Ch 18

The first-class service worker of the ‘service company’ checked the target moving from afar with a telescope as he turned on a military magic radio the size of his upper body. Under the Republic's law, it was illegal for a civilian like him to possess a military magic radio, but he had been able to get one through the service company’s connections to political heavyweights.

"Team leader to each team member. The delivery customer is moving."

What they were delivering to the target was death.

"Confirmed that the target has the night market pamphlet in their hands. We believe their destination is Milion's night market, so Group One and Group Two should go ahead via the expected route."

- Group One, check. We are moving.

- Group Two, check. We are moving as well.

The first-class service worker, who called himself the team leader, used farsight magic through his telescope to maintain his visual on the moving target. The target was in a group. As the team leader had heard from top management, there were three men who appeared to be new escorts behind the one existing escort.

"Hmm, seems like there’s another person that wasn’t mentioned in the briefing."

He looked at Perseus next to Cain and checked the data attached to the order again. It clearly said that there were only two more women and one more girl, but there was actually one more person, a boy. For a moment, he thought the boy might be a servant for Cain, but judging by his outfit, he looked more like a young master than a servant.

"Team leader to each team member. An unidentified boy who was not mentioned in the data is with the customer, so be careful to make sure there isn’t a mis-delivery."

The first-class service worker did not think much about Perseus, who was talking to Cain. For him, the more people the escorts had to protect, the better.

Then, as he tried to keep an eye on the target as they moved, he made eye contact with one of the escorts, a young man with black hair.

"Ueup!”

He panicked, thinking he was caught, but the young black-haired man smiled and naturally turned his head.

“W-was I mistaken? That surprised me. There's no way I'd be caught at this distance."

He wiped away his sweat and ignored the warning from his sixth sense.

* * *

‘He has better instincts than I thought.’

I had tracked the location of the ‘team leader’ through the mana waves of his radio. After that, I sent out chirps to keep an eye on the people who were targeting and moving to surround Cain. Thinking about the first time I met Cain, I figured their purpose was probably assassination. If not, I speculated that they were at least trying to prevent him from attending the congress.

"Hmm. Their individual strengths are no big deal, but their movements are professional. We can't let our guard down."

Sharing vision with the chirps, Tristan laughed as he commented on the assassins' movements.

"Why say something you don’t even mean." I replied.

Tristan was advising caution, but caution would have only been necessary if we couldn’t read their movements. In addition to being able to see their movements clearly, I was wiretapping their radio, so there was no way we could miss them.

"Well, their target seems to just be Cain, so let's have Caesar protect him closely, and me and Tristan will stand guard." I suggested.

Caesar and Tristan nodded.

"But if we know the enemy's location, wouldn't it be better to attack first?"

I shook my head. "No, let's catch them with their guard down as much as we can, then catch the one pulling the strings at the same time. I want to sleep well tonight."

It had taken an immense amount of energy to fight my father with a clone made with doppelganger magic, and I had still fought for three days and nights. As I had entered the body of my clone and fought fiercely, considerable fatigue and damage had accumulated on my real body. To be honest, I had intentionally synced up my senses with my clone as much as I could. If it had been anyone other than me, there was a high chance to have died from my father’s attack.

"You must be tired. Indeed, everyone fought hard before leaving on the trip, so we all need a proper rest." said Caesar.

He was right, our party needed a break. But my gut was telling me it wasn't time to rest yet.

"I don't know who the instigator is, but I wonder if these are his private soldiers? Or are they an organization that handles dirty work through commission? What do you think, Master?" asked Tristan.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Private soldiers would be easier to keep secret, but commission work made it easier to cut any liabilities, so neither possibility could be ruled out. If this incident was revealed to the outside world, and they were private soldiers, their relationship with the instigator was bound to be revealed somehow. However, if it was through a request to another organization, it could be argued to be a political maneuver. In my past life, the mystery could be revealed through money tracking, but it was difficult to do that in this life.

"Does it matter? We’re going to take care of them anyway." I said.

Caesar and Tristan laughed cheerfully.

“Ahahaha. That's right.”

“As expected of Master.”

As the three of us set up a plot, Hillis, who was in the lead, called to us with a sulky face.

"What are you boys having so much fun with?"

"Oh, it's nothing. We talked about buying a lot of delicious food at the market.”

Hillis hurried us along, towards the night market.

* * *

Outside the city, Achilles, an elder of the Crow tribe, made his way to a reservoir located between farmland and the ridge.

"Oh! You’re here? I've been waiting."

A gray man laying in a hammock installed on the side of the valley flowing into the reservoir greeted Achilles, who took out a bottle of wine from his bag and tossed it towards the man.

"It's not me you've been waiting for, is it, Senior Phobos?"

Phobos caught the bottle. As he rushed to open it, he could smell the aroma of alcohol.

"Hahahaha! It's all the same, isn’t it!? But is this all of it?"

Achilles showed Phobos the inside of the bag. There was clearly a larger bottle of alcohol in it, larger than the bag itself.

"Of course I bought enough to match the number of people."

Phobos was a ceremonial sentry who had been put on night watch. Everyone else was resting in the valley.

"Hahahaha! Maybe it’s because you spent some time outside, but you’re quick witted!"

Achilles was young for an elder. He had become the youngest elder thanks to his various achievements and skills instilled into him from a young age to play against Doomstone. An elder was respected and recognized by all villagers for his strength. Becoming an elder was the final goal for most Crows.

