Chapter 82: The Branch Manager
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 82: The Branch Manager
Early morning. The time had come to end our short but intense meeting.
“...Do you really have to go?”
I had planned to say a simple goodbye in front of the cabin and part ways, but Elly seemed to have no intention of letting me go.
She'd been protesting for a good thirty minutes now, clinging tightly to my waist and refusing to let go. Every time I tried to peel her off, she would start crying, so I couldn't bring myself to move.
And where the hell did she learn to seduce a man by subtly grinding her chest against him?
‘...Was it me?’
I definitely remembered tormenting Elly's nipples for over thirty minutes last night while I was fucking Luna from behind. I had continued to pinch and rub them even after that, so it wasn't strange that they were still sensitive.
“Hngh, uuh...♡”
Still, what was I supposed to do if you were going to masturbate by rubbing your chest against me?
Sighing heavily to myself, I stroked Elly's head.
“I'll be back soon.”
“Really...?”
Elly's eyes were red as she carefully lifted her head. A wave of guilt washed over me.
“Does the Great Forest have a winter?”
“Yes, it's about half a year away.”
Sooner than I thought.
This might make things a bit tricky, but it was the best way to soothe Elly.
“Then I promise I'll be back before winter comes. How about that?”
“...”
Elly didn't answer.
Instead, she just tilted her head up, applying silent pressure.
I let out a dry laugh at her obvious ploy, but I wanted to accommodate her as much as possible right now. If we parted today, it would be half a year for them, but for me, it would be much longer before we could reunite.
Our lips met briefly and then parted. Only then did Elly pull back with her usual bright smile.
It was a gesture of consideration and concession, in her own young way, for her older sister who was fidgeting beside her.
“Hyun-woo...”
Luna, her eyes just as red as Elly's, approached me, her voice thick with tears as she called my name pitifully. I pulled her into a tight hug without a word.
“As long as I can be by your side, I don't have to be your wife or concubine.”
Luna, still in my arms, suddenly said something meaningful, then stood on her tiptoes and crashed her lips against mine.
It wasn't just a simple kiss, but a fierce and passionate deep kiss reminiscent of last night.
“Ah, sis! That's cheating!”
Elly rushed over, furious that her sister had broken their pact, but she was no match for Luna, who was already fired up.
After a moment that was neither long nor short, Luna and I broke the kiss.
“I'll be waiting for you.”
With those final words, Iris and I left the sisters' cabin behind and headed into the forest.
Until the dense trees and thick undergrowth completely hid them from view, I kept glancing back.
“Are you worried about them?”
“...Of course I am.”
Just in case, I had left them enough food to last a year, various survival tools, and an incense burner that repels magical beasts, though it came with several conditions.
For the record, I bought the incense burner from the shop for 800 coins. Considering their safety, it was practically pocket change.
I had prepared several other measures as well, so they should be fine for a while, but I couldn't be completely at ease.
I didn't know about magical beasts, but humans would generally stop at nothing to get what they want. The five men we met in the forest, who looked like low-rank hunters at best, were roaming the Great Forest teeming with magical beasts just to catch an elf.
That meant I couldn't rule out the possibility of other slave hunters showing up before Luna and Elly. No, there was a high probability that slave hunters would enter the Great Forest and rummage through it.
Nine out of ten of them would probably be eaten by the forest's magical beasts, but there's always an exception.
And I didn't want that exception to become a potential threat to Luna and Elly.
“You said you were going to meet the Lord of Wavel, correct?”
“That's the plan for now.”
A few hours ago, over breakfast, I had learned many things from Luna, who was surprisingly knowledgeable about the world outside the Great Forest, including the way to Wavel.
The border city, Wavel, had another name.
Wavel, the City of Slaves.
The largest slave market in the entire southern continent was located in Wavel, and because of that, most of the slave hunters operating in the southern region used Wavel as their base.
“Iris.”
Iris occasionally wore a pained expression, seemingly outraged by the current situation where humans were trying to enslave elves.
“...It's not that there weren't humans who tried to enslave elves in the past. Even nobles and royalty from other nations that adopted the Goddess religion as their state religion were no exception. But they never set their filthy feet in the Great Forest like the slave hunters do now.”
