Chapter 97

Chapter 97

The reason he had changed so drastically from how he was back then came down to a conversation they’d had about a month later.

The content of that conversation was nothing special.

Andres August had asked Adam Rogers if he knew the names of the people who had been taken hostage.

And Adam Rogers had answered with complete honesty: he didn’t remember.

Right after that, Andres began constantly trying to take his life. At first it was just simple assassination attempts, but later he started weaving all sorts of schemes. The building where Yoon Seohee had nearly been kidnapped was one of those schemes. Carving an irreversible curse against an S+-Rank hunter at the cost of enormous sacrifice and price.

Having learned the reason behind Andres’s murderous intent toward Adam Rogers, Yoon Seohee fell silent for a moment. Whether it was a time of deliberation or a time of reflection, after that brief silence, she lifted her bowed head and met his gaze.

“Okay, I understand the story between you and Andres now. But there’s still one thing I want to ask.”

“Ask as many as you like.”

“I still don’t get why Andres tried to kidnap me. There’s… quite a gap between him holding a grudge against you and him trying to kidnap me.”

“I will explain that part as well.”

Adam Rogers answered Yoon Seohee’s question with a bright, sunny smile.

“First, because I am the person in charge of the Britten Dungeon raid this time. And second, because he is the owner of ‘Arondight.’”

The first reason was clear without further explanation. Those who held grudges against him, including Andres August, constantly poured all their effort into harassing and making life difficult for Adam Rogers. Unfortunately, nine out of ten attempts failed, and the last one nearly succeeded before failing.

In any case, they always worked hard to make Adam Rogers’s life just a little more miserable.

But in reality, the more important reason in this situation was the second one.

“I believe you know that the system’s recognition has a powerful influence on awakened beings.”

“…Well, of course. Skill effects being applied is also due to the system’s influence…”

“Then that will make the explanation quick.”

The ‘Arondight’ that Andres August used was one of the three knight swords currently existing in England, the sword of the legendary Knight of the Lake, Lancelot. And the ‘Caliburn’ that Yoon Seohee had drawn using her ability in the Britten Dungeon was the sword of Lancelot’s liege, King Arthur.

Up to this point, it was just a simple listing of facts. But the problem arose after this, in relation to the ‘system’s’ intervention.

“I don’t know if this only happens in England or if there are similar cases in other countries… but for items related to the Arthurian legend, the system treats the owner as ‘the owner of that item in the legend.’”

“…Huh?”

“Andres, the owner of Arondight, is recognized by the system as ‘Lancelot.’ …To put it more simply.”

The system would recognize Hunter Yoon Seohee as ‘King Arthur’ and Andres as ‘Lancelot.’ And considering the situation of awakened beings who are absolutely influenced by the system, the impact of the system’s recognition on them was clear.

“From Andres’s perspective, it meant that a ‘King Arthur’ who could perfectly control him as ‘Lancelot’ had appeared… and under the leadership of his mortal enemy, no less.”

“Pfft.”

“……”

“Pfft, hff, pfft-hahahaha!”

After hearing the full explanation of the ‘cause,’ Yoon Seohee and Jeong Seojin’s reactions split sharply. Yoon Seohee wore a dazed expression like someone facing an utterly unacceptable reality, while Jeong Seojin muttered something like, “So this is fate or something?” before bursting into laughter again.

Adam didn’t seem particularly shaken by the two people’s starkly different reactions. In fact, it wasn’t all that strange that their responses were so different.

Yoon Seohee’s reaction was, needless to say, perfectly within the realm of common sense, and as for Jeong Seojin, considering that the typical reaction S-Rank hunters showed toward others’ predicaments was either laughter or mockery, it wasn’t unusual at all.

In the end, it took some time before Yoon Seohee barely managed to accept the incomprehensible situation and Jeong Seojin stopped laughing to some degree. While Jeong Seojin cleared his throat with a cough to shake off his lingering laughter, Yoon Seohee, her face as if submerged in darkness, voiced another question.

“…The cause… no, the circumstances…? Anyway, I understand this part well. Actually, I also want to ask how you showed up there back then, but—”

“Ah, that part I can explain simply. As it happens, Hunter Joo Minjeong, who was nearby at the time, has a skill related to tracking.”

