## Chapter 147 – 147. Campfire
#147. Campfire
“Haa… I’m bored to death. How long do I have to keep doing this?”
“If you’re so unhappy, you should’ve won rock-paper-scissors.”
“…Are you an idiot? We lost together, that’s why we’re here.”
“…”
The two men smoked cigarettes, gazing at the distant mountains.
As if still shouting that it was summer, the sound of crickets chirped from somewhere.
The noisy sound made the men’s faces scrunch up.
Even though the height of summer had passed, the weather still exceeded 30 degrees Celsius during the day. The occasional mosquito only added to their rising displeasure.
“Is it even reasonable to make us do guard duty in a place like this and tell us not to bring bug-repellent lamps?”
“That thing runs on magic stones. If the enemy senses the magic power of the stones, we’re dead.”
“Enemy?”
The man scoffed.
“Logically speaking, with the National Intelligence Service involved, who in their right mind would target the Gyeonggi Province governor?”
The NIS might be incompetent, but they were persistent enough to never let go of prey they targeted.
That was one of the reasons why so many guilds didn’t want to make the NIS an enemy.
“The guy who’s been killing high-ranking officials one after another, do you think he’ll stop now?”
“That criminal probably values his own life enoug…”
Saa, as they chatted, a cold night air and an unidentifiable sense of foreboding swept through them.
Their spines tingled for no reason, making them less talkative as they darted their eyes around, surveying their surroundings.
It goes without saying, but in a place without even a streetlight, let alone a house, there was no way they could see anything properly.
“…Why the hell would they build a villa in a place like this?”
“…It’s perfect for secretly bringing girls to play with, away from reporters.”
After that, the men continued to talk without stopping. It felt like they couldn’t stop making noise, even for a moment.
“By the way, what’s the situation back at headquarters? I heard the NIS barged in.”
“It’s nominally a cooperative investigation.”
Currently, the Black Mountain Guild was in a chaotic state due to the unexpected NIS investigation.
As a result, not only the guild leader, Go Tae-beom, but also the chief of staff and the elite guild members had their movements severely restricted.
They had no choice but to pull manpower from the lower guilds to continue guarding the governor.
“Those NIS guys, I knew they were crazy, but I didn’t know they’d be even more reckless than the Association.”
It wasn’t as if there was clear evidence that the Black Mountain Guild was involved in this serial murder case of high-ranking officials.
They had targeted the Black Mountain Guild as their first target to investigate the guild leader, Go Tae-beom, simply because he was related to the family of the deceased head of the Sujeong District Office.
“Thanks to that, not only the deputy guild leader but also several teams from headquarters can’t come to support us…”
In the first place, the guild leader, Go Tae-beom, was under surveillance by the Association, so he couldn’t move rashly.
That’s why usually the deputy guild leader, who was also an A-rank, and several team leaders would guard this place, but now no one was here.
It was safe to say that the level of security was at its weakest.
“Well, the main branch’s cleanup crew is all here, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”
The chief of staff, Yoo Jin-tae, who wasn’t here, had already prepared countermeasures for that.
Knowing that fact, the man didn’t have much dissatisfaction when he was dispatched here.
Plus, he heard the allowance was pretty good.
“Ah, damn it.”
Smoking was originally prohibited during guard duty, but it wasn’t as strict as the military.
“Ugh, why is this acting up again? I just bought it the other day. Hey, lend me a lighter.”
Tick, tick, the man’s brow furrowed as he fiddled with the lighter several times.
“What are you doing? Can’t you hear me? Lend me a lighter… huh?”
Only then did the man realize that he had been talking to himself.
The guild member who had been assigned to work with him was already a cold corpse, lying at his feet.
The sensation of the blood soaking into his shoes felt vividly clear.
“Cleanup crew? Are they similar to the guys I dealt with last time?”
A man of unknown identity was sitting in a corner.
He hadn’t even sensed his presence until he saw him with his own eyes.
At that moment, the man realized.
That this person was the culprit behind the serial murders of high-ranking officials.
“S, s, sneak a…”
“Shh.”
The scream he was about to utter with his trembling mouth was suppressed by the thick murderous intent that instantly dominated the space.
Cold sweat poured down like rain.
“I have something I want to ask you, so if you want to scream, do it after I’m done.”
Of course, the man never screamed again.
***
“E-rank 16, D-rank 9, C-rank 4, and B-rank 2 close to A-rank.”
That was the information he had obtained by interrogating the man who had been on guard duty.
A total of 31 people. No, now that 2 people had just died, 29 people. The E-ranks were manpower pulled from the lower guilds, and the D-ranks and above were the elite belonging to the main branch’s cleanup crew.
It was a bit anticlimactic that there were no A-ranks, but there was no need to worry about it since there was no harm in going easy.
“There’s so much blood on the floor like this, is it really an assassination?”
Just in time, Noel, whom he had sent elsewhere, returned.
Her appearance, covered in tight-fitting black clothes from head to toe, was impressive.
“If there are no witnesses, it’s an assassination.”
“…Are there supposed to be traces?”
“But there’s no evidence.”
He shook off the blood from the dagger.
“What about the west?”
