26 – 6 – Call Me Ishmael – 1

—You have been summoned to Leta. Resetting all of the summoner’s physical information to the lowest level of their rank.

—Class possession confirmed. Due to the Unique-grade class correction, Strength (U) and Endurance (U) increase by 10, and the remaining stats that have reached Legendary-grade increase by 5 each, which is half.

—Checking the item information in the inventory. A total of three items have been preserved: King of the Well (U), Letaphone 15 (U), and Shock Absorber (R).

—All summoners of Earth’s civilization must pay a tax for the operation of Leta in Leta Points (RP) once a year. Leta Points can be obtained through quests, achievements, dungeon exploration, raids, trading, etc., and failing to pay the points may result in great misfortune.

—Earth’s civilization belongs to the ‘Light’ faction. Therefore, forming an alliance with civilizations belonging to the ‘Dark’ faction is impossible.

—You are one of the three representatives existing in Earth’s civilization. Representatives receive dignity upkeep points every month, but if all representatives die, Earth’s civilization will face ‘defeat’.

—You have been summoned to Leta. Resetting all of the summoner’s physical information to the lowest level of their rank.

—Class possession confirmed. Due to the Unique-grade class correction, Strength (U) and Endurance (U) increase by 10, and the remaining stats that have reached Legendary-grade increase by 5 each, which is half.

—Checking the item information in the inventory. A total of three items have been preserved: King of the Well (U), Letaphone 15 (U), and Shock Absorber (R).

—All summoners of Earth’s civilization must pay a tax for the operation of Leta in Leta Points (RP) once a year. Leta Points can be obtained through quests, achievements, dungeon exploration, raids, trading, etc., and failing to pay the points may result in great misfortune.

—Earth’s civilization belongs to the ‘Light’ faction. Therefore, forming an alliance with civilizations belonging to the ‘Dark’ faction is impossible.

—You are one of the three representatives existing in Earth’s civilization. Representatives receive dignity upkeep points every month, but if all representatives die, Earth’s civilization will face ‘defeat’.

When Gi-jun opened his eyes, the transfer to Leta, the world where the survival competition of civilizations took place, was already complete.

The place where he stood was an absurdly wide basin, with incredibly high mountains rising in all directions as if wrapping around the basin.

Gi-jun felt both suffocated and relieved by it at the same time.

He guessed that it actually served to confine him while simultaneously protecting him.

Even though they had completed the tutorial twice, Earthlings were undeniably weak compared to the strong of this world.

Was it not possible that the heroes who had failed to find the Back Dungeon might end up in trouble while facing unweakened monsters?

—Contractor, there are so many people here who look just like you!

At the whisper of Lucy, who was sitting on his head, only then did Gi-jun think to look around at the people instead of the terrain.

He thought to himself that he had indeed changed a lot, considering that when he was first dragged to the other world, he would have looked for other people first and read the room, regardless of the environment.

But…

‘Why does it feel like everyone is looking at me?’

They were a miscellaneous mix, with no distinction of race or country, but they were definitely Earthlings.

Just because of that, he felt like hugging them and greeting them out of joy, but—since they were all staring at him simultaneously, a chilling feeling came over him before any sense of welcome.

Had the news of his disappearance spread widely during the second tutorial? Had his party members, starting with Ye-min, even distributed flyers to find him?

As he nodded, thinking the answer he came up with was plausible, Lucy, who had read his mind, spoke up in disbelief.

—That’s because, Contractor…

However, Lucy, who was about to continue, suddenly closed her mouth.

Speaking of it felt like such a waste of something so precious; she wanted to keep it to herself as much as possible, so she did not want to tell him even if he was the person in question.

Because of that, however, Gi-jun had to tremble in fear that those people might suddenly surround him and start clapping.

Right then, a fairy appeared to clear up the confusing situation.

“Everyone, focus! As you know, I am the tutorial fairy!”

The fairy appeared high up in the sky and shouted, and all the Earthlings in the basin had to look up at it.

Gi-jun was certain that although it looked very similar to the fairy he had seen in the tutorial, it was definitely a different individual, because that fairy was a bit stronger and carried a bit more killing intent than the one he knew.

“From now on, I will explain Leta, where you have arrived! Shall we first explain the point system that governs Leta and the representative system closely related to those points? Now, first of all, who the representatives are…”

“There shouldn’t be a tutorial in Leta.”

