡°I have to do it. And that ¡®everyone¡¯ has to include you.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Only a few minutes were left till midnight. Uneasy, Korin pulled her into his arms. ¡°You have to stay next to me until it¡¯s all over.¡± Erin didn¡¯t have the heart to tell him not to worry about her ¨C she knew if the time came, and if need be¡­ She knew the lengths she would go to if it was about saving him. It was sad that she couldn¡¯tfort him but at the same time, she did not want to lie. The time drew near. The minute hand of the clock tower clicked before finally climbing to the top. Midnight. 12 am. The short period of time marking the end of the long festival and a fresh start of a new day. The world stopped. Chapter 213 – Long Live The Queen (1) Chapter 213 ¨C Long Live The Queen (1) by Penguin Squad ¡ºTrantor: RainTL¡» ? Long Live The Queen (1) ? The world stopped. No, it was actually slightly different than that. We were summoned to a ¡°suspended world¡±. The scenery of the normal city ¨C people who were still awake from the heat of the festival roaming around looking for food and booze, as well as those who were screaming out how this was the real beginning ¨C all of that was gone. The only ones that could move were the beings that had the ¡®power¡¯ to resist the Primal Rune. Master immediately saw through the identity of this peculiar change. ¡°Prime. The first letter, ¡®T¡¯.¡± The first rune leading to the entrance of Paradise. This rune had invited us to the suspended world of Paradise. ¡°¡­I¡¯ve been looking for it the whole time. To think it was here.¡± ¡°Tates was the one that hid it.¡± A full-on raid of Tates Valtazar, Eochaid Bres, Dun Scaith, Fermack Daman, and the Shadow Demons. The moment there were enough monsters pouring out of the Shadow World, they would immediately attack the city. ¡°At midnight, this rune that Valtazar hid started to open a path to the other world¡­ the ¡®Entrance to Paradise¡¯. It will take 8 hours in total. Once there are enough demonic beasts in the city, it would go ¡®Bang!¡¯ and all of them will be out in the real world at once.¡± ¡°Reversed Paradise¡­ Didn¡¯t know they would use it in this manner.¡± ¡°There was a guy using something simr to this.¡± Fermack Daman. There was the Shadow Fortress that he had summoned in our battle. This was like a mega-version of that. Due to the sheer size of this mechanism, it could only be used once, however, even using it a single time highly favored them. ¡°¡­¡± Master¡¯s vision was wider and more profound than mine. She appeared to be gazing at something in the distance even I couldn¡¯t fathom. ¡°When the Goidels betrayed us and even tried to steal Paradise from us¡­ we left after giving them a curse.¡± Eternal time and eternal life. By reversing the eternal power of Paradise, they left it behind as the Shadow Paradise. ¡°The blessing of eternity soon became a curse, and another world called Shadow was created on thisnd.¡± And without the Sun, light, or the blessing of earth and the breeze. A world full of nothing but hostility soon gave birth to demons. ¡°The demonic beasts and spirits of this world¡­ as well as the demi-humans are results of those demonic molecules seeping into the real world. It¡¯s just the result of a small fraction seeping into the world.¡± ¡°If they poured out all the monsters that gathered here from Reversed Paradise to the real world, this city would be destroyed in an instant.¡± The final act of the Autumn Harvest Festival. ¡ºDownfall of Merkarva Academy¡» It was the turning point to thetter portions of the story in ?Heroic Legends of Arhan? and a horrific incident that killed countless people. An endless overflow of demons would crush the city and eventually, the King and his subjects would show up to destroy the Academy. Originally, it was supposed to be an unclearable game of defense but¡ª ¡°I wasn¡¯t ying around for the past 2 years.¡± I tapped on the Silver Spear. The Resonant Activation of the Silver Spear quietly expanded across the silent world. [?] ¡ª Sowilo ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Runes spread across the entire world. The Rune of the Sun devoured the Shadow and continued shedding light on the city. ¡°You really put up a lot of runes.¡± Erin remembered the runes she engraved over the 300 years of her life in Nazrea. The construction of runes all over the city was ast resort that always saved her life whenever she was in a predicament. ¡°It¡¯s not in the entire city though.¡± The Rune of the Sun brightened up the world; it chased away the darkness and recovered the world of its lost light. The wicked creatures that hadn¡¯t even formed their bodies yet were greatly afraid of the light from the Sun that could erase their very existence. They avoided the runes and as a result¡­ ¡°It¡¯s¡­ creating a pathway.¡± The demons were avoiding the Rune of the Sun which acted like walls to force them into areas that weren¡¯t lit up. As a result, the demons were forced into ¡°roads¡± and their movements were restricted. ¡°This is the real beginning.¡± ¨C Kwaaang! ¨C Kwang! ¨C Kwagagang!! The areas where the demons were forced to gather were echoing with ear-splitting roars and thuds. Signs of battle were present everywhere around the clock tower. Each and every one of them resulted in ground-shaking explosions. ¡°Don¡¯t look down on how many Unique Grades we have on our side.¡± Demons were being massacred everywhere. *** If there were creatures from hell, these would be it. The world was no longer in motion. As a result of what was left behind with the disappearance of gods, ones without a proper shape started to crawl from the abyss of hell onto the mortal realm. The time limit was until theing of morning when the shadow cast on this world would be lifted. ¨C Kiiii¡­! ¨C Kaaaa¡­! The former shadows were starting to gain shape. The voiceless creatures soon gained a voice, and the ones without eyes started to obtain them. In about 6 hours, they would gain aplete shape and be ready to infiltrate the world. ¨C There are living beings! Find them! ¨C Find! Find! However, there were living beings in this Reversed Shadow World. They were the ¡°yer Party¡±. To be exact, they were the beings that weren¡¯t affected by the erosion of Shadow due to the ¡°divinity¡± they possessed. The instincts of the monsters urged them to shred the living into pieces. Despite not having formed a proper shape yet, they still crawled on top of one another trying to get to the living beings. It was a rather grotesque scene from hell. ¡°¡­Hmm. There¡¯s a lot of them.¡± ¡°Woof!¡± The first point of entry into the Academy ¨C waiting in the middle of therge road for magic carriages was a girl with water-colored hair and a red dog. ¡°Hing¡­ It feels like I have to deal with the most numbers.¡± It couldn¡¯t be helped though. She was a child blessed by mana at the level of great mages. Each of her amplified spells was like a missile that could destroy regions. ¡°It would have been easier if they had different genders.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The moment she hinted at the Curse of Macha, Chunsik, and Daesik flinched behind her¡­ as well as the 150 other ve mages. A whole army of mages that rivaled the mage squads of the kingdom were lining up behind her. The 400 ve mages that they acquired after the fall of the Tower of Mages were scattered in groups all across the city. This was one of the reasons why Korin Lork had been so obsessed with obtaining these mages as ves. ¡°Mari.¡± ¡°Dad. Mom.¡± She wasn¡¯t the only one ¨C Duke Marde and Duchess Elencia were here to help as well. ¡°Can you two take care of the eastern main road? I¡¯ll be fine by myself here.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Duke Marde couldn¡¯t hide the look of sorrow he had as he had to watch his daughter in the middle of a battle. However, he couldn¡¯t dissuade her from doing it either. His daughter was a vampire who had to shoulder a harsh fate, and a hero who had to protect the world from evil. Although he wanted to stop her as a parent, he knew he shouldn¡¯t. So instead¡­ ¡°I believe in you, my dear daughter.¡± ¡°Yes. I know you will pull this off as well, Mari.¡± The two of them left after showing their trust. Turning away from them, Marie gazed at the oing hordes of monsters. It was a hopeless number of enemies but the corners of her lips were lifted in a nt. ¡°It is a lot but¡­¡± She gathered her mana into a ball. Her Specialty was in ?Mana Amplification?. She was able to amplify elementary-grade spells into demonstrating ten times its original magnitude. ¡°It won¡¯t be infinite, will it?¡± There will be an end. There is a time limit. In other words, all she had to do was destroy them again and again until they reached the said time limit. ¡ª¡ª¡ª!! Her mana, amplified to the limit, shook the surrounding air with its might. A Unique-Grade mage. She had been a genius who was considered to be a great mage in the future even before bing a Vampire. And now, she even had her demi-human power avable. The Final Boss of the 1st Arc of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?, Marie Dunareff. She was one of the strongest characters in existence that the yer Party was unable to beat no matter what they did. Her activation of a grand spell without a single risk factor brought awe in the eyes of the onlooking mages. ¡°Ohh¡­¡± ¡°Such incredible power¡­¡± Even the Mage Elders of the 8th floor shed tears of admiration and despair before the miraculous sight of mana, brought forth to reality by the child blessed with mana. The fact that they were serving a being as strong as this was reassuring, but they still couldn¡¯t escape the sense of despair, as they would never be able to escape their fate of being eternal ves. ?Snow Flower? A storm capable of freezing the world fell on the demons. *** ¨C Kwak! Kajik! ¨C Flick¡­! The onught of sword tempests shredded the monsters into pieces. A quick sword dance finished with the sword shing past the neck, the legs, and into the heart. Before the wicked creatures could even gain shape, they got ripped into pieces and were scattered into the air. ¡°Uwat¡­!¡± That was when the evil ws of a monster flew towards her. It should have been a lethal injury and yet the monster was incredibly persistent, unlike normal demonic beasts. She was unable to react to it in time but¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª A sword so quick that it reached her before the sound of it sliced the entire hand off. ¡°U, unni¡­ Thank you.¡± ¡°You have be this strong and yet your insufficiency in basic training is still ringly obvious.¡± ¡°B, but, I¡¯m trying my best, you know?¡± ¡°Hoh~¡± Alicia would have normally shrunk back, but now she was grumbling back at her. Seeing that, Lunia smirked. ¡°If you cannot end its life in one strike, focus until you have sliced off its head. They are different from living creatures and are more persistent than demonic beasts.¡± ¡°¡°Yes! Captain!!¡±¡± Elite swordsmen including the Arden sisters were in a formation slicing off the wave of demons. ¡°I did hear it beforehand but fighting against these other-dimensional demons. Looks like our husband is fighting against quite the foe.¡± ¡°He is trying to save the world, after all.¡± As a major part of the sword formation, Alicia was slicing through the demons. Lunia was a ¡°Strength¡± type, whereas Alicia focused more on ¡°Flow¡±. Thebination of the two styles was incredibly oppressing for the demons. ¡°In any case, it appears that you have gone through a change, Alicia. To think you would talk back to me.¡± ¡°T, that wasn¡¯t talking back though?¡± Lunia smiled seeing Alicia stutter like that. She had grown a lot from the young girl who couldn¡¯t even look straight into her eyes. ¡°Umm¡­ Mr. Korin said I was doing great. So¡­ I am probably doing fine.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± Even her growth and her change were thanks to a man. Lunia thought about how this must be a great example of the saying, ¡°You must meet a good man.¡± ¡°I guess we have both found ourselves a good man.¡± ¡°K, kuhum¡­!¡± Alicia turned red but didn¡¯t find anything weird with the word, ¡°we¡±. The sisters were alike in the strangest of ces. ¡°Captain! An extra group ising here from the right! From what we have seen, they amount up to 2,000!¡± An elite swordsman scout shouted from the top of a tall building. Lunia turned in the direction o the swarm before clicking her tongue. ¡°Indeed that is a lot of them. He was right when he said these harmful creatures were going to swallow the city whole.¡± ¡°Should we ask for backup from the mages?¡± ¡°Let us send a signal to Duke Marde. There is an endless supply of those ve mages anyway.¡± Or, they could also ask for assistance from Dorron and the Warsky Mercenaries who were on standby. Mages from the Tower, elite swordsmen from Arden Household, and the Warsky Mercenaries¡­ there was a lot of manpower on their side. ¡°Move.¡± It was then. Swish! The air screamed aloud as something speeded through. ¡°Kiee?¡± ¡°?!!!¡± Chains were swung around in a counter-clock direction. ¨C Babababam! It appeared like the result of a massive sword swing. Hundreds of monsters were swept away by chains that appeared from nowhere. ¡°Hiik¡­¡± Alicia flinched from the sheer destructiveness of the attack. Obviously, there was only one person who would violently attack like this. ¡°Ms. Hua Ran¡­ Can you¡­ be a little more careful maybe?¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. You won¡¯t die.¡± The nun in ck clothes was using the chains that were supposed to restrict her body as weapons. The chains were an artifact that could devour an endless supply of aura and restrain the jiangshi. However, after the Saintess lifted the spell from it, it became chains that simply turned bigger the more aura it ate up. And in the hands of the Heavenly Yaksha, it was a savage weapon more destructive than anything else. ¡°Were you not assigned to a different location?¡± ¡°I killed them all. They ran here so I followed them.¡± ¡°I see.¡± It was normal for the demons to be afraid. Fundamentally, the demon race had a tendency to obey an existence that was stronger than themselves. Vampire Marie and Living Jiangshi Hua Ran possessed qualitatively different demonic aura. The overwhelming sensation from that was bound to instill fear in the demons, who heavily relied on demonic aura. ¡°I¡¯m heading deeper inside. I will go and crush everything.¡± ¡°S, sure thing.¡± As soon as she said that, Hua Ran quietly took a deep breath and¡­ jumped. The chains that were dozens of meters long flew behind the living jiangshi. What would happen if an unstoppable source of energy were to sprint forward? Hundreds and thousands of demons that came into contact with the jiangshi with Unbreakable Vajra Body were shredded apart and became nothing but living trash. Hua Ran headed deeper in where there were more demons gathered up. Along the way, the monsters copsed like rubbish and their retaliation was futile before the being that could single-handedly threaten a country¡¯s very existence. Chapter 214: Long Live the Queen (2) Chapter 214: Long Live the Queen (2) ? Long Live the Queen (2) ? Yuel the Druid of the Avelorn Forest, Kranel the Golem Mage¡­ and Dorron Warsky were powerful party members of ?Heroic Legends of Arhan?. They each took a considerable amount of time investment and the hidden pieces for their final growth were difficult to obtain, but they were solid members that didn¡¯t fall short of Unique Grade as long as they were able to hit that final level. The three of them yed a huge role in the main scenario as it evolved into arger-scale battle. Because their top spec was way too strong for mid-game, they were only supposed to be able to hit the final level at the start of the 3rd year, but Korin Lork, the sub-yer who knew the future, had already finished supplying them with everything they needed. He poured a bunch of money from who knows where into Dorron¡¯s magic swords and put Yuel and Kranel together from the start to have them get used to their golem union. Atst, after giving them the final masterpiece they required at Mag Mell, it was safe to say that they had already reached their full potential. And as a result of that, the prowess they were showcasing on the battlefield stood out by a huge margin. ¡ºGo! Nature Wicker Warrior!¡» ¨C KUWAAAAAN! The massive weapon shook the ground with each of its steps. The simple act of lifting its right leg and dropping it down squashed dozens of demons to death. On a battlefield with no monster big enough to match its size, the Wicker Warrior repeatedly lifted its legs and stomped. That alone was enough to make the demons explode like puddings. ¨C Kuuuuung! ¡ºBehold this amazing power¡­! This is the miracle forged by the union of a golem and a human¡­!¡» ¡ºSeriously¡­ You always get so excited whenever it¡¯s about a golem.¡» Yuel sighed at the sight of Kranel moving the golem around in a frenzy, but still helped out by reinforcing the outer shell. The Nature armor was the core defensive mechanism of Nature Wicker Warrior, and maintaining that was solely up to her. ¡ºElementals. Please help us wipe out these wicked creatures.¡» She asked for help as elementals burst out of the Wicker Warrior¡¯s shell. To assist the druid, the guardian of nature, hundreds of spirits and astral beings poured out their spells at the monsters. It was basically a one-man army. There was a reason why thebination of the two of them received so much love in the game. ¡°Spectacr.¡± Standing on the golem¡¯s shoulders was a swordsman controlling magic swords. Using the wide-AOE Magic Swords of Lightning and me, he wiped out legions of demons with a st. The flexibility and sheer power of his magic swords allowed him to deal with the hordes of monsters that therge golem couldn¡¯t get rid of with ease. ¡°I am trying my hardest because of the high pay but¡­ this is bing more and more out of hand for a mere mercenary to be a part of.¡± Back when he first heard from Korin about the n of capturing Marie Dunareff, who had just turned into a Unique Grade demi-human, he thought he was a madman. After that, he ced the top personnel of the 1st graders at the perfect timing as if he foresaw the escape of the King of Iron Mountain, and on top of that were the recent cases with the Tower of Magic and Mound¡­ Dorron had known for a while that his employer had been moving with a grand objective in mind. ¡ºAre you going to back out thiste into the deal?¡» ¡°Of course not. Boss is the best employer in terms of paying on time.¡± ¡ºEveryone else is doing it without the pay, you know?¡» ¡°Give me a break. There are a lot of mouths we need to feed.¡± With those words, Dorron looked off into the distance at another part of the battlefield. Warsky Mercenaries. They were out there massacring demons to work ording to their payment. The Warsky Mercenaries were very expensive. Even a squad of 5 mercenaries was sometimes too expensive for employers to willingly hire them, yet Korin was hiring the entire group. They were worth every penny, and that was being proven in the fight, but even they weren¡¯t the main protagonists of this war. ¡°We are just side characters in the end. The main characters are somewhere else. How fortunate for us.¡± He muttered while gazing off into another part of the city. *** The city was in turmoil. Demonic creatures crawling up from the depths of hell were crushed and destroyed by the gatekeepers. Due to the Sun, they were involuntarily forced into groups which was unfavorable for them. But even then, it was undeniable that the sheer number of them was overwhelming, and it was impossible to stop small bits of monsters from squeezing through the gatekeepers. Although most of them were crushed, massacred, and sliced apart, they gathered one by one before forming a new legion and a new wave. Their final destination was the Academy. As a result, they had to gather on a single road once again. Waiting for them there was the final gatekeeper. ¡°Hello.¡± It was a calm voice, greeting them in a nonchnt manner. The pink-haired girl wearing a pure white dress weed them with an innocent smile. Estelle Hadassa El Rath. The loftiestdy of the entire Kingdom. She, the most esteemed member of the royal family whom the best bodyguards of the world would never suffice, was waiting for them alone without a single guard. ¨C KIIII¡­ Naturally, her status in the human world meant nothing to the demons. They were remnants of the curse left behind by the Danann ¨C creatures that were born from the curse and punishment of Goidels. As a result, the Danann were the only ones that couldmand them. Whether it be a saintess or a princess, they were trash of the Goidel race that had to be shredded to pieces, and yet¡­ Why is the girl before them giving off the radiance of the gods? ¡ºGo and kill them all. Retrieve the Prime, the cornerstone of Paradise, and bring it back.¡» If not for the Danann of Light personallymanding them as such, they would have knelt down on the spot and praised the girl in front of them. ¡°Are you treating me as a god too? I like that.¡± Estelle could guess what was going through in their minds. Although these demons were creatures that worshiped the gods, they had no choice but to follow theirmands. It was because they were followers of Revenge and not Justice. ¡°Ahah~¡± However, she was still sincerely d to see them show respect. Even though they were monsters that would soon try to attack one of their gods ¡ª ¡°It feels like you guys are proving that I can truly be a goddess. I¡¯m happy.¡± Their actions assured her even more, and thus the joy of the Non-believing Saintess surged. ¡°But still¡ª¡± Before long, they resumed their movement. The dense pack of demons was about to pounce at the fragiledy but¡ª ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö Boom. Boom. Boom. What befell them was divine retribution. Three deafening strikes resulted in a massive explosion reaching a radius of 500 meters. In the middle of all that was a goddess carrying a club. ¡°How dare you attack a goddess. You will have nothing but divine retributioning your way then.¡± O mortals crawling the ground. Worship and fear the one who strikes with the magic club ¨C the new goddess of this era; she, with the ambition of defiling the deceitful god to rise to be a goddess herself. Nothing will be permitted but obedience and worship to those gathered before her. Worship. Worship her. Get on your knees and worship, for the new divinity has risen. *** The Academy Downfall episode happened out of the blue right when everyone was in a festive mood. Until that point in the game, the yers only saw fractions of the mastermind, Tates Valtazar. They sometimes fought, rejoiced, and saved others but the sudden twist of events not only marked the start of the final arc but also showed them the harsh reality. The city they had be used to over 2 years would be reduced to ashes in a single day, followed by the sacrifice of the Danann of Justice, Erin Danua. It was a turning point in history. This was where Master would have passed away while trying to stop Valtazar. It wasn¡¯t like we hadn¡¯t been preparing for this to happen in thest iteration. Both Park Sihu and I had readied ourselves for this moment. However¡­ we were distressingly short of being enough and that resulted in our defeat. And because of that¡­ ¡ºChild, I am an adult. As long as I am an adult, I have the duty to prioritize your safety as a child.¡» She¡­ died. After passing all of her teachings to me, she even donated to me her precious life. ¡°Me and my group had to stop Eochaid here.¡± We were weak. We weren¡¯t strong enough. The power of the Sun in his possession was unreasonably destructive, and it overpowered every measure we had set up beforehand. ¡°We failed back then, but not this time.¡± Back then, Eochaid had the Sun. Dun Scaith poured out countless snakes and toads; Fermack Daman ravaged the party members like a storm. They were so strong that Tates didn¡¯t have to raise a single finger against us. ¡°After the defeat on that day, I at least figured out where they were going to show up.¡± It was none other than this ce here. The clock tower. A scenario that wasn¡¯t even covered in the game. It was right here; at the entrance of Paradise with the Primal Rune of¡ºT¡»where they revealed themselves. ¡°Hmm¡­ Is that why you asked me toe here?¡± ¡°Yeah. Dumnorix, that guy, is busy preparing for the revival of the World Tree in the north so his hands are full, which leaves behind Tates and Eochaid. And Master, I know you will be able to hold off Eochaid.¡± ¡°Can you¡­ beat him though?¡± She was asking whether I could beat Tates Valtazar, to which I replied with a smile. ¡°I won¡¯t be fighting him fair and square.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I will be targeting Tates Valtazar¡¯s 2nd Precept here.¡± ¡ºI do not perceive spirits.¡» His 2nd Precept was what I had copied myself. Not perceiving spirits. There was only one way to break that Precept. ¡°I will make him perceive spirits, and this ce is the only ce where it will be possible.¡± ¡°¡­Shadow Paradise.¡± It was an ambiguous location where spirits could be separated from bodies. Although it happened in a different location in thest iteration, it should be more than possible to re-enact it here. ¡°But in that case¡­¡± ¡°If we both received the repercussion for the 2nd Precept, who would that affect more? I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be me.¡± Right ¨C this was a double-edged sword for me. Breaking the Restriction of not perceiving spirits had a powerful effect, but the bacsh of it was equally strong. However, it would affect Valtazar a lot more than it would to me. It was greatly in my favor no matter how I saw it. ¡°Both of us would pretty much die the moment we receive the repercussion of our Precept. If this battle were to continue without me and Tates¡­ it should be doable, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Despite her silent agreement to my prediction, Master had a gloomy light in her eyes. She might be considering this a sacrifice but I saw it differently. ¡°I told you. I¡¯m simply returning the favor.¡± There were too many things I had received from her. This was far from enough for me to give back everything that she had given me ¨C in fact, a whole lifetime wouldn¡¯t be enough. That was why she had to live a lot more. She had to survive and let me pay her back. Repercussions of the Precept. I can handle that much. As long as Master survives¡­ No price is too great ¡°Let¡¯s get ready.¡± We readied ourselves and I ran several mental simtions on repeat. The moment he showed himself, I would swallow all the Runes of the Sun scattered across the city and manifest the Sun to attack him in a sh. That wouldn¡¯t be enough. He would see thating and retaliate one way or another. Next, I would throw the Silver Spear with the Secret Move of Crumbling Mountain and dy his use of the Spear of Light. Even if he were to activate the Areadbhair in time, there was a way around it. By digging through hisck of information¡­ I should be able to buy enough time to flip his 2nd Precept on its head. ¡°Now. Come, Tates Valtazar.¡± This time, it¡¯ll be different. For 3 whole years, I had polished myself just to beat you. From the moment you killed my Master, I had been sharpening my spear longing for revenge. The night deepened. The moon slowly climbed down from the pinnacle as the sun started to rise. 6 am. 7 am¡­ 8 am¡­ ¡°¡­What?¡± Tates Valtazar didn¡¯t show up. *** It was thest day of the Harvest Festival. The royal family¡¯s job was not over until the Harvest Festival came to a full close. Normally, she was supposed to be together with her older sister, but because the Saintess abandoned her princess duties, Miruam had to deal with the Harvest Festival of the royal capital by herself. ¡°Fuu¡­¡± The morning sunlight was shining through the gaps of the curtain but Miruam was still unfathomably exhausted. It was because she had been roaming around the city the entire week and she therefore decided to call some maids today for a body massage. Seeing as how none of the maids had arrived yet, it appeared that it was still very early in the morning. Miruam got up from the bed in search of water, and realized that the bottle of whiskey on her table had vanished. ¡°Sir Valtazar.¡± While calling out the name of the intruder, she slowly moved the familiars of her dress. The snake ornaments of the dress started to slither as if alive. ¡°Princess Miruam.¡± A voice reached her ears from the terrace on the other side of the curtains. His voice alone was enough to suppress her heart. The moment he opened the terrace to walk in, her snakes pounced at him. ¨C Bam! ¡°Oh dear.¡± However, the snakes were unable to reach his neck. All too easily, they were being squeezed in his hands. ¡°I don¡¯t enjoy fighting with toys. There isn¡¯t enough action.¡± Kajik! Her familiars sttered in his grip. Then, Valtazar slowly clomped forward without another word. ¡°What¡­ brings you here?¡± she forced out a question. ¡°Hoh. Not running away?¡± ¡°¡­It will be meaningless anyway.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± He was a god in the truest meaning of the word. If he wanted to, he could reduce all the defensive mechanisms of the castle to rubble. ¡°I am here to let you know about the annulment of our contract, Princess.¡± Resistance¡­ is futile. ¡ºI really¡­ wanted to bear our child.¡» Maybe she should have asked when she had the chance. Miruam closed her eyes as Tates reached out toward her. Chapter 215: Long Live the Queen (3) Chapter 215: Long Live the Queen (3) ? Long Live the Queen (3) ? It was when Tates reached out toward her. Knowing that he could kill her with his bare hands, Miruam closed her eyes and thought to herself. I should have asked him. The things that Lia Fail showed her; were they really from the future¡­? And what about the gaze of nostalgia that he often had when looking at her¡­? Why was he trying so hard to stop her¡­? There were many regrets in the choices she had made. She saw countless visions in her darkened sight but when nothing happened even after a while, Miruam slowly opened her eyes. ¡°¡­¡± Tates Valtazar was smiling with the Lia Fail in hand. ¡°¡­Are you not going to kill me?¡± she asked.¡°There are a lot of reasons to kill you, but this is quite the monumental event.¡± ¡°What do you¡­¡± She was puzzled by him not killing her. Now that she had given up on revenge, she was most definitely not an ally for Tates Valtazar and besides, she was even persuaded by his enemy, Korin Lork, which could be seen as betrayal. Plus, there were many things she knew as his ally. Frost Giant, the union of the Northern Kingdom, the revival of the World Tree¡­ knowing just one of them was supposed to warrant death. ¡°Even I was surprised to see the ¡®change in your destiny¡¯. Although the path was always different, your future had always had the same ending.¡± ¡°What do you mean¡­?¡± ¡°Well. Just think of it as a soliloquy of a grumbling old man.¡± He was acting in a clearly unorthodox way. She was pretty much going to be his enemy, so why? ¡°What if I¡­¡± ¡°You can share everything you know all you want. Korin Lork would be aware of them anyway.¡± With that, he walked back out onto the terrace. It was as if retrieving Lia Fail had been his sole objective from the start. ¡°We will be enemies the next time we meet.¡± Leaving those words behind, he vanished from the terrace as Miruam dumbfoundedly watched him disappear. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ ¡°Not going to kill her?¡± Eochaid asked. He, who had been inspecting the ¡°Primal Rune of T¡± at Merkarva until recently, was already at the royal capital sipping his ss of wine. ¡°Let¡¯s leave her be as amemoration. It was very unexpected to see her survive.¡± ¡°A story of love oveing destiny, huh? A romantic story indeed, but she will be a fairly annoying enemy in the future.¡± Tates remained silent with nothing but an indecipherable smile on his mouth. Eochaid had an idea of what this romanticist was aiming at but had more questions to ask. ¡°I thought it was about time to kill the youngest.¡± Erin Danua. Thest King of Gods. She had the rightful authority over Paradise, which was now concealed beyond the dimensions. All Tates could do right now was y petty tricks using Primal Runes to summon Paradise for a split moment but Erin was able to summon it without an issue as long as she wished for it. This was the reason why Tates Valtazar needed to usurp the king¡¯s throne through coronation. He needed to be the rightful heir to Tir na Nog and undo the curse of Goidels hidden inside, before bringing total destruction to the world and recreating it. That was why Erin Danua¡¯s death was inevitable. ¡°That was the n.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°As someone aware of my Precepts, he would have made a move at that very moment. Normally, I would have dly taken the offer if it was anyone else but¡­¡± Tates suddenly halted in his tracks. He then continued after turning towards Miruam¡¯s pce. ¡°I want both of us to be fully ready and prepared for the final war. It will be a glorious battle.¡± ¡°Haa¡­ I¡¯ve fought him before, but he wasn¡¯t on the same level as you. If he¡¯s only that, I can deal with him myself.¡± ¡°¡®This time, it will be different.¡± Eochaid Bres shook his head, thinking how he was probably the only one who could see through the ambiguity of his words. ¡°How frustrating it must be to know too much. If it were me, I would have killed them on the spot.¡± ¡°Not very romantic is it? For a previous God King like yourself.¡± ¡°And you have too much of it. Do you think he wille looking for you? If he takes the Prime and hides himself, it will be a hassle to find him.¡± Eochaid raised his doubt. They still didn¡¯t have all the treasures and the Primal Runes required for the coronation. Eochaid just couldn¡¯t understand how Tates firmly believed that they would bother looking for them. ¡°He definitely will. Both he and I¡­ are quite the romanticists.¡± Tates had a firm belief in the contender that fate had chosen for him. That good-hearted and brave man would surelye to him as always. He will jump through all the hardships and trials ande knocking on his door. This time, it won¡¯t be disappointing. Despite Eochaid sighing from the side, Tates had no ns of changing the destiny he had decided for himself. He reached towards the sky and grasped at the rising sun in the distance.Come my destined contender.My nemesis.I will be waiting in the North.Let us have a heated battle, scorching enough to melt the blistering winter. *** ¡°¡­¡± Themotion on the other side of the world settled down, away from the eyes of themon crowd. In spite of me intentionally refraining from intervening in the fight to stay ready, the morning arrived without bringing trouble with it. ¡°The future must have changed.¡± ¡°¡­I knew there was a chance this would happen.¡± There was a possibility of Valtazar not showing up. Unlike thest iteration, hecked a lot of manpower, and all of his supporting factions were weakened except for the Old Faith. Dun Scaith, Fermack Daman, and the Sword Fiend were all dead. It was safe to say that he had been weakened by more than halfpared to the previous iteration. A lot had changed so it was possible that he would give up on the attack. It was a definite possibility. ¡°But still¡­ This should have been the best opportunity for him.¡± Tates Valtazar¡¯s goal was the Advent of Paradise. To achieve that, he needed the eight Primal Runes thatposed Tir na Nog, and the four Danann treasures to be qualified for coronation. Most importantly, he needed to assassinate the current King of Gods, Master. The best chance to do all that should have been the opening of the entrance to Paradise with [Primal Rune of T] and the chaos it would create for the entire Academy¡­ ¡°Is it over¡­?¡± There was a part of me that found this anticlimactic considering the tension I had been under the whole time, but what I felt the most was definitely a deep sense of relief. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Master concernedly asked. It was exactly 2 years ago that she evacuated me, Park Sihu, and others. The city was engulfed in mes and the Academy was encroached by chaos. In the end, we couldn¡¯t fend off all the shadow demons; they poured down endlessly on the defenseless city filled with the screams of the innocent. All I could see of Master back then, was her back. That was myst memory of her, and I thought I would never get to see her again. ¡°Master.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Can I hug you for a bit?¡± ¡°Uhht? T, that¡¯s very sudden!?