Journey

"Cckkkk——."

"Uhm, Your Majesty, you look pleased, don't you?"

Ha-ri tilted her head at Leon, who was looking quite pleased.

"Because he reminded me of an old friend."

"An old friend of yours–Sir Antoine?"

"You have met him, too."

"Yes, well–they are all honorable men."

Leon shook his head in denial, though it felt good to say it.

"I met your brother, too."

Leon's mind wandered down memory lane, and he remembered a day not too far away.

His old friend, the one he'd never get to see ascend, the one he'd been forced to perform a rite of passage in a re-creation of the past.

Jordic Bertum's second son, a member of the Knights of the Riona Sunset and a servant of dreams and death.

Jerea the Clueless, also known as Jerea the Twilight.

"Surprisingly, you're pretty scrawny."

[I don't need your approval for my challenge]

The conversation with Koo Dae-Sung reminded Leon of him.

His incompetence, his uprightness—even his stupidity.

"But, don't you know, it's the stupid who shake up the world."

"Is that so?"

Ha-ri knew that Leon might be an eccentric man, but he was never wrong.

"Well, since it is your Majesty who speaks, I suppose so."

"Your tongue is sharp, and you have learned the ways of a loyal servant."

"Am I a loyalist?"

"You shouldn't be."

"——."

"——."

"Just for a moment."

"No."

"——."

Ha-ri looked down at Leon wordlessly, but he wasn't even looking at her.

"I'm sorry, not once, but a second time is too much!"

You're putting me on the podium again!

Ha-ri was on top, and Leon was on the bottom.

It was a reversed hierarchy, but she liked the symbolic meaning.

Ha-ri sobbed on the bow of a giant ferry on the rolling sea.

She is the goddess of the sea and the waves, and she is currently sacrificing herself because of a custom that says it is unclean to have a woman on board.

"Is this the sacrifice to the Poma I heard about?"

"Beatrice."

Beatrice stared in disbelief at Ha-ri hanging from the pole.

"Is this really what you're going to do?"

"Hehe, Beatrice."

Leon said, glancing at the not inconsiderable number of women aboard the massive luxury liner.

"By nature, when there are women on board, uncleanness burns. However, the god Poma has mercifully granted a woman's sacrifice to ward off uncleanness."

"But the code. Isn't it possible to substitute an object for a woman?"

"Yes. ——."

Beatrice's words left Leon speechless. There was indeed such a code.

There was a code on the ship that prohibited the use of statues of women as offerings.

"There are a lot of women on this ship," he said, "and they're not exactly the brightest——."

"Well, we're traveling, and it would be a shame to leave them hanging there. I'll use my magic to make a statue of a woman to replace them."

Beatrice repeated, and Leon agreed, as if he had no choice. So Ha-ri was able to climb down from the pinnacle just over three hours after the ship left.

"Wow, freedom!"

Ha-ri is more excited about the fact that she won't be hanging on to the dock for a week until she reaches his destination than she is about the treatment.

"I'm going to change into my swimsuit!"

Leon shrugged and headed back with Beatrice.

"Your Majesty, this way!"

Leading the two of them through the gates was the Lord of the Hanbit Palace, Park Yong-shin, who greeted them with an extremely polite demeanor.

"Welcome aboard the Hanbit. How do you like it? Is there any inconvenience?"

"Well, it's not bad, but it's a bit too decorated. It's the vanity of a thunder-rich man."

"Alas— I can only apologize for offending your noble Majesty's aesthetic."

Park Yong-shin's expression was one of sincere apology, not flattery, and he gestured to the Hanbit Palace followers to guide the two.

"I have the Royal Suite waiting for you, please make yourselves at home on the way to the 'Republic of Taiwan'."

* * * *

Leon's sudden decision to set sail for the Taiwan Republic was due to a conjecture Beatrice had made.

"The place where the Demon Archduke lurks?"

"Yes, the Demon Archduke of Pleasure and Decadence, Quay, he is on Earth."

The source was an Earth newspaper, scandals in the Republic of Taiwan and recent events in Taiwan.

The events there were similar to those of the former Kingdom of Spero, and that the coat of arms of the Demon Archduke Quai had been found. But most of all──

"When I pronounced his name, he responded to me, though he immediately closed the channel."

