Chapter 516: The Blood Sanctuary (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 516: The Blood Sanctuary (3)
Three days later.
I left home, pulling a single suitcase.
I had less luggage than I expected.
Guardians had promised to provide any consumables needed for the operation, and as for personal equipment, all I really had was a single suit.
It made me realize just how complacent I'd become.
“…My gear isn't just lacking, it's pathetic.”
It was partly because I'd always relied on magic, but also because I'd rarely been in a situation dire enough to make me feel a desperate need for proper gear.
If anything, I always felt that my guild members' equipment was the priority, so I invested any spare resources into them.
“I guess it's about time I started getting some gear for myself…”
In the past, there was no good way to acquire high-grade equipment, and low-grade gear wasn't very effective, so I let it slide. But things are different now.
I now had the wealth to buy it and the connections to commission it.
Armor wasn't that urgent.
If I layered my mana over the suit Ju-yeon tailored for me, I could block most attacks.
What was most urgent was…
“A well-made sword. I should at least have one of those.”
I need a sword.
One custom-made to fit my hand perfectly.
And filled with effects designed for someone like me, who uses both magic and a sword.
I already had a rough concept in mind for a sword with these kinds of functions.
And I'd long had my eye on a master craftsman who could turn that concept into reality.
“I wonder if I can get it made before the operation begins.”
I hope so.
I gripped the steering wheel, constantly erasing and redrawing parts of the sword I envisioned in my mind.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
8:00 AM.
The time I was supposed to meet the guild members.
I deliberately arrived at the guild headquarters five minutes late.
This was so I could take everyone who was already gathered in front of the building straight to the airport, rather than waiting around.
As I pulled up to the headquarters, sharp gazes landed on me.
“Wow… Look at the guild leader, showing up last.”
“You are five minutes late, Do-jin. Please deposit a fine of 50,000 won into Elena's account.”
“Did you oversleep…?”
“Good morning, Sunbae-nim!”
“You should call him Guild Leader now.”
“Oh, right.”
Shin Yu-jeong, Elena, Son Seo-yeon, Yoon Si-hoo, Jin Ha-rin.
Each of them chimed in.
Contrary to my expectation that I'd be lucky if even half of them showed up, every single guild member was there.
Except for one person.
Im Na-eun.
I instinctively pulled out my smartphone to check for any messages.
Missed calls, texts, messages.
There was nothing.
That's unexpected.
I thought she would at least contact me.
When I looked up from my phone, I saw them watching me with worried expressions.
Ju-yeon approached me and asked cautiously.
“Should we… wait a little longer?”
I shook my head.
“No. Let's get going.”
The others watched my expression carefully as they hesitantly approached with their suitcases.
Looks like they're getting the wrong idea.
“I told you, didn't I? I respect those who come and those who don't. I'm fine, so stop looking at me like that and get in the cars. Half of you in my car, the other half in Ju-yeon-nuna's.”
After a moment of hesitation looking at the two cars parked by the road, the guild members split up and got in.
The ones who got in my car were Son Seo-yeon, Elena, and Jin Ha-rin.
Looking out the window, I saw Shin Yu-jeong grinding her teeth as she headed for Ju-yeon's car.
Tsk, tsk.
She lost.
Jin Ha-rin, who had taken the passenger seat, asked me.
“Guild Leader, should I set the navigation?”
“That'd be great, thanks.”
“Oh, I have some gum, too. Would you like a piece?”
“Uh… sure.”
“It says to turn right here.”
“Thanks.”
“Would you like some water?”
“……”
She got in the passenger seat and turned into a genuine assistant.
*
Romania.
A nation struggling to survive after an unprecedented chain of disasters: an earthquake and a dungeon break.
Ten years had passed, but their difficult circumstances remained unchanged.
They had suffered a blow so devastating that a decade wasn't nearly enough time to recover.
Wallachia, which came to be known as the Blood Sanctuary, was one of the three historical regions that make up Romania.
The number of people who died there, caught in the disaster, was in the hundreds of thousands.
And even that was said to be a miraculously low number of casualties.
What's more, the region of Wallachia included Romania's capital, Bucharest.
In short, the successive disasters had cost them hundreds of thousands of lives, a third of their territory, and even their capital.
But that wasn't all they lost.
Many of those who barely survived in Wallachia were left broken shells of their former selves, or simply collapsed, having lost all will to live.
Having lost the homes they'd lived in their whole lives, their families, and their livelihoods, it was, in a way, an expected outcome.
And those who managed to pull themselves together left the country.
