Chapter 207

A Goloyan child seems to have the greatest apt.i.tude.

Hm. Then I must expect more hostility.

Goloyans were nearly identical to humans; as a result, it was no wonder they maintained very friendly relations with them.

Im sorry.

It doesnt matter. In fact, its a good thing. As non-human hostility against humans becomes more apparent, having Directors of Surveillance who are on good terms with humans will maintain that balance.

Ive kept the secret as promised.

Thank you.

The seat of Director of Surveillance will be inherited by those capable of receiving the Old Ones memories. But as you have requested, Yoo-rah nim, they will not know that their power comes from the Old One. Even now, the current Director is acting cautiously of your intentions.

I see the child is quite capable.

They may interfere with your goal.

Dont worry. Im not that impatient of a person. I dont expect immediate results. There will always be another time. For you see, I have time on my side, long enough to outlive an elf.

Elicia was the last person who knew Yoo-rah, the first outsider, well. And she would soon depart from this world.

At first I thought I knew what your goal was But now, I dont know.

Thats natural. Even Im starting to feel numb about the project. Itd be nice if it succeeds. And if it fails, theres no helping it.

And youd still

Elicia didnt finish, but Yoo-rah could guess what she was going to ask. She answered with a bitter smile.

What should I do? Time has been cruel to me and even robbed me of my desire for vengeance. Does that mean I should stop now? No. Countless people have already died from the decisions Ive made in the name of this goal. If I stop now, their deaths will become meaningless. Who knows, maybe someone will stop me.

It will be painful.

Ive tasted pain many times already.

It will be lonely.

That cant be helped.

Though I cannot bless your future, I pray there will be peace in your life.

Elicia closed her eyes, and her breath shallowed. Yoo-rah quietly watched as Elicia pa.s.sed, her face sunken in grief.

Peace, I cant have that. If there is h.e.l.l, that is where I belong. I wont stand for anything else.

Is it complete?

Ah, welcome. Would you like some coffee?

Sure.

Yoo-rah began making the coffee for Won-Hoo and asked.

Do you really think this will work?

Definitely. In a life or death situation, itd almost be disingenuous to claim health reasons for quitting. Ive certainly never seen it before. We will be able to find our compatriots much more effectively with this. Even now, Im tempted to light one up and take a puff.

Won-Hoo sipped on his coffee, but his eyes were fixated on Yoo-rah, silently begging her to show him. Yoo-rah smiled and revealed a palm sized pack, placing it on the table. Won-hoo pushed his coffee to the side and carefully opened the pack.

Wow! You even made it look more like a cigar?

Yes. I could ma.s.s produce it in the shape of a cigarette, but that would make its purpose meaningless.

True. If it becomes too widely used, itll just make our job harder.

Yes. Thats why I fas.h.i.+oned it as an herb that benefits your airways. Surprisingly, it can clear up not just your airways but purify the body as a whole. Ive named it Choyu leaf.

Choyu huh Haha. Then I guess Ill be the first person in this world to smoke this thing.

Won-hoo grabbed the choyu leaf and was about to light it, when Yoo-rah quickly spoke up quickly, realising shed forgotten something.

Oh by the way, the choyu leaf has an unexpected side effect.

What? A side effect?

Won-hoo immediately took the leaf out of his mouth. Yoo-rah smiled gently.

Yes. It seems that mana begins to course through your body when you smoke it.

Mana?

Well, it does, but the amount is irrelevant. And it dissipates the moment you finish smoking. But its effect is rather extraordinary. It will purify your body of all the filth and stagnant fat from your body, to the point where you wouldnt need to go on a diet.

Thats a side effect?

This could be the holy grail for not just smokers but also those trying to lose weight. Calling it a side effect felt wrong. Yoo-rah snickered, watching the confused Won-hoo in.

It is a side effect. In fact, I discovered this by accident. One of the test cases was a criminal on death row who was arrested for rape. Disgusting cretin. He had a hideous and constant erectionand the att.i.tude to boot. But as soon as he smoked a choyu leaf, he couldnt get an erection.

So Ive tested this with many other test subjects, and came to the conclusion that when you smoke the choyu leaf, you will generate a small amount of mana inside you, but your s.e.xual desire almost completely dries up.

Wow! So youre literally making yourself impotent?

Yes. Theres no helping becoming impotent if you smoke choyu leaves regularly. But the desire will come back slowly when you stop. Ah! I might be able to negate this side effect with some more time in development, but I dont really see the need for it.

Won-hoos face brightened when Yoo-rah brought up the possibility of negating the side effect, only to be immediately dejected. Won-hoo looked down at the choyu leaves in his hand, his eyes filled with the weight of the world.

