Yeah, This Is Real After All
“Really, huh?”
“Great! Yaaawn…….”
The sleepy yawn slipped out of Heungmi without her even noticing.
Rune watched her and opened his mouth.
“Kkyuu.”
[If you’re sleepy, go sleep first. I’ll only need the results later.]
At that, Heungmi shook her head vigorously.
“Uuuung! No way!”
Her pink rose-colored eyes stared straight at Rune.
“I want to do it till the very end. We’ve already been together the whole time!”
Rune gently ruffled Heungmi’s head, tightening his gaze.
“Kkyuu.”
[Yeah. Even if we sleep late, it’s better to let the fever cool.]
Even after leaving the temple, heat still radiated from Heungmi’s head.
The Temple of Fire was a place where heat boiled just from standing still.
Heungmi’s cheeks were still flushed bright red from the scorching heat, so it made perfect sense.
She happily perked her ears back and smiled at the petting.
“Hee~”
Then she pulled a colorful pouch from her skirt and showed it off.
“Heungmi brought cool drinks in this pouch! Let’s drink them together!”
Rune nodded, and Perdikion gave him a signal with his eyes.
“Kyak.”
[Then let’s go.]
They moved to a room and crowded together inside.
Heungmi took out peaches, lemon iced tea, orange and raspberry juice from the pouch.
And sprinkled sugar over fried snacks, placing them on the table.
“Kkyuu.”
[Here, this is yours.]
Rune divided the water cup and the sugar-sprinkled fried snacks, and Baekya flapped its wings quickly.
“Ppiit!”
Baekya was more hungry than hot, so it immediately began pecking at its share of the snacks.
Even Jed, with a sigh of relief, picked up the juice.
“A dwarf finding the heat unbearable, what a terrifying place.”
Drinking the juice like beer, Jed gulped it down and then let out a loud, improper burp of “Kuak~”.
‘It’s lucky Amelia couldn’t see this.’
Rune, recalling the less-than-favorable merchant image of Jed compared to Amelia, brought over the cup with the fairy water.
Even though it had flavoring, a cool glass of water was far better.
‘If I could, I’d want to dip my body in water.’
Rune used the transformation golden bracelet artifact.
After drinking, he noticed Perdikion had already transformed into the boy with red hair.
The boy of the red dragon clan, having drunk half his lemon iced tea, began to speak.
“I’ll tell you the quest I received first.”
Perdikion spoke directly to the point and pulled out the gem that looked like it was made of fire itself from his pocket.
Tap.
He infused mana into it and placed it on the table. Flickering flames turned into words and appeared in midair.
Obtain the reverence of a nation.
“……”
Everyone stared at the words, and Perdikion said.
“My father’s proposed quest was to use my power to conquer one country.”
It was Pasiyas’ destructive method of seizing power through force.
Perdikion frowned and opened his mouth again.
“‘Planting fear.’ That means making sure no one dares to challenge you and even contemplates touching you.”
Everyone, not just Rune, could guess Pasiyas’ thoughts.
It meant suppressing the opponent with violence so much they wouldn’t even think of rebelling.
Perdikion’s face twisted in disgust as he shouted.
“Hik! If that happened, the second Pasiyas reign would be——!”
“It’s fine.”
Rune cut off Jed’s words.
“A more doable quest than I thought. Right, brother?”
Perdikion nodded and said.
“Yeah. There are other ways to gain ‘reverence’ besides violence.”
Confidence filled Perdikion’s voice.
Rune, seeing the quest contents, felt it was perfect.
‘This turned out easier than I thought.’
At those words, Heungmi tilted her head and spoke.
“One country gaining reverence from Perdikion-nim, huh? Hmm. Somehow it might be hard.”
“Strictly speaking, yes. But what if we use this method instead.”
Rune raised his hand lightly and continued.
“Appearing several times as an adult dragon in a fairly large country or empire.”
In truth, simply showing a dragon’s form would easily gain even reverence.
Even if that dragon just flew around in the sky for a short time without harming anyone?
People would interpret it as a good or bad omen and gather reverence.
Thinking that far, Rune continued.
“If it’s a country that’s seen a red dragon appear in the past, or that worships fire, it would be even better.”
Rune looked at Jed.
“And if the Musketeer Merchant Guild has already entered, the rumor will spread even faster. ‘The fire lord, the red dragon, has appeared, punishing evil people.’”
If real evil people appeared in the process, they could just deal with them as an example.
‘Even if the country is good, there won’t be only truly good people.’
Furthermore, if the rumor spread well through the Musketeer Merchant Guild, the voices of the weak would naturally begin to grow stronger.
With a clap of his left hand on his right palm, Jed nodded.
“Ohohoho! I understand, this Jed. There was such a method!”
Perdikion was a hatchling who could even use Word of Power.
He was exactly the one to nurture strength worthy of the fire lord.
It was possible to create a miracle that would appear as the arrival of the fire lord to humans.
But Perdikion crossed his arms and rejected it.
“No.”
“No?”
Perdikion nodded firmly at Rune’s words.
He slammed his hand on the table and shouted.
