Chapter 8: The reason for remembering (3)

"But we need to argue about things that need to be argued about."

Cale's stoic gaze turned toward Sui Khan.

"Team leader, the God of Death isn't expecting just the few of us to take care of everything, is he?"

The Hunters had created an organization they called 'Household.'

Cale could now get a better sense of the size of that organization because of the term, 'Church of Blood.'

Wuxia.

There are always the good faction, the evil faction, and the Church of Demons in these novels. Aside from those, the North Sea Ice Palace and the Church of Blood.

'I'll need to go to figure out the Church of Blood in that world, but it is one of the major forces.'

It was not just an organization but a major force.

It was possible that they would be more powerful and more insidious than the White Star's Arm.

No, it was highly likely.

'He wants us to take care of something like that on our own?

I know we have Dragons, Choi Han, and our other friends, but…'

If that was the case…

'A lot of our people will get hurt.'

His friends getting seriously injured to capture the Hunters? Them being put in danger?

This basically gave Cale the biggest reason not to accept the divine item from the God of Death.

Cale's gaze was now too sharp for a gaze directed at his team leader he had met again for the first time in a long while.

Sui Khan responded in an oddly slow voice.

"Cale, I know that the God of Death has no shame. But would I inform you about such a god?"

"Human! I agree that the God of Death has no shame but Sui Khan doesn't seem like that."

Choi Han slightly nodded his head as if to show agreement to Raon's comment.

Sui Khan chuckled and continued to speak.

"The worlds with the Hunter households all have different situations, but, based on what I know, there are at least some helpers and organizations to support us in each world."

"Are they organizations that are against the Hunters?"

"Some are like that but others have either made deals with the God of Death or follow him."

Sui Khan looked up at the air.

"A wanderer went to the world with the Church of Blood to create a base."

Wanderers.

This was a path that a single-lifer could take after death as they could not reincarnate.

They could either work toward becoming a god or wander like a mercenary.

Choi Jung Gun, the first Dragon Slayer and Choi Han and Choi Jung Soo's ancestor, was a wanderer.

Cale thought that team leader Lee Soo Hyuk seemed odd and naturally commented.

"Did Choi Jung Soo go to do that?"

"…Yeah."

Choi Jung Soo was a single-lifer.

He too chose the path of a wanderer.

"We should be able to meet Choi Jung Soo there if things go well."

Sui Khan was talking to Cale but his eyes were looking at Choi Han. Choi Han had his head down and was looking at his hands since the moment Cale mentioned Choi Jung Soo.

Sui Khan quietly observed him before turning to look at Cale.

He then started to smile.

"Apparently there are Five Great Saints and Five Great Demons in that world."

Cale wondered why the team leader was suddenly talking about this before thinking about the team leader's personality and asking in a baffled voice.

'No way, right?'

"Is Choi Jung Soo one of them?"

"Yes."

Sui Khan sounded a bit mischievous, as if he was trying to calm this heavy mood. Choi Han raised his head a bit and commented.

"He must be one of the Five Great Saints."

"No."

Sui Khan sternly shook his head.

"He's the Sword Demon."

"…Excuse me?"

Choi Han asked back and Sui Khan continued as if he found it to be funny.

"Apparently he earned the title by pummeling the contemporary Sword Saint."

'Aigoo, my head.'

Cale brushed his hair back.

It was obvious that Choi Jung Soo would have been laughing and causing all sorts of incidents without thinking much about it. He even wondered if Choi Jung Soo really was a descendant from Choi Han's family as he frequently caused all sorts of incidents and had a personality where he didn't look back at what he had done.

"What kind of incidents did he go around causing?"

"I don't know the details either."

Sui Khan calmly commented.

"If things go well, you should be able to ask him in person?"

They might be able to meet Choi Jung Soo.

Those words made Cale silent for a moment. Choi Han was also silent.

Someone else, who had been organizing his thoughts, used this moment of silence to speak.

It was Alberu.

"Either way, Sui Khan, you said that we would most likely go to the world with the white mages first if we have to go to different dimensions, right?"

"That's right."

Alberu had no idea what the Central Plains, wuxia, and Blood Demon were, so he decided to ask about the next step for now.

"Then what kind of world is the one with the white mages?"

The white magic associated with the Duke's House of Orsena…

It might even be connected to the destruction of the King's Palace as well.

'Beyond that, the Hunters are now a real threat to the Roan Kingdom.'

This threat might spread throughout the Eastern and Western continents as well. It was normal to expect that people who messed with a King's Palace and a ducal house would be capable of doing even more.

That was why someone in Alberu's position needed to first learn about such a place in order to make plans for the future.

