D-Day.
Chi-Woo woke up when hit by the dawn’s light and made his bed. After having a meal with everyone, he washed thoroughly from head to toe. Now that he was getting ready to leave, his heart thumped nonstop. He worried that he might forget something before leaving.
—Hey Chi-Woo, let me ask you one thing.
While Chi-Woo was packing his belongings, Philip suddenly talked to him.
—Why are you packing your goods there? What happened to your handy bag?
Chi-Woo asked what Philip was talking about and lifted the bag he was packing with.
—No, not that bag.
It was then Chi-Woo realized what Philip was referring to—Steam Bun. They hadn’t seen Steam Bun for a while now, and it was natural that Philip would be curious about its whereabouts. Chi-Woo’s expression turned to normal again, and he resumed packing his bag and thought:
‘It went off to live a new life.’
—Huh? Suddenly? Without saying anything?
Philip tilted his head.
—Even though you brought it here so that it could live the rest of its life however it wanted, it had always stayed by your side before.
‘That’s not what I mean…’
Chi-Woo’s eyes drooped slightly, and his hands slowed. For some reason, he seemed conflicted.
‘Do you know what happened to Goddess Kabbalah?’
—Kabbalah? Well, she…
Philip looked taken aback by Chi-Woo’s unexpected question. Why was Chi-Woo mentioning an ancient god that had been abandoned and forgotten now?
‘Did you know that after the last war, Shalyh had been changed from Kabbalah’s temple to the White Horse General’s?’
—Uh, yeah, I knew about that. What happened then?
‘She disappeared.’
—What? Why?
‘Since she became unnecessary after the White Horse General’s appearance.’
—But still…
Philip thought he heard wrong and trailed off. He couldn’t believe it at first, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. What was the importance of a god’s existence right now? It was simple. There were two main reasons for their existence: for establishing a godly territory and acting as a patron for heroes through the growth system. And right now, humanity and the Cassiubia League needed a god with power suitable for their current situation; considering that, they didn’t need a god of something like love or philanthropy. In accordance, it was only inevitable that White Horse General would be popular. Simply by making a contract with him, people would gain powers that gave them advantages over the Demon Empire.
Then what was the case for Kabbalah? Besides the White Horse General, what her powers could contribute to the current situation was even more ambiguous than the buhguhbus’s god, Mamiya, or the Carbuncles’s god, Miho. Kabal was originally a god of an evil nature. She almost disappeared when she became unnecessary, but she tried to prevent that by creating Balal, who was of good nature. Her original goal was to become a new twin goddess, but that attempt failed because the Salem Academy separated from Liber before her followers could turn Balal into a god. Chi-Woo managed to revive her somehow, but Balal was still not in her complete form. And, as expected, Kabal became unstable as well after becoming one with the incomplete Balal.
The Demon Empire’s invasion clearly brought her weakness to light. Of course, their enemies became helpless after Chi-Woo revealed his secret card, the White Horse General, but not all of his allies could rejoice about it. The fact that all attention was on the White Horse General meant that someone was getting disregarded. It was then Philip realized why Chi-Woo looked so conflicted. Gods were existences who lived on beliefs; those who didn’t receive beliefs faded into oblivion. In a way, Chi-Woo was the one who caused Kabbalah to disappear again even though that wasn’t what he intended.
—So does that mean…Kabbalah is going to be forgotten again?
‘Rather than that, she chose to back away herself.’
—Huh?
‘And for that, I made a promise.’ Chi-Woo tilted his head up and looked at the ceiling. Did Kabal not realize that all these things were going to happen? No, she knew. She easily predicted that after the White Horse General’s emergence, her place on Liber would become very small, so small that she could almost disappear. But in the end, she had no choice. Whatever way she thought about it, it was a situation where she had to back away. Thus, she made leeway for herself in the form of a promise with Chi-Woo. It was then Philip realized that this promise was related to Steam Bun, who had been absent these days.
—I don’t really know what’s going on exactly, but I guess that means they aren’t gone forever? Neither that bag nor Kabbalah?
‘Yes.’
—Can we see those two again someday?
Chi-Woo didn’t immediately reply. He stayed silent for a while and looked back at Philip with a very faint smile.
‘I hope we can. But this is the path they chose out of their own will…’
—Okay. I got it. I’m sure the day will come if we keep waiting. Let’s see them then.
