What the Hell Kind of Judgment Is This?
Elena stared in utter confusion at the man who had suddenly dropped to his knees before her.
“Please, I beg you! Take me as your subordinate! I will do anything!”
What the actual fuck?
Elena couldn’t make sense of the man pleading to become her underling. What did I even do? All I did was cast Recovery on him.
Healing someone and they immediately want to become your subordinate? At this rate, she’d basically be a noble… Oh right, healers are basically nobles. But that was just a running joke among players. There was no way an NPC would actually act like that, which only made her more confused.
“Miss Cheongryeo, why is this person acting like this?”
She asked the question the moment Cheongryeo returned, but the woman’s reaction was equally bizarre.
“Ahhh, my Benefactor!!”
Cheongryeo gazed at Elena with a face full of overwhelming emotion.
“You truly are a heavenly maiden descended from the skies!”
“...?”
“You perform miracles without seeking any reward whatsoever! In comparison, I am nothing but a selfish, narrow-minded wretch!”
Cheongryeo had been secretly bothered by the fact that she had endangered the entire village just to save her own life. Yet Elena had demanded no compensation, nor had she used the treatment as a bargaining chip. She had simply healed the villagers as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The sight had left a profound impression on her.
“No, stop saying weird things. Who is this guy?”
“This man is none other than Geumgang, the chief of this village and a great hero.”
Why the hell is the village chief swearing loyalty to me? This can’t seriously be the quest reward, right?!
Elena had assumed that healing the residents would at most move the chief enough to let them stay in the village for a while. A sudden oath of allegiance felt way too excessive as a reward.
“Please forgive this foolish one. For a brief moment, I dared to harbor disrespectful thoughts toward my Lord!”
The chief—Geumgang—only grew more bizarre with every word.
“I was jealous of such a merciful Lord and even slandered you.”
When?
“To hide my own inferiority, I endlessly disparaged you, calling you a cunning woman who only showed mercy for her own gain!”
We literally just met! When the hell did you have time to slander me?!
Elena was genuinely speechless, but none of her inner turmoil reached Geumgang.
“However, my Lord has once again shown hope to this petty man. You have not only brought life back to my broken body, but to my withered heart as well!”
“...Um, so can I stay in this village for a bit?”
Elena eventually gave up on trying to understand and cut straight to the point.
“I’m being chased, so I need a place to hide for a while…”
“Such humility! I know full well that someone of your stature would not hide in a place like this even while being pursued. You are deliberately choosing to stay here in order to bestow your mercy upon us, aren’t you?”
With Elena’s abilities, she could go anywhere she wanted. The fact that she had specifically chosen this village made Geumgang interpret it as an act of benevolence.
“There is no madman in this village who would refuse such grace.”
“That’s right! O Divine Physician! Please, show us a little more of your mercy in this village!”
At Geumgang’s words, the villagers all chimed in. Elena stared blankly at the group of people clinging to her with desperate, pleading eyes.
Uh… anyway, does this mean the quest is complete?
Red Blood Hall.
The group had gathered in the same forest where Elena had first encountered Cheongryeo. Among them were the very members who had chased after her. Every single one of them was kneeling. Before them stood a man.
A ruggedly handsome man with a broadsword strapped to his back. He was one of the greatest experts the Wicked Dao Alliance had to offer.
The leader of the Red Blood Hall—Gi Eungso, the Blood Blade Rogue.
“This is ridiculous.”
Eungso, who had faithfully carried out many tasks as the Alliance Leader’s right-hand man, had never encountered anything quite this absurd.
“A dying woman was saved by some mysterious Western girl. And all of you saw it, got scared, and ran away? You’re telling me that’s what happened?”
“W-we’re sorry!”
The subordinates who had committed such a grave blunder quickly bowed their heads.
“We know it was pathetic, but in that situation, we judged that retreating and reporting back was the priority.”
“...Tsk!”
Eungso clicked his tongue after hearing the report. It sounded like an excuse, but it wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
“I’d love to break all your arms, but you’re right. If you unexpectedly encounter a master, it’s better to bring back the information at least… assuming what you reported is actually true.”
“We would never dare deceive you, Hall Leader!”
“That remains to be seen.”
With a bored expression, Eungso jerked his chin toward the other subordinates.
“Send out scouts. Find the silver-haired Western woman in white clothes along with Cheongryeo. With an appearance that distinctive, she shouldn’t be hard to locate.”
“Understood!”
Following their leader’s orders, the Red Blood Hall members scoured the area. And a few days later—
“We have obtained information that Cheongryeo is heading to Muwichon with the Western woman.”
“Oh? So the two of them are traveling together?”
The target, Cheongryeo, and the woman who had dared to interfere with the Alliance’s plans. Catching both at once would be killing two birds with one stone.
“Good. Then we’ll head to Muwichon and capture them both.”
“I will mobilize the entire Hall immediately.”
“Ah, that won’t be necessary.”
