Chapter 117.1: Mercenary (1)

Translator: HH Editor: HH

Yeon-woo smirked. He didn't need to leave the 11th floor for the time being because of the war, but there was a big difference between cleaning it and not clearing it.

Yeon-woo stroked Chirpy, who was blatantly staring at him.

"No, thank you. You might be bringing good fortune to me."

Chirpy bounced under Yeon-woo's hand like he was happy Yeon-woo said that.

[No. I'm still thankful to you.]

"Ok, then let's say that after we catch the Saber God."

[Ok ok! I'll do that.]

Chirpy nodded his head. Since he was stronger, he wanted to start doing things now. He slowly came down and sat on Yeon-woo's shoulder. His claws digged into Yeon-woo, but strangely, it didn't hurt.

"Then let's go back now. We have a lot of things to do."

[Sure.]

But when Yeon-woo was about to turn back.

[But Master.]

Chirpy called him again.

"Hm?"

[Can I request something of you before that?]

Yeon-woo tilted his head.

Chirpy asked in a desperate voice.

[Can you change my name?]

***

'Why isn't he coming yet?'

As Yeon-woo didn't come back,. Edora became worried. She thought maybe the Saber God and Madodan had taken her. But she couldn't hear any sounds of anything, so patiently waited, thinking something else was holding him back.

If he didn't come back in 10 minutes, she was going to go look for Yeon-woo. Thankfully, Yeon-woo came back. With a falcon that she saw for the first time.

"Oraboni, who's that?"

"Chirpy."

[Tsk. I said to change the name. Unfair.]

The falcon complained, but Edora couldn't hear properly.

"What?"

Edora's eyes became bigger. This bird was that tiny baby Phoenix?

It was a size incomparable to before.

And an aura that could hunt most superior Mythical Beasts could be felt from him.

[I said to give me another name.]

But Chirpy continued to complain like something really wasn't to his liking.

Edora awkwardly smiled. She thought Chirpy was a bit unfair too. But Yeon-woo just turned away like he wasn't going to listen to Chirpy.

"Let's go back to Kuram."

***

Edora and Yeon-woo sped back to Kuram. When they saw the ruined castle walls, Yeon-woo asked Edora once more.

"Edora."

"Yes."

"I'm thankful for everything you've done up to here. So go back now."

"What are you talking about?"

Edora whipped her head back at Yeon-woo. But Yeon-woo just looked forward with an indifferent look.

"I'm going to be fighting against Cheonghwado, it could also be against the One-horned tribe. I don't think it's right to pull you in that fight."

Edora pushed her lips together. And after a short silence, she spoke again.

"You don't really not know the reason why I'm following you...right?"

At this, Yeon-woo shut his mouth. Only fools wouldn't know why she was being so forward. He had some dating experience, so he knew what the expression in her face meant.

But Yeon-woo had never thought of her like that. Just a close friend or little sister. So he was pretending he didn't know. But Edora was bringing it up. After an uncomfortable silence.

[Are the two of you gonna mate?]

Chirpy broke the atmosphere. Edora whipped her head at Chirpy and Yeon-woo glared at Chirpy.

"Where did you learn that?"

[Hm? Mom told me. That there are things a male and female does! That I'll do it when I find my mate!]

Yeon-woo grabbed his face. He didn't know why he was talking about this with a teenage bird. But thanks to Chirpy, the awkward silence was broken. And once they arrived at Kuram. Yeon-woo was able to see. The crowds going into the ruined castle walls. A waving flag in the middle of it. Cheonghwado.

***

"Were we supposed to meet with Cheonghwado today?"

Yeon-woo frowned.

Edora realized something and nodded her head.

"They did say Uncle was coming today...."

"Sword God?"

"Yes."

"Is that so?"

Yeon-woo nodded his head. It was weird that the One-horned tribe didn't have that many meetings with Cheonghwado yet.

'If I could observe the Sword God before I leave, that'll be nice.'