¡± She appeared startled by my sudden request but I did not wait for her permission. I wrapped my arms tightly around her. The warmth of her body and the soft touch of her cheeks¡­ proved to me that she was still alive and breathing. ¡°Sorry. Can I just¡­ stay like this for a little?¡± ¡°A, aht¡­ Uhh¡­¡± After threshing around for a bit, she soon wrapped her arms around my back in return. ¡°It¡¯s okay¡­ I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I was anxious. Despite preparing as much as I could and achieving the most favorable scenario for us, I couldn¡¯t escape the uneasiness inside. If I were to fail; if it wasn¡¯t enough¡­ then Master would most certainly sacrifice herself for me again. Having that happen twice was uneptable. I couldn¡¯t fail a second time. If I were to lose her again despite knowing the future and experiencing that tragedy beforehand¡­ I wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive myself. ¡°Even though¡­ Even though this isn¡¯t the end yet¡­ I feel so relieved.¡± There must be a reason why Tates Valtazar didn¡¯t show up. We weren¡¯t yet entirely free from danger. ¡°I will protect you. With everything on the line if I must.¡± That also applied to Marie, Alicia, Hua Ran¡­ everyone. I could lose anyone at any time so I couldn¡¯t feel relieved just yet. I had to predict his set of movements and prepare myself at all times. ¡°Thank you. I am always grateful and sorry at the same time.¡± ¡°Why sorry¡­?¡± ¡°For making you shoulder such a burden. But I¡¯m also proud of you for trying so hard to save so many people.¡± She gently pushed me behind until she could look me in the eyes. Behind her was the sun rising to the top. Master stared at me; not with her usual benevolence but instead¡­ a look full of emotion and sorrow¡­ ¡°I must be very blessed,¡± she said. As thest Ard Ri left behind in this world; she defined as such the long life she had lived roaming the world and protecting Justice. ¡°I met you and was protected by you. This long wait must have been to meet you the whole time.¡± Sheid her hands on my face and stared at me with red flowers blooming on her cheeks. ¡°Originally I was supposed to have died by now, right? But look. I am still alive, standing right before you. ¡°Seeing the amount of joy and relief you showed just from my survival, and knowing how far you can go for me makes me feel sorry yet d at the same time. ¡°My beloved, dearest disciple. My dear Korin who vowed to walk the same path as me. I will pledge for you and I.¡± Closing her eyes, she aligned her lips with mine with love and affection. When our lips parted, her smile was the only thing I could see. ¡°I will survive. My duty is to live with you and walk the same path as you. I will try my very best, to make sure you do not have to weep. ¡°So¡­ You must also cherish your life more than anyone else¡¯s. Think about all the people who are pained when wounds appear on your body, and¡­ think of me. ¡°Korin, my love. Let¡¯s try our best for each other¡¯s sake.¡± I was speechless. I¡­ had already lost many people including her. That was why I knew how tragic felt. I was always looking back at the ones that I couldn¡¯t save despite having the knowledge to save them. This time, it¡¯ll be different. This time, I will save everyone. That was the reason for my vow; my Precept, and I was d to put my life on the line for it. Doing that was my way of paying for my mistakes, and my punishment for losing the lives of countless people, oblivious to the great evil called Park Sihu. Master wasn¡¯t tell me to stop. She was saying she would do the same thing as me. ¡°Thank you. Master, you always give me strength when I need it.¡± ¡°No ¡®Master¡¯.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°Try calling me by my name. I¡¯m yourrade so¡­ Yes. Please do call me by my name.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ E, rin?¡± Erin gave a bashful smile at that single word. ¡°Sounds good. It¡¯s just my name and yet¡­ It tickles my ears and makes my heart race.¡± ¡°Master?¡± As soon as I said that, she ced her slender finger over my mouth. ¡°¡®Erin¡¯.¡± ¡°E, Erin¡­¡± ¡°Yes. Korin?¡± She gently called my name as if it was something incredibly sweet with a smile of joy on her face. After a while¡­ she slowly brought her lips closer again. It was a short touch, to the point of being more of a peck. And yet that short moment felt so long¡­ Even after parting our lips, neither of us were able to hide the redness of our cheeks. ¡°E, Erin¡­?¡± ¡°E, ehem¡­¡± Even though she was the one who had initiated it, Erin fidgeted with her lips as if she couldn¡¯t believe she had done such a thing. Then, she suddenly shot out of her seat. ¡°F, fuu¡­ This is not good for my heart. This is¡­ really not good. Let¡¯s stop here for today.¡± ¡°Erin¡ª¡± ¡°Enough for today! Go back to calling me Master!¡± ¡°What do you¡ª¡± ¡°I said enough, did I not?!¡± She gave a little flick to my forehead before fanning the heat away from her face. ¡°Fuu, fuu¡­! I am exhausted! I¡¯m going to return home and sleep!¡± Before I could say anything back, she jumped down from the clock tower. It was jump without hesitation, and if it was someone other than Master doing it, I would have been worried that they were trying tomit suicide. ¡°Uhh¡­ Master. Let¡¯s go together!¡± I jumped down as well. I could have normally climbed down the stairs but¡­ ¡°W, why are you following me?!¡± ¡°Like¡­ We are going in the same direction, you know?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Kuhum¡­! Then, let¡¯s go together.¡± ¡°¡­Okay.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Without another word, we awkwardly walked along the road while staring at the cloud in the sky. *** After the Harvest Festival and the sudden visit from Valtazar, Miruam fidgeted with her chest pocket which was now a lot emptier than before. That was where she had put Lia Fail, the Stone of Destiny. Through that stone, she had seen time after time images that were beyond her understanding. ¡ºYou stupid woman¡­ I, I told you to wait.¡» ¡ºI really¡­ wanted to bear our child. I¡¯m¡­ sorry. me your mommy¡­¡» ¡ºYou were my destiny. Now it¡¯s already toote though¡­¡» ¡°Huu¡­¡± Although the stone was gone, she could vividly remember the images it showed her. How she was in sorrow; filled with nothing but remorse despite fulfilling her lifelong wish¡­ as well as how he wept while seeing her die. Originally, she was going to keep it buried deep down. She was going to ignore and forget about it. However, she just couldn¡¯t forget it and when Tates visited her and she thought she was about to die¡­ it floated back up as an unforgettable regret. ¡°¡­25th of December.¡± This year; that day. The uing 25th. ¡°What should I¡­ do?¡± She knew at this point that it would forever remain as a lingering regret if left unaddressed. As such, she felt a strong need to validate it. ¡°Korin Lork.¡± What is she supposed to do about that man¡­? Miruam deeply pondered by herself as the date drew close. Chapter 216: Garrand The Sword Emperor (1) Chapter 216: Garrand The Sword Emperor (1) ? Garrand The Sword Emperor(1) ? Winter Holidays. This was the fourth winter I was spending in this world. The winter was as cold as always, but there was a drastic differencepared to before. ¡°Faster!¡± Her shout was followed by three stabs of silver dots that were difficult for my eyes to even follow. ¨C Kang! However, I used the same set of stabs to offset her attack. It was a miraculous stunt, and I didn¡¯t even understand how I did it myself. ¡°Those are the 97 moves of Six Ways of the Spear. With that, I have passed down everything about Six Ways of the Spear.¡±I was learning the final moves of Six Ways of the Spear that I hadn¡¯t managed to learn in thest iteration. The secret and profound arts of the Six Ways, as well as nigh 100 different moves, would have been impossible to learn, had Master not been alive. ¡°Shall we take a rest?¡± she offered. ¡°Sure.¡± The final midnight of the Autumn Harvest Festival went by rather peacefully, and the Academy, which was supposed to meet its demise, was able to reach its winter holiday in one piece. And it was thanks to that that I was able to practice spearmanship with Master as I was right now. ¡°Let¡¯s have a cup of tea.¡± ¡°Should I reduce the brightness a little then?¡± ¡°You probably should.¡± Hearing that, I slightly reduced the power of the ¡°Sun¡± that was being manifested over us. The Sun, lighting up the otherwise dark Shadow World, slowly turned dimmer until it was no longer shining brightly over our heads. I was starting to get used to maintaining the bnce with Sun Manifestation, which consumed a tremendous amount of mana, and training in Six Ways of the Spear, which required utmost concentration. ¡°There is nothing more for me to teach you,¡± said Master. ¡°I still haven¡¯t beaten you even once, though.¡± ¡°Training is different from a real fight, and Korin, you are the type who is stronger in a real battle.¡± ¡°¡­I can¡¯t rely on uncertainties like that. I need to be much stronger than I am right now.¡± Only then would I be able to confront Tates Valtazar ande out on top, even if I had to fight him 1-on-1 on the off chance that such an oue came to be. As if she saw through my thoughts, Master patted my head before giving me her other arm. ¡°Touch it.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Umm. Okay.¡± Thinking that there must be a reason, I touched her soft, slender, and beautiful arm. ¡°Observe every part of it, carefully.¡± ¡°May I¡­ ask why?¡± I was following what she said and fidgeting with and massaging her clean arm, but couldn¡¯t really tell why. ¡°What are your thoughts?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ It¡¯s very pretty.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± She suddenly pped the back of my hand after hearing that. It stung quite a bit. ¡°F, for goodness sake! Not something like that!¡± ¡°Well¡­ That was my honest opinion though.¡± ¡°R, really?¡± Master gave an empty cough with her face deep red. ¡°Did you have¡­ a different intention?¡± ¡°Tell me the difference between my arm and yours.¡± ¡°Well¡­ Yours is thin and¡­ mine is thick?¡± ¡°You are correct. Your muscles and your tendons are far superior to mine. The muscles and tendons in my arms are much weaker inparison.¡± ¡°But if you enhance them with aura¡­ Huh?¡± I btedly realized something. Has Master ever¡­ used aura against me? ¡°Wait. Wait, that¡­ doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­¡± Master cut me off without waiting for me to finish murmuring in utter confusion. ¡°Do you know Garrand Arden?¡± she asked. ¡°The Sword Emperor? Well, I¡¯ve only seen his face once this time but¡­ I saw him a few times before.¡± ¡°Go see him, and tell him about your rtionship with me.¡± ¡°Have you met Garrand Arden?¡± I asked. ¡°Back when he was an immature young man¡­ and a few times after that. You might be able to understand something after talking to him.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you just teach me instead?¡± Master shook her head in response. ¡°This is something that cannot be taught; you must be enlightened to it yourself. Your strength is already perfect, and that isn¡¯t what you need. Go talk to Garrand Arden and make him acknowledge you. That is how you can fight against Tates.¡± Garrand Arden, huh? I was feeling the need to talk to him sometime soon. Since Master was rmending it on top of that, I decided to do it with haste. ¡°Then let¡¯s stop here for today. Training any more than this won¡¯t be very meaningful.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± These days, the focus was more on quality than quantity. It made sense because Master couldn¡¯t spend all of her time helping me train. ¡°Then I¡¯ll see you¡­¡± ¡°K, kuhum¡­!¡± She suddenly let out an unnatural cough before sneaking a nce at me with a slight blush on her cheeks. ¡°Umm¡­ Any farewell hugs?¡± ¡°But I¡¯ll be seeing you very shortly anyway.¡± ¡°Ah, r, right¡­¡± Master became dispirited in the blink of an eye. She was an adorable person, and I was happy to be liked by someone like her. Walking up, I wrapped my arms around her back until her small body was fully locked in my arms. ¡°Thank you as always¡­ for everything.¡± ¡°Ah, uhm! Yes! It¡¯s very warm. Let me go get some water!¡± She said while fanning the heat away from her cheeks. She looked exceedingly adorable. **** This winter had been very harsh in thest iteration. The city met its demise; the Academy fell and I lost Master. Just like the yer, we weren¡¯t able to stop Tates Valtazar and his forces just by ourselves. Because of that, right now, I was somewhat lost as to what to do. Normally, the yer was supposed to travel around the continent following the storyline but¡­ ¡°There¡¯s not much to do.¡± These days, there was nothing urgent to do. Dun Scaith, Fermack Daman¡­ and even Miruam. All the pressing problems had been dealt with, and the Academy was still standing strong on top of that. Training meaninglessly didn¡¯t sound right either. And because of that¡ª ¡°There. A bit higher.¡± ¡°Here?¡± I was scratching Hua Ran¡¯s belly. I scratched her soft belly over the thinyer of clothing as Hua growled softly in satisfaction. She was basically a cat at this point. ¡°Little Navi~. Does it feel good?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not Navi.¡± ¡°Yes yes. Little Hua.¡± These days, Hua was a lot more docile than before. She beganing over at night and let me touch wherever I pleased without creating a fuss. ¡°Does it feel good?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Fuu¡­ I know this isn¡¯t the right thing. I know I shouldn¡¯t be doing this but¡­ ¡°Oppa. Can you scratch my back?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Ran?¡± ¡°I demand fair treatment,¡± Ran joked with a smile. When I scratched her back over the clothing, she started rustling her body. ¡°That tickles. You can put your hand underneath if you want to.¡± ¡°No can do!¡± ¡°You can touch and scratch at the same time though?¡± ¡°No can¡­¡± ¡°Do you want to touch my belly at the same time?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°You can do whatever you want to, actually.¡± ¡°Stop teasing me¡­ You have no idea what I might do.¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± What a mischievous little devil! Ran floated an alluring smile before tickling my chin with the crown of her head. ¡°There are two of us~. You can basically marry two people you know~?¡± ¡°Marriage is not a ¡®buy 1 get 1 free¡¯ scheme.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how much I like you though, Oppa. I can put up with that much.¡± Ran still had the bewitching smile on her lips. After finishing her sentence, she brought her lips to my cheeks without a sliver of hesitation. ¡°Hua isn¡¯t good at showing affection so~ I can do that for you whenever you want.¡± ¡°Dear me¡­¡± ¡°Or do you not like me because I¡¯m worse off than others? I¡¯m still growing, you know? You never know; I might be bigger than Sister Marie in the future.¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably going to be hard.¡± Marie¡¯s ¡°that¡±¡­ is off the charts, you see. ¡°You already have a perfect set of eyes, nose, and lips. I can¡¯t imagine you bing even prettier.¡± ¡°Hue¡­¡± Her cheeks immediately turned red. She was strong on the offensive, but it seemed that she was weak topliments. She snuggled closer in so I wrapped my arms around her body. Despite my ambiguous stance, Ran didn¡¯t voice a singlepliment. She instead showered me with love and affection without a hint of difort. It was¡­ concerning, thinking about what would happen after I eventually had to choose someone. ¡°Are you still diligently doing your practice routines on Ways of the Fist?¡± ¡°Yes. I was more talented in martial arts than I thought.¡± ¡°Hua couldn¡¯t really do it though.¡± ¡°She¡¯s too strong, after all.¡± Both personalities of Hua Ran had equal specs, but Hua was overwhelmingly more talented at fighting in general. Her relentless personality and innate talent in aura made her a perfect fighter. However, that came at the cost of being awkward at martial arts, where you had to delicately and effectively make use of each move. ¡°The Association is probably going to assign you an evaluation test as well. You should prepare for it.¡± ¡°Evaluation¡­ But Hua said she wasn¡¯t interested in bing a Unique Grade Guardian.¡± ¡°It¡¯s still a good idea to be one. Being a Unique Grade Guardian equals authority.¡± The yer eventually had to be a Unique Grade Guardian. That corrted to what the yer would be able to do during the final war. ¡°No matter how precarious of a situation it may be, the world will refuse to fight as one. However, it will be different if the top figures have power and authority.¡± If aliens were to invade, would the world fight as one like what happens in some Hollywood movies? Probably not. But what if the presidents of each nation were trustworthy people who shared an objective? ¡°Will bing a Unique Grade Guardian be helpful?¡± ¡°Yes, because Unique Grade Guardians have the authority to aim for the presidential position of each branch.¡± ¡°President?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an old tradition. No one really remembers it at this point but¡­¡± Taking the seat of the president by challenging them was a rule that still existed. It simply went under the radar because there wasn¡¯t anyone strong enough to defeat the executives and subordinate guardians as well as the president of a branch at once. Whenever there were people like Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor showing up, they would immediately give them an honorary presidential position to avoid conflict, which was another reason for theck of precedents. ¡°But they will see us as kids, and will refuse to give us the same treatment they gave that old man.¡± Besides, there was also the fact that Marie and Hua Ran were demi-humans, who were treated like demons for a long time. It was highly unlikely that they would give high positions within the Association to demi-humans, whom they had been hostile to. That was why it was hard to expect much cooperation from each branch of the Association even in the game and thest iteration, because Park Sihu and I were the only ¡®pure-blood humans¡¯ that could have the word ¡®Unique¡¯ in our title. ¡°Hmm~. So what you¡¯re saying, Oppa, is that you want us to be Unique Grade Guardians to take over the Association, right?¡± ¡°They will be vignt of us already. It won¡¯t be easy but¡­¡± Marie, Hua Ran¡­ and me. It should be possible for us, monster guardians. ¡°If we can at least get two from the three branches, we will be able to save a lot more people.¡± It was only a half-sess in thest iteration because Park Sihu was the only Unique Grade that was avable. Although I attempted to be a Unique Grade guardian myself, the final evaluation I received was ¡®Semi-Unique¡¯. The walls of Unique Grade were higher and harder to climb than expected. However, even that half-sess allowed us to reduce the number of casualties by a lot. Although we couldn¡¯t stop Dun Scaith from reducing the South to ruins, we were able to swiftly deal with the rebellion of the Old Faith to the West and managed to stop the northern borders from being breached. ¡°Oppa.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s amazing how you always try to save people. It¡¯s so cool.¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­ That was very abrupt¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s the kind of person you are, and that must be why you saved us, right? But¡­¡± Ran locked her fingers behind my neck. ¡°When eeeeverything is over, we still want you to care about only us~¡± ¡°Not right now. I have a lot to do.¡± ¡°Tch¡­ Oppa. You¡¯re so dense but obstinate, did you know?¡± ¡°Yeah. I didn¡¯t know I would turn out like this either. I wasn¡¯t like this in the past.¡± ¡°Is that when you were in your hometown?¡± ¡°Guess so.¡± I was too busy ying around with friends on Earth, and the biggest difference to now was that I wasn¡¯t popr in the slightest. Hah¡­ I guess I would have to face a different set of problems even if I were to go back to Earth. At least I¡¯m popr here so¡­ should I just stay here? **** Normally, the guardians affiliated with the Academy took their evaluation tests at the end of the year, with the change to their Grade being decided over the holidays. However, this rule didn¡¯t apply to me because of the ambiguous state of my official Grade. Korin Lork. Entered the Academy 2 years ago as Grade 5, but was promoted to Grade 1 Knight in just one semester in an official evaluation. During the second year unofficially became semi-Unique Grade, but even that was changed after the incident with Mound. Stopping the advance of an army with the Sun, I defeated countless challengers and thest fight against Eochaid Bres was clearly that of a superhuman above superhumans; proving that there was a sky above the sky. In other words, the public perception of me was already that of a Unique Grade Knight. Considering how even Marie was a semi-Unique Grade and Hua Ran¡¯s Unique Grade was also unofficial, it could be said that I was grabbing a bit too much attention recently. That was why Lady Josephine represented the Academy to rmend me as well as Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran for the evaluation test. ¡°Oh. Mr. Korin! This way! Here!¡± When we arrived at the waiting room of the Central Guardian Association located near the capital, I found Alicia who had gone to the East with Lunia beforehand. ¡°Did you enjoy your visit back to your hometown?¡± ¡°Yes! I have some horse jerky. Do you want some?¡± ¡°Hoh~. Sure thing.¡± I was about to take the jerkies when Alicia suddenly opened her arms out wide. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the first time in 2 weeks. I deserve a hug.¡± ¡°Uhmm¡­ Right now?¡± saying that, I looked around. We were in the waiting room of the Guardian Association¡­ There were a lot of eyes on the surprising actions of the youngdy from the Arden Household. ¡°My arms are getting sore. Quick.¡± ¡°Mhmm¡­!¡± I gave Alicia the hug she demanded. These days¡­ she¡¯s being more and more touchy. ¡°Hehe. Can you tap me on my back?¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± After I gave her a few taps on the back, Alicia whispered in my ears. ¡°It¡¯s been so long¡­ Can we?¡± she suggested in a soft voice, and I immediately noticed what she was alluding to. ¡°Y, you became quite bold all of a sudden, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I had to read the mood every second in the East. I don¡¯t want to do that when I¡¯m with you either, Mr. Korin.¡± Alicia these days¡­ was frightening. She was bing more and more like Lunia. ¡°Then let me¡ª¡± ¡°W, wait¡­¡± That was when Alicia, who was bringing her lips towards mine, was suddenly pulled back with a scream, ¡°Uaahk!¡± ¡°Ms. Hua Ran?¡± With an indifferent look on her face, Hua said after pulling Alicia back. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ too close.¡± ¡°Hing¡­ It¡¯s been 2 whole weeks though.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Both Alicia and Hua knew that they liked the same person. What can I say¡­ I¡¯m the sinner in this situation. ¡°Hahaha! I see. As they say, heroes love women indeed!¡± An old swordsman approached in a burst of heartyughter. His gray hair was disheveled and his martial uniform was tattered but¡­ no one dared to even think about chasing the man out. ¡°Greetings, Sword Emperor.¡± ¡°Been a while, young man.¡± Garrand Arden. He was the only Unique Grade Guardian in the current generation ¨C the strongest swordsman who lifted the Arden Household into being out of nothing. ¡°Thanks to you I enjoyed the clouds a whole lot.¡± The eyes of a ferocious beast red straight through my eyes. Right¡­ we still had to go over that one thing. Chapter 217: Garrand The Sword Emperor (2) Chapter 217: Garrand The Sword Emperor (2) ? Garrand The Sword Emperor(2) ? Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor was closer to a side character, who appeared a limited number of times in the game. Nheless, he was one of the three strongest allied characters. Danann of Justice, Erin Danua. Dimensional Witch, Josephine ra. And Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden. Josephine was a powerful assistant who consistently helped the yer from the mid tote stages of the game. In the first ce, the battles towards the end were only possible with her help. Her assistance was paramount inpleting the game. Erin Danua was technically the strongest character after Tates Valtazar, and was equal to Eochaid Bres without the Sun. She had a considerable level of impact in the main storyline and was an indispensable NPC if the yer wanted to take the Spearman route.Besides, the only reason the yer was able to survive Tates Valtazar during the destruction of the Academy was because of her sacrifice. Compared to the two people mentioned above, Garrand Arden was slightly strange. Scenario-wise, he was the strongest contemporary swordsman representing the generation after Tates Valtazar. Despite beingmonly referred to as a setting sun, there had yet to be another existence that could inherit his position. He didn¡¯t appear much even after the appearance of the yer who could potentially inherit his status as the strongest guardian but¡ª ¡°Greetings, Sword Emperor.¡± ¡°Been a while, young man.¡± I met this old man a few times in thest iteration, and I remembered being scolded in every encounter. ¡ºYou are wasting your talents. How unfortunate. Very unfortunate indeed.¡» That was probably his way of giving a high evaluation of me. For some reason¡­ everyone I met had a simr opinion. ¡°Thanks to you I enjoyed the clouds a whole lot.¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­!¡± That was back when we went to the floating ind to obtain iomh Sis. After we defeated the Sword Fiend and chased away Dun Scaith, the Sword Emperor did stop the horde of giants for us. And I repaid the favor by cutting down the tree that created a path to the floating ind. ¡°How did youe down?¡± I asked. ¡°Since I was up there anyway, I enjoyed the scenery before stepping my way down.¡± ¡°¡­Step on what?¡± ¡°The giants, of course. I used them as a stairway toe back down.¡± ¡°¡­¡± What? ¡°That¡¯s¡­ very interesting. Anyway, what brought you here?¡± ¡°Is that all you have to say about that?¡± ¡°Do you want me to do anything?¡± I decided to put on a shameless front, pretending like it wasn¡¯t my fault. ¡°I do indeed¡­ Nothing big, but marry one of my granddaughters. You can take them both if they don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°G, Grandpa?!¡± This old man¡­ in thest iteration, he told me to take Lunia and was saying the same thing again. ¡°W, what are you saying, Grandpa!?¡± Alicia pped him on the back in a fluster as Hua Ran gave a frown from the side. ¡°Hahaha! Lunia that girl didn¡¯t seem to mind it.¡± ¡°W, what? There¡¯s no way¡­!¡± ¡°She did say a senile old man should stay out of it, though.¡± The Sword Emperorughed heartily and giggled in spite of his old age, before tapping me on my shoulders. ¡°A good man should naturally be able to satisfy a few women. Am I wrong, young man?¡± ¡°I can finally tell where Lunia¡¯s view on marriage ising from.¡± Everyone in this household was slightly off in the head. I guess the only normal person was Lady Sophia, Lunia¡¯s mother. ¡°Hmm. But anyway, a spearman, huh¡­? Brings back memories.¡± Hearing that, I remembered that I had to ask him about Master but by that time, the Sword Emperor was already in the middle of being escorted away by the overly-respectful staff of the Association. ¡°Sir Korin Lork. Let me lead the way.¡± Soon, another staff appeared to guide us down the corridors of the Central Association, until we were met by a man with a generous and virtuous appearance. ¡°Ohh~ Sir Korin! Nice to meet you!¡± Surprisingly, the man who greeted us was the president of the Guardian Association. ¡°President Redic.¡± ¡°Do you know me?¡± ¡°How could I not recognize a great senior and the pride of our Merkarva Academy?¡± ¡°Huhaha¡­! Is Lady Josephine doing well?¡± ¡°She is still in her prime.¡± Redic Georgio. He was a former Grade 2 mage and the top executive member of the Association. He was a 30-year senior of the Academy. What might be rather surprising was that the President of the Association was not that strong. Of course, a Grade 2 guardian wasn¡¯t weak by any means, but still fell shortpared to Grade 1 guardians. ¡°I am incredibly honored to be weed personally by a great senior.¡± ¡°Haha. I should be the one saying that, considering how our Merkarva Academy has given birth to the next Unique Grade Knight after the Sword Emperor!¡± ¡°I am ttered.¡± ¡°By the way, how is Young Lady Marie?¡± Redic raised a question after ncing around. The position of a president wasn¡¯t something one could take simply by being strong. Anyone apart from the Sword Emperor had to earn their position through politics. ¡°Senior Marie is in the South right now. I heard she had a meeting with the branch president over there.¡± ¡°I, I see. Kuhum¡­ He¡¯s from the Elizabeth Academy in the west though¡­¡± He discreetly pulled the ¡°he¡¯s not from the same academy as us¡± card, but that didn¡¯t work on me. ¡°Oh yeah. The Saintess wanted me to give you a letter when I told her I wasing here.¡± ¡°T, the Saintess did?¡± I handed over the hand-written letter from Estelle which President Redic seemed quite moved by. Considering how the position of a president was nothing but that of an official assigned by the royal court, it made sense for him to be so moved by the letter personally written by the princess and Saintess of the New Faith. In fact, the president was just an honorary title and the true value was in how ond could forge connections with the higher-ups of each region. This was why Garrand Arden, who hated politics, didn¡¯t pay much attention to the Association after receiving his title as an honorary president. ¡°President.¡± However, I was different. I had already learned from seeing Park Sihu in thest iteration, that politics was necessary to save the world. ¡°I have an invitation to a secret club called, ¡®Voices of the South¡¯. You should join us if you have time.¡± ¡°V, Voices of the South?¡± Voices of the South was the meeting ce of the central political bigshots, run by the Dunareff themselves. Entering that was like a highway to sess by receiving their support and bing a representative of the South. ¡°We should have a ss of southern wine over there and talk about¡­ you know, right?¡± ¡°H, haha¡­ Weren¡¯t you underage?¡± ¡°Come on! We can¡¯t not have any drinks when talking about the grandiose potential of the future, can we? Plus, I can legally drink starting next month.¡± ¡°Uhahaha¡­! What an open-minded young man! Right. As they say, you need to learn how to drink from an adult! Sounds good to me!¡± ¡°I will appreciate your assistance in the evaluation.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry! All you need to do is show us the Sun that stopped the army and get a few signatures from the staff.¡± President Redic was all smiles as he walked out of the room. It was highly likely that he had been uneasy the whole time. Garrand Arden wasn¡¯t interested in a position in the Association, but he didn¡¯t know if I would be the same as him or not. Although it was old, a rule was still a rule. A Unique Grade Guardian had the right to challenge the president of a branch, which meant the position he had built up so arduously was about to be stolen away. Therefore, it was only natural for him to feel anxious. However, now that he had a connection with the Dunareff and the New Faith thanks to me, he would be more than happy to let go of his current post if we gave him a decent position elsewhere. Alicia and Hua Ran looked dumbfounded. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. ¡°I feel like I just witnessed a very dirty negotiation.¡± ¡°¡­Corruption?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just one position and there¡¯s no need to have someone riled up about it, right? We¡¯re just doing what¡¯s good for everyone.¡± It took us a lot of work in thest iteration doing political warfare and digging around but¡­ there was no reason to do that anymore since we could send him off in peace. Marie and Estelle are on my side, so what¡¯s the problem? ¡°The Unique Grade is an easy win now. We just need toplete a few paperwork and go home.¡± Unfortunately, that n of mine was obstructed by someone unexpected. *** The executives of the Association were the ones giving me the evaluation. Just like how it went in the Grade 1 promotion test, they measured my basic stats and assessed how much I could do. ¡°Everyone knows who Sir Korin is, and what he is capable of, right?¡± ¡°Of course. His ability to manifest a Sun is already unheard of.¡± ¡°And he overwhelmed the subordinates of the 2nd Princess in a 1-on-1 battle.¡± ¡°Plus, he has an incredibly long history of hunting demons. There¡¯s no need for him to prove himself again.¡± The judges who were greatly influenced by the president were busy showering me withpliments. It felt weird to see them pour out praises without an end, in contrast to how they tried to pull me down in thest iteration with excuses like, ¡°You¡¯re too young¡±, ¡°You don¡¯t have enough history,¡± and ¡°Your stats are too low¡±. So this is the power of authority, huh~? ¡°But we still need some evaluation so how about we have him show us the Sun? I believe that should be enough.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°If you say so, President.¡± ¡°Junior Korin. Do you see that dummy over there from the training rooms? That one there is a very tough one with max heat resistance. Let¡¯s measure it with that.¡± It was great that I didn¡¯t have to do all the missions and quests I didst time. I was more than happy to take the test but¡ª ¡°How boring.¡± A knight suddenly intervened and put a stop to the skit with a click of his tongue. ¡°Y, you are?!¡± ¡°Sir Garrand?¡± ¡°Why are you¡­¡± He scoffed before standing in front of Redic. ¡°Oi. President.¡± ¡°Yes? P, please speak, O mighty sword¡­¡± Despite being the president, he did not dare nitpick on the conduct of the living legend himself. ¡°Let me raise an offer as the honorary president.¡± ¡°And what might that¡­¡± ¡°I will be in charge of Korin Lork¡¯s ¡®Limitless Evaluation¡¯ from now on. Anyints?¡± ¡°U, uhh¡­¡± ¡°Nothing, huh? Then let me take care of it from now on. You guys can leave.¡± Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor immediately made the judges shut up. President Redic stepped back after reading the mood, which unfortunately meant all of our discreet negotiations hade to an end. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just let me off in peace?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t like the skit happening in front of my eyes.¡± He immediately retrieved the intimidating aura he had shown the executives of the Association and smirked. ¡°I came because I was intrigued by what you would demonstrate as someone who can also see the dark space. You can¡¯t render this old man¡¯s hard work to nothing.¡± ¡°You mean the Domain? I can show you that anytime.¡± ¡°Against a dummy?¡± He ced his enormous hand over the dummy prepared for my evaluation. He didn¡¯t even do much ¨C it was just a soft touch and a tap that couldn¡¯t even be counted as a p but¡­ ¨C Kaduk! Kaduduk¡­! The dummy crumbled in a sh. ¡°¡­¡± Although we were calling it a dummy for convenience¡¯s sake, this was still an item forged with magic stones, and naturally, it was very resilient. And yet¡­ ¡­He demolished it with a single tap. Was that how strong he was? But that didn¡¯t make sense. I didn¡¯t see any of that. ¡°Breaking a few of these useless toys can¡¯t prove anything. Only clowns would think that.¡± Stepping over the crumbled fragments of the dummy, the Sword Emperor continued in arrogance. ¡°What¡¯s hard about slicing, stabbing, kicking, crushing, cutting, and blowing away a piece of rock standing still? What does that aplish?¡± He unsheathed his swords. The Sword Emperor unsheathed the two swords on his waist. Alongside the three on his back, each of them were masterpieces and renowned swords of the Sword Emperor. Twin Dragon des. It was a treasure that was supposed to be in the hands of the Sword Fiend. ¡°Let me show you what skits like this cannot reveal. Korin Lork. Prove to me your real strength.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Everyone turned tense and silent. On one side was the strongest swordsman of the contemporary times, who had yet to be dethroned. And on the other side was me, a future Unique Grade. What would happen if the two were to collide? Anyone would be curious and anyone would be excited. ¡°¡­Me? Why would I? I don¡¯t want to.