The Gathering of the Five Departments, Regular Meeting

The regular meeting resumed immediately after I and the head of the Judgment Team exchanged promises.

The resumed regular meeting ended without any particular issues.

Although each of the processed agenda items was a significant matter, they were not serious enough to require the Ancestors’ permission to act on, so the regular meeting ended quickly.

And now that the regular meeting was over, only the Ancestor of the Judgment Team who had come out from behind the blackout curtain, Yeon-ah standing next to me, and myself remained in the conference room.

The rest of the Five Departments had long since returned to their respective towers, and the Judgment Team’s team leader had also returned to the tower long ago on the Judgment Team Ancestor’s orders.

Therefore, only the three of us remained.

However, before starting the conversation with the Judgment Team’s Ancestor, as promised, only the Judgment Team’s Ancestor and I were supposed to be in the conference room.

So when I tapped Yeon-ah’s shoulder as she was glaring at the Judgment Team’s Ancestor, Yeon-ah finally withdrew her gaze and bowed her head politely to me.

“Then, Ancestor… I’ll return to the tower first.”

“Okay, I’ll leave it to you. Don’t worry unnecessarily.”

“Yes, Ancestor.”

Creeeeak—

Yeon-ah turned around and opened the door to leave after a final polite bow.

And finally, as Yeon-ah disappeared from the conference room, the Judgment Team’s Ancestor, who had been silent until now, slowly removed her mask and cloak.

With a plop, her removed mask and cloak sank and fell below a water droplet.

“Since your team leader probably knows me anyway, I’ll reveal myself in advance. I am Esi, the Ancestor of the Judgment Team and the leader of the mermaid clan.”

“A fish…?”

What was revealed when she removed her mask and cloak was deep blue hair flowing down to her waist and transparent white eyes.

Then, as I lowered my gaze to her lower body, I opened my eyes wide at the sky-blue scaled tail extending from below her hips and the gills existing above her hips, and muttered so.

“Those who see us for the first time often say that. We don’t deny being called fish, but more accurately, we are a race called merpeople, so I’d like you to call us that.”

“Ah, sorry. I spoke carelessly without realizing.”

“No need, there’s no need to apologize since it wasn’t intentional.”

A race called merpeople.

I had unknowingly called her a fish, but judging from her words that she didn’t strongly deny it, Esi certainly seemed to be a race from the fish side.

And when I saw Esi, I frowned for a moment at the fish yokai in my memories that flashed through my mind, then looked Esi up and down again.

‘The mermaid race is much better.’

『The ones living in lakes and ponds were unbearably ugly.』

Esi, with a beautiful woman’s upper body and an alluring tail for her lower body, was several times better than those with fish heads and human feet or yokai so bizarre they were unrecognizable.

As I was inwardly evaluating Esi like this while looking at her, Esi, after a brief self-introduction, immediately turned the conversation to the main point.

“…Anyway, I think flattery isn’t important for what I’m about to say and ask, so I’ll get straight to the point.”

“Not a bad idea. I don’t particularly like flattery smeared with lies either, though simple reverence is fine.”

“Alright, then I’ll ask directly first.”

A small sigh escaped from Esi.

“Are you a goblin?”

And at her words uttered the next moment, I narrowed my eyes and looked at her.

“I was curious earlier too… What made you think that?”

“Would you believe me if I said it’s because of the appearance of goblins I saw directly in the past and your recent actions that I’ve investigated?”

“Actions, you say?”

“…The hypothesis that you are the same person as Shin-yeon, the exclusive hunter of the General Management Team. The certainty I’ve reached based on that.”

I let out a gasp at Esi’s words, which were accurate enough to give me goosebumps.

At this rate, she might even know all of my secrets that I haven’t told anyone.

With such a ridiculous thought, I asked Esi once again to resolve the remaining doubt.

“Then why did you think I was Shin-yeon?”

“As I said, it’s because I’ve seen goblins directly in the past. No… to be more precise, because we had a trading relationship with the goblin clan, I’ve seen goblins up close more than anyone else among the heteromorphic races still alive in Korea.”

Esi casually mentioned quite a surprising fact.

However, it wasn’t something to dwell on right now, so I nodded to her as if telling her to continue speaking, and Esi continued her momentarily paused words at my action.

“So when I saw the abilities of the hunter named Shin-yeon, I thought the possibility of her being a goblin was very high. And to that extent, I’m now certain that you are Shin-yeon from our conversation just now.”

“…Huh, it’s more surprising the more I hear. And to answer that… you’re right.”