Gi-jun said.

Even though he had not spoken in a very loud voice, everyone, including the fairy, could hear his voice.

Everyone meant all the hundreds of thousands of humans filling the basin.

Feeling a number of stares pouring onto him that could not be compared to just moments ago, only then did Gi-jun realize that his Charm stat had reached the Legendary realm, and he continued with an embarrassed look on his face.

“And you guys are just one of the races competing with us here. Stop trying to con us.”

“Oh my, nonsense aside, it is truly a pity that you are rejecting the tutorial fairy.”

Even though he thought he had hit the mark in his own way, the fairy’s expression did not change in the slightest as it continued.

“Then shall I go back just like this? Without properly hearing the explanation about this world, Leta, or being guided on how to survive… Leta is certainly different from the tutorial you went through. Missions are never forced, and the fairy, too, can give up on you.”

It was a threat.

Even though it had rushed in to boldly scam the Earthlings who had just arrived in Leta and knew nothing, it smiled slyly and said such things as if it did not care at all if it was rejected.

But surely, the proud Earthlings who had gone through the tutorial not once but twice would not fall for such a clumsy lie and threat, right?

“Who are you to step forward and try to kick the fairy out?”

“I think that person is him, the one who survived until the very end in the first round. He wasn’t there in the second round.”

“Ah, I remember! The one that the strongest and prettiest hero searched for until the very end…!”

“He is suspiciousness itself. The fairy is annoying, but that man is even more annoying.”

“Looking like a pretty boy…”

“He’s too handsome, so he’s even more suspicious.”

Huh?

Wasn’t it that the higher the Charm, the greater the influence on people?

Could it be that because Gi-jun, who had not been there in the second round, suddenly showed up and was so suspicious, his Charm was working in reverse?

He had stepped forward to try and do something for no reason, only for it to end in failure.

‘As expected, Min-i would be perfect for this kind of thing.’

Ye-min, a child born with the leadership to guide people.

He felt a bit bitter at the thought that if she had been here, the people’s reactions might have been different.

Judging by the fact that the Earthlings summoned to this basin fell far short of a million, it seemed they had been divided into two or three groups to be summoned.

Considering that Ye-min was nowhere to be seen even now when everyone was paying attention to Gi-jun, it seemed Ye-min and his party members had dropped somewhere else.

‘No, wait a minute.’

Gi-jun suddenly thought.

That fairy was up to something suspicious.

Gi-jun had pointed it out, but the people thought Gi-jun was also suspicious and did not believe him.

He did not have the dramatic eloquence to convince all of these people in a short time.

Then, what was it that Gi-jun had to do in this situation?

“Flash Throw!”

It was a preemptive strike.

A Rare-grade skill unleashed based on Unique-grade Strength!

The Unique-grade shield, [King of the Well], cut through the air at a speed that no one could react to, soaring more than several hundred meters.

Laden with light mana, it embroidered the sky with light like a firework being launched, accurately striking the fairy at the end.

“Gack!”

Unable to even think of dodging, the fairy was struck by the shield of light and tumbled from the air, spitting blood.

The next moment, all of the hundreds of thousands of Earthlings doubted their eyes, as the falling creature did not drop to the ground but bounced off in midair ‘as if blocked by something’.

It seemed as though a barrier existed to protect a certain area around the basin where the Earthlings had been summoned.

And the fairy had failed to pass through it.

No wonder it had appeared in such a high place even if it wanted to look down on all the Earthlings; it was because it could not enter inside the barrier from the very beginning.

“Now.”

Gi-jun caught the shield that flew back through the air in a cool manner, as if he had practiced it after watching a movie, and spoke again.

“Now, who is more suspicious?”

Honestly, both were suspicious, but the Earthlings had no choice but to reluctantly nod at Gi-jun’s words.

It was because no one wanted to be struck by a shield flying like a flash of light.

Gi-jun let out a sigh as he watched the people stealthily avoiding his eyes, but he still did not regret stopping the fairy’s cheap trick.

‘Being alone… is familiar…’

—You’re not alone, Contractor! I’m here!

‘Thank you, Lucy. Do you want to eat some brown sugar… No, we don’t have any right now.’

