Green Skin

Western City Aia. It is one of the few major cities of the North, South, East and West. They possess quite a lot of dungeons, and as such the Summoned are more active in this city, which are all under the management of the Holy Order. Security is not bad, and with enough Elites, the lower cla.s.ses are able to leisurely enjoy their own lives.

It may look like the city of Aia was managed by the Holy Order, but in truth, it was not. The small cities of Legius, Leia, Bartion, and so on, were all in one alliance along the Western cities, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the Holy Order ruled over the entire West.

As such the Holy Order Guild Master, Choi Younghoon, the city leader of Aia woke up early in the morning, and began to organize the information brought to him from the logistic department.

As he headed into his office, there was a pile of doc.u.ments lying on the table. Although the Continent was originally turbulent, the situation had become more serious in recent years, so he had to read each report with a lot more responsiveness and seriousness than before.

[North.]

[Cold Spear, Han Sohye and the Winter Clan, selected as the leader of a small city. Despite being summoned only three years ago, the results she has achieved has truly been incredible.]

If it was the Cold Spear Han Sohye, then Choi Younghoon definitely knew who she was. She had immediately departed for the North after building her own forces once summoned in Legius. There were rumors that she was an unbelievable genius as he had tried his utmost to try and recruit her into the Holy ORder.

Of course, he was rejected without hesitation, but she was a good person.

When the Continent was under turmoil, these kind of individuals were a blessing to Humans. Though he had failed in recruiting her, he wished that this woman would grow well. Antic.i.p.ating that she would return as a strong warrior without having him pay too much attention to her, he turned over the page.

There were many stories, with the majority consisting of the movements of Named Monsters, and also dungeon clears. If not that, then the doc.u.ments were based on the strange movement of another city recently. Amongst them, the Named Monster Blood Dagger was quite a hot topic within the city lately.

This Named Monster, labelled the Weapon Merchant, and the group it led had become quite a serious headache for this particular small city.

He began to read the contents of the quests that a few Summoned Humans had received.

The survival quest a 4th Grade Summoned Human; Kim Kitae had received.

[Survive.]

[Your goal is to survive against the Named Monster Blood Dagger of the Western Forest. Please safeguard your body as best as possible.

The Survival quest a 3rd Grade Summoned Human; Go Uri had received.

[Blood Dagger Hunt.]
[Your objective is to kill Blood Dagger who has killed all of your comrades. Use whatever means and methods possible to hunt it.]

Like the other cities, Summoned Humans also shared their quests with others. If the quests were truly personal, then of course it wouldn’t be shared, but this kind of crisis from a Named Monster quest would be the first reported to a Guild. Though he did not know the exact details and contents of these kinds of quests, many Summoned Humans do indeed report this in order to receive resources and support from their Guild and Clan respectively.

By collecting and gathering all of these small quests, it would certainly be of great help in creating a larger doc.u.ment based on how to hunt these kinds of monsters.

In other words, this was simply cooperation.

There were certainly a few other Named Monsters in the West other than Green Goblin and Black Spear, but the one who was certainly most irking was the Blood Dagger Clan these days.

He was able to know by asking the Summoned Humans, but it was reported that these guys operated at very wide radius. They would sometimes appear within conflict areas, but they would also move together with Green Goblin or Black Spear around Legius, without any sort of specific destination.

Since they would appear unexpectedly in front of Humans who they could hunt, it was as if they knew their moves ahead of time. Not only that, since the Blood Dagger Clan was active in an extremely large forest, it was like trying to find a needle

"Ugh…"

Choi Younghoon grabbed his head and began to contemplate. Even the previous meeting included the possible agenda of subjugating Blood Dagger. Though there was no direct casualties to their Holy Order, but since there was a major s.h.i.+ft in public opinion brooding to see him hunted down as well as the constant victims of Beginner Summoned Humans, it was no wonder that Choi Younghoon didn’t want to sit still.

If he wasn’t so bound down by his body, he thought that he would want to partic.i.p.ate in the subjugation himself.

But he could not ignore the suggestions and opinions of the group. In Choi Younghoon’s point of view, the Holy Order was clearly rotting. In the beginning, it was a promising Guild who originally intended to stabilize the West, but due to itself being so concentrated in acc.u.mulating and maintaining power in the West, the mistakes of their members in recent times has been eating away the city.

Since he was so focused in recruiting Elites, he had neglected in solidifying the Guild from the core. No, to be precise, it would be correct to say that he did not have time to strengthen the core at all. Due to Choi Younghoon constantly managing the foreign affairs and protecting the borders, containing the enemies from making any brash movements, it was no wonder why he couldn’t spend too much time on his Guild. Fortunately, his successor, Sword Saint Ha Yuri was stabilizing the guild, but it was just putting out the recent fires at hand.

Due to that, Choi Younghoon has been thinking of a reform for quite some time. He was expecting that there would be guild members who would object to this sudden upheaval, but the only ones that knew of this was him and his student, the Sword Saint.

Seeing the Holy Order forgetting that it was the Beginners who would be the driving force towards the growth of the city, he knew that the Holy Order needed change.

