episode_0204

“The great undertaking, the year-end party.”

Hearing Violet’s report from her surveillance, Irene quietly repeated what she had heard.

Her cold gaze was fixed somewhere in the empty air.

Violet, watching her, felt that her friend was deep in thought.

“What should we do? Should we attack right now?”

Violet asked Irene, ready to deploy at any moment.

The moment her friend’s order came, she was ready to smash through the wall and burst out.

「At this hour, everyone must be asleep, right?」

「Pour the water! Let’s handle everything while the cup ramen cooks!」

However, contrary to expectations, Irene shook her head.

“No, let’s wait for now. There’s not much time left until the year-end party.”

“Why? You heard what he said. He said he plans to cause something at the year-end party.”

“Of course, I’ll warn them. But…”

The next moment, Irene’s calm, dry voice reached Violet’s ears.

“I have no intention of attacking beforehand. It would be better to respond on site. The clan is in a mess right now. They’ve never experienced a situation like this before. Everyone will only come to their senses after directly witnessing Rigel’s actions.”

“Aha! So, the moment they try to execute their plan, we’ll appear with a flourish and stop them, right? Like superheroes!”

“…That’s right.”

Irene nodded at Violet’s words.

She admired her friend’s keen insight and scoffed at herself internally.

‘Violet, sometimes you hit the nail on the head, too.’

Her friend was right.

Although she claimed to be disappointed by the behavior of the hunters forming internal factions, what she was actually trying to do was a kind of hero play.

‘But it’s the cleanest opportunity to eliminate the enemies. Their main forces will be gathered in one place.’

Moreover, there was one more important point.

The year-end settlement brings together the company’s key executives and core management, as well as important figures from the clan.

It was a golden opportunity to instantly shatter the Rigel faction’s standing in front of them.

‘Still, we should minimize damage first.’

Irene asked Violet for a few things.

A moment later, Violet, having finished a meeting via network, spoke.

“Disguise? That’s not hard! I happened to get a silicone mask or something. By the way, why the broker uncle?”

“Find out about the banquet hall where the year-end party will be held and the company that manages it. And also, please arrange that meeting the Scholarship Officer-nim mentioned last time. I don’t know why he said it would be more effective if you did it, but…”

Violet thought for a moment, then replied.

“Okay! I’ll help with that too. In return, please grant me one favor.”

“What is it?”

“If you take back the clan, you’ll have a lot of money, right? Buy me just one helicopter!”

Irene, flustered by the unexpected request, soon smiled gently.

“Would you be satisfied with just one? I’ll buy you enough to form a squadron. Do you perhaps need a tank?”

Violet cheered at her friend’s promise.

“Yay!”

***

Manager Morgan was tidying up the exploration equipment with a somber expression.

The artifact exploration was a failure this time too.

“Hmph, another wasted effort. See? What did I tell you?”

While Morgan was tidying up the tools, Viktor threw a can in annoyance.

Morgan looked at him with a disapproving gaze.

“I’m telling you, it’s definitely here! A Staff of Life or the Holy Grail must be here. This area has always been a place where healing-related artifacts are frequently unearthed!”

“Do you know how many years I’ve been hearing that? Give up. The leader isn’t coming back.”

Morgan burst out in frustration.

“Damn it, Viktor! Then why are you still here, saying you’re leaving, leaving? If you’re just going to nag, get lost!”

At Morgan’s outburst, Viktor shut his mouth and glared at him.

For a moment, the two men, glaring at each other, felt a sense of futility in their actions and turned their heads away.

Morgan muttered.

“By the way, you heard that recording too, didn’t you?”

“You mean the one Irene played for us. Why?”

Viktor sneered.

“She’s an inexperienced whippersnapper. She says it’s for the clan, but in my eyes, she just looks like an immature greedy person eyeing her father’s inheritance.”

“But…”

Morgan hesitated.

“I can’t deny that the evidence she showed was shocking. It says Rigel is trying to sell us out. We need to deal with him first.”

“And after we deal with him? Who will we put in charge? Old folks, opportunists, amateurs with no skill?”

Viktor let out a cold laugh.

“Helios needs an excellent leader. No one but the leader will do. But the leader ended up like that. What can be done in an already ruined clan?”

Silence fell.

The two men were lost in their own thoughts.

“By the way, the year-end party is coming up soon, isn’t it?”

Morgan cautiously changed the subject.

“Ah, that party slash performance celebration, you mean? Is there anything to boast about? For years, our performance has been a mess, and the reality is that Rigel is just scheming to sell us off.”

“Is that so…”

“You should also snap out of it. I’m looking for a new position, so quickly wash your hands of this and come over. You have to face reality.”

“When are *you* going to leave? Please just quit already.”

“Mind your own business.”

Viktor stood up and left.

Morgan watched him with mixed feelings.

‘Damn it, how did you end up like that?’

The man who once ran passionately alongside him had turned cynical over the past few years.

Yet, for years, he kept muttering about quitting while remaining in the clan.

‘It’s not even funny.’

As he was lamenting their fate, he recalled the leader’s daughter who appeared with the recording.

The image of a mere student, not even a formal hunter, striving to save the clan was vivid in his mind.

