Chapter 448

I skimmed through the reply from the Japanese side and nodded. Then I slipped the phone I had been holding back into my pocket.

'Even if the two of them show up, they're hardly a threat. Those primitives are leaving their own territory and openly coming all the way to this prime land of South Korea just to ask for a conversation, so is there really any reason to refuse?'

I quietly shifted my gaze as I recalled the chain of thoughts that had passed through my mind. For reference, eighteen hours had passed since Iori's last message—and now I was actually about to meet the very people in question.

"What on earth is this?"

A rented office in the middle of the city. An awkward silence lingered for a while in the cramped space where the wallpaper was peeling away. The Hunters from Japan whom I was meeting again looked quite different from how I remembered them.

"Hmm."

Blood trickled from the corner of one eye. Gauze was barely holding back the bleeding on the left side of his face. There was also a medical eye patch that was almost flesh-colored, and so on.

Who would have thought that a fire-element Awakener representing Japan would show up looking utterly "battered"? Honestly, with injuries that severe, he should probably have been lying in a Japanese hospital rather than sightseeing in another country. So what reason could this foreigner, whose eye had been injured so badly, possibly have for coming all the way here?

"Are you okay?"

First, I asked the most important question—whether he was all right. The guest sitting on the red secondhand sofa immediately opened his mouth and answered without hesitation.

"Oh, I'm fine!"

For reference, the one speaking just now was the second S-rank Hunter sitting beside Japan's top-ranked Hunter. It wasn't Moritake Ito, who looked like a severely injured emergency patient, but the Awakener who had called our guild. As Iori cheerfully began speaking, I was naturally able to take in his appearance as well.

'That person, on the other hand, doesn't have a single scratch.'

In other words, it didn't make sense to assume they had been injured while clearing a dungeon together, since only one of them was strangely unharmed.

"It's really okay. I know it looks bad, but actually, there's a lot of blood because the wound is healing."

"Is that what the medical staff said?"

"Anyway, I'm completely fine. These days, dungeon potions are so effective that my eyesight will recover in no time. So don't worry too much! Haha."

Could this person's real purpose actually be sightseeing? His answer was cheerful enough to make me wonder. Iori was wearing a subdued Hawaiian shirt, and aside from that, there was nothing particularly unusual about him. It was also somewhat strange that the uninjured one was stepping forward to explain that Ito was fine.

'I still can't quite make sense of this.'

I silently observed the situation for a moment. Then Iori smiled again and spoke.

"Um, before we get into the main discussion... could I have a glass of water first?"

Well, it was a perfectly reasonable request in this hot weather.

"Yes."

Since the topic had come up, I might as well mention it. In fact, this place called the [Kim Giryeo Guild] had been steadily improving. Ever since the veteran Choi Jin joined under my command, I had been able to receive all kinds of useful advice. Recently, for example, she had suggested, "Shouldn't we at least have a water purifier indoors?"

'I was wondering when I'd finally get to use it, and now here's the perfect opportunity to serve water to a guest.'

I'd heard that some people on Earth felt uneasy about drinking magically created water. So, suppressing my urge to use magic, I drew water from the purifier and handed it over.

'After all, it's a machine bought with Choi Jin's earnings.' ℴℴ𝘮

Thud.

"Ah! Thank you."

When the cup of water was handed to him, the Hunter from another country bowed his head without hesitation.

"Actually, I got lost around here because I misread the map app. Maybe it's because I walked so much in this heat... I'm a bit thirsty."

True. Renting a corner on the fourth floor of a building with cheap rent may have made it even harder for them to find the place...

Even from an alien's perspective, the Hunter gave off a youthful air. In other words, Iori naturally began guiding the conversation.

"Anyway, then we'll go ahead and explain why we came."

But what happened immediately afterward was quite unexpected. Iori, wearing an awkward expression and glancing around nervously, suddenly rose from his seat. At the same time, he kept sneaking glances at me—

"First of all, I'd like to apologize!"