Though he still had loads more questions, Philip didn’t press. Chi-Woo would soon leave for an expedition. He had the important role of leading his expedition team this time, and Philip didn’t want to disturb Chi-Woo’s already full head with more things to think about.
***
The four of them—Chi-Woo, Ru Amuh, Evelyn, and Hawa—left their zones with Eshnunna and Byeok seeing them off. Chi-Woo was slightly surprised when he arrived at the city gates. He thought he had arrived quite early, but the rest of the team was already there—Emmanuel, Yeriel, and Apoline.
“You guys came earlier than I thought you would,” Chi-Woo remarked.
The seven of them exchanged simple greetings. Though there were some who were meeting for the first time, they had all heard plenty about each other and didn’t need introductions—save for one person.
“By the way, I heard you’re planning to find our guide and perhaps other members on the way to our destination…” Emmanuel glanced at Apoline and asked Chi-Woo in a serious voice.
“Yes. It’s too difficult to find a suitable guide in Shalyh…and since the Cassiubia League members are also very interested in this matter, I’m planning to go find one among them.”
“I see. Then…” Emmanuel looked more relieved hearing Chi-Woo’s response. Then his eyes shifted to Hawa, who had a bag on her back.
“I am La Hawa. I serve God La Bella like the captain and my tier is bronze. I am accompanying the group as a porter for now,” Hawa said tartly, revealing only the necessity.
“A porter…” Emmanuel nodded. An expedition team naturally needed someone to carry their load. Usually, they would get a strong native to fulfill this role, so it was more satisfying to have someone under a growth system take up the job.
“A bronze-tier luggage carrier. It sounds wasteful,” Apoline said and smirked while stroking her hair.
“And for now, you said… Well, it doesn’t matter since it’s our captain we are talking about.” Yeriel smiled brightly and stared at Hawa curiously. Seeing their responses, Chi-Woo realized that he had made the right choice to let Hawa join as a porter. If he had made her even a temporary guide, they would’ve likely said something.
“Time is gold. Since our journey isn’t short, I think it would be a good idea to talk as we go…” Apoline said while glancing at Chi-Woo. Considering her personality, she would’ve normally said something along the line of ‘Let’s move instead of wasting more time’, but surprisingly, Apoline was very professional in this sort of setting; she clearly separated her public and private self and didn’t forget that Chi-Woo was the captain of the expedition team right now.
“…Yes. We should have Mr. Ru Amuh in front for now…” Chi-Woo sighed inside his mind and decided on the team’s formation using his experience from the Narsha Haram expedition. For a moment, he considered putting Hawa in the front, but he shook his head to himself in the end. One important impression he got during the Narsha Haram expedition was that their captain, Dalgil, was always fair. He didn’t go easy on his friends and was always equally strict with everyone.
‘I also have to be like that,’ Chi-Woo thought. The moment this expedition started, the lives of seven people, including his own, would be in his hands. With so many people’s survival on the line, this wasn’t the time for him to consider factors like loyalty or friendships. If Hawa wanted the role of a guide, she needed to prove her worth.
“Ms. Hawa, come here,” Chi-Woo said with determination and placed Hawa in the center of the team. They started as soon as the team formation was set in place, and Hawa fixed the bag on her back and quietly followed the group with her usual emotionless face.
***
Like Apoline said, their destination wasn’t a short distance away. They had to go far beyond the Cassiubia Mountain Range and march for a while even after Chi-Woo decided on taking the shortest path. Though they could drop by the Cassiubia League’s main base to find a guide, he decided against it because they would have to take a considerable detour; and he reasoned that most of the Cassiubia League’s members who were interested in this expedition would probably be lingering near their destination anyways. Thus, it seemed best for them to take the quickest path of going straight rather than going all around.
And even when they passed through lands that were previously the Demon Empire’s territories before the last war, nothing happened contrary to their worries. They didn’t see any army, demonic creatures, or even a monster. It appeared that news of internal conflict in the Demon Empire was true; and thus, the expedition team was able to keep marching and reach their first destination without any hindrances.
