Wild Hunt (5)
What is this?
Even if the Second Army was supposed to be larger than the First… this was nowhere near normal.
Almost twice the original size….
What on earth was going on…?
Come to think of it, the First Army’s arrival had been far too abrupt as well, hadn’t it?
Something really had gone wrong with the Wild Hunt.
Thud—
“Hello there. Might I ask for your name?”
“Me? My name?”
As I stood gazing over the mountain, a hunter suddenly approached.
Asking for my name out of nowhere… hm. What was this about?
Still, giving a name couldn’t hurt, right?
“You want my real name, or the one on the paperwork?”
“I would like to hear your true name.”
“It’s Goldy.”
“Goldy… a pleasure. I am called Nassim.”
His appearance had struck me as a little unusual.
So he was a foreigner, then.
No—by that standard, wasn’t I the strangest one here?
“Why’d you come looking for me?”
“Does one need a reason to greet a comrade? I merely wished to see your face, humble as that desire may be.”
“So you’re just putting a face to the name.”
“That is not incorrect.”
The man who introduced himself as Nassim studied me as I looked out beyond the mountain.
“Is something troubling you?”
“Is there anyone without worries? Though right now it’s a bit of a different matter.”
If things had gone according to the original plan, it would have ended with us stopping the First, Second, and Third Armies in sequence. But the Second Army’s movements were anything but ordinary, so to be honest even I had no idea how this would turn out… it was close to a complete unknown.
Still, when I thought about every treasure that would end up in my hands, there was nothing that price couldn’t cover.
“Nassim, was it? Why are you here?”
“As for why I am in this place, there exist many reasons. In small terms, one could say I needed money.”
“In small terms? Then what’s the big goal?”
“I am researching the gods. To be frank, after witnessing your battle, I could not help but wonder if you yourself are not connected to them.”
Gods again?
There sure were a lot of guys who loved those damn gods.
“I’m not a god.”
“Haha, of that I am well aware. And we merely research—seeking methods by which we might benefit humanity.”
Researching gods to benefit people.
Depending on who heard it, that was the kind of statement that might get a hammer swung at you for blasphemy.
“Is that some kind of organization too?”
“Indeed. It is called the Theological Research Society. Are you interested?”
“Nah. I’m not particularly fond of gods.”
“Is that so.”
Hearing “Theological Research Society” while the man was carrying a scimitar… the vibe was a little off. It conjured some rather… unsettling images.
Anyway.
“Well, standing here forever isn’t going to solve anything. I should eat something with the free time I’ve got.”
“I see you are not entering the building.”
“Of course not. Think we can handle it outside?”
As I’d said before, the hotel interior was currently being used to treat the wounded. In other words, there were people hovering between life and death, those who had already died, and their comrades as well. I had no intention of being so tactless as to sit there eating a meal in a place like that.
Just as I was about to look around—
“Ah! It’s Yellow Tail, nya!”
“Luci… you can’t call people that…”
Yoon Si-rin and Luci’s voices reached me.
“Hahat! Thanks for the candy earlier, nya! I delivered the stuff just fine, nya!”
“Yeah, I can tell.”
“You can pet me as much as you want, nya!”
“Ah, you mustn’t, Lady Goldy!”
As Luci thrust her head forward with those words, Terra squeezed in between us.
“Th-that’s, uh… c-cats have lots of bugs!”
“What are you talking about, nya! I’m super clean, nya!”
“Y-you saw earlier, didn’t you? This person doesn’t even wash properly!”
The words You’re the same way… rose all the way to the tip of my tongue, but I decided to leave them unsaid.
This guy was getting jealous in the weirdest places.
“Alright, alright.”
I chuckled and pet Terra instead of Luci.
“So? What’s up? Something going on?”
“I heard from Luci earlier. You fought on the front lines, right?”
As she said that, she handed me a few pieces of bread and some water.
“This is all I can give you right now… there are just so many wounded.”
“No, no. I’ll just take one of these—feed the others a bit more.”
“Me too! I like bread too, nya!”
“Luci, this is the hunters’ supply rations, remember?”
At the sight of them bickering, I laughed and said,
“You were working the battlefield so hard earlier. Can’t we spare one for her?”
“See, nya! Yellow Tail says so too, nya!”
“Well, we have our own separate supplies, haha…”
By the way, they said they were the supply team, right? From what I’d seen earlier, they were pretty good at their job. Seemed like Yoon Si-rin distributed the goods and Luci handled delivery. That bag kept producing items too—some kind of special skill applied to it?
I’d love one of those myself. This body wasn’t enough to carry all my treasures around.
“What’s with that bag?”
“Huh? Ah! This? It’s something called an Inventory.”
“Inventory?”
“Yes! It’s a bag being developed by the government… um… the details are a state secret, they say!”
The government was making something like that?
Wow. Their tech was insane.
I should talk to the Association later and get them to give me one too.