Blasphemy.
The sense of perversion from defiling something that shouldn't be defiled was a powerful drug for humans.
“Don't worry.”
I pulled Iris, who was habitually biting her lip, into a hug. She was going to leave a mark on her lips if she kept that up.
“You trust me, right?”
“...Yes.”
My original purpose for going to Wavel was to find a way to cross the border of the Veilhaven Republic, but now, a new objective had been added.
I was sincerely hoping for one thing.
That the Lord of Wavel is a reasonable man.
That he's the kind of man who will listen when I tell him to stop the slave hunts for elves.
If I had my way, I'd want to uproot the practice of slave hunting itself, but that was impossible right now since I couldn't afford to spend much time here.
So, I would be satisfied if I could just take the minimum measures to ensure Luna and Elly could live without problems until I returned.
If the Lord of Wavel listens to me without complaint, I'll let him live.
‘...But if he doesn't.’
I'd have to consider tearing it all down.
Diplomatic issues? I'm not affiliated with any country or organization. If I kill the lord of another country's city, could they even retaliate?
Besides, with a great method like assassination at my disposal, I had no intention of foolishly revealing my face. It would be a pain to have pests clinging to me on my journey to the Santala Kingdom.
Calming my magic circuit, which still hadn't fully adapted to the 4th Circle, we walked in the direction Luna had told us.
We pushed through the undergrowth, crossed a small stream, and defeated magical beasts, continuing onward.
Beyond the forest that seemed as if it would never end.
“Hyun-woo!”
The end began to come into view.
With the last tree as a boundary, a vast plain that made me doubt my eyes revealed itself.
A green meadow and large clouds drifting across the sky.
And far in the distance, I could see something slightly larger than a dot.
“Is that Wavel...”
It was a distance we could reach in half a day's walk.
At that moment, I brought up the screen.
[Remaining Match Time: 14:41:07]
There were only 14 hours left.
Of course, remembering my first match, it wasn't a short amount of time, but it was also true that it was insufficient for getting much done.
Rather than using up all the remaining time and leaving a bad taste in my mouth...
“Iris, I'll be back.”
“See you soon.”
With Iris's faint smile as my last sight.
[Would you like to end the match?]
[Y/N]
[Y]
I returned to Earth.
*
Tiring-
[The match has ended.]
[Favorability Change]
[Iris Remeria Baiart Peledeia 95♡ → 99♡]
[Bond Level Change]
[Iris Remeria Baiart Peledeia Lv.3 → Lv.5]
[Calculating...]
[2,000 Love Coins have been awarded.]
[Remaining Coins: 4,150 Coins]
[Name: Iris Remeria Baiart Peledeia
Age: 524
Race: High Elf
Affiliation: EB-17
Occupation: Archmage
Disposition: Saintly, Pacifist, Devoted, Vegetarian······]
[Time until next match: 167:59:59]
A familiar scene. What did it say about me that I took out a lease deposit loan but still hadn't moved, living in this studio apartment?
“Still, they gave me a lot of coins this time.”
Considering what I went through in this match, even this felt like too little. It was a good thing I got 'Berserk' as a reward; otherwise, I was on the verge of going dark and becoming a 'black consumer' [a chronic, malicious complainer].
I quietly dismissed the screen and brought up a new one.
[Noel Ronnidella]
[Summon Cooldown: 59:12:47]
[※This summon is currently under a penalty.]
I could summon Noel again in about three days.
The penalty mentioned by the app was a bit concerning, but since I had no intention of summoning Noel right after the cooldown ended anyway, I could ignore it for now.
Noel went through a lot in the dungeon, too. She deserved some time to rest.
“This is also a problem, though.”
[The proficiency of the 'Sex Expert' skill has reached its limit.]
[A special mission, 'First Step Towards an Alpha Male,' is now available for skill evolution.]
Thanks to using the 'Sex Expert' skill all night yesterday, its proficiency reached 100%, but a screen had popped up saying I needed to complete a specific mission to evolve the skill.
“So, what's the mission?”
From last night until this morning, I had been so preoccupied that I hadn't had a chance to check the mission details.
