Chapter 51 – Knight (1)

Inside the empty warehouse with nothing in it, Sun-woo was swinging his sword. 

Swish! Swish! 

Every time his sword was swung, sounds like air being split echoed throughout, and faint lines seemed to be visible like afterimages where the sword had passed. 

On one side of the warehouse, a small tablet PC was placed, with news flowing from it. 

“The climate abnormalities seem to be getting worse. Yesterday, dozens of whale corpses washed up on the beach in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Unlike previous cases, these whale corpses were covered with marks of attacks all over their bodies. Experts’ opinions suggest they appear to be attacks from killer whales.” 

Sun-woo’s sword hesitated to a stop. Due to his experiences so far, he could no longer watch such unusual incidents with peace of mind. 

Unfortunately, the whale mass death article ended there and moved on to the next news. 

“The branch manager of the multinational corporation Cleanse has been replaced. Industry officials expressed bewilderment at the sudden replacement of Branch Manager Do Il-myeong, who was known to have smoothly led cooperation with the government and other companies, and the newly appointed branch manager…” 

The screen showed Branch Manager Do Il-myeong’s face and a white man’s photograph. 

Sun-woo also knew from Caroline’s story that the former branch manager had been sanctioned by the Summoner. 

“Still, was it significant enough to make it onto regular broadcasts?” 

Although he was the branch manager of a global multinational corporation, within Korea it wasn’t even a company that entered the top 100 corporations. Moreover, the announcer’s explanation was full of negative implications… 

Sun-woo, who had been pondering this and that for a moment, soon shook his head with a bland smile. 

It wasn’t something that needed his concern anyway. He wasn’t officially affiliated with the association, and there was nothing he could do even if he worried about it. 

Caroline seemed to trust him completely after Sun-woo’s help, but now she too seemed to be busy with association work. 

“Thanks to that, I was able to confirm it.” 

Thanks to her, he learned that the medicine changed by the divine maiden could also return summoned who were in the process of being contaminated back to normal. 

He didn’t know what would happen to those already completely contaminated, but it was sufficient as an emergency medicine in preparation for danger. 

A week had already passed since visiting the pharmaceutical company. What happened at the pharmaceutical company was buried internally, with no articles appearing in broadcasts or newspapers anywhere, so there was no need for the association to intervene. 

Since then, Korea’s Summoned Association seemed to have had an internal cleanup. After the branch manager disappeared, all the regular employees in his direct line were dismissed for various bribery and embezzlement cases, and with a new branch manager coming from headquarters, not only regular employees but even summoned directors seemed to have been in turmoil. 

“I’ve become a complete villain at the former association. I’ve become the witch who threw out Branch Manager Do Il-myeong and took control of the company.” 

Caroline entered the warehouse while complaining loudly. She seemed to have heard the broadcast while coming in. 

“Weren’t you extremely busy right now?” 

Sun-woo asked with an incredulous expression while closing his phone. He knew she had come from the car sounds heard outside the building, but he couldn’t understand why Caroline had come here. 

“Well, as shown on the broadcast, a new branch manager was appointed from headquarters. I handed over everything quickly and just escaped now.” 

Caroline pulled over a metal chair that was leaning against the wall, sat down, and stretched thoroughly. 

“It was really a tough week. Doing missions would have been a hundred times better. Ah, except for the mission on the New Continent.” 

A shadow passed over Caroline’s face as she remembered that incident. 

“After dumping a pile of documents on the new branch manager, I came running because I wanted to see Sun-woo’s face.” 

Caroline was smiling again while looking at Sun-woo. But he only stared at Caroline intently. 

Caroline was also a battle-hardened veteran who had crossed countless lines of life and death even before becoming summoned. She wouldn’t fall for someone just because they saved her life. 

“Tsk, here it is.” 

It was as Sun-woo expected. Caroline took out a medicine bottle from her pocket with a sour expression and handed it to Sun-woo. 

It was an ordinary small plastic medicine bottle containing several white pills. 

“It’s medicine made using the powder medicine obtained from the laboratory. I brought some as Sun-woo requested.” 

The medicine Sun-woo had was all used to restore Caroline, leaving nothing. Fortunately, Sun-woo’s request seemed to have been approved. 

“Some went for experiments, and the rest went to associations in various countries. Originally there was nothing left, but I put in quite a lot of effort.” 

Certainly, giving Caroline the medicine at that time was the right answer. Not only for experiments, but it also allowed them to plant a friendly person in the association. 

Sun-woo poured the pills onto his phone screen. Pills disappearing into the screen. Soon an icon of pills and the text ‘×3’ appeared on the inventory screen. 

“It’s really amazing. While at the association, I’ve never seen anyone with abilities or weapons like Sun-woo’s.” 

Caroline’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Sun-woo’s phone. 

“By the way, are you going to train more?” 

Sun-woo shook his head at Caroline’s question. He was thinking of finishing training and going home soon. 

“Perfect. Then let’s go eat with me. I found a new delicious place.” 

Caroline began pulling Sun-woo’s arm and dragging him along. 

“Ah, I have things to do at home.” 

“What? What is it?” 

“Ah, I was thinking of playing some games.” 

Caroline lit up with anger and glared at Sun-woo. 

“Such a beauty is asking to have a meal together and you talk about games! What are you saying!” 

