Days in the Narmer Kingdom (2)
Thankfully, we cleared up the misunderstanding before things turned into a bloodbath.
Anyway, after properly apologizing to the others, Karura came over to me and said,
"I misunderstood and put you in a tough spot. Let me apologize once more."
I was starting to get scared of her apologies. I'd just met this crazy bitch who tried to chop off her own arm as an "apology."
Knowing she might try to hack off her arm again if I didn't accept, I quickly told her,
"Nah, it's fine. But why'd you think I was the representative?"
There were over a hundred people gathered here, and she had zeroed in on me specifically to apologize. That still bugged me.
When I asked, Karura stared right at me and replied,
"Because you possess the most numen out of all of you. I assumed you were the leader as the strongest in the group."
Numen...?
The strongest? Me?
No, wait—what the hell even is numen?
"But it seems in this world, even someone not the strongest can lead a group. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Someday, I'll take responsibility for this."
I was about to ask Karura what numen was when the other women—who'd descended from the sky behind her and looked like the same winged race—spoke up.
"The ritual preparations are complete, Great Warrior!"
"Mm, I'll be right there. Excuse me, then."
Before I could even ask, she said that and flew off.
"So what the fuck is numen...?"
It was probably the term they used over there for ki, mana... whatever kind of energy.
But if that was the case, it meant I had more of it than any other dispenser here—not to mention all the mages combined. That was weird as hell.
There were plenty of old-ass mages who'd been practicing magic for decades, and even compared to them, I supposedly had the most?
Sure, I'd scarfed down a ton of elixirs, but still—no way it was that much.
Maybe the Dragon Heart inside Hoah or the artifacts I wore? But Hoaran and Yustitia had tuned those so no energy leaked out, so probably not.
"Eh, whatever."
More importantly, she'd come to greet us, but how the hell were they gonna move this many people across the middle of the desert?
There were dozens of winged women like Karura, but they weren't gonna carry us one by one.
I was wondering about that when the mystery of transporting everyone across the desert sands got solved real quick.
The moment Karura, heading to some ritual site, slammed her spear into the ground.
"GRRAAAAAHHH...!"
The deathworm—which had a hole punched through its skull, leaking that eerie howl from the wind tunnel in its head—suddenly lurched back to life.
She'd introduced herself as a great warrior and skewered a monster like that with her spear, so I'd figured she was some kind of fighter or knight.
But thinking about it, the place I was headed was a kingdom packed with thousands of master-level necromancers.
A kingdom where only necromancers remained, basically.
Meaning Karura was a necromancer too.
A strong one who could spear giant monsters to death, sure—but still a necromancer.
"A necromancer who can spear-fuck like that? That's bullshit cheating..."
The standard way to deal with mages was to close in and pressure them before they could chant. But Karura? Stab 'em up close with her spear, then raise the corpses with necromancy if they backed off. Total all-rounder.
Looked like straight-up cheating no matter how you sliced it.
Not that I was gonna fight her or anything.
Anyway, they were calling people over, so I figured we should get moving.
"GRRAAHHH...!"
"See ya..."
In the blink of an eye, they slapped together a massive desert ship pulled by the deathworm. Karura and the other Narmer Kingdom warriors loaded us up, then switched to escort mode, scanning the surroundings.
"Whoo-ick!"
"Whiiiick—!"
Whistles echoing between the wind gusts.
I picked up from listening that it was code for "all clear" or "got it."
"How long's this gonna take?"
I got bored staring at the endless desert and asked Hanyujin next to me. She replied,
"According to them, about 30 itera... roughly 300km to the Narmer Kingdom. At this speed... under six hours."
Fast as fuck, yeah—but a makeshift desert ship hitting over 50kph across the dunes? Hard to believe.
"Can't they just magic us there in a flash?"
Hanyujin glanced at me and said,
"There's an anti-magic barrier over this whole area, so no. Even with that deathworm earlier... without the barrier, we could've handled it ourselves. For escape, at least—not a hunt."
Ah, gotcha.
That explained why Karura's necromancer crew took down the deathworm with giant iron arrows and spears instead of spells. They'd blanketed hundreds of klicks around the kingdom with an anti-magic field.
Made sense how they could pull that off—and why the World Government compromised instead of wiping them out.
Mages turned into dead weight here. Send in martial artists or non-mages? The massive desert terrain made scrapping with necromancers suicide.
Anyway, sounded like a six-hour ride, so I nodded and flopped down right there.
"Cool, wake me when we arrive."
"...You're sleeping here?"
The deathworm hauled ass, and the slapdash build made it bumpy as hell—not the smoothest ride. But I could still crash. Hanyujin stared at me like I was nuts, so I said,
"I can sleep anywhere."
Even when that orphanage bitch locked me in a cramped closet for "disobedience," I'd slept like a baby.
A little shaking? This was cozy as fuck to me.
"I see..."
Hanyujin eyed me like she couldn't compute.
Whatever. I shut my eyes and passed out.
"...What a weird guy."
Hanyujin muttered as Kang Hanjo conked out almost instantly after saying he would.
"Seriously weird."
He'd been like that from the start.
She'd first met him as the handler for the guy who'd survived that global, simultaneous terror attack—not just surviving, but credited with rescuing others and awarded the "Brave Citizen" honor.
Even then, he'd struck her as odd.
In the one peninsula region where they'd actually caught the perps amid worldwide devastation, he'd been a key witness under heavy protection and surveillance. Yet he never cowered—straight-up made demands.
'This bed's not comfy enough. Swap it.'
'Food sucks. Change it. Korean if possible.'
'C'mon, just do it. I'll get dizzy without it.'
Most people, told she was World Government security, either quaked and complied or got suspicious and clammed up.
Not him. No fear, no suspicion—just zero cooperation while demanding whatever he wanted.
Naturally, she'd suspected him at first.
Coming out unscratched from a terror site that killed hundreds or thousands elsewhere? Way too chill for a survivor.
Plus, anyone could tell he was hiding something.
But they never cracked it, and orders came down to drop the case.
Definitely something off about him.
She felt it, but with the order, she let him go.
And now...
Never dreamed she'd see him again, let alone in this insane situation. Still the same weirdo.
"...Back then, he definitely tried to step forward."
When everyone—even her—panicked.
He was the only one coolly assessing, thinking it through. When the deathworm charged, he'd moved to the front.
A plain human with zero mana. Wouldn't change shit. But he did it anyway.
Luckily (or not), the Narmer Kingdom crew arrived in time. No issues.
Their rep, Great Warrior Karura, even mistook him for our leader and apologized personally. Definitely something there.
She'd said it herself: strongest in the group.
"...Still no mana, even checking again."
She'd scanned him before and now, sleeping. Nada.
Super-trained warrior? Nah.
Muscular, sure—but compared to orcs born for battle? Just a bit above average.
Factoring human limits, his raw strength probably couldn't match a smaller orc.
No angle made him the "strongest." Just a regular human.
"...Should I keep an eye on him?"
Orders were to stop investigating, so she had. But suspicion lingered. Personal digging now? Not bad.
Purely personal, no grounds for higher-ups to complain.