"They say a demon's name has magical significance."

Beatrice's speculations were not simply unfounded. Rather, coming from a specialist who had hunted demons countless times, it was quite possible.

"Very well. Then I'll take my troops and head straight for the Republic of Taiwan."

The problem is, Taiwan is an island, and there's no reason to take an army on a whim.

Here's the tricky part.

"As of today, the TTG Temple will be closed for the fall holiday."

The trip to Taiwan was disguised as a vacation.

Four hours after they chartered Park Yong-shin's luxury cruise ship and set sail for Taiwan, Leon changed into his swimsuit and stepped out into the private pool lounge of his suite on the luxury liner.

"Hmm."

There were a few familiar faces in the lounge.

"Oh, Your Majesty!"

"Greetings!"

Soo-ho and Jae-hyuk, the representative knights of the Modern TTG Temple and their leader, Chen So-yeon.

"You're here?"

The Knight Templar shyly hid her fit and healthy body, and her youthfulness could be overlooked as cute.

-Awww!

Yappy is also enjoying the vacation, floating on the water in a striped swimsuit woven specifically for the fuselage.

It looks more like someone forced him to wear it to make him feel better than because he wanted to.

"Make yourself comfortable."

Leon said and waded into the pool. Due to the cool fall weather, the pool was filled with warm water, almost like a hot spring bath.

"Jae-hyuk and So-yeon were enjoying themselves first!"

At that moment, a red-haired girl appears in a fuss. Ha-ri was dressed in a fiery red bikini swimsuit and was running towards the pool.

"Whoa, big sister, wait!"

"Yay!"

Ha-ri, clinging to the diving board and shivering in the cold wind, threw herself into the pool without hesitation.

With a splash, water splashed everywhere.

"Gah!"

Ha-ri dived to the bottom of the pool, up to the tips of her legs and the crown of her head, and bounced up, feeling the warmth of the water on her body and calling out to the three of them.

"You guys should get in! It's so warm in here!"

"Uhm—sis."

"Huh?"

Soo-ho couldn't help but point to a certain direction with his eyes, where──

"Humph, Your Majesty!"

Leon, who had turned into a waterlogged mouse, was staring at Ha-ri in disbelief.

"Uh, uh— Lung, Your Majesty ah——."

Ha-ri is at a loss for words. She squeezed her eyes shut and cried out as Leon raised his hand, but instead of an angry slap, a large palm rested on the top of her head.

"Your Majesty?"

Ha-ri's eyes snapped open, and she saw a smirking Leon.

"It's good that you're enjoying your vacation, but you're also a lady, so be careful how you conduct yourself."

"Ah— I, I was a noble, wasn't I?"

By the standards of the TTG Temple, knights were treated as nobles, but Ha-ri was a noble who had been chosen by two gods.

"Hing— Your Majesty."

Move over, woman— there was a time when a commoner would have been criticized for trying to humble herself with a king.

But now she's a knight of the Ten Thousand Gods Temple, a goddess favored by the gods, and a noblewoman who's been granted a title!

An unmistakable noble lady!

'I am a woman with class?'

The fact that she was being patted on the head by the king himself, giggling, made her feel even more smug.

"Heehee, I see, you're that Lady, aren't you?"

"Hahaha, how can you be like a commoner, hahaha, you."

""——.""

-Bad luck.

She's so arrogant as soon as she realizes she's a nobleman. Is that a state official?

-Badass!

"Ouch! Your Majesty—"

Ha-ri said with a wry smile to Leon, who at one point gripped her head in an unnervingly tight grip. Leon, of course, is still smiling. But——.

"Then you'll have to learn the basics of being a lady, and I'll personally educate you on courtly manners and noble bearing."

"Hah—?"

"You'll be tested, and if you don't get it right, I'll crack that leg whip to pieces. Do you understand?"

"——Yes."

Leon declared to Poma and Petos that he would personally teach this bratty new noble the Lionheart court etiquette.

"Heh——"

"Is sister okay?"

"No, I'm not fine—fire up the barbecue——"

Hearing his sister's words, Soo-ho quickly walked over to the barbecue machine. Just then, a wire slapped Ha-ri across the face.

