Chapter 425

I never thought from the start that simply talking would be enough to resolve the situation anyway...

In the end, Kim Giryeo couldn't utter a single word in front of the rejected suitor.

A moment later, he quietly moved away and stepped out of the restroom. Surprisingly, it was at the very moment the two Awakened completely parted ways that a new development occurred.

Well, since I've already come face-to-face with the real thing, why not take this opportunity to see what kind of mage he is?

In fact, the alien hadn't gone far from the corridor where the restroom was located. The blond finally came to a stop somewhere quiet in the northern part of the building, a place rarely visited by the other VIPs.

Sssh.

Kim Giryeo sharpened his senses and quietly slipped his phone behind the white wall. His plan was to record the European's voice, then use the recording to translate what was being said and get at least some idea of what kind of person he was.

"Huh? It's a Korean hunter."

"What's he doing all alone in the corner?"

"Thinking?"

"Nope. Looking closely, it seems like he's just waiting to enter the shop nearby."

Fortunately, by standing there with his arms crossed and a stern expression, he successfully managed to look as though he were doing nothing at all.

"Seems like there's no information I can get through magic alone."

However, despite finally using [Invisibility] and [Telekinesis] together for reconnaissance, the target, strangely enough, didn't come out of the corridor for quite some time.

Leo!...... ich habe dir gesagt, dass du dein Handy nicht ausschalten sollst......

It was because he had run into a friend there.

"They're already talking? Well, I'm still tracking their positions through mana, and my phone is well hidden by refracting the light, so it should be fine even if I let it record for a little longer."

Kim Giryeo moved to a spot where he wouldn't run directly into the foreigners. Leaning against a pillar as he waited, he eventually saw his target finish the conversation and emerge.

"Alright, let's see what that guy was talking about."

One of Earth's miracles was that even German—a language of which the corpse's brain possessed no knowledge whatsoever—could be interpreted with nothing more than the press of a "play" button. Using this uniquely human translation technology, Kim Giryeo was able to understand the ordinary conversation the two had been having.

"It's not a 100% perfect translation, but..."

The first sentence seemed to be a scolding about why he was so late. The second was a reprimand telling him not to turn off his phone. And the last one...

"Oh."

Kim Giryeo immediately lowered the phone and translator he had been holding up. He was naturally a strong soul, so he had rarely been the one to initiate slander or intrigue. But given the number of years he had lived, he had long since become capable of grasping a situation fairly well from even the simplest conversation.

"Perhaps the one who spread the rumor about Esther... wasn't actually the suitor himself."

And that was how the following suggestion soon came about.

***

Not long after he had finally finished his business in the restroom and returned.

"Esther-ssi."

"Yes."

That afternoon, upon meeting the [Korean Magic Tower] guild master again, Kim Giryeo brought up a certain subject.

"By the way, I just have one quick question—what exactly does Esther want to do about that hunter in the end?"

"What's this about all of a sudden?"

"Thoroughly confirming the facts? Getting an apology? Reconciliation? Or something else..."

"Hmm."

"Or maybe never having to see that person again for the rest of your life. Anyway, there are plenty of possibilities, but I'm curious what you actually want."

After hearing the archmage's question, the woman answered.

"To be honest, I'm not thinking of going as far as that last thing you mentioned."

Her tone was calm. Her expression barely changed.

Being branded overseas as a 'superpower who harasses others' was certainly irritating, but Esther calmly revealed that her feelings had not reached the point where she wanted the other person dead.

"On the contrary, as long as we can face each other and resolve the conflict, I'm perfectly willing to do so."

"So in the end, what you want is to resolve it?"

"More precisely, I want clarification. I just want the baseless rumors to stop spreading."

But [Justitia] was unavailable for use due to various circumstances...

"If the only issue is determining the truth, couldn't [Knight's Oath] also be used?"

Once Kim Giryeo had heard the wishes of the person directly involved, he immediately made a proposal. In other words, 'If that's the case, why not use a well-known contract item and somehow work around its conditions to create a simplified investigation tool?'

• I will truthfully answer one question from this man from this point onward, and if my answer is false, I will pay the price.

Come to think of it, inserting a clause like that would allow [Knight's Oath] to serve as a substitute for [Justitia]. No, in fact, if one considered only the penalty for violating a clause, it was the more powerful artifact.