“Right about what?”

Esi looked at me, opening her eyes that had been half-closed.

I couldn’t sense any signs of her lying. Everything Esi was saying now was her true feelings.

If so, then during the meeting earlier, the race she had been thinking I was must have been goblin.

Therefore, since my identity had already been exposed, I showed her by taking off the mask and cloak I was wearing rather than opening my mouth at her words.

Flutter—

“It means that I am indeed Shin-yeon, as you said.”

“So it was as I thought…”

Since Esi already knew, she didn’t look surprised.

The only emotion Esi was showing now was a small joy from her reasoning being perfectly correct.

I watched for a moment as Esi felt such joy, and then led our conversation to the proper main point.

“First, since you’ve learned my identity, we should make an agreement…”

“We should, but?”

“But that can wait until after I hear what your request is, so shall we hear your story first?”

“Alright, I promise we’ll definitely make an agreement.”

I was also curious about what request Esi wanted to make to me.

Since she said there was a promise between her race, the mermaid clan, and my race, the goblin clan, I couldn’t help but be curious.

Of course, it was a little unpleasant that she emphasized the word ‘promise’ conscious of the fact that I was from the goblin clan…

But since she, as an outsider, wouldn’t know about internal matters of the goblin clan, let’s just move on with a light explanation later.

I thought so and waited for Esi to speak, and Esi lightly cleared her throat and began to tell me what this request was.

“73 years ago, I entrusted a clan treasure to a woman who was the Great Chief of your… goblin clan. It was a treasure I entrusted on the condition that she would strengthen our mermaid clan’s military power.”

“Then your request is…”

“My request is to have that entrusted treasure returned.”

At Esi’s words, I closed my mouth for a moment and fell into thought.

There were various reasons, but the main one was that her words just now were incomprehensible in many ways.

And if I had to pick the most incomprehensible thing among them, it would be that my mother, that is, the former Great Chief, took custody of the mermaid clan’s treasure on the condition of making the mermaid clan stronger.

Unable to understand the reason for this at all, I tilted my head and looked up at Esi.

“Why did the former Great Chief take custody of your treasure saying she would make you stronger? I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Hmm…? Isn’t it obviously because of the promise your goblin clan made with the past government when you crossed over to this land called Korea?”

“…What’s that?”

“Could it be that you didn’t know?”

Esi made a questioning expression in turn at my expression of not knowing anything.

However, unfortunately for me, it was not only something I didn’t know, but also a story I was hearing for the first time in my life.

“There are some circumstances within the goblin clan regarding me, you see. It’s the first time I’m hearing this, so I’d like you to tell me.”

“I see. Then I’ll tell you. Your goblin clan made a promise with the past government to protect the human race. Have you not heard of this either?”

“…A promise to protect the human race?”

Again, it wasn’t a lie, but Esi’s words were still something I was hearing for the first time.

However, if what Esi said was really true, there was someone who would know about this right behind me.

‘Hwa-gon, is what she’s saying true?’

『…Yes, I had forgotten until just now, but in the past, Shin-yeon’s mother did make such a promise with the human race.』

‘It seems to be true then.’

If even Hwa-gon says it’s correct, then it must be undoubtedly true that the former Great Chief said she would protect the human race.

And if this was true, I could understand why the former Great Chief told Esi she would make her clan stronger.

“If she made a race that wasn’t very militarily strong become stronger, it would make fulfilling the promise easier, is that why?”

“That’s right. And your former Great Chief said she would put what was needed for strengthening our mermaid clan’s military power into that treasure. However, we couldn’t get the treasure back due to the Gate Rampage, so I’d like to receive it now.”

“Ah… I see?”

However, even though I understood the situation, I couldn’t help but make a troubled expression after hearing Esi’s words.

That’s because…

“But I’m really sorry… I don’t know where that treasure is.”

Since the former Great Chief had received and stored the treasure, there was no way I would know where it was.

So when I made a troubled expression, a look of bewilderment flashed across Esi’s face for a moment.

But only for a moment, as if recalling something at my words, Esi snapped her fingers and said to me:

“If my memory is correct, she definitely said it was in the warehouse in Mount Seorak, which was your base. Would it be possible if you know this?”

“The warehouse in Mount Seorak…?”

At Esi’s words, numerous memories flowed through my mind for a moment.

And among them, I grabbed onto one word that matched her words and muttered softly.

“…The goblin warehouse?”

The secret warehouse where all of the goblins’ myriad treasures were gathered.

It seemed that the mermaid clan’s treasure was also stored there.