A Hero, an Orc, a Human (1)

The sorcery activated by the Leviathan, the 'instant transmission', was indeed a success. The place they arrived at was the underground conference room they've been using until now. However, since Sae-Jin activated it in a hurry, he couldn't have waited for all eight people's feet to be on the ground before he activated the spell.

Meaning, a few of them were transferred while their heads or some other body parts were rammed to the ground.

"Kkyack!!"

"Eeek!!"

"Ah-ahck!!"

As a result, there was a bit of chaos filled with painful cries, but still, Sae-Jin breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that he didn't leave anyone behind. At the same time, a stinging dizziness from abusing his Mana reserve swept over him.

"Are you alright?" (Kim Yu-Rin)

Sae-Jin in his Leviathan Form staggered about, and Kim Yu-Rin helped him to stand still. The weird scene where a human was helping out a 'dragon' became somewhat 'normalised' quickly after Sae-Jin reverted back to the human's appearance.

"Ah, yes. I'm okay. My head's a bit dizzy, that's all." (Kim Sae-Jin)

He massaged his temples as he spoke. Kim Yu-Rin helped him to a sofa nearby.

"To think your Trait is to transform into the Azure Dragon, seriously… Ah, by the way, did you perform that magic spell?" (Kim Yu-Rin)

"…Well, yes, more or less." (Sae-Jin)

"What do you mean, more or less? What, are you adding more or subtracting less?"

Kim Yu-Rin's lips formed a thin smile as she threw him a joke an old man might say. Thinking that it was just impossible to disguise one's real age, Sae-Jin turned to look at her, and…

His eyes widened extra large. Around her mouth and jaw area, huge amount of dried blood could be found there…

"M, miss Yu-Rin?! You are hurt!" (Sae-Jin)

"Eh? But, I'm not in much pain, though?" (Kim Yu-Rin)

"But it looks painful from here…" (Sae-Jin)

When he asked her in fluster, she waved her hands around in front of her as if it was nothing to worry about. However, as if bones had been smashed into fine powder, a part of her arm shook around this way and that in a shape of a tree branch snapped in the middle. Sae-Jin's jaw dropped to the floor after seeing this grotesque scene; Kim Yu-Rin belatedly noticed her own conditions, and got shocked out of her skull as well.

"Ahck!! What the hell?!" (Kim Yu-Rin)

"...Fut."

A chuckle automatically crept up on his face as he witnessed her energetic reaction.

"No, wa, wait… This, this type of wound can be healed with a potion. Thankfully, there is a potion over th…" (Kim Yu-Rin)

"No, let me take a look first. It's no good to rely on potions if it's broken to this extent. What would you do if the bone heals in a weird way?" (Sae-Jin)

Kim Sae-Jin shook his head in disapproval and grabbed her arm. And after adjusting his Mana appropriately, he poured it under her skin.

"No, I'll be fine. When I get to a hospita… Huh?" (Kim Yu-Rin)

The shattered bone pieces began shuffling towards their rightful positions, and then, fused together all on their own to revert back to the original shape. This was different from a potion that simply mended external wounds. This was 'complete restoration', nearing the boundaries of the long-extinct 'recovery magic'.

"It's finished. Try moving your arm." (Sae-Jin)

"This, this is… What is going on?" (Kim Yu-Rin)

The confused Kim Yu-Rin moved her arm this way and that and became quite astonished by the result.

"Just what exactly did you do?" (Kim Yu-Rin)

"I learned it. Just a bit, from that Bathory woman." (Sae-Jin)

A dumbfounded expression formed on Kim Yu-Rin's face. But, what could she do? The truth was right in front of her eyes, after all.

In actuality, the meaning of the phrase [Understand all knowledge of sorcery possessed by Bathory] wasn't as simple as he 'could use sorcery from now on'.

Its meaning was far more comprehensive than that. He would be able to replicate, in full, all the experience and confidence the Bathory bloodline had accumulated over its countless generations in order to become proficient in performing sorcery.

That was why, Sae-Jin could use at least around '33%' (Degree of Advancement) of all those magic spells that were lost either due to incompetence of modern-day Wizards or through lack of careful management. And luckily enough, 'healing' type magic was included in those magic spells he could perform.

"That, that crazy woman taught you, just like that?" (Kim Yu-Rin)

"We negotiated a bit." (Sae-Jin)

"You say negotiations… but how did you negotiate with someone as crazy as her?" (Kim Yu-Rin)

It was then. Yi Hye-Rin hesitantly approached Sae-Jin, seemingly having witnessed the earlier recovery process. No, it was more correct to say, she crawled, with her hands on the floor and all.

"Guild Master, I think my spine is broken. I can't, I can't feel my lower torso at all…" (Yi Hye-Rin)

Yi Hye-Rin was all tears as she looked up at Sae-Jin. He told her not to worry, and then, lifted her clothes just a wee bit. Well, a piece of fabric on the area of contact would be a hindrance, after all. Too bad, Yi Hye-Rin wasn't aware of this.

