Chapter 139: Korin Guardians (2)
QtUAlicia’s got-well party progressed without a problem.yjZVaXy
wdn9nThe only semi-complaint that we got against the food Marie, Hua Ran and I had prepared was from Lunia, who complained that there was no alcohol in the party.ZWiu
L0h“There are a lot of underaged people here, so please hold back on alcohol,” I told her.SYeN6q0
H27XG“Hoh? But were you not drinking just fine at our…”eYstE
d9WVXLw“Ehem! What are you saying in front of these little kids!? Do you mind a drink later?”a5mrH
vWRbEU“Fine. I will prepare the drinks myself.”CYHEUsp
tnSAeNFA drinking plan with one of my few adult acquaintances was a rare and precious opportunity for me considering how hard it was for me to access alcohol.uJGhzR
eKw“Uhh, Korin… Are you going to drink?”tOu4iM
TTh4“Kuhum… Did you hear that, Senior Marie?”6HVZKSQ
ae8rymRMarie, seemed to have heard the secret discussion that went on between Lunia and me, and said while sitting next to me. Was she going to get mad?aXIeuu
hayBfxk“Can I join if you’re going to drink?”ZRK
PclvF73“What?”3qyW9iY
5nOx5“I’m an adult starting from this year, didn’t you know?”dC0
w0JfsIOh right. This year, Marie was turning 19, which was an adult according to the laws of the kingdom. I was caught up with the image of everyone being students, but the 3rd year students of this Academy were all adults.UnhBBV
XW1YXO“Did you know, in the South, we have the tradition of using the first potatoes of that year to make alcohol!”1BFu8j
aN3“Can you make alcohol with potatoes?”Kwv
CoqQ“Yes! You put yeast in steamed potatoes and ferment it.”jGDo2f
LtMwpo“Ohhh…”UIk1
WHRKAs someone who had been through the physical education college and the military, I was confident I could enjoy any drink, so long as it wasn’t a somaek[mfn] Somaek = A Korean word for soju and maekju (beer). Essentially soju mixed with beer.[/mfn] with a burnt cigarette dipped inside.7Ds6Jg
gxP3N“Our dark beer is also pretty impressive. It is one of our few specialties. We only export a few of them because it happens to be a favorite of our horses.”sGAN
bjZ“Ah. I remember you showing me that before.”PLfY03
mMfZaIt was very interesting seeing horses indulging themselves in dark beer. Due to the large number of horses being raised in the East, they appeared to have gotten better at crafting dark beers in order to feed the horses.tqEJqvm
3DOXI remembered hearing something about how beer was amazing for horses who had the illness of being unable to sweat.lbZwGhk
OUdSsx6“Hmm…”dPmMdFq
oXsdDInstinctively, I realized that I had to choose one of the two. None of them insisted, but it was going to be awkward no matter who I chose. After a while, Lunia kindly stood up and left us behind.S8L
5njug“I will go see my sister.”scY
y1znSa“K, kuhum…!”8lF
1Hn“Ugh…!”tSF
7NwSqYLunia walked away so that things wouldn’t turn awkward. Thank you very much for your consideration!wDXZIge
qjXJVY“Sorry… I was being too childish, right?”FgE
C5FC8EMarie said while sneaking glances at me with a depressed look on her face as if she was afraid of being hated by me. Finding that cute, I opened my mouth.LtBtT2
4ETxV“Let’s say it’s something I have to bear as someone blessed with a big fortune.”nWFz8
hXdgI replied while patting her head. Her silky strands of hair were pleasant to touch.r7W
CdD“Hehe…”wma2u
ADKpeShe and I became even closer after that incident. It might be because of my sense of guilt but more than anything…jaC94H
dhUfd“You can lean on me if you want to… you know?”IicZSh
OT0DEUWFor some reason… I felt like lowering my guard next to Marie.anZSXDm
O5qU– Kung!iTDas
2NCfcFnThat was when a plate fell crashing down on the table in front of us. I turned to the table in surprise and noticed Hua Ran… or rather, Ran, gazing down at us with a smile on her face.E9BKhJE
ifIP4DY“Are you enjoying the party, oppa?”5pAvSuu
EOdDD“Yeah… Hey R, Ran.”hPh3b1D
k4LSq“Can I sit next to you? Oh right, see this? This is the fish I cooked.”ucdjxGc
2wv5“R, right.”Ikt9ZKp
