The Healing Solaris Cleric-Chapter 357: Preparation (3)

—Wait.

Desmond quickly raised his hand to stop Kai from approaching.

"What?"

—It seems you're under some huge misconception right now.

"A huge misconception?"

—Yes. Do you remember the reason I agreed to follow you?

"Of course. I promised to show you that there are good humans in this world."

—Exactly! You said you would prove to me that not all humans are evil. And yet, how come...

Desmond's narrowed eyes were full of suspicion.

—Every time I'm summoned, my view of humanity seems to get worse.

"Why's that? Oh... wait, is it because of me?"

—Are you seriously asking that?!

Desmond shouted angrily and crossed his arms, lifting his chin.

—It seems our interests no longer align. Therefore, I shall—

Desmond suddenly stopped talking and glanced down toward his waist.

A small woman was holding onto his clothes and sniffing it.

"I smell it. The scent of pureblood." Korona lifted her head and locked eyes with Desmond.

Feeling pressured by her sparkling eyes, Desmond subtly pushed her away and said to Kai,

—Who is this now? Get her away from me.

Ignoring him, Korona began to negotiate with Kai. "You’re not going to just give me the blood, are you?"

"Of course not. It’s a give-and-take world."

"What do you want?"

"You’re working on adaptive gear with the dwarves, right?"

"Yeah. I even sent a few prototypes to your territory."

It was hard to know that when he never visited.

"Please complete it as quickly as possible. I'm thinking of equipping the dullahan army with it."

"Y-you're insane! That’s like putting pearls on swine! Do you even know how much that costs..."

Startled and raising her voice, Kai calmly asked back, "How much does it cost?"

"We’re estimating about 4,000 gold per set for market price."

"4,000 gold, huh."

Roughly 400 million per set. Fifty units would be 20 billion.

But it’s worth the investment.

Even if he resold them later, the quality was high enough to fetch at least half the price. And besides, he wouldn’t have to spend the full 20 billion in cash.

"I’m supposed to get a few units as my share once they’re complete, right?"

"We agreed on thirty. Did you even read the contract?"

"Of course I did," Kai nodded smoothly.

So I only need to buy twenty more.

That dropped the cost to 8 billion.

Feeling much more at ease, Kai continued, "In that case, I’ll give you two weeks."

"What the, how am I supposed to finish those in two weeks?!" Korona snapped in frustration.

However, Kai had learned a valuable lesson from Parsanax in the past.

Wizards always deliver when you pressure them enough.

In fact, Korona had once crafted an absurdly powerful ring in just two months.

Therefore, Kai pushed hard. "Well then, I guess there's nothing that could be done. I don’t want to sour my relationship with a vampire lord just to extract some blood anyway..."

—He finally said something admirable for once.

Desmond murmured in a satisfied voice, and Korona turned to him in surprise.

“Y-you’re a vampire lord?”

—Tsk. How could you not recognize a noble being even when standing right in front of one. Humans, honestly.

Korona looked up at him as he shook his head, and her throat bobbed with a deep gulp.

D-don’t fall for it. If I fall for it again, it’ll be just like last time...

A hell-like work schedule would begin again.

However, to complete the research she was currently working on, fresh vampire blood was essential. Additionally, the higher the class of the individual, the better, so a vampire lord's blood would be top-tier material. And if not now, she likely would never be able to obtain it. No matter how much she complained, Korona, a wizard in pursuit of truth, couldn’t refuse it.

As if she were under a spell, she said, “A-alright.”

“Okay. No take-backs, alright?”

“But there’s no way I can finish in two weeks. Also, once I complete the theory I’m working on, I’ll incorporate it into the adaptive gear, so it’ll benefit you too. So I need the blood and five weeks.”

“Three weeks,” Kai said firmly.

Korona sighed lightly. “Jeez, you’re so stubborn. Fine, I’ll give it to you in four weeks.”

“Three weeks.”

As Kai’s response came back even more firmly than expected, Korona quickly said, “H-how about we meet in the middle? How’s twenty-five days?”

