127 – Dating is Forbidden in Our Party – 2

Only after devouring all the Korean-style chicken, which could not be replicated anywhere else in Leta, did the group finally catch their breath and begin talking about the reason why Ye-min’s party had sought out Cor earlier than scheduled… namely, the organization of the Vampire Kingdom expedition instigated by vampires disguised as the Summoned.

Stretching both of Ji-hye’s cheeks wide with both hands, Ye-min spoke first.

“You said we should assassinate the vampires…? With Shin’s ability, one or two might be possible, but since the vampires also communicate with each other, I think it will be impossible to assassinate all the vampires who are controlling the expedition.”

“Ayayayayaya, let go, let go—!”

“Would it be hard? It worked last time.”

Thinking that they were indeed best friends to exchange such violent greetings after having been apart for only a little while, Gi-jun replied.

This referred to the time when Gi-jun and the two royal knights had toured Gratia together for a few days, luxuriously using teleport gates instead of mounts.

Easily evading Eun-shin’s hand as he attempted to rescue Ji-hye in some way, Ye-min pinched Ji-hye’s cheek again and continued.

“Because it worked last time, they might be even more prepared this time. I also agree with wiping out the vampires who sneaked into the expedition… but we need to check the detailed plan once more.”

“For example?”

“It’s me infiltrating the expedition.”

“Huh?”

“As you know, Oppa, I’m confident in drawing people’s attention. I can become the center of the expedition in an instant.”

Had she been thinking about this even before coming here? Ye-min continued speaking without any hesitation.

Although Ye-min looked very cool declaring that she would become the center of the expedition—which had only three days left until departure and was currently divided into several units totaling millions of people—Ji-hye, whose cheeks were caught in her hands, seemed to be slowly suffocating.

“The expedition is being organized simultaneously in several cities of Gratia. Moreover, the departure dates are all the same. I don’t think they will lure these expeditions to different places. In some way, they will probably enter the Vampire Kingdom directly—and kill them all at once.”

Gi-jun and Fatum thought so too.

Perhaps they were quite furious about having the vampires who had infiltrated the kingdom as nobles and officials wiped out just a while ago, as the vampires’ actions this time were incredibly organized and vast.

For all they knew, they might have prepared a trap inside the kingdom that could easily bury millions of people.

“If I become the center of the expedition, my chances of getting close to the vampires will increase, and it will be easier to catch the moment when the expedition gathers. That will be the opportunity to deal with them all at once. Of course, I plan to make it look like we were done in by the vampires.”

This meant that while disposing of the vampires who tried to lure the ignorant people into a trap as the leadership of the expedition, she intended to disguise it as if the leadership had been wiped out by the vampires in an instant.

If the vampires realized they were being used, they would not be able to close their eyes in peace even in death.

“If that happens, even the most thoughtless humans will feel a sense of crisis. If I, the only remaining member of the leadership, step up and advocate for withdrawal at that time, they won’t be able to refuse and will follow.”

It seemed like the danger level had skyrocketed in an instant.

In addition to the fact that the method she proposed had several loopholes, there was also a fatal problem.

“Even if we succeed in wiping out the vampires, the timing is too ambiguous. If it’s when the vampires are gathered, it’s already dangerous. It could end up being like sticking our necks right into the trap.”

“—That’s right!”

Ji-hye, whose cheeks had swollen to twice their size, finally escaped from Ye-min around that time and shouted.

“Min-i, you haven’t done anything that bold since the second round of the tutorial. Why are you suddenly being like this?”

“I’m just doing it because I can. Many people’s lives are at stake.”

In Ye-min, who asserted herself so coolly, Gi-jun saw the figure of the Hero who had led a million Earthlings more than ten years ago.

Thinking that she was indeed as cool as ever, a person who deserved to be called the epitome of a Hero—he felt a very slight prick of jealousy.

For some reason, all the members of the original Ye-min party were looking at her with eyes of disbelief.

Gi-jun, of course, could not have known—but it was a reasonable emotion based on the memories of the second round of the tutorial during the ten years he had been absent.

