Imperial Palace (1)
‘Ha ha ha ha ha. Hey – is this really weird? I must have suffered a bit too. Did the auditory hallucinations not come to the point of aphasia? I guess I should go to the hospital. How much money have you saved up? No, I can earn as much money as I can with my abilities anyway, so doesn’t it matter?’
As his thinking ability, which had become unnecessarily strong due to the strengthening of his unique skills, ran out of control, countless thoughts flashed through Andrew’s head in an instant.
He couldn’t accept the reality he was facing and tried hard to ‘deny’ and turn the direction of his thoughts to another place…
[Hmm, is this location American? Among them, the western region… California.]
The voice that continued to stir in his head made it impossible to turn away from the situation.
‘No, why? Why is the Immortal King here! What kind of dog is this? I’m not kidding. How did that Auterica monster come over to Earth!’
The next step was ‘anger’.
In fact, he poured out his anger, but the question of what the immortal king could be on Earth was not a very important issue right now.
Knowing that won’t change your situation anyway.
‘please···. How hard I’ve been through all this time! Isn’t this right after you think you’ve finally got your peaceful life back? At least a little bit of time…!’
The next step is ‘compromise’.
It was a final struggle to accept that the situation was already unavoidable.
[Okay— Andrew Weaver, then the first mission. Immediately organize your surroundings and come over to Korea. When we arrive, we will send someone from this side.]
“ah.”
A low exclamation escaped from Andrew’s mouth as the speech that had been blocked by the ban was released.
However, to him who was already in ‘depression’, such trivial things were nothing but good.
‘···Yes, what. Still, it’s better than working for Olivia’s ghost. Because I remember that Korea wasn’t such a poor country. If you have pizza and cola and you can even watch TV… that’s all I could ask for.’
Finally, he finally ‘accepted’ everything and nodded calmly with a blank face.
“Yes… I will follow your orders. Immortal King.”
After all, being a direct subordinate of the immortal king is always busy, so the work shouldn’t be as tight as before when there was a strict boss.
Compared to the environment and the dark magic and death aura emitted by the undead, the fumes of the city would be like nostalgia.
‘Come to think of it, maybe it wouldn’t be that bad? If only the work environment could improve… I’d rather be stuck under the strong like this. Then, wouldn’t something like beans fall?’
After going through a torrent of rapid accidents and letting negative emotions fall off to some extent, the happiness circuit hidden deep inside him began to turn furiously.
When Andrew Weaver of the United States was becoming more mature through the 5 stages of death.
[Kuhuhh— I thought it would happen one day, but it turned out sooner than expected. Unexpectedly, I also got the coordinates of the United States. It will save you time to move later.]
Hans, who was in Japan, nodded slowly as he watched Salma’s activity as he busily harvested death while maintaining the barrier covering all sides.
Whoops—!
“Keah!”
“Damn it! What is this dark thing? What’s so fast… Kuh!”
After that, it only took about 30 minutes until the Yakuza organization, which included many high-level Awakeners, was massacred.
It was a very satisfactory result, as if the synergy between Salma’s martial arts and ‘Abyss’ was better than expected.
This was enough to make it seem like it wasn’t that different from before.
‘As expected, Salma’s main focus is martial arts, so the loss of her own skill isn’t a big deal. Other minor skills still remain.’
Unfortunately, the unique skills given upon awakening disappeared as soon as the owner died, so the undead could not use them.
It’s a shame when you consider that the vast majority of Awoken rely heavily on it.
Anyway, the Abyss Revenant, Salma’s demonstration of using magic arts was very successful.
Based on this data, if the process is improved, it will be possible to create more and more efficient objects in the future.
Hans looked at the undead who had begun to clean up, then leisurely scanned the mess around them.
As the situation came to a close, the thought of Andrew crossed his mind again.
‘If you have that ability, you’ll be able to move more efficiently in the future, right? I can leave the management to Heterosys, so I won’t have to worry about it.’
Of course, he knew a secret that no one should know about, so it was essential to meticulously overlap the restrictions again.
He may not have a clue about his identity, which is the biggest secret, but the fact that ‘Hahoe Mask’ can travel between Earth and another world was quite a big piece of information.
‘Come to think of it, shouldn’t Korean language education be included in order to collect information in Korea?’
It wasn’t much of a problem to convey his will through the telepathy ban he had just had, but his information gathering efficiency was bound to be significantly limited if the language didn’t work.
Even if you see or hear something, it is useless if you do not know its meaning.
In addition, it is not necessary to use him only in Korea, so Japanese, Chinese, and other languages should also be taught…
‘… I guess I’ll have to find out if there are magic tools related to the language. If it’s not in Auterica, it won’t be in the other world. Of course, considering that I haven’t heard of it, it seems quite precious.’
Still, if you make up your mind and search for it, won’t it come out somewhere?
It’s going to be hard, but until then, Andrew had no choice but to try harder and learn the language.
Of course, Hans felt no guilt for the hard work he had to go through.
Others say that they will make you multilingual by giving you expensive education for free, but isn’t it not enough to listen to thanks!
It was the moment when the shadow of K-education was cast on Andrew’s peaceful future without his knowledge.
***
“I’m from another world…”
Geos Calkin, who was repairing his spear in his lodgings, paused for a moment before speaking quietly to himself.
A word he heard from a strange man named Hesperon was stuck in his mind and never forgotten.
‘I didn’t think it was a joke. Could it be real?’
Considering various aspects, the probability that his words were just spit out nonsense was quite low.
In fact, the atmosphere around me also made me feel like everyone already knew something.
That is to say soon…
“Of course I thought it was a joke, but then it was real?”
What I said this time was not about Hesperon.
Before that, a long time ago—.
There was someone who said that he was from another world.
