The Real Hain (2)
“To think you really... captured Hain.”
“Hey now. Capturing Hain? It was just taking down one undead fake who was pretending to be Hain.”
“?”
Horakti whipped his head around at Jeonghyeon’s words, as if to say what the hell are you talking about?
“Grrraaah? (Shall I... heal you?)”
As the zombie-formed Hain approached, Horakti flinched back in momentary shock.
“Wh-what the hell?! A zombie?”
Jeonghyeon found Horakti’s reaction pretty amusing, but it also sparked a good idea.
“You’re not fully recovered yet, right? Get some healing from Hain later when you have time. And what about the beastkin and high elves? Still haven’t found a proper place for them?”
“...That’s true. In fact, that’s what I came to talk about. If it’s not too shameless of me...”
“Come here. It’s safer to stick together.”
The ruins of the old Andellia Kingdom.
Now the undead’s den—and Jeonghyeon’s territory.
Jeonghyeon figured he needed to establish bases: Seoul West in the present world, and this place in Afraksas.
Having space made growth so much easier.
“...But there are undead here.”
Jeonghyeon nodded at Horakti’s words.
‘How many times am I gonna have to explain these undead?’
It was obvious without even seeing it coming.
Everyone would mistake them for monsters and try to attack at first sight, and explaining every time would be too long and annoying.
“These undead will become your beastkin’s greatest allies from now on.”
For now, though, he’d explain to Horakti and the beastkin.
“Um... could we hear what happened?”
“...Ah.”
And he’d have to explain to Garibaldi and his crew too, who hadn’t understood a word of the story with Hain, Jeonghyeon, and the fake Hain.
***
“...And that’s how it went down.”
Jeonghyeon finished speaking.
In front of him sat dozens of beastkin, Romanell, his human allies, and even the undead, all neatly seated and listening attentively.
‘This should do it...?’
Jeonghyeon wasn’t much of a talker, so he worried there might be misunderstandings...
‘Whatever. They’re my allies.’
No one was going to stop him if he said so.
His subordinates under his domination naturally shared his power and could understand Hain’s words. Horakti, having formed an alliance, seemed to hear her voice too.
Jeonghyeon eyed Garibaldi, Junseok, and Romanell with mild dissatisfaction.
‘Domination’s a bit much for those guys.’
Romanell was especially regrettable. The two of them together could brew some killer healing potions.
“So now we can understand Ms. Hain’s words.”
Philip nodded, finally getting why he could hear her.
“I—”
“Grrraaah? Grraaah! (Can you hear me now? Thank goodness!)”
Hain beamed happily at his words.
“Wh-what? Is this zombie really okay?”
They could sense she wasn’t an enemy, but to Junseok and Garibaldi, she still just looked like a zombie. It’d take time for them to warm up.
Junseok, who still harbored resentment toward undead, was especially rattled.
“Get along. She might look like this, but she wields the Frost Dragon Hila’s power, so we’ve got ourselves a top healer.”
Junseok’s eyes widened in shock at Jeonghyeon’s explanation.
“Th-that works? This zombie?”
“Grraaawr...! (The power to raise the dead as undead comes from Frost Dragon Hila. Used in reverse, it can grant healing as well. Not on a grand scale, but still.)”
“Huh?”
Romanell’s eyes faintly glowed as he watched Hain’s gestures closely.
“Grra? (A-are you okay?)”
As Hain asked worriedly, Romanell’s face turned puzzled.
“Huh...? D-did you just ask if I’m okay?”
“Grra! (Y-you can hear me!)”
Jeonghyeon blinked in surprise.
“What? You two can communicate?”
“It... seems like it?”
Romanell said after exchanging a few words with Hain.
“In high elf research, we once studied language communication through the external actions of the dead, and back then...”
His sudden barrage of obscure expertise reminded Jeonghyeon of the Wakin sisters’ tech talk.
“...So you can just understand each other?”
Romanell nodded confirmation.
Good news anyway—great, even.
‘Uldran said mind dragons can manipulate thoughts too. Gotta make her speak human language eventually.’
Of course, he couldn’t rely on personal interpretations forever.
Romanell, deep in conversation with Hain, gave a wry smile.
“Incredible. Even we, masters of healing, haven’t found a solution yet...”
“Grraawr! Grraa! (You’re high elf healing experts! I’ll teach you my formulas. Let’s mass-produce potions!)”
Hain smiled brightly, having found a way to help.
“...Really?!”
“Grra! Grra grra! (Of course! I’m thrilled to be useful!)”
“My god...”
Romanell, moved, grasped Hain’s hand.
“Thank you...! Truly...!”
“Grraaah grra grra... (Hehe, from what I saw, you use this formula...)”
Surprisingly, they clicked right away.
Without another word, they sat down together, drawing mana diagrams on the ground with stones, diving into heated debate on mana operation and potion brewing.
‘Just like the Wakin sisters.’
Like engineers separated by an insurmountable dimensional wall, Hain and Romanell exuded the aura of pharmaceutical researchers.
“So, those undead can’t turn back into humans?”
Junseok pointed at the undead.
He’d helped rescue them on the way back to Jeonghyeon’s party, but he still resisted the idea of undead as human allies.
Hain paused her chat with Romanell and carefully replied.
“Grraawr. (We could replicate their external appearance to some degree. And handle a bit of mana too. But... fully reverting to their original state? Impossible.)”
