Chapter 55

Chapter 55

But as vague thoughts often go, I hadn’t been able to gauge just how much real-world impact my skill’s effects would have.

“At least 30 percent, and at most double…”

Now, though, with the current S-Rank #6 hunter directly presenting those numbers to me, the story was different.

I clenched both hands tightly and thought about what the Dragon King had said, without uttering a word for a while.

He said it would increase the clearing efficiency of high-difficulty dungeons. If that happened, if only that happened… maybe I could prevent the Monster Parade that occurred uncontrollably in areas beyond regulation, and the countless casualties that came with it.

No, I definitely could prevent it.

At least, since most Monster Parades happening right now occurred in high-difficulty dungeons, and that was precisely because the time high-rank hunters spent clearing dungeons was terribly inefficient compared to the results.

“Think about that part deeply. Your ability doesn’t just affect your own wealth or glory — it might literally be necessary from the standpoint of all humanity.”

“……”

“Well, let’s stop this kind of talk here. I’d like to make that request I sent via letter, right here in person.”

Without further delay, Louis pulled a small box straight out of his Inventory. Then he opened the lid and held out the item inside to me.

“I’d like you to change the options on these two pieces of equipment to their maximum values.”

* * *

Generally, what’s needed to move a virtuous person isn’t personal advancement or wealth. It’s something a bit bigger, more desperate. For example.

Something like the survival of foolish, weak humans.

“Don’t burden a child with unnecessary guilt.”

“You make it sound like I did something wrong, Guild Master.”

Through the open window, a faint breeze carried the woman’s reddish hair, tinged with white, fluttering like flames.

Thanks to that, the Dragon King, who had been watching the small figure that had finished the request — the original purpose of their meeting — and was now heading back beyond the window, looked at the face of a certain virtuous person who had burst into his room as soon as Yoon Seohee and her companion had left.

“I was only pointing out reality. The ability Yoon Seohee possesses clearly has potential beyond what she herself realizes. No, perhaps it might be even greater than any of us think.”

“I’m saying don’t impose grand causes on individual humans, you child.”

Coming from someone who always carried a cause far too large for a single person to bear, it was a rather ridiculous thing to say.

Louis briefly looked at the red-haired woman before him — the guild master of Nuri Guild, and the #2 ranked hunter in the country, Sacred Flame Kim Miju.

He opened his mouth to suggest she reflect on her own actions, but couldn’t manage to utter a single word and closed his lips.

Because he knew full well that if he said something like that, the reply would be something like, “But I’m an old man who’s lived long enough, aren’t I?”

So instead of pointing out Kim Miju’s past actions, Louis chose a different direction.

“Anyway, Jeong Seojin and Yoon Juyeong are always by Hunter Yoon Seohee’s side. And from what I saw today… it seems there’s another person attached to her that I hadn’t identified. From the looks of it, at least A-Rank, possibly S-Rank… there definitely wasn’t a recent ranking update, right?”

“You’re changing the subject again. There wasn’t.”

“It seems Yoon Seohee has more secrets than I thought.”

On the surface, Yoon Seohee wore the guise of an ordinary C-Rank hunter, but if you looked closely, she possessed an extraordinariness that could never be expressed with the words “ordinary C-Rank hunter.”

The Dragon King rested his chin on his specially made, relatively small office desk and looked at Kim Miju, who stood more upright than anyone on the opposite side of the desk.

“You know, Guild Master. I did a little personal research on Yoon Seohee.”

“Don’t tell me you went so far as to investigate her behind her back?”

“It’s hardly a background check. I only looked within publicly available domains. Anyway, when I looked into it, I found Hunter Yoon Seohee to be quite an interesting person.”

“What now. If you’re planning to use that personality of yours — the one that insists on keeping people you like close just to torment them — on that child again, know this: I’ll personally crack your skull open.”

“…Your threats sound so sincere that they’re terrifying, Guild Master?”

“I mean it.”

“……”

Indeed, Kim Miju was never one to make empty threats, no matter the situation. That meant the remark about “cracking his skull open” was also sincere, without a single ounce of exaggeration.

He hadn’t exactly planned to keep Yoon Seohee close just to torment her, but still, it seemed he’d have to be careful not to invite any suspicion in the future.

If he wasn’t careful, a disaster might occur where Kim Miju’s Battle Axe, taller than a person, would end up lodged in his head.

“Anyway, within the scope I looked into, Hunter Yoon Seohee seems to be a remarkably… good person.”

