—Thup.
I closed the bag in satisfaction.
“Boss Park. You said trust is the lifeblood of business, didn’t you?”
“I-I was wrong. I’ve committed a sin worthy of death.”
“If you know it’s worthy of death, then you should die.”
I raised the iron pipe high.
“Hiiik!!”
Mr. Park screamed and squeezed his eyes shut.
—Clang!
A sharp metallic sound rang out.
Mr. Park cautiously opened his eyes.
The iron pipe was embedded in the engine room of a scrapped car right beside his head, steaming.
“……”
“Consider yourself lucky. I can’t be bothered to clean up a corpse right now.”
I patted the frozen Mr. Park on the shoulder.
“Go tell the Association.”
“Y-Yes? T-Tell them what?”
“That Lee Han went to the Western Magic Library. In a big hurry.”
Mr. Park stared blankly.
He’s deliberately exposing his own location?
He was definitely thinking that.
I didn’t bother explaining any further.
She was sure to follow the clues I’d deliberately left behind at the gosiwon.
And above all, she had to.
Without looking back, I left the junkyard.
I heard Mr. Park let out a sigh of relief behind me, but it didn’t matter.
In any case, terrified out of his wits, he would parrot exactly what I’d told him.
And once that happened, everything would operate according to my design.
***
[Hunter Inside - Integrated Board]
[Title: Live Scene at the Gwanghwamun Dessore Memorial Altar.jpg]
Author: GrewUpBlessed
[Photo]
The atmosphere isn’t just solemn, it’s downright murderous.
The Association president came out and read the memorial address, but everyone’s eyes are half sorrow and half fear.
It’s got this “We’re all dead now” kind of feeling.
Everyone’s just walking on eggshells in case Isha goes dark and wipes out Seoul.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ: Honestly, if we’re being real, didn’t one magical beast just die? What’s with all the fuss? (Downvotes 482)
ㄴ PassingHunter: Try saying that in front of Isha. Your skull will get split in two by the Holy Sword.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Dessore was cute, sure, but it was still a time bomb. A nuke that was going to go off someday.
ㄴ BurningWarrior: Who are you? Lee Han?
[Title: (Breaking) Lee Han’s Gosiwon Got Raided hahahahaha Poverty Confirmed?]
Author: SuperSpeedWrecker
Heard from a source in the Association, and the list of seized items is out.
ㅁ Expired triangle gimbap
ㅁ Mismatched socks
ㅁ Useless F-rank Hunter license
ㅁ Torn piece of underwear
ㅁ Bank balance: 3,420 won
Is this really the spec sheet of the guy who killed a dragon?
A dirt-poor nobody without even a single penny to his name really killed a dragon through pure guts, no gear crutch at all.
At this point, isn’t that a waste of talent?
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ: 3,420 won is kind of sad. Did he get pissed off while working at a convenience store and go kill a dragon?
PassingDog: This actually makes him scarier. A guy with nothing to lose is the most vicious kind. Can’t confirm his identity, can’t track him. He’s basically a ghost.
The Saintess put down her smartphone and cast her eyes sideways.
“……Is this all you have to report?”
Isha von Estelle’s voice was low.
The forensic team leader bowed his head, cold sweat pouring down his face.
“M-My apologies. What was detected from the dagger was… only components of factory-made lubricant. Not only were there no traces of mana, even the fingerprints had been completely erased.”
Isha snatched up the evidence bag.
A cheap fifty-thousand-won dagger that looked like it could be sold at a convenience store.
[Made in China.]
This piece of scrap metal, with that engraving clearly stamped on it, had cut a dragon’s throat and deflected her Holy Sword.
“I’ll be taking this.”
“Pardon? But evidence, according to preservation protocol…”
When Isha glared at the forensic team leader with her red eyes, he shut his mouth.
She shoved the dagger deep into her subspace.
She could feel the terrible tenacity clinging to this piece of metal, and the arrogance of that man who had mocked her.
Without fail, she would return this blade to his heart.
“Saintess! We found it!”
An intelligence agent came running with a tablet.
“The memo written on the gosiwon wall has been cross-checked with our informant’s testimony. The bastard’s next destination is exactly as you said, Saintess!”
“The Western Magic Library.”
“That’s right. He stole the administrator key for that place from an information broker.”
The Western Magic Library.
A repository of knowledge where all magical information in the Empire lay dormant.
Lee Han was clearly moving there.
Isha immediately turned around.
“I will summon the Estelle Knights.”
The access road to the Western Magic Library.
A murderous scene was unfolding.
Heavily armed Hunters and riot police had occupied the road, inspecting each and every vehicle lined up like an ant swarm.
“Open your trunk! Have your ID ready!”
The faces of the citizens waiting for inspection were full of irritation.
“Oh, come on! What is all this just to catch one criminal?”
“I’ve been stuck here for thirty minutes! Are you going to take responsibility if I get fired?”
Angry shouts erupted here and there, but the inspection personnel didn’t budge.
Of course, they weren’t exactly comfortable either.
“Aw, damn it… It’s so hot I’m dying here.”
Mr. Kim, a low-ranking checkpoint employee, grumbled as he wiped sweat with his cap.
“I get that the Saintess is pissed, but does she have to make us suffer too? I’m starving to death.”
“Hey, keep it down. The vice-captain of the knights is looking at us.”
His colleague warned him, but Mr. Kim’s lips were jutting out in a pout.
—Domno domno domno.
With a cheerful engine sound, an old scooter slid up in front of the checkpoint.
It was a pizza delivery motorcycle with a sticker that read Bullet Delivery.
“Huh? Stop right there! Entry is prohibited here right now!”
Mr. Kim stepped in front of it.
The deliveryman, wearing his helmet pulled low, seemed flustered as he hit the brakes.
