The All Japan Hunter’s Association

Just as Ventasis was about to bless the last sword with his power, Leon seized it.

[What are you doing, great avenger?]

Ventasis' gaze turned to Leon but Leon replied calmly.

"Just a master's concern for the future of his pupil."

At that moment, a brilliant golden glow emanates from Leon. Arianna, the goddess of light and justice, appeared as his halo.

[You will be a ray of light in a darkness that seems to have no end. This will be your way out, lost lamb.]

Arianna placed her blessing on the last sword Ventasis would bless. The endless darkness raged, unbowed by the golden light.

[What are you doing, Light!]

[I have only fulfilled my knight's desire, Darkness.]

Two gods of opposite temperaments clash but it's Darkness who backs down first.

[You have a heartless and disgusting hypocrisy toward men, great avenger.]

"For this king is king of men."

[As in the loss of 'your daughter'?]

"...."

The light recoiled at the darkness' words, but there was no stopping the non-existent mouth.

[You are the heir of the Lionheart King, but you are also a descendant of Dragonia, and do not forget that your ancestors won glory in the darkness.]

"I do remember. Guardian of the Ancestors."

Ventasis could have been more furious. He could have made them pay for standing in the way of the gods' blessings.

His ancestors owed him, and Leon himself.

But even this cold god of darkness is forced to be lenient in the face of an agent of the All-Gods. For to be an agent of the All-Gods is to include oneself in their assembly.

[Do not forget the task that must be accomplished by relying on a single ray of light, for only in cold darkness will vengeance be achieved.]

With these final words of advice from Ventasis to Chun So-yeon, the armor ceremony continued.

Unlike the previous four, the blessing was not bestowed upon their Stardust armor, due to their lack of strength and faith.

Even in the Realm, blessed Stardust Armor was only given to Kingdom Knights.

" Beatrice, I heard that you have something special for me."

"Yes."

Finally, Beatrice stood on the dais. She was followed by Yappy, who was carrying a haphazard pile of supplies.

"These are the artifacts I have prepared for you. I hope they will help you in this fight."

Beatrice presented the cadets with artifacts: necklaces, rings, and earrings.

"Wow, they're all unique… I can't believe you made so many unique items...."

Park Jin-soo was stunned, but that was the end of the supply distribution ceremony.

* * * *

The Wandering Demon Sword is headed for Japan.

Japanese government officials gathered in an urgent meeting.

The atmosphere in the room was one of disaster and the president of the association spoke.

"Where is the All Japan Hunter's Association?"

"They'll be here soon."

"Well… let's deal with other matters first."

Prime Minister Fujisawa clicked his tongue at the hunters for not showing up at the announced meeting time.

"What happened to the comet that hit South Korea?"

"Yes, it's a giant comet, six kilometers in diameter, and most of its interior is made up of gas and water, but it's being mined for metals not found on Earth."

"The scientists have a fire in their eyes, so take this opportunity to interact and get some."

"It's going to take a lot of money, and most of it is owned by those otherworldlers."

"I thought they claimed to have summoned the comet."

The fact that Leon had summoned a comet to punish Hanbit Palace was a big deal around the world.

Even the Wandering Demon Sword's landing on the Japanese archipelago was secondary.

"If that's true, he's a major security threat! We need to get to the bottom of how he summoned the comet!"

Yes, of course they should. Japan is not alone. The United States, the European Union, and Russia had similar reactions.

Even though the comet hasn't been in full swing since it fell, its presence has stunned the world.

What if a single individual could actually summon a comet, a 6-kilometer comet, and shake it down with no loss of life, not even a single death?

What if the reverse was also possible?

"There's a lot of buzz about him in Korea, too. The support for him is through the roof."

"I can't believe they blindly support such a dangerous man...."

Apart from that, the association executives could not hide their envy and disapproval of the survivor named Leon.

In essence, survivors are otherworldly beings, and they often come in races, the orcs being a prime example.

But they are not necessarily useful to the state. Orcs alone have been known to overrun nations with their horrifyingly high crime rates and fertility.