The other person suddenly bent forward, showing me the top of his head.

"Apologize?"

"That really couldn't be helped. I heard that Kim Giryeo helped us Japanese Hunters during the artifact auction event in Switzerland, didn't you?"

"That?"

"I wasn't there personally, but I roughly heard what happened from the others."

For now, I remained seated and quietly listened.

"But after Kim Giryeo-ssi so generously shared the artifact details with such a broad heart..."

"Uhm?"

"You idiot! They actually tried using it and ended up causing an accident!"

For reference, the "idiot" mentioned here referred to him.

"Moritake Ito, that person!"

The Japanese guest suddenly lost his temper and pointed at the Hunter, whose build was even slimmer than my own.

"What exactly do you mean by 'tried using it'?"

But after hearing the whole story, from Iori's perspective, it really was enough to make someone lose their mind and jump up in frustration.

"As soon as they realized that the [Legendary] greatsword resonated with other items, several Hunters returned to Japan and carried out experiments."

Oh my god...

"First, they tried to determine which item triggered the explosion of light. Then they wondered whether using a third item might produce an even more useful ability, so they..."

"Oh no."

"Anyway, it seems those Hunters were messing around in some back room, putting all kinds of artifacts next to it and doing exactly the stupid things you'd expect."

"Then that injury must've been caused by the equipment."

"Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's it."

Iori snapped irritably.

"Hunter Moritake Ito here suffered severe damage to his ocular tissue while researching the [Legendary] equipment."

Meanwhile, the person whose face had been reduced to such a miserable state remained silent as if he had nothing to say.

"On top of that, there were injuries to the skin on his arm, his ribs, and so on. If I listed every wound he had before taking the potion, my mouth would wear out."

"Hmm."

"Honestly, I still feel like going to every Hunter who agreed to that experiment and giving them a lecture. But I'll let it go for now—only because I'm busy as an S-rank."

A case of trying every possible method to analyze a Legendary weapon... only to end up getting caught in an accident.

'Honestly, if this great mage had lived in the Stone Age, I probably wouldn't have been able to resist poking around at a [Legendary] artifact either. But nearly dying while experimenting with it is a bit...'

I brought a hand to my mouth in sympathy. Seeing that, the Earthling sitting across from me bowed his head again and showed me the crown of his head.

"Anyway, as you've heard so far, Japan has suffered far too much damage because of this item."

That was his preamble.

"They say the failure to activate this item properly was such a serious incident that the Hunters developed a phobia."

"Phobia?"

"An S-rank almost had his head blown off... Once that greatsword starts rampaging, it's something an ordinary person could never possibly control!"

And the words that followed were undoubtedly their main point.

"But there is exactly one person in this world for whom things are different... Ranker Kim Giryeo."

It was at that moment. The man named Ito, who had been sitting on the sofa, suddenly began rummaging through his [Item Box].

Taking out an artifact-storage tool right in front of me, after laying the groundwork by saying I was somehow different from everyone else...

'Could it be?'

It didn't take long for that 'no way' to become reality. Before long, the Japanese Hunters sitting there revealed a shocking proposal.

"...So, in conclusion, our S-rank Alliance would like to transfer ownership of this Legendary item to you."

"What did you say?"

A Legendary-grade artifact.

And to think that the Ego Sword, the key material the mages of the Binary Star System had desperately been searching for, would be handed over this easily!

"This item is now nothing more than a ticking time bomb for Japan... We never know when it might cause another accident."

"Uhm."

"Besides, after making mistakes like that during the Black Dragon raid, it would be ridiculous for us to expect you to teach us equipment-handling know-how in return."

"Sorry, but even if you learned the method, you still wouldn't be able to control it perfectly. Structurally speaking."

"That's right. Actually, I suspected it might be like that, so I came here already prepared for it."

The Japanese Hunters nodded as they reflected on what had happened at the previous event in Switzerland.

"Excuse me."

