Chapter 138 – LV.Twelve Priest Seo Yun – [Four]

Lord Cairo could no longer argue back, and Seo Yun solemnly praised her own intelligence, which had merely been misjudged. Anyway, the meteorite should have judged her Intelligence Stat to be around 8 points…

Lord Cairo’s tightly shut mouth only opened after a while. A slightly trembling voice flowed from those lips.

“This time, I’m the one who disappointed him… No matter what method was used, it was the Sun God who personally descended to the Mortal Realm.”

It seemed his pride had been quite wounded. Seo Yun was waiting for some kind of surrender statement to fall from that mouth.

Lord Cairo spoke.

“Still, I cannot provide support.”

At this unexpected statement, Seo Yun’s expression didn’t change, but she was surprised.

“What?”

“I cannot provide support… I may have truly made a mistake last time. It certainly might have been a disgrace severe enough for a god to act directly. But I cannot mobilize the Crusaders just to atone for that sin.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you know, Archangel? The prophesied end is approaching. The people of this land are being slaughtered like withered pigs.”

Seo Yun looked at Lord Cairo and thought. Did my words just now not get through at all?

That didn’t seem to be the case. Lord Cairo continued with an utterly weary face and a weary voice.

“Until this happened, the Crusaders forcibly collected taxes from the people of this land, making their already difficult lives even harder. In return, we promised protection in this land, so now we must pay that price. That is the duty of the Crusaders. Abandon that duty to atone? I’d rather die and fall into Hell.”

“So, apart from the sin committed, you can’t leave the people you must protect right now and depart?”

“Yes. No matter how angry the Sun God is with me, there’s nothing to be done.”

Seo Yun inwardly groaned. It was a very Lord Cairo-like statement from the novel, and even Seo Yun couldn’t make an argument strong enough to break that. Moreover, she herself, who came to persuade, couldn’t demand abandoning all the other dying people for the sake of this one village.

Still, for now, it was certain Lord Cairo’s resolve had weakened. His tone also conveyed a sense of guilt.

Seo Yun focused on that point and lowered her demand as well.

“I said I wanted support, but I’m not asking you to join the war outright.”

“Then?”

“Can’t you even help for just one crucial battle, for just one moment? The distance between our village and your territory is far, but as I understand, you don’t even need to walk here to reach our land.”

“It seems you’re hoping for support from a small unit of Paladins via a Dimensional Gate. Is even that acceptable?”

“Better than nothing.”

After a brief silence, Lord Cairo nodded.

“I’ll consider that much.”

Finally, Seo Yun succeeded in negotiating with Lord Cairo what kind of support she could receive and how they would communicate.

This could be considered about half a success. After leaving the Sun Ship, Seo Yun relayed the negotiation results to the people of Happy Village who were waiting for her.

“In the end, even after unexpectedly wearing the Archangel’s hat, I failed to get large-scale support. I’m sorry, really.”

At Seo Yun’s words, Oh Haengun smiled slightly.

“Where else would you get even that? You did really well, Seo Yun…”

“I tried my best. So now there was one more thing to do, right?”

Even after crossing the Dimensional Gate and returning to Happy Village, there was no time to rest. Seo Yun asked the members of the village’s Reconnaissance Team.

“Which way did the Dawn Corps soldiers head, you said?”

The answer came back that a large number of soldiers had been spotted in Bucheon.

They said more soldiers were gathered there than expected, and it was suspected they might be a combination of the Dawn Corps soldiers who had earlier escaped to Gangwon-do and this batch of deserters.

To meet them, Seo Yun once again took to the road with the warriors of Happy Village.

While riding in the truck, they stopped by the neighboring village.

It was a village she had visited once before, and according to Seo Yun’s memory, that village was almost like a garbage dump. The so-called fortress wall was just piled-up debris from collapsed buildings, and there were only a few shabby tents.

And Seo Yun was surprised by the sight of the neighboring village, now lined with dozens of neat tents and a clean fortress wall, completely different from what she had seen before.

How could it have changed so much? Just by changing one leader…

The aforementioned leader came out to greet the Happy Village people. More precisely, she came out to greet her ‘Unni’, not even glancing at the Happy Village people.

“Unni!”

“Yeah, Rayeon… The village has changed a lot, huh?”

At Seo Yun’s words, Seo Rayeon answered with pride, devoid of any humility.

“Entirely my merit. Do you know how hard I worked to make this place look like people live here? So you probably didn’t come here to admire it. Why did you come with those battle slaves?”

“Please don’t say crazy things like battle slaves… I came to pick up my team members.”

“Why? From what I heard from those two, it seemed like their lives were threatened by trolls. Are they safe now?”

“It seems so. I’ll tell you the details later, so can you have the two come here?”

“Who would I refuse, Unni?”

Answering exaggeratedly, Seo Rayeon had another subordinate bring the two. Then she asked.

“Are you leaving right away with them?”

“Yeah, I’m busy.”

“But stop by on your way back. Got it?”

Probably because she had something to tell that girl too.

When Seo Yun promised she would, Seo Rayeon grinned. Not long after, two familiar faces appeared.

“Seo Yun!”

