My conversation with the Little Elder had come to an end.
The story was simple.
A new Immortal Demon King had apparently descended upon the other continent. The continent I once knew was gone. The Seven Kingdoms had collapsed, and the remaining survivors were barely putting up a fight.
The Hero Summoning Ritual had already been performed several times.
They desperately waited for a Hero who could save the continent once again.
However, the one who came to them was a Hero they had never seen before.
For the sake of survival, they staked everything on this new Hero.
But the new Hero was utterly defeated and slaughtered by the Demon King’s Army.
‘What a depressing story.’
Regardless, I had obtained the information I was curious about. The reason the Villains were crossing over to this side was that the other world was collapsing.
‘But it’s only been a few months since I returned here. Did that much happen over there?’
Even though I was the one who returned to the modern world from that side, I had no way of knowing exactly how time flowed between the two dimensions.
“You two were talking for a long time. What did he say?” Seohyeonji asked on the way back home.
“We talked about your real name.”
“What? My real name?”
Seohyeonji’s face filled with absurdity. Seeing her expression shift to one of disbelief made a mischievous feeling bubble up inside me.
“Eliza—”
“Are you crazy?! What are you saying?”
Seohyeonji reached out hurriedly to cover my mouth. Seeing her panic was quite refreshing. She always acted so cool, but it seemed she had a complex about her name.
Seohyeonji’s real name was Elizabeth. In that world, it was a name as common as Mary or Jane.
‘Jane. That’s not bad. Sounds like someone out of a textbook.’
“If we don’t hurry, there won’t be any food left, so let’s go, Elizabeth.”
“Stop it!”
I teased Seohyeonji just enough as we headed home. Even so, I hadn’t forgotten what the old man had told me.
“The Holy Sword is calling for you,” the Little Elder had said at the very end.
The Holy Sword.
My personal weapon, Laevateinn, lay dormant and sealed in that world. I had a bad feeling. When I first crossed over to that world, dimensional travel wasn’t common. It was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
But now, it seemed like just about everyone was crossing over, as if they were taking a flight to a neighboring country. Was this normal?
No. There was no way.
The Mana Stone Bombs the Villains had used recently, and the thing the office worker was trying to summon by offering sacrifices—it all felt like pieces of a puzzle clicking into place.
‘I guess I really do need to get the Holy Sword back.’
The leader of the Moderate Faction said they were crossing dimensions to save as many comrades as possible. They also promised to let me know as soon as the location of the Holy Sword was confirmed.
The Holy Sword. It wasn’t my property to begin with, so I had left it there.
For now, I decided to prioritize strengthening the team. It bothered me that the main Villains had vanished for a while following that incident. I had been tracking them through various routes, but it was as if they had disappeared into thin air.
“Man, I’m really curious. Where did they all run off to?”
The criminal Villains were running wild. Since Gate forecasts became impossible after the terror attack, the entire country was in a state of chaos. Hunters were overwhelmed with work, and the damage to civilians was severe.
‘Sure, they’re Villains, so it makes sense they’d do Villain things. But I want to know what they hope to gain by hurting civilians this much.’
Might as well ask.
“Withdrawal.”
Sieg, emerging from the Inventory, opened his eyes. He looked around in confusion for a moment at the changed scenery.
“How much time has passed?”
“Hmm, about a week?”
I had taken Sieg out in the bathroom. Of course, it wasn’t because I wanted to give him a bath. Karin’s gang was currently out registering with the Guild. Only Sieg and I were home today. If I wanted to ask him something, now was the time.
“I’m curious about what your gang was trying to do at the Agency.”
“I don’t know. I was just waiting for you to come.”
“Since they abandoned you without even trying to save you, it doesn’t seem like your bond was that strong. Why not just tell me?”
“How can I tell you something I don’t know?”
As expected, he had no intention of answering easily. Coincidentally, it was the time of day when a human could be at their most cruel without feeling guilty.
“…?”
I felt like I could finish off anyone right now!
“Wait, what are you—”
“Hey, hold on. Just wait a second.”
I had filled the bathtub with water. Then, I began to wash Sieg’s face. Of course, since he was tied up and I was just dunking his head in, it might not have been a very thorough wash.
Sieg’s head went into the tub.
Glub, glub.
Bubbles rose to the surface. Did he suddenly have something to say?
“Gasp! For a Hero, you’re—cough!”
I guess not yet. I gave Sieg another taste of the water.
“Pwah! Are you… waterboarding me right now?!”
“Hmm. Did you not expect this because we’re old comrades? You’re the one who pointed a sword at that old comrade, right?”
“Puff, puff. Are you not even curious about the reason?”
“It’s probably some trivial reason anyway.”
They expect things from me on their own. They get disappointed on their own. I wasn’t kind enough to care about every little thing like that.
“Let’s go back in until you feel like talking. I’m going to start increasing the face-washing time. You’re good at holding your breath, right? It might get tough if you aren’t.”
Water always has the answer. I had given up on asking Sieg from the start. I was just asking the water. It would be faster that way.
I pushed Sieg’s head back into the water. He struggled, but I didn’t let go. The water gave me the answer two hours later.
“What Kay wanted was chaos. By making a strong impression on the Villains who were lying low, the plan was to give them a sense of belonging and activate criminal activity.”
“Is that all?”
“The main goal was to seize something called the Wizard System.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
I began refilling the bathtub with fresh water. Sieg, startled by the sight, shouted again.