“Three weeks.”

“You’re unbelievable!”

“Desmond, let’s go.”

As Kai actually began to leave the room, Korona grabbed his sleeve and trembled as she muttered, “Three weeks... deal...”

Kai switched gears in an instant, massaging Korona’s shoulders to cheer her up, “Aww, of course three weeks will be more than enough for our brilliant Ebony Tower Master. I’ve always believed in you.”

—Hmm. Humans are indeed wicked...

As Desmond muttered, Kai turned his gaze to him.

At the predatory shine in his eyes, Desmond quickly said,

—F-for the record, a vampire being robbed of his blood is a disgrace to...

“I’m not robbing your blood. I would never steal from you.”

Kai spun his sword half a turn so that the hilt faced Desmond and smiled gently. “You’ll give it yourself.”

—Do you think I’m an idiot!? That’s the same thing!

He didn’t fall for it.

Kai pulled a sullen face as Desmond fiercely resisted. “If you keep being so uncooperative, it’ll really hurt my feelings. I saved your vampire clan like you asked and even gave you your clothes back.”

—Think about all the things you did after...

“Yeah, I did think about it. And you know what? The only things I did to you were summoning you, stepping on your head once, and borrowing your outfit for a bit. Are you really sulking over that? When you’re the vampire lord? Then go ahead—step on my head and take my clothes.”

Korona, still holding onto Kai’s sleeve, muttered along, “Hmm. If that’s true, he must have a pretty small heart for a lord...”

—W-what... who said I was sulking...!

Desmond’s pale face turned red all the way to his ears. He grabbed Kai’s sword and lightly sliced his own palm. As blood flowed out, Korona darted in with a basin and caught every last drop.

—I am the lord of vampires. I do not hold petty grudges over a few trivial mistakes made by a mere human. This is what it means to have the stature and generosity of a true ruler.

“Wow... I almost misunderstood you. You’re amazing. Even though you used to be an enemy, I really respect you,” Kai applauded.

Though his tone lacked sincerity, he subtly nudged Korona along.

Realizing the mood, Korona quickly spoke up as she received the blood, “W-wow... the blood of a vampire lord. So grand.”

—-H-hm... To make a fuss over something like this...

The flush faded from Desmond’s face as he replied curtly, but he had to struggle to keep the corners of his lips from rising.

***

[Bargain skill has increased.]

[Bargain skill reached Intermediate Level 2.]

[Charisma skill has increased.]

[Charisma skill reached Intermediate Level 1.]

“Hm. An unexpected gain.”

Kai left the Ebony Tower with light steps, and Desmond, who had spilled enough blood to fill an entire basin, was unsummoned with a sour expression. Meanwhile, Korona, who only came to her senses after signing a slave contract, let out deep sighs until Kai left.

All I did was gain.

From Kai’s point of view, there was no way he couldn’t be in a good mood. If there was one unfortunate thing, it was that he would have to wait until the adaptive equipment was completed.

But they did promise to deliver it.

Like the Church, the Wizard Tower was an independent force not affiliated with any kingdom or empire. Naturally, NPCs from the Wizard Tower could operate even beyond the empire, in the Dark Zone. For that reason, Kai had secured a deal to receive delivery of fifty adaptive armor sets.

With one additional set added for every day it’s late.

All preparations were complete. He had learned new skills and finished checking his gear.

Without hesitation, he opened his message window.

[Kai: I think I’m all ready. How about you, Ha-Rin?]

[Yoo Ha-Rin: Well, I just bought all my paladin gear at the auction house too. Where should we meet?]

[Kai: Let’s head straight to Tardal. Please come to the mansion in Aquaria.]

[Yoo Ha-Rin: I’ll head over right away.]

As Kai waited in front of Tardal’s mansion after using Shadow Shift, Yoo Ha-Rin arrived shortly after.

“Huff, huff. You got here really fast. Have you been waiting long?”

“No. I just got here too. Let’s go in.”

