10. First Experience
10. First Experience
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"Oh. Yeonseo."
Black bob cut down to the jawline.
Blue gem earrings swaying on her exposed ear.
Despite her revealing outfit that nearly bared her upper chest, she exuded elegance rather than tackiness. She was Ha Yeon-seo, the owner of this city.
"What... that woman... came herself...!"
"Isn't she the owner of this city?"
"Well... with this much commotion... it's only natural she'd come."
The slums buzzed at her appearance.
They were still covered in wounds and struggling just to stand properly, but even amid that, their gazes were glued to Yeonseo.
Yeonseo wasn't alone.
She had a bunch of unfamiliar people trailing behind her like ornaments.
"I'll let this slide here, but I don't remember handing over the other districts?"
She wore a cold expression.
A razor-sharp face that showed not a shred of warmth.
But to Sihwan, who had tasted her from behind, it just looked cute.
"Whatever, we can just fix it. You think I can't handle that much?"
"Precisely, your doll will do it."
"Same difference. Bari is my power."
"Ha. Now it's disgusting god games? Power my ass."
She crossed her arms and scanned the surroundings.
Destroyed buildings and thick clouds of smoke billowing up, with the city walls faintly visible in between.
And beyond them, the burning land.
Whatever they had done, it was a recklessly dangerous stunt that could've blown away the entire city if things went south.
"But with this mess, not a single soldier shows up. Don't you have any military or anything?"
"I'm here. What more do you need?"
"No, that's not it... Normally, does someone of your level personally handle stuff like this?"
"Oh my. Finally getting a bit of my position? Right, it's not something I should handle. But with some nobody from who-knows-where rampaging so flashily, how could I stay away?"
"Anyway, no soldiers came. Is there really nothing?"
"That's not for you to worry about. Just fix it properly."
"Sure, whatever."
A request from his girlfriend—of course he'd oblige.
Sihwan nodded generously.
"Did that human cause this?"
At that moment, someone butted into the conversation.
The Genesis Guild Leader—a male he really didn't want to deal with.
A man interrupting a chat with Yeonseo.
This was a sin repayable only by death.
"Who the hell are you?"
"You? As rude as ever, unbelievably arrogant."
"The arrogant shit is your face and existence. Who asked you to butt in?"
"Ha...."
A mere human not backing down an inch and snapping back sharply.
The man's face twisted into a weird contortion.
"Chief Instructor-nim, this guy's gone beyond not knowing his place. Is it worth nurturing him, even assigning him the trainee representative position?"
Though unsaid, the other guild members nodded along.
Sihwan looked that clueless.
"Who are those guys?"
Most didn't catch Sihwan's eye.
Men were out of the question from the start, and few women really appealed.
Thus, his mood soured another level.
His tone turned curt.
"Guilds sponsoring the Academy—people from there."
"Sponsors, huh?"
"Something like that."
She answered Sihwan's question instead of the Genesis Guild Leader's.
His eye twitched unpleasantly, but she ignored it.
"...Did you do this?"
Even the Genesis Guild Leader shouldn't be ignored anywhere.
He wanted to snap back, but roughly gauging Yeonseo's no-holds-barred nature, he swallowed his anger.
Instead, he turned the arrow to Sihwan.
"Where's Soyoung? Didn't she come?"
"That child's not one to wander outside. Prefers staying indoors as much as possible."
"Even with this massive explosion?"
"Do you think an explosion is a big deal to us 『Noblesse』?"
"You came."
"It's my city."
"I see."
But the conversation kept going, perfectly ignoring him.
Both Yeonseo and Sihwan completely blanking him.
Fine, Yeonseo aside. Annoying, but she had the status.
But a mere human ignoring the Genesis Guild Leader—himself?
Unacceptable.
"Hey, didn't you hear me?"
"Come to think of it, Soyoung's a Ha too, right? Does she own a city or something?"
"The northern gateway city is hers."
"North? That's crazy far."
Yeonseo's city was one step inward from the southern gateway city.
Virtually poles apart from the northern gateway city.
"Why's that?"
"Why? For business. Gonna start inter-city bus services."
"Hmm. That huge bus from before?"
"Yeah. Village buses inside cities, inter-city express buses. Should rake in the cash."
"You bastard!!"
Finally, his rage exploded.
Not just him—the other guild members were just as pissed.
They'd donated astronomical sums, and this was the treatment?
"...!"
He halted mid-stride, about to throw a punch.
A chill creeping from the side of his head.
Bari, who'd been standing behind Sihwan the whole time, had silently approached and aimed her gun at him.
As a local, he had zero clue what it was.
But he instinctively knew it was dangerous.
Crisis sense honed through countless dungeons and temples.
It was blaring warnings.
'When the hell...?'
He hadn't noticed until she was right beside him.
No—he'd been staring straight at her.
Fuming to the max, resolved to deck that human bastard, eyes locked.
Clearly, this woman had been standing behind him.
Yet suddenly, something jammed against his head.
Without the slightest oddity.
"I did it. Shall I blow your head off too?"
Low murmur.
Flat tone laced with bone-chilling killing intent.
"That'd be troublesome."
Yeonseo reined her in.
Killing guild dispatches was a bit too much, even so.
She wouldn't have brought them if that was the plan.
"That's what she says."
"Too bad."
She obediently withdrew her weapon.
Yet the killing intent lingered.
"What the hell is she really? More intriguing the more I look."
"I'll tell you later. And it's not 'that'—it's Bari."
Sihwan casually corrected the name, called Bari back, and ordered her to repair the destruction.
Scorching earth and collapsed walls. Even the fields outside the walls—all restored with one gesture.
Could've used magic or Nobling, but Nobling was a power not yet revealed—so off-limits—and magic lacked the mystique.
Thus, pure science once more.
Using Nanomaterials to repair in ways primitives couldn't even detect.
"...Is he really human?"
An explosion birthing a mushroom cloud dozens of km wide.
Killing intent that truly threatened life.
And instantly restoring vast swaths of destruction.
"No mana moved either...."
At this point, even the guild folks who'd been on edge forgot their anger in sheer shock.
No way a mere human could pull that off.
"Look closely. Not human."
One of them pointed at Bari.
"......A doll?"
Not even a fingernail's worth of life force.
No matter how hard he looked, that presence screamed inorganic.
"More like a golem than a doll."
Same diff, but they pondered it seriously.
Clap clap.
"There, got it? Not as powerless as you thought, so drop the suspicions."
"......"
Some still wore dissatisfied looks, but most nodded in acceptance.
With power like that, trainee rep was totally doable.
They acknowledged him, forced or not.
"What? Not here to see me? I'm hurt."
"Ha. What's so pretty about you."
But one more thing nagged at him.
Why the casual chit-chat with the Chief Instructor, Ha family granddaughter no less?
Even as trainee rep, she was among the Tower's elite nobles.
For a trainee, exchanging words was family glory—yet he acted like her man.
"Anyway, fixed it clean, so letting it slide this time—but next one's no mercy."
"Aw."
"What aw? This is my city."
"I'll buy it later."
"Not selling."
"Not planning to buy with money."
"?"
Sihwan approached the cocking-her-head Yeonseo.
"Ah, wait. People are here."
She softly pushed back, but he closed in and whispered in her ear.
"I'll fill you up with loads of cum. How's that?"
"You crazy bastard, really."
Wham—everyone watched as she smacked his back good.