The Novel's Extra - Chapter 153 – Three Years (7)
Library

Chapter 153 – Three Years (7)

On the Tower of Hero’s 101st floor, the office workers stared at a pile of documents in Aileen’s office.

“Hnng…”

After painstaking effort, they summarized countless documents into 30 pages. These documents all had to do with the mysterious entity known as Black Lotus.

“This is all we have on him?”

Aileen asked as she glanced at their report. Black Lotus, the new black of that group. He was responsible for 11 recent terror incidents in Pandemonium.

“Yes, we compiled the most important details from our informants in Pandemonium.”

“Ah, really. It sure is flawless.”

Aileen tried her best to sound sarcastic, but no one blamed her. None of the documents included anything that might help identify Black Lotus and only boasted of his achievements. Aileen already knew everything such as the [base destruction with a single arrow], [black lotus symbol engraved on the ground], etc.

“He always immediately disappears, so there’s hardly any information. He might have a gift related to teleportation…”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Aileen ignored their excuses.

“It’s my fault for expecting anything use… huh? Wait a minute.”

A lightbulb suddenly went off in her head that gave her goosebumps. She widened her eyes and stared at her employees.

“He always leaves after a single arrow… Then… could he… no, could she be the Divine Archer?”

“Pardon?”

“Divine Archer. You know, Jin Seyeon the Divine Archer.”

The office workers couldn’t tell if Aileen was serious or not. They shook their heads.

“There’s no way it’s Jin Seyeon.”

“She should be busy doing volunteer work.”

“Right? I was kidding too.”

Aileen quickly changed her tone. Jin Seyeon the Divine Archer was a master rank hero known as the god of the bow. She was only rank 70, putting her on the edge of master rank. Furthermore, she had retired from active duty and only appeared every once in a while in North Africa.

“By the way, why is she even doing volunteer work?”

“…”

“…”

The office workers saved their breath. People in their early 20s and 30s idolized Jin Seyeon. Her kind heart and righteous deeds melted everyone’s hearts and her upright personality made her a popular master rank hero.

“I just don’t understand. Why did the association place her in master rank?”

Aileen expressed her displeasure. The association excluded Temple of Justice members from its ranking system. Aileen acknowledged Jin Seyeon as the best archer, but wondered why Jin Seyeon was a master rank hero instead of someone like Yoo Jinwoong.

“I’d win If I fought her too,” Aileen grumbled unhappily.

“Hmm…”

She naturally grew curious about who would win between Jin Seyeon and Black Lotus? Aileen turned to her workers after mulling over the question.

“Girls, how strong do you think he is?”

“I’m not sure. Can you elaborate?”

“You know, try estimating his rank. How do you think he fares compared to Jin Seyeon?”

The 4 office workers fell in thought. They all graduated from top universities and passed the association’s difficult tests, but still couldn’t answer whether a lion or a tiger would win in a fight.

“Um, Black Lotus probably didn’t use 100% of his strength, right?”

The youngest worker asked. Aileen rubbed her chin in thought. Black Lotus’ arrow was undoubtedly powerful. He could destroy any target with a single arrow.

“Let me think…”

In reality, archers had difficulty amplifying the power of a single arrow. Every archer wanted to finish off their enemies in one blow. Otherwise, their location would be found out and they would be in great danger without a warrior to protect them.

Pouring too much magic power into a magic arrow made its form unstable and harder to control, so archers always limited their power to control their magic arrows properly.

“40%…”

However, Black Lotus always obliterated his targets with a single arrow. This meant his magic power control was superb, which also meant he didn’t use his full power.

“Maybe it’s only 20-30%.”

“Eh? That small?”

The surprised worker expressed her doubt. With only 20-30%, he destroyed a tower that could’ve withstood most explosions and a hideout with a high rank barrier? He even assassinated an executive of Pandemonium’s rank 10 organization.

“Don’t ask if you’re going to doubt me.”

Aileen only considered them as bookworms who hadn’t experienced the world.

“Cough, no. I apologize. Hey, you! Continue what you were saying before!”

The flustered worker quickly retracted her words and yelled at the youngest who spoke earlier.

“Ah, yes. So assuming that we’ve only seen 25% of Black Lotus’ full strength…”

The youngest worker furiously typed on her laptop and performed some complex calculations. Her expression turned pale as she finished.

“This…”

“What? Hurry up and say it.”

“Well… in terms of numbers… he’s at the level of a master rank hero.”

“Eh? Really?”

Everyone in the office felt surprised.

“Yes, the estimated value of the magic power explosion he caused is similar to Divine Archer Jin Seyeon’s crystal arrow, which she used to defeat the basilisk 3 years ago.”

“Oooh.”

Where did she learn how to do this? Aileen smiled.

“That’s interesting.”

“This is only a theory.”

“Still, it’s interesting.”

Aileen was suddenly filled with anticipation. Two archers aiming at each other, releasing their bowstrings in tension, two arrows with different colors flying towards each other, and the final clash… Frankly, she hoped Jin Seyeon would lose. Aileen didn’t like women who always acted kind, noble, and refined.

“Alright, that’s it for today. You can all go home.”

“Yes!”

“Thank you.”

“See you tomorrow!”

The office workers smiled and bowed.

“Yeah, yeah. See ya.”

Aileen was certainly a boss with many complaints and outbursts. However, she remained popular among her subordinates because she always let them go home early.

***

Rachel had changed a lot in 3 years. She now had a perfect jawline after losing all her baby fat and her innocent eyes seemed more mature. Was it because of all the troubles she faced? She also carried thin dark circles under her eyes, but even that looked charming on her.

