[I’m trying to push the plot forward so you guys get to my favorite arcs sooner, the next 3 arcs are insane.]
Chapter 304: Tiger’s Mouth (2)
Shaolin’s face was filled with perplexity.
Her face seemed to ask, ‘What is this bastard doing here?’ She also seemed unable to respond to the sudden flattery.
The big Russian and the Legion Mage, Jin Qing, looking over here, were observing us with an excited expression.
They had noticed that we already knew each other.
“Is he a customer?”
Jin Qing didn’t say anything, but I could hear Valentin muttering alone in a tone of disappointment.
I didn’t know why he was disappointed, but one thing for sure was that we had to get out of this place quickly.
Only when I held Jung Hayan’s hand tightly as if telling her to calm down that it felt like her breathing was a little more stable.
‘She’s not jealous.’
She was also extremely stressed.
Since three strong people in the room were at her level just by looking at them, she was worried that my safety might be compromised.
Looking at her with her head down and mumbling without paying attention to me, I thought she was doing some sort of image training, but it seemed like she was preparing for a situation if anything were to happen.
“You…”
“I’m sorry for the late contact, Shaolin-nim.”
“It’s not enough to say it’s too late. I’m sure I told you. That if you don’t keep your promise, I don’t know what I would do.”
“Of course, I also wanted to contact you, but as you know, the State has suffered a series of serious incidents over the past time. I’ve tried everything I could, but I didn’t have time… It was very hard for me, too.”
“I don’t know… I thought we bumped into each other earlier, but I think that was my mistake. And, if you’re here to see a lady, it’s good manners to come alone, but why did you come with a woman? Besides, how did you know I was coming here?”
‘Fuck… I didn’t think about that.’
I had made a mistake on my first line.
Instead of ‘You don’t know how much I’ve been looking for you,’ I should have used lines like ‘What a coincidence.’
She had a reproachful tone of voice, thinking that I’d pried into information about the foreigners of the Republic.
Even Jin Qing looked perplexed. They might have thought that I was paying attention to their movements.
Of course, it was nothing like that. I just came in by accident, and I just met Shaolin by accident.
However, it would be natural for these people to be suspicious that someone powerful from the State had entered such a place outside the city.
They thought I might have had a purpose.
“Perhaps you mistook somebody else for me. It was also a coincidence that I came to this place. Anyway, you’re still the same.”
“You, too. You still have that mouth. You still sing a different tune. You say it’s a coincidence that you have just entered here among the many places? I don’t know how you got here, but you know it doesn’t look good to you, right? Even if it’s a good customer, he’ll become an uninvited guest if he comes too suddenly. Of course, I don’t really care, but I’m curious about what my friends will think… I don’t think there’s anyone around, considering you came confidently. I think I’m looking at a herbivore that walked in on his own to be eaten… What should I do? Shall I eat it?”
‘Fuuck…’
“Who is it?”
“Oh. Valentin-nim probably knows him…”
“That’s why I’m asking who this is.”
“He’s the most popular in the State lately? The Blue Vice Guild Master located in Lindel, the one chosen by the dragon, the first foreigner who received the position in the Holy Empire, one of the Eight Seats of the Church, and the Gigolo of the Mercenary Queen…”
It was then that Valentin suddenly swung his fist against the wall.
Jung Hayan, who reacted reflexively to the sound, immediately raised her eyes and moved her hand.
A dagger was aimed at Jung Hayan’s neck, but she quickly opened her mouth as if she didn’t care.
She seemed to be thinking of chanting the spell even at the cost of her life, but I couldn’t ridiculously lose Jung Hayan like this.
“Stop!”
The movement stopped, and the dagger, rushing toward her neck, also stopped moving.
A line of blood was flowing from Jung Hayan’s white neck, and Shaolin lowered the dagger.
“If you had chanted, you would have died. Although half of the people here would have died too, but… that thing just now wasn’t a big deal, so you don’t have to get angered, wizard lady. That uncle is just a little hot-tempered.”
‘So, what’s up with him?’
“Ohh. He had a thing with that red gorilla in the past. They broke badly at that time, I guess? The scar on the face was that gorilla’s work. When the Mercenary Queen is mentioned, he’s like that… I think I shouldn’t have talked about the Mercenary Queen.”
I could see her laughing. However, it felt like her level was quite high for her to crack such a simple joke.
The guy, who looked like a bomb about to explode, was staring at this me with bloodshot eyes.
Not only was he breathing hard, but he was starting to put pressure on me with energy.
My legs almost fluttered for a moment, but pretending to be weak wouldn’t help. I felt like a mouse dangling right in front of a cat.
When Jung Hayan bit her lips tightly and held my hand, I felt better.
It was then that he came swinging his fist without notice.
‘Fucking… crazy!’
Because of the wind pressure, all nearby objects were blown away, and a sound as if the air was being torn was heard.
Jung Hayan bit her lips, and I also tried to move my hand, but, of course, I was also worried about Shaolin behind us.
‘If I get hit, I’ll die.’