¡± Except for me, that is. Chapter 218: Garrand the Sword Emperor (3) Chapter 218: Garrand the Sword Emperor (3) ? Garrand The Sword Emperor(3) ? President Redic Georgio was a man who had somewhat gone through the same generation as the Sword Emperor. In his childhood, there was a time when an infamous monstrous bull was rampaging around in the West. All the powerful guardians that tried to stop the bull were killed, and right when that demonic beast was getting closer to the royal capital was when he showed up. The young swordsman Garrand Arden, who had been gaining fame as a rising powerhouse, came to provide support as a representative of the Arden Household of the East. It was a one-sided victory. The tremendous aura bulging out of his steel-like muscles flew the gigantic bull into the sky. His fame only continued to rise after that. Monsters of the decade were all sliced apart by his sword and countless swordsmen followed him out of respect. Even when Redic reached the age of 40 and became an executive of the Association, the Sword Emperor never grew old.Actually, his body which had been as big as the mountain had shrunk, and he no longer had the ridiculous amount of aura flowing out of him. Because of that, Redicmented once, thinking that that was the downfall of his hero. However, the Sword Emperor did not be any weaker. When a gigantic bird was scorching a city to ashes from the sky, he simply shed once to drop it onto the ground. It was hard to fathom how a swordsman standing on the ground could possibly be able to do that, but that was exactly why the Sword Emperor was a living legend¡ªhe was the pinnacle of the Guardian Association and the swordsman representing his generation. A target of utmost respect and admiration for all knights. Therefore, the Sword Emperor personally suggesting a duel was a great honor that anyone should immediately bow to¡­ And yet ¡°¡­Me? Why would I? I don¡¯t want to.¡± Korin Lork turned him down in a sh. The silence continued for a long time. There weren¡¯t that many people present in the first ce, but even then, it was so silent that not even the sound of a breath could be heard. ¡°Are you trying to avoid my test?¡± The Sword Emperor was the one who broke the silence. ¡°A duel against the Sword Emperor just isn¡¯t a fair deal.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a friendly spar to test your skills.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll end there.¡± When Korin looked at him with a gaze suggesting, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯ll be content with just that?¡± the Sword Emperor curled one of the corners of his lips down like a child whose lies had been seen through. ¡°What a boring man.¡± There was no way a duel between people like the Sword Emperor and Korin would just end as a normal duel. Even Alicia tended to sometimes unknowingly cross the line in her utmost concentration, so how would it be any different with the Sword Emperor? It wouldn¡¯t be strange for it to be a life-or-death battle. That damn old man. He never has a middle ground. In fact, Korin had a history of almost losing one of his arms in a duel against him in thest iteration. His arm was dangling until he put it back together. ¡ºMagnificent. Another 10 years and it¡¯ll be a sight to behold. Go embrace Lunia as soon as you recover from your wounds. You have this old man¡¯s permission.¡» It seemed to have been his way of testing his granddaughter¡¯s partner. ¡°You need to strike a deal if you want to fight me. You can¡¯t just have it happen with a few words.¡± ¡°Huhahaha¡­! What a daring young man! There are thousands who bring their entire fortune just to see my sword.¡± ¡°More importantly, can I ask you a question?¡± ¡°Hoh. How shameless after turning down my offer in a breeze.¡± ¡°Chairman Eriu Casarr rmended I have a chat with you.¡± Eriu Casarr. The old man¡¯s face went through an immediate change the moment he heard the name of the former chairman of Merkarva Academy, who was pronounced dead. ¡°Eriu Casarr, huh? Met him a few times when I was young. They say he died recently but well, that¡¯s utter nonsense.¡± Garrand said in reminiscence of his past. There was a part of his response that piqued Korin¡¯s curiosity. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Eriu Casarr was a rune puppet that Erin Danua had made in order to look after the Academy in her sealed state. Korin obviously knew she wasn¡¯t dead, but why was Garrand so certain about it, despite not knowing the connection between the two? ¡°That lofty spearman dying to some randoms from the Tower of Mages? Absolutely no chance.¡± ¡°¡­I see.¡± ¡°Young man. You seem to know something.¡± ¡°Noment. But¡­ he seemed to believe that you would be able to teach me something.¡± ¡°Haha. Just what I would expect from him. I¡¯ve learned a lot of great lessons from Eriu Casarr, so it would serve me right to pay that back to his disciple.¡± The Sword Emperor opened his palm and reminiscently gazed down at it. He was reaching 60 years of age and his body was showing signs of it. Although he was still healthy, and he would most certainly go past 100 years with the aura he had built up¡­ his body was still iparably weaker than how it was in his prime. ¡°Ever since I began walking down the path of swords, I had been drowned in an unsatiated thirst for power.¡± Born as the oldest son of the Arden Household, he trained his innate talents as well as his strength to the extreme. Urged by his hunger for more power, he enhanced his muscles, strength, and devoured elixirs to amplify his aura. ¡°Everything; be it parents, siblings, status, authority, belongings¡­! All of that was meaningless. I pursued power alone and was intoxicated by it. ¡°I remember the time I met that crazy bull from the West. He was pretty big. He was as big as a house so I tried stopping him with my bare body and tossed him away. What I realized then was that he was way too light. ¡°There was no one back then to fight against me, and I was strong enough to be left behind in the annals of history. Some even called me a god.¡± God of Strength. He was no longer in the realm of humans; he had way too much strength and power, and the young swordsman back then had the right to dare call himself a god. The Sword Emperor dered. ¡°I cut down more than a hundred thousand demons! I¡¯ve protected territories beyond what you could possibly see! And I saved at least a million! ¡°I was the strongest being in existence! Second to none! I had no doubt that I was invincible! ¡°And that was when I met your master.¡± He lifted his sword. Looking at the gleaming de reflecting the sunlight, he seemed bewitched by the sword as he recalled each and every single thing that happened in the past with utmost concentration. He was re-manifesting the shocking scene from back then in his mind. ¡°He was weak. I was looking forward to meeting the chairman of an Academy, but the power residing in his physical body was a fraction of the Great Witch following behind him.¡± That was natural because Eriu Casarr was a puppet created with runes that only moved with a small amount of aura and mana. ¡°However, it was my defeat. The strongest attacks of my sword couldn¡¯t reach him, and my earth-shattering explosion of aura was unable to shake him. ¡°I finally met the real one. ¡°Six Ways of the Spear ¨C hidden within that divine spearmanship was a profound truth that I couldn¡¯t grasp.¡± After that encounter, Garrand Arden took apletely different route. The downward strikes that he had been practicing for greater output, as well as elixirs for more aura¡­ He gave up everything. He simply went back to training the way of the sword. All to find that hidden ¡°truth¡±. ¡°And atst, when my muscles deteriorated and when my aura was no longer enough to cover the earth.¡± The Sword Emperor carried his sword, And shed down. It was a swing as gentle as the mountain breeze but¡ª ¡°Ahh¡­¡± ¡°Uahhh¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Everyone there felt something. They felt with their skin the vibration in the atmosphere. Turning around, they saw that the clouds, the sky, and the world¡­ had been cut into two. ¡°My sword reached the heavens, thuspleting my Heavenly Sword.¡± Cutting the sky. After nonchntlypleting that nonsensical feat, he pointed the tip of his sword at Korin. ¡°What ¡®truth¡¯ will you embed in your spear? What is the ¡®Domain¡¯ that you wish to reach in your life?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Korin knew of 4 different Domains.Sword Fiend. Thousand Dancing Hands. A sword that cuts everything within a radius of a kilometer.Alicia Arden. Infinity Exceeding the Domain. A teleporting sword that ignores the limitations of distance.Erin Danua. Void. A divine spear with no gaps.Garrand Arden. Severing Heaven. A divine sword that could cut through the sky. What is so different about their swords and spears, that they reached a realm transcending the Domain? ¡°There is only one answer. It is to pursue the ultima.¡± ¡°The ultima?¡± ¡°Think about just one thing and one thing alone. Combine all of your future aspirations and the Domain into your profound ¡®truth¡¯. Only through a harmony of the heart, mind, and body added with your perception, realm, and truth will you reach the ultima.¡± ¡°¡­That is a very ambiguous exnation. Can you make it any simpler?¡± ¡°How can you seek an easy answer forward from where you are already at? This is not something that can be learned; you must be enlightened to it yourself.¡± You must be enlightened to it yourself. That was the same thing that Erin had said, and Korin was reminded that he had to pursue the answer himself. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to fight, that¡¯s fine too. I was intrigued by the prospect of someone else that can see the Domain, but looks like you¡¯re not there yet. Show me that Sun of yours already.¡± ¡°¡­If you wish.¡± Korin manifested the Sun as he wanted. A tremendous amount of mana filled the world as a ball of zing heat appeared above them. In front of theparatively small yet massive Sun that was heating up the world, Garrand Arden muttered with a click of his tongue. ¡°The Sun, huh? I¡¯d been wanting to cut it down for a while.¡± As soon as he sliced down with the sword¡­ ¡°Huaak¡­!¡± ¡°M, my word¡­!¡± The Sun was bisected into halves. ¡°That¡¯s it for the test. You can do whatever you want for the evaluation, President.¡± Garrand Arden turned around after finishing his words. But before disappearing off, he said as if he suddenly remembered something. ¡°If you want both of my granddaughters, you mustplete your ultima beforehand. Then I will lend a hand with your marriage to Lunia and Alicia. I don¡¯t mind giving you Arden.¡± ¡°¡­I swear there is something wrong with all of your views on marriage.¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­! Heroes love women! Having an abundance and seeking even more is the right and duty of the strong!¡± He walked off after leaving those words behind, and that was when Alicia approached from a distance. ¡°H, huu¡­ Mr. Korin. Are you going to do it?¡± ¡°Huh? Yeah, of course.¡± Korin had to be stronger; even stronger than Garrand the Sword Emperor and Erin Danua, his master. Because his final goal was the worst enemy, Tates Valtazar; and if embedding his profound truth into his spear was a requirement to defeat him¡­ Korin had to definitely make it happen. ¡°H, hmm¡­ I, I see. To receive permission¡­ from grandpa¡­ Mhmm~. N, not bad.¡± ¡°Alicia?¡± ¡°I¡¯m cheering for you! Good luck!¡± ¡°Umm¡­ R, right.¡± Korin was really afraid of the Arden Household. He was reminded once again how Sophia, who married into the household, was the only one sane person there. *** Korin Lork officially became a Unique Grade guardian. Hua Ran and Marie also became one, and Alicia received the evaluation of a semi-Unique Grade. That was unavoidable because Alicia had lower specs inparison to everyone else. Unique Grade guardians were so rare that some generations went on without a single one of them appearing, and yet three of them had appeared at once. This was enough to create an incrediblemotion, but there was something else that called for even more attention. ¡°I will be the president of the Central Guardian Association from now on. Any objections?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± No one stepped forth, which was nothing abnormal. The session of the presidential position went on without any hindrance. President Redic himself was transferred into the position of a high-ranking executive of the South, and although Korin¡¯s Sun had been cut into two by the Sword Emperor, not a single one that witnessed it doubted the destructiveness of the Sun. They might have had an excuse to raise an objection if there was a political method to stop him, but the new president was one who had the full-on support of the Dunareff to the South, and the Chapel of Zeon to the West. He had the trinity of power, authority, and wealth, so who could possibly turn him down just because he was young? ¡°I cannot allow this! You young brat!¡± Actually, there was one. The man seemed discontent by the fact that the presidential position, which he had been eyeing, had been taken away by a random brat all of a sudden. ¡°And who might you be?¡± ¡°Grade 1 Knight, Gale Bogman! I devoted my life to the Association for 30 whole years! Do you think I will allow a young kid from who knows where to suddenly be the next president? As if!¡± ¡°Why? What are you so discontent with?¡± ¡°I admit you¡¯re strong! But what else do you have apart from that?¡± ¡°For example, money? Authority? Connections?¡± ¡°Kuhk¡­!¡± Gale couldn¡¯t find the words to say. The new president would be supported by the New Faith and the Dunareff. In addition to that was how the previous president and the top executives must have received some kind of beneficial treatment; they didn¡¯t disagree with an 18-year-old kid bing the next president. They were so quiet that it was unnatural. Even the royal court didn¡¯t disagree and simply sent a messenger to congratte him. ¡°B, but¡­ Someone without achievements cannot be the¡­¡± Gale stopped his own tongue in the middle of his sentence. It was true that the new president didn¡¯t have a heap of achievements, but the ones he showed until now were all significant. King of Iron Mountain, saving the Saintess, as well as the might he disyed during the Mound incident. Every single one of them was a heroic legend. He had done things that hundreds of guardians might not be able to do, with a small group of people. There was no one who could deny the fact that this man was a Unique Grade and one of the strongest guardians in the history of the Association. ¡°Marie Dunareff is the new president of the Southern Association, and Hua Ran is the president of the Western Association. You know that, right?¡± Of course. Immediately after bing Unique Grade, they used their right to immediately be the presidents of each branch. With just one document, it took them less than one week to shut everyone¡¯s mouth using their wealth and authority. On top of that, because the branch to the East was practically under Sword Master Lunia Arden¡¯s control, their group had basically taken over the entirety of the Association, except for the northern branch that had less authority inparison due to their borders touching the Northern Kingdom. That was also one of the reasons why the old executives didn¡¯t dare raise a voice against Korin Lork. ¡°Imand in the name of the president. Tell each branch to pick out 400 to put on standby.¡± ¡°F, four hundred? It would be over a thousand then!¡± ¡°That is more than a quarter of our entire manpower! What are you trying to do with all those guardians¡­?¡± ¡°It¡¯s all~ a part of a big n.¡± ¡°The branches won¡¯t agree to¡­¡± ¡°Wow~ what a coincidence. Marie, Hua Ran, and Lunia. They¡¯re all part of my guardians guild. All of them are my friends. They¡¯ll do something about it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The executives had no idea what this new president was trying to do. With all those guardians, it was possible to overturn the Kingdom itself. Was he plotting a rebellion? But that couldn¡¯t be. It wasn¡¯t a secret that the Saintess, the one in line for the throne, was trying to court the new president. This isn¡¯t going to work! Of course not! How much money will we lose from 1,200 guardians stopping their activities?! All the branches are going to oppose him. There is no way they would agree to that when there¡¯s not even a war happening¡­ ¡°Oh, by the way,¡± Korin suddenly started. ¡°I¡¯m going to quit my post in 1 year¡¯s time. I¡¯m going to hand in my retirement letter to the royal court ahead of time. When I retire, I¡¯m going to pick someone to be the next president. So¡­ I¡¯m counting on you all!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­Pardon?¡± ¡°What I¡¯m saying, is that you better conduct yourself well.¡± If you want to be the next president, that is. ¡°¡­¡± The conference room fell dead silent. *** We pretty much took over the East, West, South, and the center. All that was left was to wait until the end of this winter and prepare for the mythology-worthy battle. I was going to hand in the retirement letter ahead of time for the retirement in 1 year, so they would probably all work hard to be the next president. Although I had to be a president because it was necessary, I didn¡¯t have time to waste managing the Association. It would be better to finish what I had to do and leave the post to someone else. I did officially be the next president, but I still had to greet the royal family and receive their official permission. ¡°Haa~. Everything you do creates amotion.¡± ¡°My deepest apologies, Your Majesty.¡± My rebellion to stop Miruam from destroying Mound, the use of my Legal Immunity, and now I had even be the president of the Central Guardian Association. King David looked three years older as he looked at me with a sigh. ¡°I¡¯ve heard the story from my oldest daughter. It¡¯s hard to believe but¡­ there is no way that child would lie about a ¡®revtion from the lord¡¯, so¡­¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡± So that¡¯s how Estelle exined it, huh? Recently, Estelle seemed to be busy traveling in and out, trying to idolize Danann. After killing arge number of cardinals and the pope to be the sole representative of the Order, she was now even meddling with their doctrine. All with the excuse of, ¡°This is what the lord said. I heard it.¡± Because she was the child of miracles that was said to be connected with the god, there was nothing they could do apart from going, ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°A great evil is fast approaching. We must prepare for it.¡± ¡°Was Miruam¡­ a part of that?¡± ¡°Apologies for my frankness, but it is true that the 2nd Princess had been on their side.¡± ¡°¡­It must be thanks to you that she stepped out of that. I see¡­ her hatred was that deep¡­¡± King David continued after a sigh. ¡°Anyway, Baron Korin¡­ Or should I call you President now.¡± ¡°Whichever you prefer, Your Majesty.¡± ¡°Do you have any ns of marrying one of my daughters?¡± ¡°¡­Pardon?¡± W, what is wrong with everyone? Isn¡¯t a father-inw normally against marriage? Isn¡¯t it normal for them to act like Duke Marde? ¡°Actually, just take them both. Just be the next king.¡± ¡°Your Majesty!?¡± What in the world is wrong with everyone? Am I the only normal one here!? Chapter 219: War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (1) Chapter 219: War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (1) ? War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (1)? ¡°Young man. Do you wanna meet my granddaughter?¡± ¡°Ehew. Sir, what are you talking about in the middle of an exercise?¡± I tended to receive a lot of positive remarks from elderly people. ¡°It just makes me sad. How can someone so kind and hard-working like you have not held hands with a girl until now?¡± ¡°Hahaha. I know right? I¡¯m just not popr.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all because of those foxes around you.¡± ¡°Huh? Who?¡±¡°You need to be careful of women, but also be careful of men. These guys here; there¡¯s something up with their gazes.¡± ¡°Hahahaha¡­! Come on, sir. Looks like you have the room to joke around. Let¡¯s do another set!¡± ¡°Mark my words! You have the face of someone with issues with both genders! You must remove that mole under your eye to escape your fate!¡± ¡°I do understand you are a veteran physiognomist, but sorry, I don¡¯t believe in that.¡± ¡°I am telling you, you will definitely be in trouble because of both men and women! You have an overflow of Yang energy, and you need arge amount of Yin to control it!¡± ¡°And is that why you want to introduce me to your shaman granddaughter? Kuhahaha¡­!¡± There were a few people that wanted to introduce me to some girls but¡­ for some reason, none of them really went through. Now that I think about it, that old physiognomist told me I had a great fortune with romance¡­ I knew it, you just can¡¯t believe what they say. Anyway, that tendency of being liked by the elderly continued even in Arhan. ¡°Young man. Go embrace Lunia.¡± For some reason, the Sword Emperor, that old man, also took a liking to me. But that was probably slightly different; it was most likely because he saw potential in my development as a martial artist. ¡°I am the Count of Ron. Sir Korin. Would you care to meet my daughter?¡± Even the old count that I met at a banquet¡­ ¡°I have a younger sister at home who is at a marriageable age. You are the only one I can trust.¡± Even Senior Beazeker, one of the members of my previous male-only party¡­ ¡°You can marry my children. You have the right to.¡± ¡°Yo. Do you want to sleep with my 27th descendant? I can make a free weapon for ya.¡± And even thatdy from the North and the little dwarves¡­ For some reason, I was loved by adults as a son-inw material. It seemed that I was getting some returns for living a good life! ¡°Actually, just take them both. Just be the next king.¡± But even then¡­ this is a bit¡­ ¡°Your Majesty¡­ Please refrain from such jokes.¡± ¡°I am not joking, Baron Lork. Actually, now that you¡¯re a Unique Grade guardian, I suppose we should raise your peerage. Count? That sounds good. If you don¡¯t mind taking over somend, you can be a marquis as well.¡± ¡°¡­¡± You can¡¯t give away peerages like that, Your Majesty! Well, actually, I guess Park Sihu did be a marquis in thest iteration as well¡­ In any case, although there were many who asked me to marry their daughter, I wasn¡¯t expecting King David to be like this. I had to make a lot of preparations before asking for Princess Miruam¡¯s hand in marriage, so why was he suddenly telling me to marry both of them? ¡°Your Majesty. As unfortunate as this is¡­¡± ¡°Come on. My dear Son-inw. What is with this stiff etiquette? Just call me Father.¡± Hello? Your Majesty? It¡¯s our second time seeing each other face to face, okay?! ¡°But, Your Majesty¡­ Normally, wouldn¡¯t it be more natural to marry just one of the princesses?¡± ¡°I pondered greatly to myself regarding that matter.¡± What was there to even ponder about? Like, what kind of father would give two of his daughters to a single man? ¡°Estelle seemed to like you a lot more than I realized. Recently, she came home and dered that she wouldn¡¯t marry anyone apart from you.¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± It¡¯s¡­ possible for Estelle-noona to be like that. Considering her straight-forward personality¡ª ¡°Most importantly, she seemed to have received a ¡®revtion from the lord¡¯ that she must marry Korin Lork.¡± ¡°Kuhup¡­!¡± She¡¯s using it as she pleases! She¡¯s no different from a leader of a cult! ¡°If that is the will of the lord, it can¡¯t be helped.¡± Umm, Father¡­? Do you really believe that? Aren¡¯t you way too religious? Your daughter right now is at the pinnacle of a non-believer, and she¡¯s even trying to create her own religion now! ¡°So why not just Saintess Estelle¡­¡± ¡°It was a long hatred.¡± ¡°¡­¡± King David looked distressed as he changed the topic. ¡°For the national interest of the Kingdom, I had to turn a blind eye to my daughter¡¯s rage; her hatred, and ended up making all this happen.¡± He didn¡¯t get angry nor be shocked or reprimand Miruam about her ns and her hatred. Instead, he simply confessed his failure as a father. ¡°She¡¯s a pitiful child who poured all of her attempts into politics, magic¡­ and even social events all for her purpose and hatred of demi-humans. I couldn¡¯t untangle her¡­ life-long fury. In the middle of his words, the King turned his eyes over to me. ¡°It was you. You were the one who untangled the knot. You stopped her before she crossed the line.¡± He descended from the throne, bent his back, and held my hands with his. ¡°Who would possibly stand against an army, and duel against those countless warriors? Who would protect the innocent in spite of earning the fury of the royal family? ¡°How could I possibly turn a blind eye to your devotion; your courage? How could I pay you back for it? ¡°Since you were the one who changed that girl¡­ I can entrust you with her. No; I should say you¡¯re the only one I can entrust her to.¡± He was serious. It wasn¡¯t a joke, and he sincerely wanted me to take care of both of his daughters. ¡°Sir Korin. This is the only thing I can do for my daughter as a failure of a father. Will you please ept it?¡± ¡°¡­Sorry, Your Majesty.¡± I had to turn him down, as King David asked back with a look of sorrow. ¡°Why is that? Even though you can ept both princesses of the Kingdom as your wives?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± I was about to reveal my circumstances, but the King frowned before I could. ¡°Is it because of those potato farmers in the South? Those fools that use potatoes instead of coins?¡± ¡°Your Majesty?¡± ¡°No, it must be the sword fanatics of the East! Please don¡¯t think about going to thatnd of barbarians. They¡¯re gangsters that rely on swords before words!¡± Umm, Your Majesty¡­? You just talked smack about two of your greatest allies, didn¡¯t you? ¡°What misfortune! To think my son-inw was bewitched by those wicked humans¡­!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not your son-in¡ª¡± ¡°Think about it, my son-inw. Authority is much better than both money and power. Think about all the troops you can move from the throne. No. No. No. You have to experience this yourself. Come up. Try sitting on the throne! It feels good! It feels refreshing! It feels great to sit high up there!!¡± Your Majesty! Please mind your etiquette!! *** ¡°Good news! Good news! His Majesty has proposed to Baron Korin Lork a royal marriage!¡± ¡°Both the Saintess and the 2nd Princess at that! God dang it! I¡¯m dying from jealousy!¡± The walls have ears, as they say. The offer I heard from King David was ced on the front page of the morning newspaper the following day. Unlike the news articles of the 21st century, there was not a single filter in the news. I squeezed the sides of the newspaper with my shivering hands. ¡°H, how did this¡­¡± A royal marriage isn¡¯t some childsy, is it? How can it be on the news just like this? ¡°Congrattions, President! I mean, Prince Consort¡­!¡± Redic, who was next to me talking about the Association, suddenly said with a bow. ¡°Wait, it¡¯s a misunderstanding.¡± ¡°Sorry? Do you mean that¡¯s false¡­?¡± ¡°I, it¡¯s not but¡­¡± ¡°Prince Consort! This Redic Georgio!!! Swears loyalty to Prince Consort!¡± ¡°¡­This is driving me insane.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for the news to spread through the capital¡­ and the entire continent. And¡­ this ended up provoking people that I wasn¡¯t even thinking about. *** The Dunareff Mansion located at the center of the South boasted some of the wealthiest and most luxuriousnd in the world. The front garden was as big as a vige. It took 10 minutes by carriage to reach the entrance of the mansion and then one had to climb 4,378 stairs if they wished to go to the rooftop without using the automatic elevator. The highlight of the Dunareff Mansion was the greenhouse the size of a football field that bloomed with flowers regardless of the season. This greenhouse, which had an exclusive mage and gardeners was Duchess Elencia¡¯s favorite ce for a morning tea. That morning, the duchess was having a cold corn tea with a few chunks of ice while elegantly eating some boiled potatoes. She was joyously reading through the newspapers of each region, which was no different from what she did every other day. It was a fine day until she read that news article put on the first page of the paper. ¨C Grit! The morning newspaper crumbled in her grip. The maids attending to her needs were frightened by her sudden show of anger and lowered their heads. ¡°I, I wonder¡­ if my eyes are ying with me right now?¡± She couldn¡¯t believe what her eyes were telling her. The duchess realized something had gone very wrong, and was boiling with fury regardless of the truth behind this news. ¡°H, honey¡­ Did something happen?¡± Duke Marde, who had been spending quality time with his family in the greenhouse, saw her sudden fit of anger and carefully raised a question. ¡°You! What have you been doing outside this whole time!¡± m! The crumbled newspaper in the shape of a ball struck Duke Marde with a noise that shouldn¡¯t be made from scrunched paper. This was his first time seeing his wife this angry in his 20 years of marriage, so Duke Marde carefully opened the newspaper in fear. ¡°Mhmm? Isn¡¯t this yesterday¡¯s newspaper from the capital?¡± Duke Marde¡¯s eyes widened into circles after reading the first headline of the paper. [His Majesty. Proposing a royal marriage to Sir Korin. Both princesses at that!] He didn¡¯t even have to read anything beyond the headline. It seemed that King David was trying to send both princesses to marry Korin Lork. ¡°Like, what has this worlde to¡­¡± Although polygamy was legally epted in this world, themon consensus was still just to have one husband and one wife. ¡°That¡¯s not all! Look at this newspaper from the East!¡± This time, the duchess threw an evening newspaper from the East. That too had a shocking headline on the front page. [Sword Emperor Garrand Arden, ¡°Korin is for my granddaughters. The King shouldn¡¯t think about snatching him away.¡±] Sword Emperor? Did Garrand Arden say this? ¡°Has that old man gone senile?¡± ¡°He truly must have gone mad!¡± Duchess Elencia crushed the cup of corn tea in her hands. The cup shattered into countless fragments, but they couldn¡¯t create a single scratch on the body of the former high-ranked knight. ¡°This is all because of you!¡± she shouted. ¡°Ehk? M, me?¡± the duke replied in a stupor. ¡°It¡¯s because you keep abusing and mistreating my son-inw! Korin is looking elsewhere because of you!¡± ¡°H, how is this my fault? Isn¡¯t it that guy¡¯s fault for wagging his tail everywhere?!¡± ¡°If only you were nicer and officially proimed that he was our son-inw! Then these people wouldn¡¯t have dared to covet my son-inw!¡± The duchess yelled out loud with her lips shivering in great fury. ¡°They¡¯re looking down on us, Dunareff. The King and the Sword Emperor. They can¡¯t possibly do this unless they¡¯re looking down on us!¡± In the eyes of Duchess Elencia, they were wicked people who were trying to steal the son-inw her oldest daughter had already decided on. They were unforgivable. What? Am I the weird one here? King David was out there trying to marry both princesses to a single person; the Sword Emperor was warning the King, saying that he was going to marry both of his granddaughters to that same person. Plus, there was also his wife, who was infuriated by the juncture of having her son-inw (no marriage nor engagement) snatched away. Am I the only one who doesn¡¯t like him? Am I the only normal father here? Or am I the weird one? Huh!?¡¯ This was weird. Something was definitely wrong here. ¡°Dear!¡± ¡°Y, yes¡­! Honey! What is it?¡± ¡°Go and get my son-inw back from them right now! I am not losing my son-inw!¡± ¡°Uhh¡­?¡± He couldn¡¯t even utter a single word of rebuttal. Like that, the duke was forced onto the Hresvelgr which was headed to the royal capital. What he found even more strange were the attitudes of the ones that wereing with him to the capital. ¡°To think they would dare eye the consort of Lady Marie! We cannot let this slip!¡± I have never once acknowledged him as Marie¡¯s husband! Captain Berg of the Dunareff Wyvern Riders, was full of fighting spirit and¡­ ¡°Oh dear. Looks like there are some puppies that don¡¯t know how scary potatoes are. I¡¯ve given the order to the spies hidden inside the capital. One word, and we can reveal the embarrassing weaknesses of all the nobles in the royalty faction.¡± We¡¯re also in the royalty faction okay? Actually, we are the royalty faction! Butler Paul was in the middle ofing up with self-destructive schemes¡­ ¡°Let¡¯s carry out an economic attack on the capital city and the East using the money we have stored for Baron Korin. Let¡¯s start off slow with a million gold coins. That might not suffice to show the dignity of the Dunareff but¡­¡± W, when did we store that much money for him? Baron Bolton, the branch manager of Merkarva Dunareff, started talking about finances that Duke Marde had no idea about. ¡°Y, you guys¡­ Calm down for now. This might all just be a misunderstanding.¡± ¡°Ah¡­! That is true. My apologies, Your Highness. We have crossed the line!¡± ¡°Yes! We should have let Your Highness carry out your esteemed ns. There is no way you would sit back and watch this happen after all.¡± ¡°I am sure you will save Young Master Korin from their evil hands, Your Highness!¡± The duke was greatly confused. His wife he could understand but¡­ Since when were these guys so fond of him? Something¡­ something iss wrong. Do I really have to ept him as my son-inw at this rate? The duke felt like crying. Chapter 220: War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (2) Chapter 220: War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (2) ? War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (2)? The king of the El Rath kingdom, David Joseph El Rath, visited the pce of the 2nd Princess. Ever since the incident with Mound, the king had frequentlye to visit Miruam, as it had given him a chance to look back at his daughter. The princess of the kingdom had almost been assassinated by a group of unidentified beastmen and naturally, the royal court had to avenge it. Although the justification was valid, the king knew how it was all just an excuse for his daughter to pay back the price of the blood shed by thete queen. He knew the vengefulness of his daughter, and also knew the sorrow she must have gone through, despite having turned away from it for national interest. ¡°Next year, we will hold the execution of that werewolf.¡±King David mentioned the werewolf, who shouldered all the responsibilities to head to the scaffold all by himself. He wanted to know if his daughter was sincerely satisfied by this result or not. ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Are you content?¡± ¡°About what?¡± She looked back at him with the same chilly gaze as always. The king said to his daughter, whom he had neglected for a long time. ¡°Are you going to stop now?¡± Miruam understood more than clearly how he was referring to both her revenge and her deep-rooted hatred. ¡°Even now, my anger is still here,¡± she replied. Knowing fully well how determined and spiteful she was, the king couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised by her following statement. ¡°But¡­ I noticed that someonepletely different would be sad with my revenge.¡± ¡°¡­¡± King David knew who she was referring to. The justification behind the attack on Mound was so valid that the king couldn¡¯t do anything about it, but there was a hero who stood his ground to stop them. He knew how that man had utilized everything in his arsenal to stop his daughter and therefore, he was greatly surprised by the fact that the feeling Miruam had for him wasn¡¯t that of hatred. ¡°Right. I see.¡± The king thought how he himself had no right to soothe his daughter. The moment he gave up on revenge for thete queen and chose to keep the Old Faith at bay; the moment he neglected his vengeful daughter to prioritize national interest and many other lives¡­ he knew that he had failed her as a father. ¡°By the way,¡± the king said out of the blue. ¡°There are a lot of girls that are after him.¡± ¡°¡­What is this about all of a sudden?¡± ¡°What do you think of him?