The Hala outpost base was a quarter of a day’s travel from their final destination. It was a temporary base that the Cassiubia League set up to conquer the ‘Hala Forest’. The team didn’t expect much since it was supposed to be temporary, but when they actually entered, they were stunned. Perhaps it should be expected of the Cassiubia League. Even this hastily built base was as big as most villages. There was even a business district where people gathered, and there seemed to be everything one needed at a glance. The expedition team hurriedly found an inn upon Apoline’s urgent request. None of them were in a proper state after staying many days outside.
Once they unloaded their belongings, the expedition team went to the streets and looked for the largest establishment in the area. Yeriel spotted a tavern named, ‘Where the Wind Lingers’ and went inside, taking a seat.
“Do you all want to eat first?” Chi-Woo sat and asked his companions.
“It would be nice to have a meal, but isn’t there something we should do before that?” Apoline responded. Since they had to start their expedition tomorrow, finding a guide even a second faster was better. Chi-Woo thought she was right and slowly looked around. The place was quite large and filled with people.
“What? Is that really true?”
“I’m telling you the truth. Rumors are already spreading everywhere. People saw them and said they were going to return.”
“Ha. I can’t believe it. And I heard they were platinum tiers…”
It appeared that some group had gone on an expedition like them and returned after failing. Chi-Woo craned his ears around the room and discovered that many were talking about the Hala Forest. It was as he had expected.
“Keh. It’s been a while since I felt like this.” Yeriel chuckled while looking around. Many eyes were watching Chi-Woo’s expedition team—not even subtly, but blatantly. It was easy to guess why. This place wasn’t like Shalyh city, and it was difficult to spot a single human here. Though the Cassiubia League had opened up their entire city to humanity, there were still hardly any humans who ventured this far. The Cassiubia League members must have only heard the news about the change recently.
Though humanity’s reputation had increased with Chi-Hyun’s achievements and the victory in Shalyh, the majority of the Cassiubia League still considered themselves superior. While ordinary league members were following their higher-ups’ orders, there were very few who considered humans to be truly equal to them. The difference between the two factions was still significant, and there were many groups in the league who previously had an antagonistic relationship with humanity. Who knew what would happen if the two groups weren’t in an alliance?
‘Huh?’ While Chi-Woo was looking around for someone suitable, he suddenly felt a piercing gaze. He spotted one person looking their way from the kitchen. There was a girl wearing a humble outfit contrasting her shining, lustrous blonde hair. She was a plain, nothing-special waitress—just a country girl with bright eyes and freckles on her nose.
It was a bit strange. She looked just like a human in appearance. But why is there another human here? Moreover…
‘Why is she smiling?’ She was beaming at him, and when Chi-Woo met eyes with her, he was hit with a strange feeling. The hubbub and noises soon faded away. Eventually, even the tavern around him grew distant. He felt as if he and the waitress were alone in a space where nothing else existed. But then the brightly smiling girl suddenly frowned. The pupils in her widened eyes stretched sideways like those of a reptile, and Chi-Woo felt an intangible feeling penetrate his whole body. In shock, he instinctively tried to get up.
—Hey, what are you doing?
Philip’s question brought his senses back. Chi-Woo looked around and saw that everything had returned to normal. He was back in the tavern and awash in the same bustling noises. It was as if he had been enchanted.
‘What happened just now…?’ Chi-Woo turned and saw the waitress again. The girl was smiling brightly like before. Seeing the nervous look on Chi-Woo’s face, she narrowed her eyes and smirked. Then she mouthed something.
—He, llo…?
Looking in the same direction as Chi-Woo, Philip interpreted her silent words.
—What? Do you know her?
There was no way. Chi-Woo shook his head and let out the breath he had been holding.
“I think this is a good opportunity since all the attention is already on us. Should I give it a try?” Apoline asked. Then, because Chi-Woo was still in a daze about what just happened, she asked again, “Hello captain? Are you listening?”
“Ah, yes. Go ahead…” Still flustered, Chi-Woo agreed, and Apoline pushed her chair back.
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“Hear me out!” Bam! Apoline struck the table hard and got up. “We are an expedition team from Shalyh city, here to attack Hala Forest by the Cassiubia League’s request.” After this short introduction, Apoline said, “If there’s a guide who came here for the same goal, please step forward. If you seem capable, we will include you in our team.” She placed both hands on her waist and looked around.
The Cassiubia League members exchanged glances, and soon, the tavern was filled with a burst of wild laughter.
Wahahahahaha!