Ch.16Ep.16 The Goblin Clan

When Radios was forming a connection with the dokkaebi, Serena finally arrived in Midret after being summoned by Namgung Ihyun.

Though she could have arrived quickly using teleportation, her feelings were complicated due to Radios’s survival. She deliberately avoided using teleportation because if she upset Namgung Ihyun’s mood, it would mean the end of her life.

If this strange emotion were discovered by her… that would be the end.

Besides, if it had been urgent, she would have been told to come quickly.

She thought it better to be punished for being late than to hear whatever might be said.

After arriving at the headquarters of the Boundary Dweller, Serena took a deep breath to prepare for the coming terror before knocking on the door.

“Apostle, this is Serena Tolos.”

“Come in.”

Creak.

As the heavy door slowly opened, a smooth marble floor was revealed.

The moment Serena steeled herself and stepped inside…

“Gah!”

She was forced to her knees by an overwhelming pressure binding her.

Her entire body trembled just trying to withstand the gravity that made it difficult to even move her head.

Even more frightening was Namgung Ihyun’s cold question.

“Strange… I clearly told Mir I wanted to see you two weeks ago, so why are you coming now?”

“Ugh… grrk…”

“Speak up, Archbishop Serena Tolos.”

If you want me to speak, release this damn gravity field!

Serena wanted to shout that, but she couldn’t.

She couldn’t even move her mouth properly in this situation.

If she used magic to reduce the gravity, she had no idea what would happen to her.

Namgung Ihyun was a true psychopath, unpredictable even to Serena.

What expression might she be wearing?

A captivating smile? Or a cynical sneer?

Or perhaps no expression at all.

Serena instinctively knew she was standing at the crossroads of life and death.

But she had no regrets.

If she had teleported with Mir to meet Namgung Ihyun…

Her confused feelings would have been detected, and Radios’s survival might have been discovered.

This was a hundred, no, a thousand times better.

Perhaps Namgung Ihyun’s anger had subsided, as the gravity field disappeared shortly after.

“Hack! Cough! Coughhhh!!”

“You’d better choose your answer carefully, former Commander of the 1st Guardian Spirit Division.”

She brought up the Guardian Spirit title.

This was equivalent to saying Namgung Ihyun would not treat Serena as an Archbishop.

“…I apologize for being late. I was monitoring activities in the Demonic Prison.”

“You mean the place that tried to hunt us down?”

“Yes.”

Serena had chosen the gamble of her life.

Monitoring the Demonic Prison? What bullshit.

She didn’t even want to go near that place. Who knows what terrible fate might await her there.

However, the otherworlders didn’t know much about the Demonic Prison.

They had only been informed by the traitors of the Guardian Spirits.

If she was going to lie, she might as well tell one that wouldn’t be caught.

Namgung Ihyun narrowed her eyes at Serena’s excuse and shook her head.

“Unfortunately, that’s not the excuse I wanted.”

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Kim Aram is dead. Arsia has successfully escaped.”

Namgung Ihyun didn’t mention the lateness issue further.

This was as good as saying she would overlook the matter this time.

Serena hastily responded to her words.

“I heard it happened shortly after I left… but I absolutely did not—”

“Of course. Our Archbishop wouldn’t betray us again, would she?”

Namgung Ihyun tapped Serena’s cheek.

Serena flinched at the creepy sensation but tried her best not to show it.

One wrong word and she would die without a trace.

Serena was trying to formulate her next words, combining all sorts of vocabulary in her head.

But at that moment.

BANG!

“Apostle!! Something terrible has happened!”

“What is it?”

Mir burst through the door and shouted with an urgent expression.

Thanks to this, Serena could catch her breath, but her expression soon hardened.

“D-dokkaebi!! Dokkaebi have appeared in Westret!”

“W-what?”

Why are they coming out there?

Serena felt dizzy, as if the lie she had just told was becoming reality.

But that wasn’t the problem.

“We must stop them! Those dokkaebi bastards are crazy!!”

Completely forgetting she was being interrogated, Serena asserted in a loud voice.

She was the only woman in Kadinant who had faced the dokkaebi.

Or more precisely, she was someone who had barely survived due to a dokkaebi’s whim.

The memory still made her knees weak.

[You’re weak? Boring. Go back.]

The murderer who had massacred her companions with a smirk on his unscathed face.

At that time, Serena wasn’t part of the Guardian Spirits.

Her companions fell like autumn leaves the moment the dokkaebi’s hand moved.

For her, the dokkaebi were like a trauma.

“We must dispatch troops immediately! The dokkaebi are practically demigods!”

“Who gave you permission to speak, traitor!”

“Shut up! Don’t you dare talk when you don’t know what kind of monsters the dokkaebi are!”

“You bitch…!”

“Enough, all of you.”

At Namgung Ihyun’s single word, Serena and Mir froze.

In their emotional state, they had forgotten where they were causing this commotion.

Fortunately, Namgung Ihyun seemed distracted by the dokkaebi and didn’t punish them.

