Chapter 898. Holy Sword Warrior and the Honorary Cardinal (1)
[Jung Ha-Yan likes your photo.]
I knew Jung Ha-Yan would like my photo first. I thought she was with Han Sora right now and was investigating the Magic Tower with her, but it seemed that this was important to her as well.
Jung Ha-Yan had to be on her hand mirror after making Han Sora handle the majority of the tasks. It had only been one second since I uploaded the photo, but she had already reacted to it, which was exactly what I expected from Jung Ha-Yan.
[Cha Hee-Ra likes your photo.]
[Jo Hye-Jin likes your photo.]
Cha Hee-Ra’s account was being managed by her guild, so they had to do this to show that she had no issues with me. Hye-Jin always had her hand mirror with her, so of course, she'd react quickly to my photo.
'Is today her day off? I wonder what she’s doing right now.'
I wanted to invite Jo Hye-Jin out, but Kim Hyun-Sung would probably despise me for it, so I decided against it. In addition, Rafael was actually more effective when it came to it.
Rafael talked nonstop, and I nodded nonstop at what he was saying. I glanced at my hand mirror and saw that many people were liking the photo. It was happening so fast that I couldn’t check every single notification, but I saw most of it thanks to Mind's Eye.
It seemed that Park Deok-Gu, Ahn Ki-Mo, Kim Ye-Ri, the guild members, Oscar, and even Father Basel had Benigoagram accounts.
Clearly, Father Basel wasn't falling behind the trends these days. Lady Marilyn, Senator Caitlyn, the executives of the Republic and Federation, the Vatican, and even Other races liked the photo.
The photo that I had just posted spread like wildfire on Benigoa Net, and I was sure that Kim Hyun-Sung would soon see the post. Moments later...
[Kim Hyun-Sung likes your photo.]
He finally saw it.
[Kim Hyun-Sung has unliked your photo.]
‘He must’ve misclicked.’
My account could see through everything.
I was sure he had misclicked while scrolling through his feed. It was pretty obvious. He probably tapped on it again upon realizing that he had liked my photo, but he had no idea that I could see what he was doing.
Was he that obsessed with his hand mirror?
And that was when I heard a voice beside me.
“How... have you been doing, hyung?”
“...”
“Things are pretty much the same. I've been spending the majority of my time working, but I still make sure to enjoy some breaks from time to time. I've been doing some reading and praying as well,” I answered.
I couldn’t tell him that I had a chaotic vacation with Ji-Hye noona.
“You’re simply... amazing. B-But... please focus more on your health,” Rafael requested.
I just smiled quietly.
“You don’t have to worry too much,” I reassured him.
“...”
“I’m taking care of my health more than anyone. I’m not working as hard as you think I am. Of course, I know I shouldn’t be acting like this since the continent has yet to recover, but I’m human as well... I tend to become lazy from time to time,” I added.
“Hahaha...”
Rafael was laughing, but there was a hint of sadness in his laugh.
It seemed like he was thinking that I could never be lazy.
“I mean, I'm spending time with you right now, right?” I questioned.
“Yes, you’re right...” Rafael answered.
“I’m enjoying myself because it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other,” I said. I wasn’t really enjoying myself. He wasn’t really fun to be around. It was fine to see him once in a while, but I didn’t want to meet him often.
Fortunately, our meeting happened so suddenly that we had many things to talk about. I was also curious about how Rafael was doing these days.
The Holy Sword Warrior’s party was a competent party of the continent. They were less valuable than Kim Hyun-Sung, Jung Ha-Yan, Cha Hee-Ra, and me, but they were gaining a ton of attention. That was probably why people were looking at us.
‘But I knew this would happen...'
“Today is pretty bad, though,” I mumbled.
“What?”
“It’s nothing, Mr. Rafael,” I replied.
‘It’s really bad.’
It was the same whenever I went out with Kim Hyun-Sung, Jung Ha-Yan, or even Park Deok-Gu. People would look at us because heroes of the continent and popular adventurers were like celebrities here, but I felt like today was especially bad.
It felt like everyone was making it obvious that they were staring at us. Some even blatantly took photos. I also noticed a few reporters among the crowd.