I would get crushed, just like that.
In fact, I somehow believed in Shaolin. However, that didn’t eradicate the fear I had inside of me.
As the fear of death struck right before my eyes, I immediately turned my head and looked for the bitch I could lean on to.
However, Shaolin was already not there.
Although I cursed, I rushed to make a seal. Jung Hayan was also trying to chant a spell again. However, it seemed as if this would not be needed.
In a split second, Shaolin had appeared in front of us, holding out her whip.
‘Sha… Shaolin is the best!!’
Once again, a roaring sound was heard, and their voices came to me.
“What are you doing? Are you trying to kill him? Didn’t I say he was my guest?”
“Let me go.”
“What if I don’t? You’re the one who should fall back before I lose my temper.”
“You…”
‘He is also a mess…’
No matter what I was to think, it was necessary to sort things out.
The wild boar’s face turned red and blue from anger, but Shaolin was also shaking her arms as if it was too hard to block that attack directly.
She was a medium-to-long distance type to begin with, so it was correct to think that she went a little too far to block this attack.
At this point, I wanted nothing else but to find a bathroom.
Fortunately, there seemed to be one normal person among them.
It was no wonder that they needed a leash to control these two crazy nerds.
“You better stop, Valentin, Shaolin. This is not a conflict area.”
‘Legion Mage?’
It was Jin Qing.
What I was curious about was that at one word, the Anger Control Disorder and the crazy bitch slowly stepped back a few steps.
The big guy was still shaking his hands, but he seemed to be holding back his anger by turning the table into powder.
Shaolin also took a few steps back without saying anything, and started getting her arm healed by her minion next to her.
The easy-going looking parasitic guy, who stood up, continued to talk, coming in this direction.
“If you do it any longer, we will face a bad situation either. He was the first foreigner to receive the title of Honorary Cardinal… He is one of those under the protection of the Templars, managed by the Holy sector of the State. I don’t know what they are, but perhaps one of them would have blocked it if Shaolin-nim hadn’t stopped it.”
‘He knows well…’
I had only been told that this was the case, but I hadn’t actually tried to see if a Templar would really pop out.
I had never seen the Templars themselves, and I didn’t know how they moved to protect me. I had only heard stories of them protecting those they were assigned to out of the blue.
‘Just now was very dangerous… Why didn’t it pop out?’
I am worried that it will pop out after my head gets broken.
“The delegation from the State is still in Laios… and even under continental law, it is taboo to fight in neutral areas. Of course, it is also illegal to kill people from other countries. Being criticized by the international community is something anyone wants to avoid… Especially in sensitive times like these days. I understand Valentin’s feelings, but he’s not the Mercenary Queen.”
“… …”
“Even if it is not here, there will be a chance someday. In fact, from my point of view, it is ideal that it does not happen…”
“Oh. It turned out that the introduction was late, Honorary Cardinal Lee Kiyoung. I’m Jin Qing, one of the Five General Tigers of the Republic and serving as the Republican military. Nice to meet you.”
“Ah! Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
In fact, I hadn’t heard about him, but he quietly nodded.
‘Intelligence 99.’
He looked to be easy-going, but I knew he was the type to have a lot of thoughts.
A simple intelligence stat was not an indicator of being smart, but this wizard looked pretty smart since he had Book Master attached as a title, as well as an unreadable attribute.
It seemed impossible, but it was not unreasonable to be curious if he had a mythic-grade attribute, or if he was a user with eyes like Yuno Kasugano or me.
‘He’s a high level.’
I realized once more in this slightly calm atmosphere that they were of higher quality than I thought.
She was simply holding on, but that Shaolin had faced Cha Hee-ra for more than 30 minutes, and Valentin Alexandro was a moving bomb.
Jin Qing, who looked like a good person, was also hiding something despite his excellent stats.
‘Is he stronger than the Eight Seats?’
Of course, there were monsters like Cha Hee-ra and Kim Hyunsung in the Eight Seats.
However, they had specifications that exceeded the lower squad of the Eight Seats of the Empire.
For example, Dawan’s archer, Park Yeon-joo, and Cheon Gwan-wi could not possibly handle these guys.
The strength was not determined only by visible things such as stats, attributes, and weapons, but it cannot be said that the gap did not exist at all.
“Well… I don’t know why you came here, but I think it’ll be okay to listen. I think it would be right to say hello first. Ah! Please take a seat. The same goes for the lady.”
“Thank you.”
I could see him pulling out the chair to make me sit, but Jung Hayan slightly crumpled her face as if his kindness was unpleasant.
I didn’t know why, but for some reason, it felt like he was trying to look good to Jung Hayan.
‘Son of a bitch.’
He had found out that she was an unrivaled talent in the world.
I did not know if he was interested in her as a man, but it was an undeniable fact that either way, I felt like shit.
He was looking at me with an amused expression.
“Well… It looks like you haven’t eaten yet…”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“This place takes quite a bit of time. Why don’t we try a simple game before waiting for the meal?
This was unexpected.
‘What’s this bullshit all of a sudden?’