“She must have worked hard to live that way. I heard she grew up in an orphanage. It must have been terribly difficult to stay good in such circumstances.”

“Hmm. That’s right. You’re right. As the Guild Master says, in an environment where you have to constantly compete with other kids for the director’s attention, it’s hard to grow up that kind. Yes, but… when I looked through the records, it says Yoon Seohee was like that ‘from the very beginning.’”

“Hm?”

“She was kind from the start, good from the start. That’s how it’s always been in the records. She’d give up her own share without a second thought, volunteer for those worse off as if it were only natural, stay up all night taking care of younger, weaker children…”

“She must be good-natured by nature. Or perhaps I worry there was some pressure on her from a young age to grow up as a good child.”

Was it that only such things were visible to the eyes of a good person?

Louis stared at the woman before him, who could be considered a paragon of virtue, with white eyes and let out a deep sigh.

In the eyes of someone whose personality would never allow them to be called a saint, a different part of Yoon Seohee was visible — not her innate goodness.

“Everything the Guild Master said is all correct. It’s correct, but… this kept coming up over and over while I was investigating Hunter Yoon Seohee. ‘Fair to everyone.’”

“Huh?”

“It kept appearing in her school records too. A personality that’s fair to everyone, something like that.”

“Don’t tell me you dug up her school records too? This won’t do. Come here. It seems you need your head cracked open for the first time in a while to come to your senses.”

“Ah! W-Wait! Just listen for a second! I didn’t dig them up! Well, I did, but! Anyway, there’s someone in our guild who personally knew Yoon Seohee, and I found out through them! At least hear the whole story before you do anything!”

Kim Miju’s hand, which had been groping through the air as if about to pull a battle-axe from the Inventory, returned to its original position. Fortunately, it seemed Kim Miju had decided to listen to the story first, as he had asked.

Louis let out a sigh so faint that Kim Miju couldn’t possibly notice it, and cautiously glanced at Kim Miju’s expression.

“…Fine. I’ll hear the whole story. But know this: as soon as it’s over, I’m going to plant an axe right in your head.”

“You’re really brutal. I wonder if the world knows about this side of Hunter Kim Miju, the wingless angel.”

“Of course they do. Wasn’t it just the day before yesterday or yesterday that I broke the limbs of that bastard who tried to pull a dog’s trick on a child? It even made the news.”

“That’s obviously something that could happen, and everyone knows about it, but no one knows you’re about to brutally assault an innocent vice-guild master like this, do they?”

“…Are you being serious? If so, I’ll add the crime of insolence and hit you one more time…”

“No, I’m not, I’m sorry. I am a sinner. A very great sinner, at that.”

If Kim Miju ever got her head smashed by her battle-axe, it would certainly not end with a light injury.

No matter how much he possessed the body of a dragon and could transform into one, it wasn’t an all-purpose body that could deflect every impact.

Louis recalled Kim Miju, who had casually torn off his wing joint years ago, and shuddered once.

At the time, he had just gained the dragon’s power and was out of his mind, rampaging, so it was an unavoidable situation, but thinking back on it, it was still terrifying.

The sight of firmly gripping the massive dragon’s body until it bled, and striking down precisely on the wing joint dozens, hundreds of times with a huge axe wreathed in crimson flames…

‘Don’t resist Kim Miju.’

Louis once again recalled that most valuable and precious experience, and continued what he had been saying.

“Anyway, a man who used to date Yoon Seohee is working as an administrative staff member in our guild. So I had a little chat with him. Only the man’s ‘experience,’ mind you.”

“…There’s plenty I don’t like about this, but fine. Go ahead and speak.”

“Hmm, you’ll find this strange once you hear it. According to that man, for Hunter Yoon Seohee, there was virtually no difference in value — not between her ‘boyfriend,’ her ‘classmates’ who were just in the same class, or even the ‘bullies’ who harassed and ostracized her.”

“What?”

“In other words, Hunter Yoon Seohee was fair to everyone. Literally. To her boyfriend, to her classmates, and even to the bullies who tormented her. Of course, those last ones ended up falling into their own trap and ruining their lives in the end.”

Even the ever-unflappable Kim Miju seemed genuinely taken aback by this story; a clear look of bewilderment settled in Kim Miju’s crimson eyes.

Louis nodded as if to say he understood that feeling a hundred times over. After all, he too had been quite shocked when he first heard the story.