Tiring-
[First Step Towards an Alpha Male]
[Grade: Special]
[Take the virginity of a woman designated by the app at a later time.]
[※If any criminal acts such as threats or rape are detected, the mission will automatically be considered a failure.]
[Reward: 'Sex Expert' grade increase, ???]
“...What the hell.”
The mission content was extremely simple, but it didn't specify who I was supposed to take, nor did it say when this 'later time' would be. It strongly implied, 'We'll let you know later, so you just wait.'
A surge of anger flared up, but there was nothing I could do against a dating app that had no customer service center or 1-on-1 inquiry board.
“Sigh.”
I swiped the screen away, quickly changed my clothes, and left the house.
My destination was the Hunter Association.
The association building, which I reached by taxi, was still huge. Of course, the church next to it made it look relatively ordinary.
And when I thought about the Magic Tower, the Hunter Association even started to look modest.
I entered the building and took a number from the machine on the first floor. It was number 1. It seemed there weren't many people on a weekday afternoon.
I immediately went to the counter where my number was displayed, and a beautiful female employee greeted me.
“Thank you for visiting the Seoul Branch of the Hunter Association. How may I help you today?”
“I'm here to exchange some magic stones.”
“Ah, in that case, could you please place them here?”
Of course, I didn't do something as crazy as taking the magic stones out of my inventory. I placed the bag containing the stones on the counter.
Thud!
The heavy sound drew the attention of not only the staff but also the other hunters.
“There's quite a lot. Is that okay?”
“...Just a moment.”
Ziiiip—
The employee's eyes trembled violently as she cautiously opened the bag. With a hand shaking as much as her eyes, she rummaged through the bag, then left with a single, "Could you please wait a moment?" before rushing off somewhere.
As I waited, basking in the stares and attention of everyone around, a man in a neat suit with slicked-back hair and glasses appeared.
“Thank you for waiting.”
The man bowed his head lightly and began to inspect the bag. But soon, his eyes started to tremble just like the female employee's.
“...Excuse me, but would it be alright if I checked your ID first?”
“Ah, yes.”
When I handed him my Wizard Registration Card, the male employee's eyes widened.
“M-Mage Kang Hyun-woo?”
“Yes.”
“...P-Please, could you wait just a moment?”
“Huh?”
Before I could even answer, the man rushed off somewhere.
This scene felt familiar.
‘...And I didn't even put in anything above C+ grade.’
To avoid unnecessary suspicion, I had only brought C-grade or lower magic stones. Of course, the Minotaur's magic stone was safely stored in my inventory. Officially, as a 2nd Circle mage, there was no way I could have hunted something like that.
Even so, I had brought quite a few magic stones.
About 40 of them?
Of course, even this was more than enough to arouse suspicion, but the Hunter Association couldn't touch me, a mage officially registered with the Magic Tower.
At most, they could inquire with the Magic Tower, saying, 'Some super suspicious guy came to exchange a bunch of magic stones, please investigate.'
Of course, even if they did, with Grandma Choi Young-ok around, the chances of me getting into trouble were extremely low.
“Excuse me...”
“Yes?”
“I'm very interested in magic, so I was wondering if I could get your number?”
The female employee who had been there before approached me as I sat waiting, smiling brightly as she held out her phone.
It wasn't just the magic stones; it seemed handing over my Wizard Registration Card had really caught her interest.
In a way, this was the first time a girl had ever asked for my number, but I wasn't the least bit interested.
Objectively, the employee was pretty, but comparing her to Luna and Elly felt like an insult to them.
Of course, in the past, I would have gratefully given her my number, but things were very different now.
“I'm sorry. I have a girlfriend.”
“That's okay!”
What part of that is okay?
I was flustered by her aggressive attitude, but just then, the slicked-back-haired employee returned, and the female employee retreated.
It seemed even she felt burdened asking for a customer's number in front of her superior.
“I apologize for the delay.”
The slicked-back-haired employee bowed his head lightly.
“If you don't mind, could you please come with me for a moment?”
“Huh?”
The man, glancing around, took another step closer and spoke to me quietly.
“The branch manager would like to see you, Mage Kang Hyun-woo.”