‘Damn it. I said that, but… am I any different?’

A faint glimmer of hope emerged in a corner of Morgan’s heart, as he felt ashamed.

Could that young girl, the leader’s daughter, perhaps do something?

But Morgan soon shook his head.

‘What could that child possibly do? Even I, who’s seen it all in this field, am just rummaging through junk.’

Morgan sighed and packed his equipment.

First, he would rest and discuss with his subordinates how to subdue the Rigel faction.

And he had to go searching for another artifact. He couldn’t give up, not even for the leader.

***

After contacting them, we went to the appointed place.

A beautiful young woman with golden hair that rippled like waves appeared with her escorts.

“Adela Unnie!”

“Violet! It’s been a while. How have you been?”

“Yes!”

I didn’t care about others’ gazes and embraced Unnie tightly, like a close family member.

Adela Unnie smelled good.

The surrounding escorts looked a bit flustered.

“…Young lady?”

“Ah, this child is a student preparing to enroll in our academy this time.”

After the meeting, I guided Adela Unnie and her escorts.

Irene, Cress-ssi, and those who belonged to the loyal faction in the past were gathered at the prepared spot.

Thus, the Irene Faction was born.

“Adela-ssi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine. It’s been a long time since the Vittorio Arcade.”

Adela’s purple gaze scanned Irene once.

Soon after, the look in her eyes, as she examined her friend, softened as if she were looking at me.

“Then, I’ll be outside for a bit!”

I waited outside for a long time.

「It’ll go well, right?」

The reason for arranging the meeting was simple. As long as the opponent had a giant clan as their backing, we also needed to put forth an influential force as our backing.

And Cascadian, while not overwhelming the three major clans, was a clan that could hold its own.

Irene’s thoughts were as follows.

“I’ll say we’ll actively cooperate with their expansion into the Western Sector. From Cascadian’s perspective, it would be better to cooperate with another clan rather than venturing directly into the Western Sector, which Magnabyss disappeared from, and being checked. From Helios’s perspective, there’s nothing to lose either.”

For now, the possibility of unreasonable demands like Luminaxa’s was low.

The problem was whether Adela Unnie would accept it. The promises Irene, who had not yet secured a place in the clan, could make were ultimately just empty words.

Adela Unnie is a good person, but since it’s a business matter, she would strictly separate public and private affairs.

This was a time to trust her friend’s abilities and sincerity.

How much time had passed? The two came out of the room.

Fortunately, Irene’s expression was bright.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Please convey your thanks to Scholarship Officer-nim. I received a call, and they said that helping the Helios Clan would be a great help to us as well. If that person guarantees it, it’s worth trusting.”

To think the Scholarship Officer-nim stepped in here.

What kind of favor did they ask Adela for it to go through?

「Scholarship Officer-nim is omnipotent!」

Adela smiled and examined Irene.

“More importantly, how are your transfer preparations going? I’d be pleased to meet you as a senior and junior at the academy. I’m looking forward to it.”

Scattering a smile full of goodwill, Adela departed with her escorts.

Only then did Irene receive a handkerchief from Cress-ssi and wipe away her cold sweat.

“It was difficult. That person. Although she was favorable towards us, she was thorough when it came to business. If we hadn’t prepared properly, the negotiation would have failed.”

“Well, it turned out well anyway! We have backing now, don’t we?”

“That’s true, but…”

Regardless of the positive outcome, the negotiation process seemed to have been very difficult.

Irene collapsed onto a nearby chair and muttered.

“What would Father have done in a situation like this?”

Hearing those words, it was truly bitter as a friend.

Although there were many people helping her, Irene ultimately had to do what her parents should have done herself.

「Now that I think about it… Irene doesn’t have a mother either!」

「Waaah! So pitiful!」

Sadly, Irene’s mother passed away in an accident.

More precisely, she died in battle fighting a demon beast on the field when Irene was young.

And her father, far from being able to take care of his child, was in a state where he could barely preserve his own body.

If he had died, she would have inherited the shares, but since his body was in such a state, the shares were tied up.

His position within the clan was also very ambiguous.

「If only Irene’s father had at least been conscious…」

Well, it can’t be helped. We have to focus on reality.

At that moment, I felt as if the fog in my mind had cleared.

Something I had forgotten finally came to mind.

A groundbreaking way to overcome this difficulty.

“That’s right!”

I stood up and exclaimed briefly.

“Violet, what’s wrong?”

“Irene-ah, let’s go home first! There’s something I want to show you!”

The Violets waiting at home took out the spoils from the last operation from their inventory.

「With this…」

「Call the slaves too! If we tell them we’ll give them proper meals instead of bread and water, they’ll surely cooperate.」

A moment later, Irene, who had returned home, frowned at the things we had spread out on the floor.

“Irene-ah, look at this!”

She seemed to have realized what we were showing her.

Indeed, considering when we encountered it before, it wasn’t a very good memory.

“Violet, this is…”

What lay on the floor was a complex mechanical device in human form.

The culmination of Aether technology and magic engineering, designed by Magnabyss and assisted by the three major clans, revealed itself.

“Alright, listen carefully to what we’re about to say. This is…”