"Euhgyack?!?! What are you doing?! Especially to a girl who can't even move?! Captain!! Save me, Captain!!" (Yi Hye-Rin)

"..."

Yi Hye-Rin struggled with her two still-moving arms, but her 'Captain' just so happened to be in cahoots with him. Kim Yu-Rin tightly held on to Yi Hye-Rin's upper torso.

"Please do it." (Kim Yu-Rin)

"Huh? What, do what?! Stop!!" (Yi Hye-Rin)

"Your treatment, you idiot. Your treatment." (Kim Yu-Rin)

"…Eh? Ah, aha…"

When Kim Yu-Rin replied, Yi Hye-Rin's struggling subsided. Kim Sae-Jin lifted her top a little bit more. Her waist shuddered slightly, but there was no other reaction beside that. However, Kim Yu-Rin suddenly formed a mischievous expression, and rather fiercely, loudly slapped Yi Hye-Rin's butt cheek.

"Ah!! What the hell!! Who did that?!" (Yi Hye-Rin)

"Hye-Rin, you really do have a nice body, don't ya~~." (Kim Yu-Rin)

"Eh, ehhh? Ah, don't, don't do that!!" (Yi Hye-Rin)

Slap, slap.

That clear sound continuously rang out.

"S, stop it!! Ouch! Ha, Ha-ang!!" (Yi Hye-Rin)

"…I'll start with the treatment right away." (Sae-Jin)

Sae-Jin felt that if he delayed any longer, he might end up getting implicated in a situation that might prove to be a bit embarrassing for a hot-blooded male like himself, so he quickly brushed Kim Yu-Rin away and placed his hands on the white skin of his 'patient'. Just like he did with Kim Yu-Rin, Sae-Jin poured in his Mana.

Flash!!

Not too long after that, around the waist area where his Mana had permeated into, the bright blue light flashed suddenly.

And that was the end of the treatment.

"It's finished. Try standing up, please." (Kim Sae-Jin)

Yi Hye-Rin quickly tidied up her messy clothes and slowly moved her legs.

"Ohhh!! It's working! It's working!!" (Yi Hye-Rin)

With a deeply moved face, Yi Hye-Rin slowly got up. And after her treatment had concluded, this time it was Hazeline who hesitantly approached him. Seeing her with that trademark hood pulled over her head, she didn't seem injured, so Sae-Jin got confused.

"Miss Hazeline? Are you injured somewhere?" (Sae-Jin)

"Ah, well, yo, you see, the thing is, Mister Sae-Jin…"

However, she could only open and close her mouth like a goldfish and couldn't continue with what she wanted to say. Actually, she was scared of Sae-Jin finding her spotty head disgusting. She required various preparations before she could brave it, such as taking in deep breaths, taking Cheongsimhwan tablets, etc, etc. (Note: A Cheongsimhwan, literally meaning 'Clear Mind Pill', is a traditional Korean medicine that does what its name says. Apparently. Wikipedia has a page dedicated to it if you're curious.)

As she hesitated, though, Yi Hye-Rin's hands shot out and pulled down Hazeline's hood.

"Eeek!! Hey, you crazy bi*ch!!" (Hazeline)

"..."

"..."

Suddenly, the conference room fell into heavy silence. It was as if a ravenous something swallowed up all the noise.

Within this lethal stillness, Hazeline stood there as stiff as a stone statue, cold sweat falling off her face.

"Ah, uhm… I'm sorry, Unni." (Yi Hye-Rin)

"Uh, N, no, no, it's fine. I just got so surprised… It's me who should apologise. I actually, you know, I don't curse, like, a lot. I, uh, I got really spooked… I'm sorry."

While the two of them were busy making up, Kim Sae-Jin was able to figure out the reason for Hazeline approaching him - her rather bald head. He smirked a little and placed his hand on her head.

And then, pat, pat.

He gently patted her head.

"…Ah?"

From Hazeline's dazedly hanging mouth, a short exclamation was fired out.

"I'm not sure about the length, but I've restored it to a certain degree." (Sae-Jin)

Kim Sae-Jin smiled and spoke to her. Hazeline's two cheeks reddened deeply as she shyly nodded her head. However, Kim Yu-Rin's knife-like glare stabbed into Hazeline's back, so her body shook greatly before she retreated to the back in a hurry.

"T, thank you, Mister Sae-Jin!!" (Hazeline)

"No, I should thank you instead. By the way, Mister Joo Ji-Hyuk, are you feeling okay?" (Sae-Jin)

"Yes, I'm alright." (Joo Ji-Hyuk)

Joo Ji-Hyuk replied like a real man and took a big swig from a potion bottle.

"It's just internal injuries. Huhuhuh." (Joo Ji-Hyuk)

"What about you, Yu Baek-Song?" (Sae-Jin)

"…Why no honorifics when calling me? I'm also fine." (Yu Baek-Song)

Yu Baek-Song stretched her body languidly and walked to her Kaiser the second.