Choi Younghoon began to slowly recollect of the Sword Saint. One that was comparable to the Cold Spear, Han Sohye. No, she could be an even greater genius.

She not only cherished the Beginners, but she also grew extremely quick as she followed right behind him. He couldn’t help but never forget the reply that she gave to him when he had spoken his thoughts to her.

‘That was a matter that I was thinking about recently as well, Master. You’ve thought well. I’m happy you’ve confided in me. ’

‘That’s a relief…’

‘There will probably be a lot of backlash. The fact that you will replace a lot of the executives… will definitely be excessive. But, please leave it to me. It’ll probably work out as well as Master thinks. ’

The Saint Sword was the reward that Choi Younghoon had during his long life of fighting. Thanks to his wife being on Earth, he did not remarry, so she was like his daughter. That was exactly what the existence of Sword Saint Ha Yuri was to him. If his daughter on Earth had grown up healthily, she would probably be of similar age to Ha Yuri.

After organizing all of the recent doc.u.ments, he began to leave. It was due to his promise of eating breakfast with Yuri.

As soon as he left his office, he saw guild members of the Holy Order. They were holding the Guild flags up high, engraved with the insignia of a sword and s.h.i.+eld crossing with wings.

When he first created this guild, he suddenly thought why he hadn’t thought of this. Since the comrades he founded the Holy Order Guild with had already been gone from this world, so he tried his best not to think of it, but for some strange reason, that flag continued to cross his mind.

"Sword Saint-nim is waiting inside. "

"Ugh… It seems that I have made her wait. "

"It is not, sir. "

He had a.s.sumed that she’d been waiting for quite some time. That was how this child originally was. Younghoon smiled as he sat down, and the Sword Saint also bowed before sitting.

"Do you have any other reports?"

"Yes. It’s the same. Although the monsters are still active as well… ah! It has been confirmed that an Ogre named Goff within the jungle has been on a rampage. It has also been the same for Blood Dagger around here as well.

"Many people must have died. "

"Yes. Probably…"

A moment of silence hung in the air within the dining room. Soon, the food came out and after they started dining, they soon entered a very ordinary conversation. How was life, what were you doing, if there was a guy that you liked – they were contents of a normal conversation that a father would have as if she was his daughter.

"I do not have any thoughts of dating a boyfriend, Master. Right now, the priority is protecting the Guild. "

It might be just words, but it was a very commendable remark. She was probably thinking about the conversation that they had previously. Younhoon smiled once more as he spoke.

"I see. I understand. "

"Master. Do you remember the first day I had arrived here?"

"Ahem. Asides from remembering… I thought that you were a child with a lot of potential the first day I saw you. "

"Aie…if it wasn’t for Master, how would I have become as strong as I am now. In those days, Master was truly a hero-like figure to me. It’s embarra.s.sing to say this, but you were someone I aspired to be. "

"Haha… I appreciate the compliment, even if they are just words. "

Choi Younghoon definitely remembered that time. He could still see those admiring, respectful look of Ha Yuri staring up to him.

"But… why have you become so fragile now?"

Instantly, it hit him.

What struck first before her words was Ha Yuri’s Saint Sword. Instantaneously, Younghoon tried to use his mana. But, his body did not move.

‘Poison’

He could not comprehend what was happening. It was hard to understand why his student would pierce a sword into his heart.

"This…what is this…"

"How long do you think I would wipe your back?"

It was an expression that Choi Younghoon had not seen before.

"Why didn’t you just quietly retire? Then I would have continued to treat you like my master… reform, what the h.e.l.l do you mean by a reform. How ridiculous. "

Due to being pierced by her sword, Choi Younghoon subconsciously looked around. It was to request for help from the other Holy Knights. But, they all coolly stared at him with hardened expressions. He had no choice but to realize that no one was on his side.

"Do…do you realize what…. what you’re doing…. "

"Of course I do, Master. I’m in the middle of guarding the Guild? No…maybe I’m in the process of becoming a Queen? Heh. "

"You…how could you…"

While trying to open his mouth, the sword continued to drive through deeper and deeper. Blood erupted from his mouth as he soon realized that his body was becoming colder. What he could see behind Sword Saint Ha Yuri was the Holy Order flag.

It was a flag which he had first created along with his comrades after being summoned over to this Continent. It was a flag that would now become hers once he had died. A flag that had an extremely heavy burden. Choi Younghoon began to stare at Yuri as his vision became blurred. Various memories began to roll like a film.

‘Master, have you improved a bit?’

‘Master, thank you so much. ’

They were pleasant memories which came to forefront of his mind. Despite being betrayed and dying, the cherished memories of him and his student continued to roll. In those memories, his fury became fainter.

In the meantime… what he realized that he had truly thought of Ha Yuri as not of family, but like a true daughter. Unknowing, he spoke to her on the verge of death.

"….. "

"Yes?"

I’m…sorry……. my…. my daughter…"

That blurred vision became dark in an instant, as silence overcame him. It was a disastrous ending unfitting for one who had achieved countless heroic accomplishments, as the first Guild Master of the Holy Order.

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? Making me want to vomit. "

She stood stood on top of the cold dead corpse with a puzzled sentence.