"Ow!"

With a stinging pain, she turns around to see Yappy dangling from the pool balcony.

Ha-ri's dive had swept her off her feet, and she was barely holding on to the balcony.

-Come on, organism.

"Hey, Lord Yappy!"

Ha-ri gasped, rushing to Yappy's rescue and she barely managed to catch him.

"Hey, are you okay?"

-No.

Yappy slapped Ha-ri on the cheek with his mechanical leg. The slap hurt.

"Hmph, that hurts."

-Stupid organism. Where did all the nutrients go?

"Hing— ah, it hurts!"

Ha-ri felt like she had no cheeks left after taking slap after slap from Yappy.

"It hurts?!"

-Yuck!

Ha-ri can't take it anymore and pulls Yappy into a tight hug.

Yappy struggled in her swollen, tight embrace, but he couldn't escape Ha-ri's vicious grip.

-Let go of me!

"If I let go, you'll keep hitting me!"

Ha-ri is an S-class Hunter, a hunter of the caliber of a Knight Templar in terms of physical prowess alone and although Yappy's total combat power surpasses Ha-ri's, but that's only in full battle mode.

That is, when equipped with a war platform.

Today's Yappy is a hundredth the size of its predecessor and the power limitations of its size were far from enough to overcome the viciousness of an S-class Hunter.

-Let go. Warned.

The Yappy warned, unable to escape by force but Ha-ri, who was losing her strength due to Yappy's warning, never let go.

Looking at the two of them, Jae-hyuk inadvertently spilled his true feelings.

"I envy Lord Yappy."

"She's my sister."

Boom!

The punishment was unrelenting.

Eventually, after much negotiation, Ha-ri puts Yappy on the tube.

Ha-ri quickly changed the subject and fiddled with his swimsuit.

"By the way, this swimsuit was purchased by Lord Yappy, wasn't it? It was delivered to my room."

-Perfectly derived by math and big data.

"Really? When did they get my size?"

-Hacked.

"????"

-Easy.

"????"

He confessed to something very criminal and it would be like opening Pandora's Box to find out how much criminal activity is going on behind the scenes.

-According to the machine's observation and calculation before the database, it should be an easy matter.

"Ahhh~"

-Han Ha-ri. She usually prefers short pants that expose her abdomen and armpits, presumably due to active sweat glands.

"Now, wait——.

-Outside of work clothes, prefers hot pants, skinny jeans, and see-throughs. Even pajamas show a similar trend. An ape who doesn't think much of nudity.

"What do you mean, an ape?"

-Kim Jae-hyuk prefers ripped pants that don't make sense. Presumed to be a product of a distorted childhood. Post-traumatic stress disorder caused by traumatic memories──

"No, this is fashion!"

-Han Soo-ho purchased most of his clothes at the Dongdaemun pottery market, based on card payment patterns. Unable to let go of the beggar mentality of his orphanhood despite his wealth.

"You, you're so—!"

This mechanical robot had a strange interpretation of a sinful subject to the point of uselessness!

-Chun So-yeon.

"——."

Yappy's gaze turned to Chun So-yeon. Staring at her top, a two-piece swimsuit with frills on the chest──

-Tending to be a male of the Gunnham family.

"????"

""???""

It was an analysis that made even Leon tilt his head in disbelief.

"Gunnham? Is it a new species?"

-The tendency of males of the Gunnham's bird family to exaggerate their chests to attract females. I almost bought a swimsuit based on this misleading information.

""————.""

———

——

—.

"You—!"

Chen So-yeon's face turned bright red as she searched for something. Covering her chest, she picked up the skewer that Soo-ho had been grilling meat on just a moment ago and pointed it like a sword in anger.

"Shut that mouth, you stupid robot!"

-Correction. The main body is correct, the exact facts──

The pool goes wild as Chun So-yeon lunges at Yappy with a skewer, and Yappy makes a run for it, using his steel wires like Spider-Man in a superhero movie.

In the midst of the chaos, Ha-ri wisely slips away and looks for someone who isn't there.

"Where's the queen?"

Beatrice, who was supposed to be sharing the same floor, was nowhere in sight.