“Min-a, I know you’ve become anxious, but if you lose your life, everything is over. We don’t have any more chances.”

At Mok-su’s words, Ye-min smiled faintly.

“You can step out, Uncle. But Shin, I think I’ll need your strength.”

“Of course, if you’re doing it, Noona, I will obviously do it with you… but Noona, are you really going to do it? Sure, it would be great if it succeeds, but the risk of failure is too high.”

Eun-shin answered with a worried expression.

His face looked even more serious as it was mixed with concern for Ji-hye’s stretched cheeks.

“But what if we leave it like this? All those people will be in danger. What if you, Shin, go on an assassination mission? I guarantee that the expedition will never disband by just assassinating a few people like that. Rather, there is a higher possibility of a backlash. In the end, we have to take the risk too.”

Originally, the more it was suppressed, the stronger human will bounced back.

Particularly now when the entire country was swept up in an uneasy atmosphere due to the vampire disturbance, if they stopped the expedition on the grounds that its leadership was made up of vampires, the people might revolt, claiming that the royal family was so afraid of vampires that they were even lying.

The reason why Gi-jun’s proof that Io Defect was a vampire by directly killing her in the courtroom in the past had worked was only because it was a confined space where everyone in the courtroom could see the sight with their own two eyes, and only people with the minimum common sense to realize she was a vampire by watching her die were gathered.

Even if they claimed to hundreds of thousands or millions of people that the vampires had taken control of the leadership and killed them directly, how many would actually believe it?

Unless they gathered all those people in a plaza like the one where Gold Roger was executed and publicly executed the vampires, it would be impossible.

“Rather, since they have even finished disguising their status windows, they might accuse us of lying. If that happens, it’s really the end.”

“Still, it is a method I cannot accept. It would be better for me to step forward instead.”

Lectus spoke as he sprang up from his seat as if shouting.

It was quite unsightly for him to step forward as if he had been waiting only for this moment.

“If I, the Crown Prince of Gratia, declare that I will lead the expedition, who would object? Not only will legitimacy be secured, but all the citizens will have no choice but to pay attention to me! It seems there is no one more suitable than me to carry out the operation you speak of.”

“The content is plausible, but because of that way of speaking, it doesn’t register at all.”

“Are you confident in getting the king’s permission?”

At Fatum’s blunt remark, Lectus’s expression crumpled miserably.

As a side note, Fatum had also learned that Gi-jun was of human origin rather than a Flame Human upon getting to know Gi-jun’s hometown companions, but far from despising him, he only admired the fact that Gi-jun had obtained such power in a human body.

Considering that he was a Draconian, whose blood was treated as the most precious on this continent, it was a very surprising thing.

“Of course, His Majesty wouldn’t like it very much. But even so, are you telling me to dump such a dangerous task on a delicate woman and wait comfortably in the back?!”

“Leaving aside the fact that Min-i hates what you just said the most, it probably won’t work anyway.”

Confirming that Lectus was sinking under the cold glare sent by Ye-min, who had suddenly become a delicate woman, Gi-jun shook his head and said.

“Because the expedition won’t have any intention of letting the royal family join.”

“You are speaking foolishness, Jun. Didn’t I tell you? Public opinion is seething with demands for the royal family to participate in the expedition as well.”

Lectus tried to persist out of stubbornness now that things had come to this.

Gi-jun replied in a much calmer voice.

“So? Has anyone ever officially come to the royal family to demand their participation in the expedition even once?”

“Who would dare demand such a thing from the royal family?!”

“Yes, that’s it.”

Gi-jun nodded readily.

Only then did Lectus also seem to realize the intention behind Gi-jun’s words.

“No way… Even if the royal family officially announces that they will participate in the expedition?”

“They will pretend not to know. They will dodge the issue by obscuring who is in charge, and when the departure date arrives, they will just declare, ‘The royal family had no intention of participating in the expedition from the beginning!’ and that will be the end of it. The leadership is made up of vampires, so why would they fear the authority of the royal family?”

At least on Earth, such things happened a lot.

