Chapter 307. Going Round and Round (2) (1/2)

It seemed that looking for the white headband girl was the right choice.

Adam Galaev must have recognized her uniqueness and asked for help. In that case, the story was simple. Seol Jihu just had to ask for her cooperation and use the girl as the pathfinder to enter the region with the so-called warped space.

The spring that led to the Spirit Realm must be there.

“I have a request.”

Seol Jihu cut to the chase.

Shortly afterward…

“So what you’re telling me is…”

The girl’s eyes twinkled after listening to the story of the Federation’s visit to Eva with interest.

“Your ultimate goal is to save the Spirit Realm.”

“Exactly.”

“Right, it would be great if you can revive the World Tree before the upcoming war…”

The girl displayed a dreamy expression as if she just heard something amazing.

“That is why I need your help.”

The girl in front of him was the key to this entire thing. If she refused to help, rescuing the Spirit Realm would become an impossible dream. And so, as Seol Jihu was about to make a careful request…

“Okay.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll help you.”

The girl answered yes in a quiet, yet energetic voice.

“W-Will you really?”

“Yes!”

“But why…”

Seol Jihu couldn’t help but ask. He was preparing a long speech in his head to convince her. At the very least, he thought she would ask for something in return.

“Mmm, if you’re asking why, I actually have three reasons…”

The girl raised her index, middle, and ring finger before folding the ring finger.

“First, you’re trying to do something good. By helping you, I will be getting myself good karma, so that’s already a plus.”

After a reply that made her sound like a shaman, she folded her middle finger.

“Second, you saved my life and my older brother’s life at the Banquet. It’s only proper that I help my benefactor. And finally…”

With a sweet smile, she wiggled her index finger up and down.

“I’m kind.”

Then she poked her cheek with it again and smiled bashfully.

Seol Jihu became lost for words for a moment but smiled back quickly.

‘I’m glad. I’m glad.’

Seol Jihu sighed in relief hearing the girl’s unexpectedly easy agreement to help. Next, he turned his gaze. The burly man was still maintaining his silence. Seol Jihu expected him to cut in at least once, but he kept quiet.

“That’s okay, right, Oppa?”

When the girl asked, the burly man raised his head and finally opened his tightly shut mouth.

“You’d probably go even if I said no.”

“Yep.”

“Well… I guess it doesn’t matter. We were planning to try it once anyway. The only difference is the time.”

Seol Jihu’s complexion brightened. However, the burly man wasn’t done talking.

“But, I want to add a few conditions.”

“Oppa.”

“Listen until the end. Since he’s making the same request as that Magician, I plan to give him the same conditions.”

“It’s fine. Go ahead.”

Seol Jihu nodded his head. This was easier for him as well.

The burly man turned and faced him.

“I’ll be frank. I have two conditions.”

“Yes.”

“First, given what your ultimate goal is, I assume you’re going to bring a formidable team with you.”

That went without saying. The burly man seemed to want a powerful team since the trip could be considered an expedition.

“Of course, I plan to form the strongest expedition team that I can, even if I have to ask for outside help.”

“I’ll trust that you’ll keep your word. Then for the second…”

The burly man fell silent even though he said he would be frank. After staring fixedly at Seol Jihu who was blankly staring back at him, he spoke quietly.

“…Please protect us.”

Seol Jihu’s eyes widened at the abrupt request.

“I heard about your accomplishments. You became the Eva Royal Family’s partner organization, no?” The burly man continued, “I’m asking if you can protect me and my little sister with your strength. Without asking anything.”

Seol Jihu wanted to ask what he meant by that, but upon hearing him say ‘without asking anything,’ Seol Jihu swallowed his words.

“Could you be on a Red Notice…?”

“No. We aren’t criminals.”

Seol Jihu still asked just to be sure, and the burly man denied it strongly.

“Then can you at least tell me who your enemies are?”

“There’s more than just one or two people.”

“The name of the organization will do.”

“We don’t know.”

The burly man replied brusquely.

“I know it sounds strange, but we don’t know who they are exactly. We can’t even figure out what they want from us. All we know is that there are people in this world who do not like us and that they are making things inconvenient for us. That’s all I can tell you.”

Seol Jihu’s expression turned stiff. It was because it didn’t sound strange. After all, he had experienced something similar in Haramark.

‘Come to think of it.’

He suddenly remembered Stage 3 of the Banquet. At the time, Ira, the God of Wrath, had called the burly man ‘Heaven-Slaughtering Star’ and said he was an enemy who must be killed.

And back then, Seol Jihu had refused.

Though this was certainly something he should look into, he wanted to focus on the matter at hand for now. It didn’t seem like a bad idea to watch over them until then.

“Got it.”

Seol Jihu spoke after organizing his thoughts.

“I will have to listen to the details later, but I promise that as long as we are working together, Valhalla will protect you and your sister under its name.”

“…Good.”

The burly man took his back off the wall once Seol Jihu gave his word. Standing straight, he looked tall enough to touch the ceiling.

“Vlad Halep.”

“?”

“I’m Oana Halep.”

The girl also chimed in as she waved her hand. It was then that Seol Jihu realized they were introducing themselves.

“I’m Seol Jihu.”

The girl, no, Oana Halep clapped as if to congratulate the deal being made.

Seol Jihu smoothed down his chest. He finally came this far. There was only one thing left now…

“So just where is this place?”

The claps suddenly stopped. The eyes of the smiling Oana Halep widened.

Seol Jihu suddenly had a bad feeling.

“I don’t know the place either…”

And his bad feeling quickly became a reality. Seol Jihu barely held himself back from coughing.

“You don’t know?”

“No, I thought you knew, Oppa.”

The girl spoke while shaking her head.

“I wasn’t told where it was. It didn’t sound like Sir Adam Galaev knew it either.”

‘What?’

Seol Jihu’s breath stopped. Until now, he thought Adam Galaev went missing in that place. But what Oana just told him overturned that hypothesis.

In that case, was there another reason that the Magician went missing?

“It’s true that he came to see us, and it’s also true that we accepted his request. But we never got to work together. We couldn’t just sit around and wait for him when we didn’t even know where he was, and we weren’t in a good situation at the time…”

Oana Halep trailed off.

“Most importantly, Adam Galaev failed to keep his side of the deal.”

Vlad Halep clarified.

“The support of the Eva Royal Family and the Evangeline organization that he spoke of never arrived. So there was no reason for us to risk danger and carry out our side of the deal.”