“Why? You can make undead, but not reverse it?”
“Grraawr wr. (Hila’s magic is about protection and balance, not revival or resurrection. Death’s black magic deliberately breaks that balance... We can restore wounds by rebalancing, but we can’t erase what happened.)”
A string of complex terms, but one thing was clear.
“She says it’s impossible.”
Anyone could grasp that much.
“I get why you hate undead. Whatever the reason, it’s valid. But these were humans, lives once. They didn’t choose to become undead.”
Hain, Horakti, and the other undead all turned back to Jeonghyeon at his words.
“I trust them, and their abilities. That’s why we’re going together.”
Jeonghyeon extended a hand to Junseok.
“Not now if you’re not ready. But someday, when you can, I hope you’ll stand back-to-back with them without hesitation.”
“...Show-off.”
Junseok slapped the hand away, dodging a real answer to the end.
‘Damn guy. So prickly.’
Jeonghyeon found even that reaction pure Junseok—and kinda funny.
“So, heading back?”
Jeonghyeon startled at Junseok’s question.
“Ah. Right.”
The whole reason they’d come was to test Garibaldi’s strength in the raid and make him a familiar.
“Gariba—”
Turning to consult him, Jeonghyeon trailed off.
“Cute little guy.”
Garibaldi was petting the head of an undead horse.
They looked surprisingly chummy already.
“Hain... was it?”
“...?”
“Can skeletal horses grow too?”
The skeletal horse clattered its bones at Garibaldi’s feet, mimicking walking as if begging for attention.
“Grra... (Growth... no. Already...)”
Garibaldi nodded at Hain’s headshake. No words needed—body language sufficed.
“This one’s enough for me.”
“A skeletal horse... as your familiar?”
“Yeah. The one I saw fighting the Undead Lord earlier.”
While Garibaldi cleaved paths with his greatsword, one tiny skeletal horse had caught his eye repeatedly.
Such a small body, trampled by other undead, yet charging to kill him—the enemy it recognized.
Garibaldi couldn’t bring himself to slash it, just kicked it aside gently.
Clack! Clack!
But it kept coming with its ticklish attacks.
“If even this little guy fights so hard, traveling with him sounds good.”
“...If that’s what you want.”
“How do I make a familiar contract?”
“Just form the contract.”
“Alright, kid. You’re with me now.”
Clack!
As if understanding, the skeletal horse lifted its head and knocked its bones together.
Shaking its head like it approved.
Gathering Ignirn’s mana in his hand, Garibaldi stroked its head.
Kee-ging—!
One undead soldier is attempting to become another person's familiar.
‘Yeah. Let it happen.’
Jeonghyeon dismissed the alert.
Soon, the skeletal horse gained fiery mane and tail from Ignirn’s mana—like flames etched into it.
A pretty badass skeletal horse now.
“Good. Your name is...”
Garbaldi stroked it gratefully, bestowing a name.
“Inferno Maximus Alexandrino Messi Lightning Bolt.”
...A rather convoluted one.
“Even you, Garibaldi?”
Junseok shook his head.
Everyone tangled with Jeonghyeon ended up weird somewhere—that was his limit.
“Exactly! A name’s gotta be that epic!!”
Nus thumbs-upped enthusiastically beside him.
Clatter...
The dazed skeletal horse flopped down in cute protest.
“Ahaha! Okay, sorry. Inferno. You’re Inferno.”
Clack!
Inferno perked up, mane flickering happily.
Garibaldi approached Jeonghyeon with Inferno, offering a handshake.
“Thanks, Jeonghyeon. I’ve learned a lot from you.”
“Same here.”
“Call me anytime you need me. Not now, but... someday, I’d love to sweep battlefields with you.”
“Why not now? It’s good right here.”
Jeonghyeon knew from his eyes he was already off elsewhere, but asked anyway.
If yes, great; if not, whatever.
“To run with you, I need more experience. You seem like you’ve lived twice already.”
‘Oof... spot on.’
Sharp insight, that guy.
Jeonghyeon shook his hand, thinking so.
“Then I’ll be off.”
Garbaldi, who could traverse Afraksas anyway, packed up and set out on his path.
“Say hi to Serin~! Hit up Kingdom next time I swing by~!”
“Got it! Take care, Mr. Garibaldi!!”
Junseok bowed 90 degrees to see him off.
The now-quiet Andellia ruins—no, Jeonghyeon’s territory—buzzed only softly with Hain and Romanell’s talk of protective magic.
As always, Philip was the one to approach Jeonghyeon with a question.
“So, Master Jeonghyeon. What’s next?”
“Next for what?”
“You caught Hain—the Undead Archduke. What’s the next step?”
“Ah, right. Got the territory, so now we build it up?”
Couldn’t lose the land he’d claimed.
“...How?”
“We’ll figure it out.”
Jeonghyeon didn’t know the details either.
‘From here, it’s not the world I knew.’
The hunter world he remembered was gone.
As Demon King, it wasn’t just killing enemies—he had to defend territory, raise his people.
The achievement name ‘Idle Demon King Army Builder’ said it all.
But luckily, he had an expert right there.
Horakti, the Island Radiance Dragon who’d earned his title the hard way—now meekly lying on the ground for healing.
“What? Cursing me in your head?”
“Oh. You heard?”
“You little...”
His sturdiest Demon King ally too.
Jeonghyeon turned to him.
“How do you build up a territory?”
—