¡± ¡°What do you¡­¡± His daughter, who always had a cold and vicious smile, went through a small shift. King David received his answer from a glimpse of that small change. ¡°What¡¯s¡­ with that smile?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s nothing.¡± Miruam was taken aback by the king who suddenly had his lips pointing up in front of her, due to how rare of a sight it was. ¡°Estelle dered she would marry him.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to stop her because it seems to be a revtion from the lord. But¡­ as bad of a father I am, I will look for a way.¡± ¡°What?¡± The princess tilted her head in confusion. ¡°Hmm¡­ Right. Yeah. That sounds good.¡± ¡°What are you¡­¡± ¡°My dear daughter. I want you to find your happiness.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°In regards to this matter at hand, I will give you my full support no matter what happens.¡± King David was willing to do whatever it meant, as the smallest remedy he could, as a failure of a father. **** Unlike King David and Sword Emperor Garrand, Duke Marde didn¡¯t have a positive reception of Korin Lork. Of course, he did feel a deep sense of gratitude. He did consider him as a lifelong benefactor for saving his daughter, but that was a different issue altogether. Being a benefactor was very different from being a son-inw. Although he had been chased out of the house due to the pestering duchess, the duke¡¯s initial n was to just give minimal effort before going back south. ¡®Whose daughter do you think she is? Mari will be with her father all her life!¡¯ For Duke Marde, who deeply loved his wife and children, Marie was still a cute daughter whom he was unwilling to send off. ¡°Dad!¡± A Hresvelgr, instilled with the emblem of the household, approached from the sky towards the duke¡¯s group. It was Marie¡¯s personal monster carrier. ¡°Ohh! My beloved daughter! What is the matter?¡± Marie had recently be the president of the Southern Guardian Association. There were so many things she must be in charge of, so why did shee here? The duke wondered, in the midst of their preparation to depart for the capital. ¡°D, dad¡­ I, I saw the newspaper¡­¡± ¡°Kuhum¡­¡± He was greatly distressed by the anxiety on her face. What was so good about that damn yboy? If this was in the past, a man involved in such a scandalous rumor would have immediately fallen out of the list of the Dunareff¡¯s son-inw list. ¡°Dad. I¡¯m, trusting you¡­¡± Marie suddenly wrapped her hands around his, which she did not do as ofte for being harsh to Korin. ¡°To me, Korin is¡­ You have to help me, dad.¡± ¡°Mari¡­¡± What was so good about that boy ¨C that damn yboy ¨C that his daughter had to go through such agony? He felt more and more hatred for Korin. ¡°Mari¡­ There are a lot of men out there. A list of great potential partners will fill up an entire potato field just for you.¡± She could pick any man she wanted so why¡­ ¡°Dad. Just like how you¡¯re my only dad, Korin is the only one for me. No-one¡­ can rece Korin.¡± ¡°Haa¡­¡± The duke didn¡¯t want to acknowledge the unfathomable love his daughter had for that man, but Marie pleaded while desperately gripping his hands. ¡°Promise me. That you won¡¯t¡­ let anyone take Korin away.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Honestly, he wanted to just let someone take him away, but he knew how selfish it was for him to do so. His daughter¡¯s first love being crushed by an external force¡­ was uneptable. It was impossible for the Dunareff to have theirs taken away. Only he could separate him from his daughter. ¡°Right. I will. Just trust me.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°I pledge on the golden potato flower.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the best! I love you dad!¡± Marie hugged the duke with a bright smile on her face, and even kissed him three times, which she had never done after turning 13. ¡°M, Marie¡­!¡± Duke Marde was so moved that his eyes turned wet from tears. ¡°Good luck, dad! I haven¡¯t done everything Korin asked me to do yet, so I can¡¯t go with you. I believe in you!¡± ¡°Yes¡­! Just trust your daddy!¡± The duke was fully invigorated in participating in this war. Only he and his potatoes knew how big of a trouble he was willing to bring to everyone involved. **** The sovereign of the south, Dunareff, was a force to be reckoned with even within the world of central politics. Commonly referred to as the lifeline of the kingdom, they possessed a wide range of farnd, as well as abundant mines and a trade route to the east that allowed them to umte arge amount of wealth. Using that wealth, the south put up politicians that could represent their voice in the capital. The so-called Voices of the South were one of such examples. They were powerhouses within the central politics who were either from the south themselves, or reached their position thanks to the sponsor of the south. Despite being arge faction within politics, the southern faction tended to voice out different opinions and carry out their own actions most of the time. It was because the scope of their politicalmon ground was quite narrow. The only things they represented from the south were as follows. Picking the minister of agriculture and maritime affairs. For bills and legitions around the production and distribution of grains. Tax rted to foreign goods and products. The ¡®Voices of the South¡¯ took whatever stance they wanted unless it was around a specific topic that corrted to the main business model of the south, including maritime and agriculture. Usually they did whatever they wanted, but regardless of the faction they were in, they always stood on the side of the south if such matters were to be addressed. At an extravagantly luxurious hotel in the CBD of the capital city, bigshots were walking into a secret suite room of the 5-star Dunareff Hotel one by one. When everyone arrived at the room, Wolpe Schacht, Secretary of Legitions, slowly opened his mouth. ¡°Everyone. Take your seats.¡± Only after he said that as the oldest politician and the family head of a coteral family line of the Dunareff, did everyone finally sit down. Deputy Minister of Administration, Gorgol, was deeply moved by the fact that he was able to join this meeting. Although he had been on the elite course and eventually wanted to be the Minister of Administration, that was an impossible position to reach just by beingpetent. He needed connections and a faction. For a long time, he tried his hardest to find a connection but the bigshots did not bother having a meeting with a deputy minister like him. And yet where was he standing now? Who were these people that were with him? Secretary of Legition, Wolpe Schacht. Secretary of Maritime and Agriculture, Secretary Tocqueville. Minister Lamartine of Diplomatic Services. And Director Dan of Foreign Affairs. They weren¡¯t the only ones present. All the bigshots of each department were gathered in this suite room. Although his position was by no means a low one as the deputy minister, he was the lowest of the lowest in this room. These people were the ¡®Voices of the South¡¯, the strong political faction controlling the kingdom. The fact that he was able to join this club simply by passing the bill for demi-humans to be acknowledged as citizens¡­ was a great fortune that Gorgol was sincerely grateful for. Everyone was in the middle of having small-talk with the people nearby and remembering faces when someone quietly walked up and whispered in the ears of Secretary Wolpe Schacht. ¡°Mhmm¡­ Is that so? I see.¡± He turned to the crowd and pronounced with a solemn voice. ¡°The family head will be personally joining this conference. Everyone, stand on your feet.¡± ¡°The family head?¡± ¡°Is he here himself?¡± Soon, the door was pushed open as a man with water-colored hair walked into the room. He was the very man; the protector of 25 cities who possessed 7.6 million hectares of farnd, 47 mines and 67 ranches. The emperor of the south, who was undisputedly the wealthiest man on the continent. Marie Dunareff. He was the family head of the Dunareff Family, who had always been the ruler of the Voices of the South. ¡°¡­¡± Duke Marde took a nce across the room, making sure everyone within the faction was present before sitting at the seat of honor. ¡°Sit down, everyone.¡± All the members of the faction nervously took their seats, evidently tense from the rare appearance of the family head himself. ¡°I am sure you are aware of the reason behind my visit here.¡± ¡°Is this rted to that matter at hand?¡± asked Secretary Schacht. The duke slowly gave a nod. ¡°Let me be frank. My wife wants him. So does my daughter and my vassals.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± His name value had recently seen a massive increase, but even before then, there was no-one within the world of politics who didn¡¯t know how he was the official son-inw of the Dunareff. Korin Lork. It was a famous secret that the oldest daughter and future duchess, Marie Dunareff, had feelings for him. Had he been a normal man, people might have secretly talked down on him for being a male Cindere, but Korin Lork was certainly far from being a normal person. Unique Grade Knight. He was a warrior representing the generation after Garrand Arden. Of course, Marie Dunareff and Hua Ran had also recently been acknowledged as Unique Grade, but Korin Lork had disyed incredible achievements that put him far above the rest. There was not a single citizen of the kingdom who didn¡¯t know of the mythological scene he had created in the war against Mound. Besides, he was always at the center of countless talents. He had the support of the chairman of Merkarva Academy as well as Great Witch Josephine ra; simr Unique Grades, Marie and Hua Ran were affiliated under him in his guardians guild, and he was a longtimerade of the renowned Arden sisters of the east. On top of that, he was also the full-fledged master of iomh Sis, the divine artifact of the Sun that the New Faith had recently acknowledged, and had also taken the post of a president of the Guardian Association. Although he was still just a baron, he was a contemporary hero that could even be a duke himself. What was even more remarkable was how he had yet to even reach the age of 20. That was faster than even Garrand Arden himself. ¡°Sir Korin would certainly be a fitting consort to Lady Marie.¡± ¡°I had a drink with that man once. He was an incredibly diligent and honest young man.¡± ¡°He has a great reception and evaluation even inside the Academy. I suppose his only downside anyone would ever find, is that he¡¯s too good of a person.¡± Duke Marde frowned hearing all the positive words facing Korin Lork, but there was nothing he could do about it. His wife and his daughter wanted him so badly, that he had no choice. Although the duke didn¡¯t want to send his daughter off to marriage at all, he could not deny the fact that Korin was, objectively speaking, a great son-inw material. ¡°That sounds like an overstatement¡­¡± But of course, acknowledging that as the father was¡­ rather damaging to his pride. ¡°Anyway¡­¡± He continued. ¡°Both the royal family and the Ardens suggested marriage ¨C is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes. The capital is in an uproar because of that.¡± ¡°This is uneptable! How can the royal family stab the Dunareff on the back like this?¡± ¡°Even though it was an established fact that Sir Korin was Lady Marie¡¯s consort already!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Duke Marde wanted to say something in rebuttal to all the oddly positive reception facing that yboy, but couldn¡¯t due to the request of his daughter. He too had to try his best to stop Korin Lork from being sent to the royal family. ¡°Tell me all the options.¡± Everyone around the round table started giving their opinions. ¡°There is a merchant group run directly by the royal court. They generally focus on exporting and importing luxury goods to and from the east. How about we pressure that group?¡± ¡°We can restrict the number of warhorses that can be on the market from the east. They are one of the few regional products for the Ardens, so it would have a big economical impact on them.¡± ¡°How about we chase out a part of the Arden dojos that are located in the south?¡± Several options were suggested, and as expected, they all required arge number of gold coins. Some of their ns required millions of gold coins to enforce. Of course, putting a restriction on the market would have a negative impact on them, the Dunareff Dukedom, as well, because stopping the transaction would mean they would have to give up on the profit generated from the margin. ¡°Too small.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± His disapproving tone of voice earned the curious gazes of those around him. Any one of the options suggested just then were enough to greatly impact both the east and the royal family. Even they themselves were shivering from the economical impact this would create, and those options wouldn¡¯t have been even considered if not for the enormous financial power of the Dunareff. How could these be ¡®small¡¯? ¡°Enforce everything you have just mentioned. And do everything else that is possible. As for the budget¡­ The profit from thest quarter sounds good.¡± Profit from the 3rd quarter? How much was that again? Those within the industry quickly calcted the amount in their heads. ¨C How much was the amount of magic stones gathered from the minesst quarter? ¨C Do we include the amount gained from selling the trade routes? ¨C The crops sold were¡­ Roughly 1.4 billion gold. Approximately 140 billion dors. One of the officials almost fainted after finishing his calctions. Chapter 221: War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (3) Chapter 221: War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (3) ? War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (3)? One might think that taxes were the only source of ie for the royal family, but that was a misconception. In fact, only a small amount of taxes were allocated to the royal family for them to maintain their standard of appearance, and it wasn¡¯t their main source of ie. Their main ie came from the generations of private property and merchants. The silk road to the east and the trade routes to the southern archipgo as well as trades with other continents thanks to monster carriers all in the name of the royal family was what supported them. Apart from that, there were also the real estate investments and banking businesses, which were based on the absolute credit behind their title. This past decade, even the New Faith was included in their business after the 1st Princess became the saintess of the order. Everything was going smoothly, maybe except for some uneasy elements like the potential strife between the 1st Princess and the 2nd Princess¡¯s faction for the throne. At the very least, however, it was highly unlikely that the royal family¡¯s business would copse in a single generation during King David¡¯s reign.That was widely considered to be an unarguable analysis of the current economic situation by many schrs but¡ª ¡°Your Majesty! The fleets of the Magda Merchants are being stalled at the bay! The port is saying there are problems with the administration, and astronomical amounts of money are being spent each day to keep the products in condition!¡± ¡°The suppliers of food into the capital city are being interrupted! It¡¯s the Dunareff Merchants, Your Majesty! They have arbitrarily stopped the supply of food!¡± ¡°Merchant head Yohanne has betrayed us, Your Majesty! He suddenly filed for bankruptcy and has put all the products and items on auction!¡± ¡°The Legition Department has disagreed with the n to build a new city! It is said to be suspended indefinitely!¡± ¡°¡­¡± King David frowned at the constant flood of bad news that wasing day by day. It was very explicit. Both explicit and greatly hostile. The economic bacsh from the Dunareff was like a sudden onught of missiles out of the blue. ¡°These ursed potato addicts¡­¡± It was obvious what the reason behind their economic attack was ¨C it was most certainly because of the royal marriage proposal to Korin Lork. The king wasn¡¯t expecting this much counter-attack, for he had heard beforehand that Duke Marde wasn¡¯t very positive about receiving Korin Lork as a son-inw. ¡°Your Majesty¡­ Duke Marde has asked for an audience!¡± ¡°¡­Tell him toe in!¡± Daring to show his face after attacking first, huh? Let¡¯s see what you¡¯ve got to say! Thinking that, King David epted the audience. Soon, a middle-aged man with water-colored hair walked in through therge gates of the audience chamber with wide and confident strides. ncing at the articte design of the pce made by the greatest engineers of the capital, the duke clicked his tongue. ¡°Tch tch. Both the design and the format are too extravagant. You might need some repairs, Your Majesty. We can send some of our engineers from the south.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. We don¡¯t need the old-fashioned approach of the south, nor the old engineers that can¡¯t follow the trend.¡± ¡°That is what we call, ¡®ssic¡¯, Your Majesty.¡± ¡°We call that ¡®old-fashioned¡¯ here, Duke.¡± ¡°¡°¡­¡±¡± The two men sitting at the loftiest positions within the continent looked at each other with empty smiles. ¡°More importantly,¡± the king said. ¡°You must have used quite a bit of money for this ordeal. How much have you spent?¡± ¡°Around 500 million gold. Not even half the budget.¡± ¡°¡­¡± King David red at the duke with an unprecedentedly ferocious gaze. The royal family and the Dunareff were cooperators and partners. The Dunareff supported the pirs of the royal family, while the royal family refrained from interfering with the affairs of the south. It was a secret deal they had forged even before the El Rath Kingdom rose to be the central power of the continent. ¡°You have attacked the royal family. Do you really want to escte this?¡± ¡°Your Majesty. You were the one who picked at a beehive.¡± ¡°What have I done!¡± ¡°I am sure you are aware of what you have done regarding Korin Lork.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you¡­ against it though?¡± ¡°I am still against it, but¡­!¡± Duke Marde stated while looking straight into the king¡¯s eyes. ¡°It should have been after our Mari booted that guy out of the family. Never will Marie be the second in line.¡± ¡°Hah! So you mean my daughters should do whatever they please after your daughter is done with what she wants to do?¡± ¡°If that is how you perceived it, Your Majesty.¡± ¡°Duke¡­ You¡¯re testing my patience.¡± The two men¡­ the two fathers red at each other with an intense ze in their eyes. Meanwhile, the officials on the side gulped in nervousness. ¡®Uhh so¡­ this is all because His Majesty simply proposed a marriage, right?¡¯ The 1,000 year long history of the El Rath Kingdom and their firm alliance was about to be broken because of one man. ¡°My first daughter is the saintess! And my second daughter is the leader of a faction of nobles!¡± ¡°Our Marie is a Unique Grade mage!¡± ¡°Probably thanks to lobbying the Association!¡± ¡°Still wouldn¡¯t have been possible without her ability!¡± ¡°Are you really picking a fight, Duke?¡± ¡°Will you even be an opponent?¡± ¡°You! How dare you!¡± ¡°Go ahead, Your Majesty! Kill me if you wish!¡± ¡°You are clearly crossing the line right now!¡± The two of them were bing more and more immature with their choice of words. It was right when the official was starting to get tired. ¡°How can you talk about Korin Lork without this old man?¡± An old man, who seemed to have suddenly appeared out of thin air, walked forward from a corner of the audience chamber. He was wearing tattered clothes and looked like someone who wouldn¡¯t even be allowed to enter the pce, but both King David and Duke Marde were aware of the old man¡¯s identity. ¡°Sword Emperor¡­¡± ¡°Garrand Arden.¡± ¡°Been a while. It may be a sudden visit from this old man, but I believe a cup of tea should still be served. Your Majesty. Duke.¡± It was an incredibly presumptuous attitude, but it was okay for the Sword Emperor to do it as the pinnacle of the generation. ¡°I heard you saying something about my grandson-inw,¡± said the Sword Emperor. ¡°And why would Knight Korin be your grandson-inw?¡± In response to the king¡¯s question, the Sword Emperor replied like it was the most natural thing in the world. ¡°Because I¡¯ve decided so.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The king of the El Rath Kingdom was not an empty title by any means. He was at the top of the strongest nation in the continent in a world with centralization of politics. However, in this country, the Sword Emperor and the Dunareff were both untouchables in a different meaning of the word. Sword Emperor Garrand Arden. A superhuman and the strongest knight in history. He was a living legend and a mythology himself, whose influence was still absolute despite his retirement. One word from him and all the martial houses on the east would immediately pick up their swords. ¡°Duke. My kids areining that the dojo and their warhorse business isn¡¯t returning any money. Do you know anything?¡± ¡°No idea. I don¡¯t keep track of small amounts of money.¡± ¡°That pathetic little kid. That¡¯s what he gets for chasing money all the time. He doesn¡¯t understand that having more to protect is just having more weaknesses.¡± The Sword Emperor didn¡¯t seem to care even though all the businesses run by his son were about to go bankrupt. However, that was just who he was. He wasn¡¯t interested in the fall and rise of his household; he had always been interested in nothing but the birth of a great warrior. ¡°But I can¡¯t sit still and do nothing after being hit first.¡± ¡°And what if you can¡¯t sit still?¡± ¡°I have to take my revenge, do I not?¡± The officials in the room gulped in response. Arden Household. The powerhouse of the east and the protector of the eastern battlefront. Although they lived in the harshnds of the east, that constituted the strength of their military. All the byproducts they gained by hunting demons and fighting against the constant invasion of the barbarians meant they had the strongest militaries of the kingdom. A military action from them would immediately cause a rift in the kingdom. Actually¡­ had a rift been created already? Center of the kingdom, El Rath royal family. Dunareff Dukedom with overwhelming wealth. Arden Household with the greatest military of the kingdom. The three factions were about to collide which would send a massive earthquake of change down the kingdom. But why? Why were they fighting each other? ¡®I, is this really all because of a single guy?¡± The official felt his soul escaping his body. **** [Dunareff. Standing against the royal merchant group! The kingdom¡¯s economy at risk!] [Arden Household stations a line of troops on the border to the royal capital and the south! The biggest feudal war in the history of the kingdom is about to begin!] [The royal treasury hands out a confiscation warrant to the Dunareff! A tax investigation begins! 100 million goldundered?] W, wut in the world¡­ What? How did this all happen? After bing the president of an Association branch, I had to spend a lot of time at a hotel inside the capital city. But like¡­ what was going on right now? Like, why is the Dunareff restricting the economic flow of the royal family and the Arden? Why is the Arden stationing their military towards the inside? And why is the royal family suddenly starting arge-scale tax investigation? Reading the end of the newspaper, my lips began to tremble. [All this to fight for Korin Lork to be their son-inw! Korin Lork! Is he a hero, or a beast of doom?] ¡°M, me? This is because of me? This? Why? What, what did I do?¡± I had a gut feeling that something would go wrong when King David¡¯s offer immediatelynded on the newspaper. But little did I know that Duke Marde would suddenly oppose the royal family and Arden, only to result in a three-way war between the royal family, Arden and the Dunareff! The kingdom was about to be split up. ¡°Come on! What the hell are they doing when we need to join forces?! Why the hell is this happening!?¡± I swear it¡¯s not my fault! I didn¡¯t do anything! We had to prepare ourselves for the uing disaster, and we certainly couldn¡¯t watch our kingdom split itself up. Having that happen because of me was even worse off! ¡°No, we can¡¯t let this happen¡­ Never! Not at all!¡± I had to do something about this. **** And here, I was in the middle of the most awkward situation in the world. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± In the depths of the royal pce, in front of me were the three most powerful men in this kingdom. King David. Duke Marde. Sword Emperor Garrand. The kingdom was in the middle of breaking apart, and I somehow begged everyone to gather up in the midst of it. Because I was the person in question, and because I was an official Unique Grade Knight and a president of the Association, I was able to somehow have everyone gather to one table. ¡°Umm¡­ fathers*?¡± ¡°What¡¯s with that distant title? Call me father-inw.¡± ¡°I am not your father.¡± ¡°You can call me grandfather.¡± I said one sentence and yet all three of them each said something very different. It was hard to treat any of them with even the slightest of disrespect, which made it even more difficult. ¡°The reason I had all of your esteemed selves gather is simple¡­¡± It was still so surreal that I couldn¡¯t really speak properly. Like, really? Was this really happening just because of me? ¡°Regarding the recent matters surrounding the kingdom¡­ Please calm yourselves down and¡­¡± ¡°Korin, my son-inw.¡± ¡°Ah, yes! Your Majesty.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need a long conversation about this. All you have to do is make your decision here.¡± ¡°¡­Me?¡± The king continued after a nod. ¡°As long as you make yourself clear, no-one here will be disgraceful enough to disrespect it.¡± ¡°But, Your Majesty¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple,¡± The king said. ¡°Take my oldest daughter, Estelle Hadassa El Rath, and my second daughter, Miruam Elizabeth El Rath, as your wives and be the king and queens of this country to be above everyone else.¡± ¡°Who cares about the worldly titles and the throne? Warriors like us just need to crave to reach higher and higher above. Korin Lork. Take the chastities of my grand-daughters and leave a stronger bloodline behind.¡± ¡°Tch¡­ Authority and power? You can buy all of that with money. Besides, with the Tower of Mages gone, we, the Dunareff, are at the center of magic engineering. Just listen to what Marie says and you¡¯ll get a potato in your sleep.¡± The three fathers all talked about the benefit of marrying their family. Authority of the royal family, Power of the Arden Household, Wealth of the Dunareff Family. The fruit would be extremely sweet no matter which one I picked. Even the real yer wouldn¡¯t be able to acquire any of those but¡­ ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± What was certain was that I wouldn¡¯t marry anyone. ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°¡­¡± All three of them showed a different reaction in response to my curt reply. ¡°Why? Even though you can marry two princesses and be the next king?¡± ¡°You are an innate warrior. My grand-daughters will be greatpliments for you. Together, you guys can reach higher realms and give birth to a stronger child, so why?¡± ¡°Although she¡¯s my daughter, Marie is the perfect partner for a marriage. The wealth of the Dunareff far exceeds what you can imagine.¡± Yes. They were all correct. Estelle, Miruam, Alicia, Lunia and Marie¡­ I wasn¡¯t a fool who didn¡¯t know how great of an opportunity it was to ept them as wives. Not only were they beautiful, they also had wealth, authority and power behind them. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in money or authority. Same with power.¡± ¡°Hmph¡­!¡± The duke scoffed. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare lie in front of me. There is no-one in the world who isn¡¯t interested in them.¡± ¡°Because there is something even more valuable.¡± ¡°¡­Something more valuable?¡± They turned to me with curiosity. ¡°Saving the world.¡± All three of them turned quiet after hearing that. They still didn¡¯t know about the future ahead of us. ¡°The world will be put in great predicament. A lot of people could die, and we might lose everything. ¡°I can¡¯t build a house when a storm ising the next day. ¡°Marie, Alicia, Lunia, Miruam and Estelle. They¡¯re all attractive and lovely individuals. But¡­ worsees to worst, I don¡¯t want to hurt the people that will be left behind.¡± What if I died? Or what if I had to die alongside Tates Valtazar? I might be hesitant. I might even stop unknowingly out of fear. No matter who I picked, there would be people left behind. I couldn¡¯t be irresponsible and get married to someone. It was a terrible experience, which I had experienced enough of, 3 years ago, before the regression. ¡°Please, sirs. Now¡­ isn¡¯t the time. We can¡¯t fight each other. We must join our forces and prepare ourselves.¡± ¡°What is this thing that we have to prepare for¡­?¡± ¡°Your Majesty, King David. There was something you had promised me ¨C that you would listen to anything I wish for even apart from the Legal Immunity.¡± ¡°¡­Yes. I did.¡± ¡°Please fulfill your words as the head of the country. Please cancel the marriage and stop the strife.¡± Without waiting for his reply, I turned to the duke. ¡°Your Highness, Duke Dunareff. The Dunareff has a non-repayable debt to me. Your sessor, the life of your beloved daughter was indebted to me.¡± ¡°¡­I admit it. You are a benefactor of the Dunareff.¡± ¡°Please repay that debt right now, by canceling every action of economic attack done to the royal family and the Arden Household, and return everything to normal.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°And Sword Emperor, Garrand Arden.¡± ¡°I have nothing indebted to you though?¡± he said. ¡°You seek a fight against the strong, right? A life or death battle against people that could threaten your life.¡± ¡°You seem to be the only one in this generation though.¡± ¡°There are greater monsters out there. Just stay holed up in the east starting from today. You¡¯ll see something worth the wait.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± This was everything I could do to persuade them. All I could hope for now, was that they would make a rational judgment out of the situation. If only they had been rational the whole time, we wouldn¡¯t have had a problem like this showing up because of my marriage! ¡°Please, I beg of you, everyone. Let¡¯s talk about this after we¡¯re done saving the world.¡± Afterwards, I began to reveal everything that would happen henceforth. All the things that would happen to us; what we had to prepare for, and what my requests were. I used the achievements I had built thus far to persuade the powerhouses of the kingdom. The persuasion and conferencested for the next several days. **** ¡°Hua¡­¡± Due to an unexpected turn of events, I had to persuade the top powerhouses of the kingdom and have a deep conversation about the uing threats and future ns. After spending a few days having meals, drinking and smoking in the conference room. ¡°It worked out somehow¡­¡± The Dunareff canceled their economic attacks; the Arden Household retreated their military and the royal family canceled the tax investigation. I was somehow able to stitch it all back up. But of course, this was still just a temporary measure and it was hard to tell how long these wouldst¡­ In any case, after somehow fixing everything for the time being, I was on the way back to my hotel room. ¡°Is it the 25th already¡­¡± December 25th. It was pretty much myst day off, but I had to spend it doing some weird stuff. Hua Ran and Marie were due to return tomorrow, and Lunia and Alicia should be done with their preparations as well. Starting soon will be the final phase. The Frost Giant and the Old Faith will strike back, marking the start of the final war. Until then, my goal was to observe the situation while training harder. ¨C Click! ¡°Let¡¯s just sleep for today¡­¡± I at least deserved a good night¡¯s sleep for today. The mental and physical fatigue the whole thing built up was incredible¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡°Uht¡­?!¡± A sweet scent and a deep fog surrounded me the moment I walked into the hotel room. It was an excessive and evident amount of enchanting incense. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± Suddenly, ady grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. As soon as I saw who it was, I let my body be dragged away until I was t on the bed. After cing herself on my body, she gazed down at me with her captivating red eyes. ¡°Been a while, Knight Korin.¡± ¡°It certainly has, Your Highness¡­¡± 2nd Princess Miruam. Her crimson eyes looked straight into mine. ¡°I thought¡­ you knew drugs don¡¯t work on me.¡± ¡°I know. But¡­ I needed a little bit of drugs and atmosphere. Do you know what day it is today?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Of course I did. In thest iteration, after the fall of the Academy and after cleansing Nazrea, I was soothing the hole in my heart when¡­ she approached me. [Knight Korin. You look lonely. Let me¡­fort you.] December 25th. 3 years ago. Last iteration. It was the day she assaulted me. The day she conceived our baby. [TLN] * Father can refer to a father-inw or a close friend¡¯s father. Chapter 222: War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (4) Chapter 222: War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (4) ? War for Korin, their Son-in-Law (4)? It had been two months since Master passed away. I wandered around for a long time. With nothing much in mind, I traveled across the kingdom clearing quests upon quests. By some point in time, the world started calling us heroes. ¡°Congrattions, Knight Korin. Or would you prefer Lord Korin now?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just an honorary title.¡±Sihu became a marquis while I was given the peerage of a count. It was for evacuating the citizens during the fall of Merkarva¡­ cleansing Nazrea¡­ and a part of it was also for defeating Fermack Daman and Eochaid Bres. Well, Sihu did most of it though. Inside the fancy banquet hall of the royal capital, I was doing okay dealing with people but that wasn¡¯t the case for most of our members. ¡°Mhmm¡­!¡± ¡°Goodness gracious! S, sorry. I mistook you for a wall¡­¡± One of them was Beazeker the half-giant. Not only was he from a race that wasn¡¯t often seen around the capital, he also had a pretty frightening appearance. I could also see Rashid, Lunia and Yuel. Most of our members were here, but my mind kept wandering off to those who couldn¡¯t attend. Kranel and Dorron. The emptiness created by the loss of those two, who had been with us just 2 months ago, was difficult to bear. ¡°¡­¡± Even though I killed Fermack, that son of a bitch, with my own hands, that couldn¡¯t bring the dead back to life. Fermack Daman and Eochaid Bres. It was a miracle, in fact, that we were able to defeat Eochaid Bres. However, it came at the cost of being unable to properly stop Tates Valtazar. ¡°Fuu¡­¡± Master passed away. It was painful. It felt like there was a hole in my chest. She was the most important person I had spent time with in this world. Who cared about peerages or honor? What was so important about being praised as a hero that would save the world? I didn¡¯t need any of that. I could do anything if it meant Master coulde back to life. However, she, along with many others, were already dead. The people whom I had formerly considered as just NPCs and characters of a game, had be a bigger part of my life than I expected by the time I noticed it. It was hard to appease the anger and self-hatred I was feeling for myself. In the end, everything boiled back down to the single sentence. If only I was stronger¡­ I wasn¡¯t the yer nor the protagonist. I didn¡¯t have a system window, and the only thing I knew how to do was swing a spear that I had learned for 2 years. ¡®¡­But I still have to do it. Even if I die doing it, I¡¯m sure Sihu would.¡¯ That was the only option avable right now. Help Sihu, crush everyone under Valtazar and save the world. The only thing I could do as a side-character was lend a hand to Sihu, and do whatever I was capable of. ¡°There¡¯s no other option.¡± I was taking a break, sighing to myself on the terrace when a voice echoed from behind. ¡°I wonder what the hero of our country is doing here all by himself?¡± With her unique, coquettish voice, the beauty in a red dress limped over to the terrace with the help of a walking stick. ¡°Your Highness Elizabeth.