Not anyone could become an elder just because they were getting older.

"Ugh~! I'm too old now to be running errands... When will the new recruit come in?" asked Achilles.

Phobos answered between sips of alcohol. "Who knows? You already know that to join the council of elders, you have to have at least one achievement that everyone acknowledges. What did you do again? A swamp ruler? A bone with a thousand curses?"

"Hydra, the ruler of the swamp, was caught by Senior Hera. Elder Mirpa said the undead walking around the ridge of Olympus were dangerous, so she took care of them herself."

Hydra and the lich were monsters who lived in Olympus Forest. They could have been called great demons if they had lived outside the forest. Even in Olympus Forest, which was known as one of the most dangerous places in the land, there were countless monsters who reigned as conquerors. Monsters like this, commonly referred to as rulers or kings, were ones that not even the veteran Crows could recklessly provoke. One could only become an elder by catching such a monster alone, or through other achievements that everyone recognized.

"I caught Fenril, the king of the northeast," explained Achilles.

Phobos clapped his hands in realization. “Oh! That fur! Did you get the wolf fur that Weger ahjussi likes?"

"Yes, Doom said he had a hunch and sent me to dig with a pickaxe. It turned out to be Fenrir’s territory, so I couldn’t help it."

The land Doomstone had told Achilles to dig up had turned out to have an adamantium vein.

"Well, if it’s someone who can catch something of that level, then they would’ve been an elder already, so wouldn't it take about ten years for a new person to come in?”

Achilles coughed in shock. “That long?"

"There's no one right now who looks that good. There’s the chief's brothers, but we don't know when Talaria will be back, and there's still a long way to go for Bloody. Hermes... He’s skilled enough, but he doesn't like to take risks ever since he got married."

Achilles sighed, "Then it seems Bloody is the only probable one. Talaria is the strongest of the three, but half of that strength is from magic, so it’ll be weakened in Olympus Forest, and Hermes doesn’t have the right disposition for it."

Talaria had become stronger by learning the fusion of magic and martial arts that Denburg had made through Elder Mirpa, but it would be difficult to use in Olympus Forest. Achilles hoped that Bloody would come in as the newest elder as soon as possible. He wanted to stop running pointless little errands like buying alcohol now.

“So, how's Hermes?” asked Phobos.

“He was miserable because he doesn’t want to work.”

Elder Phobos laughed cheerfully. “Uahahaha, figures!”

"Also, Hermes said the small chief is here. He said he personally ran into him during the day."

Hearing what Achilles added, Phobos’ laughter stopped.

“He got away from that chief?”

Phobos couldn’t conceal his martial aura. From the inside of the valley, fifty elders could feel Phobos’ martial aura and came running with their weapons drawn.

"Hahahahaha! The small chief escaped from the chief’s hands and is here, as Hestia said? What's that? It’s the best prey!!"

Hearing Phobos shout, the elders burned with a combative spirit, unable to hide their excitement, just like Phobos.

Achilles tried to calm the elders. "Everyone calm down! At this rate, we'll be caught by the small chief!"

Although Elder Mirpa had placed a barrier around them that hid their auras, their auras were so great that the barrier was shaken by their breathing alone.

* * *

"Why are you taking out a magic wand all of a sudden?" asked Caesar.

I looked down and noticed the magic wand in my hand. ‘Why did I bring this out?’

"Den, are you sick? Look, you’re in a cold sweat." Hillis said as she wiped my forehead with a handkerchief. I must have sweated a lot, as the handkerchief quickly became soaked.

"No, I’m not sick. Huh? That’s strange. Why am I so nervous?”

For a moment, I felt my gut screaming furiously, telling me to run away now. However, I couldn't feel anything around me that seemed like a threat.

"Should I not have insisted on coming out? Should we go back to rest now?" Hillis asked anxiously.

I smiled and put the magic wand back into my pocket space.

"I'm not sick, so don't worry."

I patted Hillis’ shoulders and walked through the streets of the market, illuminated by colorful lanterns.

"… Teacher! Look at that! What's that?"

Arwen was amazed by a large dragon mask performing in an open area in the center of the market street.

"Looking at the pamphlet, it seems to be the story from the distant past about a dragon that punished and ate the wicked who came down with the Sky God, who emits the sun fire, in the form of a mask dance."

The Sky God appeared in the birth myth of our tribe and was enshrined in the sacred place of the Crow tribe. As with most birth myths, the founder of the Crow tribe was chosen as the great leader, and as the son of the Sky God. A myth was only a myth, and it could be interpreted in a way to justify a system of governance. Just as the Dangun myth interpreted Ungyeo as a tribe that worships bears. [1]

Thinking about it some more, I remembered that there was an interpretation that the black dragon that came down with the Sky God was related to the big dragon that became my father's pet, but I wasn’t sure if that was true. To think the dragon that was always beaten could be a descendant of the black dragon really reduced the dignity of the myth.

- Master, they’re starting to move.

At Tristan's warning, I cast aside my thoughts and focused back on the assassins' movements. They naturally began to approach just as the crowd gathered to see the mask dance.

‘All right then. Shall I take them all out, all the way to the instigator in the shadows?’

1. The Dangun myth is the first sovereignty myth in Korean mythology, while Ungyeo is a bear that was given human form and whose child was named Dangun. For more, you can search for the Dangun myth online. ☜