Chapter 115
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Contact
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The slave soldiers of the White-Masked Young Master.
They had been famous in the City of Deformity from the very beginning.
After all, lending out high-class slaves—treasures even nobles handled with care—for just a few coins was truly unconventional.
And yet.
That fame was of a peculiar kind.
It stemmed from the oddity of a noble, who should have prized his reputation, running a slave rental business, as if he were some strange animal on display.
But as the war began in earnest.
And after the White-Masked Young Master disappeared and returned.
When it was revealed that his slave soldiers were high-level Awakened Ones as they began hunting pirates, the perception of them changed on a fundamental level.
They transformed from a curious spectacle into an object of astonishment and fear.
It was inevitable.
Even for a mid-tier noble house, having more than ten high-level Awakened Ones was rare. Thirty of them was an overwhelming force.
It was a military power that would require four or five respectable houses to muster, a threat even to high-ranking nobles.
Their prowess had already been proven through their pirate hunts, making them all the more formidable.
And so, people began to call them by a new name, one filled with fear and caution.
Wearing white masks.
Appearing as if from nowhere.
Spirits that captured pirates.
—The White Ghost Corps.
And the one who had earned even greater reverence than them.
As the master of the White Ghosts, no one could now doubt his connection to the Baekdaesega.
He, who had become an object of terror to the bandit nobles of the Pirate Alliance, spoke leisurely.
“Alright, I’ll do it.”
“…Are you certain, my lord?”
“Why that reaction? Weren’t you the one who relayed the orc mister’s request, Pandora?”
“That is true, but… is it truly all right for you to be absent at such a crucial time?”
Pandora asked calmly.
Right now, the reputation of the White Ghost Corps and the White-Masked Young Master was soaring.
The more bandit nobles they hunted, the more merits they could claim. Leaving now would mean a loss.
But Dion’s reaction was nonchalant.
“Yeah, it’s not like I have anything to do anyway.”
“…Were you not hunting pirates?”
“That’s why I’m saying it. The braggart can’t seem to find any appetizing prey.”
“There has to be prey for me to find it… What do you want me to do when they’re all holed up?”
Naru said, his tone laced with injustice.
Indeed, thanks to Dion’s activities, the pirate lords were on high alert and had banded together.
It was impossible to find an easy target.
Of course, this was proof that the mere presence of Dion and his slave soldiers was pressuring the Pirate Alliance, which was a welcome development for the anti-bandit coalition, but…
For Dion, who had gone all the way to the [Tower of Shadows], it was so anticlimactic it bordered on boring. Urk’s request was, therefore, more than welcome.
Especially since there was something to be gained beyond Urk’s reward.
“But I’ll need a few things to take on this job.”
“What is it that you require?”
“A 1-star Divine Beast and a Driver.”
“…Do you mean to say you will be using a 1-star Divine Beast?”
*Kyahng?*
The moment she heard those words.
The one whose tail shot straight up was the young girl of the hunting tribe.
Like a hound who had just heard its master say he was taking a new puppy for a walk without her.
Seeing Orr Kai’s shocked eyes, Dion smiled faintly.
“It’s not that I don’t like you, my little lucky charm. It’s just that a basilisk is too conspicuous to take on this job.”
*Whine…*
“I’ll play with you a lot when I get back, instead. You can wait nicely, can’t you?”
While patting the head of Orr Kai, who nodded reluctantly despite her sullen expression.
Dion turned his head.
“Now then, I suppose we should first decide who to take with us…”
When hunting pirate territories, they could just swarm in, but this job required infiltration.
They had to sneak in as stealthily as possible.
And retrieve only the valuables.
To move covertly, he had to take the minimum number of people.
In that sense, the first person Dion would call was already decided.
“—Arsha.”
“Yes, my husband.”
The dark elf, as elegant as a flower.
Originally Dion’s concubine, who had barely managed to secure the position of steward of Waryongjang by leveraging her status as the dark elf chieftain.
But after awakening her spiritual power.
And becoming the commander of the White Ghost Corps.
Now, to his wife, who had become the undisputed second-in-command of Waryongjang, second only to himself.
Dion said casually.
“You’ll be alright?”
“Keeping them in check should not be a problem.”
“Good, then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes.”
“…?”
“Now the person to guard our empty home is decided.”
Orr Kai, the Driver.
Arsha, the commander of the slave soldiers.
He was leaving behind the two core figures of Waryongjang.
Most were startled by Dion’s bombshell, but a few accepted it as a matter of course.
Whether it was because fighting was a losing game since all pirate territories were now at full strength.
Or because Arsha was powerless without the slave soldiers, whereas the slave soldiers and Arsha alone were enough to pressure the Pirate Alliance.
Among those who should remain.
The top priority was Arsha.
Most had already guessed as much.
It was just that some had rashly assumed Dion would not leave his beloved concubine behind.
“Then, the people coming with me this time are…”
Among them.
The clearest leader.
Looking at the vassals and retainers, including the dark elf maid with a stiff expression.
Dion spoke with a faint smile.
***
Divine Beasts.
After the Ancient Kingdom fell.
And the world was swallowed by the Labyrinth.
They were the last blessing of the goddess, the only home left for the intelligent races.
But, as was to be expected, not every Divine Beast could become a territory.
To raise a Divine Beast from its egg, one had to protect it from the Labyrinth’s monsters while it absorbed immense amounts of mana.
This was why most Drivers contracted with nobles.
The military power to protect the Divine Beast.
The mana stones to raise it.
Only the nobles possessed all of these things.
Even if they had to give up most of their income, once the Divine Beast grew to 3-star or higher and became a territory, even nobles couldn’t treat them carelessly.
Most Drivers toiled away, roaming Odobaekryeong with such distant dreams.
