Chapter 42 (2/2)

For a short time, before the magic sword gave up Randy altogether, it seduced Randy in various ways, as it did to other owners. Randy didn’t have to cover his ears and ignore the teachings. He had picked up what he needed to pick up without accepting its offer.

“Nothing to know.”

‘Well, I don’t think it’s human, after all.’

“You’re noisy. Shall we get out?”

‘Oh! Wait a minute. So, I mean that it’s still a bit unfortunate that the two strands are vaguely mixed.’

It said the same thing over and over again.

‘Nonetheless, you need a very precise Mana control to solve this issue. Precisely enough to fill in the gaps left by the destructive lines and the mixes’ lines that do not blend well. I don’t know if you can make it.’

“Just like the way I figured out the amplification formula of the sword, that much precisely?”

‘It may be harder than that. It’s not about finding a fixed answer, but it’s about making a new answer. It’s not possible through a telepathic explanation. So, if you want to solve this, you have no choice but to be my true master…’

I ignored his noisy telepathy and closed my eyes for a moment. The skill I had just performed came to my mind like an explicit video.

I played it over and over again—a precise and infallible memory. The Mana was driven from inside the body, injected into the sword, and inflated to purple sword energy. I observed the whole process.

The review lasted for more than an hour.

In the meantime, I purposely didn’t let go of the sword. The more I concentrated, the farther away the whisper of the magic sword drifted away. In between, I experimented by injecting Mana into the

‘So… become… my… true…’

The telepathy of the magic began to be heard distortedly. How long had it been since then?

I opened my eyes when I could not hear any whisper.

‘So far, no one has ever regretted it! I think I’ve already told you more than 500 times, but what it means if you accept, you and I will become one! The essence of all the trajectories of my masters that wielded me for a long time, you’ll be able to do it in a moment…!’

I heard its voice again. It was still lying.

I then picked up the sword.

‘Oh, did you finally decide? Oh, to be together in a true meaning from now on!’

Weeing!

Purple sword energy soared on the blade.

At that moment, the sword closed its mouth. It had also felt this.

Wheeng!

Once again, I performed the [Artha’s Sword Dance], the sword movement combination that I had performed just about an hour ago.

A purple sword wall appeared in front of me. And at the moment, I swung the sword in the opposite direction of what I did a while ago.

Swish!

Ka-ka-ka-ka-kaboom!

This time as well, the purple storm devastated the whole jungle and wiped it out. I compared the two symmetrical traces on me as the center of reference.

The sword had gone silent.

I saw traces of the sword blast that I threw an hour ago. Looking at it again, it seemed like the bulldozer pushed it.

In other words, the traces were very rough. In many areas that did not come into contact with the sword, energy rose like a dirt hill, and there were branches and pieces of rock that were not thoroughly swept away.

I turned my head. This time, I saw the trace of the sword energy that I had just thrown.

“How is it? Is it clean?”

‘Very, very clean.’

It seemed that it had initially been a middle of nowhere without a single grass blade from the beginning. A clean, empty flatland appeared out of nowhere between the trees and went through the jungle.

I had supplemented the part that the magic sword pointed out; it was not perfect but to a considerable degree.

“Do you have anything to add this time?”

The sword did not answer.

*

It was about a week after the first meeting that Danton contacted me. I didn’t take the magic sword with me again this time.

As I waited in the same place, Danton came up with a whiskey glass in his hand as before. There was no greeting, not even a simple acknowledgment.

He went straight to the point, even before he sat down.

“You don’t have to come all the way here next time. If you contact the Korean market when you want a deal, they will respond to those that can be solved there, and it will be passed on to me if it’s something they can’t… I’ll give you the path to directly contact Gina.”

‘Next time,’ he had said. He recognized me as a trader and a subject of the same value as a country’s black market.

Considering that he asked me to contact the Korean market instead of coming here meant that he could not give me the right to face him whenever I need it, but it was enough at this stage.

A piece of contact information popped up on my device. According to the name, Gina referred to Oh Jin-hwa of the Korean market, as I had guessed.

“It looks like you’re done verifying it.”

The Ministry of National Defense tested the samples Danton sent on the corpses of the children of Geruit, which had been secured in advance, and the results were, of course, as I said.

Now it was time to take something since I gave something.

“First of all, we haven’t secured the statue yet.”

Tsk. I clicked my tongue inwardly.

“What about Decker and Jefferson?”

“We’ll look at it together.”

What did he mean?

“What time is it now? Well, it’s time.”

When he gestured, a whole wall turned into a big screen. A live news channel was evidently on.

“Wait two minutes.”

Two minutes later, I saw what Danton meant.

The news showed Decker & Jefferson’s headquarters’ building with the caption of ‘Breaking news’ on the screen. The reporter’s voice continued.

-This breaking news just came in. Today, it was belatedly revealed that Decker & Jefferson had received a special audit jointly conducted by the IRS and the Department of Defense. The audit was conducted behind closed doors for the past four days under the Special Act on Dungeon Management. According to reports, Decker & Jefferson is accused of evading taxes through a ghost company set up in a tax haven and using subsidies from the Department of Defense for other purposes. According to the company’s official statement…

I laughed contentedly.

“That’s fast.”

In my past life, it was supposed to take place four years after this point. It took more than a month to set up an audit team and investigate the allegations.

If the audit started four days ago, it was only three days after I met Danton. The preparation period had been reduced from 30 days to 3 days. This was the power of Edward Danton.

“There’s not a single line of comment on the research on potions in the news.”

“I’m sure they think this audit is really about taxes and subsidies. They’d be mistaken that as the sole purpose.”

Danton transferred a file to my device.

The IRS and the Ministry of National Defense got this by pretending to be after something else. I looked through the contents and spoke.

“That’s the Detroit research facility where the largest number of healing potions were shipped to.”

“There are about 40 researchers who officially work there. But look at the details of the expenses.”

“Food, bedding, clothing, and water… A large number of quality goods to just survive. I think they would feed over 1,000 people a year if it’s this much. It’s like a refugee camp.”

I only knew now that they had collected all of them in Detroit in this era. Later, facilities would be dispersed throughout the United States, and the number of inmates would be scattered. To avoid the government’s eyes, the facility had been relocated several times, and all of its records had never been seen in the future. Even Nate didn’t know.

“The Ministry of National Defense also noticed. The operation will begin in two days. If you’re going to do something about it, you’ll have to go now.”

“Thank you for your advice.”

He looked at me with an interested gaze. “So, what are you going to do?”

I answered while looking into his eyes. “You’ll find out soon enough.”