¡± ¡°Miruam is enough. It¡¯s between us two, after all.¡± She was like a scorching me. Everyone knew how she was a venomous serpent carrying a lethal dose of poison. Miruam Elizabeth El Rath. The 2nd Princess of the El Rath Kingdom and an ally of Tates Valtazar. It¡¯s not like I couldn¡¯t understand her situation, so I couldn¡¯t bring myself to hate or antagonize her. She had one of the worst background stories out of everyone in , after all. I did have my own share of pity for her, and I did try to persuade her whenever I had the chance. These days, it was just that I wasn¡¯t in the mind to do so. ¡°What brings you here?¡± I asked. ¡°Can¡¯t I juste see you if I want to? I thought we were close.¡± ¡°Well. We¡¯re not that distant, I suppose.¡± Miruam grinned before walking closer and clenching my tie. ¡°Knight Korin. You look lonely. Let me¡­fort you.¡± ¡°What the¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s a joke.¡± Saying that, she let go of my tie and distanced herself. ¡°I¡¯m feeling a bit tired. Can you escort me back to the resting room? It is in a slightly deserted area, and I would like the escort of a dependable knight.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I guess that¡¯s fine.¡± I escorted Miruam to a corner of the banquet hall, to the deserted resting room reserved for the royal family. ¡°Have some tea, since you¡¯re here anyway. Let me boil it for you.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you bored with the banquet? Don¡¯t you need an excuse to waste some time before going back?¡± She did have a point. These days, we were busy trying to persuade the royal family, the order and the Association. Even though we were being referred to as heroes, it was hard for us to persuade the higher-ups with not a single sturdy foundation supporting us underneath. As such, we had to attend banquets and social events quite often, which were boring and tedious. ¡°In that case¡­ By the way, I don¡¯t think the venttion is very good in this room. It feels a bit stuffy here?¡± ¡°Really? I don¡¯t feel anything.¡± ¡°And where are the maids¡­?¡± ¡°I told them to take a rest since it was gettingte. Here you go. Here¡¯s some tea.¡± Miruam might surprisingly be quite nice to her vassals. Or maybe she liked brewing teas and doing whatever she could by herself? ¡°Then¡­ Thanks for the tea.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± She continued staring at me while I slowly sipped the tea. She was looking at me so directly that it kind of¡ª ¡°Huh?¡± Kukk! I suddenly felt a clog in my throat. Everything started to turn hot as the tea traveled down my throat. It felt strange ¨C my body began to turn warmer and warmer all over. ¡°What did you¡­ put in the¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s working better than I thought.¡± Damn it. Was it a sleeping pill? I thought it was still too early for her to receive orders from Valtazar¡­! I had to go to Sihu right now. He knew how to dispel lethal poisons so I had to quickly go and¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t try so hard.¡± She limped closer and closer. Her coquettish voice dug deep into my ears and led my mind astray. As a result¡­ A little push was enough to drop me on the bed. ¡°Uhk¡­ Princess. Wait¡­!¡± ¡°It¡¯s futile¡­ Serpents don¡¯t lose their prey.¡± She got on top of my body. My body was burning like crazy ¨C it was scorching hot and yet¡­ ¡°Remember what I said before?¡± Her voice¡­ sounded excruciatingly sweet. ¡°What I said aboutforting you. It wasn¡¯t a joke.¡± After saying that, the princess slid her dress down from the shoulders. Her silk dress grazed past my skin and that was enough to send a sharp stimulus down my body. ¡°Uguk¡­!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to hold yourself back.¡± ¡°Y, you¡¯re¡­ t, the princess¡­ W, what¡­ are you¡­!¡± ¡°Fufu¡­ The virginity of a princess for a hero of the kingdom¡­ is a pretty cheap price to pay, don¡¯t you think?¡± Like a snake wrapping its body around its prey, her soft skinnded on my body as she whispered into my ears. An unbelievable weight was pushing down on me from above. ¡°My knight. Dominate me ¨C ravage me and swallow me alive. Make everything that is mine yours and whisper love into my ears.¡± She was a serpent closing in on its prey. Like a venomous serpent she injected me with her venom and¡­ ¡­ ¡°Haa¡­ Does it feel good? You¡¯re like a baby¡­ but it¡¯s good. Kyaa¡­! That tickles.¡± ¡­ ¡°Huht¡­! W, wait¡­ Knight Korin! Can we take a little¡­ Huht!¡± ¡­ ¡°Hehk¡­¡± . It was morning. Wait. What the fuck?! ¨C Chirp! Chirp chirp! It was morning. Like, already?! I don¡¯t even remember how it went! Despite my urge to yell out loud, I could feel that my body was indeed quite fatigued and exhausted. Did I¡­ really do it? Did I? I must have. No, I did. Last night, even though I was under the influence of a drug¡­ I did spend the night with Princess Miruam! ¡°Mhmm¡­ Did you wake up?¡± The indisputable proof of that was how Miruam was rubbing her eyes on the bed next to me, naked. ¡°Ahh¡­ You were too violent. My body¡¯s sore everywhere.¡± Sheined with a wide stretch. Her defenseless state fully revealed her armpits as well as the lines of her breasts. ¨C Gulp! It was justst night that I had been greedy for that body. Like a traveler lost in the desert¡­ I devoured every part of her body to satiate my endless thirst. ¡°My gosh¡­¡± On December 25th, roughly 3 years since my arrival in this world, I spent the night with the princess of this kingdom. What was I supposed to do now¡­ Commend myself? ¡°Knight Korin.¡± ¡°Y, yes¡­?¡± ¡°Stop ncing at me, and if you want to do it more, just do it.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Seeing my reaction, she wrapped her arms around my neck, unafraid of revealing her naked body, and said with a smile. ¡°This time, pour your love out on me with your free will. Whisper me love and make me bear your child. And take responsibility. If you do so, everything that is mine will be yours. My husband.¡± Her coquettish voice, chubby cheeks, shallow but soft valley, her squishy belly button, bouncy thighs¡­ the cute mole on her butt and her long, slender legs¡­ I had to admit. This woman¡­ was a fox that could lead men to their downfall. She was a quagmire that made it impossible for men to escape using her deep and sticky charm. ¡°I will love you, Knight Korin. So you¡­ have to love me and endlessly crave for me.¡± We kissed as the tongue of the serpent slithered through the cracks. A sweet fragrance seeped through all parts of my body as her soft tongue wrapped itself with mine. Damn it. It felt like I was about to explode underneath, and her butt cheeks in my hands were mind-numbingly soft. ¡°Haah¡­ Shall we do it again?¡± ¡°¡­¡± I ended up losing once again to the temptation before me. **** ¡°December 25th. You know it, right?¡± ¡°Lia Fail must have shown it to you.¡± ¡°¡­I see. So it really wasn¡¯t just an illusion.¡± Gazing down at me, she slid her hand up all the way from my belly button to my neck, as if trying to take the same track as what she did in the past ¨C in the previous timeline. ¡°I¡­ thought about it a lot. Memories that I had no clue of¡­ and emotions, kept surging up.¡± ¡°It¡¯s already over. Just¡­ think of it as a dream.¡± ¡°That is not what you think of it as either, is it?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°If you really considered it to be over, there would have been no reason for you to try to save me nor try to stop my revenge.¡± ¡°I just chose the method that would have the least people die.¡± ¡°No.¡± Miruam refuted. ¡°If you only valued the lives of those demi-humans¡­ You wouldn¡¯t have been so restless or risked your own life trying not to hurt us¡­ and me.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°But¡­ What about our baby?¡± The world went back in time. Many were saved and were able to escape their original fate but¡­ ¡°Where is our¡­ baby?¡± The baby wouldn¡¯te back. Our offspring, whom I had killed with my own hands, had already crossed a river of noing-back. ¡°This¡­ We can¡¯t let this be.¡± She took off her dress. Without a sliver of hesitation, she revealed her bare body which was still beautiful and fragrant. ¡°Don¡¯t do this.¡± ¡°¡­Why? It¡¯s today. It was today. It has to be now.¡± If we did it today, she might be pregnant likest time. The baby we lostst time mighte back. ¡°Something like this won¡¯t bring the baby back.¡± Rewinding the time and everything that happened, I saved a lot of people but that didn¡¯t include the baby. The thought of again seeing our child, who left without seeing the outside world, was an unachievable illusion. ¡°But you never know¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s different.¡± ¡°How is it different!¡± She was half in tears and desperate. Suddenly, I thought back on Erin, who had to repeat endless repetitions inside Nazrea. Just like how Erin, who lived in a different ne of time for 300 years by herself, was a different person from the Master I knew, would the baby conceived at the same time on the same day be the same baby we had in thest iteration? I didn¡¯t think so. At the very least, I didn¡¯t want to repeat the same mistake just to hang on to that sliver of false hope. Like how that night back then was a result of greed and desires, this was just a simr result forged of guilt and memories. ¡°Korin. I¡­ I¡­¡± She cried, unable to stop her tears, as I pulled her into my body and tapped gently on her back to soothe her. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just forget about it? Having one person to remember it¡­ was more than enough.¡± It wasn¡¯t up to her to shoulder both the sorrow and those painful memories. Her current self was a different person from who she was right now. ¡°I¡­ forced you into such a horrible thing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡± ¡°Because I was so selfish, and couldn¡¯t give up on revenge¡­ You¡­¡± ¡­had to kill your child and your wife. Saying that, she wept constantly in my arms. The only thing I could do was give her a hug, console her and calm her down. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m, fine.¡± Like that, December 25th went on very differently fromst time. **** I indulged myself in the task left behind by the Sword Emperor. [Think about just one thing, and one thing alone. Combine all of your future aspirations and the Domain into your profound ¡®truth¡¯. Only through a harmony of the heart, mind and body added with your perception, realm and truth will you reach the ultima.] Those were some very ambiguous words. A harmony of the heart, mind and body. An explosion of the harmony of the heart, mind and body was what we referred to as Condensed Aura ¨C one of the important factors in the way of the ¡®Heavy¡¯. So what did it mean to add your perception, realm and truth to it? Aspirations, the Domain and the truth? What was all this about? Getting rid of all the trivial thoughts, I forced myself to focus again. I slowly let the aura permeate through my body. Human bodies were tougher than steel, and a single sword strike could slice apart mountains. ¡®Martial art¡¯ was something that couldn¡¯t be built up just by opening a skills tab to click on a few stats. No matter how strong one may be, one without the understanding of martial arts was just a ruffian and a backstreet bully. Meanwhile, a scrawny man with a profound understanding of martial arts could topple men that were three heads taller than them. Martial arts was about enlightenment; something gained from experience and a realm. Grade 5, Grade 4, Grade 3, Grade 2, Grade 1, Semi-Unique Grade, Unique Grade. Although there was a ssification made to make it streamlined, it was impossible to assess this ¡®understanding¡¯. It was something that even the yer couldn¡¯t obtain through their status window. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Inside the dimension of darkness, I tossed a pebble on the calm surface of the water. A ripple was probably formed, but it wasn¡¯t perceived inside the ck dimension. The only thing I could do was feel it. I¡­ had to embed ¡®truth¡¯ into this dimension. And yet¡ª What I could feel with my skin was something as cold as¡­ Snow? I opened my eyes in a sh. Stopping the meditation, I turned towards the window and looked outside at the snow falling from the sky. It was such a small interruption from the outside and yet it was enough to interfere with my meditation. If this was in a wuxia novel, I might have even woken up vomiting blood. Honestly, I didn¡¯t read them that much so I wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°Snow, huh¡­¡± Looking at the white trash* falling from the sky like it was in the peak of winter reminded me of the time I scraped the snow off the ground in the military. It was March. Currently, it was supposed to be spring. ¡°Atst.¡± This year, there would be no end to winter. It was the start of the long and seemingly unending winter. [TLN] * Snow ismonly referred to as ¡®beautiful trash¡¯ by those that were in the military, because they have to clean it up after a heavy snow. Chapter 223: Prophecy of Apocalypse (1) Chapter 223: Prophecy of Apocalypse (1) ? Prophecy of Apocalypse (1)? These days, there was an increase of people raising their voices in the za of various cities including the capital city. ¡°The end is near!¡± ¡°A long winter will bring together famine and severe coldness, with no end to disasters!¡± ¡°The era of the wolf hase! The world will be engulfed in chaos and an eternal darkness will doom on the earth!¡± ¡°Beasts of darkness will start howling aloud! Their howls will raise the giants again!¡± ¡°Only those with true faith will be able to go to paradise through the apocalypse!¡±At a nce, they sounded like fanatics of a heretical doctrine screaming out whatever they pleased. However, people took them in more seriously because the ones doing them were from one of the two biggest religions. ¨C That prophecy. They¡¯ve been saying that for two months, haven¡¯t they? ¨C If the Xeruem is saying that¡­ What do we do now? The priests of the Old Faith, referred to as the Xeruem Order these days, were wandering around the whole continent revealing prophecies of the apocalypse, which shook the hearts of not only the believers of Xeruem, but also the followers of Zeon. ¨C The winter¡¯s not ending. What if they¡¯re telling the truth? ¨C It¡¯s already March but the weather is still like this! Spring isn¡¯ting! If it had been just a groundless theory of the apocalypse, people would have turned away from them no matter how big of an order they were. However, time went by and it was already March. The weather, which should have warmed down already, had be even colder, and the harsh coldness was still freezing the whole world. There was something wrong with the weather, but it wasn¡¯t just that ¨C it coincided perfectly with the continent-wide prophecy that the believers of the Old Faith had been yelling out for months. ¨C W, we need to pray. ¨C Pray to the lord. ¨C Only the believers will be saved¡­ Arge number of people were deceived by the prophecy and heading to the Xeruem Order, but there were those who had been anticipating this turn of events. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ really happening.¡± ¡°How intriguing. Knowing about the enemies is one thing, but how did he know what they would do?¡± ¡°¡­¡± King David. Sword Emperor Garrand. Duke Marde. The three, who were respectively at the pinnacle of the kingdom¡¯s authority, power and wealth, all thought back on what their future-son-inw had told them 3 months ago. [The winter will go on. The Old Faith will jump on the bandwagon and after that¡ª] A strange phenomenon of the unending winter and the Old Faith deceiving people with false prophecies. His hope to prepare for all that, was now proven to have been adequate. ¡°Sword Emperor. How are the swordsmen of the east?¡± ¡°They have finished their preparations for the winter under Lunia¡¯s lead.¡± ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be a problem then. Our biggest concern is the food.¡± ording to Korin Lork, it would take at least another month or so to resolve this winter, in which case they would have lost the timing for sowing the seeds, which meant they couldn¡¯t expect anything much from this year¡¯s harvest. Considering how most of the poption was involved in agriculture, this was bound to bring a great chaos to the people. ¡°We have prepared potato seeds that can rece our March crops. We also stopped exporting the food for the past winter, and they¡¯re currently sitting in our warehouses.¡± The one who had to suffer the most in this ordeal, was none other than Duke Marde. As the one in charge of the enormous agriculturalnd on the southern ins of the continent, the duke had to make the decision of stopping all exports of food over the winter with nothing to believe in other than Korin Lork¡¯s firm deration. Most of the crops produced in the south were exported to all sorts of kingdoms overseas. In the first ce, they were producing more than what the continent required for the purpose of exportation, so any crops that couldn¡¯t be sold in the winter was considered waste, because they would all go off. The duke had to make a decision to reserve all those crops instead of exporting them. He was met with strong resistances and oppositions, but he nheless remained firm. ¡°So what¡¯s left now is¡­¡± ¡°A cab meeting.¡± The final im from Korin Lork was the need for an expedition to the Northern Kingdom to the north, the harshnd of eternal winter, where the perpetrators of all this resided. Somehow, they had to make people agree to this mind-blowing expedition, which no-one sane would even propose. Also attending this cab meeting was the new president of the Central Guardian Association, Korin Lork. **** ¡°So because of the constant inflow of cold blizzards from the north¡ª¡± Schrs who could read astronomy and the climate ahead of time were valuable in any era, but their expectations this time had drastically missed the target. The reason for that was none other than the unnatural continuation of winter. ¡°What is your conclusion?¡± asked the Transport Minister. The meteorological schr replied after clearing his throat. ¡°Regarding this current abnormality in climate¡­ it is highly likely to be a temporary phenomenon, so I would propose seeing how it goes. However, from a schstic approach, I would also propose sending an investigation group to find out the origin of this strange phenomenon.¡± ¡°Investigation?! What if we end up prompting those barbarians in the north!?¡± The minister replied with a shout. He was concerned about potentially prompting the barbarians into action, which was a justified opinion on his part. ¡°This abnormal climate is just a temporary urrence. Is that all?¡± asked Duke Marde. ¡°Yes. That is the case.¡± Since he was the one who suffered the most from the abnormal climate, the people gathered somewhat guessed what he would propose. ¡°We have missed our chance to sow seeds because of this winter. We can¡¯t expect any crops apart from potatoes this year. To prepare against future repetition of this phenomenon, I also believe it is correct to send an investigation group.¡± ¡°What Lord Duke said would be a great arrangement.¡± ¡°I agree as well. It is important topile data on climate changes.¡± As soon as Duke Marde finished sharing his opinion, the officials affiliated under the ¡®Voices of the South¡¯ also shared their agreement. Hearing the agreement of one of the biggest political factions, some of the officials showed signs of being convinced. That was when the Sword Emperor also chimed in. ¡°The winter is going longer than expected, so the Northern Kingdom will have a shortage of food as well. Wouldn¡¯t it be wise to send troops and fortify the northern border ahead of time?¡± Sword Emperor Garrand Arden. He was wearing tattered clothes even in an official cab meeting, but no-one brought it up nor found anything weird about it. In fact, they were instead puzzled by his sudden intervention. ¡®That old man said something?¡¯ ¡®Has he ever involved himself in politics before?¡¯ In his 70 years of life, the Sword Emperor rarely participated in the meeting let alone voice an opinion, so what was going on now? They were curious but had no answers. In any case, the Sword Emperor¡¯s agreement meant it became difficult for anyone under the military to oppose the investigation. ¡°Then I believe it is decided that we would be dispatching an investigation. As for the one in charge of it¡ª¡± ¡°I rmend the new president, Korin Lork.¡± ¡°I rmend President Lork.¡± The Sword Emperor and Duke Marde abruptly spoke of the same name, which caused everyone to look at someone in particr. The young president, who hadn¡¯t said anything throughout this entire cab meeting despite his attendance as the president of the Association, replied with a smile. ¡°I will try my very best.¡± Korin Lork epted the offer as if he had been waiting for it, and King David also epted it without a hassle. ¡°Sounds good. Then I will appoint President Lork as the one in charge of the investigation of the north regarding the abnormal climate change.¡± There was no room for anyone to raise an objection with the new president and the three powerhouses making the decision in the blink of an eye. The investigation was decided but¡­ King David, Duke Marde, Sword Emperor Garrand and Korin Lork needed even more than that. An expedition to the north. They needed a justification to enforce a military expedition to the north across the national borders, since that meant they had to risk offending the Northern Kingdom. Fortunately, They had a good justification on their side. **** Ever since the rise of the New Faith, the Xeruem Order had lost arge amount of their political influence. The politicians were forced to choose from the Old Faith and the New Faith, and even the officials of the central politics tended to lean towards the New Faith if they had to choose between one of them. The Xeruem Order was, at the core, had a fundamentalist approach. Their doctrines hadn¡¯t changed for 1,000 years since the establishment of the kingdom, and they enforced fundamentalist interpretations and dogma. An example of that was adultery. Because of a line in the scripture about stoning a person to death formitting adultery, people tended to still stone people to death in the viges. The kingdom tried to stop these religious approaches through Justices of the Peace, but they still remained behind as a bad custom. The death of Queen Maria, a devout follower of the Old Faith, resulted in a big decline, but that wasn¡¯t the only reason why politicians tended to lean more towards the New Faith. Most importantly, the Chapel of Zeon was more flexible and lenient. They weren¡¯t fixated on fundamentalist approaches and re-interpreted the scripture based on modern values. At the very least, people didn¡¯t have to be stoned for not going to the chapel on Sundays, and they didn¡¯t scorch pagans or non-believers to death. Thanks to that, the New Faith had been constantly on the rise for the past century, and the decline of the Old Faith had pretty much been set in stone. As such, it was normal for the priests of the Old Faith to feel a sense of danger. ¡°This won¡¯t do! How can we, the true believers, be pushed back by the wicked people of the Zeon Order?¡± ¡°Their doctrines are an insult to the lord! How can they possibly ept demons as humans!? How can those monsters possibly be considered the same as humans!?¡± That was why the priests were enthusiastic about spreading the prophecy when themand was given from the higher-ups of the order. And when their prophecy about the unending winter was right on the dot, it had a different impact on themoners, even though the officials and politicians considered it as a temporary abnormality in climate. ¨C It¡¯s the apocalypse! The world ising to an end! ¨C Only the true believers will be saved! Seeing that quite arge number of the citizens were following them, the priests of the Old Faith became even more zealous. ¨C Yes! Our faith is the true one! This is the real power we ought to have had all along! Bishop Renault Lusignan of the Xeruem Order was also d to see the reception of the people. ¡°Dear believers! You cannot ignore this prophecy! The first prophecy has already been attained! We must prepare for the future!¡± It was the decision of the cardinals of the Old Faith to spread this conspiracy theory among the citizens. Their goal was to stir chaos and disorder into the kingdom. With a longer winter, people were bound to run out of food, and people in need tended to turn to religion. With each and every one of the propheciesing true, the Xeruem Order would see prosperity and sess. In turn, that would put the kingdom in chaos. The royal family will lose their influence with the people turning towards the Old Faith, and searches for heretics will sprout yet again. ¡®All for the true apocalypse of this world¡­!¡¯ And the eternal life of a select few including himself! The core personnel of the Old Faith including Renault Lusignan were d to bring the world into ruin, if it meant an eternal life. ¡°The end is near!¡± ¡°A long winter will bring together famine and severe coldness, with no end to disasters!¡± ¡°The era of the wolf hase! The world will be engulfed in chaos and an eternal darkness will doom on the earth!¡± ¡°Beasts of darkness will start howling aloud! Their howls will raise the giants again!¡± ¡°Only those with true faith will be able to go to paradise through the apocalypse!¡± ¨C What do we do? If the prophecies are correct, then¡­ ¨C What are we supposed to do? ¨C Don¡¯t believe what they¡¯re saying! There¡¯s no way that¡¯s true! ¨C But they¡¯re right about the winter! And that¡¯s what all the priests of the order are saying! Good. More chaos! More confusion! And follow me. You will bring upon yourself your apocalypse and downfall. The great Danann of Light will soon cleanse the world. ¡°Everyone. Please calm down!¡± That was when a group arrived at the za, where Renault Lusignan had been spreading the word of the apocalypse. ¡°Saintess Estelle?¡± ¡°Saintess!¡± Saintess Estelle of the Zeon Order. ording to the original n of the Old Faith, the New Faith was supposed to take part in this apocalypse prophecy. Half of the cardinals as well as the pope had been on their side, so the chaos within the kingdom would have been achieved much faster with their assistance. But all of that was ruined by that one woman. She suddenly turned crazy and killed the pope, half of the cardinals and bishops, which was a shocking turn of events for the Old Faith. Plus, there was more. The New Faith, re-instituted under the lead of the Saintess, began talking about increasingly strange doctrines. Bishop Renault felt goosebumps on his skin upon recently finding out that the basis of that was rted to the Danann faith. In any case, it was within their expectations that Estelle would try to do something about the prophecy. ¡°It has been a while, Your Highness.¡± Bishop Renault gave a bow and referred to her as ¡®Your Highness¡¯, but not as ¡®Your Holiness¡¯, signifying her status as a saintess, which revealed his contempt towards the New Faith. ¡°Who were you again?¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was no way that she wouldn¡¯t know about him, a future cardinal candidate. It was clearly a provocation but Renault still couldn¡¯t help but grit his teeth. ¡°What brings you here, Your Highness?¡± ¡°I heard someone was talking about the prophecies of the apocalypse.¡± The pink-haired saintess said while looking down at Renault with a smile. Her smile was so frightening and crafty to be that of a true saintess. ¡°The prophecy is about an inevitable future that the lord has revealed to us about. This is an unavoidable disaster, and we must prepare ourselves for it.¡± Renault thought about the possible things the saintess would say in response. The New Faith would probably try to deny the prophecy and say that there was no such thing as an uing apocalypse, and that they should calm down and go back to their normal lifestyle. But that wouldn¡¯t work. The prophecies wille true one by one, which will drop the integrity and authority of both the New Faith and the Saintess. It was a shame that they couldn¡¯t receive the assistance of the New Faith due to an unexpected massacre, but Renault didn¡¯t see any possible room for failure. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­ Are you denying the prophecy of the lord, Saintess?¡± There! Tell us whatever you want to say! No matter what you say, the prophecy wille true. The world will be infused with chaos and¡ª ¡°Yes. The prophecy is right.¡± ¡°Fufu. Let¡¯s wait and see¡­¡­ Huh?¡± What? What did this woman just say? ¨C Ahh, even the Saintess¡­! ¨C Is the prophecy true? No!! ¨C It¡¯s over! Everything¡¯s over! The peoplemented in despair. Words of a bishop were drastically different in weightpared to that of the saintess. Through their countless experiences, the people were truly aware that Saintess Estelle was a being connected to the god. She could make her prayerse to life. She was the child of god who could shake the universe and cure illnesses. Her confirmation of the apocalypse was distressing. ¡°W, what are you¡­¡± ¡°Beloved believers! I am sure you must have heard about the recent prophecies going on around the kingdom!¡± Ignoring the bishop, Estelle faced and directed at the crowd. Her voice spread far and wide with the support of her divine energy. ¡°The prophecy is true. This winter will be long, the era of the wolf wille, light will vanish and the world will be enshrouded in darkness.¡± ¡®Why the hell are you saying it¡¯s right¡­?¡¯ Renault Lusignan looked on with a frown. Despite just confirming the prophecy of apocalypse, Estelle still faced the crowd with an ever-so-bright expression and locked fingers, while intentionally creating a halo of light with her divine energy. ¡°However, this is all but a trial given to us by the lord!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¨C A trial? ¨C The prophecy is a trial given by the lord? The crowd turned rowdy again, and Estelle did not miss the chance. ¡°That is correct. When we ovee all these trials, a ¡®New Sun¡¯ will rise at the end! This is the glory our lord has prepared for us; our salvation!¡± ¡°T, that is utter nonsense!¡± Renault was shocked by Estelle adding additional prophecies to their prophecy of apocalypse. ¡°What do you mean by that, Bishop Renault?¡± ¡°How can you distort the prophecy like this! This is pure nonsense!¡± ¡°Distort? I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. I heard it with my own ears.¡± ¡°What¡­!?¡± Estelle solemnly dered while pointing at the sky. ¡°I have talked to the lord, and that was the n he conveyed to me! The lord said he will not discard his beloved children! That is correct! This is just a trial and a preface to the new Sun!¡± ¨C R, really? ¨C The Saintess is saying that herself! It has to be true! ¨C The new Sun will save us all! Estelle gave the infuriated Bishop Renault a smile and gestured with her eyes. ¡®You? Nothing but a bishop.¡¯ ¡®And me? The saintess.¡¯ There was a line in the scripture which stated that false prophets would rise up and deceive the people when the end was near. In that sense, both of them were false prophets. ¡°You must believe in what I said. Be grateful to the merciful lord who loves his children! He will grant us the new Sun!¡± It was just that Estelle was even more vicious of a false prophet. Chapter 224: Prophecy of Apocalypse (2) Chapter 224: Prophecy of Apocalypse (2) ? Prophecy of Apocalypse (2)? ¡°Wow¡­¡± In thest iteration, Park Sihu and I had a much easier timepared to how it was like in the game. We didn¡¯t take the proper procedures in terms of quests, and leveled up at a speed that would be only possible through cheats. It was rtively easier than how it should have gone. Although I had to swing the spear like crazy as someone who possessed the body of a side character, it was still an undeniable truth that Park Sihu¡¯s elixirs provided arge amount of assistance along the way. Like that, we quickly became strong and were easily acknowledged by others. We were able to create a tremendously strong party but¡­ there was still a problem we couldn¡¯t fully solve. One of such was wealth.No matter how much money the yer was to collect, it was never more than tens of thousands of gold coins. The amount of gold required for monster carriers like Hresvelgr, one of the end-game contents, was around 15,000 gold coins or more. Taking into ount the money you needed to create a guild and the money required to hire mercenaries, the yer needed to earn 20~30 thousand gold. Of course, that was excluding the amount of money that had to go into the actual gear and equipment of both the yer and the party members. ¡°Korin. We got the bill for this month, but there¡¯s still too much budget left. So I called a circus troupe, some chefs and massaging experts. Let¡¯s go get a massage together~¡± 3 Hresvelgrs. 56 top-notch wyverns. Tens of primary members, 300 from the Warsky Mercenaries and 300 from the Arden elites. 400 ve mages from the Tower of Mages¡­ each equipped with high-quality gear made by the best craftsmen of the kingdom. Food and consumables were also nothing but the best of the best. ¡°Ko~rin~dongsaengg! I¡¯m distributing the new prophecy statements to all the chapels located throughout the kingdom. And the preparations for munitions are also under way! The Old Faith though! You should have seen the look on their faces! Kyahaha!¡± Estelle, the Saintess of the Zeon Order. The New Faith, which was supposed to incur chaos in the kingdom alongside the Old Faith, were all purged by the Saintess. The pope and the cardinals were all gone, leaving behind only the blind and faithful believers of her miracles. After all that, the Saintess was making use of what she aplished 200%. Originally, the prophecy of apocalypse spread by the Xeruem Order was supposed to bring chaos into the kingdom and increase their public authority. This naturally would have affected the final battle as well. But what was going on now? Thanks to Estelle meeting a false prophecy with a false prophecy of her own, the confusion and chaos of the popce was heading in a different direction. It was towards the savior referred to as the ¡®New Sun¡¯. As for who it was that Estelle was inferring at¡­ it was obviously me. Thisdy was serious. She was serious about making me into a god being worshiped by themon people. And to be frank, it was very effective. [The New Sun will rise!] [Saintess Estelle speaks of salvation through the apocalypse!] [Who exactly is this New Sun!?] Due to the intentional efforts of the Zeon Order and the media, the Saintess¡¯s prophecy was being spread to all corners of the kingdom. The distressing prophecy of apocalypse, was reframed with a hopeful future of salvation. Even though that was my n¡­ It was weird to see how effective incitement and propaganda were. ¡°This is far more than just ¡®easy¡¯.¡± The absurd amount of wealth provided by the Dunareff¡­ on top of the absolute position of the Saintess¡­ Is it really okay for everything to sail this easily? ¡°I will hereby announce the investigation group!¡± said King David with a sonorous voice, personally announcing the contents of the scroll. The formality and its format reminded one of a ceremony and a speech that was usually given before a war, which didn¡¯t sound right, because technically this was just an investigation to research what was happening with the weather. The higher-ups of the kingdom were still just viewing the longer winter as a temporary abnormality in climate, and didn¡¯t see it as a grave issue. All they thought was that the weather was a bit crazy. ¡°This investigation group has a tremendous responsibility of investigating the current abnormality in weather as well as finding clues rted to the prophecy of Saintess Estelle.¡± Added to the investigation of climate issues was the prophecy of the saintess, the loftiestdy in the world who was personally connected with the god. Whatever she said had to be true. No-one could possibly say no when the saintess imed that she personally heard it from the god. ¡°The Saintess has prophesied that the origin of this incident is rted with the north. As such, we will increase the size of the investigation group and keep an expedition troop at bay. Every troop must therefore be ready to march through the winter.¡± Of course, some of the priests of the Old Faith tried to tackle the Saintess for distorting their ¡®prophecy of apocalypse¡¯ but Estelle returned the same response to them. ¡®I heard it. For real.