But as the conversation continued in that direction, I couldn't help but raise one question.

"But back then, didn't all kinds of trouble break out because you didn't want to hand that greatsword over to another country?"

Ouch.

The patient, whose face was partly covered in gauze, went pale and fell silent. As a result, the relatively healthy Iori answered after a slight delay.

"Ah, of course. We didn't come here intending to hand over the greatsword lightly, as though we were throwing away junk at a thrift store."

"Uhm."

"By the way, I'm the only one who can say this, since I wasn't involved in that incident at the time."

"Please, go on."

"I, I hope you won't take offense, but... anyway, the [Black Dragon] gate itself belonged to Japan... and, well, the item dropped because of a chance event successfully triggered by the Hunters there... right?"

I was only staring quietly with my sambagean eyes, yet the guest's voice suddenly began to tremble.

"So in the end, we can't really say that Japan has no claim whatsoever to the Legendary weapon, can we?"

I refrained from making any threatening movements as much as possible. If the other person became too frightened and ran away, I had no idea what would happen to the [Legendary].

"That's right. It belongs entirely to Japan, and you chose the green longsword back then because of the terms of the contract, remember?"

"Ah, as expected. Thank you for your generous understanding."

But Iori continued speaking cautiously, still watching the atmosphere.

"Then, based on that understanding, we'd like to make a request. If Hunter Ito hands over the [Legendary] to you..."

"Yes, yes."

"Could you promise us just two things in return? You can think of this as a kind of deal."

"Two things?"

"The first is that we hope you will truly and completely forgive the sins our rankers committed during the previous Black Dragon hunt. Honestly, we simply want to make sure this item is never used to harm us."

"And the second?"

"This is a truly apologetic request, but since the awakened supporter we promised during the broadcast [N O V E L I G H T] has become unexpectedly commonplace with the passage of time and the increasing prevalence of S-rank gates, we'd like to include a small exception clause."

"What exactly do you mean by 'exception'?"

"I, if an equally top-tier gate appears in our homeland, then only one of the four members of the Imabari Guild would be sent to Korea as support..."

Mumbling.

The person named Iori trailed off at the end of his sentence, then hurriedly corrected his pronunciation.

"If this deal goes through, Hunter Moritake Ito will probably be the one providing the labor. Of course, no matter how hard he works for the rest of his life, he still won't match Haseong-kun."

"..."

"But still, why do you think those four people from Imabari went through all that training just to match the abilities of that one person in the first place?"

"Oh."

"Even if he lives like that! Ito is strangely twice as strong a Hunter as I am. I can guarantee it. So how about negotiating on the condition that he be used as completely reliable backup?"

The gist of their argument was basically this:

"The country is sending its top-tier Hunter Ito, so at the very least, please give our nation a chance to deal with disasters on its own..."

'Settling past grudges. And on top of that, a slight adjustment to the deployment promise.'

However, it was a little embarrassing to have such a serious thought in front of an Earthling.

'Free!'

This was why Earth had so many folktales.

'If I receive the [Legendary] under these conditions, this isn't even a joke—it's literally free trade.'

The scoundrel who had attacked the alien had unexpectedly turned out to be a stroke of good fortune.

"But just so you know, we're not giving this to anyone else. There's another reason we specifically want to hand the weapon over to you—"

"First, could you take out the [Legendary] item you brought?"

"Uh-huh. Sure!"

In truth, at the time I had only been F-rank, so I hadn't possessed the strength to retaliate. Besides, I had been practically drooling over the [Legendary], so I may have accidentally interrupted the important point the other party was about to make.

"Here it is! For now, we've been calling it the 'Greatsword of the Sun God' on our side, based on its property of generating light."

Thud.

Hmm?

Analysis came first.

I silently examined the item that had been placed on the negotiation table.

~

O A O

As though sensing the chilly atmosphere, the Ego Sword began emitting faint waves of vibration—but just like before, I chose to ignore it naturally.