“It… it’s been a while.”

Rachel stuttered. Her voice still sounded the same.

“Yeah.”

I simply replied. Then I purposely remained silent to see how she would react.

“Mm, mmn.”

Her hands fidgeted around with the computer mouse. I couldn’t help but laugh at her awkwardness.

“Why aren’t you talking? Is it because I came too late?”

“Y-Yes? Ah, no, that’s not it.”

We stared at each other as I waited for her to continue.

“Your beard… you grew it out.”

I didn’t expect that.

“Oh, this?”

I rubbed my chin. I had a cool nickname like Fenrir, but aether kept making me look younger, so I grew out my beard. I looked like a Western movie star now. For the record, it wasn’t a goatee.

“A famous barber trimmed it for me. Does it look weird?”

I found the son of the master barber I met in the past. He wasn’t as skilled as his father, but also worked as a barber.

“No, it looks great.”

“That’s nice to hear.”

Thanks to him, I received a 0.4 charm buff. I put in some extra effort since this would be my first meeting with Rachel in years.

“But I’ll shave it off soon.”

“Eh? N-No, it looks nice on you.”

She waved her hands as I smiled. Sometimes, I arrogantly thought I looked like Jake Gyllenhaal when I saw myself in the mirror. However, I planned to shave it soon since Evandel didn’t like it.

“I heard you were taking a break from mercenary work.”

Rachel carefully changed the subject.

“I’ve been busy with other things.”

For the past 6 months, I focused on Chameleon Troupe missions. Robbing a rich djinn, hunting a jewel whale in the deep Pacific, destroying hideouts of Pandemonium organizations, etc. I tried to make the Chameleon Troupe attack djinns as much as possible.

“Well, we can catch up on personal matters later. For now, let’s talk about our partnership.”

“Ah, yes… wait, partnership?”

Rachel’s eyes widened.

“Of course. That’s why I’m here.”

I smiled.

“Don’t you remember? I said we’d probably work together through a mercenary partnership.”

“Ah, r-right. I remember.”

It didn’t look like she remembered, but she nodded excitedly anyways.

“It’s coming back to me. It was… really sunny that day.”

“It was raining.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“R-Right, it was raining. I got confused for a moment…”

“I’m kidding, it was sunny.”

“Sunny—”

“Or maybe I’m remembering wrong.’

“…”

Rachel closed her mouth and pouted at me.

“Haha, I’m just joking. Here are our conditions. Take a look.”

I took out the contract and handed it to her. Rachel respectfully received it. Jeronimo Mercenary’s conditions were as follows:

1. The Royal Court guild is not to interfere in Jeronimo’s business. 2. England is to provide information on all dungeons within its territory. If the Royal Court guild conquers a dungeon, all acquired loot is to be revealed to Jeronimo Mercenary. 3. Jeronimo Mercenary is to have first priority in purchasing loot acquired from dungeons. 4. …

It only stated 6 clauses. Rachel looked up after carefully reading each clause.

“If you agree to these terms, we can help England deal with its monster crisis. We’ll be forming an official partnership.”

“Partnership!”

Rachel’s eyes immediately lit up.

***

[Royal Court guild forms partnership with Jeronimo Mercenary!] [How did England move Jeronimo?] [Fenrir slaughters thousands of sea monsters in 1 hour.]

The international community blew up as soon as news spread that the Royal Court guild partnered with Jeronimo. Headlines appeared all over the world and the Royal Court guild’s stocks skyrocketed. The prime minister even invited Jeronimo Mercenary’s leader (Jain in disguise) to a banquet. Additionally, they appointed Rachel as the successor to the guild leader for her achievement in this negotiation. A fair amount of negative rumors also floated around regarding sexual favors.

A month flew by.

England’s situation had mostly calmed. Jeronimo only had 24 members, but most were fake identities with only 5-6 active members.

The goal of their partnership was to destroy the monsters’ habitats. Monsters would naturally stop reproducing and their numbers would dwindle.

In only a month, Jeronimo destroyed 6 habitats of sea monsters, a feat Cheok Jungyeong achieved alone. I only had to tell him where and Cheok Jungyeong would run over to destroy everything in sight. As an ally, he couldn’t be more reliable.

“I’m glad it was resolved without any civilian casualties.”

I walked with Rachel along the English Channel’s beach.

“I agree.”

We arrived 10 minutes ago after a report about a large number of carnivorous tunas.

“By the way, I’m going to make you pay for my bullets.”

I took care of everything in just 7 minutes with my heavy machine gun. We strolled along the beach with some time left.

“…”

Rachel remained quiet. She watched the waves glistening under the sun with a relaxed smile. I felt a bit bored and raised a finger to my face. Then…

“Oh right.”

Poke. Rachel suddenly turned around and my finger poke her cheek.

“…”

She froze and stared at me for an explanation.

“Er, anyways, Rachel or rather, vice leader.”

I pulled my finger back and asked as if nothing happened.

“The Royal Court guild conquered several dungeons in the past few months. Have you obtained any paper as loot?”

“Paper?”

“Yes, something that looks like an entrance ticket.”

It shone in different colors and should be an entrance ticket to the Tower of Wish, the next major episode.

“Mm… I don’t think so.”

Rachel replied after mulling it over. I shook my head in regret. Then we went back to strolling around the beach.

Vrrr— My smartwatch suddenly rang and Rachel heard the loud noise as well. I quickly looked down at it.

[The laptop update has been completed.]