Chi-Woo invited the three guests into his house for now. But as he guided them in, he gave Eval Sevaru an awkward look.
“Like you said yesterday, sir…” Eval Sevaru didn’t talk in his usual casual tone or addressed Chi-Woo with a ‘Yo! Bro!’. Besides his speech, he also held himself with an uncharacteristic gravitas and dressed more neatly than usual. He looked just like the chief of staff serving an extremely rich family.
“…I-I see. Thank you. How impressive.”
“I will take my leave now.” Eval didn’t even explain the situation and said only what he wanted. Then he bowed like he had done everything on his end and backed away. He didn’t even turn around immediately and instead walked backward a couple of steps before he turned. Watching Eval quietly head for the door, Chi-Woo wondered what in the world this man was up to.
Meanwhile, Philip had deduced the reason for this change in behavior and chuckled in response. The door closed with a soft click, and Chi-Woo shifted his bewildered gaze back to the three guests waiting for him. Although he had offered them seats, they were all still standing. It was a bit strange. He had thought some of them would be more individualistic and relaxed since heroes came from a great variety of cultures, but all of them appeared extremely tense and nervous. They acted like new hires even though they should be heroes with extensive experience.
‘What happened…?’ Chi-Woo wondered, but decided to greet them first. “Hello, I am the person who asked Mr. Eval Sevaru to introduce me to some people. Um…I came to Liber as part of the seventh recruits.”
The heroes standing on the left and right of the group began to glance at each other. They seemed surprised by Chi-Woo’s short introduction. Chi-Woo had purposefully not given his name and come up with an excuse to keep it a secret, yet none of them asked about it; they appeared understanding, in fact. They all seemed to be thinking, ‘His status is so high that he can’t reveal his name.’
“I’m Nangnang.” Shortly thereafter, the ash-gray cat on the left revealed his name. This hero looked just like a cat, except he stood upright on his two hind legs. He was basically just a cat that walked on two legs. No joke.
“I came as part of the second recruits. I heard that you are looking for someone who can act as a guide.” The hero had a husky voice and he was a bit bigger than most cats. There was also a noticeable cut across one of his eyes. But rather than resembling a tough street cat boss, he looked quite cute. Chi-Woo wanted to place this hero on his lap and pat his gray fur. But of course, Chi-Woo kept this thought to himself and didn’t show his feelings outwardly, knowing how inexcusable his behavior would be for different species.
After the cat’s—no, hero’s introduction, the giant standing in the middle spoke up. “…My name is Roar of Quiet Snowy Mountains. I also came to Liber as part of the second recruits. Although I haven’t established a contract with a god yet, I’m confident in tasks that require physical strength.” The giant ended his introduction with a tone as heavy as the impression he gave off. His size reminded Chi-Woo of Giant Fist, and this hero was also similarly not a hundred percent human. His whole body was covered with white fur, and although he had eyes, nose, and lips like a human, he was closer to a gorilla than a human in appearance. Each of his fists was as big as a pot lid, and he appeared to be half-human, half-beast.
—Oh, a yeti.
Philip remarked in surprise as he observed alongside Chi-Woo.
—How strange. A mere monster has become a hero… Well, he’s from another planet, so maybe it makes perfect sense in his world.
Chi-Woo nodded. He became speechless after secretly checking the yeti’s user information with his Spirit Eye. Roar of Quiet Snowy Mountains’ potential was 2 stars, and his strength ranked B while his durability was C. And he hadn’t even awakened; it was self-evident how outstanding his natural physical attributes were. Chi-Woo wondered what would happen if the yeti threw his canon-like fist with all his might. The thought of it made him shudder.
Now, the last remaining hero spoke. “Lila Shadia.” A slightly low-pitched, charming voice came from under the hood. “I’m part of the fourth recruits. I heard that you are looking for someone with the ability to heal in emergencies, so I came. I also thought I could hear stories I was curious about.”
Both Chi-Woo and Nangnang looked surprised.
“Are you a priest then? Does that also mean you’ve made a contract? Wait, I thought Shahnaz doesn’t match with priests well.” After the barrage of questions, Nangnang muttered, ‘Well, I suppose we are in no place to be picky.”
