Chapter 35 part1
<Chapter 35. The Call of Death - 1>
"Lee Shin Woo and Kratia Melloi. It's a pleasure to meet you. You must've suffered so much to reach where you are without dying. Thank you for surviving."
"It's nice to meet you too... Senior Retadane."
"Hi."
Red eyes and red hair. Lee Shin Woo had only seen one person with those traits thus far: the beauty from the secret shop (if he told her, she would be happy and smile unpleasantly, so he had no plans of telling her), Pleine.
Although God herself possessed red hair as well, her eyes glittered in the five cardinal colors, so he excluded her.
"Are you bothered by my hair?"
"That's..."
But now there was one other with those specific traits: Seira Von Retadane. She was so unbelievably beautiful that she almost didn't fit in with everyone else.
There was no hint of confusion within her clear red eyes, and her pale pink lips were closed shut, seemingly embodying her iron will. Contrary to her cold expression, her ardent, long red hair fluttered in the wind, as if it would catch aflame at any moment.
"My apologies, Senior. I was just wondering whether you gain red hair for becoming a priest."
"...I see. That's obviously not true."
"Oh, you don't?"
"No, you don't. My red eyes and hair are hereditary traits."
She was baby-faced, looking like a young girl, but also voluptuous. He was concerned that their size would become a hindrance on the battlefield but thought her bust and narrow waist were striking.
The white priest robe she wore couldn't hide her voluptuous figure. If he were to take a picture of her, others would react with 'this is definitely photoshopped'. They would say 'she must be an alien, not a human being with a bust that large and a waist that thin', but she was definitely the real deal.
She must be a mutant. Lee Shin Woo was very slightly in awe of her.
'I can understand how Shino Rendu fell in love with her at first sight. Of course, it doesn't matter to me, but there's something else that bothers me...'
Lee Shin Woo's sexual desire had evaporated, but he could still recognize beauty. However, Lee Shin Woo was currently only worried about keeping his guard up against her. He was sure the moment he met her. This girl was level 8. He had somewhat expected it, but she was indeed level 8!
"I feel like you could take down one or two of the 12 generals by yourself, Senior."
"I think so too. However, there's no guarantee after that. Because of that, I don't want to make any large moves yet. My goal isn't the 12 generals. It's eradicating all the undead in the Empire. Therefore, there's so much I want to say to Ethan Cruz, but..."
Lee Shin Woo carelessly blurted out, and Seira Von Retadane replied seriously. She sounded so serious, causing Lee Shin Woo to think. She didn't know, but Lee Shin Woo had already killed two of the 12 generals.
But was that a mistake? ...Of course it wasn't. Lee Shin Woo had merely picked what was most advantageous to him at the time. When this was all over, he would have to move more carefully than before. Though it might've been too little too late.
"Hoo, let's begin when Yasunori Akira comes and joins us. Would you like some tea?"
"Thank you, Senior."
"I wanted to tell you this before, but... I don't really like being referred to as 'senior'. Please just call me Retadane."
"Ah, ok."
Of course, Lee Shin Woo, as an undead, couldn't drink tea, but he could at least fake it. He would let it go down his throat and then evaporate it with fire.
"Please wait a little bit."
She removed various tools to make tea from her inventory. Lee Shin Woo watched as she boiled water for her tea, and came to the realization that she was no ordinary hero. Who would go through all that trouble to steep tea leaves!?
Moreover, one couldn't procure tea leaves from the Empire, which meant that she acquired them from the secret shop... By comparing it to wine, it was clear how inordinately expensive such an item of personal preference was.
"Here, please enjoy."
"Thank you. With pleasure."
Lee Shin Woo was surprised when he grabbed onto the tea cup. He didn't have a sense of taste, but for some unknown reason, he was able to smell the fragrance of the tea.
A fragrance so pleasant that it was shocking. He would often have to meet with other people for work, so he had drunk a variety of different teas, but it was of such quality that he could easily say it was the best he'd ever had.
"It smells really nice."
"This tea didn't exist in my world. It's delicious."
"Hoo, you can appreciate good tea. It's my favorite tea amongst all the ones available on the surface. I assume it's made by using the Kunoa leaf (which is grown in places with powerful fire magic) and Korite leaf (which is grown in places with powerful wind magic)..."
How can this be? To think she'd continue the conversation! Lee Shin Woo was shocked as she, who had remained passive and calm, suddenly began to talk about the tea leaves and the water in depth.
At the same time, he couldn't help but see the resemblance with Pleine, who would change whenever he brought up wine...! Lee Shin Woo was curious and asked.
"...Are you close to the shopkeeper by any chance?"
"No, that woman's the worst. That's quite rude of you to say."
"I-I'm sorry."
She cussed out Pleine! Now that he thought about it, Pleine had a lot of things to say about her as well. Moreover, she had the same red eyes and red hair...
At that moment, Lee Shin Woo formed a hypothesis. However, when he saw Retadane's expression, which had turned frigid instantaneously, he knew that this wouldn't be easy to bring up. But fortunately, that vibe didn't continue for very long. Yasunori Akira had arrived.
"I'm late. Sorry about that. I was moving so cautiously that it just turned out that way."
"That's fine. Would you like some tea?"
"Yeah, of course. ...Mm, the fragrance reminds me of my homeland."