Adam, wearing a smile so bright it now seemed almost refreshingly innocent, explained the situation at the time in an exceedingly clear tone.

“If it had been a situation where someone was simply trying to kill me, I would have let it slide. But this time, there was clearly a victim in Hunter Yoon Seohee, so… I had no choice but to go to Andres’s base building, partly to set an example.”

“Ah, I see…”

As if she fully understood the situation from Adam’s answer, Yoon Seohee nodded. So Adam decided to hold back for now the fact that after he went to the building, there had been various violent incidents, and that after everything was over, only a collapsed ruin remained where the building once stood.

It was a decision made because she thought that Yoon Seohee, being an extremely sensible person unlike most people involved in the hunter world, would surely be unnecessarily startled if she brought up such stories.

“Thank you for telling me. Um… I know this might be sudden, but I’d like to talk about something else.”

“Feel free to speak as you wish.”

As his guess seemed correct, Yoon Seohee didn’t ask any more about the ‘process.’ With the talk about the cause and process finished, what remained was the result… the ‘compensation.’ Adam Rogers carefully grasped his own teacup. Because they had been talking for quite a long time, the surface of the cup he held carefully had already cooled.

“Is it really okay for you to tell me all this?”

But what came out of Yoon Seohee’s mouth wasn’t about compensation. Adam lifted his gaze, which had been looking down at the tea water beginning to turn from pale green to a greenish tint.

“…Hunter Yoon Seohee was directly harmed by this kidnapping attempt, so you have every right to know the relevant information—”

“Ah, no. That’s not it.”

Her face, catching the sunlight streaming through the window gap, looked even paler. Yoon Seohee moved her small lips several times as if choosing her words. Soon, her gaze, which had been lowered, carefully touched his face again, as if floating through the air.

“Mr. Adam… you dislike me—no, to be precise, you dislike humans, don’t you?”

He suddenly realized that Yoon Seohee’s pupils were a silver like white stars set in a black night.

“This is just my subjective impression, but Mr. Adam didn’t seem to feel much regret about losing your humanity.”

Clink. The sound of the teacup and saucer he was holding colliding rang out. Amid the midday sunlight streaming in, the woman with starry eyes stared at him, wearing an utterly harmless mask.

Why did looking at her stir up such a strange thirst? Adam barely swallowed the dry sound that seemed about to escape his throat. And instead, he clumsily forced a smile onto his stiff expression.

“May I ask… what led you to think that, Hunter Yoon Seohee?”

“Ah… um, if I offended you…”

“It’s not that. I’m just curious about the reason you thought so.”

“…Hmm. Well.”

After a moment of hesitation, reluctance, and a brief silence, Yoon Seohee’s mouth slowly opened.

“Because you, Mr. Adam, didn’t use the expression ‘lost’ regarding your humanity.”

It was an answer as precise as a matching key opening a lock. Adam Rogers stared at Yoon Seohee with an expressionless face, the smile he had clumsily worn now gone.

“Um… I absolutely didn’t mean to speak badly of you, Mr. Adam. It’s just that, listening to your story, you don’t seem to like people very much, yet you’ve been so kind to me, and that felt strange—no, not strange, just a little confusing…”

As if suddenly flustered by the expressionless face of the person across from her looking at her, Yoon Seohee hurriedly waved both hands and began rambling all sorts of things.

But unfortunately, Adam Rogers’ nerves weren’t reaching her voice. He kept thinking about the precise answer Yoon Seohee had given just moments ago, and the man still standing by her side.

It had to be that way.

Adam Rogers muttered inside his mouth words that no one would hear, and that he had no intention of letting anyone hear. He finally understood why the monster that had transcended human limits couldn’t leave her side and kept lingering.

That was the only way it could be. Or rather, there was no way it could have been otherwise. Whether it was fate, inevitability, or someone’s intention, the woman had an uncanny eye for seeing through the hearts of those who were no longer human. No, that wasn’t all. If it had been just that, he wouldn’t have been this shaken…

“I truly hold no unnecessary ill feelings about something that simply happened.”