Eungso shrugged.
“There’s no need for all of us to move just to catch a couple of women.”
“You don’t mean to go alone, do you?!”
To his shocked subordinate, Eungso replied casually.
“I alone am more than enough. Or what? Do you actually think there’s anyone in that pathetic trash heap who could stop me?”
“That’s not what I meant, but…”
The subordinates looked uneasy but ultimately agreed. Their leader, Eungso, was a Peak-realm master. A powerhouse on the level of a major sect leader. The First-class Cheongryeo was no match for him. The same went for Geumgang, the ruined chief of Muwichon.
“Of course there is no one in that village who could stop you, Hall Leader. However, that Western woman is a bit concerning.”
“You mean that nonsense about the young girl being an incredible expert? You believe that? She probably just got lucky and fed Cheongryeo some miraculous medicine.”
Eungso dismissed the reports from the subordinates who had encountered Elena as a misunderstanding.
“If I dragged all of you along because I was scared of such rumors, the entire Wicked Dao Alliance would laugh at me. My reputation has already taken enough damage. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
With a cold sneer, Eungso set off alone. The mission to capture Cheongryeo had taken far longer than expected due to unexpected resistance. At the very least, he wanted the satisfaction of catching her with his own hands.
And so.
He arrived at Muwichon by himself.
“Heh heh, what a sorry excuse for a village.”
Looking at the shabby Muwichon, he thought about killing a few villagers to force the hidden Cheongryeo out.
After all, these people are worthless. No one would care if they disappeared.
With a cruel smile, he was about to step into the village when—
“Hey, Eungso. What’s got you grinning like an idiot?”
“Who dares—?”
Eungso turned toward the mocking voice and froze.
“Geumgang?”
His eyes widened in disbelief. The one who had spoken was indeed Geumgang, but he looked shockingly healthy. He stood in a perfectly stable stance, staring straight at him.
“What happened to that leg of yours?!”
This was impossible. Eungso had personally participated when the Wicked Dao Alliance crippled Geumgang. He had clearly seen the man’s leg destroyed.
“Did you find some miraculous herb or something? How is a ruined leg healed?!”
“Don’t misunderstand.”
“What?”
“It wasn’t just my leg that healed. My realm has been restored as well.”
“...Nonsense!”
Eungso shouted reflexively.
“How could severed meridians possibly recover?!”
“My Lord performed a miracle. If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you.”
Geumgang spoke indifferently as he raised his fist. A golden haze rose from it—fist qi similar to sword qi. But then the qi compressed to an extreme degree and clung to his fist like a thin layer of armor.
The moment Eungso saw that form, his face filled with horror as if he had seen a ghost.
The advanced technique of compressing Fist Qi into a thin, armor-like layer around the hands. A hallmark of Peak-realm mastery.
“Fist Condensation!”
Compressing weapon qi into a thread-like layer and wrapping it around oneself like clothing. It was a secret technique only possible for those who had advanced beyond First-class into the Peak realm.
“N-no way! You really recovered?!”
“My Lord made the impossible possible!”
Geumgang shouted powerfully and charged forward. Eungso urgently drew the broadsword from his back and wrapped his blade in Blade Condensation.
The moment Fist Condensation and Blade Condensation collided—
A clear, metallic clang rang out.
Shit, it really is Fist Condensation!
Eungso broke into a cold sweat. Even after clashing with an equal-level technique, Geumgang’s fist remained completely unharmed. There could be no clearer proof that the man had recovered his Peak-realm martial arts.
C-calm down. Even if he really did recover his martial prowess, I’m also in the Peak realm. No, I should still be stronger than this bastard who’s been living like a cripple for years!
Eungso tried to steady his shaken mind, but Geumgang wasn’t the only one present.
“Take my sword!”
That damn woman, Cheongryeo!
As he fought Geumgang, Cheongryeo suddenly appeared. Caught off guard by her ambush, Eungso quickly retreated in surprise.
This cunning bitch!
In a fair fight, she wouldn’t even be worth his time, but the current situation was different. Fighting an equal-level master while being interfered with by even a mere First-class expert could lead to defeat.
And then…
Is that the Western woman?
While dealing with the two attackers, Eungso spotted a third party. A breathtakingly beautiful, exotic woman watching the fight from a distance.
She really does have an extraordinary presence! No wonder my subordinates called her a mysterious master.
Could it be that she was the one who healed Geumgang as well?! She had not only saved a dying Cheongryeo but had also restored a ruined Geumgang. One time could be chalked up to a miraculous medicine, but twice was something else entirely.
Does she truly possess god-like medical skills? If so, then I’m finished!
If another master joined the fray in this situation, there was no way to win. Faced with mortal danger, Eungso pondered for a brief moment before quickly reaching a conclusion.
“...Wait for me. I’ll return with the entire Red Blood Hall!”
Placing his life above a moment of humiliation, Eungso fled with all his might.