Distorting someone’s intentions, or even officially announced facts, was surprisingly easy, and only two preparations were needed for that.

A person with a loud voice, and a person who blindly wanted to deny something.

Coincidentally, both of these were present in Gratia now.

“How despicable…”

“Come to think of it, it’s strange that public resentment toward the royal family began seething at the exact same time the expedition was organized. It’s proof that they had been steadily manipulating the perception of the royal family even before the expedition was formed. The reason is also simple: it is because the royal family has someone with the ability to single out vampires.”

“Ah, indeed, that makes sense…!”

If there was one thing Gi-jun had done well while proceeding with this quest, it was that he had succeeded in hiding his identity to some extent while carrying out the quest to single out and kill the vampires.

The royal family was involved in every single place where the hidden vampires’ identities were exposed and executed, which made the vampires think that there was someone with the ability to single out vampires in the Gratia royal family.

Of course, looking only at the timing, Gi-jun was also suspicious, but they would not be certain yet.

“So they are probably keeping me and the royal family in check together. Naturally, even if I try to participate in the expedition, they won’t accept me, for the same reason they won’t accept Lectus.”

“What a cowardly scheme that makes one shudder. For such a terrible thing to become possible just because those vampire bastards are posing as the Summoned.”

Lectus, who was grinding his teeth in anger, turned to Ye-min with his eyes shining moistly.

“My heart is not at ease knowing that I must entrust such a heavy duty to you.”

“I’m not doing it for you, Crown Prince.”

Answering him half-heartedly, Ye-min turned to Gi-jun and spoke.

“Oppa, let me do it. You’ve been suffering all by yourself all this time. To balance things out, I should do at least this much.”

“Balance? I’ve never even thought of such a thing. There are too many unstable factors. More than anything, it weighs on my mind that I won’t be able to protect you if a problem arises.”

Gi-jun was speaking purely as the party’s tank, but to Ye-min, who heard those words, the meaning carried quite a bit of weight.

However, as if trying to hide her surging emotions, she deliberately wore a grumpy expression and retorted.

“If you were that worried about me, you should have called me sooner. If you had kept me right by your side, you could have set your mind at ease.”

“That’s a separate issue. Right now, this is—”

Just as Gi-jun, who had answered flatly, tried to say more, Ye-min reached out, covered his mouth, and spoke with a grin.

“I want to do it, Oppa. I can do it well. I will never get hurt.”

Just then, the hands of Tilla and Lora, reaching out from the side, slapped Ye-min’s hand away as if in competition.

Failing to notice the women’s fierce battle of nerves (physical), Gi-jun opened his freed mouth and sought another reason.

“……Shin is also in danger.”

“I’m fine, Hyung. You know my ability well.”

He had hoped that Eun-shin would stop Ye-min—perhaps because the leader of this party was Ye-min after all, even he took her side.

Since the people directly executing the operation were willing to take the risk, Gi-jun could not stop them any further.

As Gi-jun frowned, wondering how things had turned out this way when he had by no means called them here for this purpose, Ye-min quickly added.

“And this is also an opportunity, Oppa.”

“What opportunity? Ah.”

“Whatever trap those vampire bastards have prepared, if it targets millions of people, they will have to pay quite a bit of attention to it. For all we know, wouldn’t a few tenths of their forces be diverted to this side?”

“Are you saying this knowing it’s that dangerous?”

“I know that the more their forces are concentrated on this side, the easier the infiltration will become.”

Perhaps she had been thinking about this from the very moment she first spoke of the operation.

When Gi-jun fell silent, Ye-min spoke with a gentle expression as if she refused to let his heart waver.

“If you’re that worried about me, Oppa, please take the head of the leader of those Kudlak or whatever bastards before it’s too late. I’ll trust only in you, Oppa.”

“Mmm.”

Fatum, who had regarded Ye-min’s operation skeptically until just a moment ago, let out a low groan and intervened.

“Are you saying we should move up the infiltration operation that was scheduled for several months from now?”

“We are going to turn their operation against them. Is there any better time than this?”