***

After agreeing to hold meetings regularly once every week in order to counter the sudden counterattack from Bathory and her goons, the unexpected kidnapping incident had somehow been resolved.

Of course, he couldn't avoid being struck in the face, chest, chin, stomach and his head by the sobbing Yu Sae-Jung, but since he received some accidental level-up all of a sudden, one could say it got smoothed over all nice and easy in the end.

'It is regrettable, though.'

Current place was Sae-Jin's home, the one he hadn't been back to in a long while. Kim Sae-Jin brushed Yu Sae-Jung's head lying on his lap while swallowing his frustration.

Even with only '33%' of knowledge, not only could he perform the instant transmission, he was also able to completely understand both the composition and the concept of the spells that formed the basis of this advanced sorcery.

It was definitely correct to feel satisfied by this alone, yet, the thoughts of the 'Degree of Advancement' reaching 50% if he had more time kept on popping up his head.

"Euh-euh. No way, nope." (Sae-Jin)

Kim Sae-Jin roughly shook his head and got rid of those thoughts. If he had more time, then he might have gotten utterly murdered by Bathory who would have recovered completely by then. So, there was no reason to get frustrated at all…

It was then. The scheduled TV drama suddenly stopped and a breaking news filled up the screen instead.

[This is an emergency broadcast. A Boss-level Monster called 'Three-Headed Troll Ogre' has made its appearance. It's a Monster possessing two heads of an Ogre and one head of a Troll, and it is currently traversing the Gangwon Province's Monster field towards the residential area…]

Definitely, it was an extraordinary and quite a grave situation, but such an occurrence was seen as a common thing now. The notion of spotting a Boss Monster in a year being one too many had been long since forgotten. Currently, one appeared every three weeks or so like a clockwork. So, besides the Monster's rather lengthy and convoluted name, there wasn't anything special about it…

However, the next words of the anchor were more than enough to steal Sae-Jin's attention completely.

[Integrating other Ogres found in the Monster field and having formed an army, it is now understood that the 'Three-Headed Troll Ogre' and its troops are currently marching towards the village of the Hero Orcs.]

"…Huh?"

Kim Sae-Jin opened his eyes widely. The village of the Hero Orcs…?!

When he woke up from the daze, he realised that he had stood up abruptly.

Kwadang!!

"Kkeuh-euh-euh… Ouch."

Thanks to that, Yu Sae-Jung ended up on the floor.

"Sae-Jung?"

"Seriously… What is it now, Oppa?" (Yu Sae-Jung)

"No, uh, well… Don't you need to go to work?" (Sae-Jin)

Yu Sae-Jung replied with a frown while rubbing her aching waist.

"I got some off days after finishing the 'Karerotte' raid yesterday, but why are you asking me that?"

"Uh? Ah… No, it's nothing." (Sae-Jin)

"…What the. Don't tell me, you thinking of doing something dangerous again, aren't you?!" (Yu Sae-Jung)

She glared at him with questioning eyes. Although she was more or less on the mark, Sae-Jin shook his head and both hands in denial.

"Mm? But that's not true? Where would I go when I have you… Come over here. Come, come~." (Sae-Jin)

"Do you take me for a puppy or something…?"

Even though she spoke as much, Yu Sae-Jung still fell into Sae-Jin's arms without much trouble. Sae-Jin gently patted her back while he waited for her to fall asleep once more. Thankfully, she did catch her Zs pretty quickly due to being pooped out from the previous day's Boss raid. Sae-Jin carefully laid her down on the couch and slowly got up.

He wrote on a memo, "Something's come up by the Guild. Be back soon", put on some appropriate clothing, and left the house.

'Seems that, for the first time in a long while, I'll get to act out as the Orc…'

Since he might end up abusing his muscles a bit this time, he might as well stretch properly.

***

As the Hero Orc, Sae-Jin walked the Monster field while frowning in dilemma, wondering whether he should order the Orcs to retreat or not.

The mood of the Monster field was same as always. Within this suffocating stillness, where the only sounds heard were winds brushing by the tree branches, a certain dangerous air of Monsters popping out without a warning could be felt.

However, this place was only the Mid Tier hunting ground. For the 'Hero Orc Chieftain', there was no need for him to tense up at all.

Before long, as he walked proudly like an emperor, he saw the entrance to the village over yonder.

But, in front of the tightly-shut gate, someone who was definitely not an Orc - a human woman, was standing there.

Wearing an artifact-type coat that doubled as an armour on top of the Knights Order's rather-neat official attire, while a golden-coloured weapon was tied to her hips.

The sixth-strongest Knight in Korea, Kim Yu-Rin.

Surprised, Kim Sae-Jin took a couple of steps back. She then sensed a presence nearby and with her hand reaching down to her hips, she turned around to look.

"…Ah."

"Keum."

A pair of short sound effects, denoting the fact that they had recognised each other.

And so, a Lady Knight and an Orc got to stare at each other one more time.