Chapter 319 – Letter of Friendship (4)
Team: HH, thursdays, Yahiko (7/10)
“.......”
She didn’t move.
Yeon-woo sighed. He thought she would have some kind of reaction if she saw Jeong-woo’s face, but nothing changed.
Still, Yeon-woo continued to speak to Ananta. Even if she showed no reaction, somewhere in her subconscious, she was probably listening.
And when she woke up, he hoped that she would tell him everything she had struggled to deal with.
Yeon-woo was actually the one who wanted Ananta to regain consciousness the most. He wanted anyone who remembered and cherished his brother to be happy.
He put his mask back on and turned around. Brahm was standing there with a bitter smile.
“Thank you. As always.”
“That’s what I should be saying.”
“Are you leaving now?”
“There’s no need to spend any more time here.”
“Sesha will be angry if you leave without saying anything. Last time, I had a hard time trying to appease her because you left without a word.”
Yeon-woo laughed.
“Please convince her we.....”
Before Yeon-woo could finish, there was the sound of something crashing in the hallway, and the door burst open.
“Uncleeeee!”
Sesha jumped into Yeon-woo’s arms with her short legs. Yeon-woo quickly caught her in case she got hurt.
“Uncle! You were going to leave me behind again, weren’t you?”
Sesha looked Yeon-woo up and down and puffed her cheeks. When Yeon-woo had his mask on, it meant that he would leave soon.
“That’s.....”
Yeon-woo broke out in a cold sweat, not knowing how to excuse himself.
“You left me last time, too! How can you do that to me?”
“S, Sesha.”
“You’re gonna play with me a bit, right? Hm? Or.....”
Sesha looked down at the ground with a sad face.
“Do you not like being with me?”
“.......”
Yeon-woo sighed. Who would be able to act coldly in front of such a cute niece? He took his mask back off.
“No. Of course not. Then what should we do?”
“Hehehe! I want to do what you taught me last time! Hopscotch! That was fun!”
Sesha broke out into a huge grin, like all her worries had disappeared. Then, she grabbed Yeon-woo’s hand and pulled him out to the yard.
Yeon-woo followed her, shaking his head. He heard that the boys in the village were crazy for Sesha. He felt like he knew why.
Brahm smiled as he watched Yeon-woo and Sesha leave.
“He loves his niece too much.”
It was rare to see such a touching scene in the Tower.
Ananta was watching them silently. Her eyes focused and blurred again.
* * *
Creutz clicked his tongue.
‘Tartarus, the One-horned tribe, and now Blood Land? When did he make all these connections?’
He didn’t say anything because he promised to follow quietly, but he was surprised to be visiting Blood Land.
He was curious what kind of relationship Yeon-woo and Blood Land had.
‘If it’s a good relationship, the Regiment will have to revise our relationship with Blood Land, too.’
Creutz and the rest of the Fantasy Regiment’s judgment of Blood Land was simple.
Crazy psychos.
They were better than the lunatic Devil Army, though.
And of those in the Blood Land, many were reasonable. The Fantasy Regiment had some ties with people in Blood Land.
However, the reason why they thought poorly of Blood Land was simple.
‘There’s no knowing what their leader, the Gluttony Emperor, is thinking.’
Blood Land was modeled after an “empire,” so the emperor had the most authority and power. The people were deeply loyal to the Emperor.
The direction of the clan was decided by how the emperor felt.
The Gluttony Emperor was the most traditional and had the most power out of all the leaders within Blood Land. His will was the will of the empire.
Because of that, the Gluttony Emperor wasn’t someone they could admire.
He was always impulsive. When they were working, things would go wrong because he suddenly changed his mind, or when the clan was fighting a battle, he would sometimes disappear because he was hungry.
At the same time, he was powerful enough to be one of the Nine Kings, so there was no one to stop him. The only person who could was probably the Martial King.
The Gluttony Emperor was childish. A child who quickly lost interest in things and quit in the middle.
‘But he also has a horrifying side to him, too. He’s really crazy.’
And Yeon-woo was entering such a place of his own volition. He was worried, but the gears in his head were spinning.
The Regiment Leader’s had a deep interest in Yeon-woo. He said he needed to have the Hoarder by his side all the time. He even said that the place he needed to be in was next to the Hoarder. If Yeon-woo entered the Fantasy Regiment, he would be given a high position.
And according to his relationships, the political standing of the Fantasy Regiment would be influenced.
‘Isn’t there a word for people like that?’
Creutz remembered something his subordinates had said about people who had a lot of friends and hung out with many people.
‘I thought he was an outsider. But he’s totally an insider.....’
[You have entered the Outer Space ‘Land of Red Sunsets.’]
A pink-orange dusk greeted Creutz when he entered the portal after Yeon-woo.
Then.
On a red carpet, soldiers began to blow into their trumpets and tap on their drums.
They were all wearing reddish armor.