In fact, although Fatum considered the expedition playing into the hands of the vampires to be foolish, he had no intention whatsoever of risking his life to do anything for them.

This was because he believed that since his position as the Hero of Light was the most important on the continent, putting millions of incompetent citizens on the opposite side of his scale would not balance it out.

However, if it was an operation to target the head of Kudlak’s leader in the meantime by using even them as bait, the story would be different.

“…I will lend you an artifact that can protect your body in an emergency. It is a treasure of the Empire, so it will be of help.”

“I would be very grateful if you did that. As expected of the Hero!”

A virtual declaration of participation fell from Fatum’s mouth.

Once things reached this point, Gi-jun could no longer refuse either.

Although it weighed on his mind that Ye-min and Eun-shin were taking an absurdly large risk, and it also weighed on his mind that he couldn’t meet the date Biche had promised to come help, there was nothing he could do once things turned out this way…

“Ah, come to think of it.”

Thinking of Biche, Gi-jun recalled the message he had received from her just today and spoke.

“Fatum, I heard that we can make the vampires pay a price by reporting the fact that they disguised their status to the system. Do you happen to know anything about that?”

“As for that, I have already discussed it while submitting an urgent report to the Empire. And surprisingly, I succeeded in receiving an oracle.”

“An oracle?”

“Indeed.”

Fatum continued speaking, saying that it was something hard for those without knowledge to understand, so he had intended to discuss it with Gi-jun privately.

“First… do you know that a Grand Quest has been declared? A Grand Quest is declared directly by the gods when a massive conflict breaks out between the Faction of Light and the Faction of Darkness. In this case, it is a quest occurring between ‘Gratia’ of the Light Faction and ‘Kudlak’ of the Dark Faction.”

“I had guessed as much.”

After all, weren’t there already several hidden quests Gi-jun had cleared that mentioned the rewards for the Grand Quest being amplified?

For all they knew, if he successfully completed this matter, Gi-jun, who had been steadily accumulating rewards by performing multiple hidden quests, would obtain an absurdly grand achievement.

“Then that makes things quick. As a price for daring to disguise their status and humiliate the sacred system, the Faction of Darkness has been forbidden from using holy relics in this Grand Quest.”

“…Is that it?”

“That is all.”

To be honest, Gi-jun had wanted a more fiery punishment, such as three of the enemy’s Legendary-grade figures instantly dying or being sealed.

Although he felt a bit deflated that it ended with merely blocking them from using holy relics, it also seemed understandable when he thought of the power of the Unique Territory that Fatum had shown him before.

“There is no need to be disappointed, Jun. This is a very unprecedented measure. Since you don’t seem to grasp it, I will tell you myself: a massive holy relic is embedded in the center of the Empire’s imperial palace. Its role is to activate at the final moment to annihilate the enemy, but fortunately, it has never been activated yet.”

“Then, by any chance, is there one in Kudlak’s kingdom too?”

“Of course there will be. Originally, I planned to block Kudlak’s holy relic with my own, but if this is the case, I can fully utilize the power of my holy relic to strike down their leader.”

Those who did not yet understand the talk about holy relics and Unique Territories tilted their heads in unison, but Gi-jun realized that Fatum had already made up his mind.

This flow could not be stopped.

In that case—he had no choice but to give his all to minimize the damage to others as much as possible.

“Alright, let’s do that.”

Gi-jun nodded gloomily, then turned to Ye-min and spoke.

“And Min-i, let’s talk alone, just the two of us.”

“Y-Yes!”

At his forceful demeanor, which could not have been seen in the Gi-jun of the first round of the tutorial, Ye-min nodded repeatedly and replied.

However, Tilla and Lora, who had already been subjected to that pattern several times, forgot about the battle of nerves they had been fighting until just now and could only look at her with pitying expressions…

“Then it’s all decided! I think I can help with this. If it’s an expedition, wouldn’t it be welcomed if supplies were brought in in large quantities? And speaking of supplies, that’s the specialty of a fairy merchant!”

“You were here, Viv.”

“That’s mean?!”