That was also why being able to contract with a Divine Beast, even a low-grade one whose egg alone cost billions, was considered the greatest of fortunes.
A 1-star Divine Beast.
A goblin contracted to an Armor Bear.
Gachu, therefore, believed himself to be a lucky man without a shadow of a doubt.
The Lord of Nakrang was known among nobles for his generosity, and so he, too, received handsome treatment for a low-tier Driver.
He had sincerely wished he could continue working under the Lord of Nakrang for another hundred years or so.
…That is, until the war broke out.
No matter the place.
No matter the era.
War changes many things.
Nakrang Castle was no exception.
Since the war with the Pirate Alliance began, Gachu, being a precious Driver, had been mobilized for all sorts of tasks.
He regretted to the point of tears not having properly checked the clause on wartime mobilization when he first signed the contract.
But what could he do?
A Driver without a Divine Beast was no better than an unemployed vagrant.
And if he hadn’t contracted with Nakrang in the first place, he would never have been able to afford the ridiculously expensive Armor Bear.
In the end, Gachu had no choice but to carry out his mission today, swallowing his tears.
…Even if it was a mission to infiltrate a territory occupied by a Pirate Alliance lord, a task that looked no different from a suicide mission.
“I can feel the Divine Beast’s presence, so I think we’ll be spotted if we get any closer, y’see.”
“Are you sure we haven’t been caught yet?”
“We’re too far for them to be sure yet, but they’ll get suspicious if we linger. They might even be on alert already, I reckon.”
“Is that so? Then circle back about an hour’s distance and wait there. Make them think we’re just some stragglers who passed by and ran off.”
“…Are you really sure that’s okay, sir? We’re still quite a ways off, y’see.”
Gachu asked for confirmation, though hesitantly, for that very reason.
He had thought they would have to get right up close to the territory, but he never expected to be told to stop the carriage in the middle of the Labyrinth like this.
“Hmph, a needless worry, it is. Who do you think my master is, I ask you?”
But the words of the girl bound in a straitjacket and chains were enough to convince Gachu.
The one he had brought was the White-Masked Young Master.
The universally acknowledged expert in hunting bandits.
“Kael, I’m leaving the carriage to you.”
“Leave it to me. I, Kael, son of Chavera, will protect it with my life until you return, my lord.”
And so…
Leaving behind the young Kobold leader with a large box on his back.
The group advanced toward the Labyrinth with incredibly light steps.
A slender boy.
A girl bound in chains.
A Myoto with a gloomy face.
And an unusually stoic maid.
Watching the White-Masked Young Master and his retainers, all with their faces hidden by white masks, though their forms differed slightly.
Gachu thought.
Perhaps this mission would be over sooner than he expected.
***
“Kyaaah!”
“Hic! P-please, just spare my life…”
“Kiki, don’t you worry. We won’t kill you.”
Sanghyungjang Manor.
A small-to-medium territory that boasted a respectable size among manors.
Rumor had it that in about thirty years, its Divine Beast might ascend in rank, allowing it to become a castle-level territory.
The Lord of Sanghyungjang’s confident participation in this war was, objectively speaking, quite understandable.
…That is, until his large size made him slow, delaying his rendezvous with Nakrang Castle, which resulted in his capture by a pirate territory.
Thanks to that, Sanghyungjang was now a scene of pandemonium, filled with looting, rape, and assault by the pirates.
It was inevitable.
This was Odobaekryeong.
A world where survival of the fittest was the only rule.
That was why the intelligent races desperately tried to live in larger territories under the protection of stronger lords.
“It’s more peaceful than I expected.”
“…You can say that after seeing this spectacle, you say?”
“At least they’re not murdering, committing arson, or destroying things. For a defeated territory, this is pretty decent, isn’t it?”
“That’s because it’s hard to sell a territory for a high price if you wreck it… The citizens also have to be intact to be sold as expensive slaves.”
“Considering most pirates are morons who can’t even think of something that obvious, I suppose this is on the better side of things.”
“By what conscience do you all call yourselves an intelligent species, I ask you…?”
As expected of demons.
Dion, Naru, and Parsha remained perfectly calm even while looking upon a territory being plundered.
Regardless of the Vault Keeper, a native of the Ancient Kingdom era, feeling disconcerted by their reaction, they entered Sanghyungjang without being noticed by the pirates.
Dion and Parsha, both chakra users.
Naru, a messenger of the Guild, no less.
And the Vault Keeper, who could hide in shadows.
Since they all had a knack for stealth, infiltrating Sanghyungjang was not difficult.
Especially since the territory was in a state of chaos after days of looting.
There was just one problem.
That same chaos made it difficult to achieve their objective.
“You said the carrier has the ‘valuables,’ right?”
“Yes, according to what the Calamity Princess told us, they should be hiding somewhere in this territory.”
“Though I have no idea how we’re supposed to find and make contact with a carrier we don’t even know the whereabouts of.”
It was truly like searching for treasure in a burning house.
As they pondered how to find a person they had never even seen in a chaotic mess where one could hardly find their own family.
A voice reached Dion’s ears, which were sensitive due to his use of chakra.
“Hey now. I beseech you, just look the other way this once.”
“Shut up and hand over that bottle!”
“In return, I shall divine your fortune. My dice divination is famed for being unerringly accurate, you see, so it will surely be no loss to you.”
“This damn lizard bastard…!”
“Huh?”
“…”
Somehow familiar, one might say.
He looked like a common lizardman.
And yet, upon seeing the hulking figure in rags with a lizard’s head, so skilled at begging that he was hard to forget once seen.
As Naru blinked his eyes.
And Parsha fell silent.
Dion smiled faintly, like a man who had found a compass in the vast, open sea.
“Really, Odobaekryeong is interesting because you never know what’s going to happen.”