97 – Now You Too – 1

The events of that day on that spot were not made known to the outside world.

Since the vampires had died in groups, they would naturally realize what had happened in Gratia sooner or later, but it was not something this side would reveal first.

Above all, the vampires did not yet know how much Gratia knew.

Judging by how shocked the Count had been the moment the word “overflow” was uttered, that plan had to be an extremely important secret even among the vampires, so a countermeasure had to be established as quickly as possible while they were off guard.

And there was a secret that had to be kept even more than that—that was, of course, the fact that Gi-jun could see through all the vampires who had perfectly hidden their identities and infiltrated human society.

His existence was truly a joker card.

The King chose the path of boldly wielding this joker card to root out the vampires from the country’s major ruling class.

The Lord of Turis had also once thought of this but gave up due to feasibility issues, but the King had pushed forward with it in a truly bold manner.

“So I think I’ll be moving alone for a while. Still, I can’t just leave you guys idle, right? That’s why I drew up a new training curriculum. You’ve had a good rest these past few days, so it’s time to slowly get back to it.”

In the afternoon after the trial, Gi-jun, who had obtained permission to step out for a moment, gathered the party members in one place and spoke.

Though, in truth, only Ji-hye had rested during that time, while Gin and Lora, having realized their own inadequacies even more due to the recent events, had been waking up at dawn to train and pestering Tilla to spar with them.

To top it off, Unika, perhaps having also felt the need for training due to this incident, often joined them.

“Ji-hye, I’m talking to you.”

“Gyaaaah… I understand. I was preparing myself mentally anyway, okay?”

Ji-hye let out a sigh, feeling that her days of elegant vacation had come to an end.

Although she had procrastinated as much as possible, knowing it would turn out like this sooner or later anyway.

She only found herself missing Ye-min, who had never interfered with her way of growing, and Eun-shin and Mok-su, who had given her thumbs-up while praising her magic as the best.

But on the other hand, she also felt grateful to Gi-jun for leading her so actively, so the human heart was indeed complex.

“Your Endurance already hit Uncommon, and what’s your Strength at now?”

“95. It went up a bit more while going through real combat this time. But seriously, does this make any sense? Oppa, I’m a magician, a magician!”

Compared to when she first joined Gi-jun’s party, it was a growth that was nothing short of a complete transformation.

It was a change that showed how much Ji-hye had suffered all this time, but Gi-jun was still not satisfied with it.

He handed the documents he had prepared for each party member to Tilla and said,

“Tilla, can I ask this of you?”

“Leave it to me. I just need to raise it to Uncommon, right? By the time you return, it will be done.”

When Tilla, who liked nothing more than Gi-jun relying on her, thumped her chest and replied vigorously, Ji-hye was appalled.

“Wait, do you even know how many days it will take for Oppa to finish his work and return?”

“Very excellent. While you’re at it, build up her Endurance a bit more too. Well then, I’m off.”

“Wait—Oppa, Gi-jun Oppa?”

Having finished saying goodbye to the rest of the group, Gi-jun waved his hand and was about to turn and leave, but then he lifted Rodim, who had been sitting quietly on his shoulder until then, and handed him to Tilla.

Tilla turned her head, pretending not to notice, but she ultimately had no choice but to take the fire fox.

“I thought I might be able to slip past naturally…”

“It’s a request that requires secrecy, not a dangerous one, so it will be fine. I’ll be back.”

“Oppa?! Look at my eyes, Oppa!”

—Kong!

With even Rodim seeing him off, he finally left this time.

Viv, who had been waiting outside until then, flew over, her wings fluttering.

“You finished sooner than I expected? I thought you would at least share a meal before coming.”

“Since the sooner we start and finish, the better… By the way, Viv, why are you following me?”

“Since I don’t know what kind of erratic things you might do elsewhere, Jun-nim, I have to help out in whatever way I can this time.”

Viv boasted that it would be hard to find a partner like her anywhere else, but Gi-jun quickly saw through her inner thoughts.

“You just want to make yourself known to the Gratia royal family, is that it?”

“If I leave a good impression in connection with you, Jun-nim, they might call for me someday! Even among us fairy merchants, there are barely any who trade with the royal family. If it succeeds, it will be a jackpot!”