“There were 4 men who looked like Hunters, so I took care of them. Judging by the amount of magic power, they were probably E-rank.”
“Then that leaves 25 people…”
“That’s quite a lot, isn’t it?”
That’s what she said, but Noel didn’t seem particularly worried.
Well, the only ones who could be called proper combatants were the 2 B-ranks.
It would be stranger to be nervous.
Leaving the outpost, he walked leisurely towards the main building of the villa with Noel.
He walked down the road with the invisibility magic dispelled, but there was no particular commotion. That was because he killed every Hunter he encountered.
According to the information he obtained through interrogation, there were no ordinary people here. They were all Black Hunters, guys with a history of murder.
There was no need to be lenient.
“What are those guys!”
“It’s an attack!”
“They’re attacking this place with just the two of them? Are they crazy?!”
Looking at the Hunters who were gathering, Noel glanced at him.
It was as if she was saying, ‘That’s why I told you to sneak in.’
“It doesn’t matter.”
As he said before, all that mattered was that there were no witnesses.
***
E-rank 10, D-rank 9, and C-rank 4.
That was the number of Hunters he had dealt with on the way to the governor’s office.
All that was left were the 2 B-rank team leaders and the governor.
“Master, over there.”
Two men, exuding a distinctly different aura from the Hunters they had faced so far, stood in front of the office, ready for battle.
But something felt strange.
He could sense a much more refined and intense magic power than the team leader he had dealt with last time.
“…A-rank?”
The conjecture turned into certainty in an instant.
Those guys weren’t B-rank, they were A-rank.
Of course, it seemed like they had just reached A-rank, but that didn’t mean they were to be underestimated.
“That’s strange, the chief said there would be at least four of them.”
“Well, maybe they died on the way up? It looks like all our guys are dead.”
“Is that so?”
He and Noel naturally raised their senses and prepared for battle.
A-rank was the realm where one could wield an Aura Blade, that is, control strong energy.
It was true that they were formidable opponents in his current state, where he couldn’t use magic, but it wasn’t impossible if they had just reached A-rank.
“Master, I’ll take the one on the left.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“Are you asking that now of all times?”
Noel laughed as if she was dumbfounded.
“Have you forgotten that you made me fight a minotaur last time?”
“…Sorry.”
Actually, he wouldn’t have made Noel do something so reckless if it were now.
“It’s okay. Instead, when we get back today, you have to grant me two wishes, okay?”
Only then did Noel, who had regained her usual smile, grin and playfully smack his shoulder.
“Then I’ll lure them outside, so…”
“No.”
“Yes?”
He grabbed Noel, who was about to rush towards the man holding the spear.
“Noel, do you know why criminals take hostages when they’re cornered?”
“That’s… because the police have to protect the civilians… right…?”
“Correct.”
He took out a scroll from his pocket.
The men’s eyes widened in horror as soon as they saw it.
“The governor, who you’re supposed to be guarding, is behind you, right?”
The C-rank he had dealt with on the floor below had spat out some useful information.
Originally, the Black Mountain Guild was targeting him because of the revenge for the head of the Sujeong District Office, but the chief of staff was planning to use this opportunity to put the Gyeonggi Province governor in debt and use that as a stepping stone for his comeback.
That meant those guys were in the position of bodyguards who had to protect the governor, whether they liked it or not.
“You better protect him well. Unless you want to die at the hands of your precious chief of staff.”
“That crazy bastard!!”
“No!!”
As he injected magic power into the scroll, a familiar magic circle floated in the air.
“Noel!”
At his signal, Noel immediately broke the window behind her and headed outside.
4th Circle Fire Magic.
[Pyroblast].
A giant fireball flew towards the office.
“Block it!!!”
“Kuaaaaa!!!”
The two men rushed forward, drawing up their Aura, but that didn’t mean the magic that had already been cast would disappear.
Kwaaaang!!!!
The moment he threw himself out the window, a huge storm of fire swept through the villa.
***
“…Master.”
“Huh?”
“You said it was an assassination.”
“Yeah.”
Noel, sprawled out in the villa’s garden, stared at the burning villa with a blank look.
“No… you said you wouldn’t use magic?”
“Scrolls are okay.”
A simple public scroll, a magic tool he received from Choi Hye-na.
Existing scrolls could only be completed after going through several complicated conversion procedures, but simple public scrolls overcame the shortcomings of such scrolls.
It instantly converted magic below the 4th Circle.
However, it was an item that almost no one looked for due to the completely unprofitable material costs.
“It’s burning well.”
The crackling sound was quite pleasant to hear.
It was like watching a giant campfire.
“…But if we do this, won’t the governor also burn to death?”
“Well… there’s nothing we can do about it.”
He had initially vowed to inflict all sorts of pain before killing them, but after spending time with Noel and Choi Hye-na, the process of revenge didn’t seem so important anymore.
The result was the same anyway, which was that he killed them.
“Besides, the fire will go out soon. The aftereffects of scrolled elemental magic don’t last long.”
“Ah, then it’ll be okay.”
Only then did Noel seem relieved as she entrusted her body to him and watched the burning villa.
She was probably worried about the fire spreading to the forest.
“It’s summer.”
“It is summer.”