Kai led the way into the mansion.

Tardal was looking down at an artificial pond in the courtyard. Inside the pond, colorful, scaled fish swam about freely.

Kai exchanged a glance with Yoo Ha-Rin and then approached him. “What are you looking at so intently?”

Tardal slightly turned his head and nodded at them before turning his gaze back to the fish. “I’m watching the fish. Isn’t it interesting when you look at them sometimes?”

“interesting in what way?”

“To those fish, this pond is the entire world. They will live and die without ever knowing of the streams or lakes beyond the mansion, or even the sea.”

Tardal turned his head and continued, “We are no different. Most people live and die without ever leaving the village, the city, or the kingdom they are born into. That’s why I sometimes envy adventurers.”

With his hands clasped behind his back, he slowly turned and began walking. “Walk with me.”

Tardal seemed a bit more serious than usual today. So much so that he even appeared slightly sad. Thus, Kai and Yoo Ha-Rin followed silently without saying a word.

“History books record the Ogon Empire and the Caldaren Empire as the first nations.”

“There’s a reason they’re called empires, I suppose.”

“But when you look at ancient texts written in unknown characters, they clearly follow their own structure. Do you know what that implies?”

“That they had their own unique language system?”

“Smart. That’s correct. On top of that, they possessed advanced civilizations. Caldaren and Ogon simply inherited half of what they left behind.”

At his explanation, Yoo Ha-Rin asked in surprise, “Then does that mean the ancient kingdoms possessed both magic and military power?”

“The opinions of historians still remain divided. It’s all just armchair theorizing, since nothing has yet been revealed.”

“Forgotten history... that’s unfortunate.”

“But in time, it would become a history that would be uncovered.” Tardal stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face the two. “To the north of the continent is the Ogon Empire and the Caldaren Empire. If you go a bit further north from there, you would reach a stubborn land that refuses the visit of outsiders.”

“The Dark Zone.”

“Correct. I heard that lately, thanks to undying adventurers, the secrets of that land are slowly being revealed.”

“In my opinion, there’s still a long way to go.”

Even the highest-ranking players had only managed to explore the outer edges of the Dark Zone—barely about 2% of the entire region.

“Last time, you and I spoke of Atroc’s soul vessel.”

“Yes. You said you would look into the resources.”

When Tardal gestured behind him, a member of the Darkness Hunters approached and politely handed over a file.

“Take this.”

Kai and Yoo Ha-Rin each received a stack of documents.

“Eighty-two investigators lost their lives to collect that information.”

Kai’s hand, which had been casually flipping through the file, stopped.

“...If Aatrox had truly become a lich, then the source of that intense dark energy in the center of the Dark Zone would likely be his soul vessel.”

Tardal gave a firm pat on Kai and Yoo Ha-Rin’s shoulders with his heavy hand.

"Please, prove that the deaths of those members were not in vain."

Ding!

[Dark Zone Investigation]

Difficulty: S-

Eighty-two members of the Darkness Hunters lost their lives gathering intel in the Dark Zone. What they discovered was merely that something in the central region of the Dark Zone is emanating a powerful energy of darkness.

If Atroc truly has become a cursed immortal being, then that would be the Soul Vessel where his soul is kept.

Explore the Dark Zone and verify the truth of the information left by the investigation team.

Quest Reward: +10 levels, significant increase in Fame, gold and item rewards.

Failure Penalty: Lose favor with Tardal, lose favor with the Darkness Hunters, decrease in Fame.

Kai slightly turned his head to look at Yoo Ha-Rin. Her eyes, as she tightly gripped the documents with her small, delicate fingers, were burning with a sense of duty. Just then, she happened to turn her head, and they met eyes.

Let’s do this. I want to do this.

We must.

Though they exchanged nothing but glances, it felt as if they had shared their thoughts.

Kai nodded. “We will take on this mission.”

Ding!

[Quest accepted.]

[You will be undertaking the quest with party member Yoo Ha-Rin.]

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