98 – You Too, Now – 2

The moment Gi-jun pierced and killed the vampire, who was disguised as a low-ranking official in a small city in the east of Gratia, with fangs without so much as an explanation, a system message popped up before his eyes.

—Rare Achievement Achieved! You have hunted a large number of vampires who were hiding their identities and blending into human society. Your obsession with vampires and spine-chilling tracking ability will strike terror into all vampires. Charm (L) has increased by 1. You have obtained 3,000 points as an achievement reward.

—You have obtained the Rare-grade title [Vampire Hunter]. Due to the title’s effect, all of your abilities increase by 10% when facing vampires, and this effect will grow the more vampires you kill.

—Rare Achievement Achieved! You have hunted a large number of vampires who were hiding their identities and blending into human society. Your obsession with vampires and spine-chilling tracking ability will strike terror into all vampires. Charm (L) has increased by 1. You have obtained 3,000 points as an achievement reward.

—You have obtained the Rare-grade title [Vampire Hunter]. Due to the title’s effect, all of your abilities increase by 10% when facing vampires, and this effect will grow the more vampires you kill.

Gi-jun had hunted so many vampires over the past few days that he had even obtained a title along with the achievement.

This probably did not apply to all monsters.

Perhaps it was because vampires hiding their identities in human society were such a special target for ‘hunting,’ and also because Gi-jun had spent the last few days hunting nothing but vampires.

‘Still, it’s good news. Even if I don’t receive the request payment, it’s an incredibly profitable deal.’

He was already facing the task of dealing with a large number of vampires, so to obtain a title that increased his abilities by an additional 10% when facing them was a windfall.

What was more, since the title’s effect was said to increase the more vampires he killed, how could he not be delighted?

Standing before the pile of ashes left behind by the vampire he had just killed, Gi-jun could not suppress his joy and let a smile play on his lips, causing the royal knights acting with him to shudder.

“He is a born vampire hunter.”

“He might hold a deep grudge against vampires…”

It was the moment one more rumor surrounding Gi-jun was added.

One of them, Smith, cleared his throat and spoke to Gi-jun.

“Thanks to your cooperation, we were able to root out and expel all the vampires who disguised themselves as nobles and operated in the shadows of the kingdom. You have my thanks.”

Traveling around the country in just a few days; even as he heard the words, it did not feel real at all.

Of course, they had used teleport gates multiple times during the process—though he was not the one paying for it, Gi-jun felt a chill at the thought of how much the travel expenses must have been.

“Is this the end of it?”

“The nobles are done. Now, no matter what happens, those vampires won’t be able to throw Gratia’s leadership into chaos.”

Thinking that the timing was good, Gi-jun nodded, but he still felt a bit of regret.

He had finally obtained the title, but the quest was ending before he could even test its effects.

However, he soon realized that there was something strange about Smith’s words.

“The nobles ‘are’? You aren’t going to tell me that we should scour the country from now on to find and wipe out the vampires operating across all of Gratia, are you?”

“Of course not. However, His Majesty ordered us to sever every single connection linked to the vampires who were disguised as nobles.”

He could understand that.

When Gi-jun looked at Smith, Smith turned his gaze to John.

John, who was clearly Smith’s junior judging by this sequence of actions, let out a soft sigh and explained.

“You probably remember Union, the human guild that belonged to the Species Guild Alliance, Demander.”

“What about them… Ah. Don’t tell me they had a branch here?”

“That is correct.”

John nodded at his blunt words.

Indeed, Gi-jun had heard from Tilla that Christian, the representative of Union, aimed to gather all humans not only in Cor but across the entire Gratia Kingdom.

Considering that the bastard was colluding with the vampires, had he succeeded, all the human summoners in Gratia would have either fallen victim to the vampires or turned into new vampires—a truly hellish scene would have unfolded.

“Although we were able to clean out their headquarters in Cor in time, they had been secretly expanding a secondary force in another city in case things went wrong in Gratia.”

“That is right here, in Ars.”

Smith suddenly snatched away the key detail, despite having just told John to explain.

While Gi-jun understood why their final operations site was here, he tilted his head, thinking he had heard the name of the city, Ars, somewhere before.

“Since their core is made up of summoners, they must have already received this information. Although they haven’t shown any particular movements outwardly so far…”

“They must already be preparing to flee.”

While John, whose expression was hidden behind his helmet, stared at Smith as if he wanted to say something, Gi-jun finished the sentence.

“Exactly. While we were carrying out our operations, we already mobilized the Mercenary Guild of Ars to monitor them, but since we don’t know when or how the situation might change, we must subdue them quickly.”

“What is that light?”

