๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐: ๐๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ง 2
Mansion outside Baltimore.
Edward massaged his temples to the sound of a voice coming from the receiver.
He turned on the speakerphone and checked the time on the nightstand lamp.
“God f*cking damn it . . . This goblin-tongued bastard . . . Do you know what time it is? It’s 2:30 AM, 2:30.”
Edward spat out a torrent of scathing insults in a husky, sleepy voice.
Unless it was an emergency, no one would call him at this late hour.
Unless there was a risk of an international incident or a major crime had occurred.
So he had hastily pressed the answer button and sat up to take the call.
โDo you know that the Mongolian airag tastes even better when fermented underground?
That was the first thing he said.
Edward wanted to have his dear old friend’s face kicked in by a centaur’s hind legs.
โIt’s still early at 2:30 AM.
“Yeah, it’s too early to brag about airag, you troll-footed son of a b*tch.”
โI’m glad to see you’re healthy.
“I’m very displeased to see you’re healthy. Finish bragging about airag and go to sleepโ
โI shall do just that.
Edward laid back down on the bed, imagining the back of his fist connecting with Siwoo’s face.
โOh, just one more thing before I go.
“What is it, you crazy bastard.”
โWe’ve formed an alliance with the half-demons in the underground city. That’s all.
” . . . I see.”
Edward answered absentmindedly, then sat up in shock.
“What?! What did you just say!”
โThe Mongolian airag tastes even better when fermented under. . .
“You rotten zombie bastard! What did you do with the half-demons!?”
โOh, nothing much. I promised to protect them. That’s what I called to tell you. Now go back to sleep.
“Nothing much . . . !! Go back to sleep . . .!!”
Edward could feel his head throbbing from the boiling anger he couldn’t suppress.
Why the hell was this son of a b*tch friend solving the Mongolian Gate and doing something ridiculous instead?
“Hey . . . Tell me everything that happened in detail. From beginning to end, even the trivial stuff.”
โYou’re going to sleep.
“I . . . I swear to God I’m going to kill you . . ! Tell me quickly, or I won’t be able to sleep!”
Siwoo calmly explained in detail what had happened since he came to Mongolia.
Edward pressed his temples as he listened to the story, and when he heard that the queen of the half-demon was involved with Siwoo, he had no choice but to reach for the painkillers.
In the past, the half-demons, who were ostracized by humans, were known to be extremely closed off and never interacted with anyone.
Edward was also hearing for the first time that their ‘country’ was located beneath the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.
“You bastard! You never told me about this!”
โYou never asked.
โ. . . Please, just once, can’t I hit you on the head with a hammer, I can just heal you afterwardsโ
โWell, I’ll have to decline. It’s too much of a hassle.
โAre you sure, just to make sure, you are not telling me this because I did not ask?โ
โJust kidding. It’s a matter of life and death for those people, so I couldn’t go around blabbing about it.
Siwoo chuckled, enjoying Edward’s reaction.
More than ten years ago, Siwoo had been worried about the safety of Namir and the other half-demons who had opened up to him, and had cautiously searched for an organization that could protect them.
However, no organization or country was willing to help the half-demons.
It was an inevitable reality.
At that time, the war between the demons and humans was raging, and countless people were dying every day.
Humans did not trust those who were neither human nor demon.
In the end, the half-demons, who had no choice but to isolate themselves, could only live their lives without trusting anyone.
“Well, it’s not like the world was full of half-demon haters until recently.”
Edward nodded in agreement with Siwoo’s words.
“So, you protected the queen of the half-demon in the past, right? And now you’ve declared war on the demons.”
โThat’s about right
“I have no idea how the demons will react.”
โThe half-demons didn’t belong to anyone in the first place, so they won’t be quick to act.
“I think so too. But aren’t you their number one target for elimination?”
Siwoo snorted at Edward’s question.
โThat’s not wrong. But the risk of what will happen if they fail is too great, so they won’t do it easily.
Siwoo’s current image was close to that of a deity in HSIU, having subjugated an S-rank Gate and solved a major incident while on assignment abroad.
In addition to that, all that was known was that he had been a Hunter for about 20 years and was one of the ‘Three Venerablesโ of Korea.
The fact that he had participated in the Great Demon War and defeated the Demon King had not yet been revealed.
A silent battle that left no evidence, witnesses, or records.
Or rather, it was more like a fierce war that had been erased from history by agreement between the demons and humans.
“What you’re saying isn’t wrong, but we need to be careful. I’m still concerned about their movements.”
โNow that the demons are trying to rally the half-demons, it means they’re up to something underhanded. Anyway, I’m contacting you to keep you informed. We’ll need support for the half-demons.
“Yeah . . . . I’ll gather some people I can trust and have a meeting.”
โGot it. I’m going to go drink some airag.
“This son of a b*tch . . . !”
After the call ended, Edward got up and headed to the kitchen.
It didn’t look like he would be able to sleep tonight.
‘๐๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง-๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ. ๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ?’
Edward sighed and decided to think about what to do next.
๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท๐ท
“Master, who were you talking to?”
“A good friend who will be a great help to us in the future?”
