Bang!!!

“Do you have a brain in your head or not?!”

The middle-aged man shouted, his face red.

He was yelling at the man standing below him.

At Wei.

What they had reported was simple.

While moving through vampire territory for the mission, they had discovered strange traces.

They followed those traces, ran into vampires, and engaged them.

Those vampires had been abnormally strong, strong enough that they had been forced to use even the artificial sun.

And after expending that much—

“It wasn’t enough that you let the noble get away...”

What they had gained was—

“You had that traitor right in front of you, and you still let him escape?!”

Nothing.

That was the conclusion.

Bang!!!

When he slammed the table, the thick metal table visibly caved in.

“...Calm yourself.”

At that, the people seated beside him looked at the middle-aged man and let out sighs.

A large semicircular hall.

And on the second floor of that hall, looking down at Wei, were the people gathered there.

The survivors assembled in Hainan Castle.

The members of the Committee, the command layer that led them.

“But he’s not exactly wrong.”

“It wasn’t enough that you wasted precious resources and failed to capture the noble, your original target. On top of that... even after seeing that traitor, you accomplished nothing.”

It wasn’t just the red-faced man.

The other high priests beside him also looked down at Wei with cold eyes.

“Did you at least learn anything about that traitor?”

“...Yes. Other than the fact that he seemed to be commanding vampires as subordinates, nothing.”

“Hmph! A man who sold out humanity must have been rewarded with some useful servants.”

As the red-faced man ground out the words through clenched teeth, the old man beside him looked at Wei and spoke in a calm voice.

“You know what crimes he is guilty of, don’t you?”

“...Yes.”

“He is the one who brought down the faction that was resisting this ruin by any means it could, and who unleashed those powerful vampires upon the world. I understand he had his reasons. But once you encountered him... you should have dragged him back here no matter what it took.”

“I’m sorry.”

“A failed operation cannot always be helped. But... from what I’ve heard, it seems there was another main cause behind this mission’s failure.”

He spoke with a look of disbelief.

“A single man burst out from among the vampires and subdued General Kaio, who had gone to capture the traitor Jinlei.”

“Yes.”

“He didn’t burn in sunlight, so he was clearly human... yet he was strong enough to subdue General Kaio in an instant...”

That far said, he let out a hollow laugh and glared at Wei.

“Do you think that sounds believable?”

“......”

“It’s already been over a month since we last found any survivors at all. The idea that someone survived all that time inside vampire territory already makes no sense. But then that human you happened to find... wasn’t alone, was mixed in among those vampires, and was even strong enough to overpower the general in an instant? I find that very difficult to believe.”

At those words, Wei could only lower his head without offering any rebuttal.

Even to him, it sounded absurd.

“This kind of nonsense is exactly why your report can’t be trusted!”

Then the middle-aged man, who had been suppressing his anger, flushed red again and shouted.

“Didn’t you just poke holes in your own story trying to dress up an operation that failed because of your mistakes? Hm?!”

“That’s not what happened...!”

“You did actually bring that man back, so it can’t be a complete fabrication. But... it is true that all of it is hard to believe. For example.”

The sharp-faced old man read from the notes he had written down and said,

“The vampires you suddenly encountered were so strong that you had no choice but to use the artificial sun... To be frank, that part is difficult to understand as well.”

“...What?”

“With General Kaio there, ordinary vampires should not have posed a real threat. Even the bishop who lent strength to us said that someone at General Kaio’s level ought to be capable of defeating even a great noble of count rank. We issued you # Nоvеlight # an artificial sun, yes, but frankly, I never thought there would be any need to use it. In fact, the general’s injuries were caused only by that human. None of them came from the vampires.”

“What exactly... are you trying to say?”

“To begin with... was it truly a crisis at all?”

The old man who raised the point glared at Wei through narrowed eyes.

“General Kaio may be strong, but in the end, he has only one body. He may not be capable of protecting every member of the death squad. You grew careless, fell into a trap, and were surrounded by those vampires... and though it was a battle the general could have won, you wasted the artificial sun to protect yourselves instead. That is what I am saying.”

“...The one who used the sun was the general!”

“The general is certainly skilled in battle, but both you and we know that he is lacking in other areas. That is why we assigned you as his aide. And since the general trusts you, it is not impossible that, at your urging, he used it in haste.”

“What kind of—!”

Wei looked wronged, but the people above had no interest in hearing his answer and continued the discussion among themselves.

“Then what should be done?”

“First, separate the members, bring them in one by one, and question them in greater detail...”

“And as for the man in the prison...”

And so, just as they were about to decide Wei’s punishment without allowing him to defend himself—

Creak...

“Um...”

Someone entered through the council chamber doors.

“What is it?”

“I thought we made it clear that no one was to enter during a meeting unless it was urgent.”

The council members frowned.

Facing them, the man who had come in through the door spoke, sweating profusely.

“I-I was going to wait too, but... you know that prisoner.”

“The prisoner? Ah. You mean that survivor.”

“Yes, that bastard. But that survivor had something he wanted me to pass on to Brother Wei...”

At those words, they all frowned.

“I don’t know what it is, but speak. And do so loudly enough for all of us to hear.”