“Serena Tolos. Lead the forces of the Creeping Chaos Cult and eliminate the dokkaebi that have appeared in Westret.”

“..!”

“This is your last chance.”

Thump.

Serena’s heart sank at Namgung Ihyun’s words, which were like a death sentence.

Die if you can’t kill the dokkaebi.

The problem was that the dokkaebi were incredibly strong.

Even if she knew their weakness, she couldn’t even strike at it in the first place.

Namgung Ihyun was indirectly telling Serena to choose between dying in battle or by execution.

“I-I will obey the Apostle’s command—”

“J-just in! We’ve received news that the dokkaebi have disappeared!”

“What?”

This time even Namgung Ihyun couldn’t hide her bewilderment and frowned.

But Mir’s next words were even more bewildering.

“They… drew a strange frog picture on the main wall of the Creeping Chaos Cult headquarters.”

“A frog?”

“And underneath it… they wrote ‘From this moment on, this place is ruled by the Dokkaebi Minor Gallery. Like if you agree, lol’…”

“…What nonsense is that.”

Hearing Mir’s words, Namgung Ihyun thought:

Perhaps the dokkaebi were even bigger psychopaths than herself.

Meanwhile, among the dokkaebi clan…

“W-what did you do?”

“We just declared colonization on the biggest building we found!”

“I bet they’re flooded with likes by now.”

“…You crazy bastards!!”

Kraud, who held the position of leader for this crazy tribe, was about to lose his mind.

When he noticed others chattering excitedly, Kraud asked what they had done.

“We saw something that looked like a bulletin board and wiped it clean!”

“Comments like ‘Tiananmen’ would create even bigger bait, hehe.”

“Censorship always gets likes, hehehe.”

“…”

This tribe is doomed. It really seems doomed.

Kraud hung his head as he listened to the dokkaebi’s words, which he couldn’t understand.

Would it have been better to just stay in the Demonic Prison?

The feeling that he had opened Pandora’s box must be just his imagination.

Yes. It must be just his imagination.

***

While the dokkaebi were causing repeated trouble…

“So I should call you Brother Las and Sister Arsia, right?”

“That’s right. We’ll just call you Brina.”

“Okay!”

Radios and Arsia established names with their new companion and escaped from the Demonic Prison.

Ah, they tried using the skill stones in front of Brina.

Radios acquired the Dokkaebi Mask skill, and Arsia the Dokkaebi Fire skill.

Both skills boasted performance that could only be admired.

Especially the Dokkaebi Mask, which showed incredible synergy when used with the Sword of Judgment.

Arsia also seemed to like the Dokkaebi Fire.

Anyway, enough about skills.

Now it was time to decide their next destination.

“So, Brina. Can you hide those horns?”

“Horns?”

“Yes. We need to head to a village soon, and if you look like a dokkaebi… it might be a bit problematic.”

If they had enough power, they could destroy the Toolcha Cult right now.

The problem was that their power was ambiguous, and the political situation would change the moment they destroyed a cult.

Would the otherworlders really remain passive if one of their major cults was destroyed?

They might be tracked wherever they went.

Every move from now on was crucial.

It sounds a bit strange, but…

Breaking Arsia out immediately after reincarnating was an influential act.

If they brought Brina along as she was, they wouldn’t be able to stay comfortably in the village.

People wouldn’t think she was human with horns on her head.

Of course, it wouldn’t be completely comfortable in an otherworlder village anyway.

Ultimately, Radios thought Brina’s appearance could be a problem.

If worst came to worst, they would have to ask Arsia to use polymorph magic.

But she came up with a surprising answer.

“Oh, don’t worry! Dad told me these horns are only visible to good people!”

“Uh… hmm…”

Only visible to good people.

Is this similar to those otherworlder customs?

Like how children are told that if they cry before December 25th, someone called Santa Claus won’t bring them gifts.

An unbelievable story, but one that stimulates children’s imagination.

He never expected Kraud to tell his child such things.

So how should he respond here?

The first option was to tell her the truth and break her innocence.

‘That’s too harsh for someone we just met. It might backfire.’

Fortunately, Brina seemed to have good social skills.

If he pushed her away now, it would create distance between them.

Since he had accepted her as a companion, that wasn’t an option.

He had to protect her innocence.

“So since I can see Brina’s horns, I must be a good person?”

“That’s right! And since that sister can see my horns too, she must be a good person!”

“Y-yes. We must be good people since we can see your horns.”

He wasn’t sure how old she was, but judging by her appearance, she seemed like a young child.

It would be better to preserve her innocence.

Having made this decision, Radios headed down to a nearby otherworlder village.

“This place is full of bad people!!”

“…It really is.”

Radios was speechless seeing the otherworlders accepting Brina as human.

The problem was whether he should be surprised that the horns really were only visible to good people…

Or whether he should be angry that among all these people, not a single good person existed…

His feelings were complicated.

Radios gathered his complex thoughts and spoke.

“Let’s find lodging first.”