Siwoo replied with a grin to Namir’s question.
โBut it feels like their speed has become a lot faster compared to before I called?โ
ใIn the small training ground located in the ใSult Orddใ.
The half-demons in charge of the city’s security and military, including the three elders, were gathered under Siwoo’s command and were in the middle of training.
“Ugh, ugh, S-Sir Siwoo! I’m at my limit!”
“It’s too tiring . . . .”
“Hehehe . . . Please spare us.”
The training of the three elders, who had ‘volunteered’ to be especially strict, was twice as hard as the others.
They lay face down on the training ground with faces like they were dying and begged Siwoo for mercy.
At this rate, it seemed like they would die at Siwoo’s hands before the demons could get to them.
“Oh my. Have you realized something now?”
โYes, yes! Of course! We realized that we were being too lazy and indolent!โ
“And you’ve reflected on it?”
“We have reflected on it.”
“Hehehe, I’ve reflected on it too.”
Siwoo nodded with a very satisfied face.
“Good. Since you’ve reflected on it, you’ll have to work even harder from now on.”
” . . . Yes?”
“If you want to overcome your laziness and indolence, you have to stop being like that from now on.”
“Sir Siwoo?”
“What are you doing? Continue what you were doing.”
Siwoo picked up the wooden sword next to him and said in a cold voice.
The three elders had no choice but to continue the training they had been doing, with tears in their eyes.
“Master is as harsh as ever, now and then.”
“It’s nothing compared to the training my disciples do.”
“It reminds me of when I was being taught by Master. It was really scary and hard every day.”
She smiled brightly as she recalled the old days.
At that time, she had been beaten up by Siwoo every other day.
She was lucky if he just scolded her.
Every day, she trained her magic power until her dantian was exhausted, and her physical strength until it was hard to move her fingers.
If she disobeyed or talked back, she was beaten.
Later, she was so tired that she packed food and ran away at dawn
That was because she felt like she was going to die soon.
Of course, she had no place to go, so she came back a few hours later, and as a result, she had to do special training for a week.
“If it hadn’t been for Master, I would have really died like a piece of trash on the side of the road. Like so many half-demons did back then.”
” . . . I’m even more grateful because you endured it well.”
Siwoo patted Namir’s head affectionately.
“I’ve taught them everything that Older Brother told me.”
“Oppa! I taught them how to shoot a bow, too.”
ใ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ, ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ!ใ
At that moment, Uljibataar and Sansar approached and spoke.
They had gone to teach the half-demons in the underground city how to handle weapons and basic hand-to-hand combat, following Siwoo’s orders.
“Good job. What about Benedict?”
“He seems to be still teaching them about magic. He seems to be teaching them more carefully than I thought.”
Siwoo nodded with a satisfied face.
Originally, Uljibataar and Sansar should have returned to deal with the aftermath of the Mongolian Gate.
However, after learning about the situation of the half-demons, they had volunteered to stay and help.
At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.
In fact, Uljibataar had decided on this course of action while torn between his patriotism for Mongolia and his sympathy for the half-demons.
When he learned that the queen of the half-demon, who had only been rumored to exist, was an SS-rank Hunter ranked 3rd in the world, he couldn’t just sit still as a Mongolian Hunter.
If she was to go berserk for some reason, it would not be difficult for her to destroy Mongolia
It was ridiculous for a high-ranker and the queen of the half-demons to be located beneath the Gobi Desert, not even in the vicinity of Mongolia, and for him, as the number one Hunter in his country, to just stand by and watch.
At least, that’s what Uljibataar thought.
‘๐๐บ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ข. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง-๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ. . . ๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง-๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด.’
Until now, there had been no government that was friendly to the half-demons.
However, Mongolia had been placed in a position where they had to maintain friendly relations with them, even if it was not outwardly
Since a high-ranker was their queen, they couldn’t use military action or force.
” . . . Half-demon Queen. Please feel free to ask for anything you need. I will make sure to speak to President Gantulga.”
“Thank you, Mongolian Hunter.”
“And Older Brother, President Gantulga said that if you want to talk about compensation, you can come see him anytime. He added that he will grant you whatever you want.”
ใ๐๐๐๐ญ! ๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ! ๐๐ฌ๐ค ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ! ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ-๐๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐๐ !ใ ก.ใ
“Will you be careful about drinking in the future?”
ใ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง’๐ญ ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง๐ค! ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง๐ค ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐!ใ
At that moment, Sirke approached with a flustered expression.
“What’s the matter?”
“That is, Master Namir . . . . There are guests at the mansion.”
“Guests?”
“That is . . . . I think you should come and see right away.”
Namir made eye contact with Siwoo and immediately walked towards the mansion with her group.
When they entered the reception room, they saw a man sitting at the table and another man standing behind him.
Or rather, they were two ‘demons’.
The demon wearing an expensive-looking white suit and silver hair slicked back crossed one leg and opened his mouth.
“Kekekeke, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am ‘Tatar’, from the 3rd Realm Demon King’s army.”
Tatar’s lips curled up into a smile as he stroked the black horns sprouting from his temples.
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