This question made Sui Khan silent for the first time.

The silence made everybody look at him.

Sui Khan started to speak just after the mood sank.

"That is a ruined world."

'What?'

Cale looked at his reincarnated team leader in shock.

Alberu spoke with a stiff expression on his face.

"…What do you mean by that?"

"Dead mana covers over 80 percent of the land there and creatures can only live in 20 percent of the world."

Alberu tried to imagine that in his mind.

A world covered in dead mana.

Most living beings in this world would either die or be seriously poisoned if they came in contact with dead mana.

"…Is the dead mana there different from the dead mana here?"

"No. It is the same. Dead mana is a critical poison to regular living beings."

Alberu was visible in Sui Khan's red eyes. Alberu thought that his eyes resembled blood. The blood-like eyes were looking right at Alberu.

"People who can handle dead mana rule that world. The Dark Elves and black mages are the nobles."

Unlike this world where Dark Elves and other darkness attribute races were slowly starting to get accepted starting from the Roan Kingdom, they were the ones in power in that world.

"Ah."

Sui Khan turned to look at Cale as if he remembered something.

"For reference, the Emperor of the strongest Empire in that world must have a certain ability. They will only earn the qualification to challenge for the position of imperial crown prince by having that ability."

Crunch.

Sui Khan ate the cookie in his hand before continuing to speak.

"They have a title for the Emperor of that place."

Cale looked into Sui Khan's red eyes and Sui Khan looked back at him.

"The Emperor of the Dead."

The dead.

The silent Choi Han subconsciously commented after hearing that word.

"Necromancer."

That word made all of them think of one person.

The necromancer, Mary.

Sui Khan calmly agreed with Choi Han.

"Yes, only those with the power of a necromancer will earn the title of heir in that place. It doesn't matter whether they are from the main family or a collateral line."

Sui Khan shrugged his shoulders.

"It's completely different from this world, isn't it?"

"Haaa."

Cale sighed and buried his body into the couch.

'A wuxia world and a world covered in dead mana…'

"Wow."

'Fuck.'

Cale swore internally and looked forward before making eye contact with Alberu.

Alberu spoke with a stiff expression on his face.

"I cannot go. I can't leave the palace right now with the king gone."

'Who asked?'

Cale silently looked at Alberu, who said all of that despite Cale not asking him to go.

Alberu felt guilty after seeing that indifferent gaze.

'…It won't be easy.'

The world they may have to go first was a world covered in dead mana. A ruined world was a perfect description of it.

Alberu was close to dead mana because he had some Dark Elf blood in him, but regular crops could not grow in a land covered in dead mana. That fact alone was enough to know that the ecosystem was not normal in that world.

Alberu looked into Cale's transparent eyes and ended up speaking again.

"…Do you… Need me to go too?"

The palace and his friends…

Alberu's voice was hesitant unlike his usual self as he was contemplating between two very important things to him.

"…No...?"

Cale's baffled response made Alberu look baffled as well.

"What are we going to do about the Roan Kingdom if you go, your highness?"

"…Yes."

Alberu became oddly silent while Cale still looked at him with a baffled look before turning to look at Sui Khan.

"But team leader. There is one thing that is making me uncomfortable."

"What is it?"

"You said that the Hunters use life and blood as the cost to travel through dimensions. Then what about us?"

Choi Han and Alberu's gazes turned vicious after hearing Cale's question.

"Team leader, do we need to pay such a cost too?"

Raon sternly shouted at that moment.

"I don't want to! Why should we have to pay the cost?! That does not add up!"

It was as if he could not accept that at all. He sounded extremely firm.

"No matter whether they are a god or not, the calculations have to be thorough!"

Raon was so stern that even Choi Han and Alberu were shocked.

"That's right."

Cale nodded his head as if this was the obvious response. He then patted Raon's sleek back with a satisfied look on his face.

Raon smiled brightly and rubbed his face on Cale's knees.

"My my, so similar."

Sui Khan watched this with an extremely satisfied look on his face as well and quietly mumbled. Alberu thought that this look of satisfaction on Sui Khan's face did not suit his appearance at all, but decided to focus on what would be said.

"The gods do not handle the cost."

At that moment…

Boom!

Raon slammed on the table with his front paw.

"This damn scammer of a god!"

"Of course, we won't have to pay for it either."

Raon quietly picked up a cookie and ate it.

Cale pushed the cookie basket toward Raon and asked.

"Then who will pay the cost?"

This world and these potential dimensions that he saw always had some kind of restrictions in the name of 'laws' and required a cost or balance.

That was why he did not believe that there would be no cost.

