The fact that the situation had become more complicated was a bad thing. From the start, I knew I had to invest some time, but the situation became more complicated than I thought. Expecting results when a week hadn’t even passed since we arrived was the mindset of a thief. Seeing Pristina avoiding my offer and questions made me think that the alliance offer itself was the problem, but…

‘It’s still early.’

It had only been a week, and since my opponent knew my intentions, it was better to set up in advance rather than going straight in with the offer. I had high expectations for Han Sora, and she was really working hard. I had also been spending most of my time with the influential figures of Laios, so you could say I was building a foundation.

‘Those bastards from the Republic are annoying…’

Tasks that shouldn’t have made me nervous were making me nervous, and the Republic’s existence was the reason behind it. Three of the Eight Seats had moved over to Laios, and the important figures of the Republic visited Laios as well. It would have been a relief if they simply came here as tourists, but obviously, all those people didn’t gather here just to go on a trip. They definitely wanted something, and I couldn’t help but think that they wanted the same thing as us.

‘An alliance with Laios.’

It was similar to a courtesy greeting they made every year, but the greeting seemed grand this time. It was an indicator that the political scene on the continent was becoming unstable, so this task was very important. If Laios and the Republic joined hands, then we would be isolated. Since I had achieved so many things in the Sacred Democratic Country, I didn’t want to leave everything behind.

‘Of course, I don’t want to leave everything behind…’

The leader of the Sacred Democratic Country was serving me, so I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity of an alliance here in Laios. I was busy since there were many important things I had to handle. Thanks to that, my days were getting monotonous.

I started my day greeting Pristina and the influential figures of Laios. It wasn’t a big deal, but I met with the foreigners of Laios, and I talked about supplying them with my potions being produced in the Sacred Democratic Country. While offering them a decent and satisfactory contract, I would speak sweet words to them about the benefits they would receive if Laios became our ally. It could be considered as lobbying, but they still hadn’t agreed to the contract because the neutral nation didn’t like contracts like this. They knew that if they were to accept something, they had to give something in return.

‘Their guards are up.’

Laios said they welcomed their guests, but they weren’t fond of seeing the Republic and the Sacred Democratic Country as guests. Rather than accepting the benefits laid before them, they wanted to maintain their neutral status, so it was like knocking at a deaf man’s door. Despite that, I had no choice but to continue knocking and building a foundation was the best I could do.

I was sure the Republic was in a similar situation, and since the influential figures on both sides were staying in Laios, they couldn’t carry out any extreme diplomatic strategies. Despite the fact that we couldn’t see each other’s offers or plans, we knew what was going on.

Originally, I wanted to focus on my conversation with Laios while pretending to be on vacation, but because I got involved in a complicated situation, I had no choice but to skip all my plans with Jung Ha-Yan and Cha Hee-Ra.

In addition to sending information about my encounter with Jin Cheong, I also ordered Max to analyze Jin Cheong’s patterns and habits. Since my brain couldn’t keep up with Jin Cheong, I had to find other ways to keep up.

[I think it’ll be difficult with my skills. I’m sure you felt it as well, but it felt like he was playing fair at first… I don’t think I can use any data either… However, this is better than nothing, so I’ll keep running simulations for now. I’m honestly not confident, though.]

This was Lee Ji-Hye’s reaction after watching the video we sent. What she said despite being a skilled strategist made me nervous. This was kind of different from the ongoing Laios recruitment war between us. This was about the danger we could expose ourselves to if Jin Cheong’s group became our enemies.

We had already confirmed that the Republic’s Five Tiger Generals or whatever were strong, but when I saw them, they were more powerful than I thought. It felt like the Korean Park Deok-Gu and Cha Hee-Ra combined could deal with the Russian Park Deok-Gu, and Xiaolin herself was just a powerful person. It was the same for Jin Cheong. It couldn’t be said that he was just a smart person since his magic stats were high, and he was also physically strong enough that he deserved to be called a magic swordsman. If war broke out, he would probably stand in the back giving orders, but personally, it was kind of shocking to hear that they were stronger than the lower-ranking members of the Eight Seats. If the levels of the remaining two fell short…

“They’re stronger,” Xiaolin said.

“Huh?”

“I told you they’re stronger than me. The public doesn’t know about it, but nothing will change even if the public knew about it. To be exact, I’m at the bottom of the rankings among the Five Generals. Actually, you can say I’m similar to Valentin. But since you can’t judge a person’s strength on their stats alone, and since I have never fought against him before, I’m just guessing,” she explained.