“I won’t do such a pathetic thing of just gaining a spoon!”
“……”
Rune looked at Perdikion with the same feeling.
“So, you absolutely won’t use that method?”
“Of course. I must handle it properly with my power.”
Rune slowly nodded.
‘As I thought. I guessed it would be like that.’
Actually, Rune didn’t really like the method either.
The proposed method was easy, but after Perdikion finished the quest and left, what would happen?
He would most likely revert to his original self.
‘I knew that, yet I’m the one proceeding with it.’
Since they were using Word of Power, the hatchling carrying out the quest had to accept it in a way that made sense to him.
And Rune had finally come up with the perfect method for Perdikion this time.
“Then, I guess we must use the second method. Actually, this is real.”
“Oh? Is that so? It looked really good, though.”
Rune didn’t answer Jed’s words and brought up something else.
“Go to a small country, a country that truly needs help, and perform the quest. It won’t be easy, though.”
At that moment, Heungmi raised her hand.
“If it’s a small country, isn’t it even easier? If it’s small, it’ll change quickly!”
At those words, Rune shook his head slightly.
“That’s not true. Dwarves, elves. They have strong resolve to firmly protect their own culture.”
“Ah. I understand.”
When Heungmi nodded, Jed quickly stood up.
“Wonderful! Then this Jed can recommend such a country well! The Musketeer Merchant Guild is quite knowledgeable about the continent’s information!”
Scanning the surroundings, Jed quickly brought out the continent map attached to the wall.
“This place is just perfect! It looks great!”
Everyone checked the place Jed pointed at with his hand.
Rune spoke.
“An island?”
“Yes! Even if I say so myself, it’s a country with a proper name as an island nation.”
This time, Perdikion spoke.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Perdikion tapped his finger on the island drawing and added.
“That makes sense. I didn’t even know this country existed until now. It was pure coincidence.”
Just as Jed’s words were about to drag on, Rune asked Heungmi to drink the orange juice.
After a dry cough, Jed moved his mouth.
“As you know, the Musketeer Merchant Guild is an organization spread across the continent. A guy who wanted to open a new branch traveled everywhere, heard the rumor about this island, and thought, ‘This must be right! A new frontier!’ and went in…….”
Jed dramatically raised his shoulders and sparkled his eyes, then lost his strength, drooped his waist, and shook his head.
“I couldn’t even enter here, let alone enter the country. After that, I investigated and there were more suspicious corners than I could count.”
Jed recalled his thoughts and laid out the story one by one.
“First, the artifacts that point the way kept breaking down. Instead, artifacts that multiply darkness worked?”
“……”
To head to a place that should be explored, only artifacts that call for darkness were possible.
p>It was useless if you weren’t going to explore the darkness.
Jed continued with a smug laugh.
“Even rumors that there’s some strange religion, and that the country isn’t even a country originally. Rumors are everywhere, but there’s no truth to them.”
Rune looked at Perdikion’s face.
The red dragon clan boy, already feeling an undesirable corner, had his eyes set on his goal.
“Good. I’ve decided on that place.”
At Perdikion’s words, Jed looked like he had done his role.
He blew out a breath.
“As expected! If it works out, the Musketeer Merchant Guild will have a chance to enter new land…… no, we can even enter the guild and help!”
Rune looked at Jed with a somewhat dumbfounded expression.
Even at the moment of going to help with the quest, he wanted to use it as an opportunity to additionally establish the guild.
‘The messenger from the Temple of Fire is really something.’
Rune shook his head inwardly and finished the story.
“Then today, let’s just rest for now and talk more later. Wake up, Heungmi.”
“Ah, yes! Heungmi is awake!”
“Ppiyut!?”
At Rune’s words, Heungmi and Baekya, who had been half-asleep, suddenly lifted their heads.
Perdikion noticed and waved his hand.
“That’s enough. We’ll talk about the plan going forward next time.”
“Yeeees…….”
Heungmi and Baekya, who had barely answered Perdikion’s words and flapped their wings, were led by Jed to the door.
“Everyone, rest well and see you tomorrow!”
“Goodnight.”
Rune waved his hand, and Jed, Baekya, and Heungmi disappeared first.
Rune also said goodbye to Perdikion and parted ways.
‘That guy should have done his assigned work properly?’
Before Perdikion finished preparing to leave, Rune had things he needed to do as well.
And a few hours later.
Flash.
When Rune opened his eyes, he found Verdin’s kitchen.
“Kkyuu!”
[Verdin! Everything ready?]
Rune’s question made the ghost Verdin smile.
-Yes, everything is ready. Master Rune.
He confirmed the items: a pot full of stew and dozens of boxes of bread.
Rune nodded and said.
“Kkyuu.”
[Excellent. Then, I’ll take this.]
-Yes.
Verdin wondered why Rune had made him create so much food.
But as a loyal subject who valued not asking about the past, he bowed his head.
‘The timing is just right, too.’
It was still early morning, but the sky was still covered with night.
Rune put all the goods into his spatial pocket and went to look for the dwarves on night duty.
‘Oh no.’
……Before talking, Rune changed into a more human-like form that was easier to talk to.