In the recent war, the Republic of Jilin alone was overthrown by an orc military coup.

But in Leon's case, he has proven himself more useful than most survivors.

The Blessed Crops are the first of the scam items. Not only do they give buffs just by eating it, but it also gives permanent health, long-lasting buffs… and most importantly, it's a cure-all for cancer.

"Prime Minister, we need to secure a large amount of the Blessed Crop before the Demon Sword Campaign. If we secure that, we won't have to think about securing additional buffers."

Prime Minister Fujisawa wore a puzzled expression as a senior official insisted.

The blessed crop has become a powerful export for the South Korean government, but the problem is that there are too many countries that want it, even though it has been harvested in large quantities.

The blessed crop is also being cultivated in places like the Heilongjiang People's Republic and Ukraine, but even that hasn't been enough.

"Why should we bow our heads over rice?"

The defense minister didn't hide his discomfort: He didn't like the idea of being indebted to South Korea. It was a right-wing greeting.

"Come to think of it, the rice is also the power of the Lionheart King Guild."

Leon is involved here, Leon is involved there.

Ever since he appeared in Korea they had been hearing stories about him.

"Do you think you can persuade the Lion King to come to Japan?"

"... Is it possible? He's already established a base in Korea."

"With government funding… Do you think it's possible?"

"Do you think the Korean government will stand still?"

Scouting and naturalizing high-level hunters from other countries has been a common practice around the world. It was just a matter of being able to handle the fallout.

"It's worth it. If we can get just one man, there'll be a lot to come after him."

Leon isn't the only one in the TTG Guild.

While Leon himself is already considered a world-class Hunter beyond the standards of an S-ranked Hunters, the survivors below him are all monsters.

The red-ranked Nightmare Yakt Spinner of Cheongju Gate.

Although its ranking is said to be greatly downgraded now, it is estimated to be an S+ at Cheongju Gate. According to unconfirmed reports, the Yakt Spinner was responsible for slaughtering the highest ranking orcs of the Jilin Republic.

Then there's Beatrice, the Magician Queen of the Kingdom of Spero, the second in command of the TTG Guild.

Her magical prowess, demonstrated at Jeju Island Gate, was astonishing.

She doesn't even have a Legendary-ranked wand and can perform great magic with a wave of her hand. Likewise, her rank is also S+.

"What's even more amazing is its ability to turn ordinary Hunters into elites in an instant. I've heard that there are already over a thousand C-ranked Hunters, and that's in just four months."

That's Leon. Any nation can be free of the Gate's threat if they can get their hands on him.

The prime minister had his own reasons for wanting to naturalize Leon.

"I'll be putting together the government budget, so this is a great opportunity to-"

"I'm against it, Prime Minister.

The man who burst through the conference room door was middle-aged and dapper. He took a seat in the empty chair and bowed.

"I apologize for being late. I got stuck in traffic."

"No, we were just getting started. President Kamiya."

The President of the All Japan Hunter's Association and the de facto pinnacle of Japanese hunters smirks.

"Japan is a country of Japanese people. If you have that kind of resources, you'd be wise to take care of your own people."

"...."

"...."

The dignitaries avoided rebutting Kamiya words. Nor did they discuss the national interest in bringing Leon in.

With 37 S-class Hunters from all over Japan, he is said to be the strongest Hunter in the country, and it is no exaggeration to say that he is the king of Japan.

There's no way he'd allow a foreigner to enter his kingdom.

The prime minister knows this, so he wanted to bring Leon into the mix to keep the All Japan Association in check. Just as the president of the Korean Association, Oh Kang-hyuk, is supporting TTG Guild as a check on the Ten Guilds.

'Is it already… too late?'

Prime Minister Fujisawa didn't dare to antagonize or undermine the All Japan Association, which monopolized the Hunters and ran Japan as a single guild.

If only that idiot of a former prime minister hadn't privatized the Hunter Association, this disaster wouldn't have happened....

Chairman Kamiya laughed at the prime minister's cute defiance and proceeded to talk as if he were the organizer of the meeting.

* * * *

"Mr. Chairman, here is the list of targets that will be participating in this assault."

