Chapter 141. The Mercenary Corps Meets the King.
Chapter 141. The Mercenary Corps Meets the King.
The soldiers exchanged glances for a moment. Then the senior officer among them turned to the Advisor with a look of resolve.
"An immediate meeting is out of the question. However, we can relay your proposal."
The Advisor nodded.
"Understood. Our combat strength can be of great use to you. I only hope the negotiations go smoothly."
The soldier, having taken the Advisor's words seriously, immediately raised his radio and reported the situation. In the meantime, the Advisor surveyed the gathered survivors. They looked exhausted and haggard, but they seemed to carry a glimmer of hope at having found refuge in a safe place.
Shortly after, the soldier finished his communication and returned to the Advisor.
"The higher-ups have decided to report it without delay. Please expect an answer by tomorrow morning."
The Advisor nodded.
"Understood. Call for me at any time, if you have need."
With that, the Advisor and his subordinates moved deeper into the hotel, blending in among the survivors. They hadn't anticipated lavish hospitality, but they felt a measure of relief at having gained a foothold to better assess the situation here.
Night fell once more. The Advisor gathered with his subordinates to discuss their next steps. Life inside the hotel was relatively safe, but these were people who would leave at any cost to find their Commander.
"There's nothing we can do right now."
"Advisor-nim, if the negotiations don't go well, we could always threaten them...!"
"Enough. I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
Still, the Advisor understood their desperation, to a degree, and let it slide at that. If they couldn't find a way to the country where the Commander was, they would have to return to headquarters and explain everything to the rest.
'Hah... We have to cross continents... I can't say how long that will take.'
They had a member capable of teleportation, but this was a dimension they had never visited before—they held no coordinates. The Advisor dismissed his subordinates for some rest and sank into thought alone before finally succumbing to sleep.
Morning came, and the nation's soldiers assembled everyone in one place for a meal. The Advisor observed the surroundings closely while eating with the members, and just as they were finishing, the soldier from the day before approached the Advisor's party.
"Once you've finished your meal, the higher-ups would like to see you."
"Understood. Where shall I go?"
"Please be in the hotel lobby after your meal."
The soldier delivered the message and exited the dining hall. A subordinate beside the Advisor spoke cautiously.
"Advisor-nim, it seems they mean to grant our request."
"Nothing is certain yet. Still, we're fortunate to be meeting a higher-up close to the king."
What the Advisor wanted was not to meet some middling officer, but the king who held power in this nation. From what he had observed while staying here, the king was no tyrant ruling by force; he appeared to care deeply for his people.
"In any case, this is a little different from what I heard from Commander-nim. Perhaps too much time has passed?"
The Commander had lived on Titan for a stretch of time ordinary people could scarcely imagine. The Advisor didn't know how the time axes of this world and Titan aligned, but a considerable length of time must have elapsed.
"Indeed. I, too, had heard this was a dimension without monarchy..."
"Nine-hundred-odd years is more than enough for a country to be overturned several times over..."
They had nearly finished their meal when the Advisor gave a final order.
"While we speak with these people, identify an escape route. We must always prepare for the worst."
When they reached the hotel's first floor, the soldier who had delivered the message and several others were waiting for the Advisor's party. He had assumed they would be relocated, but they were led instead to a reception room inside the hotel.
"I understand you operate a PMC. You also seem to have quite a number of personnel currently in your company."
"Yes, that's correct."
"Should you and your personnel join us, you would certainly be a considerable combat asset. But there must be something you want, yes?"
"We wish to speak with His Majesty, whom you serve."
The soldier, who struck the Advisor as being of fairly high rank, paused to consider the request. The Advisor tossed out some kindling to fuel his deliberation.
"All of us are Awakened. We can subdue zombies with our bare hands and have constantly experienced real combat."
"As a soldier myself, I can feel your presence. But may I ask in what region you gained your experience?"
The Advisor put on an expression of dismay. They would certainly ask about our origins. He had prepared for this, but he had no way of knowing whether this man would believe it.
- Old man, back when I lived on Earth, there were people pulling the exact same stunts.
- Does Earth have gods too?
- Well... I'm not certain, but they kept going on about reclaiming the holy land, some place called Palestine...
- Moderate faith can be good, but excessive faith always leads to bloodshed, no matter where you go...
"We have been operating in Palestine."
"Palestine?"
"Yes, protecting civilians who have been wronged..."
The Advisor deliberately let the sentence trail off. With society having collapsed, they wouldn't have the means to investigate thoroughly in any case. Fortunately, his bet appeared to pay off—the soldier facing the Advisor responded quite positively.