“No, that’s not it. I’m not a priest, and I didn’t establish a contract with Shahnaz. I couldn’t, actually. Shahnaz turned me down, saying that she and I don’t make a good match, as you’ve said. She seemed to think it would be wasteful to use her divinity on me in the current situation.” In other words, Shadia had been rejected by Shahnaz even though she herself was willing. Nangnang and Snowy Mountain nodded in sympathy; they had gone through the same experience.
“Then how?”
“Um…” After hesitating a bit, Shadia raised her hand to her hood. Chi-Woo unconsciously leaned toward her to get a better look.
Shadia looked human saved for her unnaturally long bulging head. Chi-Woo had been bothered by this fact since he saw her and wondered if she was of a similar race as Zelit. It was then Shadia pulled her hood back.
Brown hair flowed down soil-colored skin as lustrous and glossy as the hair. Her bright complexion made human skin look dull in comparison. Everyone fell silent the moment she revealed herself. Seemingly embarrassed, she raised her softly curved brows and looked up with her thick double lid eyes. There was a human-shaped ginseng on top of her head.
“…Are you a plant person[1]?” Nangnang asked, unable to take his eyes off her head.
“Well, I won’t say that’s wrong, but because of the way it sounds, could you call me a plant human[2] instead?”
Chi-Woo didn’t think it was any better, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
“You were a Mandaragoran.” It was then Snowy Mountain suddenly spoke up after being quiet the entire time.
“Yes, that’s correct.” Shadia shrugged after glancing at him. “As you can see, I can’t pray to the gods to lend me the power to heal you if you get hurt, but I can make medicine that will quickly cure you on my own. But of course, It won’t work on an injury that is too serious.”
“Are you a witch then?” Nangnang asked.
“Your name is Nangnang, right? The way you talk has been bothering me. I thought I would look over it because you were cute, but…anyways, just call me an alchemist.”
“It seems I have been rude unintentionally,” Nangnang said with a smile. “But an alchemist hero… What a rare sight, even rarer than a priestess hero. Kuhkuh.”
“I also know how to use magic. Though of course, I don’t have even a tiny drop of mana right now.”
“I understand. But by the way, I can’t believe you think I’m cute. That makes me really suspicious of your taste, but I suppose it makes sense with you being an alchemist.” Nangnang laughed, and the conversation ended there. The three heroes then turned to Chi-Woo without a word. It seemed they were worried they had chatted too much amongst themselves.
Of course, Chi-Woo wasn’t bothered in the least; instead, he liked it. It was interesting and fun to experience new things. In a way, he was impressed by Eval Sevaru. He hadn’t expected much when he had asked Eval Sevaru to gather people, but the man brought him heroes with useful abilities, especially the yeti and the alchemist who had a mandragora on her head.
– Not all heroes are physically strong individuals who are good at swinging swords. Even those who are physically weak are fully capable of becoming heroes. Just think about it, how many people have been praised as heroes simply because of their ability to command?
Chi-Woo agreed without much thought. All of the recruits who had been sent to Liber were heroes anyway; since they were all sent out by the Celestial Realm, they must all have a special ability that would be useful.
“I asked to meet you because I’d like to request all of your help for a job.” Since they had finished greeting each other, Chi-Woo decided to cut to the chase.
All three of them looked slightly confused. Even though Eval Sevaru hadn’t explained in detail who Chi-Woo was, they all thought that he probably made a contract with a god or at least knew how to use mana, especially since he was part of the seventh recruit. On the other hand, it was peculiar that he looked for people who hadn’t awakened their powers yet. Thus, they expected Chi-Woo to offer to help them gain merits in exchange for future payback. The fact that such exchanges were already taking place was all the more reason for them to make such an assumption. As a result, they had expected a deal, but Chi-Woo mentioned ‘request’.
“A request…request…” Nangnang softly murmured to himself and licked his mouth. “If it’s a request, will we be able to get an advance payment?” His eyes gleamed with hope.
“Will we be able to hear more information about it first?” Snowy Mountain chimed in.
“I can’t explain everything. I’ll explain more after you accept the request.”
“How much will you be able to tell us?”
“I’m planning to go on an adventure,” Chi-Woo spoke clearly. “It’s not far away. It won’t take us long to get there, and we’ll be exploring.”
