TCF2-41

<The First Law of the Hunt (4)>

Marquis Helson had a thought.

‘He truly is so bold.’

Marquis Helson recalled when he contacted the Church of the Fire of Purification for the first time in a long while.

‘Bishop?’

‘Nice to see you, Marquis Helson.’

A bishop of the Church of Fire of Purification had appeared on the black magic video communication device.

‘...Is that sir someone the church has raised?’

The bishop smiled benignly and shook his head at Helson's question. He then made a comment/

‘You should be able to see the answer when you look at that esteemed sir.’

Marquis Helson closed his eyes for a moment.

The white sand desert where everything had been purified...

The blue sky and world without darkness he saw through the video communication device in Chief Eaen's hand...

The purifier who was arrogantly standing there...

‘I came here after being called by the world.’

He definitely said that.

Marquis Helson was now certain.

‘The Purifier will definitely go to the capital and completely destroy the Huayans Estate.’

He did not seem to be the type of person to say that he would destroy something if he was just going to break a few things.

No, he might not even be human.

He was just an 'existence.’

"Sir, I do have one concern.”

Marquis Helson opened his mouth.

“I do not know whether I can trick the Huayans patriarch’s eyes.”

Cale had an idea about what Marquis Helson was worried about.

‘Because of the corpses and the white desert?”

“Yes sir.”

Helson waited to see how Cale would respond. Cale responded immediately without any hesitation.

“Just say that you don’t know.”

“...Excuse me?”

Helson had a slightly blank look on his face as he looked at Cale.

Cale had a refreshing smile on his face as he spoke.

“There was a large explosion and everything was gone when you went there to check. You just have to pretend not to know. Just say that you don't know anything. What can he do if you do that?”

“...Mm.”

“To be completely blunt, the Huayans patriarch will not think that you would have created such a sight, Marquis-nim.”

"That is true.”

Helson easily accepted Cale's comment even though he was basically being told he lacked the ability to do something like that. It was the truth.

"Then the Huayans patriarch will try to figure out who could do such a thing. He will toss and tumble on his own all he wants and come up with all sorts of hypothesis.”

“Mm.”

"Do you think that one of his hypotheses will include us?”

“...No sir.”

The purifier.

Who would be able to consider this existence?

Even now, most of the people in Precinct 9, who didn’t know the inside story about the incident, had seen the red explosion but did not have any idea about what had happened.

It was that impossible to imagine.

“Marquis-nim, he will definitely try to rummage through the entirety of Precinct 9.”

“Mm.”

Helson had to hide them well when the Huayans patriarch did that.

He needed to hide the people who survived.

Cale continued to speak at that.

“The patriarch will be informed about something at that moment.

“Ah.”

Helson could imagine the situation now.

"The patriarch will probably head for the capital right away. The capital and his own Estate would have been attacked.”

“That is correct, sir.”

“He will probably leave a few people behind as he can’t give up on the investigation here either, but-”

Helson smiled.

“I am capable of tricking those people.”

“Right?”

Cale and Marquis Helson looked at each other and smiled.

The Blood Cultist, who was watching this, felt his insides churn.

‘Who the hell is this person?’

The Blood Cultist had sort of given up on escaping at this point.

‘Hey, you plan on talking about making an offering of karma to go to the Central Plains, right?’

He had been so shocked at Cale’s comment that he almost fainted. There was someone who was not a Hunter who knew about that.

The problem was that Cale had not stopped there.

‘To be honest, we really don’t need your information. And we will be heading to your hometown soon so you don’t have to worry about dying without returning home one last time.’

Although Cale had sounded so cheeky as he smiled and said that, the meaning behind it was shocking.

A person who was not a Hunter could travel through dimensions while taking others, like this Dragon and the sword master, with him?

It also looked as if he didn't even need to make an offering of karma to do it.

‘Is he really someone a god has sent?

No.’

The eldest son shook his head.