"Remarkable. In fact, we interviewed the survivors who came with you. They said you're looking for someone in Korea?"
"Yes. There is someone important to us there."
"I was there myself recently, but..."
At the words "was there recently," the expressions of the Advisor and his entire party crumbled. Seeing their faces, the soldier went on.
"To wear an expression like that... it seems you're searching for someone truly important."
The soldier pressed on with question after question to verify their identities. One of the Advisor's subordinates, apparently fed up, spoke in the language of Titan so only the Advisor could understand.
"Tsk. On Titan they never asked the Yong Mercenary Corps these sorts of questions—they hired us on our name alone..."
The subordinate grumbled, but he had overlooked one thing: the translation magic the mage had cast was still active. The Advisor realized it the moment he saw the soldier's reaction.
'A mistake...!'
But rather than a look of displeasure, the high-ranking soldier's eyes flew wide open at the word "Titan."
"You've come from Titan?"
Contrary to the Advisor's fears, the soldier showed only surprise. He had no way of knowing at the time, but this soldier had actually been part of the party that accompanied the King of England when he had stopped in Korea.
The Advisor's nerves sharpened to a point at the soldier's sudden remark. Surely, the only one in this dimension who knew of Titan would be the Commander.
At the Advisor's swift signal, the members subdued every soldier in the room in the blink of an eye, blades pressed to their throats.
"How do you know of Titan's existence?"
"Wh-what is the meaning of this sudden—!"
"Don't make me repeat myself. Answer the question. I asked how you know of Titan's existence."
"Urk... First, remove these swords!"
The Advisor gestured to the subordinate holding the soldier. The subordinate glanced at the Advisor for a moment and withdrew his blade, but he hadn't fully lowered his guard.
"Do you recall I mentioned earlier that I briefly visited Korea?"
The Advisor nodded, motioning for him to continue.
"I saw someone there who said they had been to Titan!"
'So someone else arrived before us because of the dimensional fusion...'
He was just about to accept that as plausible when he caught a strange nuance in the soldier's words.
"Wait... someone who said they 'had been' there?"
Only then did the other members grasp the meaning of the soldier's words, and they reeled.
"What is that person's name!? Tell me right now!!!"
The guard that had been naturally relaxing snapped up with ferocious speed, and the hands restraining the soldiers tightened.
"Urk... To sell out the one who offered a solution to this crisis...! I would rather die than do such a thing!"
The Advisor fixed him with a chilling glare.
"In that case, I will go find your king and ask him directly."
True to their role as royal guards, the moment the king was mentioned, their mouths opened at once.
"Ch-Cheon Sihu...!"
"Huh..."
The instant that name fell from the soldier's lips, all the members felt the strength drain from their bodies, their pupils shaking violently.
And the Advisor recalled one of the sayings he had once heard from the Commander.
'Didn't he say something about it being darkest under the lamp...?'
They had believed they were stranded on a continent far from the Commander's country, yet the answer had been right under their noses. The Advisor gestured to his subordinates, and they sheathed their swords and returned to their positions. Then he apologized to the soldier with meticulous courtesy. Judging by their tone, they were not on bad terms with the Commander.
'They even tried to avoid speaking Commander-nim's name.'
"I apologize most sincerely."
The Advisor explained the entire situation and apologized repeatedly. He told them that his nerves had frayed upon learning that someone in another dimension knew of Titan and had met a person claiming to have been there.
"Could you, perhaps, be Cheon Sihu-nim's Yong Mercenary Corps?"
"Huh... to hear Commander-nim's name in a place like this..."
"By any chance... PMC...?"
"To explain the Yong Mercenary Corps, we would have to mention Titan. Since we couldn't do that, we simply called ourselves a PMC for convenience."
"Indeed... to explain everything would be..."
Somewhat embarrassed by the tangle of mutual misunderstanding, the two fell silent for a moment. After collecting himself, the soldier spoke up.
"I will contact His Majesty directly. He will likely arrange an aircraft bound for Korea for you."
"Thank you."
Told to rest comfortably, the Advisor and his party left the reception room and returned to their quarters, the last sight behind them being the soldier contacting someone. Once inside the room with the door shut, they collapsed onto the floor from sheer exhaustion.
"Huh..."
"Advisor-nim, this isn't a dream, is it?"
They had been resting only briefly when, as if word had spread in an instant, the soldier from earlier came knocking with news.
"His Majesty wishes to meet with you right away. Come down to the first floor once you are ready."
Watching the soldier close the door and leave, the party pulled themselves together at the thought that they would soon be standing before the Commander again.
"We'll be seeing Commander-nim soon."