At John’s words, both Smith’s and Gi-jun’s eyes turned toward the direction he pointed.

Flames were rising from the outskirts of the small city of Ars.

“Hmm.”

Smith groaned and spoke.

“That is where the Union branch is located.”

“Then why are you just standing there? Run!”

The three of them dashed forward at the same time, their armor clanking loudly.

However, feeling frustrated by the pace, Gi-jun soon summoned Ur.

“I’ll go ahead.”

“Weren’t you trying to hide your identity?”

“The quest is basically over anyway, so what does it matter? I’m off!”

—Kiiiiii!

As a side note, those knights never ended up calling Gi-jun ‘John Doe’ even once.

Gi-jun mounted the back of Ur, who had grown much larger yet nimbler after reaching the Unique rank, and sped down the poorly maintained boulevard of the small city.

Unlike Turis, where Gi-jun had stayed, the small city of Ars in the middle of the night was quite peaceful, but as the materialized Ur sprinted while spewing bright flames, the residents who woke up came out one by one to see what was happening.

—Boom!

“I don’t know who it is, but they sure seem to be having a lot of fun.”

—It seems the explosion just now occurred from the inside, Contractor.

“Inside…?”

Perhaps someone on this side had also taken action after hearing that Union’s forces in Cor had been annihilated.

While that in itself was not a bad thing, it would have been much cleaner to mobilize the Mercenary Guild and storm the place all at once…

—It looks like the Mercenary Guild has also started to move. What should we do, Contractor?

‘Are there any bastards trying to run away?’

—There are.

‘Let’s catch those guys first.’

—As expected of my Contractor.

Having shared the information Lucy gathered by spreading her senses across the entire city, Ur immediately veered and leapt into the air.

While looking down at the landscape of the small city clearly revealed under the moonlit sky, Gi-jun was preparing to throw his shield at any moment, when he suddenly let out an exclamation of surprise.

“Wait, isn’t Ars the place where Min-i operates…?”

* * *

Rewinding time a little, that afternoon.

Four people were gathered in the office of the sub-master of the Ars Mercenary Guild.

One of them was a beauty characterized by pointed ears, the sub-master of the Ars Mercenary Guild—the Half-Nymph, Bella.

She had been away on important business until now, but coincidentally, she had realized while tending to that business that something unusual was happening in Ars, prompting her to return briefly.

And as for the remaining three—

“…I am Ye-min.”

“Yes, I recall hearing your name from Ji-hye.”

Facing the woman who stepped to the front of the three-person party and bowed to her, Bella let out a quiet exclamation of admiration.

‘I thought Ji-hye would be the most outstanding among the humans who entered Leta this time, but I was wrong. I have no intention of prying, but this woman is a civilization representative, without a doubt.’

The man who chose the barbarian-type evolution path and the boy who projected a presence so faint that it could deceive even her own eyes were also quite surprising—but the ‘real deal’ was this woman.

She had barely arrived in Leta, yet she was already faintly radiating an aura strong enough to overwhelm her, which could only be explained by her being special from the very moment of her birth, unlike others of her kind who transcended their racial limits through training.

“I understood that you left for another city with Hye-ji—no, Ji-hye… Calling us like this today, did something perhaps happen to Ji-hye?”

“No, I summoned you for a different matter. Ji-hye is safe.”

“Whew.”

At her words, the three humans let out a sigh of relief in unison.

At the same time, the sharp aura of Ye-min that had been pricking Bella’s skin subsided… Only then did Bella realize she had made a mistake.

They did not even have Letaphones yet, and they had not received any form of contact since Ji-hye left Ars.

Under those circumstances, since Bella had suddenly summoned the three of them and merely observed them, it was only natural for them to imagine the worst!

Realizing she had been inconsiderate, Bella hastily explained Ji-hye’s current situation.

“Ji-hye is currently active as a temporary member of another party. It’s the party closest to the heart of this incident.”

“Ji-hye is in another party…”

Smirking as she watched Ye-min mutter in bewilderment, Bella readily gave the answer.

“Perhaps you’ve already heard of them. It is the party led by the Divine Beast Hunter, the Flame Human Jun.”

“…”

Ye-min remained silent for a moment.

Then, her eyes suddenly flashing sharply, she questioned Bella.

“Is that person named Jun really a Flame Human?”

“Hmm?”

As Bella stared at her, she took a step forward and asked with a serious expression.

“There is someone I am looking for. Perhaps he is the person I’ve been searching for. The fact that Ji-hye joined his party so easily is also bothering me.”

“Is, is that so?”