Yeon-woo’s eyes widened at the fancy reception he hadn’t expected. It wasn’t because he was surprised but because he was flabbergasted. When had they prepared something like this?
Blood Land was famous for having different welcoming ceremonies for different visitors.
Out of the 4 different welcoming ceremonies they had, Red, White, Blue, and Black, they were showing Yeon-woo the highest, Red.
It was usually what they did when a leader of one of the Eight Large Clans or someone of equal status came.
‘And they’re doing that for me?’
It was true he had tricked them to gain their trust, but he didn’t know they held him in such high regard.
Aside from that, even if the Gluttony Emperor liked him, he should’ve treated Yeon-woo with indifference since he was the leader of such a large clan.
Of course, this kind of welcome wasn’t bad for Yeon-woo. If they accepted him like this, it meant that he could take more from them.
“Oho! Who’s this?! If it isn’t my close friend, the Hoarder!”
A fancy palanquin came out of the door to the imperial castle. About a hundred slaves were lifting it.
Behind it, Duke Tuan Tien, Duke Moglay, and about 36 Marquises followed like servants.
Hwaaa—
A violent aura that reeked of blood whirled around them.
The fat Gluttony Emperor wobbled up from his fancy chair.
He was smiling kindly, but there was blood on his chin.
It was a gruesome image to anyone who would’ve seen it.
“Nice to meet you, sir.”
Yeon-woo didn’t blink and bowed. No, he tried to.
The Gluttony Emperor suddenly jumped down from the palanquin. The ground shook, and his chubby flesh jiggled. He wobbled over and held Yeon-woo up.
“What are you doing?! Greeting a close friend like this. Your reputation is my reputation! Are you planning on making others look down on me?”
The Gluttony Emperor patted Yeon-woo’s shoulder and grabbed his hand.
“Anyways, don’t just stand there and come in! We have many things to talk about. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”
The Gluttony Emperor forced Yeon-woo on the palanquin and looked around. He glared at the military marching band and the welcoming committee.
“What are you doing?! A special visitor has come. Greet him heartily this instant!”
They marched on with trumpets blaring in the background.
* * *
“Hahaha! It’s not much, but enjoy!”
The Gluttony Emperor burst out laughing and told Yeon-woo to sit down at the long table.
‘This isn’t much?’
Yeon-woo was in disbelief.
The fruit wine, drake steak drenched in honey, and precious delicacies covered the plates.
Red fire danced on the tips of the golden candles.
Everything Yeon-woo had seen on the way here was extravagant.
Servants in the castle all bowed to Yeon-woo when they saw him, and the soldiers greeted him even more dramatically than the welcoming committee had.
However, the dining room was worse. Yeon-woo was sitting at the head of the table next to the Gluttony Emperor.
The Gluttony Emperor signaled for him to eat. His crescent-curved eyes were uncomfortable to look at.
He couldn’t refuse the offer. He had been hungry anyway, so he slowly moved his hand to the spoon in front of him.
Even if there was poison in it, he didn’t have to worry. His Residual Poison Blood could resist most poisons.
The moment he tasted the soup, Yeon-woo’s eyes widened.
‘This is.....?’
The Gluttony Emperor burst out laughing.
“Pahahahat! How is it? Isn’t it incredible? Our chef, Duke Tuan Tien, went through a lot of trouble to make it. Come here.”
“Thank you. I hope our visitor enjoys it.”
Duke Tuan Tien had a bright smile in his white chef’s outfit.
Yeon-woo laughed.
‘Crazy bastards. They’re putting out soup with caviar of a soul shark as an appetizer?’
The soul shark was a rare monster on the 68th floor that moved freely between reality and the imaginary world. It only appeared once in ten years, so it was hard to find it. It was famous for the materials it provided.
However, the real reason why the caviar of the soul shark was famous was that it had a great amount of holy power.
Normal players would be able to control their magic power better just by eating it.
Here, they had crushed it and made it into a soup. Also, the ‘Milk of the Taranian Mountain Sheep’ that was also in the soup was famous for increasing the limits of one’s vitality.
This soup, in itself, was an elixir people would rush to devour.
About one year of the clan’s budget would have been used to make this soup.
Yeon-woo carefully drank the fruity wine that was next to him, wondering what it was. A fresh taste wrapped around his tongue. Although he only had a sip, his magic power increased rapidly.
[Magic power has increased by 8.]
[Magic power has increased by 6.]
It was definitely mixed with ambrosia, the fruit of gods that grew only on the 71st floor.
Yeon-woo opened his Draconic Eyes to see the other fruits.
[Fenghuang Soup]
[Triple Head Troll’s Meat]
[Golden Apple’s Honey]
[Mermaid King Tail Steak]
[Rare Divine Wine]
......
“.......”
Yeon-woo was so flabbergasted that he couldn’t even laugh anymore.
And.
Creutz nodded heavily to himself, looking at Yeon-woo.
‘He’s being received in such a grandiose manner. He’s definitely an insider.’