I could understand if it was the Hunter Association.
After all, we had already signed a contract, and the deposit for the equipment supplied during the Gate Burning hadn’t been paid yet.
But the government?
The government?
That was something I never expected.
In my life, I thought I’d never hear the government call me again after the military.
“What does the government want?”
– They insisted on speaking directly with Vulcanus…
“Directly?”
– They just arrived at the guild.
– Along with the Hunter Association.
“The Hunter Association, huh…”
– They came with the Sword Saint. It was so sudden that we didn’t have time to notify you beforehand.
– They’re currently waiting in the reception room.
– We tried to turn them away, but they begged so earnestly.
“Hm.”
Honestly, I wanted to laze around in my room for one more day.
But if the government calls, what choice do I have?
I was curious about the reason they came, too.
“I’ll be right there.”
– We’ll be waiting.
“Guild master 1, stand by.” Â
I immediately informed Guild master 1 and prepared for possession. Â
After organizing what I had eaten, I quickly used possession to enter Guild master 1’s body. Â
“All the windows are fixed?”
“It’s the Guild Master’s Office, after all. I fixed them right away.”
“Shall we go?”
“I’ll guide you.”
“Got it!”
The first thing I saw upon possession was the neatly repaired window.
The glass I had smashed myself trying to attack the Manticore.
It must’ve cost a pretty penny to fix, but so what?
Do they even know how much money I make right now?
Just the deposit from the Hunter Association alone could cover several years’ worth of salaries for a hundred guild members in a lump sum.
And even without the deposit, the steady income from the forge was enough to make me no less than a chaebol.
“By the way, this is my first time going to the reception room.”
“You’re doing well. Even though it’s a clone, it’s best not to reveal yourself too much.”
“That’s true.”
“The public currently believes this is the real Vulcanus, but if this form is exposed too often, people will start to suspect.”
Guild master 1. Â
This was the appearance of Vulcanus known to the world as a Hunter.
Because of this, last time, an assassin even came looking to kill Guild master 1. Â
That was good news for me, but as Nam Bora said, the more this form appears, the more people will question it.
In fact, those called “Rankers” seemed to have already realized this was fake.
“You said the Sword Saint came too.”
If it was the Sword Saint, she must know this isn’t the real me. Â
The question was whether she mentioned it to the Hunter Association or the government. Â
There was no way to find out except to go and check personally.
“Knock, knock. ”Â
“Vulcanus, you may enter.”
Nam Bora opened the door to the reception room.
The first thing that caught my eye was the elegant interior.
Luxurious wooden furniture.
Books on the shelf to keep guests entertained while they wait.
Comfortable sofas with delicious-looking snacks and warm tea placed on the table.
Nam Bora had done a surprisingly good job decorating.
Next, I saw:Â Â The Hunter Association Chairman
“Ah! Vulcanus, it’s good to see you! It’s been a while.”
A middle-aged man dressed neatly in a gray suit.
Although he looked quite old, his physique was impressively solid.
I remembered him from attending the founding ceremony of the Vulcanus Guild.
Next to him stood:  The Sword Saint, Han Yu-ra. Â
“Greetings.”
She wore “Twilight” and “Dawn” at her waist—equipment I had personally repaired.
Behind them was:Â Â A woman I had never seen before.Â
“Nice to meet you.”
Dressed in a neat suit, she seemed to be the person from the government Nam Bora had mentioned.
“I am Vulcanus.”
After shaking hands with the chairman, I sat down.
The chairman gave Nam Bora a subtle look, but I had no intention of sending her away.
I thought I couldn’t lead the conversation without her in a situation where I had no idea what might be brought up.
After all, the Vulcanus Guild barely ran without her.
Not long ago, I was just a shut-in gamer, so how well could I possibly handle talks between the Hunter Association and the government?
A moment later.
As the guild owner, I took the main seat with Nam Bora standing behind me.
The chairman and the official sat opposite us on the sofa, with the Sword Saint standing behind them.
Somehow, this tense situation had formed.
“Ahem!” The chairman spoke first,  “First, let me express my gratitude. Thanks to Vulcanus’s full support, the Gate Burning was relatively safely contained.” Â
‘Support?’  What was this about? Â
I glanced at Nam Bora to see if the contract terms had changed, but she shook her head.
So, I corrected the word.
“I merely fulfilled the contract.”
This was not support.
I wasn’t volunteering.
After all, the other Hunters on the news were paid to fight Monsters as well.
I didn’t invest in mining materials just to make all that equipment for free.
I wondered if they might try to deny this further, but—
“Haha, of course. No need to worry. The deposit will be transferred by the end of today. Our Hunter Association wishes to maintain a close relationship with Vulcanus. Please understand.”
The chairman nodded quickly.
Since the deposit was to be paid today, it looked like there was no problem.