tScYZjMRan sat on my left, on the other side of Marie, and snuck closer in. Unlike Hua, she was very skilled at deboning the fish.MCS
UewMHmm…hm6CkR6
QgySeeing her do that with the same face as Hua, who always waited for me to finish removing the bones of her fish while doing nothing but stare at my face, felt rather strange. Even as I watched her do that, I felt an urge to help her with the process.KloVSTJ
bZ0RRKThankfully, Ran had a completely different atmosphere to Hua, and it therefore wasn’t unbearably weird or anything. Even her eyes…AVrwVz
cAoP0“Oppa. Are you dating anyone right now?”lbZ19J
Iauwks2“N, no…”lh0d
VeO“Here.”JQRkg
FlWOxheAs soon as I opened my mouth to reply to her question, she shoved a small piece of the fish into my mouth. Then, she looked up into my eyes with an amiable and wide smile hanging on her lips.Xww
R2XEzjM“So, I’m not too late then.”R1IxA
HaC“Yeah…”LGindn
zw0iYEvery time, Ran’s aggressive and daring proactiveness made it difficult for me to know what I was supposed to do in response. She had a charm that was completely different to Marie… It’s a bit, a bit weird, you know!MROVE8
wfVpcAs the recipient of Marie and Ran’s undeserved love and attention, I knew I had to make a decision one day but…XNCbF
7T2“Would you like some more?”3pReZ
9SpXVRan suggested I eat more fish with the same wide smile on her face. For some reason, it felt like her eyes were facing the person behind me, and I could only hope that it was an illusion.6cbEP
Axg“Oppa. There’s a lot of food. Which one would you like to have first?”gOfLH
e2wABQ“Well, we made all of them together so anything’s fine, right?”6GZokga
Pp063“Don’t try to weave your way out of this. By the way, that lamb skewer over there is something I made.”A4L
Pps“Oh. Sounds good. Let’s give it a shot then.”TC40HtG
ug2“Korin. I made that blood sausage over there.”Ar5rff
BSGhlO…Marie-noona. What’s wrong with you now? And what? Blood sausages? Are you sure they’re alright? I’m not getting another system message after eating that, am I?8K3
QKWHfKorin Lork. 18 years old.DSJF
2t5sOther things I could not say with certainty, but what I could say for sure was that I was amazing at reading the mood. If I were to choose someone here, I could imagine the severe imbalance it would cause on this fickle battlefront of love.gO9lVo
PVnUThat was how sharp a person I was. I even read like 3 romance novels throughout my life, okay? I knew my way around things.dkF6V
8C2‘Aliciaaaaaaa…!’RMXJ
TFXSI sent a telepathic message to Alicia, who was roaming around the tables of food in the distance!dkC
lK36suV“Uuun?”Sjj
Bdui3Alicia, who was chewing on a mouthful of meat, suddenly looked back at me. We’re best buddies aren’t we?! I know you’ll understand what I’m trying to say with my eyes!2vwUo
dzsBOsL“Ah…!”0OXzx
IlnJQyzDid she figure out what I was saying?Sq28
Qvc4xebAfter looking into my eyes, Alicia quickly came running while carrying a plate of a massive piece of meat.Oitv
w8s30w“Mr. Korin! Look! This is the roast beef that I made, and I think it turned out great. You should try it! Next time, I’m going to try making beer chicken. Ah, by the way, do you think I can eat beer chicken even though I’m underage?”07t
WTT“…”iQdWe
FEoXV3pThe options just increased to 3 from 2.WYpCOtc
vKnA4CEt tu, Alicia…!V1paV
amLeI was running out of time, and I had to choose fast. Oh dear. Why do I have to go through such hardships…!EcT4
HJgFLooking back, I remembered something similar happening a few times even in my last iteration. Back then, it wasn’t something to do with love and relationships but the method I used to escape from those ordeals was by choosing to eat Bastard Sihu’s food… Goodness gracious! So I’ve been digging my own grave the whole time!!MfqCa
CoG“Boss.”JRUYliM
CHkk“Nn?”Z22r9zf
4y2zUTsThat was when a tiny hand pulled my clothes from the back. Turning around, I found Ren looking up at me.rd7p09
ocQ“I brought chicken. I felt bad coming here empty-handed. Would you like some?”rKac5wx