"Hello, Senior."
"Mm!? Ah, is that you, Lee Shin Woo? ...That's surprising. You look a lot different than what I'd expected. I'm Yasunori Akira."
He possessed black eyes and black hair, giving off the feeling of an Asian man, but even so, he didn't really evoke the feeling of being Japanese.
Then again, when he'd met Ye Jin Jin last, he felt like she was a lot taller and had nigh-white skin, unlike other Chinese people. It was the same feeling. Perhaps they both came from a world similar but ultimately different from his own Earth.
"Thanks for the tea. ...So you already knew about this dungeon, huh."
"It's a dungeon that I cleared by myself in the past. There are dungeons that disappear after they're cleared and dungeons which remain, due to the large traces of residual magic. This is the latter."
That's right. They were gathered inside of a dungeon within the level 3 danger zone right now. Dungeons are normally filled with danger, but ironically, empty dungeons were the safest place that heroes could reside.
"Now that the Heaven Defying General has gone on a rampage... I might have to find a dungeon and hide too."
"The Heaven Defying General... I wonder if he's connected with Ethan Cruz as well."
"He probably isn't. The Heaven Defying General isn't doing Ethan Cruz any favors in baiting the 12 generals and gathering the other heroes."
"That's true. I realized that Ethan Cruz's movements were strange because of it, but... Shall we begin talking in earnest? Regarding what Ethan Cruz is plotting."
Retadane said seriously, and Yasunori nodded his head stiffly. They wanted to protect their juniors and took their jobs as seniors seriously, so Lee Shin Woo couldn't tell them that he 'actually had his own corps and that while they kept the 12 generals busy, we can take care of Ethan Cruz'.
'I can't tell them my true identity, let alone the fact that I lead the undead, or things will go wrong fast.'
Lee Shin Woo sighed and decided to go with the flow. They started off with the Beast General, Jilun Pelta, went on to Ethan Cruz's plans that he may or may not have, as well as any other unknown variables. They told the 'human hero Lee Shin Woo' all this information, believing that it was safe to tell him all this.
"At first glance, this looks like a good place to fight against the Beast General, but if there's a foe that is unhindered by the mountain range, there's a high chance that the heroes will be stabbed in the back."
"A foe that is unhindered by the environment... Lee Shin Woo, do you have any guesses?"
"I don't know if it's one of the 12 generals or not, but I took down an undead mounting a flying monster just a little while ago."
"A flying monster, undead... Ha."
Retadane gritted her teeth, as though it suddenly clicked.
"The Vulture General, Bureuche Von Golden Eagle...!"
His title was 'Vulture', so why was his family name 'Golden Eagle'!? Lee Shin Woo anguished over that irony, and Retadane gave them the answer.
"He's bald. The Emperor thought it was funny and gave him that title, but he doesn't like his title very much. Amongst the 12 generals, he's probably the one who hates being called their title the most."
"I see..."
So that's how it was. He suddenly felt sympathetic and became fond of the Vulture General. But when he asked Retadane why she had such detailed information on him, she said...
"It probably worries you. ...Yasunori Akira, isn't it the same for you as well?"
"It does worry me, but I'd rather not force someone to talk when they clearly don't want to."
"It's alright. I feel like I'll work closely with you in the future, so I'll just tell you and move on. Since I'd rather not experience Ethan Cruz's foolish taunt ever again..."
Lee Shin Woo's ears perked up. However, Kratia, who never went into the chatting channel, didn't know what was going on and tilted her head. Then, she revealed a bombshell.
"Seagald Von Retadane is my older brother."
"..."
"...?"
He knew that Seira was a descendant of the Retadane family, but he hadn't expected her to be Seagald's younger sister. Lee Shin Woo remained silent at her unimaginable confession, and Yasunori was likewise silent, as he couldn't comprehend what she was saying for a brief period of time. However, Kratia informally spoke.
"An old lady?"
"Hey!"
"It's alright. If you take into account my age, that actually fits. ...I am one of the few citizens of the Empire that survived on Sun Day, [1] and I am also the first hero picked by God. Of course, at the time, I was only level 2..."
"Level 2..."
Lee Shin Woo couldn't even begin to imagine what she went through to go from level 2 to level 8. Moreover, she had to survive in the Empire with a living body!
He didn't know if Retadane knew how they were feeling or not, but she remained calm as always.
"But most importantly, I'm a hero. And my brother, Seagald Von Retadane, is undead now. I promise you that I won't hesitate when facing him. Eliminating all the undead and purifying the Empire is not just God's will, but my own as well."
Retadane said firmly. It would be impossible to 'ask her about Anti-Skull'. She likely knew what Anti-Skull represented. Despite that, she would still say that Seagald was undead now and that he had to be eliminated.
"Now then, let's go back to our main topic. There's a high chance that the Vulture General, Bureuche Von Golden Eagle, will show up. There'll be enough forces to sow chaos amongst the heroes. So I'll protect the heroes while you (Yasunori)..."
Their war council continued for another few hours. Because of them, Lee Shin Woo knew how he would have to mobilize his army; so he hadn't lost out.
Two days later, the participants of the 12 general hunt had gathered in one place.
[1] T/N: Day of the Sun or Sun Day. Not Sunday.