However, the moment [Knight's Oath] was mentioned, Esther flinched and shook her head.

"Uh, of course, if you look at it step by step, that would be the rational choice. But there are far more problems between me and that Awakened than you might think..."

What followed was an explanation from the purple-haired Earthling.

In fact, they had considered using a contract item at least once before, but ultimately ran into several practical obstacles.

• Using the word "curse" in the oath could leave too much room for interpretation.

"So that means it could include ordinary human malice as well, not just Awakened skills."

For now, it seemed that first obstacle could be handled by adding a clarification that the term referred only to modern supernatural phenomena.

"True, that clause could also include an Awakened person's physical abilities, so it might become a problem if there had ever been an incident in the past where, say, one person bumped shoulders with the other and caused harm. Some adjustments would definitely be necessary."

The real problem began with the next point.

• [Knight's Oath] cannot make promises regarding events that have already occurred.

Due to the nature of the item, Esther ultimately had no choice but to sign under conditions stating that she would sincerely declare that she had never used her abilities on a specific person, and that she would suffer a penalty if that declaration proved false.

But the more they tried to work around the restriction through careful wording, the more complicated the [Knight's Oath] became.

And as everyone—hunter or civilian—knew, a document capable of causing a person's death could never be allowed to contain ambiguity...

"Why on earth should I trust that man enough to sign a document like that? Worse, if he's nearly framed because of some loophole, he'll die feeling horribly wronged!"

That was precisely why even an S-rank hunter like Kang Changho never treated seemingly trivial clauses carelessly. [Knight's Oath] was an item that became far more difficult to seal when there wasn't even a minimum level of trust between the parties.

"This is assuming the two people are on equal footing and sign without either side making threats."

The guild master of the Korean Magic Tower was worried that some kind of trap might be hidden somewhere in the contract's inevitably lengthy wording.

"On top of that, that rumor-spreading brat now insists the entire document has to be written in German!"

"Korean is completely out of the question? What about English?"

"To be precise, the gentleman said he dislikes having documents written in any language other than his native tongue because subtle nuances in the wording could cause problems for him."

"Then he's not in a very different position from Esther."

Wordplay.

Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't cause much trouble, but if carelessly applied to an artifact, it could lead to fatal consequences.

"Alright, I roughly understand the situation. With misunderstandings this tangled... I suppose it makes sense that neither of you would want to deal directly with the other when signing the contract."

Moreover, there were countless other reasons they hadn't used the contract-item workaround.

Money, money, money.

That very thing, which would continue to be talked about endlessly in modern society until civilization itself collapsed, had once again become an obstacle.

'I had a feeling when I saw the price tags in the shopping district earlier. But it seems the artifact's market value really has risen quite a lot in the meantime.'

Knight's Oath.

More specifically, it was a guaranteed drop from a monster nicknamed Tristan. However, that creature had a long respawn cycle, meaning that only a small number of the items existed at any given time. Its spawn areas were also extremely limited, making it practically monopolized whenever it appeared.

In other words, sudden price spikes were common.

And now, when it came to using such an expensive item merely to settle a dispute with someone you hated, it was impossible not to feel that the money would be going to waste.

"These days, losing even a single disposable contract item would eat up a significant portion of the guild's operating funds."

"Hmm."

"Of course, it's still an amount I can afford. But even as an S-rank, no matter how much my spending habits have changed, I still hesitate over ten or twenty thousand won."

"Me too."

"So how could someone who hasn't even done anything wrong possibly stomach spending that much hard-earned money?"

"I understand completely."

"That's why I haven't been able to reach an agreement with that person until now."

She and the foreign hunter held different views regarding the considerable expense required to uncover the truth.

Seo Esther believed that once her innocence was proven, the other party should bear every expense incurred by the dispute...

Conversely, the hunter named Leo insisted that he, too, had been wronged to some extent.

'So he thinks we're about 20% at fault too?'

After proposing to Seo Esther overseas and being rejected, misfortune had struck him without warning.

If Esther had been a completely upright person, perhaps things would have been different. But she was known as something of a troublemaker who had used her Awakened powers for pranks more than once.

So could someone like that truly have refrained from placing a [curse] on someone she'd fallen out with?

"He said he thought he'd been hit with some powerful curse back in Korea, so he took holy water and every kind of potion he could find on his own. Seriously! I can at least understand why he's still suspicious of me."