She forcibly dragged him along, and Sun-woo ended up being dragged out while clicking his tongue. 

***

Dimension Gamma. 

Near the eastern mountain range of Kudas Kingdom. 

On a field road, three knights and three servants leading their horses, along with a middle-aged man in wizard robes, were riding horses and hurrying toward the mountain range visible in the distance. 

The servants looked very tired from walking the long distance, and the armored knights sitting on horses looked no different. 

“What suffering this is because of Sir McCurden.” 

The knight riding on the left grumbled again. 

At his words, Daniel could only sigh. It was a story he had heard at least ten more times on the way here. He seemed to have considerable dissatisfaction about being selected. 

The grumbling Knight Mexley and the other knight were also knights belonging to the 2nd Knight Order of Kudas Kingdom where Daniel belonged. 

They had come down to this western border region of the kingdom over a week, carrying a special mission. 

Daniel, who had seen the massacre of the elf village through the mission, gathered information by going around the capital and visiting known administrators and taverns after the mission ended. 

While confirming that information, he learned that not only had minority races disappeared from the capital, but news from border villages adjacent to the eastern mountain range had also vanished. 

He immediately reported what he had confirmed to the captain, and his report, which received recognition within the knight order, was again confirmed by the cabinet through the captain. 

The result was an inspection of border villages by three knights and a wizard. Daniel was sent as the person who made the report to take responsibility and find out the results, and the wizard was selected from the capital’s magic tower to identify the cause. 

The other two knights were personnel assigned to help the wizard and Daniel. 

Therefore, Daniel found it difficult to refute his colleague’s grumbling. Without him, there would have been no reason to make the investigation team from 2nd Knight Order personnel. 

Moreover, having found no particular abnormalities while coming this far where the mountain range was visible, Daniel had no choice but to silently listen to the complaints. 

“Are there two villages left at the eastern end now? Still, not much is left.” 

Knight Albert, who had been quiet until then, opened his mouth. He was a young, upright-looking knight, and unlike his previous silence, he seemed to want to finish quickly. 

“Hmm, four out of six villages known to have lost contact are safe. The other places will be safe too. Well, it’s good if nothing’s wrong. Thanks to this, we get to enjoy the fresh air too.” 

Unexpectedly, positive words came from the wizard’s mouth. Daniel, who had been worried that he would be angry about interfering with research over useless work, could at least breathe a sigh of relief. 

“Anyway, travel expenses will come out, so I should buy a lot of experimental materials with this opportunity.” 

Of course, the wizard seemed to have other thoughts too. 

Fortunately, this investigation seemed like it would be meaningless. The reason there had been no contact from the villages for a considerable period was due to them being very remote villages and sudden floods that had struck. 

Many roads were cut off, so even these three people would have found it difficult to come this far without the wizard’s help. 

After confirming the safety of the village where they stayed until morning, the party was now recognizing the remaining investigation as a boring journey. Even the servants had relaxed and were just shuffling along. 

But such an appearance of the party disappeared the moment the next village became faintly visible in the distance. 

The surrounding appearance was strange. Throughout the field, sheep that appeared to be raised in the village were scattered dead, and even the dogs that had guarded the sheep had become corpses. 

Moreover, the sheep had parts or most of their bodies missing as if eaten by something, and were rotting over time. 

The knights who had been slouching straightened their bodies, and the servants hurriedly handed weapons loaded on the horses to the knights. 

“Troll? Ogre? Anyway, it’s a considerably large monster.” 

Knight Mexley, who was most knowledgeable about monster traces, checked a nearby sheep corpse and shared his speculation. 

“There’s no way a giant monster would come down this far. Most giant monsters are on the other side of the mountain range, aren’t they?” 

As the wizard questioned, even though it was close to the mountain range, there was no way a large monster would leave the depths of the mountain range and come down this far. 

“But the traces remaining on the corpses are those left by a bipedal large monster. Judging by the footprints, it appears to be an ogre.” 

The expressions of the other party members became very serious. 

“Let’s hurry. We need to check the village. Wizard, what will you do?” 

Daniel asked the wizard. 

If there was an ogre in the village, three knights alone would be hard-pressed to handle it. Unlike knights whose top priority was protecting the lives of citizens, the wizard had no compelling reason to follow them. 

“Another knightly charge of simple brute force? Sigh, I may look like this but I’m a former military wizard. I’ll go along too. If I follow, at least when problems arise, we’ll be able to get out.” 

Daniel bowed his head at the wizard’s words. As he said, a wizard with military wizard background could extremely enhance the knight order’s survival. He had to express gratitude. 

“You wait here. If we don’t return, immediately run to the nearest castle and report to the capital.” 

Daniel left words for the servants, and the three knights and wizard rode their horses toward the village. 

The party frowned as they saw the village approaching. 

Because destroyed buildings came into view everywhere. 

But the surprise of the other party members was nothing compared to Daniel’s surprise. 

Because to Daniel’s eyes, the village before them looked entirely murky. 

Moreover, that murky color continued expanding behind the village all the way to the distant mountain range… no, most of the mountain range had become murky. 

A groan flowed from Daniel’s mouth. 

“Good heavens.” 

Most of the kingdom’s eastern mountain range was contaminated.