Chapter 137 (1/2)

Chapter 137. He Who Wishes To Wear the Crown

He did what he needed to do and gathered everything he required.

[Outside! Outside!]

Unexpectedly obtaining something he had to bring along everywhere, Seol Jihu turned back feeling strange.

The travel back home was smooth, except for one troublesome situation he ran into. As he was in the southernmost region renowned for being unsafe, he should have had a difficult journey.

Traveling alone made one an easy prey, and as monsters generally enjoyed the taste of human flesh, they wouldn't let a delicacy escape so easily.

As a result, a group of seven monsters had commenced their hunt while swallowing their saliva, and it wasn't until half of them were steamed cold by Seol Jihu's Ice Spear that they ran for their lives.

The problem was that the ones who managed to escape informed the deaths of their comrades to their village.

It would have been better if they just stayed quiet, but the leader of the monsters grew furious at the deaths of its subordinates and swore vendetta against the perpetrator.

No matter how strong the human was, he was alone. If the entire clan ambushed him while he was asleep at night, his demise seemed inevitable.

Thinking so, the leader became confident in its plans.

That was, of course, until it got beaten to a pulp.

If there was one mistake it made, it was that it didn't realize the human wasn't alone. And if one were to put a second charge to its list of crimes, it would be that it disrupted Flone's secret enjoyment.

She was giggling and taking delight in watching Seol Jihu's sleeping face, but when sharp killing intent swept over his campsite, Seol Jihu had instantly opened his eyes.

When his and Flone's eyes met at a nose-close distance, Flone felt extremely embarra.s.sed, and this humiliation transformed into unreasonable rage.

In the end, the pack of monsters that caused this situation faced Flone's rage in full force.

Not only did she beat the warriors of the pack into a pulp, but she even tore the trembling mothers and babies hugging each other into pieces. Seeing this, Seol Jihu became speechless.

An unexpected consequence of this ma.s.sacre was freeing the few Earthlings who were being kept in the monsters' village as if they were livestock, but the two of them had no way of knowing this.

In any case, Seol Jihu returned to Haramark safe and sound and headed straight to Carpe Diem's office.

The three others must have gone out as the building was empty.

[Is this your room?]

When he returned to his room, the pendant floated up and moved side to side.

[Can I look around?]

“Sure.”

Immediately, black smoke flowed out from the gem and flew around the room.

For the record, Seol Jihu called this gaseous state of Flone as 'stage 1'.

[Bed!]

Next, the smoke blazed up and transformed into a half-transparent figure of Flone. This ghost form that was invisible to Seol Jihu's eyes was 'stage 2'.

'Stage 3' was when she manifested, being no longer half-transparent and visible to everyone else.

[Wow, wow!]

Seol Jihu made a bitter smile as he watched Flone roll around in his bed.

'I was too hasty again.'

He thought Flone would be freed if the barrier and the spell tying her to the Forest of Denial were lifted. In a way, he wasn't wrong. After all, Flone had been freed.

The problem was that Seol Jihu equated freedom to entering the afterlife.

To be more precise, when she became an evil spirit from resentment, she became a type of haunting spirit. Simply put, she hadn't given up on revenge and was refusing to move on to the afterlife.

'I really made a fool out of myself.'

Flone repeatedly asking 'What do I do?' and putting the pendant around his neck was just a way of telling him to bring her with him.

He'd shouted 'Goodbye!' without even knowing that. Just how comical did he look?

When the barrier and the spell tying her down vanished, she had lost the place she haunted, making the pendant she cherished her new home. Now, she was hanging on Seol Jihu's neck, enjoying freedom to her fullest.

[Can I go out and play?]

Seol Jihu smiled faintly. As long as he had the pendant, there was nothing to worry about.

Being outside the Forest of Denial for the first time in centuries, Flone was as curious as a child, always disappearing on her own to take a look around and coming back to the pendant to sleep.

“Where are you going?”

[On a stroll. I want to check out the city.]

“You know you can't let other people see you, right?”

[Yep.]

Flone became half-transparent again and pa.s.sed through the window.

“You can't randomly kill someone, okay?”

[Okay!]

Seeing Flone fly away in the blink of an eye, Seol Jihu plopped down on the bed before sprawling down on his back and looking up at the ceiling.

To be honest, he was still a bit embarra.s.sed. The Ghost Saintess not pa.s.sing on to the afterlife was an unexpected result, but he didn't think traveling together like this was bad.