kB0In her minute hand was a chicken drumstick. She seemed to have bought it at Mr. Yoon’s chicken shop nearby.rR3p1
Fk9oBNR“Ohh, sure. Of course I will eat what Little Ren got for me!”kqefCL
cHn“Stop treating me like a kid.”AZasluh
fHZxShe gave a curt reply, but I had never felt so grateful in my life.yNyLwRv
o8i“You adorable little girl!”4w8GukR
FrbPB“Ahh! Don’t rub your face on me! What’s wrong with you!?”eVmrrEO
JZsorWhen I received the drumstick from her hands and started rubbing my face on her cheeks, Ren started shouting that in contempt. That was when Ron dashed towards us from afar.ZO4
f3WJ“Bro! Broo~! This tastes amazing! Did you make it?”opgR
KTEyRon had grown up a lot compared to Ren, who still looked like a 10-year-old, and looked around 14. He was pretty darn handsome.Tnijak9
72RA“Ron, huh. Have as much as you want. We have more than enough… Ah.”yxYZ
4gQLooking around, I noticed that we were starting to run out of food and decided to refill some of the tables.”FTrO
eVIW“Senior. Let me go cook a few dishes again.”8o4rSOd
JPl“I can go with you!”YpWkO
6HpGfT1“It’s fine. Take a rest. I can do it with Doggo.”E7UAEQ
JLNSome might call me a coward but this was a strategic retreat. After quickly running away from the girls, I stayed holed up inside the kitchen for a very long time.p7Jjy
6CaTHbHuu…ORwPpD
ByvTim0“It’s going to appear like I’m two-timing if I do this wrong.”ttwJQo
HYoPq1Being loved by two beautiful girls… All I could say was that I was a very fortunate man.XEj9f1
x8yFn“Huu… Two, huh. It’s too much.”ajM
LY28I was cooking with a sigh, when Jaeger and Lark, who came into the kitchen trying to scavenge for food, suddenly started looking at me like I was beyond help.eK401O
jkBoCdG“Look at this guy. He still has no clue.”BhZK
6Ef5q“Let him be. Let’s see how long it’s going to take.”jFZvfZ
GubkX****cx9
rLpAfter everyone had enough food to fill their stomachs, I stood up before the invited crowd.7StY
eEzw“Hello, I’m Korin Lork. There’s no need for me to bother introducing myself, right?”LaaWplX
rnlyHearing me say that, everyone turned their eyes towards me. The reason I invited Master, Josephine and outsiders like Lunia and the Five Swords as well as my peers from the Academy; Dorron, Yuel, Kranel, Jaeger, and Lark, was because I wanted to discuss the future.04PhFw
MnTk“The reason I have invited you all is to explain the grand objective of us, ‘Korin Guardians’, and to talk about the future we are heading for.”hNL
kxpjp3V“I’m here for the money, but I surely wasn’t expecting you to be the type of person to say things like that, boss.”VYq
piGU9IJFrom the other side of the table, Dorron Warsky with his clean and tidy appearance interjected. He was one of the first members I hired from our peers.vng
bTbZL“Well, listen up for now. This is going to be a good source of income for you as well, vice-captain of Warsky.”cqK8qO
9ih“Hmm~.”GBzYG4L
t4pcR9wDorron seemed intrigued by my words. That money fiend would do anything as long as I gave him the money, even if he had to involve the entire group of Warsky mercenaries for it.L813uL
EVyX“I’m sure you all remember the recent uproar of the Tower of Mages. The chairman was assassinated and the freshmen students were attacked by the mages of the Tower.ARoHABe
yUN“Things like this will only keep happening from now on. This is not a prediction that I’m making, but a predestined fact. The Tower of Mages, the Old Faith… Whoever it is, they will continue attacking and messing around with Merkarva Academy.”kP1
ysABXv1I then started talking about the wicked man Valtazar, the goal they wanted to achieve, and also told them that our objective was to stand against them.3quex1o
KSCrj“Umm…”RLWW
0MYV4That was when Golem Mage Kranel carefully raised his hand.vRC5Ep
zOP53BQ“Why… us?”Wrhwys
Mc00YIt was a short yet profound question. The first of his doubts was probably a question on why we were the ones that had to save the world. Considering how there were the royal family, the Guardian Alliance and the New Faith, it was understandable for him to question whether it was right for mere students like us to involve ourselves.2Pk