“Hm, then it was a pleasure meeting you. My comrades are calling, so I shall take my leave.”
“Oh, same. See you in the fight then.”
“Indeed we shall.”
“We’ll be going too, then! We need to deliver supplies to the others!”
With that, everyone around returned to their respective places, and I tore open the bread packaging and took a bite.
Mm. Dry.
Even the cream inside was so dry it might as well have been parched.
They were still making bread like this?
“…Lady Goldy, this tastes rather like the stones I used to enjoy in the lair.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“I am not certain myself. I have recently encountered so many delicious things…”
Terra didn’t seem particularly fond of it either.
But well. On a battlefield, even this was something to be grateful for. Especially with so many wounded hunters—the better ingredients would have gone their way.
Thud—
“Unnie, so this is where you were.”
As I was chewing on the dry bread for a while, a familiar voice came from behind.
“Oh, feeling a bit better?”
“Thanks to you, unnie. After that injection thing you left me earlier, I got my strength back pretty quick.”
She came up beside me and started tearing into some bread herself. Then she carefully asked,
“About what you said earlier, unnie? That… the Holy Sword doesn’t control the power for you.”
“Yeah.”
“Is that… real? That I can handle the flames that much—”
“Sometimes, Ha-eun, I think you don’t believe in yourself enough.”
With that, I pointed to the Holy Sword hanging on Ha-eun’s back.
“Drawing the Holy Sword, earning recognition from people on the battlefield—those are all things you accomplished yourself, Ha-eun.”
“But—”
“The Holy Sword literally just lends you power. The fact that you drew it in the first place means you’ve already far surpassed the ordinary.”
I had lent her some divine power, but that was a separate matter. Most people couldn’t handle the power of divinity at all to begin with. That was an innate issue, not a matter of skill.
“The Holy Sword lent you power because you were more of a hero than that Mikhail guy or whoever.”
“….”
“Have some confidence. Have confidence. Everything you’ve worked for until now is what the Holy Sword recognized.”
“Then those flames too…”
“Yeah. They’re your own power. Congrats—you’ve grown another step.”
As Ha-eun finished her bread and stood up, I chuckled and stepped in front of her.
“Draw it. You want to test it, right?”
She nodded at those words and slowly drew the sword.
“Huu…”
“Swing it for real. I can take it.”
“Y-yes…”
Gripping—
She gripped the sword with both hands and took a deep breath.
Fwoosh—
Flames gathered at the tip of the blade. As Ha-eun put strength into her legs and swung the sword back—
Whoosh!—
Flames erupted as if bursting free along the blade. At the same time, one of the bandages wrapping the sword burned away and vanished.
“Whoa… no, how have you been holding something like this back until now?”
It was actually more amazing that that energy had been sealed away. Looking at how ferociously it was bursting out—
Boom!—
Those flames invaded Ha-eun’s body as well, further strengthening her physique. Then, leading the fire that exploded forth, she charged at me at high speed.
“Wow.”
KRAAAASH!—
A vertical slash coming from above to below. As I took a step back and caught the attack with my forearm, Ha-eun instantly switched her grip—
Tap—
Whoosh!—
In the blink of an eye, this time the blade and flames rose from below. But the moment I tried to stop the blade’s path—which my eyes had caught—with a finger—
Swoosh—
“Huh?”
As if I’d seen a mirage. The trajectory that had been visible until just now vanished in an instant.
What?
She tricked my eyes?
Even if I hadn’t turned on Dragon Eyes…
Thud!—
And before I could understand anything, Ha-eun—who had already lowered her stance and taken another step closer—entered my field of vision. She yanked up the sword that had somehow ended up at her waist, eyes wide as she glared at me fiercely.
The thought that those flashing red eyes looked like they were staring at a noble flashed through my mind—
“This is bad…”
I hastily crossed both arms and raised them before the incoming sword.
KRAAAASH!—
The moment the sword touched, crimson-black flames exploded forth. I felt the heat and wore a bitter smile.
“As expected. I’ve got an eye for people.”
I freed one arm. Then I drove my fist into the sword that was rattling as it unleashed energy.
Bang!—
“Eek?!”
From the impact, the sword slipped from her hand and flew into the air. As Ha-eun fell backward with it, I dusted off my hands and quickly extended a hand toward her.
“Amazing. You’ve really improved a ton.”
“But still… I couldn’t even graze you a little, unnie…”
“Hey, it would be a little weird if you could reach me right now. Even looking like this, I’m the strongest dragon, you know? And you got recognition from that me.”
“Heh… thank you.”
Ha-eun smiled as if thoroughly refreshed and took my hand to stand up.
“And you can stop peeking and come out now.”
At the same time, I spoke while looking toward one side of the building.
Then—
Clap clap—
“Quite impressive.”
Park Sang-hyeok, who had been secretly watching, strode out boldly.