Choi Hyun-seok made a dumbfounded expression.

“What do you mean…?”

They came to the Odria City-State Alliance through a spatial transfer gate.

So far, so good.

Near the Odria City-State Alliance, a large undead legion appeared through necromancy, and defeating them was the objective.

“Suddenly demanding money here. This makes no sense at all?”

“What did you hear when I spoke earlier?”

“Huh?”

“The Odria City-State Alliance is a nation of merchants. Everything runs on money here. They’re even crazy enough to buy and sell the mayor position, which is practically equivalent to being king.”

“Even so, buying and selling the head of state position with money…”

It was hard to believe.

Trading the position of head of state.

Of course, he wasn’t expecting democracy or voting in a place where civic consciousness and culture were at a medieval level.

But isn’t it really strange to trade the king’s position with money?

“Think I’m lying? It’s not just the mayor. The position of head of the 12 city-state alliance. They elect it by vote every 5 years, but it’s ultimately decided by money flow since it’s a fight over interests.”

Park Hyun-a grinned while looking at the golden tower in the distance.

“In other words, in this country, money is power, honor, and everything. It means it’s a country where money is that important and abundant.”

***

“So. You said you wanted to meet me?”

Forkman, the mayor of Delos.

He’s a great merchant who runs the Forkman Trading Company, ranked among the top ten on the continent.

As Park Hyun-a said, he was someone who bought the Delos mayor position with money, and currently also served as the head of the Odria City-State Alliance.

“I heard you’ve been having headaches lately because of the undead.”

When Park Hyun-a brought it up, Forkman responded with a calm expression.

“It’s unfortunate. The entire continent is suffering because of corpses that returned from hell.”

“Right, right. Really unfortunate. But isn’t it not the time for the Odria City-State Alliance to worry about others? The situation must be urgent.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Come on~ No need to hide it. Our alliance’s pride! The legendary Cailed Bell! He got his butt kicked the other day and is bedridden.”

Park Hyun-a’s tone was somewhat aggressive.

Choi Hyun-seok started feeling anxious.

‘Still, he’s practically the head of a country, isn’t this going too far…’

Countless knights and mages were standing by around him.

They were fully prepared to spring into action at any moment.

Even though Park Hyun-a was a legendary powerhouse, there were numerous magic circles, magical tools, and skilled individuals scattered everywhere that could restrain her.

With one gesture from Forkman.

No, the moment Forkman’s expression twisted even slightly, everything would activate to restrain the group.

“Shouldn’t we be more careful in this situation?”

Choi Hyun-seok whispered in a small voice.

“What’s there to be careful about?”

“Do you know what my life motto has been since coming to this other world?”

“What is it?”

“Be strong to the strong, weak to the weak…!”

“That’s a fucking cool motto.”

Park Hyun-a grinned.

“But right now, we’re not ‘weak’. Rather, we’re ‘strong’.”

Then Forkman, who had been watching from the front, opened his mouth.

“What are you talking about?”

“Ah, my assistant said he had something to report for a moment.”

Park Hyun-a continued speaking while acting deliberately casual.

“Alliance Head. Let’s be honest here. Your legend got broken, right?”

“Sir Bell is just recovering for a moment. He hasn’t been defeated yet.”

“Sure, sure. Let’s say that’s true. Either way, dealing with those skeleton bastards is troublesome, isn’t it?”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

Forkman reluctantly agreed.

“So! I’m saying I’ll handle it! Don’t you know me? The God’s Adversary! The woman who made the Holy Empire of Gatren shit their pants for several years by herself.”

“…”

“If I step in, those bones won’t even be worth a handful.”

Finally, Forkman nodded.

“So what do you want?”

“One thousand gold.”

“One thousand gold… That’s reasonable. I’ll have it decided through an alliance-wide meeting. Since Delos can’t pay it alone.”

“What are you talking about?”

Park Hyun-a’s head tilted 45 degrees.

“There are 12 city-states in the alliance. One thousand gold per city, so that’s twelve thousand gold total.”

“W-what!?”

At the mention of twelve thousand gold, Forkman jumped up.

“Are you joking? Do you know how much money twelve thousand gold is!”