“That’s why I like your honesty.”

“I was so frustrated because Ms. Bella took all the spotlight in this trial! I was the one who found the chocolate! I was the one leading it!”

“Yes, yes. You are indeed my reliable partner.”

“At least you recognize it, Jun-nim!”

Gi-jun headed to the meeting place with Viv and asked what he could not bring himself to ask earlier.

“But why did the Count’s family have to deliver the chocolate? If the alliance had handled the chocolate supply themselves from the beginning, they wouldn’t have been caught that way.”

“I believe they did that at first.”

“At first?”

“But then, perhaps a vampire who was dissatisfied with the quality of the chocolate appeared? That vampire would say something like this: ‘Don’t use some strange chocolate with unknown origins; instead, use the chocolate I brought!’”

Indeed, judging by the vampires Gi-jun had encountered so far, they were more than likely to say such a thing.

However, a question still remained.

“Why did they leave records related to the chocolate? The inventory records too—and since the Summoned have inventories, wouldn’t there be no delivery records if they had just received them through their inventories?”

“Fufu, you show that you are a rookie on this continent in these areas, Jun-nim.”

Viv’s laughter was very pleasant to hear, but on the other hand, it also irritated him.

When he narrowed his eyes and glared, the startled Viv cleared her throat and spoke.

“Allowing someone to put an item in their inventory during a transaction is, except in very special cases, equivalent to completely transferring ownership.”

“Is that so…?”

Gi-jun nodded, thinking of the dwarf meister, Glittertoss, who had taken his materials.

Perhaps the special case referred to such an instance.

“Even with a magic contract, you cannot touch the contents inside an inventory. In other words, it means the conditions make embezzlement too easy.”

“……Wait a minute. Are you saying they foolishly traded openly and even kept a ledger because they were afraid someone would steal the chocolate?”

“Yes. It is an extremely high-end chocolate, after all. Just obtaining it in large quantities was already at a suspicious level, you know?”

“No, that can’t be.”

“There’s no way the human race is entirely composed of idiots!”

“Calm down, Jun-nim. It is not just humans; any Summoned would do that. It means ownership of items is treated that importantly. Besides, if it weren’t for you, Jun-nim, this would have never been discovered. Who could suspect someone of being a vampire just from chocolate deliveries?”

“Right…”

Since the truth was so deflating, Gi-jun made up his mind to just think that he had identified the vampire and bashed his forehead in.

At the meeting place, there were the two knights who had been standing behind the King earlier, plus the Lord of Turis and Unika.

Since Unika was not where the group gathered, he had wondered if she had gone to see her father, and it turned out indeed to be the case.

“From now on, our Royal Knights will move with you.”

Indeed, he had not even thought that he would move with the King every single time to carry out the request.

Viv seemed disappointed that a higher-ranking noble had not come out, but Gi-jun nodded and spoke.

“I am Jun, a Flame Human. Feel free to call me Jun.”

“We cannot do that.”

Gi-jun gave up on building rapport with them.

Perhaps these narrow-minded fellows were still bothered by the fact that he had spoken informally to the King.

Instead, he turned his gaze to the Lord of Turis and asked,

“Did you meet the King?”

“It was thanks to you. I didn’t expect you to drop such a bombshell right on the spot, but in the end, everything turned out well. It seems His Majesty’s personality is also somewhat similar to yours.”

Shrugging his shoulders as if finding Gi-jun hopeless, the Lord pointed to Unika, who stood with her head bowed beside him, and continued.

“Since I have to stay in Cor for the time being… Unika has to return to Turis as the acting Lord. I wanted to let her assist you by your side at least until this matter is over, though.”

“It’s not like I can keep ordering her around forever. Goodbye, Unika.”

“…….”

At Gi-jun’s greeting, Unika, unusually, did not respond and quickly turned her head away.

He looked at the Lord, wondering why she was acting like this, but of course, he could not find an answer from him either.

“Well, this turned out to be the exact opposite of my intention.”

“What was your intention?”

“I cannot tell you that. Because it is not over yet.”

“What on earth is not over?”

As expected, was speaking in circles a hobby for these noble folks?

No, despite that, the King, who had a dragon horn on one side of his forehead, was quite straightforward.