There were other reasons too, but he was happy that Flone herself wanted to stay in Paradise.

'Who would have thought I would get a ghost friend?'

Seol Jihu closed his eyes, thinking how unpredictable life was.

Making a report after returning from an expedition or an exploration was a 'must'. One could find out about this just by seeing how Alex reported the appearance of the Moles to the Temple as soon as he returned to Haramark, and had the information appear in the plaza.

Paradise's ecosystem being disrupted was a frequent occurrence. Continuous sharing and updating of information was practically an unspoken rule in Paradise.

After all, just knowing 'Monster A appeared in Region B' greatly increased one's chance of survival.

This was also the reason the Haramark Royal Magician invited Seol Jihu. Ian had requested him to help him with his report on the fifth Banquet.

Although he'd heard the story at the pub before, there was a huge difference between listening while drunk and listening as a serious business.

The Royal Magician's private library was stacked full with books. Ian sat in front of a desk, spinning a fountain pen between his fingers. Seol Jihu was slightly taken aback by this side of Ian, which was different from his usual flippant att.i.tude.

Seol Jihu readily agreed to Ian's request, hoping to see Princess Teresa and give her a gift while he was at it. However, Princess Teresa was out.

According to Ian, she was working hard at Arden Valley with the village head of Ramman Village. When Seol Jihu heard that the village head's knowledge greatly bolstered the plan of fortifying Arden Valley, he felt content.

While helping Ian get the story of the Banquet straight, Seol Jihu also told him the reason the Ghost Saintess was angry. When Ian said, “She could have just asked why you weren't there. What a narrow-minded Saintess,” Seol Jihu jumped up in shock.

He had to expend quite a bit of effort to stop Flone, who was struggling wildly and yelling that she would pull the old man's beard out.

He consoled Flone by taking her to a lake at the center of the capital, then barely sent her off by telling her how beautiful she was.

By the time Seol Jihu was almost finished with going over the report, Ian who was silently focused on the report suddenly asked.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Huh? Me?”

“When you came back, your face was full of worry.”

Seol Jihu laughed lightly.

“I am always worried.”

“Aiya, it's like they say. A tree with many branches is always concerned about the wind. What are you worried about now?”

“Uh… I'm not sure.”

Seol Jihu pulled his arm back and rubbed his neck.

“What I should do… where I should begin… I'm just not sure.”

“Hm.”

Ian asked, not taking his eyes off the report.

“Now that I think about it, aren't you still Level 3?”

“Yes.”

“Since you pa.s.sed Stage 3, you should be able to get to Level 4.”

“Probably.”

“Hoh, I'm also Level 4. To think we're already at the same level….”

Ian shook his head.

“Can't you become a High Ranker if you want, Master Ian?”

“I haven't been Enlightened yet, and even if I were, it doesn't change the fact that your growth speed is incredible. Well, considering the things you've done, it's no surprise.”

Seol Jihu's explosive rate of growth was explained by the impossibly difficult missions he's completed since he was a Level 1.

“Anyways, a Level 4…. I guess it is time to get ready.”

Ian took a deep breath and nodded his head. After staring at the report for a long time….

“There is this saying.”

He opened his mouth.

“He who wishes to wear the crown, bear its weight.”

Hearing the word 'crown', Seol Jihu flinched.

First Kazuki, and now Ian. Was he that easy to see through?

“I think you want to become the leader of Carpe Diem. Am I right?”

When he asked to confirm, Seol Jihu nodded his head.

“Then do you know the difference between a leader and a member? What do you think is the most important virtue a leader must have?”

“Eyes that can read the situation, no?”

“If it were that obvious, I wouldn't have asked, don't you think?”

Seol Jihu fell into thought for a moment before replying.

“I think it's strength.”

“Strength? Don't tell me you mean physical strength?”

“Rather than being the physical strength of the leader… I would say it's the physical strength of the group.”

Ian tilted his head and slowly rubbed his beard.

“That's too broad. In my opinion, a leader has to be someone with diplomatic skills.”

“Diplomatic skills?”

“That's right. More than ten years have pa.s.sed in Paradise's time since it began to invite Earthlings. There are countless for-profit groups and organizations co-existing in this world for various goals.”

“To survive in these rough waters, diplomacy is key. Don't you think so?”

Seeing Seol Jihu only tilt his head at this question, Ian smacked his lips.

“Mm…. What is the goal of the team you are trying to create?”

When Seol Jihu opened his mouth to talk, Ian quickly asked again.