“Is twelve thousand gold a lot?”

Park Hyun-a rubbed her chin with a thoughtful expression.

“How much would the Odria City-State Alliance be worth in gold? I think it would be worth over 100 million gold, so isn’t it practically free if you can protect it with just ten thousand?”

“What nonsense is this! No matter what you say, we can’t pay over ten thousand gold!”

“No, who said one person should pay it? It’s one thousand gold per city. This much is honestly affordable, isn’t it? How much do you earn in taxes?”

“Not needed. If it’s really dangerous, we can just request help from Gatren!”

“Oh~ Going to request help from those Holy Empire bastards. Fine. Then do that.”

Park Hyun-a turned around without hesitation and waved her hand.

“I’ll be going then, live well with help from your great Empire folks!”

Park Hyun-a walked out while putting her arm around Choi Hyun-seok’s shoulder.

The tall Choi Hyun-seok awkwardly bent down as he followed her.

“Are we really leaving like this?”

“Of course not, dummy. I’m just putting on an act. If we pretend to leave, they’ll reluctantly stop us. That’s how this industry works.”

“What if they don’t stop us?”

“… It’s a bit pathetic, but I’ll have to ask for just six thousand gold, half the amount.”

Just as Park Hyun-a and Choi Hyun-seok were about to leave the audience chamber while whispering…

“Wait, wait! You know that’s not what I meant?”

Forkman shouted urgently.

A deep smile appeared on Park Hyun-a’s face.

“See? What did I tell you?” she whispered quietly before returning to a serious expression.

“What do you mean? Weren’t you going to ask our great Holy Empire folks for help?”

“Huu… Let’s stop this tiresome power play.”

Forkman sat down with a tired expression.

The chair creaked and screamed under his massive frame.

“The alliance will pay ten thousand gold in total. Isn’t that enough?”

“Deal!”

Park Hyun-a snapped her fingers.

Forkman continued while keeping his head down.

“However, this isn’t something I can decide alone. First, after going through the alliance-wide meeting, officially… No, that won’t work. I’ll deliver it unofficially.”

Park Hyun-a was once called God’s Adversary and is still being hunted by Gatren.

Forkman explained that if Gatren found out about any exchange with her, it might cause unnecessary problems.

“That’s all fine, but if it’s unofficial, can’t you just keep your mouths shut?”

“Despite how it looks, I am the head of Odria. I keep my word.”

“Well, fine. I’ll come back at this time tomorrow.”

“Do so.”

Forkman sighed while holding his forehead.

Before meeting Park Hyun-a, his face had been completely carefree, but now it was full of worry and concern.

“Then I’m going! Ten thousand gold! Don’t try saying anything different tomorrow!”

“Fine, just get out of here!”

***

After negotiations with Mayor Forkman ended.

The group decided to spend the rest of the day touring Delos.

“Delos is one of the continent’s top tourist destinations. In terms of size, it’s bigger than most kingdom capitals.”

“Older sister. Is it okay to just play around like this?”

“Then what should we do?”

“Um… Discuss the money we’ll receive tomorrow, or have strategy meetings about defeating the undead. Shouldn’t we have lots to do?”

“Making unnecessary worries. If anything’s needed, I’ll handle it all, so just enjoy yourself~ Days like this don’t come often.”

Park Hyun-a waved her hand casually as she walked ahead.

She really seemed to want to genuinely enjoy the tourism.

“That’s right! What’s the point of the hero worrying when nothing comes from it anywa- gak! C-can’t breathe…”

Choi Hyun-seok, who was grabbing Rachel’s collar and shaking her, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

Two tall men approached Park Hyun-a who was walking ahead.

They spoke while having what appeared to be cigarettes in their mouths.

“Hey. Are you alone?”

“Miss. Your exotic looks are totally my type…”

Crack-! Bang!

A punch extended so fast it couldn’t be seen.

Looking back, the two men were lying face down together on a pile of garbage.

“Are they dead?”

“They’re alive.”

“That’s a relief, but wasn’t that a bit too much?”

“What was?”

“Beating them up just for trying to talk…”

“It’s a waste of time. Guys like that are persistent.”

