Chapter 91: The Proposal

‘I never thought I’d be coming here on my own two feet.’

I thought that as I stared at the magnificent building.

“Are you alright?”

“Huh? What?”

I’d just been blankly staring at the building when Deneb suddenly asked.

“Well… I heard that you and my brother… don’t exactly get along, Ms. Verdi.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it.”

I waved my hand at Deneb in a gesture that said it was fine.

“It’s all water under the bridge anyway.”

Yeah, it’s all in the past.

What happened back then… well, thinking about it now, I guess I wasn’t exactly the mature one either.

Having said that to Deneb, I turned my gaze back toward the building.

Sure enough, a guild house belonging to one of the Five Great Guilds was something else.

I’d been pretty impressed by Crescent’s place too, but still.

A towering, magnificent building. That was the Royal Knights’ guild house.

It wasn’t really my taste, but just looking at it gave me a sense of grandeur.

Oh, for the record, the guild house Jihyeok and I had was really small.

If you’re wondering why it was so small for two S-Rank Hunters, it’s because back then I thought, ‘Where’s the money to waste on useless stuff like that?’

But looking back now, I kind of regretted not building a proper guild house. How should I put it… when you see a building, you get a rough first impression of what kind of guild it is.

For the record, Deneb and I were currently waiting outside the Royal Knights guild house to be let in.

We weren’t invited guests, nor were we in a position to be treated as equals.

To someone who didn’t know the situation, it would look like two random D-Rank Hunters had shown up out of nowhere at the guild house of the Royal Knights, one of the Five Great Guilds.

They’d probably think we were either incredibly bold or a couple of clueless brats who didn’t know our place.

And sure enough, passersby would glance at us for a moment before quickly turning their heads and walking away.

If I’d been in Verdiol’s body, I would’ve drawn a huge crowd… but I wasn’t interested in that kind of thing now.

It was around the time I was idly passing the time like that.

“Look, it’s the Master of the Royal Knights!”

“The S-Rank Hunter, Black Sword Wilhelm!”

Suddenly, praise poured in from all directions.

I turned my head toward where those gazes were focused and saw a familiar face.

The Guild Master of the Royal Knights, Black Sword Wilhelm.

One of the few S-Rank Hunters in the country.

‘How many years has it been since I last saw that face…’

The Dungeon Break that Deneb got caught up in happened long before I went into hiding. At the very least, it had to be over three years.

The sight of Wilhelm after so long…

‘He’s aged a lot.’

I guess you can’t fool the passage of time. It wasn’t like he had wrinkles or anything, but I could tell his eyes looked noticeably more tired than before. He must have been under a lot of stress running the guild. Well, that couldn’t be helped. It was the fate of a Guild Master.

Wilhelm, who had come out of the building, looked around for a moment, then spotted us and started walking over. Seeing that, I was sure he had business with me and Deneb.

Wilhelm stopped in front of me, cleared his throat with an “ahem,” and spoke.

“Welcome to the Royal Knights. I heard of your name through Marcel earlier.”

‘…Pfft.’

I barely managed to hold back a laugh at his awkward tone. Well, still, he was a Guild Master, so I supposed I should show some respect.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Yoschua Verdi. I didn’t expect you to come out and greet us in person.”

“…I’ve always put that much effort into people I take a liking to.”

“hyung-nim…”

After Wilhelm and Deneb exchanged greetings, Deneb called out to her cautiously.

“…Yeah. Welcome back.”

Wilhelm wasn’t beaming, but he smiled at his younger sister and accepted her.

“I-I’m home…!”

At that sight, Deneb finally relaxed and shouted out.

* * *

Without much preamble, Wilhelm led me and Deneb to her office.

“So, I’m curious what brought you to the Royal Knights in person.”

Wilhelm rested his chin on both hands and asked.

“First of all, I want to apologize for what happened before.”

“Apologize?”

“I mean, I’m basically the reason Mr. Marcel left the guild, right?”

“…”

At my words, Wilhelm seemed to think for a moment, then fell silent before opening his mouth.

“That’s true. But honestly, it wasn’t all that bad in the end. He was reluctant to go on High-Rank Gate expeditions, and practically no different from a porter anyway.”

‘Hmm…’

Thinking back to Marcel back then, that was a fair point. With Marcel gone, they could save the salary of one High-Rank Hunter, so it probably helped the guild’s finances.

“But after he left for you, Marcel became a proper High-Rank Hunter. From what I hear, he even goes on mercenary work alone now.”

“That’s more because Mr. Marcel grew well on his own, not because of me.”

“Is that so? I think you had a big hand in it.”

Wilhelm stared at me with narrowed eyes as he spoke.

“We didn’t hold back on support to get Marcel back on his feet either. But we failed. Then that Marcel met you and changed. Why else do you think Lilian ignored my orders and went after him?”

