CH 318

Ram Hwayeon is in the group working on the peace treaty. However, if he thought about it a little, it made sense. In order to finalize the peace treaty, those who remained on the battlefield until the end would have to give their testimonies, and it was not unusual for Ram Hwayeon, who was Granville’s messenger, to be a part of it.

“Yes. That’s right. Anyway, she seemed like a greedy woman. Don’t you think so?”

“Oh…… well……. Ram Hwayeon is an important resource.”

All the while, Leeha wanted to laugh at the thought that it was in her character to not be satisfied with just one castle and ask for another castle or city.

Shin Nara did not miss that slight, subtle change in his expression and nuance of his words.

“By the way, are you close with her?”

“What?”

“Why are you only calling her by her name?”

“Who- Ram Hwayeon?”

This time, Shin Nara’s eyes narrowed slightly when Leeha called Ram Hwayeon’s name. However, it was not her style to tease like Ram Hwayeon so Shin Nara breathed out her nose and knocked on the door.

Knock, knock, knock- a man’s voice was heard in the room when the knock rang.

“Come in. Browless-nim is inside.”

Shin Nara turned around and walked down the hallway. Leeha was bewildered at the sight of her not looking back.

‘Why is she angry again? Did I say something wrong?’

Does casually mentioning names provide proof of closeness? However, even Leeha was not sure if he was close with Ram Hwayeon.

‘I am not very close with Ram Hwayeon- no, am I close with her? Can it be called friendly?’

However, it was not the right time to think about it because Browless, who was inside, opened the door and came out when there was no response after knocking on the door.

“Leeha-kun!”

“Ah, director-nim! I went to the academy and learned that you were here, so I came here.”

“Right, how was it, did something happen?”

“Yes. Something did happen. Beyond the southwestern border of Minis.”

“Bluebeard-”

“There is evidence that he went there. It seems that he’s plotting something by gathering Ghibrid’s chimeras.”

Browless’ face hardened.

“Ghibrid……? No way, already…?”

It was because one of the worst names imaginable by the participants of the second Human-Demon war hoped and waited not to appear, came out of Leeha’s mouth.

“I will come in and tell you. Ah, wouldn’t it be better to call Luger and Kidd?”

“T-That’s right. Right, I will call them now.”

About 15 minutes after that, Luger, who couldn’t stop frowning and had a gorge between his brows, and Kidd, who trudged along with his hat on, arrived at the palace. The reason they felt down was obvious.

“Gibrid?”

“Yes, another Fragment of the Demon King other than Bluebeard, ‘Chimera’s nest’ Ghibrid.”

“How did you know that?”

“Bottleneck from Hell Anvil told me about him. Luger hadn’t been there recently, right? No, even if you went, you would have just bought shells. People need to live with a good heart in order to get this kind of help.”

“Cough. “

Luger frowned at Leeha’s words, but since his words were true, he had no room to refute them.

Before going to the land of the dead, he stopped by the new forge, but he said ‘Shut up and make my bullets, dwarves.’……. There was no way Luger could get information about Ghibrid and the chimeras.

“But I have never heard of it waking up.”

“It’s not awake yet, Kidd. Bluebeard only collected the chimeras that survived the second Human-Demon war. If the northern part, where there were monsters like Crolang, was Bluebeard’s main area of activity, then the southern part appears to be Ghibrid’s main base of activity.”

“Hmm…”

Kidd murmured in regret.

Luger wandered around the Land of the Dead near the land of death and Kidd traveled around the northern snowfields to collect information that could be called a success, but Bluebeard’s actions on Leeha’s side were too decisive.

“Leeha-kun is right. Not everyone can control the chimera that Ghibrid created. Even during the second Human-Demon war, there was an operation to destroy them through mental attacks and brainwashing, but even when all the best mages on the continent gathered it failed. It appears that unless it is a Fragment of the Demon King, it cannot be controlled. Leeha-kun made a significant discovery. You worked hard.”

“Don’t mention it.”

In fact, he had fallen from Kuzgunak’sh’s trick and accidentally cleared it, but clearing it accidentally was still clearing it.

Babam-!

A fanfare rang and a notification window popped up in front of the three of them.

[You have completed the quest ‘Demon Noble’ Bluebeard Count Le-2]

[You have acquired 5 stat points as the first to clear the quest.]

The 5 stat points were only visible to Leeha.

Soon after, he flinched for a moment to see Luger looking at him with an expression that seemed to be a spark in his eyes, but Leeha was no longer scared by such things.

‘Did I win?’

On the contrary, he even had enough courage to grin while facing Luger.

When Kidd began to quietly murmur to himself, ‘I’m sure there are traces of him even in the northern part-‘, a notification window appeared in front of the three all at once.

[Demon Noble “Bluebeard” Count Le – 3]

Description: ‘It’s surprising that Ghibrid’s chimeras still exist, but what’s even more surprising is that Bluebeard is using them. It will be a good reason to convince the opposing party of the peace treaty, who was still only talking about gains. You must go and find their tracks. If Bluebeard really woke Ghibrid, then…

Secure conclusive evidence that Bluebeard is on the move.

Browless and the Three Musketeers need to go to the area where Ghibrid’s chimeras are and try to secure evidence.

Content: Obtain information about Bluebeard and Ghibrid’s chimeras

Reward: ?

-Would you like to accept?

“If Ghibrid wakes up, it will be really hard to stop. In a situation where it is difficult to deal with just Bluebeard, if he wakes up, humanity will again….”

Browless’ expression darkened. Although Bluebeard is alone, he is still a Fragment of the Demon King. If the peace treaty is quickly signed and the strongest countries joined forces, peace could be maintained without much damage.