“…”

“Never mind that, let’s go! Do you know how famous Delos food is!? Time is tight if we want to try everything in one day!”

“Yes!”

Choi Hyun-seok quickly followed.

If he wasted any more time here, he felt he might end up like those men on the garbage pile.

‘Right. In a way, this is my first time touring in this world.’

It’s the first time touring after rolling around like crazy for a whole year.

Choi Hyun-seok decided to relax and enjoy it lightly.

“Older sister. Do they sell noodles here by any chance?”

“What do you take Delos for, kid! Of course they do!”

“Ohhh!”

“Noodles? What’s that!?”

“It’s a very dependable friend, exactly opposite of you.”

“Hero! That’s an insult, right? Right!?”

“Growl!”

“You can’t even understand what Bobo understood. You’re something else.”

The group walked along chattering loudly.

Following behind them, a gentle smile hung on Abelson’s lips.

***

The next day.

The group returned to the golden tower and received confirmation from Forkman, the mayor and alliance head.

“The Odria City-State Alliance will pay ten thousand gold. The condition is complete annihilation of the undead. The deadline is one week.”

“Good!”

“If possible, I’d like you to handle it before other villages and cities are damaged.”

“Is there a bonus if we handle it quickly?”

“Depending on the situation.”

“Tch. Never mind that, just give me the information.”

After receiving information about the undead horde, the group immediately set out.

“Older sister. I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“What if we handle the undead, but they pretend nothing happened?”

This job was being done unofficially.

Because of that, no documents were left at all.

It would be troublesome if the Odria City-State Alliance claimed ‘Who said we’d pay?’ after they dealt with the undead.

“Simple. We’ll destroy them.”

“Ah…”

Choi Hyun-seok continued his questions with a bitter expression.

“Does that hope or whatever guardian organization know about this?”

“No. This is my side job. Why would I tell them? The moment I do, they’ll ask for their share.”

“Aah…”

Choi Hyun-seok shook his head.

‘I’m one thing, but this person…’

She wasn’t evil.

But it was hard to call her good either.

While seeming to act for everyone’s benefit, she thoroughly looked after her own interests.

That’s the kind of person Park Hyun-a was.

“Focus for a moment.”

Suddenly Park Hyun-a clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention.

“I’ll briefly explain the enemy information. It’s annoying to repeat, so listen well the first time.”

“Yes.”

“First, the approximate scale is fifty thousand. They’re still growing in numbers, and their leader is a lich specializing in magic.”

“F-fifty thousand…? Can we handle that?”

“Once we take out the controlling entity, they’ll all die anyway. You’ve fought them before, so you should know, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

Still, fifty thousand.

He couldn’t even fathom how large that number was.

Would they even be able to reach the lich through such numbers?

Then Park Hyun-a continued with shocking information.

“Originally, the numbers were much higher. The fifty thousand now is after about a third was wiped out when some legend caused trouble the other day.”

“Ah…”

“There’s a guy called Cailed Bell in the Odria City-State Alliance. I saw him once about 8 years ago, and he’s around middle-tier among legends.”

Park Hyun-a grinned.

“Of course, he’s below me now.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Anyway, according to the information he provided, the lich’s personal combat ability doesn’t seem strong. In a one-on-one fight, he could win without much difficulty. The problem is…”

Park Hyun-a frowned while touching her chin.

“The minions are too strong. Among the guards, there seem to be almost a hundred hero-level, and several quasi-legend level too.”

Choi Hyun-seok’s expression became serious.

A hundred heroes and multiple quasi-legends.

This was impossible after all.

Absolutely impossible.

“We should call for support now after all.”

“What support are you talking about? We are the support, where else would we request help from?”

“If we contact that last hope whatever organization…”

“They’re busy. And hey. Are you some kind of saint?”

“Pardon?”

Suddenly Park Hyun-a brought her face close.

“A sweet EXP event has dropped and you keep thinking about sharing? We should absorb it all ourselves!”

Park Hyun-a, who approached the peak as a hero.

“Big events like this! They’re rare, aren’t they?”

In her mind, the undead horde was already practically just an EXP horde.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you would like to support me or read advanced chapters, you can do so by unlocking chapters.

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