“Huh? This is a delivery for the library director’s office. A VIP customer ordered it…”
A clumsy, youthful voice.
Mr. Kim waved him off.
“VIP or whatever, can’t you see what’s going on around here? You can’t go in. Turn around.”
“Ah. This is really bad. If this is late, I’m gonna get fired. The boss told me to deliver it no matter what…”
The deliveryman got off the motorcycle with a tearful expression.
Then he opened the insulated box on the back seat.
“Oh man, I’m screwed. Why is there an extra pizza?”
As the box opened, the savory, greasy smell of a freshly baked golden pizza wafted out.
Mr. Kim’s nose, starved since dawn, tracked the scent, and his stomach churned violently.
“Excuse me, you’re working hard for the country, so… would you like this, at least?”
“……?”
“I think one extra pie came out by mistake. It’ll just get thrown out anyway. Besides, if I take this back, the boss is just gonna chew me out. It’s our store’s steady seller, the Super Supreme Gold Rich.”
The deliveryman smiled in a friendly way and pushed the pizza box into Mr. Kim’s arms.
“No, it’s difficult for me to accept things like this while on duty…”
—Grrrrrrumble.
His body, oblivious to the situation, cried out.
“Come on, nobody’s watching. If it gets cold, it’s trash. Trash. Here, take it. You’re working hard, so eat up and keep your strength up.”
Mr. Kim couldn’t bring himself to push away the heavy, warm pizza box.
‘Well, there’s no way some scrawny delivery guy like that could be the Dragon Slayer, right?’
The deliveryman’s drooping shoulders pricked at his conscience.
“Phew, fine. But you really have to go in and come out fast, got it? If you mess around inside, we’ll arrest you immediately.”
“Yes, sir! Thank you so much, hyung! Just three minutes, I’ll deliver it and bounce right back out! Salute!”
—Domno domno domno!
The motorcycle passed through the barricade and raced toward the library’s main entrance.
Mr. Kim gulped and opened the pizza box.
“Wow, look at all those toppings. Hey, everybody take a slice. Before the Saintess gets here.”
—Screech.
The library’s underground parking lot.
I shoved the scooter into a corner and took off my helmet.
Pushing up my sweat-soaked bangs, I erased the innocent smile that had been hanging on my lips.
“Security that gets breached by one free pizza.”
If Isha found out, she’d grab the back of her neck and collapse.
But what could I do?
The three great human desires are stronger than the authority of a Saintess.
I headed familiarly toward the administrator-only elevator.
The target was the lowest floor, the director’s office.
There were two treasures there.
1. An ancient grimoire that could efficiently control the mana of the Dragon Heart.
2. Adel.
The youngest archmage in the Empire’s history, and an unparalleled genius who would one day dominate the magical world.
But right now, she was nothing more than a shut-in holed up in the library due to severe anthropophobia.
Before my regression, she had held off an army of magical beasts alone until the very brink of humanity’s destruction.
Without a single comrade.
In nothing but solitude.
Because she had been such a person.
Perhaps she was serving as director on the condition that she could chew on her solitude.
‘This time will be different.’
I pressed the elevator button, and as the doors closed around me, my face was reflected in them.
‘Adel. I’m going to kidnap you soon.’
Her talent.
The magical knowledge she possessed.
All of it was necessary for my plan.
I intended to make her not just some ordinary helper, but my strongest card.
—Ding.
[Basement Floor 20. Director’s Office.]
A massive door made of magical alloy blocked my path.
A door of absolute defense, said to remain unscratched even if a nuclear bomb went off.
Instead of breaking it down, I knocked lightly.
—Knock, knock.
An irritable voice came from inside.
“I’m not buying! Go away! I hate people! All of you, get lost!”
As expected.
I whispered quietly to the door.
“Pizza.”
Silence flowed from within.
A moment later.
With a clattering sound, a small hole in the door opened, and one eye peeked out.
A purple eye with dark circles reaching all the way down to the chin.
“……Did you add extra pepperoni?”
Was this some kind of password check?
I loaded the answer she wanted to hear.
“I piled it on.”
—Clack, creeeak!
The sturdy magical alloy door, which would have taken even Isha quite some time to force open, swung wide as if by magic.
“Gimme!! My pizza!!”
A girl with disheveled purple hair sprang out like a starving beast.
I raised the pizza box high, avoiding her hands, and leisurely walked into the room.
“Customer, you need to pay first.”
“Ugh, seriously! I’ll pay you! Swipe my card! Hurry!”
Adel couldn’t take her eyes off the pizza box in my hand.
To think that was what the archmage who would one day command the continent looked like.
I tossed the pizza box onto the desk.
While Adel hurriedly opened the box, my hand moved like lightning.
An old grimoire lying carelessly in the corner of the desk.
Objective complete.
“Enjoy your meal, Lady Archmage.”
Leaving Adel behind as she stuffed her mouth full of pizza, I attached the note I’d prepared to the lid of the pizza box.
It would be quite a sight when Isha arrived.
“……Munch, munch. But mister, who are you?”
Adel asked, her cheeks stuffed to bursting.
I swept my gaze over her bookshelves.
“Can’t you tell by looking? A pizza deliveryman.”
“……Munch, munch. As expected, you’re trustworthy.”
“Are these all the old books?”
“Ah. Go out the door and turn left at the corner. There are more in the drawer there.”
How kind of her.
Good children deserve presents.
“Order again next time. I’ll even throw in cheese crust for free.”
Hearing Adel shout behind me, “For real? You promised!” I headed for the drawer.
Five minutes remained until Isha von Estelle reached this place.
‘Plenty of time.’
I wondered how the Saintess’s face would twist.
I was already looking forward to it.