vLjw9“Great question. There are two main reasons, with the first being that we can’t trust them.”FJp49qB
YWfOQ0HThe royal family… Unfortunately, it wasn’t an overstatement to say that most of the people in the royal family were under the influence of Princess Miruam.8Vohp
5h1fcDue to her role as the saintess, Princess Estelle usually stayed at the Grand Chapel of Zeon instead of the capital and refrained from attending to worldly politics. She didn’t even have a great ambition for the throne in the first place and was simply being forced to her position by her surroundings. It was thus inevitable for her to have less influence than Princess Miruam in the royal court.pnvVG7p
nu88GCOn the other hand, Princess Miruam involved herself in internal matters, actively increased the size of her faction and was in control of the nobles as well. We could not trust anyone that was under the command of the royal family.24dq8Mh
gzEThe same was true for the Guardian Alliance. Something that would happen later down the line was the division of the Guardian Alliance before the final battle. Like remnant Nazi soldiers that spread out wide unbeknownst to everyone else, there were hidden spies everywhere.kRLESk
0d27GThe conclusion I came to after the last iteration was that there was no one in the Alliance that was worthy of our trust, except for a small number of the named characters.lgA3Ee
LEgLVjAnd lastly, the New Faith. Although this was an allied faction of the player, they were also rather difficult to trust, because the pope himself was a traitor.YqkJGg
HauK“Huh?”Big
GyaLd“What…?”ogNis
rw5bU“The… Pope?”AKpJA
LyrvjbT“That can’t be!”40JrMiD
vaVlA few of them strongly retaliated as if they were genuinely shocked. Mei and Milia of the Five Swords were devout believers of the New Faith, and they shouted in disbelief.XyeymxE
SMtjUr“I’ll prove whether I’m right or wrong later down the track. What I was trying to say is that what I have in front of me are the only people that I can trust from the bottom of my heart.”AowaAq
StzyRenowned household for swordsmanship, the Arden family.eUh3T
bGkYYLThere was no need to even bother explaining about them – they were one of the key allied factions in the final battle of . Led by the greatest charismatic character, Sword Emperor, were the named playable characters, Lunia Arden and Alicia Arden.WHS
NW1KupThey were a trustworthy ally that stayed with the player until the very end.LVo
8y60Dunareff Dukedom of the South.GLSt
Bz3wKOriginally after Marie turned into a vampire, and because most of the events occurred in the North, they were a faction that wouldn’t have actively participated in the battle, but it was a different story now.y3XuM
c261lMarie was wholeheartedly trying to support me and now, I decided not to downright turn her feelings down either.C272J
QIma5I was now going to borrow the finances of this enormous noble family, and accomplish things that were impossible both in the game and the last iteration.ke6cC1P
hu9T1vWarsky Mercenaries.00xGAm
cIoIn the previous iteration, the main members of Park Sihu and my party were Dorron and that freshman student. Dorron was one of the few strong male characters in the game that had the potential to become a semi-Unique Grade depending on the path, and the method to make him stronger was fairly simple.XJiqDF
4CsPMoney, ‘teacher’, and the mercenary group. Those were the keywords of his growth.rZ0Czh
85GvsThe plan was to flood him with support in preparation for the future battle. It was going to be easy as long as I had Marie and her never-ending supply of money.6igCsCs
kUUlvEven aside from them, there were the named characters Alicia, Lunia, Hua Ran, Yuel, Kranel, Ren, and Ron.oC67AMk
FEgMiaAfter having a fair number of men and a strong enough faction, what mattered the most was having a powerful party of named characters that could beat the King’s subjects, who were extraordinarily stronger than any other enemy that came out before them.tRMDb