It was Gaeulbi and Han Siwoo. It hadn’t even been that long since they parted, but seeing their faces had filled out again, Seo Yun was impressed. It seemed they were well-fed and well-rested. Had the village’s situation improved enough to treat guests that well?

Soon, they left the neighboring village. In the moving truck, Seo Yun said to Gaeulbi.

“We’re going to meet the Dawn Corps soldiers this time, and I’m taking you.”

“Why? You’re not taking me to beat them all to death if things go wrong, are you…”

This crazy girl. Seo Yun put her hand to her forehead and spoke.”The probability is high that your aunt is there. In case we can’t bring her back, we’re going to at least see her face to confirm she’s doing well. If the soldiers recognize you, the talks could turn hostile, so cover your face. It’s summer, so everyone’s covering their faces to avoid mosquito bites anyway, so no one will think it’s strange…”

“Got it!”

“So, you behaved well while we were apart, right?”

In response to Seo Yun’s question, Gaeulbi just smiled instead of answering. It was a strange smile, a rather suspicious one. Seo Yun’s eyebrows twitched as she asked again.

“You didn’t behave well?”

Gaeulbi hesitated for a moment, then asked in return.

“If I tell the truth, will you get angry?”

“I won’t get angry, so tell me. What did you do?”

“I hunted Military Grunts!”

Seo Yun’s mouth just hung open for a moment. She hunted humans?

Hearing such words spoken in such a cheerful voice sent shivers down her spine.

“Why did you do that again?”

“I heard they attacked Happy Village this time and then ran away? Besides, if we leave them alone, they’ll probably target this village too. How could we just leave them be!”

Seo Yun looked at Han Siwoo. Han Siwoo turned his head away, avoiding the accusatory gaze sent his way.

Seo Yun quietly said to Gaeulbi.

“How many times have I told you to lay low if you want to meet your aunt?”

“But my aunt said she’ll let me meet her now because of you, Seo Yun? Thanks to having a good friend like you, I’ve leveled up a ton and even get to meet the aunt I’ve been longing for… I don’t know how to thank you, really?”

Gaeulbi chuckled, then muttered.

“Anyway, if my aunt is all skin and bones looking like a half-dead corpse… Or if she’s been abused or something, those Military Grunts should know they’ll die even more by my hand… Ah, of course, I’ll behave properly there. I promise!”

Then she started beaming continuously, her heart seemingly swelling at the thought of going to meet her aunt.

‘Well, that chimpanzee started hating soldiers because of her aunt being kidnapped in the first place.’

In the end, the root cause of everything was that aunt. The woman who took care of Gaeulbi even though she had no obligation to. Having lost the woman who played the role of her mother, Gaeulbi had treated soldiers like her mother’s enemies.

If she gets her aunt back, will that girl finally behave? That was unknown.

The truck continued onward, heading towards the location previously scouted by the village reconnaissance team.

Dawn Corps soldiers were there. Perhaps the reconnaissance team had relayed the desire for a meeting in advance, as they had set up a makeshift meeting area.

Seo Yun cast a non-magic immunity spell and several defensive spells to prepare for potential ambushes on everyone before heading there.

Among the soldiers waiting at the meeting area was a familiar face. Not only Seo Yun, but Gaeulbi also recognized that face.

“Aunt…!”

The Nursing Officer Seo Yun knew was there. She hadn’t specifically asked for her to be brought here, so why?

The reason was unknown, but Seo Yun whispered to Gaeulbi, whose eyes were wide open.

“Be quiet for now. If you, who’s been hunting soldiers, act familiar here, it could cause problems for your aunt’s safety.”

“Okay…!”

Gaeulbi began staring at her aunt as if entranced.

And Gaeulbi’s aunt approached them.

A middle-aged woman who seemed to have suffered considerably, Ga Huiyeong, who had been a doctor before being taken by the Dawn Corps, approached and bowed politely.

“Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you. You are from Happy Village, I presume?”

Oh Haengun nodded, but as they were not on equal footing, he did not bow his head.

“Yes. And you are?”

“I am Ga Huiyeong. Our soldiers have caused much trouble, haven’t they? I would like to take this opportunity to offer my deepest apologies. However, I wish to clarify that not all of it stemmed purely from their own will.”

Meanwhile, Seo Yun couldn’t understand why that woman was making such statements.

“Nursing Officer?”

“You are…”

Ga Huiyeong, recognizing Seo Yun, narrowed her eyes slightly.

Seo Yun asked.

“It’s been a while, I think. Why are you here?”

Did she know their positions were reversed now? Ga Huiyeong did not speak down to her as she had before. In an exceedingly polite voice, she introduced herself.

“I am their representative.”

“Huh?”

“I am the representative of the soldiers here. It might be a bit puzzling considering the me you met before, but I am their commander.”

What on earth was this? Where were the battalion commanders and company commanders and such, and this woman was acting as the soldiers’ Leader?

Seo Yun, dumbfounded, asked.

“Since when?”

“Since fleeing Seoul, when we were in Gangwon-do. I’ve been giving them orders continuously since then.”

Seo Yun cautiously looked at Gaeulbi.

She saw the girl, seemingly in shock, frozen stiff.

Gaeulbi just stared blankly at her aunt, the commander of the soldiers she had killed countless times, like a Stone Statue that had suddenly frozen solid.