"He must think very highly of your abilities."

"He probably just doesn't understand how curse-type skills work at all, since his awakening attribute is completely different."

At any rate, judging from the course of events, the man had ample reason to remain suspicious.

As a result, it seemed he also wanted to hold the Guild Master of the Korean Magic Tower partially responsible for the actions that had deepened his suspicions to this extent.

'He's just as frustrated as she is. Even if the curse user's innocence is proven, he's insisting that he can't be the one to bear the entire cost of the contract...'

In a capitalist world like this, it was only natural that few people would willingly spend billions on something that wasn't even their fault—especially when that money would effectively be spent for the sake of a hunter they personally despised.

So, in the end, what did that mean?

"One way or another, the situation won't improve if it's left to just these two Earthlings."

Sssh.

Before long, the young man's samboegan eyes shifted slightly toward empty space. Kim Giryeo sank into deep thought.

"Ah, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. I mean, all this over one little proposal to join our families that didn't work out—what is this, some grown man throwing a tantrum because he wants revenge?"

Beside him, Esther continued voicing her complaints, but fortunately, like a true archmage, Kim Giryeo's deliberation came to an end quickly.

"Please calm down. Like I said earlier, I completely understand why you're so upset, Director."

"Is that so?"

"Still, I don't think you can keep your distance from that hunter forever."

Kim Giryeo continued without hesitation.

"Besides, this is something I happened to learn earlier when I went to the restroom, but it seems there's a decent chance that the person who deliberately spread the rumor throughout the European S-rank community wasn't actually him..."

"Yes?"

"Honestly, I don't have any solid evidence yet. But I have a feeling about it, so I think it's worth looking into."

"N, no. Wait. Are you saying you actually met Hunter Leo?"

"Only for a little while."

Right now, it might look like nothing more than a petty quarrel between two S-rank hunters.

But allowing the situation to drag on while a Korean hunter's reputation continued to plummet in real time could hardly be considered a wise decision.

"But exactly when I ran into him isn't really important. And honestly, there's no particular need to investigate what kind of person he truly is, either..."

Kim Giryeo went straight to the point.

"The only thing I really need to confirm is this—Hunter Esther, you've never lied, right?"

More precisely, he was once again confirming whether she could swear that she had never used a [Curse].

"Are you asking whether I used my skill or not?"

"Yes."

"Then of course I haven't lied. Giryeo-ssi, I really didn't use my skill."

Continuing to question the truthfulness of someone's words could make them feel as though they weren't trusted—and doing that to a curse user could often lead to trouble.

Even so, Kim Giryeo didn't stop, despite being fully aware of the risk.

"Never—absolutely never, not even once?"

"Yes, yes."

Well, now that he'd received a clear answer directly from the person involved, that settled it.

"Alright. I understand. From this point onward, I'll intervene under the assumption that I trust you completely, Director Seo."

"What do you mean, intervene?"

"I've thought of a way. I'll prove your innocence without using [Justitia], so how about meeting that Awakened just once?"

A way to prove her innocence effectively even without the Scales of Truth?

At his words, Esther blinked in mild confusion. At that moment, she had no particular idea what was about to happen next.

.

.

.

.

But she never imagined that the method he had come up with would be something like this.

"Okay."

"..."

"Take it."

A few minutes later—more precisely, just before [Hydra] was about to find its new owner.

With the auction drawing near, even the S-rank hunters who had been leisurely sightseeing began gathering one by one in the trading area.

"What did that Awakened just say? Is my translator working properly?"

"Won't you take it?"

First of all, to understand the situation the Guild Master of The Korean Magic Tower now found herself in, one had to know three things.

Kim Giryeo.

Commission-free brokerage.

And finally, gate spoils—items notorious for making the difference in status between contracting parties painfully clear.

"You want me to take this?"

[Fairy's Promise].

"And I have to use it? Me?"

Esther stared blankly at the item's control lever as she asked in disbelief.

Kim Giryeo had just carefully explained in detail how to use the material. What's more, he had even brought along a magical solution capable of resolving both Esther's complaints and those of the foreigner at the same time.

"Yes! Just like that. Hold the control stick and put the item around your neck."

The clever trick that came out of his mouth was, on the whole, something humanity would find very difficult to accept.