YFeeLike what we had been doing till now, my plan was to defeat the enemies with my party members.tkybg
YzL“’Everyone’ needs a teacher? Does that include me?”H0JHf
dIE9nLunia pointed out something in the middle of my explanation, after hearing that even she was a part of the people that had to be taught.wvi9J
2q30J5c“Yes, Miss Lunia. You are going to receive lessons from her as well.”FWqSK
PmV“Hmm~. The only person who can say that to me is the old man. Is she as strong as him?”RLjn0m
mij“Of course. And when it comes to teaching, she’s going to be a lot better than the Sword Emperor, that eccentric old man.”Q8y
mNq“Hoh?”fyOuYBD
GQaqGImmediately after saying that, I threw a glance at Erin. The lady, who had been quietly listening to my story without mixing into the crowd, slowly headed to where I was along with Josephine.cq0C
IFQTaking off her hood, she stood before them – the spear-wielding Queen of Paradise, who had been teaching heroes for over a thousand years introduced herself to the crowd.c8BYZ
UqQ“Hello? I am Erin Danua.”I2aHFEA
GZKpGLz****rER46C
MC0Erin Danua.aWhO
9wxkVZRThe owner of Paradise who hid herself, and the Danann of Justice. She didn’t bother explaining to them that she had been a part of the race before humanity, and that she used to be one of the beings referred to as gods.BkpCFHS
BgD1The faith that had spread across this land was that of the Goidels, and it was better not to link this to talks about religion and mythology, which was bound to lead to confusing discussions.fhmDG1
iUPXkWAll she revealed was that she used to move around in the name of Chairman Eriu Casarr, and the information about Tates Valtazar. After that, she told them that the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages were in collaboration with him.GwWQ
NhqMTI“This is not something like a political fight for supremacy. Valtazar and his subjects sincerely wish for the destruction of humanity.”nZMd
A9LPAlThe main members like Alicia, Marie, and Hua Ran were already aware of their objective, but the rest of the crowd appeared confused by her story.Cy2YkLx
04V7hnHowever, not many of them questioned the legitimacy of her statement.ITyc0Y
y2CJosephine Clara.WK1MqL
m3uJyVThe presence of the witch who had been serving the Academy for 80 years as the Senior Professor, was adding credibility to the words of Master Erin.IipAZKf
M68M“Do you wish to move Arden – us – as a part of your army?”yPAcz
J8lsEI had made a pact with Lunia in the East, that she lend us manpower at the level of the 1st Sword Squad in return for me resolving her engagement problems.Q12SHZ
Ntt5She stared at me, asking if this was what that pact was for. She was half-right. My original plan was to use their army instead of letting Master Erin out but…5F1o
XrX“Similar, but we will have a proper reward system. Our Susanoo friend, the vice-captain of the Warsky Mercenaries will probably sign the contract without even bothering to read through the content.”87h0
saa7Z“What a big statement, boss.”4V0
JaFZLW“My dear fiance. If you so wish, I can entrust myself with you anytime, but it is a different matter altogether if you wish to involve my men into it.”ktE
c5crNFD“I’m sure even the Five Sword sisters will love it if they hear the deal.”mnRt
6821gEBefore continuing with my words, I turned to Master for the final approval. She gave me a nod, showing her firm belief in my decision.4e3
dVzQKx“The ‘Treasury of the Danann’ will be opening soon and will stay open till the end of our summer holidays. That is the place we are going to go to.”ws9vO
w9tParadise and the inheritance of the Danann.Nzhm
5yvqIt was a part of the main quest that was supposed to open up after the destruction of the Academy and the death of Erin Danua.P1QOWqI
oWSBILAnd now, we were going to open that 1 year ahead of schedule.4Kf
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