¡¯ ¡®Like I said, I heard it from the lord!¡¯ ¡®Do you think I¡¯m lying? I¡¯m the Saintess, you know? Whatever I say goes. Stop bbering.¡¯ That wasn¡¯t exactly what she said and it was quite heavily paraphrased, but that was what she said to them in a nutshell. As a result¡ª ¡°I grant full rights of this investigation to Baron Korin Lork, who may form the group at will. I also give permission for Saintess Estelle Hadassa El Rath to form the divine expedition.¡± I was themander of the investigation group, but also had the right to givemands to the expedition in an emergency. Although the expedition was technically under Estelle, it was the same thing anyway and didn¡¯t really matter. ¡°It¡¯s finally about to begin.¡± ¡°Everything seems to be going the way you wanted it to.¡± Master said while taking my side with a smile. The first investigation group amounted to 800 in total,prised of absurdly exceptional talents. Master Erin, Lady Josephine, Marie, Hua Ran, Alicia¡­ and me. There were 6 with the word ¡®Unique¡¯ in their title, and added to that were 794 who were all knights and mages. ¡°This looks enough to start a war,¡±mented Lady Josephine while lifting her sses. ¡°Most of them are reserve guardians I¡¯ve summoned as the president and 300 of them are ve mages, so the official number of the investigation is 500.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the ¡®official¡¯ number, is it?¡± ¡°That is exactly right.¡± In preparation for the final war which would happen simultaneously at numerous fronts, I stationed the reserve guardians wherever necessary, and squeezed out all the remaining guardians that could be utilized. Along with this legion of 800 knights and mages¡­ [Side Quest: Fallen Valkyries ¡ù Difficulty: S ¡ù Deadline: April 31st] ¡°Northern borders. That¡¯s our first destination.¡± It was one of the ces that would go down if everything went ording to the game scenario. The wall was where the valkyries of the north would escape through, after losing half of their numbers, all the way until they could reach the yer. We had to protect the valkyries that were against Tates Valtazar, as well as the great wall at the northern front, which will save the lives of countless humans. **** Ever since the start of the winter holiday, Rashid had to move with his father after a long time off work. ¡°Uhp¡­ Uhpp! Uhp!¡± It was ironic how he was back with the head of Hasassin, the race of assassins, despite escaping it to walk the chivalrous path of a knight. Kidnapping, secret investigations, assassinations and destroying facilities. Those were nothing new for the Hasassin race, who were one with the darkness from birth. For Rashid, it was slightly disturbing how this was a request made by a senior, whom he had been considering to be the greatest example of a model knight. Korin requested while tapping on his shoulder. [I¡¯m not saying the result is the only thing that¡¯s important. But there are just too many bastards in this world.] [Are you talking about yourself?] [Damn it! Don¡¯t look at me like that! I know that already! I know!] In any case, the mission he had assigned to them after entrapping his father and paying a huge amount of gold was finallying to fruition. ¨C KUAAAAHK! ¨C Please! PLEASE STOPPPPP!!! The basement was echoing with screams. Rashid felt slightly skeptical about doing something that felt so greatly distant from his chivalrous dream, but his thoughts changed after reading the documents they gathered. ¡°What horrendous fuckers.¡± It was mind-blowingly shocking, and Rashid felt first-hand how humans could stay quite rational and unsurprised when the truth was absurdly ridiculous. ¡°Fuu~. These guys are tougher than expected.¡± The steel door to the basement creaked open as his father, Sinnan Ib Salman Mustali, walked back up. As always, his face reeked of blood. ¡°Is it not going well?¡± Rashid asked. ¡°Fellows with disgusting convictions don¡¯t tend to open their traps so easily. But this won¡¯t take that long.¡± ¡°I believe you should hurry. I¡¯ve heard that the expedition is being formed with haste.¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty fast. Something like that would normally take months to go through. Looks like our employer has quite the political power.¡± That¡¯s¡­ probably thanks to all the women. Rashid wanted to add but refrained from doing so. Korin Lork was definitely a respectable knight. He was a kind-hearted hero, who was a great target for aspiration and mentor as a fellow knight, but¡­ ¡®He has too many women.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t like he indulged in such matters, and yet there were still way too many women around him ¨C each of them were abnormally extraordinary on top of that. Even Rashid thought the preparation would take until May at the very least. But from the looks of things now, ¡®May¡¯ sounded like a joke. The super-wealth of the Dunareff, power of the Arden, full-on support from the royal family and the false prophecy of the Saintess. The synergy of his messy rtionship with women allowed everything to be resolved in the blink of an eye. It was to the point that it seemed like he was going against thews of the universe, and be possibly met with a bacsh. ¡°Ehew¡­¡± ¡°What is the matter, son?¡± ¡°Nothing. I was just¡­ thinking how being ripped into 5 parts won¡¯t be enough for some people.¡± ¡°¡­How sinful must they be for you to say such a thing about them?¡± ¡°I guess you could call it a sin.¡± Although he respected Korin Lork as a senior knight, Rashid was greatly concerned about his future. ¡®He¡¯ll probably be ripped into different parts, right?¡¯ All who live by something, will die by something. Rashid was reminded of that line from somewhere. **** The El Rath Kingdom, in possession of most of the continent, had clear distinctive traits for each region. The east had a great military as well as a trade route to the east. The south had wide ins of grass and abundant resources which in turn made them exceptionally wealthy. The west was the center of religion, while the capital city was the core of culture and administration. Each region of the continent had their distinctive traits, while the ¡®north¡¯ had two possible interpretations. One of them was the immediate north of the El Rath Kingdom. It was referred to as the north for being on the north of the capital city, but thends were infertile and were therefore few in poption. It was widely known how everywhere except for the ¡®northern walls¡¯ were basically free from the eyes and hands of the central administration. Because of how independent the location was, the end of the wall was where the Tower of Mages, the sanctum of magic, had been located, but that in turn proved just how barren and uninhabited thesends were. One of the fundamental reasons for theck of poption was the infertilends, but there was also the presence of barbarians, who loved harassing the kingdom ever since its establishment. The kingdom had several times tried to eradicate the barbarians of the north, but it wasn¡¯t easy to annihte those, who were living in the harsh wintery regions of the far north. In the end, the El Rath Kingdom made apromise by creating arge wall around the Northern Kingdom, to stop them advancing down south. That was the first definition of ¡®north¡¯. As for the other definition of ¡®north¡¯, it was a very broad terminology. It referred to everything beyond the northern walls the kingdom had built ¨C the vastnd of barren nothingness, that was as big as the El Rath Kingdom itself. That seemingly cursed and uninhabitablend was where they were situated. ¡°Unni. We have a message.¡± ¡°Can you pass it to me, Hilde?¡± Thedy with hair as white as snow read the letter passed onto her. [Mist is trying to stop them. The Frost Giant appeared. Some of our sisters escaped. We are nearing our limits.] The message conveyed by one of her sisters contained depressing news. Niflheim ¨C the remnant of mythology which should have vanished from thisnd along with the end of the era ¨C the demond that should have forever vanished from the memories of people in the deep underground, was being brought back to life by one man. Tates Valtazar. That man¡¯s objective¡­ was to destroy the world. ¡°Unni¡­ Do we really have to stop him?¡± ¡°Hilde¡­¡± ¡°But think about it. If he seeds¡­ we can regain our past glory. Even if we continue living on like this, we will wither away and eventually disappear. That¡¯s why the sisters of spear¡­ Olrun and Alvit are on his side¡­¡± [A man carrying a spear will give us our new mission.] That was the prophecy given by one of their sisters who could read the destiny, which ended up dividing them into two factions. Because of that prophecy, half of the valkyries became followers of Valtazar. It wasn¡¯t like thedy with snow-white hair didn¡¯t understand her sisters. After the fall of gods, the valkyries who had lost their purpose had simrly fallen from grace, but there was now a being who could grant them a new battlefield. However, siding with him meant discarding this current world. ¡°Hilde. Over that small brook is the vige of Geron and the little children. The grandparents of their grandparents of their grandparents received my blessing when they came into this world.¡± That wasn¡¯t the end. ¡°The forest across the vige is where the vige of the forest keepers are. They¡¯re little children who cultivate nature,municate with the elementals and help the forest survive through the harsh winter.¡± ¡°Unni¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the end. There¡¯s more. There are also the half-giants, who asionally shared their game with us despite being a long descendent of the titans.¡± Thedy with snow-white hair, Brunhild, recalled the history of thisnd which she had overlooked for the past 1,000 years. The reason they were still alive, despite failing their mission of assisting the gods in the final battle, was simple. ¡°They have nowhere else to go. They won¡¯t be able to survive without us.¡± It wouldn¡¯t be long until the horde of demons and giants woulde south. The Master of Winter will descend and shake the earth with its footsteps. Brunhild wanted to protect the citizens of the north, who would be otherwise swept away in that turmoil. ¡°We¡­ should have died back then. We lost our chance to die an honorable death.¡± ¡°I know.¡± They had lived for too long. For far too long¡­ they had lived in harmony with humans. Like that, the female warriors, who couldn¡¯t meet a glorious end along with the gods, had ended up falling from grace. ¡°But even if we fight till ourst breath¡­ everyone will die. For them to survive¡­¡± ¡°We must cross the walls of the kingdom that are stopping us.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way they¡¯ll let us in. They will probably think of us as barbarians.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Brunhild knew that as well, but there was no other option. If need be¡­ she might even have to gather her sisters and the tribes to break that wall. Chapter 225: Northern Walls (1) Chapter 225: Northern Walls (1) ? Northern Walls (1)? Merkarva Academy temporarily closed its doors and stopped its sses due to the ¡®unending winter¡¯. It was true that it was so cold outside that it was difficult to move around, but the biggest reason was to have the two of them join the party. ¡°Master. Professor Josephine.¡± Master Erin and Lady Josephine. They were the top two powerhouses of Merkarva Academy, but they couldn¡¯t leave their post frequently as the chairman and the senior professor of the academy. ¡°Is it time for the rotation already?¡± ¡°Yep. You can take a rest inside, professor. I can hold the leash. As for Master, I have something to talk to you about for a second.¡± Lady Josephine nodded in response before teleporting away to the movable container that was being carried by the Hresvelgr, which I was currently controlling by the leash.¡°Did you have something to talk about?¡± Master asked. ¡°Yeah. There is something I wanted to discuss with you regarding the north.¡± ¡°I¡¯m assuming you are talking about what is past the walls.¡± ¡°I am. Specifically the remnants of the era of gods that are still there.¡± Master was the only one I could have this kind of conversation with. I had experience from the future and knowledge of the game, but those were nothing but limited pieces of knowledge gained from a third-person perspective. You could say I knew nothingpared to what Master Erin knew, as someone who had personally experienced that era. ¡°Tell me what you know about them first,¡± she asked. ¡°The Frost Giant. Valkyries and the dwarves.¡± ¡°How many valkyries were there in the future you had experienced?¡± The walls had been breached and the valkyries were hostile to us. But there weren¡¯t that many of them in the first ce. ¡°About forty¡­ half of them were on Valtazar¡¯s side, and most of the remaining half fell along with the northern walls.¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s terrible. I remember there being 540 of them before.¡± She added after biting her lips. ¡°The valkyries are messengers drafting the legion of the King of Gods. They were supposed to contend against the titans and demons with the epic legion in the final war.¡± ¡°That¡¯s simr to what we have here.¡± ¡°I suppose the fall of gods had been prophesied by many.¡± As one of them, Master couldn¡¯t hide the bitter look on her face. ¡°We had a few exchanges with them. We used to be enemies at one point, but we joined forces after having amon enemy.¡± ¡°The titans?¡± ¡°Exactly. They were immortal and were the closest forms of the primal beings. The descendents of the great Sky Titan were a powerful enemy for us who people referred to as gods.¡± Just like how the main enemy for the Danann before the appearance of Goidels had been Demon King Balor and the fomorian titans, the gods of the north were in a simr situation. Frost Giants including the Frost Giant, Utgard. me Giants including Surtr. It ended in the damnation of both forces. The eras of both the Danann and the north came to an end, which gave rise to the ¡®golden era¡¯ for humans. Both cases followed the same trajectory of the end of the mythological era followed by the monopoly of humans. ¡°Since it¡¯s so close, was there really no interchange at all for a whole 1,000 years?¡± ¡°It looked like there were only a small fraction of gods who survived just like us. I heard there were a few of them left but¡­¡± ¡°There were?¡± This was my first time ever hearing about this. ¡°But the previous previous previous God King, Eochaid Bres, seemed to have killed all the survivors.¡± ¡°¡­¡± No wonder. A god from anothernd, Tates Valtazar, had taken his ce there for 80 whole years. Someone would have tried to stop him, but it seemed that Eochaid had killed all of them. ¡°No wonder he was using the Hammer of the God of Lightning and the Sword of Victory.¡± The countless treasures in Eochaid Bres¡¯s arsenal had included many treasures of the Danann, but there were also those belonging to the gods of the north. ¡°Master. From what I know, the valkyries have the power to open the ¡®door¡¯. Is that correct?¡± That was what made the valkyries annoying. Them opening the ¡®door¡¯ had yed a shocking role in the final war, after all. ¡°I see. So they¡­ really followed and worshiped Tates in the future considering how that is only allowed to two gods¡­ Oh right. There was a time when I came here briefly 800 years ago.¡± She started talking about her distant past and what she had discovered north of the walls. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ interesting.¡± Those were leads that could potentially flip the situation on its head. **** Northern Walls. It referred to the walls stopping the plunderers of the Northern Kingdom and the demons, who grew incrediblyrge in size despite the harsh climate here. In the past, people stationed here were praised as guardians of the north, and protectors of the final defense line of the kingdom. However, as time went by, the praises gradually diminished, and they had to suffer increasingly more due to the constant shortage of food and constant external threats. Less and less people volunteered toe here. Recruits were few and far between, and the budgets were always tiny. Due to all that, they were constantly suffering from ack of talents, munitions and food. ¡°Scari! I told you to put your damn kids back in the house!¡± ¡°O, okay man. Chill!¡± There were people making love even in a ce as disgustingly cold as this. Senior Guard Direk grumbled to himself while waiting for a certain group to arrive at the gates of the northern walls. ¡°Fuu¡­ So freaking cold. When is it going to get warmer¡­?¡± It was already mid-March. It was supposed to have be much warmer a lot earlier, but this hateful weather was showing no signs of such things. As such, the guards of the north felt horrendous. A longer winter meant the barbarians of the north would have fewer animals to hunt, which would directly corrte with plunder. Naturally, for that plunder to work, at least one section of the walls separating the Northern Kingdom from the El Rath Kingdom had to go down. And obviously, if the wall were to be breached, those bastards living a peaceful life in the capital would create a fuss so the guards had to make sure that didn¡¯t happen. ¡°Hey Captain. When are theying?¡± One of his menined. Direk threw him a nce before rubbing his ice-cold cheeks with the wool gloves. ¡°How would I know when that ¡®climate investigation group¡¯ or whatever is gonna get here?¡± ¡°So why the heck are theying all the way here for something stupid like that?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask me, man.¡± ¡°For goodness¡¯ sake. I hope they don¡¯t nitpick everything. The old-man chief guard was drinking his ass off when I saw him just then.¡± ¡°Tell me something new. By the way, have we repaired the gates in the south?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been 3 years since we just put some nks over it, Captain. No-one is bothered to repair that. It just needs to be sturdy enough to stop a few demons.¡± Since the walls were aimed at stopping intruders from attacking from the north, they repaired only the northern walls and gates, and were sloppier with the southern gates which connected to the capital. Sometimes, whenever they had an audit from the administration, those people would say a few things about the southern barricades, but were lenient because they knew the shortage of budget that they were suffering from. ¨C KURAAAAA¡­! That was when he heard the faint roar of a flying beast from a distance. Along with that was the fluttering of wings. ¡®Huh? Wait, how the hell is that even possible?¡¯ Around this area, even normal wyverns couldn¡¯t fly in the air during winter. The wyverns had to be meticulously bred, and the wyvern riders had to wear specially made anti-cold jumpers on top of that to fly. How many wyverns did it have to be for him to feel the sound of their fluttering wings with his skin? ¡°C, Captain! Look! What the fuck is that!?¡± One of his men yelled out while pointing at the horizon. Direk was simrly bbergasted upon turning towards the same ce. ¡°W, what the hell is that?!¡± There were a lot of wyverns. A crazy amount of them, at that. There were at least 50 wyverns, surrounding 3 massive creatures like bodyguards. ¨C KURAAAAAAAAAAK!! ¨C KURAAAAAAAAAAK!! ¨C KURAAAAAAAAAAK!! 3 Hresvelgrs. Those monsters, who would eat a simr amount of food to the daily consumption of all the citizens of an entire border vigebined, were flying towards them for some reason. ¡°A, are those wild monsters?!¡± ¡°What the¡­! We don¡¯t even have anything here!¡± ¡°Emergency! Emergency! Activate the cannons! Now!¡± Direk quickly gave out orders to the soldiers to activate the defensive measures of the walls. Seasoned through their experience against the half-giants who tried to trample through the walls and beast tamers who tried to fly across the border on an eagle, the soldiers quickly set everything up. ¡°Uhh, Captain? Those aren¡¯t¡­ wild monsters.¡± ¡°What do you¡­ Huh?¡± He picked up his binocrs and looked at the wyverns flying towards them. ¡°Umm¡­ Are those riders?¡± The Hresvelgrs and wyverns had people sitting on them. ¡®What? Wasn¡¯t it just a baroning here for an investigation of the climate?¡¯ Three monster carriers and 56 wyverns. At that point, it wouldn¡¯t be strange even if the king himself was personally within that group. After a while, they slowly started to descend on the wide in in front of the walls. Although there werending zones for wyverns inside the border city, it certainly wasn¡¯t big enough to amodate a group of this size. ¡°U, uaah¡­¡± Almost 60 flying monstersnded on the ground. Three of them were massive monsters, and the amount of high pressure air being pushed to the ground was therefore incredible. ¡°W, wait!¡± By the time Direk was reminded of the nks of wood recing the southern gates, he realized that the gates had already crumbled down from the wind. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± A young man, who seemed to have seen that from the rider seat of a monster carrier, said in a strangely audible voice despite the distance. ¡°Even more of a mess than I thought.¡± He frowned but didn¡¯t say much of anything else, as if he hadn¡¯t been expecting much in the first ce. Direk thought he was just a normal rider, but he seemed to be a celebrity, because one of his men immediately recognized his face. ¡°I, isn¡¯t that Sir Korin?¡± ¡°The one that¡¯s famous these days?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not just ¡®famous¡¯! He¡¯s the youngest in history to reach Unique Grade, and he¡¯s the strongest knight in the entire country!¡± His evaluation was slightly off. There were 3 people who were officially proimed by the Association to be Unique Grade guardians. They were Marie, Hua Ran and Korin. Alicia was also acknowledged for her capabilities and was proimed a semi-Unique Grade. Whatever the case, it was true that he was a massive bigshot that normal people wouldn¡¯t even catch a glimpse of. ¡°Wow¡­¡± People started alighting from the monster carriers and the wyverns. There was a shocking number of them in total. 4 people were getting off of each wyverns. 200 was already an incredible number of guests for the border city, but the monster carriers had been boarding triple the amount. ¡°H, holy¡­¡± And the ones alighting from the monster carriers¡­ were the ¡®real deals¡¯ that were each wearing glistering armors and robes. ¡°L, look at those tes¡­¡± Each and every one of their equipment was extraordinary. They were newer than the newest pieces of equipment you could get in this city. ¡°L, look! Are those all mages?¡± Lastly they were dumbstruck seeing 300 mages leaving the containers. This was a small city where a single mage was hard toe by. Even in the capital city, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to find 300 mages like that! A total of 800 of them lined up in ranks like soldiers of a military in front of the gates. Seeing that, the guards couldn¡¯t help but feel intimidated. Although it would never happen, a barren city like this would fall in less than 5 minutes if they wanted to reduce it to ashes. ¡°W, wasn¡¯t it just an investigation of the climate?¡± ¡°That is what it said¡­¡± The man, who appeared to be the leader of those 800 men, smiled at Direk standing on the walls before casually jumping over the walls. In one simple jump, he jumped over 13 meters and reached the top. ¡°There we go~¡± ¡°Uooh¡­!?¡± How could a human jump this high up? Despite being greatly shocked by the Unique Grade Knight in front of him, Direk couldn¡¯t get his eyes off of the amicably-smiling knight. ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Korin Lork. I have the official document so please take a look.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Ah! Yes, of course!¡± Direk opened the official document. [Royal Decree] I hereby dispatch a group to investigate beyond the northern walls regarding the recent abnormality in climate. Each official within the nearby cities is to fully cooperate with Captain Korin Lork. ¡ª David Joseph El Rath. Basically, it was telling everyone to listen to whatever he said. Direk carefully folded the king¡¯s message, which he had received for the first time in his life, and gave a deep bow. ¡°W, wee to the northern border city, Bifrost.¡± Korin Lork was basically the new lord of the city. **** ¡°It¡¯s even worse than I expected.¡± ¡°Indeed¡­¡± Master couldn¡¯t help but agree. The border city of Bifrost was in a worse state than what I could have possibly imagined. Putting aside the fact that a part of the wall and the gates crumbled down from a Hresvelgrnding nearby, even the most important state of the northern side was horrendous, and the guards were in a total mess. ¡°500 guards with minimal equipment protecting walls reaching 400 kilometers? Is this a joke?¡± On top of that, there was only one knight serving as the Chief Guard with not a single mage in sight. The northern walls were basically like the Great Wall of China. The only difference was that there was only one gateway with the rest being tall walls. It was incredible how they could have possibly built something of this level, but the problem was that those immensely long walls were being guarded by 500 soldiers, which wouldn¡¯t even be enough to protect the gates properly. ¡°How was it like in the future?¡± Master asked. ¡°It fell before we could even do anything, so we didn¡¯t have time to prepare for it. Looking at how it is right now, it makes a lot of sense.¡± It wouldn¡¯t be a problem if they were just being attacked by a small number of barbarians or demonic beasts. The long walls were connected all the way to the steep mountain ranges, and the weakest part of the border, right in the middle of the wide in of nothingness, was where the tall gates were. However inrge-scale wars¡­ especially ones that involved knights and mages, it would only be a matter of seconds before the borders copsed. Considering how this was a decently-sized city of 10,000 residents¡­ it was probably at the fault of the higher-ups that it was in this state. From what I heard, there wasn¡¯t a mayor in this city, and most were just guards with a small number of them being administrative officials. ¡°I have gone around the whole city but I¡¯m yet to find the Chief Guard.¡± When I said that while looking at Captain Direk, he became extremely flustered, not knowing what to do. ¡°Where¡¯s your boss?¡± ¡°S, sorry sir!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re sorry or not. I am asking where your boss is.¡± ¡°G, Garden of Fairies! T, the bar! He¡¯s probably at the bar!¡± ¡°Oh my days.¡± Is this guy drinking in broad daylight? Let me crush this guy real bad. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The most popr ce in a border city as cold as this was, naturally, the bar. Due to how cold it was, there was amon culture of drinking strong booze, and it was in fact rmended for the soldiers to drink to warm themselves up. However, the Chief Guard of Bifrost and Grade 1 Knight, Beyon, had easily exceeded the rmended level of consumption. ¡°More! Give me more booze!¡± Ever since he was dispatched to this ce, he had been constantly living under the effect of alcohol. There were very few citizens and few supplies. The city didn¡¯t even have a mayor and only had a small number of administrative officials, which made him the top powerhouse of this city. He was at a position where he had full control and unsurpassable authority in this countryside city, but he spent everyday drinking booze and refusing to work. ¡°Do you know who I am?! Huh! I am a top knight who even fought a massive dreak!¡± ¡°You mean a drake, sir?¡± ¡°Yeah! That thing! It was breathing out mes! And yet¡­! I¡¯m not some random guy! Who should decay in a ce like this!¡± The people, who were trying their best tomunicate with the top authority in the city muttering in his drunkenness, somewhat agreed to his words. Although he lived everyday drowned in alcohol, they knew how strong he was with the sword. Back when a half-giant was about to break through the gatesst year, he jumped down and bisected the half-giant with a single sh. Seeing the severe alcohol-addict cut a half-giant in halves, despite being 6 heads shorter than it, even the citizens that didn¡¯t like him had to admit that knights were indeed built different. ¡°Is this okay, though? Weren¡¯t there some investigators or whatevering from the capital city today?¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay! They¡¯re just nerds who only know how to do paperwork! I don¡¯t need to go out!¡± ¨C Kwang! That was when someone walked into the bar after kicking the door open. It was a young man with a wild appearance¡­ and behind him was Captain Direk, fidgeting with a pale face. ¡°Yo. Direk. Are you off already¡­¡± ¡°Where is that bastard?¡± the young man asked. ¡°I, it¡¯s that bald¡­ I mean, person with no hair.¡± The young man walked forward inrge strides until he was right in front of the Chief Guard. ¡°¡­Beyon?¡± His face, which looked like he was ready to punch someone to death, suddenly turned into that of confusion. However, it quickly vanished as the young man asked with a stiff look on his face. ¡°Are you the Chief Guard of this city?¡± ¡°Who is this¡­ young brat¡­? Not very polite, are you!¡± ¡°I hereby start a trial against the Chief Guard of Bifrost, Beyon Solberg.¡± ¡°Trial? Triaallll? Who are you?¡± The young man¡­ Korin Lork replied with a cold gaze. ¡°Justice of the Peace.¡± Chapter 226: Northern Walls (2) Chapter 226: Northern Walls (2) ? Northern Walls (2) ? Beyon Solberg the Avenger. He was a named character who appeared in thetter portions of the game, ¡ª a bloodthirsty avenger massacring the named characters from the Northern Kingdom that were crossing the breached walls of the north after the war against the Frost Giant. Devouring every elixir he could, including the luminescent herbs unique to the Northern Kingdom, he was a semi-Unique Grade knight who endlessly pursued his purpose of revenge. There was a time when I had to confront him regarding the execution of a captive. [We must kill all of them! We can¡¯t leave any of these wicked barbarians alive! Korin Lork! How can you stand on the side of these barbaric creatures as the hero of the kingdom!] Both in the game and thest iteration, the only impression I had of him was that he was a berserker whose sole purpose in life was revenge.Never had I imagined that he would be the chief guard of this city. ¡®So that was the reason he hated the Valkyries so much, huh¡­¡¯ Considering how the Valkyries were one of the main causes behind the instantaneous fall of the northern walls, I could somewhat understand his position but¡­ ¡®But it¡¯s not just their fault.¡¯ I only knew bits and pieces about what happened in the past to cause the walls to fall in an instant, but from what I could see, this man wasn¡¯t without fault either. Another reason behind his constant rampage might have also been because he couldn¡¯t forgive himself. Regardless, ¡°I hereby start a trial against the Chief Guard of Bifrost, Beyon Solberg.¡± This level of negligence was not something that could be ignored. ¡­.. ¡­ The low-profile trial was held inside a small building. It was purely out of consideration that we weren¡¯t carrying out a public trial before the people. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± After sobering up a fair amount, Chief Guard Beyon was evidently nervous as he kept ncing at me. ¡°Chief Guard Beyon. Do you admit your act of negligence?¡± ¡°S, so¡­¡± ¡°I will sentence the punishment of your act of negligence. Until further decisions are made by themand center at the capital, Chief Guard Beyon will step down from his position and serve the military as a normal soldier¡ª¡± ¡°That is nonsense!¡± ¡°Nonsense?¡± Was this old man still drunk? ¡°W, who even are you? If you¡¯re here to investigate the climate, just do your job and go back! You are clearly overstepping the boundaries of your work!¡± ¡°A Grade 1 Justice of the Peace has the right to be involved in military matters in rural areas as a judge.¡± ¡°H, how can someone your age be a Grade 1¡­¡± Without wasting more time, I showed him the golden badge of a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace. ¡°I hope you understand the severity of this incident, Chief Guard Beyon. The ¡®young brat¡¯ in front of you is a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace, a baron with territory, a Unique Grade knight acknowledged by the Guardian Association, and the president of the Central Guardian Association branch.¡± ¡°T, that¡¯s impossible¡­¡± It seemed that he was spending so much time drinking in the countryside that he didn¡¯t know anything about what was happening in the capital. ¡°On the records, it says there are supposed to be 3,000 troops stationed here, but when I looked around there was only a little more than 500. The weaponries are also receiving the bare minimum maintenance, with the walls close to falling apart.¡± At this point, it was surprising how the walls hadn¡¯t been breached yet. ¡°Chief Guard Beyon. In this city alone are 10,000 citizens of the kingdom and further beyond are hundreds of thousands of our citizens. I hope you understand how severe and detrimental your act of negligence could have been.¡± It was pretty much a determined fact that he would be fired from his post. Plus, it was highly likely that themand center would send him to the prison ording to the military regtions. However, I wanted to give this man a chance. ¡°Chief Guard Beyon. Now is your only chance to defend yourself.¡± ¡°¡­There was nothing.¡± With his trembling fists curled up, he refuted. ¡°We had no budget! Repairing the walls is not something we can do for free! It¡¯s hard to even find a carpenter in this city; how were we supposed to repair the walls, find weaponry and troops!?¡± ¡°¡­¡± This part, I agreed with. As a small city attached right on the walls bordering an enemy country, it was incapable of economical self-sustainment, and most of its budget came from the capital. The issue was that most of that budget was spent on purchasing food, with only a miniscule amount of money being allocated for the guards. ¡°I can see there were extenuating circumstances as imed by Chief Guard Beyon, but the act of negligencemitted is nheless drastically apparent and unignorable.¡± ¡°Kuuhk¡­¡± Even then! You can¡¯t drink in the middle of a workday, can you!? ¡°The same sentence will be given to Chief Guard Beyon. Until further decisions are made by the centralmand center, Chief Guard Beyon will be deprived of all privileges, be demoted to a normal soldier and carry out the same duties as them untilmanded otherwise.¡± ¡°Kuuk¡­¡± He dropped his head in embarrassment, but I was being very lenient here. I came down after the final sentence and was met by Master¡¯s smile. ¡°That was surprisingly a magnanimous punishment.¡± ¡°He is a capable person. I just thought it would be okay to give him another chance.¡± ¡°The order ofmand is also clearly set thanks to that. It¡¯s like you caught two birds with one stone.¡± ¡°It is important wherever you go, after all.¡± It was crazy how much we had to suffer in thest iteration because of that. Going around everywhere as the ones who knew the future, we knew we had to prepare for the inevitable, but the people there always hated us for being ¡®outsiders that tried to intervene in everything possible¡¯. ¡°Sir Beyon.¡± I walked up to Chief Guard Beyon, who appeared greatly dejected and called his name with the title of ¡®sir¡¯. Normally, ording to the result of the trial, he was just a normal soldier and it was fine to call him by his name, but I was saving his face by still referring to him as a knight. ¡°¡­Your will, Sir Korin.¡± He seemed a bit surprised, but soon lowered his head. ¡°We intend to set this as our base camp before investigating what is beyond. However, we must first carry out aplete repair and renewed maintenance of this city, and we need the people of the city to provide assistance.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Beyon had a distressed look on his face, knowing that my proposal was realistically impossible to achieve. ¡°We have barely any budget left fromst year. The unending winter meant a stop in our economy and¡­ unless we send the citizens to chop down the nearby forest, we won¡¯t even have enough money for food¡­¡± ¡°There is no need to worry about that. Marie-sunbae?¡± ¡°Un.¡± Marie, who had been watching from the side the whole time walked closer. We had already discussed this beforehand, before we even set off. ¡°We will have the Hresvelgrs and the wyverns carry food. Please tell me if there are any other materials you need.