There was only one god he needed to believe in and serve.

‘Oh esteemed Blood Demon.’

It was someone who was human but would soon become a god.

That sir would achieve the great deed of the cult.

The Blood Cultist could not continue to think.

“Choi Han.”

“Yes sir.”

Choi Han's hand moved and the Blood Cultist fainted while thinking about the Blood Demon.

‘Fuck! Why the hell does he keep knocking me out?’

Nobody cared about what the Blood Cultist was thinking as he fainted.

* * *

“I will stay here.”

“Will that be okay?”

Cale's gaze headed toward Eruhaben. The ancient Dragon had an odd smile on his face. It was a twisted smile.

“...I want to get a good look at the Huayans patriarch’s face.”

‘He’s angry.’

Cale realized that the ancient Dragon's wrath had not disappeared but had gotten stronger.

Cale's gaze naturally headed toward a spot.

This black-haired woman... Aphei was quietly seated on a chair located at the side of the bedroom. Of course, her eyes were quickly moving.

“There are no tracking devices.”

Cale was surprised at Eruhaben’s comment.

The House of Huayans should have done everything they could to keep Aphei in their hands. That was why it was shocking that they did not have a single tracking device on Aphei's body.

“Really?”

“...There was before, but it is gone.”

“Aha.”

It sounded as if Eruhaben had destroyed it.

“Such a black magic tracking device easily disappeared once I put my hand on it.”

...It sounded as if he completely obliterated into dust.

Cale just nodded his head as that was a good move. However, he couldn’t help but frown a bit after hearing what Eruhaben said next.

“...But she says that she is cursed.”

Cale looked toward Aphei. She should be able to hear Cale and Eruhaben's conversation, but she was not looking at them. Her gaze was still quickly moving around.

"A curse?”

“Yes. She said that she would be in pain the moment she heard the Huayans patriarch’s voice.”

“Did she say that herself?”

“Yes. That is apparently why she couldn't even think about running away.”

Eruhaben and Cale made eye contact.

"The Hunters would chase her no matter where she went in this world. She said that she determined that she could not survive on her own.”

The Dragon Aphei, who had been born in dead mana, was aware of the Hunters’ existence.

Eruhaben let out a deep sigh as he spoke.

“It looks like the House of Huayans, huuuuu. The Black Bloods played a central role in hunting all of the Dragons.”

Cale thought about it for a moment before thinking that Eruhaben heard all of this from Aphei and heading toward her.

Her gaze turned toward Cale for the first time since he entered the room.

However, Cale's eyes were not looking at Aphei but at something else.

‘...Is it okay to leave them like this?’

The individuals who had kept Aphei distracted until just now...

The children averaging nine-years-old.

Raon, On, and Hong were roaming around Aphei. As for Raon, he was poking at Aphei's long rob mumbling to himself.

“I'm a black Dragon too, nya~”

He was imitating Hong as he did that.

Peek.

He was also peeking at Aphei extremely obviously, although he himself thought that he was being quite stealthy.

“I'm very strong, nya~”

“I'm strong too, nya~”

Hong commented after him.

"We're all strong, nya~ we can save everybody, nya~”

Raon commented after him again. On slowly headed next to Cale and let out a light sigh.

Cale heard Eruhaben’s voice while he looked at Hong and Raon. Eruhaben let out a deep sigh.

“They’ve been like this since earlier.”

“Mm.”

Cale let out a short groan instead of responding.

He then looked toward Aphei. This Dragon who was born from within dead mana...

Cale looked at Aphei and asked the first question.

“...Your age?”

Eruhaben scowled but Cale had no idea. Eruhaben's eyes opened wide after he heard Aphei's response.

“...99 this year.”

Eruhaben commented.

“She's still a child.”

He frowned.

“...She's not even a hundred years old yet.”

Cale turned his gaze and then flinched. Gold dust was rising up around Eruhaben. It looked as if his anger toward the Hunters was rising.