However, Unika actually reacted to the Lord’s words and slightly raised her head.

“Did you just say it is not over…?”

“Ahem.”

The Lord, who patted his daughter’s shoulder as if to soothe her, cleared his throat and spoke.

“Jun, have you decided on a destination after finishing this task?”

“After resolving the vampires’ raid? No way, I’m not that planned.”

“Then, I have a place to recommend.”

Gratia’s only volcanic region, Uralta.

“It has many natural hot springs, making it popular as a resort, and fitting for a volcanic region, there are many strong monsters, so those who want to become stronger gather there. Moreover, it is rich in mines where all sorts of magical ores spring up, even forming an artisans’ street. It is a region like a comprehensive gift set.”

“If Turis is the frontier and Cor is the center of Gratia’s culture, then Uralta is where the strongest people in Gratia gather. What’s more, you can enjoy the hot springs, so it would be perfect for a strong Summoned like you.”

“It sounds appealing now that I hear it… but why bring that up now?”

Guaranteed, there was no one who disliked a warm hot spring.

During the tutorial period, he did not have the peace of mind to search for hot springs, so he had forgotten about it, but the Lord’s words instantly made him miss hot springs.

Fighting monsters by day and hot springs by night—Gi-jun’s mind was already beginning to grow complex thinking about what kind of food would suit hot springs.

“That place was Count Defect’s fief.”

The moment he heard those words, his mind was completely cleared.

“Didn’t you say he was a great noble of Cor?”

“He only operated in Cor. Cor is royal territory, you see.”

This was also the first time he learned that Cor was royal territory.

No, then did those crazy bastards of the alliance make a hole and build their hideout in land directly managed by the King, not just some ordinary Gratia land?!

“Count Defect had a separate fief. He didn’t stay there himself but had his vassals manage it.”

“That’s surprising.”

“Of course, that fief was also reclaimed by the royal family this time, but because it is too large, it’s difficult to suddenly bestow it upon someone, is it not? That is why they decided to keep it as a royal territory for now and select nobles to manage it.”

“One of them is my daughter,” the Lord said, patting Unika’s shoulder once more.

“By the time you finish your work here and leave for Uralta, Unika should also be dispatched there. If you’re lucky, you might even be able to go together.”

“Father…!”

“Hahaha. Do you think I don’t know your heart, Unika?”

Unika looked at the Lord with a touched expression.

Well, of course; her dad used his connections to land his daughter a good position, so Gi-jun would have been touched too if he were Unika.

Nodding in agreement that society was indeed all about connections and blood ties, Gi-jun saw off Unika and the Lord of Turis—who had quickly cheered up after hearing about her new job placement—and finally turned back toward the knights.

For the record, Viv held out, insisting she would do the quest with Gi-jun until the end, but was dragged away by the Lord.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Observing you is also our duty.”

“Thanks for telling me that.”

“His Majesty said that speaking honestly would be more likely to win favor.”

“Indeed, it is a wise insight.”

“Though I wonder if you needed to be honest about even that.”

These guys were quite something.

Gi-jun looked at the two Royal Knights and sighed, thinking that this request would not be smooth sailing.

“Let’s start by exchanging names.”

“John.”

“Smith.”

“Okay, got it. You can call me ‘John Doe’.”

“Isn’t your name Jun?”

“It’s a codename. Like yours.”

The two knights wore visibly surprised expressions.

“To think you’d realize they are codenames…”

“Sharp.”

Gi-jun resolved never to nitpick them in the future.

“So where is the first place we are going?”

“The Royal Palace, of course.”

“Since Count Defect and two other vampires were revealed to have died in today’s trial, if there are any vampires hiding in the palace, they will show an opening. First, we will capture and examine suspicious individuals. After that, we will check the rest with your ability.”

“Good idea.”

To start with the result, Gi-jun sliced the throats of nearly ten vampires that night.

The next day, they checked the remaining nobles active in Cor and their close aides, killing another ten vampires, and the two Royal Knights found the intersection between them, successfully identifying and busting the faction colluding with the vampires.

From the day after that, he found himself using the royal-exclusive teleportation gates to luxuriously travel all over Gratia, searching for and killing vampires—unlike his codename, no corpse was left behind where he passed.

There was only black ash.