‘So that was it…’

Now I understood why Lilian had followed us even though it was her own guild’s territory. In other words, she was displeased that Marcel, whom she’d supported so much, had left.

“I apologize for Lilian’s rudeness. I just want you to know it wasn’t on my orders.”

“Well… I got it. I don’t really care about it anymore anyway.”

I vaguely knew that Lilian’s personality was just like that. Back in the days of the Dungeon Break, she was the one who gave me the most shit.

“…So I’ll ask again. What’s the reason you’ve come to the Royal Knights now?”

“That is…”

Before speaking, I steeled myself first.

I took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

“I’m here to make you an offer.”

“An offer?”

“I’m going to form a guild, and I’m giving you the chance to form an alliance with us.”

“…?”

At my words, Wilhelm tilted his head with an expression that seemed to say, “What the hell is this nonsense?”

“I’m well aware that the Royal Knights’ internal situation isn’t good.”

“…”

Wilhelm’s gaze shifted to Deneb. Deneb just avoided her older brother’s sharp stare.

“Don’t blame Deneb too much. I heard it through Marcel too.”

“…Hoo.”

Wilhelm let out a heavy sigh.

“So, do you really think we’d form an alliance with your guild? A guild that hasn’t even been founded yet? If so, you’ve underestimated me. No matter how bad our situation is, I and the Royal Knights’ executives are still standing strong. We can hold out for a few more years at least. We might find an answer in that time.”

“Do you really think so?”

At Wilhelm’s words, I put on a sly, irritating smile.

“I don’t think you’ll last that long. You know the other Five Great Guilds besides Crescent are growing fiercely, right? While you’re recruiting zero here, they’re sweeping up all the promising talents over there.”

“Recruiting zero?”

“Zero, as in the number zero. You haven’t recruited a single one.”

“…A boring pun.”

Hmm, I guess wordplay doesn’t land in this world.

“So what’s the point of that? It’s not like you’re joining the guild yourself. What advantage do we get from an alliance?”

“End Cave.”

“…End Cave?”

“We’re going to conquer End Cave.”

“…Ha, tch… I was wondering what nonsense you were spouting.”

At my words, Wilhelm snorted.

“You’re telling me you’re going to conquer that Gate, which all Five Great Guilds failed to conquer together, with a newly formed guild?”

“That’s right.”

“You’ve lost your mind. I’ve been watching you since you were barely a Hunter. I knew your skills were extraordinary. But no matter how talented you are, there are things in this world that are possible and things that aren’t. Conquering End Cave is—”

“What if it’s possible?”

“What?”

“What if it is possible? If we ally with other guilds and succeed in conquering End Cave, you’ll be kicking yourself with regret then, won’t you?”

“What basis do you have for saying that? Do you know what kind of Gate End Cave is—”

“I know. A Gate that’s failed to be conquered for years, that’s driven countless High-Rank Hunters to their deaths, a Gate that’s practically hell itself.”

“And you think your new guild can conquer such a Gate?”

“It’s not just my guild alone.”

I pointed at the ground with my finger.

“You’ll be with us too.”

“…On what basis.”

“I should introduce our guild members. Deneb.”

“Y-yes. Excuse me for a moment.”

Deneb suddenly rose from her seat and, hesitating, approached Wilhelm’s side. She manipulated the Artifact on her wrist and transferred the data to Wilhelm’s Artifact.

“…What’s this?”

“Our guild member list. Take a look.”

At my words, Wilhelm manipulated the Artifact. Whether he was reading quite thoroughly or not, he remained silent for a while, and the moment he finally spoke was exactly when I’d predicted.

“Kim Jihyeok…? How did that Black Night Rider end up in a new guild?”

Black Night Rider is Kim Jihyeok’s alias.

“…How were you able to recruit Kim Jihyeok?”

“It wasn’t that hard.”

I said with a snicker.

Wilhelm began reading again.

After that, from the sponsor Luca Modred, to Mateo Kvachi, the archbishop of the Ark Faith, and Crescent already included as an alliance.

And at the very end.

“Just who, are you…”

Having read the final entry on the list, Wilhelm slowly raised his head. His trembling gaze turned toward me. After a brief silence, he spoke slowly.

“…When Kim Jihyeok became free, everyone tried to recruit him. But no one managed to recruit him. Because he didn’t want it. So people… everyone judged that he was waiting for that man, and gave up on recruiting him.”

There was no need to even think about who that man Wilhelm was talking about was.

“But, that man… hasn’t shown himself even once in over three years…”

The list I’d shown him.

At the very end of it, a man’s name was written.

“How is that bastard who went underground… written here?”

Yoschuko Verdiol.

“Well.”

I wiped the smile off my face and stared straight at Wilhelm as I spoke.

“Because I am Yoschuko Verdiol.”