‘...Let's not look at him.’

Cale decided to look at Aphei again and asked a question.

“You can’t hear the Huayans patriarch’s voice, ma'am?”

‘I need to be respectful if she’s 99 years old.’

“…….”

Nod. Aphei nodded her head.

Although this could seem as if she was being uncooperative, Cale realized that this was not the case.

‘Mm.’

The ninety-nine year old Dragon was fidgeting.

He had not noticed until now, but she seemed quite timid.

She looked completely different from the haughty appearance she had shown at the banquet hall. It made sense because Aphei’s true appearance had not been shown until now.

‘That should mean she is that relaxed.’

Aphei was still looking at the children averaging nine-years-old. She looked at Eruhaben every so often as well. Of course, her gaze was mostly on Raon.

She then looked at Cale after realizing that he was not saying anything.

“...Yeah.”

She then gave a late reply.

She must have believed that the nod was not enough for Cale.

- Cale, you saw that, right? For a Dragon to show such a timid response! What the fuck did these Hunter bastards do?!

Eruhaben was sharing his frustration that he could not share out loud in Cale’s mind. The ancient Dragon was so angry that he was swearing.

“Haha......”

Cale just laughed and brushed it aside while gently speaking to Aphei.

“Apparently the Huayans patriarch will come here tomorrow.”

“…….”

Aphei's fingers were fidgeting but she looked calm.

- She’s brave.

Eruhaben spoke as if he was praising her.

- Human! Let’s go beat the Huayans patriarch to a pulp before the Hunters can mess with timid Aphei!

Raon suggested extremely energetically.

‘Ha. These Dragons.’

Cale just ignored the two Dragons. This was the first time he had brushed aside something Eruhaben had said.

He just smiled warmly.

- Human! Aphei is on our side! Don't smile like that toward timid Aphei! Don’t scam her either!

He ignored Raon's comment again.

“Aphei-nim.”

“…….”

Aphei looked at Cale.

Cale gently asked.

“Would you like to go to the capital tomorrow to destroy the Huayans Estate while the patriarch is not there?”

Although team leader Sui Khan, On, and Hong had scoped out the House of Huayans... There was nobody on their side who knew more about that place than Aphei.

“…….”

Aphei's pupils started to shake.

“...You're going to destroy that place?”

She asked while fidgeting her fingers.

Cale opened his mouth and tried to respond but the children averaging nine-years-old were faster.

No, to be more specific, Raon and Hong were faster.

"Alright! Human, I'm going too! I'm going to destroy it!”

“I'm curious to know if you are going to loot or not, nya!”

Cale looked at the children averaging nine-years-old, including On, who were looking at him with sparkling gazes and lightheartedly responded.

"We're going to do both.”

He could see Aphei’s cheeks flush a bit at that moment.

“...It sounds like it is going to be fun.”

Cale subconsciously took a step back as Aphei said that while still fidgeting her fingers.

‘What the hell?’

He felt as if he saw an odd form of lunacy in her eyes. He could not even look at her now flushed cheeks.

Aphei's eyes were shining. He felt as if he was seeing the large amount of anger and lunacy that resided inside this timid Dragon.

An unexplainable chill resided on the back of Cale’s neck. He heard a low laugh at that moment.

“Haha......”

He turned toward the bed. Sui Khan. The team leader was laughing while eating some fruit.

Sui then made a comment.

"So strong.”

Eruhaben and Mary...

Everybody except the two of them headed for the capital the next morning.

They had an extra Dragon with them.

They went to destroy the Huayans Estate.

* * *

The Empire’s capital.

Cale's group arrived at the secret residence of the Church of the Fire of Purification.

They needed to prepare and assess the situation before heading toward the Huayans Estate.

Cale met with the Pope as soon as he teleported over.

The Pope shouted.

“I greet the legend!”

‘Shit, fuck.’

Cale suddenly got chills on his arms.