Yeon-woo waved his arm at Edora, who was looking at him with a worried look, and passed by the castle walls. There were crowds of people bustling. It wasn't hard to tell who was from where. Cheonghwado wore blue armor, and the tribe members were wearing their traditional clothes. The tribe members all had stiff faces.

But when they made eye contact with a Cheonghwado member, they would snort or let out a cold laugh. Cheonghwado didn't react to that because they received orders not to make trouble with their alliance. But the tribe became madder that they didn't react.

From this, Yeon-woo was able to feel the arrogance of the tribe that he had not known because he was with Phante and Edora.

"Hm? My Lady and Cain-nim, you've arrived?"

Yanu ran towards them with a bright face and the Cheonghwado players gaze followed him with surprised looks in their eyes. They didn't expect to see the Hoarder and next Psychic Medium. Some looked at Yeon-woo sharply. Now Yeon-woo wasn't infamous just on the 11th floor, but Cheonghwado and Red Dragon knew of him.

Not only had he broken the alliance between clans himself, rumors that he had killed Shanon were spreading. People said the Martial King and the tribe had helped him, but it was still shocking that a novice had defeated a semi ranker. That meant a new guy with potential had appeared.

Also, the fact that Yeon-woo was the Martial King's third disciple was known as well. The players had been ordered to find out more about Yeon-woo.

But Yeon-woo ignored them all and asked Yanu.

"Is Seseungnim inside?"

"He's conversing with guests....oh, here he comes."

Yanu nodded his head towards the people coming out of the fortress and the rest of the Cheonghwado players all bowed.

About 30 people left the fortress. One of those people was easily noticeable. A height of 3 meters. The horn and purple eyes showed that he was from the tribe.

'Sword God.'

Individually, the strongest is the Saber God, but the Sword God is tricky. He has the physique of the One-horned tribe, and his sword is unbreakable. A few of my comrades had a difficult time dealing with him too.

People considered the Sword God second most powerful in Cheonghwado, and he was truly strong enough to defeat many high rankers.

He had the aura to scare people, but Yeon-woo was used to it after spending time with the Martial King.

The Sword God read Yeon-woo's attitude and stroked his chin.

"Hoho."

An reaction of many meanings. The players that followed him had surprised eyes. The Sword God rarely took an interest in people.

Yeon-woo just lightly paid respects to the Sword God and passed by.

"Hyungnim has picked up something good again. How he gets such people, it beats me. I'm jealous."

Looking at Yeon-woo, who was disappearing inside the fortress, the Sword God curled his lips up.

***

The Martial King sniggered at Yeon-woo when he came in.

"Did you eat something good? Why? Hm? You don't offer it to your godly teacher and eat it yourself?"

Yeon-woo tried to hide it as much as possible, but the Martial King was still able to tell. He tsked his tongue. The Martial King truly was a person that you couldn't hide things from.

"But why do you have such a serious look? Like you're about to die. Do you have something to say?"

After his younger brother left with words like 'We're able to relax a bit because of you' and 'I hope you continue to help us in the future,' he felt like punching him.

But after seeing Yeon-woo those feelings disappeared. He felt like he was about to do something mischievous again. He couldn't see Yeon-woo's face because of the mask, but his eyes were quite serious. It was the look he had when he first started learning Mugong.

"I've come to tell you I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Did you do something?"

"I want to stop being a guest of the One-horned tribe."

At that, the Martial King's joking manner disappeared. His serious face made him seem like someone else. And as a corner of his lip twitcher, a murderous aura swept around Yeon-woo. Yeon-woo's eyes shook behind the mask. The Martial King bared his teeth like he was a dangerous beast.

"You've got everything you need, so you're going to leave now that it's getting dangerous, is that it?"

"No, sir."

"Then what? Does our tribe seem like the neighborhood playground where you can come and leave when you want?"

"That is also not it."

"Then?"

Yeon-woo momentarily thought it might be okay to tell the Martial King.

Unlike Edora or Phante, there were so many things he didn't know about the Martial King. Actually, it was hard to know. Exactly what was hiding behind his smile. It was too hard to read the Martial King's emotions.

So he was hesitating.