“I really don’t know! They just said the Wizard System was the start of everything!”
‘That’s a shame.’ I couldn’t find out the most crucial part. I turned off the water.
“I should probably make a room for you in the Inventory.”
It was time to head out, so I needed to absorb Sieg back into the Inventory. He was exhausted, so he should go in without any trouble. However, he was persistent in a different way.
“Hero. Are you not curious?” Sieg asked, as if begging me to inquire.
Man, he was really obsessed.
“Why would I be curious about a trivial reason?”
With those words, I locked Sieg away in the Inventory.
[Status Window]
Name: Siegfried von Freidich Ail
Class: Ghoul Knight
I could see the name of Siegfried’s status. A Ghoul—a type of Undead. A knight who could not die even in death. He had come looking for me even after being resurrected.
It really was a trivial reason.
Arriving at the Guild, I exchanged nods with familiar faces and went up to the Team 3 office. There used to be only four of us, but now that three more had joined, the room felt crowded with seven people.
I entered the office with anticipation and saw the eldest foreigner, Rawin. No, his name was now Lee Jeon-guk.
“Lee Jeon—”
“I swear, I’ve never seen a woman as beautiful as you. Do you have some time today?”
The foreigner was hitting on the Team 3 office staff. A handsome, blond knight whispering sweet nothings made the staff member blush in embarrassment.
“If you don’t want to, it’s okay to refuse. I can just ask again tomorrow.”
“Oh, well…”
His greasy pick-up lines were perfectly clear. He didn’t even have that strange mistranslation tone.
“Team Leader!”
Assistant Manager Lee Ah-reum spotted me and quickly stood up. The eldest foreigner looked momentarily flustered when he saw me. Then, he smiled with an innocent look in his eyes.
“Oh, my God. Help. I cannot breathe. I happened to need help. Here.”
“Speak properly.”
“…Ahem. Please do not misunderstand—”
I grabbed the eldest foreigner by the ear and dragged him into the team training room. Wait, had this guy been using that weird tone on purpose when he could actually speak perfectly fine?
“Explanations.”
“Ah, as you know, in front of a beautiful woman, transcendental translation just comes out naturally… My e-e-ear!”
I seriously considered ripping his ear off but decided to let it slide for now. Why? Because there was an even more ridiculous sight over there.
“Oh my, you don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Ah, yes. Well…”
“What’s wrong? Am I too much for you?”
The second foreigner winked, his square jaw quivering.
“I don’t think I’m too much.”
The second foreigner was hitting on a man.
“Aaaagh! It hurts! Hero, it hurts!”
I grabbed both foreigners by the ears and brought them into the training room. One of them was missing.
Ah, there he was.
Two people were on the ring: Kim Taeyang and the third foreigner.
“I break you. You can ask for help.”
“Let’s settle the hierarchy properly today. Don’t you dare sue me for getting hit, okay?”
“It is so funny I cannot live. My God, where does this kind of drip come from?”
I knew they both had twisted personalities, but this was a headache from day one. I needed to turn these things into human beings first.
“……”
Kim Inho, seeing me arrive, began to read the room. Why was he acting so cautious when he hadn’t even done anything wrong?
Ah, I must have been smiling.
“You’re dead meat today!”
“Is your mother healthy? I am worried about your parents!”
“You son of a…!”
“I will rupture your head, chest, and brother-in-law!”
The two of them trading blows were exactly the same. For now, I just let them be.
“You both speak quite well.”
“Uh, eh…”
“Time is medicine. Do you not know that?”
Did they think I’d fall for that?
“You sure fooled me yesterday. Ah, it hurts! Aaaah!”
“Inho.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“Put them through twelve sets of basic strength training.”
Inho’s eyes widened at my words.
“What? Not three sets, but twelve?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah, okay…”
Kim Inho was taken aback by my command. The foreigner brothers, still not reading the room, snickered.
“It’s not like our knight experience was just a day or two.”
“Is it a one-hour training course? It’s been a while, haha. Training from the Hero.”
There was one difference between the other world and this one. In this world, there was a lot of equipment specifically designed to torture people.
I smiled as I handed the two over to Inho. The two foreigners had quite confident faces. Let’s see how long that look lasts.
“Do I have to lift this?” the second brother asked Inho.
Inho nodded with a dead expression.
“This cannot be lifted. My muscles are screaming in pain.”
“Do you want to lift the barbell, or should I lift you?”
“……”
At my words, the foreigner brothers began their first-ever session of bench presses. To be honest, they were good for beginners. They followed Inho’s demonstrations well.
Even with a good basic physique, it would be tough to keep using muscles they weren’t used to. And if I kept them running in circles today, they wouldn’t have the energy to mess around.
“Does your mother like seaweed soup?”
“This guy, he keeps bringing up my parents!”
The two were fighting, but Vincent—no, Lee Ja-rang—had the advantage in pure strength. Among the three foreigner brothers, no one could match him in raw power.
But Kim Taeyang wasn’t a pushover either. Having sparred with me, he knew he was outmatched in strength and used hit-and-run tactics.
“We must prove who is the filial son.”
“Ow!”
Perhaps because he had been raised on the battlefield from a young age, the third foreigner, Bin, had a foul mouth and a rough face. Who would look at a 190-centimeter-tall, scar-covered Black man and think he was a teenager?
‘If only his personality were half as decent as his looks.’
Actually, he’d probably just get meaner.
Knock, knock.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.