However, what if Ghibrid wakes up?

What if by the time Bluebeard wakes Ghibrid up, Fibiel and Minis hadn’t yet signed the peace treaty and are unable to join forces? There would be rivers of blood. It would not be stopped without great sacrifice. Browless’ goal was to prevent that from happening. All of the Three Musketeers were well aware of its meaning. And they also knew what the quest meant.

‘This must be the last of the chain quests. As for the hidden reward……. And there isn’t a failure condition?’ 

In terms of content, it was similar to when Browless and the Three Musketeers moved together in the Sentinel Mountains, but this time there was no failure condition such as the death of the user or Browless’ death. In other words, it belongs to the very easy quest…

‘What? Why did the difficulty of the last of the linked quest go down so much? Wouldn’t it be over as long as we find the chimeras?’ 

Leeha also expected that they would go to the chimera again. Therefore, he thought it would be a difficult quest.

Didn’t they only manage to deal with the chimeras thanks to the soul link skill and Kuzgunak’sh in human form? Even if he was with Luger and Kidd, he thought it wouldn’t be easy to deal with….

‘Will the director-nim finish it again with doodoodoo? That would be good.’

He was right to think like that. If so, there was no reason to refuse. Leeha, Kidd, and Luger all had similar thoughts. Accepting the quest and creating the party happened in an instant.

“Let’s go, director-nim. I will guide you.”

“Please, Leeha-kun.”

Sssk-!

The place where the Three Musketeers and Browless went was Radcliffe, the city that was newly stored in Leeha’s crystal ball.

“From here, we can head towards the Red Mountains…… but…”

And after getting to Radcliffe Leeha was able to feel something. No, it wasn’t just that.

“Didn’t you say it was a city?”

“Ah, there is also a warp gate in the city.”

“It’s too quiet for that.”

Kidd already pulled out his revolver. Luger also started inserting bullets into the Cobalt Blue Python.

It was a silence that could not be dismissed as simply a quiet place.

“It is strange. This place has a lot of users…. What happened all of a sudden?”

They weren’t mid or low-level users, they were at least level 170. It was highly unlikely that they all joined a single party and went on to hunt.

“It isn’t just the users. I can’t even hear birds.”

“Shitheads. There are no NPCs. Can’t you feel it already?”

Kidd and Luger spoke respectively. There were no shouting users, and there were no sounds from animals or NPCs.

And those who have experienced ‘war’ knew what it meant.

Click-!

Leeha immediately took out Black Bass and listened. The seriousness of the situation could be seen from Browless’ distorted expression.

“My name is Browless, a musketeer from Fibiel! Are there no knights in this city?!”

“Director-”

Baaang-!

Before Leeha could even call for Browless, he had already loaded his musket and fired into the air.

Kidd was surprised for a moment by that thunderous rapid-fire. Attacking within a city is the quickest way to call for the NPC guards. However, there was no response to Browless’ Gunfire. Kidd was taken aback for a moment, then opened his mouth slightly.

“……It looks like no one is there.”

“No way, has- has it already happened?”

“Yes?”

Leeha asked a question, and Browless got even more confused. Unlike the Three Musketeers, who predicted only the degree that something seemed to have happened to this city, Browless seemed to have already grasped the whole situation.

It was only natural that Leeha, Luger, and Kidd wouldn’t know. If the city had been attacked, there should have been some traces left, and right now there were none. The buildings have not been destroyed and there were no traces of blood. There were no such things as corpses. Browless knew exactly what that meant. It was how chimeras worked!

“Leeha, which side is the Red Mountains?” 

Browless continued calmly and quietly.

“It looks like the city has already been attacked by chimeras.”

“T-this way. If you go this way-”

“Let’s go!”

Browless immediately loaded his musket and started running. Only then could they vaguely feel it.

‘That’s right, chimeras have venom and acid attacks. In addition, Bottleneck said that they could even eat each other. In other words-’

They should have been eaten, regardless of whether they were NPCs or users, and regardless if they were dead or alive. It was a hair-raising horror. It was even a village, but a ‘city’ with a warp gate, and only a few chimera units decimated it into ruins?

‘No, they were very strong, but not to that extent…’

Leeha was reminded of the situation a few days ago. ‘Then, isn’t there only one possibility left?’

Most importantly, the movements of the chimeras proved that. Did Kuzgunak’sh just move randomly to break the barrier? If that were the case, the chimeras would have eaten each other. There must be only one reason why the chimeras moved with a clear purpose.

“As expected…”

The Three Musketeers and Browless stood stunned looking at the broken structure in the intact city, the castle gate.

“Bluebeard came to this city. And led the chimeras…”

Leeha, Kidd, and even Browless panicked. Bluebeard led the chimeras to attack the city of Minis, then what next? How will they move? Where will they go? What was their aim? As they speculated on the Fragment of the Demon King, the warmonger who was with them laughed.

“Good.”

“Hmm?

“Hmm? What is good?”

“If you have a head, think. Which country does this city belong to?”

Luger smirked. When Leeha tilted his head, Kidd’s eyes widened.

“Are you trying to say that it wasn’t just Fibiel that was attacked?”

“Right. It means that the fire started to fall on everyone’s feet. Director! Don’t you think the conclusion of the peace treaty will be much faster?”

The nickname warmonger was not for nothing.

(To be continued…)

P.S.

That damn peace treaty. When the 3rd Human-Demon war is on the verge of breaking out, they are still talking about profits.

Also, Shin Nara being passive-aggressive is something. 

Also, Leeha is a dense motherfucker. Insert dense motherfucker meme here.