—Hehe, I’m happy just with the contractor being pleased! Of course, I like brown sugar too.

Interpreting it based on the interpretation ability he had developed while spending ten years with Lucy and the Demon King—Biche—Lucy’s words meant that he should quickly find some brown sugar while she endured solely on her affection for the contractor.

Thinking that he had to quickly find an area where people lived, he began to move his feet.

His destination was, of course, outside the barrier where the fairy had fallen.

He intended to catch the creature and extract whatever information he could.

He felt a bit reluctant to voluntarily step out of the barrier that had been set up, but it was not as if he could stay cooped up inside here forever.

“Ah…!”

“He’s going out.”

“Is it okay to go out?”

“Damn it, there’s nothing we can know. I told you we should have listened to the fairy!”

“Let’s just stay for now. It won’t be too late to move after we sort out the situation… Let’s see what happens to that man.”

As he moved, the people all around flinched and opened up a path, leaving a wide space.

In the past, because his presence was not that great, he had to ask for consideration several times no matter what he did, but thanks to his Charm growing to the Legendary grade, he could now part the crowd and move as if Moses were parting the sea!

—No, Contractor. You mustn’t cry!

‘I want to see Biche…’

After walking for about a minute after passing through the barrier, he saw the fairy, who had been hit by the shield thrown with all his might, lying unconscious nearby.

“Shall we bind it first?”

—Leave it to me.

At Gi-jun’s words, Lucy stepped forward on her own and immediately shot out chains of light, wrapping them tightly around the fairy.

It was a fairly powerful restraint that not only physically bound the target but also blocked their mana circulation with her spirit power; it was not a technique designed to keep the Demon King in check for nothing.

“Ugh?!”

The fairy regained consciousness around then.

No, looking at it, it seemed the fairy had intended to pretend to be unconscious and launch a surprise attack, but that attempt came to nothing due to Gi-jun and Lucy’s unimaginable binding ability.

“Just what are you? I never heard that there was a human who manipulates light in the tutorial!”

“In other words, you heard about it beforehand from the fairy in charge of Earth’s tutorial.”

Realizing its mistake, the fairy shut its mouth.

Gi-jun chuckled.

Not knowing about his existence meant, for starters, that Tinkerbell had not mentioned him.

After all, she had even told him to look for her kin if he faced any trouble when they parted, so she probably had not known that her kin would come to stab the humans in the back.

“You only know about the second round. Still, it is a bit strange—did you look down on us when there are so many strong people?”

The thing that surprised Gi-jun the most when looking at the other heroes was that at least one-fifth of the people he saw seemed to have advanced the rank of one or more of their stats.

Of course, compared to Gi-jun, who had fully completed the education of a professional trainer named the Demon King, they would be at the level of newborns.

Even so, was it not a vast difference compared to the first round, where they had been completely unaware of the existence of rank advancement?

Perhaps whoever found out about rank advancement first had shared that fact with all the heroes.

It was truly a wonderful achievement, thinking of the public good of all rather than just one’s own profit.

“I don’t know… what you are talking about.”

Unless the fairy was an idiot, it must have had something in mind, but it seemed intent on playing dumb until the end.

“Sure,” Gi-jun muttered, nodding as he raised his shield.

“I am going to hit you now.”

“What did you say? You wicked human! As if launching a shameless surprise attack on me wasn’t enough… Argh!”

He slammed the creature hard with the sharp edge of his shield.

Since he had already roughly estimated its health through Flash Throw, he adjusted the strength of the blow so that it would only hurt and not kill.

“So, if you don’t want to die, tell me everything you know. Got it?”

“I will not yield to violence! If it becomes known that you abused a tutorial fairy like this, all of you—Argh!”

“Lucy, shall we gag it first?”

—Good idea. I was thinking that maybe it is trying to attract monsters by making a loud noise.

The fairy clearly looked startled, but it tried to pretend otherwise and shouted.

“If you gag me, how are you going to hear the infor—Mmph, mmmph!”

“It’s fine.”

Gi-jun said with a benevolent smile.

“When the time comes that you want to talk, I will know.”

When about five minutes had passed, the fairy shook its head desperately with a look that seemed as if it were about to die, making muffled noises.

Only then did Gi-jun realize that the time had come.

The fairy’s information was very substantial.