Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Ambassador's Return and Hero Introductions
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Soon enough, the Chinese ambassador showed up again.
But this was a different man from the one I'd met before, the one who'd pissed himself in fear.
Maybe he'd been fired for nearly soiling himself.
"W-We were negligent. We're sorry for causing you concern. We'll thoroughly eradicate all illegal copying."
The Chinese ambassador bowed deeply.
Seeing him suddenly adopt such a humble posture...
It was probably because Wang Cheon had gotten beaten senseless without even putting up a fight against me.
"Yeah, if you'd done that from the start, it would've been good for everyone. Did I ask for something huge? Let's just act sensibly, okay? You know what common sense is, right?"
"Y-Yes. We're sorry."
The Chinese ambassador kept bowing repeatedly, sweat beading on his forehead.
"I hope I never have to go to China again because of this."
"O-Of course. Um..."
The ambassador glanced at me cautiously before speaking up.
"What now?!"
"Could we get access to the Vision Library..."
"You know I'm a busy guy, right? Do you have any idea how many times I've had to fly back and forth to China because of you lot? Words alone won't cut it... Show some sincerity, and maybe I'll consider it."
"A-Alright."
"Good, now go."
"Yes, sir!!"
The Chinese ambassador bowed at a perfect ninety degrees to me before hurrying away.
Only then did China start cracking down hard on the illegal sales of my Vision Books. With that, the large-scale bootleg operations shrank rapidly.
Completely eradicating all illegal copying was obviously impossible. The important thing was that it wasn't visible on the surface anymore.
I'm not that much of a hardass.
I could overlook people hand-copying them to share with family or friends. I had no intention of chasing down every small-time seller operating in secret.
But when they were openly doing business right in plain sight, how could anyone just let that slide?
Even running just one site took a ton of effort.
I'd lost count of how many trips to China I'd made.
This whole ordeal really drove home that business just wasn't for me.
Juan Razka.
The world's one and only S-Rank villain.
Dictator of South America.
King of South America—a man with many such titles.
He too had encountered Park Un-ho's visions.
"What an utter fool. For the sake of world peace, he just releases this stuff for peanuts."
If it had been him, he'd have used this knowledge to build a mighty army and forge a vast empire.
Instead, the guy handed it out for chump change.
But thanks to that, his own abilities had grown even stronger.
Juan was originally a dual-ability user who could handle both enhancement and lightning powers.
Thanks to the visions released by that fool hero Park Un-ho, he'd mastered both magic and aura without issue.
Magic and aura were simply more precise and efficient ways of controlling mana.
His mana control and understanding were already top-tier, enough to reach S-Rank, so encountering Park Un-ho's visions led to a breakthrough right away.
Thus, seven rings formed in his core.
And at their center sat a core capable of handling aura.
Before, he'd hesitated to face S-Rank heroes, but now he was confident he could take on anyone.
Still, Juan wasn't satisfied.
Growing the aura core was relatively straightforward.
But adding more magic rings required ever more intricate mana control and deeper understanding of mana.
He'd managed seven rings thanks to his S-Rank mana control.
The problem was what came next.
Seven rings couldn't be the end.
'It says if you can make seven rings, you can make eight...'
After forming the seven rings, he hadn't been able to progress further. Seven was the limit of what he could achieve with his current abilities.
Naturally, he craved the next stage.
And he had a hunch about how to get there.
Magic.
To advance, he'd need to analyze higher-level magic that demanded even finer mana control.
The Vision Library site only unlocked spells up to 3rd circle, with advanced magic locked away.
His men had tried hacking it but got nowhere—they just kept failing.
Apparently, it was impenetrable, no one could crack it.
Incompetent fools.
Park Un-ho probably had far more hidden visions beyond what was in the library.
Fortunately, Park Un-ho was a sucker who cared about world peace enough to share his visions for free.
He knew exactly how to deal with types like that.
"Investigate Park Un-ho thoroughly and report back."
Juan Razka's subordinates quietly entered Korea and began investigating Park Un-ho.
Now completely familiar.
I stepped my body into the rippling, transparent passage.
Silence.
Still a quiet world.
The scent of grass filled my nostrils.
The excessively bright summer sun.
In contrast, the deep shadows cast around.
And the sight of the well-maintained, vibrant plants came into view.
It was the rooftop garden of the school I'd made my base in the zombie world.
It had been a while.
Returning after spending what felt like a long time alone in stopped time gave me a strange feeling.
I opened the door to the Hero's Sanctuary.