Kamiya took the pad handed to him by his secretary and read it. As he picked out the S-class Hunters to send out from the pad, he thought back to the meeting earlier.

"The prime minister must be getting impatient, bringing in foreign survivors."

"Because the government's footprint has narrowed a lot lately."

Since the privatization of the Hunter Association by the former prime minister and the formation of the All Japan Association, hunters in Japan have united under Kamiya's banner.

There are 38 S-class hunters and over 700 A-class hunters nationwide, including Kamiya, who have no other choice but to join the Japan Hunter Association if they want to make a living as a hunter.

Just as Oh Kang-hyuk is supporting TTG Guild as a joker to keep the 10 guilds in check, the prime minister is trying to bring TTG Guild into the fold to narrow the ranks of the All Japan Association.

"It's scary that they're actually a group that can do that."

"The power of the TTG Guild is frightening. Of course, it's nothing compared to the Alliance."

"The problem is that such a group is in a neighboring country. I heard that there are already followers of the TTG Guild in Korea."

"Their...publicity power is frightening and there's no opposition."

It was just as strange. Even the Nippon Gakkai, who claimed to be a Japanese hero, was full of haters on the Internet.

"Is that even possible?"

"It's conceivable that they're waging some sort of publicity war… but I doubt it's physically possible, because I've seen accounts deleted within seconds of any criticism being posted online."

"That doesn't seem like the kind of intelligence group...."

Mr. Kamiya also had a lot of interest in Leon. No, he couldn't help it.

He was the embodiment of righteous chivalry, something out of a fairy tale, and that he had values that were at odds with modern times.

Especially the fact that he was accompanied by an unintelligible group of otherworldly gods called the Ten Thousand Gods.

'I thought the miracles of the gods might be able to manipulate internet public opinion, but I guess not.....'

"Anyway, this demon sword battle. Not only the Divine Sword Guild, but the Ten Thousand Gods are participating. The prime minister has spent some money, too. Four more of Korea's top ten guilds are coming. Blue Star, Fire Bird, Golden Lion, and Hanbit are coming."

Japan had turned a blind eye once before, during the Ulsan Magic Sword disaster but they've only paid dearly for it this time.

This, of course, was the work of Chairman Kamiya, who kept more than half of his S-class Hunters on standby in the name of defending the mainland.

The Japanese government, which is about to lose a major city, has no choice but to buy Korean hunters.

With an ample pool of S-class talent, Japan shouldn't have to take such a loss, but Chairman Kamiya, whose power lies in the number of S-class Hunters, simply passed the buck to the government.

"First operation. I'll send the TTG Guild to the front."

"...!"

At those words, the secretary glanced at Chairman Kamiya with fear in her eyes.

The cornered prime minister was thinking of sacrificing TTG Guild to the netherworld just because he had an agenda.

"The backlash from ...South Korea will be great."

"Of course, we should show good faith. Tell him we're including three S-class strike teams."

'A terrifying man.'

Cold-blooded, willing to sacrifice others for his own power. Even those three raiders would be rivals who threaten his position within the Alliance.

"I'll pass on the offer."

"Okay, did I mention that the Korean Hunters will be arriving soon?"

"Yes. In three days, they'll be arriving at Haneda Airport in the morning, accompanied by their leader, Oh Kang-hyuk. A meeting with the Prime Minister is also scheduled… His Majesty the Emperor is also coming?"

"That's unexpected, sir. Did they pay any attention to the state guest?"

"Apparently, it was a request from the Korean Association."

"I suppose they want their own symbolism? Then let's have a reception tonight. Make it as lavish as possible. I know he's a bit of a pompous ass, but he's still a medieval barbarian. If we give him the right amount of fanfare, he'll be more than happy to take the lead, won't he?"

Of course, Mr. Kamiya doesn't think he'll get his way so easily.

If he had to, he would sway public opinion to drive the TTG Guild to its knees.

But he didn't know that this man from another world, the King of the Fantasy World, was a fantasy man.

"You are the king?"

The Japanese archipelago was turned upside down.