Honestly, they seemed almost desperate to stay on my good side.
‘No problem here, at least. The Association has always been cooperative with me.’
The real issue was the government official sitting next to the chairman.
Since this meeting was convened at the government’s request, how that person would react was crucial.
After a brief greeting with the chairman, the official finally spoke, elegantly sipping her tea.
“Allow me to introduce myself first. I am Jeon Goeun, a Hunter Affairs Officer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
“A Hunter Affairs Officer?”
“It’s a department created after the Gates opened, handling diplomacy related to foreign Gates and Monsters.”
“Oh.”
I hadn’t known that not only the Hunter Association but also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a department dedicated to Hunters.
Well, ordinary people wouldn’t necessarily know the specific departments in each government ministry.
“So, what does the Ministry want?”
“We have come to ask something of Hunter Vulcanus.”
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks to Hunter Vulcanus, Korea safely contained the Gate Burning, but other countries have not been so fortunate.”
“I’ve heard.”
Korea was the third country in the world to declare the end of the Gate Burning crisis.
That meant other countries were still struggling with it.
Though many countries had somehow managed to stop the Gate Burning over time, more were still suffering than expected.
“Especially our neighboring country, Japan, is in great trouble.”
The country she mentioned was one I had never expected.
I never thought they’d come to ask for help to assist Japan.
“While the region itself is somehow contained, the excessive overlapping Gate Breaks near Mount Fuji have yet to be controlled.”
“I see.”
“Still, Japan has been refusing aid from foreign Hunters, but this time they requested equipment support from us.”
“Only equipment?”
“Yes. They want to show their people that ‘our Hunters alone can stop it.'”
“Isn’t receiving equipment support basically the same as receiving aid?”
“It looks different. Actually, Hunters attract more attention than equipment does.”
I nodded in agreement.
So, they want to show their people that they can stop the Gate Burning with their own power, but lack the ability.
Therefore, they want to buy equipment from Korea to strengthen their forces.
As she said, this would look better than openly receiving aid from foreign Hunters.
But one question remained.
“What about my equipment? Are they aware of it in Japan?”
“…Hunter Vulcanus is already famous. Anyway, in that sense, we are requesting support for one thousand sets of equipment to be delivered to Hunter Vulcanus.” Â
One thousand sets?
One thousand sets.
That was an enormous amount.
Even the word ‘one thousand’ sounded massive, but one thousand sets meant a full basic weapon and armor set each.
Even if you exclude additional armor like gauntlets, just weapons, helmets, armor, and boots would total 4,000 pieces of equipment.
I hammered away like crazy to make equipment during the Gate Burning, but making that much again would take quite some time.
“Actually, they wanted even more, but we cut it down on our side. Is it possible?”
It was possible.
I hadn’t never done it before.
I had done it already. Â
Having work was a good thing, but the problem was the contract terms.
“Tell me the contract details first.”
Just as the Hunter Association had difficulty managing finances, I assumed the government would be no different.
That’s why I wanted to confirm the terms first.
“We will provide the materials. Hunter Vulcanus only needs to produce the equipment.”
“…What?”
That sounded strange.
Making a thousand sets of equipment means mining tons of materials.
But “you just need to produce it”?
That sounded like—
“Do you mean there’s no deposit?”
If they prepared all the materials, it felt like they were asking me to volunteer.
Maybe it was a slip of the tongue.
I asked again, expecting them to immediately correct it like the Hunter Association did, but—
“This is for the country. No, it’s for the world. A great feat to save a neighboring country.”
Her expression was calm.
She didn’t seem to plan on retracting her words.
“Don’t worry. For all the equipment Hunter Vulcanus produces, the government will pay production costs based on the official government price.”
“So how much is that?”
I’d have to see it to know for sure, but if it was the same level as the items provided to the Hunter Association…
“The approximate price is this.”
She showed me the number written on her phone.
Seeing it, I couldn’t help but frown deeply.
The amount on her phone was less than half of the contract price we had with the Hunter Association.
“Do you think this is appropriate? It’s less than half of the deposit from the Hunter Association.”
“But we said we’d provide all the materials.”
“Do you think I’m a Blacksmith who doesn’t know the cost of materials?”
“This is for the country.”
“For the country” again?
She seemed to have some unshakable conviction in her head, but I couldn’t empathize with it at all.
After a moment of thought, I shook my head.
Just because the country says so, do I have to comply?
Why should I?
Even if I had more money, there weren’t many places to spend it, but I had zero intention of being some pushover volunteering for free.
Just as I was about to storm out of the room,  someone got up before me.Â
“Hah, this is why I don’t like that ministry.”Â
The man sitting right next to the government official.
He had been silent all along, but now he finally spoke.
“You kept this kind of shady proposal from me and came here to talk nonsense?”
The Chairman of the Hunter Association.