Temporarily captivated by Ye-min’s terrifyingly flawless beauty and anxious expression, Bella let slip words she had no need to say.

“Actually, my younger brother said something similar…”

“Your brother?”

“He is the general manager of the Mercenary Guild in the small city of Turis, where the Divine Beast Hunter was active for a while. He made a strange remark. He said that the range of his abilities is too diverse to see him as a simple Flame Human, that he seems strangely concerned about humans… and.”

That he doesn’t seem to know much about Flame Humans despite being one himself.

She swallowed those words without voicing them.

This was because it touched upon the illegal investigation her brother had conducted.

Yet that alone seemed to be enough, as Ye-min nodded in satisfaction with her eyes sparkling.

“Thank you for telling me.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Bella realize she had spoken too carelessly and became flustered.

Usually, such things never happened to her, so why…? Could it really be because of the human in front of her?

Watching the woman wearing a mysterious smile in front of her, Bella hurriedly waved both hands.

“T-that was all just personal speculation. I would highly appreciate it if this does not get leaked outside.”

“Of course. I will even sign a magic contract if necessary.”

Ye-min wore a faint smile, maintaining an attitude that all that mattered to her was confirming the information.

Realizing she had been completely played, Bella sighed and shrugged.

“A magic contract is too expensive to use for every little thing like this. Besides, perhaps—you might even meet him in person today.”

“We will meet him in person?!”

“Yes. I mentioned earlier that I summoned you for a different matter. I will explain now.”

Resolving not to be bewitched by Ye-min’s beauty and charm as she leaned in excitedly, Bella braced herself and spoke, trying her best to feign composure.

“I assume you all know what happened in Cor recently?”

“Are you referring to the ogre rampage?”

It was also the catalyst for the ridiculous rumor that the Flame Human Jun had killed hundreds of ogres all by himself.

Although it turned out that he indeed killed hundreds of ogres, he had only done so by causing a volcano in the ruins to erupt, and the number he actually faced directly was said to be only a few dozen.

Of course, even those few dozen were an absurd number.

‘If it really is Jun oppa… just how much did oppa suffer to get to that point?’

In the brief moment Ye-min was lost in such inexpressible sentiments, Bella shook her head at her words and spoke.

“No, it’s the vampires. Of course, it’s something that happened within the Species Alliance just the same, but the culprits are different.”

“Vampires…?”

In fact, because the impact of the keyword ‘ogre rampage’ was so strong, the news of humans colluding with vampires being exposed was somewhat buried.

Naturally, this was intentionally downplayed; in truth, it was not just a matter of a few traitors emerging, but rather that vampires were hidden everywhere even among the nobility. However, the nobles judged there was no reason to cause a disturbance by letting the general public know.

“The ones who cooperated with the vampires are Union, the human guild that was once a pillar of Demander.”

“Union?”

Ye-min’s face stiffened at those words.

Bella smiled bitterly and continued.

“It seems you’ve heard of them. Yes, the Union guild in Ars is a branch of the Union in Cor. Since they are a branch of a human guild that latched onto the vampires, it is highly likely that vampire accomplices are hiding here as well.”

“Sigh…”

“W-what should we do?”

While Ye-min shook her head and let out a sigh, the boy, who had been quiet until now, was suddenly flustered and did not know what to do.

Bella narrowed her eyes at their reaction and asked.

“Do you perhaps know someone in that guild?”

“Perhaps. …It is not important.”

“No, Noona. It’s still important!”

“What on earth is so important about it?”

As Bella raised an eyebrow at Ye-min and the boy suddenly bickering, the remaining man who had been standing back until now stepped forward and spoke.

“So, what is the job you want to request from us?”

“But if you know someone in the Union guild…”

“They are not an acquaintance.”

The man, Mok-su, smiled and flatly denied it.

“They are just someone from the same civilization who strongly urged us to join Union. I thought they were an idiot from that moment on.”

“Exactly. I couldn’t care less whether they live or die.”

“No, that person is definitely an idiot, but…!”

Ye-min seriously agreed with Mok-su’s words, while the boy, Eun-shin, let out a deep sigh after trying to defend the person.

Thinking that was fine, Bella nodded and continued.

“The request is to raid the Union guild alongside our Mercenary Guild’s elites to root out and execute all the traitors. The time is tonight.”

“And… that part about potentially meeting the Flame Human?”

“He is our reinforcement. Currently, he is performing another request with two members of the Royal Knights, and he is scheduled to arrive in Ars tonight. All three are incredibly strong, so you won’t have to worry about failure.”

“We will accept the request.”

Ye-min pushed Mok-su aside again, leaned in toward Bella, and spoke.

“We will definitely accept it.”