He wanted to smoke. But hed become impotent if he did. Then hed lose one of the few things he could enjoy in this world. This was a world without the internet or TV. Once the sun set, the nights became dreadfully long.

Hng. I guess Ill give it up.

Wow? Youre giving up? At least give it a tryyoull return to normal once you stop anyway.

Smokers cant quit because theyre arrogant enough to think that theyre capable of stopping whenever they want. The fact that there arent any lasting effects is the most tempting of temptations.

Huhu. If you say so.

Won-hoo dashed his lips in disappointment, but then he perked up with a very mischievous smile.

Why dont we keep this a secret between you and me?

Huh? Why?

There are people whod gladly smoke this even if itll make them impotent. Itd be almost painful to watch. Could you imagine the entire world having this burden? If Im the only one who knows, then only I have to pity them.

Wow! That is devious.

I learnt this from my captain.

Huhu, tell me more about him.

Did you know I was his subordinate before the war? I swear, he was the master of abusing loopholes. I bet he was the only person in the world to have the b.a.l.l.s to stay in his room when the Commander was coming to visit.

You think youve found him?

Yes. This fellow, Isaac, was given the order to fix up New Port City, which was an impossible task to start with. And he did so by turning the city into a gambling den, referencing Macau and Las Vegas. He has been designated a confirmed invader.

Yoo-rah frowned upon hearing the explanation.

Thats troublesome. Ive purposefully kept that city out of sight because it will be one of our prime staging areas. Itd be a dilemma if all the spotlights turned to it now.

Won-hoo shrugged at Yoo-rah.

Theres no stopping it now. That place has become the eye of the storm.

What happened?

A provincial war broke out with Marques Duberon. It started with a small conflict with the successor of Duberon, who went mad after becoming a Type 4 Invader. CentralI mean Directorate of Strategy and Dark Royalewanted to secure him by giving New Port City over to Marques Duberon.

n.o.body knew about this happening?

As you know, weve been focused on chasing the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who took the key.

The Queen sighed. As the saying went, humans would always remain humans. Despite having received another chance at life, treachery rose from humanitys ranks once again. And that traitor took the most crucial part of the plan with him.

I a.s.sume Isaacs already jailed, considering the disparity in strength between Duberon and New Port City. And I dont have a good reason to bail him out

The Queen frowned and pondered what shell need to sacrifice to bail out Isaac without drawing suspicion, when Won-hoo scratched his cheek and answered.

If that were the case, I wouldnt have told you that I think we found it. This Isaac cornered the Marquis Duberons army and burnt the city down.

He burnt his own city?

The Queen asked again in great surprise, and Won-hoo simply handed her the report. The Queen quickly read the report and whistled in astonishment.

Wow. Hes completely mad.

Right? This is very similar to the plan we used to blow up Po-hang. In fact, this one is much easier to execute. War in this world is just a sport compared to ours.

Won-hoo ridiculed, having been a veteran of the front lines in the past.

But that alone isnt enough to confirm that Isaac is Joon-young. The brothers, the current Emperor and Ismael, who took over Dark Royale, are both incredibly capable. So much so that Im amazed. The moment we start focusing attention on Isaac, Dark Royale too will turn their attention to him. We cant approach him carelessly.

You dont need to worry about that. The Emperor and Dark Royale will be doing our work for us.

True. We simply have to wait since all invaders from the 3 eastern nations will be sent to me as the agreement dictates.

But the one thing that concerns us is that the key was heading toward New Port City.

Please, what are the chances that this key will fall into the hands of Isaac? This isnt some novel.

I never thought a place like this would exist. Itd make an excellent tourist attraction.

Isaac muttered as he looked down into the black abyss as the elevator travelled down. It was akin to the Cave of Swallowsomething hed seen on international tv.1EDN: The Cave of Swallows is an open-air pit cave in Mexico. Its the largest known cave shaft in the world and the second deepest pit in Mexico. Image for reference. Source: Wikipedia.

The elevator travelled down for an hour, and Isaac was starting to think if it was going into the core of the planet. Finally, it stopped, and the elevator arrived at the base of a shrine.

Indiana Jones would like this place.

Isaac was taken aback by what he saw when he came out. The cave went so deep that sunlight couldnt penetrate. But the faint glow from the caves walls lit up the place mysteriously.

What is this place?

Isaac was told of the endangered elder races from the Dark Royale and immediately moved to secure them. But these hostages willingly followed Isaacit was almost as if they didnt know the meaning of the word.

The last survivor, the Druid, had already died long ago when Isaac arrived. And when the hostages saw that the Druid had pa.s.sed, they began demanding that Isaac needed to go somewhere.

1EDN: The Cave of Swallows is an open-air pit cave in Mexico. Its the largest known cave shaft in the world and the second deepest pit in Mexico. Image for reference. Source: Wikipedia.