“Pardon? But that...”

“That is an order. Now.”

At that, the man hesitated, looking like he wasn’t sure this was really okay, then opened his mouth.

“He said they were the Grand Duke’s thralls.”

“...What?”

It was so utterly out of nowhere that confusion spread across their faces.

“They were direct thralls sent by the Grand Duke to deal with powerful enemies inside his territory, so he probably judged that even a general as strong as ours would not be able to defeat them without the artificial sun. So please don’t falsely accuse the people who fought hard...”

“......”

“That’s what he told me to pass along. I don’t know what any of it means myself...”

At those words, silence briefly fell over the chamber.

And a moment later—

“That... was said by the survivor in the prison?”

“Pardon? Yes...”

It sounded as though he had overheard their conversation and inserted himself into it.

But that was impossible.

Because—

“That prison... is more than five kilometers away from here, isn’t it...?”

Unless he could hear sounds from several kilometers away, there was no way he could have heard this conversation.

***

Bang!

A short while later, led by the guards, I was taken somewhere. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

“...So that’s him.”

A large building near the center of the island.

When I arrived in a wide room inside it, I heard the mutters of the people looking down at me from the second floor of a semicircular hall, their eyes full of wariness.

I looked up at them and thought,

‘They’re pretty close to how I imagined them from their voices.’

The one who had been shouting and smashing tables was a broad-built, red-faced middle-aged man.

And the older man who had stayed relatively calm looked every bit as severe as I’d expected.

Still, there was one thing different from what I’d pictured from sound alone.

‘...I didn’t expect there to be one more person.’

The semicircular chamber.

The two who had been interrogating Wei were spread out to either side.

And in the very center...

“......”

there was a small space screened off by a dark black canopy.

As an awakened, my eyesight was excellent too, but I couldn’t see through that canopy in the slightest.

It was probably built so the inside couldn’t see out either.

Anyone else would likely assume there was a high chance no one was even in there.

But I could feel it.

That faint trace of a presence inside.

And more than that—

‘What are you staring at so closely?’

I could tell that whoever was in there was watching me very carefully.

“I’ll ask one thing first.”

Then, the hot-blooded-looking middle-aged man looked down at me and spoke.

“How did you hear our conversation? It should not have been possible to hear us from where you were.”

“I’ve got a pretty varied skill set.”

When I said that with a light smile, the middle-aged man frowned as if disgusted.

“...I’ve heard the report about you.”

It seemed he wasn’t the only one displeased by my answer.

The severe-looking old man glared at me and said,

“They say you defeated General Kaio? I don’t know what method you used, but if that’s true, then I can understand your confidence in your own strength. However.”

Pahng!

When the old man flicked his hand, I felt a massive flow of mana.

And then—

“You would do well not to overestimate yourself.”

In an instant, dozens of arrows made of water took shape around my neck.

Rooaaar...

Like a waterfall, the water was spinning at tremendous speed inside the compressed shape of the arrows.

One glance was enough to tell how much mana they contained.

I looked at the old man who had created them.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Lv.30 Sun Sorcerer]

And the sight that appeared before me left me no choice but to feel a little surprised.

‘...No, come to think of it, isn’t this what should be normal?’

The most recent survivor force I had encountered was the temporary government in Seoul.

Its command structure had been made up of non-awakened people.

But if I thought about it, that had only been because of the distortion unique to that Seoul created by Jang Youngwoong’s wish.

There were also many small and mid-sized guilds near the Legion that did not belong to the Legion.

And in most cases, the leader of an awakened force was the strongest person in it, or someone close to that level.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Lv.30 Warrior of the Sun]

I glanced to the side.

The hot-blooded middle-aged man beside the old man was also a powerhouse in the level 30 range.

‘So they’re not just loudmouth higher-ups.’

Quite a bit of time had passed since I’d been thrown over here.

By now, Lee Sanga, the squad leader back in Bimana, had probably passed level 30 too.

Level 30 meant just a little below the level of the squad leaders in our unit.

And—

‘It doesn’t even look like those two are the leaders of this force.’

The black canopy blocked even [Ingredient Appraisal], so I couldn’t use it there.

But the silent figure looking down at me from inside it was most likely their true leader.

‘Two awakened in their thirties even excluding the leader.’

That meant that aside from their know-how in dealing with those vampires, the strength this group possessed was no joke.

Still—

“Yes.”

Whether awakened in the level 30 range were impressive or not was beside the point.

I felt like I needed to respond to that remark at least a little.

The water arrows aimed at my throat.

They probably carried enough force to punch through even steel plates several dozen centimeters thick in one shot.

But—

[Elemental Cooking - Water]

Of the elements I could handle, water happened to be the one I was most confident with.

“I’ll take your advice to heart.”

Pahng...

The mana flowing inside my body spread outward into the surrounding area.

And then—

“...!”

The old man saw it and widened his eyes.

“...Chief Wei. I owe you an apology.”

“...Pardon?”

“Didn’t I say your report was hard to believe? At the very least...”

And in that moment, the arrows that had been sharply trained around my neck—

“The part about him being strong enough to subdue the general in an instant... seems to have been true.”

—splashed down onto the floor.