A friend and mentor to Geos, and also a teacher who taught him this spear and secret technique.
The thought of him did not leave my head.
‘···In case you don’t know, it would be nice to visit sometime. If true, we might get some more clues about the abilities of that Hesperon. When the saint comes, shall we at least speak out?’
With that in mind, he finished cleaning the window he had stopped, slowly approached the window and looked out.
It was not possible to capture the panoramic view of the city from here, but it was enough to know the situation of Rohan just by looking at it right away.
Armed soldiers busily roaming here and there, and refugees strewn like garbage all over the dirty streets.
There was no hope on the faces of any of them.
Confusion, despair, grief, resentment, abandonment…
Such a gloomy atmosphere prevailed in the once prosperous capital of the country, and they all struggled through each day.
‘… Hans, the Immortal King.’
All of these situations were caused by its existence.
Not only them, but also many people who are dying in pain in invisible places.
‘It’s also not the time to cover the means. It’s best to deal with it as soon as possible before he does something big again.’
The moment Geos regained his composure, he suddenly saw a couple holding a child in their arms at the corner of an alleyway.
It was a family with a haggard complexion that could not be said to be very well-off, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of them for a while as they gathered together and depended on each other.
“Whoa—.”
After looking down at them for a moment, he turned his head with difficulty with a deep sigh.
At a time when everyone is having a hard time, there was no end to compassion for each and every one of those in difficult situations.
Above all, as a mere spearman, he did not have the ability to take responsibility for everything.
‘All I can do… is revenge.’
All he could do was wield the spear blade filled with their anger and resentment instead.
He only hoped that the tip of the spear could pierce the Immortal King’s heart.
***
From the beginning, the warrior party didn’t have much to do in the Principality of Rohan.
Sending them this way in the first place was just a paving stone to pick up the princess and Hesperon, so there was no need to spend any more time here once the purpose was accomplished.
Of course, since they were all top-notch personnel, staying for a short time was of considerable help to the war situation, but it was impossible to be caught in such a periphery forever.
They had many places to go, and this was a battlefield where a large number of troops would be more helpful than a small number of strong people.
The party, which added two more like that, moved to the next destination within a few days of staying in Rohan.
Since the gate of the destroyed temple had not yet been restored, Isea’s space movement magic arrived at the place—.
“ah···!”
Princess Riley let out a low exclamation.
It had to be.
The scene unfolding in front of her now, the overwhelming scale of the building, was all too familiar to her.
“···finally.”
Her house, which she has barely returned to after nearly two months.
It was an imperial palace located in Jeron, the capital of the Azerion Empire.
“It’s true that the princess has returned, so the treatment is different. Usually, the coordinates inside the outer castle are not opened unless it is very urgent. I never thought I would be allowed to come right into the imperial palace like this without being resistant.”
Isea, who looked a little tired, nodded her head with a satisfied face, as if it was burdensome to move to a long distance with the added number of people.
Of course, even if it was inside, the facility itself with open coordinates was on the outskirts, and it was a security area that was strictly managed to the extent that there was even the headquarters of the Imperial Guard right next to it…
Still, if there was no important reason, considering that even members of the imperial family had to go through formalities from outside the castle, the current treatment could definitely be called special treatment.
“Well, actually, since the Holy Son is also with us, it’s only natural.”
Currently, he is running around in the front line leading the ‘special mobile strike force against the Immortal King’, but originally, the saint of the main church was a great person who could even be sick with the emperor of the empire.
This time too, it’s a shame because Heinrich told us in advance that he didn’t want a cumbersome welcome ceremony, otherwise he would have been able to clearly experience real state-level treatment from the moment he arrived here.
“Then I will take you to the palace. Please follow us.”
However, let’s follow the escort’s guidance and leave the security area.
As if they had waited for that moment, a group of people who had been lingering outside rushed all at once like wild beasts finding food.
“Princess Riley! Congratulations on your return. How long have you been suffering?”
“Oh oh! Holy Son, thank you for saving our princess! Indeed, this can be said to be the blessing of the Lord God.”
“Hmmm, Viscount Pristine? This is Viscount Malaf. I have something to tell you…”
“Everyone please step back! These are the people who have come a long way. Come on, get out of the way!”
All nobles wearing expensive-looking things all over their bodies and servile smiles on their lips.
What they wanted was so blatant that it was hard to pretend they didn’t know.
‘There are quite a lot of nobles from other factions other than the existing princess’s subordinates. what? Even that nobleman seems to have belonged to the Crown Prince.’
The aristocrats, originally from the faction of the 5th princess, were laughing and farting at her, and those from the other factions worked hard to change the line and appeal to themselves.
As expected of those who live in politics, it seemed that they read the trend and quickly judged how to behave.
“thank you everyone. Thanks to everyone’s concern, I was able to come back safely. Count Soline, you’ve lost a lot of weight while you haven’t seen him, right? No matter how busy you are, you should take care of your health.”
“It’s because there are so many sleepless days because I’m worried that the princess will be safe. But I’m glad I can sleep well now. Heh heh heh!”
“Count Pianon? It seems like we haven’t seen each other in two years. How have you been?”
“Hmmm, of course. I just came to the capital and heard the news that the princess has returned safely this time, so I wanted to say hello…”
Riley skillfully handled and trained them with a haughty face that was different from what she had seen before.
It was a political battle that started as soon as she set foot in the imperial palace, but she was rather glad of this opportunity after having to leave her hands unintentionally for two months.
‘To the extent that I feel rather nostalgic about the dark fighting in the imperial palace that I was so sick of.’
Riley, who laughed inwardly, moved toward the imperial palace with her party while teasing and appeasing the nobles.
This is the battlefield she has fought her entire life.
It was time to start a full-fledged war of their own, which had been in a temporary truce.