“Hm…”

“I’m excluding Mr. Soldier. He’s second in rank, but it’s difficult to measure his power since he’s a mage. However, I’m pretty sure our number one is really strong. You’ll be surprised when you see him. By the way… don’t you think you’re being too obvious?” she questioned.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Miss Xiaolin,” I replied.

“Yeah, right… I understand that you’re trying to get information, but you’re being too obvious about it by asking questions related to the generals,” she explained.

“It’s a misunderstanding. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. It’s more meaningful if we exchange information rather than me extracting information from you,” I told her.

“This isn’t the type of information that I want, though. When a man and a woman meet, the woman obviously wouldn’t want to have a serious conversation like this. The woman would want to go to a nice restaurant and eat while drinking wine. You owe me a lot, so I suggest that you should be a bit considerate of my feelings…” she suggested.

“Of course, I’m very grateful for the help you provided to me last time. However, there’s currently an issue between us, and it has only been a few days since we started meeting. Anyway, ahem, it’s your turn, Miss Xiaolin,” I explained.

“What do you think about me?” she asked.

As a whole, it had already been decided that I would spend time with Xiaolin like this and even though we had exchanged information, I still had a debt to pay.

‘She’s bold.’

I wasn’t sure if it was because she still hadn’t fully matured, but she was more reckless than I thought. However, Xiaolin’s actions were understandable. She was 22 years old when I first saw her, and it probably took her a long time to get to where she was today, so she most likely started training in her mid to late teens. Since her talent was different from others, she was probably nurtured with high expectations, and she surely received elite training. She was also beautiful and charming appearance-wise, and she was definitely different from the women I had seen so far. I said something similar before, but she was more erotic than sexy. She was wicked, similar to the “exploiter of people” Princess Charlia, whose face I couldn’t remember anymore, but she had this indescribable sexual allure. Xiaolin was wearing a cheongsam with high side slits, and her gaze when she looked at me along with her long eyelashes, fingers, reddish face, and even her every move gave off this strong feeling that she was seducing me.

I felt bad for Jung Ha-Yan, but her seduction couldn’t be compared to Jung Ha-Yan’s periodic seduction. Rather than listening to her cheap information, I wanted to just do it with her and become a bit closer to her, but…

‘I’m sure that’s a crazy thing to do.’

She was like a venus flytrap. If I came in just because I like her…

‘I might die.’

Basically, Xiaolin was the type of person with an external facade. She looked normal right now, but I knew better than anyone else that she was anything but normal. Our first meeting was at the black market, and although she didn’t look like it, she had a very cruel nature. Even Kim Hyun-Sung treated her like a villain, so it was obvious what she was like in Kim Hyun-Sung’s past life. Spending time with her was no different from wanting to be found as a corpse that had been suffocated to death.

“I think you’re beautiful and honestly, I’m interested in you,” I confessed.

“That’s a relief. What part of me are you interested in?” Xiaolin asked.

“Well, I can’t really pinpoint exactly which part of you. Ah, what do you think of me, Miss Xiaolin?” I asked.

“That’s your next question, right?” she asked.

“Yes, it is,” I replied.

“Can I answer honestly?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“...”

“...”

“You look really erotic and charming…” she started.

I couldn’t help but cough. I was more shocked by the fact that she said that so openly rather than the fact that she had the same thought as me.

“I usually don’t feel this way about others, but… it’s really strange. You’re not exactly my type, but you’re keeping me interested, and it feels like my sweet honey is dripping. Do you understand? I think I can smell a sweet scent from your body, and your lips look as if you applied fruit juice to them. I’m sure you didn’t use magic…” she described.

“Ahem…”

“I don’t know if others think of you the same way, but that’s how you look in my eyes, so it’s kind of funny,” she continued.

I thought Cha Hee-Ra and Jung Ha-Yan didn’t think of me the same way Xiaolin did.

“If that’s a compliment, thank you,” I commented.

“Of course, it’s a compliment. My description of you may have been long and superficial, but I’m basically telling you that I’m attracted to you sexually,” she added.

The corner of her lips went up, and I wasn’t sure if I was seeing things, but it seemed like she was smacking her lips. And that was when a strange nervousness started filling me up...

‘What the…’

“Uh…”

‘What’s that?’

There wasn’t anything wrong going on with Xiaolin. However, something had gone wrong at a place far from here. I could feel the ground trembling ever so slightly, and I could feel an immense amount of mana from the sky.

‘Shit… What is that?’

I saw an enormous clump of mana falling to the outskirts of the city.