They quickly decided it was better to start anew in a foreign country than to try and rebuild in a land where only bitter memories and ruin remained.
So, did the people who remained pull together and try to live well?
Not a chance.
When people can't eat properly or live like human beings, their minds become devastated too.
The card played by those who were driven out with nothing was none other than crime.
Children became pickpockets, adults became robbers.
And this normalization of crime gave birth to more crime, causing the crime rate to skyrocket.
But the state didn't even have the resources to crack down on them all.
With such incidents occurring so frequently, it was only natural that tourists stopped coming.
“That's why our initial assembly point is in a neighboring country, not Romania itself.”
That was the reason Guardians had decided to gather in another country.
In a situation where the airport has become all but useless due to the lack of tourists, what if dozens of travelers suddenly start arriving one after another?
“Nothing would be more suspicious.”
There's no way the people who have their base in the Blood Sanctuary haven't planted spies all over Romania.
They would naturally be collecting detailed information on any foreigners getting off a plane.
At that moment, Shin Yu-jeong asked, “So where is this plane headed?”
My gaze turned to Elena, who was staring blankly in our direction.
“This plane is headed for Bulgaria.”
“……!”
Elena's eyes widened as if they would tear.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The flight time from Korea to Romania on a standard commercial flight is fifteen hours.
Using the Saintess's private jet shortens that to about nine hours.
Either way, it was undeniably a long journey.
The same was true for Bulgaria, one of Romania's neighbors.
The private jet the Saintess had provided for them flew for a full eight and a half hours before touching down on the runway of Sofia International Airport in Bulgaria.
As they stepped out of the comfortable plane, a gentle heat enveloped them.
“The weather isn't that different from Korea.”
“That's because this country has four seasons, too.”
“Hmm…”
Just as Shin Yu-jeong said, the climate here wasn't much different from the Republic of Korea.
It was quite humid and clear, as expected for June.
After most of the others had disembarked, the last person, Elena, came down with slow steps.
“……”
She had a peculiar expression on her face.
Neither happy nor sad.
It seemed she simply couldn't process the fact that she was standing on the soil of her homeland.
I walked over to her.
“How does it feel, Elena? To be back home after so long.”
“Ah… well.”
Elena Mikhailova Dobreva.
Her life now was vastly different from where she had started.
If she started out like a foreign exchange student who had left her country to escape poverty, she was now regarded as a promising talent in the Republic of Korea.
Thanks to this, the Association was even subtly trying to get her to naturalize.
She had earned a great deal of money.
Enough to make her difficult past seem so distant it was no longer visible to the naked eye.
Because of that, she could have set foot in her homeland whenever she wanted, but she never did.
Why was that?
“Honestly… I'm just dazed.”
In truth, even she didn't know the exact reason.
Perhaps it was greed.
She felt that if she just earned a little more, became a little more successful, she could return with even greater joy.
At the same time, it was also because she was content with her current life.
With a lover who was endlessly dear to her, but with whom she still kept a distance due to a childhood vow.
With her colleagues, who now felt like sisters.
It was a sorry thing to admit to her family in Bulgaria, but these people had become her family, too.
“I never thought I'd come back so suddenly…”
And she wasn't even alone.
Her colleagues, whom she thought of as her second family, and her lover, who was like an adorable puppy.
The very people who had grabbed her hand and changed her destiny when she was on the verge of failing to adapt to a strange country were here with her.
After sorting through her thoughts, a faint smile appeared on her lips as she answered.
“Mm, it's nice. I've always wanted to show you all someday.”
It had been her wish.
To show her homeland to the people who had changed her fate.
To show them how prosperous she, who had struggled just to survive, had become because of them.
And to tell them how truly grateful she was. She had wanted to say it with all her heart, just once.
It seemed that chance had finally arrived.
“I'm so happy.”
The smile on her lips soon held a light more brilliant than the sun.
I smiled back at her and spoke.
“Alright. In that case, shall we let our dear Elena be our guide here?”
“I'm in!”
“Yeah, a local would know all the good spots.”
“I'm looking forward to it.”
They were here for work, but they could still enjoy a little downtime.
Just as they were getting excited at the thought of following their local guide to see Bulgaria's unique food and sights…
“Ah, that is impossible.”
Elena shook her head firmly.
As everyone looked at her quizzically, she continued.
“This is only Elena's second time visiting Sofia, you see.”
“……”
Once when she left for Korea.
And now.
The impoverished Elena, who hailed from rural Bulgaria, knew nothing of Sofia either.