A red-haired beauty in ancient Greek warrior armor, with a shield and spear on her back, strode out confidently.
"Hm... Where is this place? Is that tower over there? So many unusual buildings."
Ignis, emerging from the Hero's Sanctuary, looked around and said.
"It's a different world."
"A different world?"
"Yeah. I can travel between multiple worlds."
"...That's impressive. My lord is even greater than I imagined."
The reason I'd summoned Ignis was clear.
She was a ridiculous cheat key.
Ignis was the one who could complete my auto-hunt setup.
I was already excited thinking about how many points she'd rack up just hunting in the Blue Spider Zone.
"Oppa."
A familiar voice called out.
I turned my gaze.
A stunning beauty who could draw anyone's eye stood at the rooftop entrance.
A familiar, welcome face.
It was Ji-ah.
My local wife, I suppose?
She was holding a pure white puppy with its tongue lolling out.
-Woof. Woof.
The puppy barked happily at the sight of me.
That guy's name was...
Puppy Mary was my sore... no, anger-inducing finger.
After the hero gacha bombed spectacularly, I'd left her abandoned in the zombie world because my stomach hurt.
Puppy and Ignis.
Both heroes, but the gap in caliber was too huge.
But that wasn't the puppy's fault.
It had to be the dirty dimensional shop's scheme.
I had to accept it with a broad mind.
I had Ignis now.
It was time to forgive that hero puppy.
"O-Oppa. Who is she...?"
Ji-ah, glancing back and forth between me and Ignis, asked cautiously. To her, Ignis's outfit must have looked bizarre, so it was natural to be curious.
"Me? I'm Ignis. I serve my lord."
Ignis crossed her arms and declared proudly.
"Pardon?"
Ji-ah naturally looked puzzled.
I had Ji-ah gather the kids in an empty classroom.
Once I confirmed they were all there, I opened the classroom door and went in.
-Slide!
The kids were huddled at their desks and chairs.
Four familiar female faces.
In the corner of the classroom, two little ones were playing with the puppy.
"Mister, what's going on? Calling us to a classroom like this all of a sudden."
The healthy beauty with a ponytail.
Han Su-ji was still grumbling as usual.
"I'm introducing you to someone new."
"Someone new?"
The kids except Ji-ah tilted their heads.
"Come in."
-Slide!
The classroom door opened, and two women entered.
A beautiful black-haired girl and a red-haired female warrior.
It was Suni and Ignis. For some reason, Suni was wearing a black school uniform.
"I am Ignis, who serves my lord. Let's get along from now on."
"Hello. I'm Suni, who serves my master."
The spirited Ignis and the bubbly Suni.
"What kind of situation is this... Not transfer students or anything..."
The kids stared at the two women's odd appearances in bewilderment.
"Mister, what's with the scary foreign cosplay sister... And that girl calling you master... What's going on?"
Han Su-ji alternated glances at the two standing at the podium and asked.
For now, I pulled out magic tomes and aura training manuals from my inventory and placed one on each of their desks.
"O-Oppa, isn't that telekinesis? Those books?"
"The books I gave you are training manuals to strengthen your abilities, and these two are heroes who serve me."
"H-Heroes who serve you? What does that even mean?"
Han Su-ji asked with puzzled eyes.
"Just accept it. If you're curious, ask them yourselves."
It wasn't something I had to hide.
But explaining would be a hassle.
It was obvious it'd take forever to go into detail.
"My lord. Lady Ignis seems extremely powerful."
"She is. No one but me could handle her."
The kids were shocked by my words.
"Th-That powerful? I'd like to receive some instruction later."
"Good attitude. You've had systematic training, I see. Much better than that Albert fellow. Are you my lord's disciple too?"
Ignis looked approvingly at Baek Seol-hwa and said.
"No. I'm my lord's wife, Baek Seol-hwa."
"You were my lord's consort?"
"Yes. I'm his second wife."
"Second? Does that mean there's a first wife too?"
"M-Me..."
Ji-ah hesitantly raised her hand.
"No third wife yet?"
"Not yet."
"Then I might become the third wife."
""What?!" "
Everyone was stunned by Ignis's bombshell statement.
"L-Lady Ignis. What do you mean by that?"
Baek Seol-hwa asked calmly.
But her voice was trembling.
"Hehe. My lord confessed he likes me. And we've decided to slowly build our feelings."
"Uh..."
At that moment, my first meeting with Ignis flashed through my mind.
Did it go like that?