Furthermore, he needed to make sure that this cost would not harm them in any way in the future. If it would, he would rather find a different method.

"The world will handle the cost."

"…What do you mean by that?"

Choi Han asked and Sui Khan responded.

"The world that we are trying to travel to will handle the cost."

'Mm.'

Sui Khan debated how to explain it for a bit before finally speaking.

"Here's an example to make it easy. The Hunter household in the world with the white mages is called the 'Black Blood.'

A new Hunter household after the Red Blood and the White Blood…

The Black Blood.

"The world with the Black Blood desperately wants it."

The world wanted something.

"It desperately wants the complete annihilation of the Hunters."

It wanted for an existence to disappear.

"…Why?"

"For that world to survive."

"Mm."

Choi Han, who asked that question, groaned while Sui Khan calmly commented.

"The Hunters made that world like that."

Alberu's face instantly stiffened.

A world was almost completely covered in dead mana.

It wasn't the entire Hunters Organization but just one household that made it like that?

'Holy crap.'

Alberu had to hold himself from swearing.

Sui Khan just continued to speak.

"Of course, we don't need to travel through dimensions to completely destroy all Hunters. We just need to help that world out, and the world that we help will deal with fixing the twist in the balance."

"Do the other worlds all want for the annihilation of the Hunters?"

Sui Khan shook his head at Choi Han, who asked in a slightly sunken voice.

"Not necessarily. All worlds have different desires. However, you can say that we have some level of agreement related to the Hunters."

Cale, who had been deep in thought, opened his mouth.

"That world-"

"The world with the white mages is called the Xiaolen Planet.

"I see. Are there helpers on the Xiaolen Planet as well?'

"Yeah. I haven't met them before, but I have heard that there are some."

Sui Khan looked at Cale with a slightly odd gaze. Cale had an odd gaze as well as he knew the team leader did not make such a face very often. He asked back.

"What is it? Is there something odd?"

"…There are believers of the Fire of Purification in that world. They are our helpers."

'Fire of Purification?'

Cale looked at Sui Khan as he was confused about what the problem was. Raon patted Cale's knee at that moment.

"Human! It's similar to your power! You can purify the dead mana with your fiery thunderbolts!"

"…Huh?"

Sui Khan shrugged his shoulders as Cale let out a confused sound.

"Isn't it odd? I'm suspicious about that as well, but they shouldn't be bad since they are our helpers."

"Do you not know anything more?"

"No. The God of Death didn't tell me."

"Mm."

Cale debated for a moment before looking into the air and then at Alberu.

Tap. Tap. His index finger tapped on the armrest of the couch.

Alberu scowled at Cale for looking at him while disrespectfully tapping the armrest.

"What's wrong?"

'I have a bad feeling about this.'

Alberu did not say that part out loud.

"Your highness."

Cale gently smiled at him.

"Does the Church of the God of Death have any weaknesses?"

"Ah."

Alberu calmly nodded his head.

"They do. You want the divine item?"

"Yes, your highness. I do believe I will have to take the divine item."

But Cale would do it in a way that was beneficial to him.

It was highly likely that the divine item would be used frequently while dealing with the Hunters. However, it would be bad if the temple tried to interfere in any way or request explanations from him.

'Although it did look as if the bishop would be easy to talk to.'

However, it was good to have as many weapons in your arsenal for any conversation or negotiations.

Cale continued to speak to Alberu.

"And it would be good for the kingdom for people to know that I received the divine item, right?"

The Battle at Puzzle City…

Although they were victorious, Puzzle City was basically ruined.

Then the King's Palace was destroyed, the king was missing, and a Duke's Estate burned down.

The death of the Flynn Merchant Guild's leader would soon be revealed as well.

Foreign kingdoms that don't know the details might welcome the fact that peace was returned to the continent along with unfavorable conditions for the Roan Kingdom.

However, the people of the Roan Kingdom would only be full of fear and uncertainty.

'A divine item is being given to the Commander of the Roan Kingdom at such a time?'

Cale Henituse would be receiving an item from a god.

Alberu thought that this could be a precious source of hope for the people of the Roan Kingdom right now.

'He hates being talked about but is always willing to turn a blind eye at times like this.'

Alberu, who could tell what Cale was thinking despite looking stoic, spoke extremely lightly in a voice full of gratitude.

"I will give you all of the information about the Church of the God of Death. Their weaknesses are there as well."

"That sounds great, your highness."

Cale addressed the group.

"Let's go meet with the bishop immediately."

It was better to take care of things quickly since they had set the direction of their course.

—

Translator's Comments

Our Alberu knows Cale so well.