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°Ah! It¡¯s free so don¡¯t worry. But we would need to borrow some temporary warehouses to store the potatoes.¡± ¡°Does that sound good?¡± I asked. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Beyon murmured, not knowing what to say. ¡°That solves the problem for food. Next up on priority would be repairing the walls. Summon all the able men of the city, and tell them they¡¯ll be paid with food and gold coins.¡± ¡°A, alright¡­!¡± This was a method that was proven to work in thest iteration. Operation name: Throw away money until everyone else starts to work. It was easier with Marie-sunbae around. **** The northern border city of Bifrost was not in an ideal state. Many facilities were close to crumbling down, and thest time the northern walls were repaired was 14 years ago. Some of the bricks were crushed and there were so many holes on the wall that they didn¡¯t even know where to begin. ¡°Thanks for the help, Marie-sunbae.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t take long, don¡¯t worry~.¡± Marie used her amplified mana to shoot water bombs at the wall. It wasn¡¯t to destroy it; it was to drench them with water. The water bombs exploded before contact and drenched the walls with water, which all quickly froze into ice. ¡°Since it¡¯s so cold, it should stay like this until the winter ends.¡± ¡°This should be fine for the time being.¡± Solid ice was tougher than some bricks. Our n was to repeat this process several times asyers, as widely as possible, so that the walls wouldst through the winter. ¡°Apparently the heating is not working properly in the city. Can you take some of the Red Cult mages to have a look?¡± ¡°Sure! Chunsik!¡± ¡°Yes, yes! Master! Please let this humble servant take care of it, Master!¡± Fortunately, we had hundreds of mages in our hands. There was, however, a problem with manualbor. ¡°Korin. We can use the citizens of city, but it¡¯s too cold for them to move properly. They don¡¯t have firewood either because of the longer winter.¡± We were able to fortify the walls again and arrange for food and materials. The next problem we had to tackle was the cold. ¡°How long would it take if we bring thick coats from the capital?¡± ¡°Even on Hresvelgrs, it would take a week at the very least.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too long. We would need some temporary measures to be in ce then.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± There was still some time until the ¡®valkyries¡¯ and the barbarians woulde attacking the northern walls, followed by the horde of monsters. ¡°Let me take care of that.¡± I headed to the highest ce within the city. There, I could see the citizens of the city cutting down nearby trees and transporting them to repair the walls. They were motivated by the food and the gold coins but there were still limits to what a human could do. The winter was getting even colder over time, and they were shivering like crazy, to the point that I was concerned they might die from frostbites. Only when backed by luxury and abundance was snow a sight to enjoy. In and as poor as this, the cold and the snow were like a horrible curse. ¡°I will lend a hand.¡± I gathered the divine energy of iomh Sis in the air above the city. ¨C Huh? What is this? ¨C Rain? The aura of the Sun immediately melted the snow and turned it into rain. The rain fell down, wetted the ground¡­ before freezing back into ice. Although there was less snow, this was bound to create a road of ice as soon as I retrieved the aura of the Sun. ¡°It¡¯s not bad but¡­¡± I focused more mana to float it in the sky. Before long, iomh Sis revealed its red ambience and manifested itself as a small sun. ¨C I, is that the Sun¡­? ¨C My word¡­ The citizens were baffled by the sheer sight of it. The manifested ball of fire was giving off such an intense heat that they could feel it with their skin¡­ and the raindrops evaporated before hitting the ground. ¡°S, Sir Korin¡­! What is going on!?¡± Sir Beyon, who looked for me to ask a question, was so shocked that his eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets. ¡°I will keep it up there for the time being. In the meantime, find ways to keep everyone warm.¡± ¡°H, haah¡­¡± He continued looking at the Sun with a nk gaze and gulped without even replying to what I said. The same appeared to be the case even for the citizens of the city. **** The research group that Korin brought was busy helping out with repairing the city ever since their arrival. They thought they would be going past the gates straight away and were therefore puzzled by the suddenmand to repair the walls, but were nheless obedient. It was natural though. It had already been 3 days since they came here, and seeing the Sun in the sky that was floating there ever since made them awe the one behind that heaven-defying phenomenon. ¡°Quick! Hurry up! We will quickly process the trees we cut up to repair the walls!¡± The guards and the soldiers stationed in the city, who had been constantly suffering from the insufficient budget, were thriving now that they had both manpower and food. This was the first repair in over a decade, and they were fully aware how this could be their only chance. ¨C Kung! That was when a human dropped from the sky with a gigantic tree on their shoulder. ¡°Huahk¡­!¡± Everyone turned around at the same time, but soon focused back on what they were doing, as if they were used to it. ¡°S, Sister Hua Ran! P, please. I beg you please don¡¯t jump down like that!¡± ¡°¡­This is faster.¡± To be fair, she wasn¡¯t wrong. The trees in the nearby forest were of high quality and were a perfect fit for repairing traps and walls, but the biggest issue was in their weight. Transporting it from the forest to the city was not an easy feat, and yet this tiny sister was able to hand-chop enormous trees, carry it on her shoulder and jump dozens of meters at once. She was much more efficient than hundreds of men working on it, but the guards couldn¡¯t help but feel startled whenever she wasnding near them with an enormous log on her shoulder. ¡°By the way, Sister Hua Ran, there has been a request for assistance from the trap install group. Apparently the ground is frozen so hard that they cannot dig deep. Would it be possible for you to lend them a hand?¡± Normally, it would be unthinkable to ask a Unique Grade knight to do something so trivial, but Hua Ran wasn¡¯t the authoritative type to worry about that, so she returned a nod. [They¡¯re all working so hard. Should we swap?] ¡°¡­It¡¯s okay.¡± Hua turned down Ran¡¯s offer, because this much of manualbor was nothing more than going on a walk for someone like her, who had the Unbreakable Vajra Body. [Let¡¯s make a lunch box in a bit and go over to where oppa is. He¡¯s working the hardest, after all.] ¡°¡­Will he, like mtang?¡± [He¡¯ll like anything you make, Hua.] Hua couldn¡¯t conceal the blush on her cheeks. [Let¡¯s add some bird meat inside.] ¡°There are¡­ only rabbits here.¡± [No. Look at the sky. There¡¯s a bird flying over there.] Hua turned towards the sky as suggested by her sister. Thanks to the sudden increase in temperature due to the Sun, it seemed that the nearby birds were also gathering nearby for refuge. ¡°I¡¯ll grab one of them.¡± Just like what she did when carrying the log around, Hua kicked off the ground. Crushing the ground beneath, Hua jumped straight into the sky. The ground beneath her zoomed out until it appeared like a white canvas but her eyes were stuck on that one big bird. ¨C Quack!? Before it could even react, the bird was grabbed on the neck by the girl wearing nun clothes, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It pped its wings but couldn¡¯t avoid the fate of falling towards the ground with Hua. ¡°Got it.¡± Right as she was about to snap the neck of the resisting bird, both Hua and Ran widened their eyes in shock. Two legs as thin as chopsticks; a long beak; wings were covered in white feathers except for the ends that were in ck. It was the only type of bird that Hua and Ran knew of, apart from chickens and eagles. ¡°¡­A stork?¡± [¡­A stork?] It was their long-awaited baby carrier. Chapter 227: Northern Walls (3) Chapter 227: Northern Walls (3) ? Northern Walls (3) ? It had been 4 days since our arrival at the border city of Bifrost, and the maintenance was well under way. Thanks to the Sun hovering in the sky, some of the people were even working without a shirt on, which created an interesting sight of people wearing and taking off their jackets on repeat depending on their location. ¡°A bit small.¡± ¡°A, apologies, but this is the biggest building we have in this city.¡± We were inside the training hall used by the Bifrost guards for a conference. Everyone was so close that we could all feel each other¡¯s warmth. ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s ufortable for everyone, but there¡¯s nothing we can do about it.¡±It was unavoidable, because there were hundreds of us inside this small building. ¡°We are going to start investigating what¡¯s beyond the walls. Any volunteers?¡± Everyone looked away slightly in response. It was just as I had expected. Even I would have preferred to stay over in the city instead of spending the night in the snowy mountains. ¡°Daesik.¡± ¡°Ah, yes! Master¡­!¡± ¡°Create a group of around 100 battle mages. The weather¡¯s like this so make sure to include the Red Cult folks. They have to make the fire for us.¡± ¡°Y, yes sir!¡± Despite being former elites of the Tower of Mages, none of them voiced aint even after hearing me treat them like lighters. It seemed Marie was a great teacher. ¡°Master. How are the runesing along?¡± ¡°I am still in the process of engraving them on all the major parts of the wall.¡± ¡°Master and Professor Josephine, please continue with the runes and¡­ Kranel and Yuel? Make sure the Wicker Warrior Upgrade version is ready to depart at any moment.¡± Yuel the Druid grumbled in response. ¡°Is it coboration work with this person again?¡± ¡°¡­Why?¡± ¡°Like. You¡¯re¡­ always so oddly enthusiastic whenever it¡¯s about creating golems.¡± Ignoring the two¡¯s banter, I continued on with forming the investigation team. ¡°Marie-sunbae and Alicia wille with me; Hua Ran will stay behind in the city just in case. As for Dorron and Germain¡­ Germain. Are you there?¡± ¡°Sorry? Yes! I am here, sunbae!¡± A hand shot up from the room of 200 people. ¡°You group up with Ren and Ron, and you will just be in charge of stand-by.¡± ¡°U, understood.¡± I chose roughly 500 that would be going with me on the investigation, with all of them being top-tier knights and mages. ¡°Uhh¡­ Sir Korin?¡± That was when Sir Beyon Solberg raised his hand. He was technically a normal soldier now, but that was just an official punishment, and he was still here in the conference for reference. ¡°What is it, Sir Beyon?¡± ¡°To my knowledge¡­ I heard the objective was to investigate the change in climate. But this¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s like we¡¯re going for a war, right?¡± ¡°No no no. What I mean is¡­¡± 800 might not be a lot, but what if all 800 were knights and mages. Even a conservative estimate of a guardian¡¯sbat prowess was equal to 100 normal soldiers. They were superhumans that normal civilians could never hope to defeat alone. Immobilizing 800 of such superhumans for a ¡®climate investigation¡¯ was a joke that no-one would believe. ¡°My guild members are aware of it already, but let me exin it so that the guards of the city can brace themselves as well.¡± I dered while looking at the small group of officers and Sir Beyon. ¡°The climate investigation is just a pretext. Our objective is to protect the northern wall and clean up the surroundings, holding on until the arrival of our allied forces under the lead of Her Holiness the Saintess.¡± , the first battle of thest episode. [Frost Giant ¨C NASTROND Field War] The reasons behind that devastating war were the fall of the northern walls, as well as the chaos within the kingdom due to the invading Valkyries and barbarians. If the winter were to continue like this and the northern walls were to be breached, we would have to see the reincarnation of the Frost Giant. ¡®But there is a very big difference in this iteration.¡¯ The prophecy about the ¡®era of the wolf¡¯ and ¡®beasts of darkness¡¯, which the prophets of the Old Faith had been rambling about, referred to none other than the Ren and Ron siblings¡­ and Miruam¡¯s Snake of Infinity. The three key characters of the prophecy were all on my side and the titan resurrection n had also failed with the fall of the Tower of Mages. Now, the Frost Giant was the only hand that Valtazar had remaining. If we could stop the reincarnation of that mythological demon king before the fact, then¡­ ¡®We will be able to go all out without reserve in the battle against Tates Valtazar.¡¯ ¡°There will be a huge monster waveing. It will be much bigger than what any of you can imagine.¡± ¡°A monster wave?¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the proof¡­?¡± Naturally, everyone apart from those that belonged in our guild, found it difficult to believe such a bold im. There was a great excuse I could rely on in times like this ¡°This is a prophecy from Her Holiness Saintess Estelle. I am sure you¡¯ve all heard the recent prophecies.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡°A p, prophecy from the Saintess¡­¡± ¡°Wait, then the Savior of the Sun is¡­!¡± The name value of the Saintess worked wonders as expected. In any case, I was done convincing them so now it was my time to give out some orders to my group. ¡°From now on, the Investigation Team¡¯s job is to get rid of all the demonic beasts and spirits in our vicinity. You¡¯ve been leaving them alone just because they were quiet, right? They will all ride along in the monster wave, so we have to deal with the strong ones ahead of time.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°After that¡­¡± The key to fending off the monster wave would be the Valkyries and the Northern Kingdom tribes that were forced toe down after refusing to follow Tates Valtazar. We had to stop them, who broke down the walls even before the arrival of Valtazar¡¯s hordes of monsters. ¡®Well¡­ I guess that¡¯s for me to worry about.¡¯ It¡¯s not like I failed in thest iteration either. Thosedies can be persuaded after all. **** After finishing her work, Hua quickly looked for one of the admin officials. ¡°Are there storks here, you ask?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The old official had been living here all his life, and was able to return the response that Hua had been wanting to hear. ¡°Yes. There is a habitat of storks nearby. They alwayse over during Spring, and it¡¯s a fabulous sight.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°But may I ask why you are asking such a question?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± She left the office and turned towards the Sun shining down on the city. [Hua. This is our chance.] ¡°¡­Un. I know.¡± However, right now wasn¡¯t the time. Both Hua and Ran were adults ¨C they had been in the social setting for a long time and knew how much it meant to have a baby. In a ce as cold as this, they knew they needed to be even more prepared. Therefore¡­ ¨C nk! ¡°W, w, what did you¡­ say?¡± In the middle of a meal, Josephine dropped her cutleries in doubt, refusing to believe what her ears had just picked up. However, Hua asked the same question with a clear voice. ¡°How do you prepare for raising babies?¡± ¡°W, w, why do you want to know that?¡± ¡°Because I need to.¡± ¡°Huup!¡± Josephine thought her breath was about toe to a stop. ¡°Y, you mean¡­¡± Josephine clenched on the fork again and rolled her eyes to nce around. Fortunately, everyone was busy with their city maintenance work and were having different lunch breaks and it was just the two of them. ¡°S, Student Hua Ran¡­ Did you¡­ spend the night, with Student Korin?¡± Hua Ran took that question literally. ¡°Yeah. Lots.¡± It wasn¡¯t just once or twice that she had slept on the same bed as Korin, so she replied like it wasn¡¯t a big deal. ¡°Holy¡­¡± Josephine saw the sky falling in her eyes. She did hear how kids these days had such experiences at an earlier age, but was it really true? What has the worlde to?! And Student Korin of all people! Korin Lork! The trust Josephine had for him in spite of all the negative rumors had been betrayed! ¡°Ahh. What of Erin then¡­¡± My poor mother¡­ Josephine found it hard to contain her sorrow, but there was nothing that could be done. ¡°Hua Ran¡­ Is Ran there as well?¡± ¡°¡­Yeah.¡± ¡°Are you two¡­ ready to raise a baby?¡± They were both young girls in the prime of their youth. There was no way that they could be ready to have kids already¡­ ¡°Yes.¡± However, Hua returned a resolute response, which conveyed that Ran must have the same resolve as well. ¡°Fuu¡­¡± Josephine sighed. ¡°It feels like just yesterday that you were just a young baby who didn¡¯t know anything about the world¡­¡± The girl they had brought over from the east had grown up so much in such a short period of time¡­ Josephine lifted her sses up and gave Hua Ran a tight hug. ¡°It will be hard. Having a baby is nothing easy.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°But¡­ there is still plenty of time, so you can take it slow.¡± Josephine said after ncing at her belly which was still just as t, thinking that it was probably only 2~3 weeks in. However, Hua tilted her head and remarked. ¡°I need to know now.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Was she anxious now that she was pregnant? Josephine realized how much of a change bearing a child brings to a person, because it certainly wasn¡¯t usual for this nonchnt girl to be in this much of a hurry. ¡°Alright. Then let us practice for it ahead of time¡­¡± Josephine took her out to the city. **** Mages were fundamentally a very high-ssborer. Actually, the expression, borer¡¯ wasn¡¯tmonly used to refer to these ¡®ssy¡¯ people who would feel offended to be called one. The path of magic was an academic study seeking truth and looking to revolutionize the world. As such, the only path for them was forward, as they sought to reach the stars in the sky. At least that was the misconception many mages had, but as someone praised as an uing great mage of the future, Marie Dunareff knew how convenient of a tool magic was. They could start a fire at a ce devoid of embers andbine the molecules in the air to pour out water when the farnds needed a refresher. Even ck magic, which people often thought of as evil, could be a great device when used properly, by for example making chimeras that could serve as domestic animals in the farnd. But it was rare to see development in the so-called ¡®life-magic¡¯ area, because mages were way too expensive for their services. ¡°Chunsik. Go light that on fire and Daesik;e here and grow these nts.¡± However, now that the mages of the Tower of Mages had fallen from grace into ves and their lofty mindsets reduced to a joke¡­ ¡°This water stinks. Is this too hard for you guys?¡± Mages were nothing but useful tools. ¡°A, apologies, Master!¡± ¡°Daesik! Put some herbs in the water!¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing it already, Chunsik!¡± The mages that used to each represent a cult in the once-sublime Tower of Mages, had fallen so much from grace that they had even lost their names. ¡°Looks good. Well done making the hot spring. Go to the city and help the people out now.¡± ¡°U, understood!¡± ¡°Oh right. Chunsik, go bake some potatoes.¡± ¡°On it¡­!¡± After ordering around the super-high-ss elite mages with just words, Marie looked at thepleted hot spring with a smile. ¡°Fuu~. There are some medical herbs good for rxation as well so~ it should be helpful for Korin, right?¡± Considering how his routine was having a good bath after sweating buckets at the training room, he was bound to love it. ¡°Hehe¡­ Should I ask if he wants to go in together? Auh¡­! T, that¡¯s a bit too much, right! Ahaha¡­ How embarrassing¡­¡± Marie shook those happy but delusional thoughts away, because she knew Korin would refuse doing things that were too immoral. However, she still felt the need to advance their rtionship a little bit more. She still couldn¡¯t forget the sense of urgency and fear she felt a few months ago during the war to take Korin as the son-inw. Biting into the potatoes that were baked by Chunsik, Marie tried to think of what the bottom line would be that Korin wouldn¡¯t be repulsed by. ¡°Hmm¡­! Right! This is it!¡± First off would be the hot spring. He would of course turn down the mixed bath, so she didn¡¯t even n to ask about it. But what about straight after the bath? The skin would be warm and moist, serving as a great nket and a pillow. ¡®I¡¯ll ask if I can drink some blood¡­ cuddle close and when it¡¯s over, I will suggest we ¡®rest¡¯ together.¡¯ It was a method suggested by Isabelle, proven to work on several asions. She could let him rest on her body. Korin had the tendency to fall asleep straight away when resting on her soft chest so¡­ ¨C Gulp! ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± Unable to contain the corners of her lips, Marie giggled to herself. All she had to do now was invite Korin. In order to make the first move before others were even aware of the hot spring, Marie headed to the city to find him. She knew where Korin was ¨C he was always at the same ce keeping the Sun up in the sky, and must be quite tired by now. ¡°Un un! He must be! He must be super tired!¡± All she was doing was try alleviating some of his stress. It was for his benefit. Telling herself that, she was walking to where Korin was, and came across some unexpected people. ¡°This?¡± ¡°Yes. The carpenters here are more skilled than I was expecting.¡± Oblivious to her presence, the two of them were talking to themselves. ¡°Hua Ran and¡­ Professor Josephine?¡± It was rare to see the two of them strolling around the city together. Were they here to buy something? Marie was about to call their names when she heard apletely unexpected set of words. ¡°I heard babies are fond of toys like this.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡®Babies?¡¯ Why were they talking about babies? Were they trying to give that wooden toy as a gift to some of the babies in the city? ¡°Well. You can buy this ahead of time. Student Hua Ran¡­ Or perhaps I shouldn¡¯t refer to you like that anymore. Because you are a proud mother of a child already¡­¡± ¡®Ehk? Ehk?¡¯ Wait. Wait. ¡°By the way, does Korin know already? That he will have a baby soon?¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t know yet.¡± ¡°Fuu¡­ You should quickly tell him. He lost his self-control andid his hands on you¡­ so you never know who else he is going to target with his demonic hands¡­¡± ¡°He will find out soon.¡± Marie dropped the potato she was eating. ¨C Crush! The potato crumbled the moment it fell on the ground and so did her heart. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 228: Northern Walls (4) Chapter 228: Northern Walls (4) ? Northern Walls (4)? At the center of the city was a temporary amodation constructed thanks to the cooperation of 30 mages, where the members of Korin Guardians were staying. It was finally time for a little break and a meal after a long and arduous day of hard work. Enjoying the high-ss tea purchased from the capital, Alicia was babbling about what she experienced during the day. ¡°The nks that were ced on the walls suddenly started falling down. It almost ended up hurting a bunch of people but¡ª¡± She was essentially bragging about how she saved a bunch of people that were in danger. The person sitting on the other side of the table was Marie, who was nibbling on boiled potatoes with her eyes nkly gazing at the rippling surface of her tea cup. The ripple on the surface of the tea, by the way, was due to her quivering hands. ¡°Marie-sunbae?¡±¡°¡­¡± Noticing that she wasn¡¯t really focused on the conversation, Alicia found it strange and asked for her attention, since she was usually the nice kind of person who would say, ¡®I see!¡¯ and ¡®Well done!¡¯ tomend her for her actions. ¡°Sunbae? Sunbae!¡± ¡°H, huh? Huh?!¡± Marie woke up from her stupor with a flinch. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Alicia worriedly asked. ¡°You seem out of it today.¡± ¡°Y, yeah¡­ A, actually¡­¡± Her mind was preupied by the conversation between Hua Ran and Josephine that she overheard from the side. ¡®Pregnant? Hua Ran? There¡¯s no way. I must have misheard it.¡¯ It was that Hua Ran we were talking about. It was a different story for Ran, but Hua? Really? It had to be a misunderstanding. Marie constantly told herself that she must have heard it wrong. It was then. ¨C Creak! They turned towards the entrance and found Hua Ran walking in with an indifferent look on her face. ¡°Hua Ran-ssi! Are you done with your night shift?¡± Alicia asked. ¡°Un.¡± Hua gave the usual curt response, oblivious to Marie staring deeply at her with a gulp. ¡°Did you eat already?¡± Hua Ran asked. ¡°Yes. There is a set time when dinner is served so we ended up eating ahead of time.¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯m just going to sleep¡­ Actually.¡± She suddenly stopped her feet and changed her mind, which was a rare thing for her to do. ¡°Are there¡­ beans?¡± ¡°W, why beans?¡± ¡°I heard it¡¯s good for the baby¡­ I mean, body.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± W, what did I hear just then? Marie was doubting her ears, refusing to believe what she heard, when something dropped on the ground with a bump. A cylindrical container was rolling towards them. ¡°Hua Ran-ssi. You dropped somethi¡ª¡± Alicia picked it up and was in the middle of reminding Hua Ran but¡­ she couldn¡¯t help but pause after realizing what it was. ¡°Hnn? Baby milk?¡± Swallowing the burning question of ¡®Why¡¯, Alicia threw a nce at Hua Ran. She calmed herself down as much as possible before asking the inevitable question. ¡°Umm¡­ Hua Ran-ssi? What is this?¡± ¡°Baby milk dispenser. I bought it nearby.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ Was there a baby among the orphans?¡± ¡°No?¡± Then why¡­? Before Alicia could ask that question, Hua walked towards Marie, who was trembling like there was no tomorrow. ¡°Marie.¡± ¡°Y, yeah?¡± ¡°Do you have breast milk?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Both Alicia and Marie were lost for words from that sudden andpletely unexpected question. ¡°W, why are you asking that?¡± It was a blunder. She was supposed to reply, ¡®No¡¯, but the sudden question added to the blocks of doubt made her inquire the reason instead. ¡°¡­I heard breast milk was better than powder milk. You look like you have a lot of milk.¡± ¡°H, huh? Huh? Like¡­¡± So why do you need it? Why!? Hua mumbled, ¡®Is there none in there?¡¯ before turning around and walking away. ¡°Umm¡­ uhh¡­¡± At this point, even Alicia was able to tell what was going on. ¡­ ¡­ The living room without Hua Ran remained silent for a very long time, with two people ncing at one another the whole time. **** ¡°Fuu~. Done on this end.¡± Erin Danua was a person with iparable loftiness, perseverance and diligence. Ever since her arrival at the city, she had been zealously engraving runes all over the walls without taking a single rest. In total, they amounted to more than a hundred thousand runes. ¡°I want to see Korin~¡± She had been so busy these past few days that she hadn¡¯t been able to see Korin. Korin and herself were the only rune mages in the entire city, and Korin was busy keeping the Sun up whilst dealing with the nearby demonic beasts, so Erin had to engrave the runes in his stead in preparation for the uing monster waves. ¡®It¡¯s time for the valkyries to arrive as well.¡¯ The most ideal turn of events would be Erining to contact with them before anything else. A confrontation between the anti-Tates tribes of the Northern Kingdom and the kingdom¡¯s army had to be kept at a minimum casualty. ¡°ra. We are done here. Can you teleport me to the other side?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°ra?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ yes! W, what was that again?¡± Erin stopped for a while, upon seeing that Josephine was a bit all over the ce. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± she asked. ¡°N¡­ No! Nothing!¡± Her actions were much more exaggerated than usual. As a 100-year-long acquaintance, Erin was able to see through that disparity in an instant. ¡°Something did happen, huh.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Simrly, Josephine knew that she wouldn¡¯t be able to deceive her. Seeing the warm and benevolent light in her eyes, Josephine felt her heart ache for some reason. ¡°Tell me. I might be able to help you.¡± ¡®No¡­ I don¡¯t think you should know about it though¡­¡¯ Josephine swallowed those words back in. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± she replied. ¡°I¡¯m pondering whether I should act as your friend¡­ or as an educator¡­¡± As someone who hoped for the best of Erin¡¯s love, Josephine wanted to share the information as quickly as possible, but at the same time, she was Korin and Hua Ran¡¯s teacher. It felt like it would be going against her moral standards to talk about their sensitive rtionship without their consent. ¡°That is an interesting thing to be troubled about. Go with thetter,¡± Erin suggested. ¡°Uhh¡­ Is that okay?¡± ¡°Of course. We are the teachers of those children. We have the duty to choose what is best for them.¡± She said that with such a benevolent smile on her face that it was painful for Josephine. **** The northern regions of the current kingdom, was originally an uninhabitednd. Thends were full of gravel, making it impossible to farm, and there was also the constant downpour of barbarians and demons. It was none other than the El Rath Kingdom, which forced its inhabitants to those harsh, under-developednds of the north. They were essentially serving the role of a meat shield, staying there for the safety of the entire kingdom. However, despite the amount of money and manpower they were willing to put in, conquering the north was not an easy feat. In the end, the barbarians even formed a union called the ¡®Northern Kingdom¡¯ to stand up against them, and after several failed attempts and fruitless ventures, the El Rath Kingdom soon gave up after building the ¡®great wall¡¯. The kingdom neglected the north, which eventually gave birth to more demons. The Frost Walker. Talons of Northern Wind. The Great Bear. Those three were the infamous demonic beasts residing in the north of the great wall. Although Beyon had been drinking his days away in these remotends of the harsh winter, he had long heard of how monstrous the so-called 3 great demons were. One of his memories of them was based on that one time when he witnessed one of them from a distance in the middle of a rare expedition to a nearby nest of demons. ¨C KUWOOOOOOOOO¡ª! [B, Boss. It¡¯s here! That¡¯s the Frost Walker!] [We have to run!] Back then, Beyon had been fully confident that he could slice any of the three demons to pieces the moment he saw them. However, the moment he faced them in real life, he realized how stupid he had been. The Frost Walker was a real monster. Telling himself that, he ordered his group a full retreat without even thinking of fighting it. ¨C KUWOOOOOOOO! And yet that monster ¨C one of those horrifying 3 great demons¡­ ¡°Vanguards, hold your ground. Mages, attack one group at a time.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t push yourselves! You can fall back if you don¡¯t think you can take it!¡± It was being hunted. The hunter was being hunted one-sidedly before the overwhelming might of the guardians. ¡°There¡¯s nothing they can do before a number¡¯s game.¡± Even the War Mammoth, Frost Walker, which trampled on everything with each of its steps¡ª The Talons of Northern Wind, which camouged in the snowynds with its white fur, to hunt humans¡ª ¡°GUWOOOO¡­!¡± ¡°Sir Korin! Be carefu¡ª¡± ¨C Kwakk! ¡°UWOO?¡± And even the Great Bear, which could shred half-giants to pieces with its overwhelming strength¡­ ¡°I need your hide, so I¡¯ll be gentle. Don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°UWO?¡± ¨C Kaduk! The monsters, who had been protecting their territories with full confidence in their own might, were crumbling down one by one before the true disy of power. **** The hunt of named demonic beasts around the walls ended without an issue. The three named demonic beasts of the north, that were supposed to wreak havoc in the kingdom along with the monster wave, were a tough foe to beat even with a maxed out party. However, they still stood no chance before hundreds of knights and legions of mages. ¡°With that, we¡¯re done dealing with all the dangerous ones.¡± The white snowy ins were filled with the dead bodies of the monsters. Their innards were frozen and the stinky scent of fresh blood was the only remaining sign that they had been alive just moments ago. [Battlefront g Bearer] ¨C You are the symbol of the battlefield. You are the brightest g bearer of every war, and a central figure that must not fall. ¨C You will be at the center of attention during a war. Your stats will change depending on your ally¡¯s faith. ¨C All your allies will be psychologically anxious if you fall. ¡ù You have reached 60% of Attention. All of your stats have increased by 20%. Right. It was about time for this passive skill to finally get to work. This was one of the reasons why I was leading the monster hunt myself. Bing the center of attention in a battlefield, the yer would shoulder the hope and admiration of the ones behind them to be stronger. That was the nature of the passive ability, [Battlefront g Bearer], and was one of the top passive skills aside from [Precepts], which wasn¡¯t a part of the game. ¡®I¡¯ll be getting stronger the more active a role I y in a battlefield.¡¯ Beating the Great Bear 1-on-1 in a battle of pure strength increased the Attention gauge by 20%. This was probably the reason why Park Sihu had intentionally done those eye-catching actions inrge-scale battles. ¡°Boss. Can I ask a question,¡± asked Dorron after walking up. It was obvious what he was going to ask so I replied without even waiting for it. ¡°Cut out the hide and share it among everyone to weather the cold. You can make sure it¡¯s split up equally.¡± ¡°I love how you treat the lower-ones like us so well, Boss.¡± ¡°Leave the by-products from the Great Bear and the Talons of Northern Winter. I need them for something.¡± ¡°What about the War Mammoth, Frost Walker?¡± ¡°Deal with it however you want.¡± There were over 3,000 demons that we hunted today. Sharing them up equally would amount to quite a lot of profit for everyone. They had to make use of this time well, because this was the only time we could spend gathering up the remains of the monsters. We won¡¯t even be able to leave the gates once the monster wave actually begun. ¡°You can head back first, Boss. We¡¯ll take care of the rest.¡± Enjoying the special right of a higher-up, I left the chores to everyone else and headed back to the city. ¡°Fuu~. Quite exhausting.¡± It has been a week since I¡¯ve held the Sun up in the air, and I even had to go hunt demonic beasts. However, it was all worthwhile because all that was left was to meet the valkyries. I decided to take a rest until then. I limped my way back to our amodation, andid down on the tough wooden bed in my room. ¡°¡­¡± Despite it being not even remotely close in terms offort to the elegant bed we had back in the office¡­ I fell asleep straight away. I entered a very deep sleep. **** These past few days, Hua and Ran learned everything about raising a baby under Josephine. They bought toys that the baby would use to y as well as food that was easy to digest. Apparently, it seemed that breast milk was better than powdered milk. They could find a nanny but the best would be the mother breast-feeding the baby. But there was a problem. [Would there be enough milking out from our breasts?] The two of them were concerned whether their breasts would be sufficient enough to feed a baby. Compared to the peers of her age, it wasn¡¯t like Hua Ran was incredibly slow in growth or anything, but the onlyparable people she had near her were Marie and Alicia. Especially Marie¡¯s breasts were so big that it sometimes made her wonder whether those were that of a human or a cow, so it certainly wasn¡¯t a healthyparison for her. The two had a vague assumption that bigger breasts would equal more milk. [We are perfectly prepared. Tonight is the night.] ¡°Un.