Nangnang’s eyes sparkled; Shadia’s interest was immediately piqued as well. The best part about an adventure was exploring dungeons and finding good equipment.
“However, it will be extremely dangerous,” Chi-Woo stressed his next words. “I don’t know how dangerous it’ll be. I can’t be certain of the condition inside the dungeons. We might never be able to return.” Even though Chi-Woo had said so to make sure they thought long and hard about this, all three of them appeared calm; constantly risking one’s life came naturally with being a hero anyway. However, they still had questions.
“But there’s one thing I’m curious about,” Snowy Mountain continued. “If it’s such a dangerous place, heroes who have awakened their powers must have already gone in droves to try to obtain items.” The yeti was not wrong. Even though it was a dangerous location, they were talking about an opportunity to get high-quality items instead of rusty iron swords. There were probably more than a few heroes who had already rushed towards these dungeons with the help of the growth systems.
“Of course, I’m confident that I’ll be useful even in my current state, but…I know I fall short compared to those who have awakened their powers.”
Nangnang and Shadia also expressed their agreement solemnly. They didn’t understand why Chi-Woo was asking for heroes who hadn’t awakened their powers like them to join him instead of the already awakened ones.
Chi-Woo agreed it was a very important matter he needed to address before he explained any further. “Mr. Nangnang, you asked me before if there’s an advance payment. Yes, there is.” Chi-Woo thought this was a good opportunity to bring up this topic. “If all of you accept this request, I’ll make an arrangement so that you can make a contract with Shahnaz. I can do that right now if that’s what you want.”
Snowy Mountain wiggled his bushy eyebrows.
“Of course, I won’t do more than helping you activate the growth system, but I’ll cover all the merits it’ll take for you to do that.”
Nangnang’s drooping tail sprang up, and Shadia’s eyes slightly widened.
“Wait, wait. Did I hear correctly?” Shadia raised her hand and continued, “It’s not just me; all three of us have been rejected by Goddess Shahnaz. She will not have us. It’s not a matter of having merits or not.” It took two to establish a contract; it wasn’t enough for only one party to be willing. Shahnaz had already rejected their requests, and that was the end of the story.
One could hardly blame Shahnaz for her rejection. The amount of merit Chi-Woo had given her was limited, so she had been prioritizing heroes who fit her management style and direction of growth as much as possible. It was also possible that the three heroes were completely incompatible with her. However, neither was a problem for Chi-Woo.
“Even though making a contract with a god really is important…I heard that it’s possible to change it,” Chi-Woo said. “Since there’s only one god available at the moment, why don’t you temporarily make a contract with Goddess Shahnaz? If you like it, you can continue your contract with her; If not, won’t you be able to change your contract when we find a new god?”
“A-and you’re saying that you can do that for us?” Shadia voiced her suspicion; the situation was way too favorable towards them. Only an apostle who served their god as an agent or a face could possibly have enough status to influence that god’s decision. Otherwise, there was no way a god would change their decisions because of a mere mortal.
“I’ll figure that out myself, so you don’t have to worry.”
What was up with his confidence? Shadia had planned to make her decision after listening more, but if what he said was true, she felt that it was necessary to learn much more about this hero.
“If there’s advance payment, will there be other payments?” Nangnang asked with a slightly excited heaving.
“The other payments…won’t it be the merits you’ll obtain during the adventure?” Chi-Woo replied with a bright smile; it was his way of telling them to not expect any more than this.
In a way, the advance payment was already a hefty reward, especially since they could receive it immediately. Moreover, they wouldn’t have to risk their lives.
“In exchange…” Chi-Woo’s voice lowered. “None of you can claim any rights over anything we obtain in this adventure. That is my condition.”
In summary, Chi-Woo was going to help them form a contract, and if they encountered a monster during this adventure, he would let them have the opportunity to obtain merits. In exchange, he was entitled to take everything they found during their expedition.
Chi-Woo looked at the three of them in turn, who still looked a bit shocked, and raised both of his hands to signify that he had finished speaking. Then he asked, “How about it?”
1. 식인 sik-in): Homophone for cannibal ☜
2. 식물인간 (sik-mul-in-gan): another word for a person in a vegetative state ☜