¡± They were ready to raise a baby ¨C all they needed to do now was have one. Who could have guessed that there were storks in this area? These past few days, Hua Ran was able to confirm that neither Marie nor Alicia had noticed the existence of storks. They were fools. They were wasting this perfect opportunity. Hua and Ran scoffed internally at their love rivals, who didn¡¯t even know about the storks in this area that would be carrying the babies to them. ¨C Creak! She walked up the stairs inrge strides. Hua Ran had spent several nights with Korin hand-in-hand already. Korin should know what that meant, so he shouldn¡¯t be surprised by it either. Tonight; in this city, often visited by storks¡­ [We will hold his hands to sleep.] ¡°Un.¡± After spending the night like that¡­ a stork will surely be bringing them a beautiful baby. ¨C Click! Normally, Hua Ran would have knocked on the door, but she was slightly more nervous today and opened the door abruptly without even a knock. ¡°Korin. Today, can we also¡ª¡± The moment she entered the room, she found a brown-haired girl trying to squeeze her way in through the window¡­ ¡°¡­Woof?¡± And inside the room was arge red dog carrying the sleeping Korin on its shoulders, as well as a girl with water-colored hair, frozen stiff on the spot with her eyes wide open. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± In the middle of the night. With everyone else asleep. The three criminals trespassing the room of a single man awkwardly stared at each other in silence. ¡°Woof.¡± Doggo summed up what was happening in one simple sentence. What a clown fiesta. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 229: Northern Walls (5) Chapter 229: Northern Walls (5) ? Northern Walls (5)? Alicia was the daughter of a concubine. Throughout her early childhood in the Arden Household, she became fully aware of her position. The child of a concubine. The oue of adultery. An illegitimate child. Because of the background she was raised in¡­ her view on marriage was slightly distortedpared to others. ¡®Hmm¡­ Hua Ran-ssi¡­¡¯ Looking at those suspicious actions just then¡­ Alicia assumed that Hua Ran wasn¡¯t even trying to hide it. Whatever the case, it seemed evident that Hua Ran was pregnant with Korin¡¯s child.¡°That¡¯s a bit unexpected¡­¡± Alicia did think that someone would assault Korin before others. Marie, Hua Ran, Estelle, Miruam, Lunia-unni and Chairman Erin. She did have the anticipation that someone would be unable to wait out this stalemate and make the first move. However, she wasn¡¯t expecting that to be Hua Ran. ¡°I thought it would be Marie-sunbae if anyone.¡± Although she was on the docile sidepared to all the other women around Korin, Alicia knew how indecent she actually was on the inside. In fact, Marie might even be the most un-innocent person in the group. ¡°Well¡­ Anyway.¡± Korin-ssi had done it with Hua Ran. Alicia found it slightly odd that it was in this specific time and asion out of every possible situation, but looking at it from another perspective, maybe it meant that he couldn¡¯t hold himself any longer. ¡°Then~ I won¡¯t hold myself back either.¡± Since Hua Ran had done it already, there was no reason for her to hold herself anymore. The first step was always the hardest one to take, and Alicia thought that it was now her turn. It was quite a strange perspective to hold, but Alicia found nothing wrong with it and sincerely wanted to carry out her ns. She had no ns of keeping Korin all to herself in the first ce. One of her small (?) dreams was to have as big of a family as possible. First mother, second mother, third mother¡­ Hmm, as long as Korin¡¯s energy couldst, Alicia was okay with around ten. What she wanted was a big family where a hundred sons and daughters could run around arge mansion,ughing and joking, with love for each other. Due to growing up while receiving only the love of her rather-indifferent older sister, Alicia had a yearning for a big family full of love. ¡®I have to tell unni to assault him as quickly as possible when shees.¡¯ It truly was a distorted and strange perception of a family that she had. ¡°Korin-ssi~¡± Sliding open the window of the 3rd floor, what Alicia came across was¡ª ¡°¡­¡­Woof.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± Doggo carrying Korin, as well as Marie giving the orders. ¡°¡­¡± As well as Hua Ran, who despite hercking sexual education, was here to basically do the same thing. **** Ever since she saw Hua Ran going around looking for items for babies, Marie couldn¡¯t calm herself down. Hua Ran was pregnant with Korin¡¯s baby. It was a great shock to her, but Marie soon began organizing her thoughts. ¡®Then¡­ Is Korin going to marry Hua Ran?¡¯ That would be a horrifying future, which she didn¡¯t even want to see in her dreams. However, it was a very possible thing to happen. It reminded her of the illusion she saw at thends of druids beyond the eastern borders; the beautiful wedding dress Hua Ran was wearing while holding Korin¡¯s hand. The glimpse into that terrible possibility was lingering in her mind. What had she done after witnessing that, she asked herself. She waited years upon years, beforeing to a conclusion. That she couldn¡¯t ept any form of defeat. She acknowledged the filthy and lowly side that was in her. No matter what she had do ¨C whether it included tricks, conspiracies, her money or authority¡­ no matter how dirty it might seem on the outside¡­ She could never ept defeat as an oue. ¡®Thankfully, Korin still doesn¡¯t know about it.¡¯ Based on the conversation she heard, it seemed that Korin was still unaware of the fact that Hua Ran had bore his child. Which meant¡­ ¡®It¡¯s not an official rtionship yet.¡¯ What determined who the winner was? The winner would be the one standing next to Korin. In other words, it was marriage. The one marrying him would be the winner. In that sense, Hua Ran was at a huge advantage, because having his baby meant Korin had a sense of responsibility for it. And Korin Lork was not someone who would turn away from his own child. Put in other words, the baby was the only disadvantage she had. With that in mind, her thoughts reached a dangerous conclusion. ¡°What if I also¡­¡± ¡°Woof?¡± Doggo, who heard her mutter from her shadows, voiced out his confusion. ¨C I might be 2 years old and young, but I still don¡¯t think this is what a normal person would think of. ¡°Ehem!¡± Ignoring Doggo¡¯s opinion, Marie immediately headed to the room Korin was staying in. A baby, right? If she had his baby as well, they would be on the same page again. What did she have to do to have a baby? There was only one answer to that question. Doing the deed. It was time¡­ to discard the patience and unleash her bottled-up desires. ¡°Woof, woof woof¡­¡± ¨C For real? Are you serious? Mom? ¡°Doggo. Quiet down and just open the door.¡± She squeezed her shadow in through the locked door and summoned Doggo on the other side. As soon as Doggo opened the door, Marie walked inrge strides towards Korin. ¨C Kuu¡­ Korin was in a deep sleep due to the built-up fatigue. Marie used sleeping magic on him just in case. Officially acknowledged as a Unique Grade mage, she was one of the strongest mages of the continent. Although most of her strength was in destructive spells, there was still no doubt that Marie herself was a talented mage. Even though Korin¡¯s magic resistance wasn¡¯t bad by any means, he didn¡¯t stand much chance against a great mage with arguably the top mana pool from the entire continent. After putting him in a deep sleep, Marie decided to move him in case there would be distractions. She had alreadymanded the mages to create a secret base so she would head there and¡ª ¨C Click! ¨C Creak! That was when she found two girls who each entered from the window and the door. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± **** The room stayed dead silent ¨C so silent that even the sound of a crawling ant could be heard. The three girls confronted each other in awkwardness. Why? What is the goal? For what purpose? None of them had such obvious questions in mind. They all had an instinctive understanding that their love rivals were all here to fulfill the same goal. The timer was on for the bomb but not one of them was ready to open their mouth. Surprisingly, it was Alicia who soon broke the silence. ¡°Uhh¡­ Should we take turns?¡± That was immediately when Hua Ran punched the air. ¨C Kwang! Her fist of demonic aura smashed through the air. Everything that came across the force of her punch disintegrated into molecules. It took less than 0.3 seconds for a small corner of the 3rd floor of the mansion to literally disappear. ¡°Doggo!¡± Marie reacted in a sh. While retaliating with ice arrows, she ordered Doggo to carry her. ¨C Kwaang! Doggo picked her up and kicked off the ground to break through the roof. Korin and Marie were safely being carried in his hands. ¡°¡­You!¡± Hua Ran red at Marie who was now floating in the air. She aimed for the moment of her descent and readied herself to simrly kick off the ground, but Marie had no ns ofing back down. ¡°Over there!¡± Marie waved her hand once and froze the air to make it into a momentary scaffold. ¡°Woof!¡± Doggonded on the frozen panels in the air and raced across majestically, as if running through the night sky. ¡°Huu¡­ Even Hua Ran shouldn¡¯t be able to fly¡ª¡± ¨C Kwaang! That was when someone flew into the air with the sound of the building crumbling down. With her sheer strength, Hua Ran kicked off the floor, all the way until she was right before Marie and Doggo! ¡°Hand him over.¡± Hua Ran reached out but was met by dozens of Blood Spears. Kagagang! The frozen spears of blood shattered immediately upon contact with Hua Ran¡¯s body. Attacks like those meant nothing before her Unbreakable Vajra Body. ¨C Pababang! A hole was made in the sky. The pressure of her punches prated through the clouds and pushed everything else away, including the ice scaffolds in the air that Doggo was using to run. ¡°Woof!¡± ¡°Doggo!¡± Doggo began falling from the sky. He subconsciously prioritized Marie in the midst and ended up dropping Korin from his arms. ¡°N, no!¡± Marie reached her arms out but Korin, forced into a deep sleep, continued his helpless descent to the ground. Hua Ran was also falling due to gravity, but her speed was nowhere near the speed she had when jumping up. ¡°I got him!¡± That was when Alicia shouted out loud while jumping from roof to roof. ¡°Hoit¡­!¡± After catching Korin in the air, Alicia rolled on the rooftop but did not let go of him until the end. ¡°Yes!¡± Alicia stood up and gazed down at the sleeping Korin with a smile. ¡°Fuu~. Looks like he¡¯s not hurt.¡± She scanned the surroundings in a split fraction of a second. It would take 4.5 seconds for Hua Ran tond back down, and more for Marie and Doggo. ¡°Trying to take him all for yourself is bad.¡± Alicia tried to run away carrying Korin until the two of them were to settle back down. However, a high-pressure punch full of demonic aura stopped her in her tracks. ¡°Uhk¡­!¡± Immediately before being struck by it, Alicia unsheathed her sword with her remaining hand and turned to the sky. Eyes of Boundary. Her eyes were able to read through the gaps of the invisible and shapeless pressure of aura. ¡°It is certainly a scary amount but¡­!¡± She responded with a horizontal sh of the Demon-ying sword. A small crack appeared on the shapeless aura, and the pressure was dissolved from a single sh of the sword. ¡°It¡¯s nothing if it doesn¡¯tnd.¡± As expected of the new Sword Fiend, her mastery over the sword had reached an artistic level. ¡°Aht?¡± The air suddenly started to freeze as Alicia turned to the roof and found her feet had been frozen down. ¡°Uhmm¡­¡± And coincidentally, that was right when the following punch had been thrown out by Hua Ran! ¨C Kwaaang! **** Erin was on the way back to the mansion after working on runes untilte at night. ¡°Fuu~ I should be able to take a rest starting tomorrow.¡± She had to finish the work by today because of the visitors that would be visiting soon. Due to that, ever since her arrival at the border city, Erin had constantly been busy engraving runes on the wall. But finally, it was over. ¡®Korin said he would be taking a break until the Valkyries arrived so¡­ maybe we should spend some time together.¡¯ Excuses were easy toe up with. Even justbeling it a spear practice session would allow the two of them to spend quality time together. ¡°Kyaak¡­ W, what am I saying¡­ How immature of me¡­¡± Erin felt her cheeks flush just from imagining the time she would be spending alone with Korin. Her heart had been quivering ever since she was made aware of her feelings, and she had no idea how she was able to muster up the courage to kiss him that one night. ¡°Kuhum¡­ Those young girls are always with him so¡­ I should be able to keep him for myself for a bit¡­¡± That sounded like a great idea. Erin was forming ns about how she should ask him out tomorrow morning to invite him out to practice spearmanship together when¡­ ¨C Kwang! ¨C Kwagang! ¨C Kwaaaang! ¡°Huh?¡± Roars suddenly began to rece the silence of the border city. Thinking that this might be an early invasion, Erin looked around in surprise. ¡°W, what is going on¡­!¡± She quickly jumped up the building next to up and climbed onto the roof, and heard a scream. ¡°Kyaaahk¡­!¡± Someone fell on the rooftop next to her and rolled across, whom Erin was able to immediately recognize. It was Alicia. ¡°Alicia! What is happening?¡± ¡°Uhk¡­ Chairman?¡± Alicia dropped the person she was carrying in her arms after seeing her. ¡°K, Korin?¡± The person that rolled out of her arms was none other than her favorite disciple. ¡®Oh no¡­ How could he look so adorable even in his sleep?¡¯ She was thinking something silly when three more peoplended on the rooftop they were in. ¡°¡­Hand him over.¡± ¡°Doggo¡­¡± ¡°Woof!¡± The girls walked forward while giving off a threatening demeanor. Erin gulped and tried to make sense of what was happening. ¡°U, uhm guys? I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening but let¡¯s first calm down¡­¡± In the process, she instinctively pulled Korin tightly into her arms. ¡®There is a strong curse of sleep cast on him.¡¯ Erin attempted to remove the curse using runes. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The curse was so strong that Korin was still having trouble waking up, but that was when a sword pointed at Erin¡¯s neck. It was Alicia. ¡°Hmm¡­ It would be troubling if you woke him up. I would like Korin-ssi to remain still today.¡± ¡°A, Alicia?¡± ¡°¡­Let him go, Erin.¡± ¡°Chairman¡­ Please step back.¡± The three girls approached her with a frightening look in their eyes. Erin just couldn¡¯tprehend what was going on. ¡°C, calm down everyone. What¡¯s gotten into you?¡± ¡®I, is this normal for kids these days?¡¯ Had she fallen behind in the current trends by this much? With suchmenting thoughts in mind, Erin started to dash under the night sky. **** One of the warriors of the great gods who would open the ¡®gates¡¯ andmand the legion of the gods in the time of apocalypse, Valkyrie Hilde, was observing the border city of Bifrost under themands of her oldest sister, Brunhild. These past few days, Bifrost was clearly suspicious. They began repairing the walls that had been neglected for a long time, and hundreds of knights and mages were dispatched to deal with the nearby demonic beasts. Thanks to that, Brunhild and the group were able to escape south from the ¡®shadow demons¡¯ without much retaliation from other demons but¡­ ¡®Strange. Has there always been such a strong army residing in Bifrost?¡¯ It wasn¡¯t good for them. Brunhild, the Valkyries and the affiliated Northern Kingdom tribes had to cross the walls nto survive. Of course, their n was to start off with a conversation to request a way in, but it was highly unlikely for the El Rath Kingdom, with their long history of strife against the Northern Kingdom tribes, to ept them. That was why they needed force. If she and her sisters were strong¡­ they could break through the border city. Their n was to show off their might and make it easier to negotiate peacefully but¡­ ¡°What the hell is that¡­¡± The skies were roaring; the air was being frozen, and clouds were being dispersed. Throughout her life, Hilde had encountered countless powerhouses and witnessed their battles. During the final war, she had fought against the Frost and me Giants, and even witnessed the final moments of great gods. What she saw back then¡­ was truly fitting to be called the war of gods. Surprisingly, a heaven-defying battle that didn¡¯t fall short of that war in the past was being unraveled before her eyes. ¡°Uhh¡­ Uhm¡­¡± Can we¡­ show off anything? ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­ The long night finally came to an end. Korin raised his body, which for some reason, ached all around. ¡°Ahh, kuaahk¡­!¡± What? What was happening? Why was he so tired? Seeing how it was already morning, it meant that he had taken a long sleep and yet his body was aching all around as if he had bashed up the whole night. Fighting against the fatigue, he somehow washed himself and came down to the shared cafeteria and found the same usual faces. ¡°Yo~. You are all here already.¡± ¡°¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡±¡± The girls weed him with silence. It was strange how all of them had bandages and band-aids all over their body. ¡°Uhh¡­ what is it? Did something happenst night? Why are you all¡­¡± ¡°Nothing happened.¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± ¡°¡­Nothing.¡± The three of them returned the same words at once. Before he could dig into that suspicious response, he found Erin off in the distance. ¡°Master?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Erin, who always had a benevolent and generous smile on her face, gave him a fatigued smile with an exhausted gaze. ¡°Nothing happened¡­¡± W, what was wrong with everyone? It was scary! This was how Park Sihu was like for a long time in thest iteration when he found out about Miruam¡¯s pregnancy. ¡®What is it? I¡­ haven¡¯t done anything wrong recently, have I?!¡¯ It would be harsh to me him for not being able to predict the misunderstanding that was made from storks. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 230: Barbarians (1) ? Barbarians (1) ? In the original storyline of the game, the fall of the northern walls didn¡¯t garner much attention. A winter longer than usual, the sudden fall of the northern walls, poison spreading in the south, the invasion of the east by the heretics and the rebellion of the Xeruem Order. Numerous incidents broke out at once; the kingdom was in utter chaos and removing the cause of the winter was the job of the yer. As people that were aware of this future, Park Sihu and I had tried our best to prepare for it in thest iteration. We stopped Dun Scaith from pouring the venom into the southern river, and stopped the Xeruem¡¯s rebellion ahead of time. The Sword Emperor dealt with the problems of the east by himself even in the game, so we headed north after the south and the west to protect the walls but¡­ [How did it not evenst 3 days?] The walls, which we thought wouldst the longest, fell much quicker than expected.¡°I can see why.¡± The reason for that was unraveled before our eyes. ¨C WAHHHHHHHH¡­!! Roars were reaching us from all the way over there, and the entire horizon was packed with people. ¡°K, Korin-hyung!¡± Germain Luther came in a rush to report the results. ¡°Are you done?¡± ¡°Yes! It was hard to count them all because the barbarians didn¡¯t have any gs but¡­ somehow.¡± ¡°Tell me.¡± ¡°More than 230,000! There are some children and old people, but it seems there are at least more than 150,000 able troops!¡± ¡°That is quite a lot.¡± Northern Kingdom. It was amon reference to the union of barbarians tribes of the north. There were nigh 300 tribes, including that of half-giants, witches, sorcerers and other demi-humans. Living in the harshnds of the north, they inevitably had to be invaders and plunderers, which meant they were masters of battle regardless of gender. ? As such, even the females were considered warriors in the Northern Kingdom barbarians. They were a tough bunch indeed. ¡°C, can we beat them?¡± Germain looked at me nervously as if he had full trust in me. It was understandable though, because there had never been an invasion of this level in the history of the kingdom. ¡°150,000 barbarian warriors. That means there would be at least 7-800 knights so¡­ that makes sense.¡± No wonder it fell in three days. Even more so because the Valkyries, the great warriors of the God King, were also among the mix. ¡°We will. Somehow.¡± ¡°Ohh¡­¡± We will beat them in a frontal battle for sure. This was certain I was certain about. First off, we had me. Looking at my current power level, I would at the very least be around half of Park Sihu in his prime, back when he was called the God of Magic. Well but if we were to fight, I would still somehowe out on top. On top of that, we also had Lady Josephine ra, who was at the level of a nightmare in the unique environment of a battlefield. Even just one meteor strike in the middle of their armies would be a disaster. Not only that but we also had Marie, Hua Ran, Alicia¡­ Kranel, Yuel and Dorron who also acquired divine treasures from Mag Mell, who could each fend off hundreds. We would win for sure. ¡°There would be a hundred thousand casualties though. That¡¯s the issue.¡± ¡°Umm, from the barbarians?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Germain didn¡¯t seem to understand what the issue was. As a believer of the Old Faith, the barbarians of the north were heretics that deserved death, and that was probably what he was taught in his upbringing. Actually, anyone would think that as a citizen of the kingdom, who had been under their constant pressure. From my perspective, they were all the same people, but the deep crevice of hatred among hostile countries was not something that was easily solvable. However, they were also an excellent ¡®ally¡¯ in my eyes. ¡°Hey, Luther.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°We are making them our allies now.¡± ¡°What?! What do you mean!¡± he shouted back in fright. It was rare for him to shout at me but it was a normal reaction. ¡°I said it before, right? There¡¯s going to be countless demonic beasts, never seen before. We need the help of even one person.¡± ¡°B, but¡­¡± Germain didn¡¯t seem to know what to say. ¡°But¡­ hyung,¡± he said. ¡°Will those barbaric animals listen to you?¡± He couldn¡¯t say straight-forwardly that he wanted all of them to die, and thus opted to suggest it in a roundabout way. It was still a fortunate thing that this Germain-guy seemed to have gone through some change. If he was the same as how he started off in the Academy, he would have dly suggested that we kill all of them. ¡°Of course, there¡¯s no reason for us to be on the losing side of the negotiation. I have my ns.¡± Unlike the El Rath Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom was a set of tribes that still served the previous gods. The answer was therefore simple. I just had to persuade the gods they served. **** The so-called barbarians of the Northern Kingdom were considered in the El Rath kingdom to be barbaric,wless and violent, but they had their own civilizations andws. They referred to themselves as free people, and hosted small conferences that decided on the future path of their vige, tribes and the union. However, the union conferencest winter had created a huge strife in the group. ¡°Skjaldmaer (Shield maidens)¡­! It¡¯s time for the tribe conference!¡± A man wearing a helmet of horns painted in white yelled out loud, looking for Brunhild. Brunhild headed to the tent of conference where the representatives of hundreds of thousands of barbarians were gathered for their meeting. Waiting inside were the tribe chieftains and their advisors, skjaldmaers¡­ the Valkyries. ¡°You¡¯re here, big sis.¡± Arge woman greeted her upon arrival. She, who was as big as half-giant with an immense build and muscles, was one of the Valkyries, Thrud of Strength. Brunhild scanned the ones inside the tent and heaved out a sigh ofment. ¡°Seems that a few¡­ weren¡¯t able to reach here.¡± There were more than a hundred tribes following Brunhild when they set off, but now there were only 70 tribe leaders and less than 20 shield maidens. The ones absent were most likely dead already along with the warriors of their tribe. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped, shield maiden. However, they fought valiantly till death. I¡¯m sure they are waiting for us in Valha.¡± Brunhild gave a quiet yet bitter smile in response to the words of one of the tribe leaders. The tribes of the Northern Kingdom believed in Odin, the God of War. They dreamed of Valha, the heaven of valiant warriors, but now that the gods had fallen, even Brunhild couldn¡¯t be certain of the existence of Valha. That was why a few of them had betrayed¡­ or rather taken a different path. After all, for the shield maidens who believed in the gods and the tribes, the proposal raised by Tates Valtazar had been like a tub of honey too sweet to refuse. However, she believed that was akin to betraying the gods they had been serving for thousands of years. Being under the same g as thest Frost Giant and reviving the World Tree, was an act of betrayal to the gods they had been praising and worshiping. That was why Brunhild, as well as the Valkyries and the tribe leaders here, had been vehemently against their cause. ¡°O skjaldmaer. We do not have much time in our hands. The wicked demons of Valtazar have already set off on their path.¡± ¡°¡­We must contact the walls first. We have to send them a message.¡± ¡°Those feeble southerners will not ept us in!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! It will be better for us to overtake those walls and meet the monsters ourselves!¡± ¡°More than anything, we don¡¯t have time. The demons are right behind our tail.¡± Right ¨C they didn¡¯t have time. They didn¡¯t have enough time to persuade the El Rath kingdom. Valtazar already had more than half of the Northern Kingdom tribes under his wing. Out of 297 tribes of the union, 95 had been against his cause. As soon as they demonstrated their opposition, Valtazar began a ruthless massacre of those 95 tribes. Due to the unending onught of shadow demons, and natural demonic beasts and spirits, the oppositional tribes had been chased all the way here. Brunhild and the Valkyries had to lead the anti-Valtazar tribes south to literally survive. Those tall walls were standing in their path, and they had to cross it to avoid the waves of monstersing down. ¡°Hilde¡­ Did you finish scouting the city?¡± She called one of their sisters, who had set off to scout the enemy forces, and Hilde walked forward with uncertainty. ¡°Yes, unni¡­¡± ¡°How is the defense level of the borders?¡± ¡°It was much stronger and reinforcedpared to thest time we checked, and they had more than double their previous numbers.¡± That still meant there were only 2,000. Hearing that, some of the tribe leaders scoffed in derision. There were 150,000 warriors on their side. If they wanted to, they could breach the walls in less than half a day. ¡°But¡­ there are at least 4 powerhouses on their side, that are each at the level of a grand leader.¡± ¡°What?¡± Grand leader. In the Northern Kingdom, which worshiped the strong, it referred to the strongest great warrior who led their union. It was the same standard as a Unique Grade in the kingdom, and it was hard to see even one of theme out in a century. At the very least, for the current generation of the Northern Kingdom, there wasn¡¯t a single one who could be objectively called a ¡®grand leader¡¯. ¡°That is impossible! How could there be not one, but four powerhouses at such a level?!¡± ¡°Skjaldmaer Hilde must have made a mistake!¡± It was an unbelievable evaluation. Despite the disbelief and doubts of the tribe leaders, Brunhild gestured to them to quiet down and asked. ¡°Are they¡­ Sword Emperor Garrand or Dimensional Witch Josephine ra?¡± Two more even apart from them¡­? Brunhild assumed the worst but¡­ ¡°No. It was my first time seeing all four of them.¡± Hilde multiplied several-fold the worst-case scenario she had thought of. ¡°¡­¡± It was a big problem. To think there would be four of such powerhouses on their side¡­ a bunch of them would be massacred meaninglessly considering they had the advantage of a fortress. ¡®But it¡¯s still winnable.¡¯ There were 150,000 warriors on their side, with more than a thousand great warriors, which were the same as knights in the El Rath Kingdom. On top of that, they had 19 valkyries, each specializing in wars. With even the addition of the leader of the shield maidens and the strongest Valkyrie, Brunhild, it was impossible to lose. ¡°First off¡­ we have to show off our might and request they surrender. It¡¯s best if we don¡¯t shed innocent blood.¡± Send a messenger. Ask for their surrender, and tell them we would have no choice but to attack otherwise. It was then. ¨C Kwagagang! A deafening thud reverberated across the cold wastnd. **** ¡°Kuahk¡­!¡± The warrior who had been defending the entrance of the encampment facing the walls was buried in snow. Also around him were dozens of simr warriors. None of them had seen the exact identity of the thing that dropped like a lightning bolt. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± One of the warriors who had been watching from nearby dropped his chin in awe. ¡°This can¡¯t be¡­¡± They were being attacked. Someone had ripped apart the tents of the tribes and had destroyed the entrance of the encampment. Who in the world was it? What kind of dumbass would ambush the encampment of 150,000 warriors? Even more surprising was that Mk, a half-giant, had been bashed away from a single punch. The great warrior reaching 3 meters in height, who could rip demonic beasts into halves with bare hands, was rolling on the ground in pain. Standing at the center of that scene was a single person. The warrior realized in an instant, that that man was in a realm that he would never be able to reach in his life. ¡®H, how could a warrior of such a young age¡­!¡¯ He could tell that he was at the level of a top great warrior. ¡°B, bastard¡­! Name yourself!¡± ¡°Hoh¡­ This has been a while. I guess so because there are no newspapers in the Northern Kingdom.¡± ¡°What?¡± Leaving aside the warrior in a stupor, Korin was rather delighted to see people who didn¡¯t know about him. ¡°Where¡¯s your boss? There¡¯s too many people here that I can¡¯t find them.¡± ¡°You insolent fool¡­¡± The warrior picked up his ax. He knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat that man, but he couldn¡¯t step back like a coward before everyone else. At the very least, he was sure that the shield maidens would lead him to Valha if he were to die against a foe of that level. He decided to try his best to hold the enemy in ce and buy at least a few seconds until the great warriors arrived. ¡°¡­¡± Korin simply watched the other warriors slowly standing back up. He intentionally struck them with nothing but a shockwave so that he wouldn¡¯t end up killing them. That alone should have alerted them of the difference in strength, and yet they were still eager to fight like true warriors. ¡°I don¡¯t hate it. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s no man out there who wouldn¡¯t appreciate a sight like this.¡± However, it was annoying for him because he had no ns of killing anyone. ¡°Survival of the strongest! We may be weak and lose our lives, but our great warriors and our shield maidens will surely destroy those feeble walls of yours!¡± The fundamental principle of the Northern Kingdom was that ¨C survival of the strongest. It was a simple logic that it was natural for the strong to plunder the weak. They considered their own death to be the inevitable oue of their weakness, and the fall of the walls would also be because they were weak. ¡°Seriously, this way of macho thought process¡­¡± His voice suddenly turned even colder than the wintery blizzard. How could a warrior who resembled the zing Sun give off such a cold aura? The warriors gulped and clenched onto their swords and axes, but their opponent remained standing there without pointing his spear at them. ¨C Kang! One of the warriors carrying an ax tilted his head in confusion. He felt something swoosh past his neck but didn¡¯t know what it was. He touched the side of his neck and found a trail of warm blood. ¡°¡­Was that the wind?¡± But how could the wind be so sharp and heavy? Upon turning back to Korin and realizing that he was now pointing the spear at him, the warrior realized that he was only alive thanks to the mercy of this young man. ¡°Damn it! Are you insulting me?! Kill me!!¡± The offended warrior roared out loud which made the dozens of warriors run in at once. Korin, however, remained standing there, waiting for them to approach him. Their axes fell towards its foe. Dozens of des were about tond on him but that was when he lifted his right leg and¡ª ¨C Kwang! ¡ª He simply stomped down with his foot. ¡°Kuhak!?¡± ¡°Kuahk!¡± The snow scattered to all sides and so did the warriors. It was just a stomp and yet the shockwave was enough to send the warriors flying. It was an overwhelming difference in strength. It was then. ¡°How dare you¡­!¡± A roar echoed from above. ¨C Kwangg! An enormous shadow descended along with a thud. Korin parried the roaring axe with his spear. ¨C Kajik! In that moment of collision, thend beneath his feet caved in with a crack. An unbearable gush of wind resulting from the sh cleaned all the surrounding snow, making thend return to its snowless state. Even the dead roots of nts were ripped apart. That was how strong the descending ax was, but the spear did not move a single inch. ¡®He blocked my ax?¡¯ Torkel retrieved his ax and fell back. The 4-meter-tall chieftain of the tribe of half-giants, ck Axes,mended his foe. ¡°Not bad for a midget.¡± Realizing he was a strong opponent who easily withstood his ax, Torkel¡¯s eyes gleamed with his desire to fight against the strong. That was when more warriors gushed out of the encampment. Among them were half-giants, sorcerers and the pride of the tribes, the great warriors. There were a hundred of them. Torkel ced his ax on his shoulders and asked Korin. ¡°Who are you, and what are you here for?¡± Korin conveyed his purpose and stated as a matter of fact. ¡°You stand no chance against me. So tell Brunhild toe out. It won¡¯t even be a fight otherwise.¡± The entire area turned dead silent. It wasn¡¯t because they were flustered or shocked. They were furious. The hundred warriors including chieftain of ck Axes, Torkel, had to contain their burning fury within their skins. ¡°How dare you! Try to face the divine skjaldmaers!!¡± Torkel¡¯s roar erupted the surrounding air and sent the surrounding snow back into the atmosphere. What the knights referred to as aura covered his entire body in invisible mes. He wasn¡¯t the only one. The hundred warriors behind him, as well as the hundreds and thousands of their warriors ¨C in fact, even the tens and the hundred thousand warriors would all be willing to shred this insolent invader to pieces. Skjaldmaers. The shield maidens of the God of War. This man was daring to meet the beautiful Valkyries who showed benevolence and mercy to the poor northerners and led them even after the fall of gods. Even though he wasn¡¯t a great warrior nor a chieftain, he had the guts to make such a bold request. At the face of that undisguisable show of killing intent, Korin did not flinch in the slightest. His straight back showed no signs of bending down, and veins were filling his thick arms. At the same time, his internal energy came surging out like it was trying to push the entire world away. ¨C KUWOOOOOOOOO! The world was met by a bizarre noise. The chilling blizzard turned into heat; snow melted and the cold vanished. Korin repeated his purpose. ¡°I am here to meet the leader of Valkyries, Brunhild.¡± The Sun moved with his steps. Thend, which had once been full of snow, heated up along with the atmosphere as the snow evaporated into the air. ¨C Chiiik! Unraveling before the barbarians of the north was a sight they had never seen before. The snow melted; they vanished, and now the ground was bubbling with heat. Korin felt the change in the gazes looking at him. Until moments ago, the warriors had been burning with the desire to fight. Their eyes were still on the same person, but now it was that of fear and awe. Korin didn¡¯t bother moving; he simply stood there waiting on the spot. That was when a group started walking towards him. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!