‘Rafael must be more popular than I thought. Has it really been that long since I last saw him?’
I felt like they were going to release an article about this.
I opened my hand mirror again and saw an article on the main page.
I knew this was going to happen...
[Honorary Cardinal and the Holy Sword Warrior’s Lindel Outing - Reporter Kim Sung-Kyeong from Lindel Daily Report]
There were countless comments, but I did not need to read them.
It wasn't that difficult to deduce what those comments were like.
I was sure the netizens were going crazy right now, thinking about the reason why I decided to summon the Holy Sword Warrior to Lindel. Of course, they were definitely speculating about my political intentions as well, and there was also a chance that they were assuming that I'd recruit Rafael’s party to the Blue Guild, as we were in alliance.
[A Conflict with the Sunset Swordsman? The Blue Guild Has Yet to Released an Official Statement - Reporter Kang Yumi of Lindel’s Political Department]
‘What the hell is this?’
Was the "new friend" hashtag too stimulating? Anyway, they were blowing things out of proportion to get people talking.
[Unidentified ID: I knew this was going to happen. I don’t want to say this, but when you look at the guild master’s past behavior, it’s understandable. He even left for the Republic for no apparent reason.]
[Lindel Villager: You’re right... It's symbolic to have a branch in the Republic, but that’s all there is to it. The timing is kind of strange, too.]
[Nature Lover: Please take the article down. It’s such a ridiculous article.]
[Lindel Villager: This isn’t the first time they released an article about them having a bad relationship... Don’t you remember the rumor about Father Lee Ki-Young possibly moving to the Federation a long time ago? At this point, isn’t it reasonable to make that kind of assumption? Of course, I’m not doubting their relationship. I’m just suggesting that we think about that possibility.]
[Nature Lover: I’m telling you this as a guild official, but that’s not true at all. I’m going to make an official request to take down the article, so think what you want.]
[Unidentified ID: You probably can’t talk about it because you’re a guild official. The fact that he’s meeting the Holy Sword Warrior right now...]
Of course, this wasn’t that bad, as this would help discipline Kim Hyun-Sung.
He’d definitely be able to read this article since it was on the main page. I was certain that many thoughts would pop up in his head, and he'd soon realize the gravity of the situation.
It seemed that the situation was more serious than I thought because Miss Kim Mi-Young even decided to call me. I simply told her that she didn’t need to do anything. I just told her to announce that there weren’t any issues and that the rumor was going to disappear soon.
The stock price would fall slightly by doing that, but...
‘I’m sure they’ll take care of it.’
“I’m sorry, Mr. Rafael. Something came up...” I said.
“It’s fine, hyung. Is there anything you want to eat?” Rafael asked.
“I’m not sure. You can pick something for me,” I told him.
“Ah... okay. I’ll order something for you... Would you like some wine?” Rafael asked.
“I think I’ll have a cup of wine,” I replied.
“Okay.”
‘You don’t need to think so hard about it.’
Rafael thought hard and long before ordering the most ordinary thing on the menu, which was the course meal.
“I heard a celebrity is operating this restaurant. They’re an adventurer specializing in fire magic... and they opened this restaurant the moment they retired. Marian told me about this place,” he said.
“Marian... you’re talking about the Miracle Priest,” I said.
“That’s right.”
“By the way, how’s the party...” I asked.
“They’re looking for a dungeon,” Rafael replied.
“A dungeon?” I asked.
“Yes.”
‘Interesting.’
“That is a bit unexpected...” I said.
“Do you think so?” he asked.
'That’s because a party like yours doesn't really go out there to look for dungeons. Purchasing the entry rights to a dungeon or participating in raids through commissions are the best ways to go about entering a dungeon; they save you a ton of time, too. You don't know that?'
Finding a dungeon was difficult, and they were often found by accident or by tracking down the root of an anomaly in a region. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, and it wouldn't be any different for Rafael’s party.
Rather than having the party waste time on useless things, it would be cheaper to hire a professional tracker.
This was a widely known method, so the fact that they had decided to find the dungeon themselves meant only one thing...
‘They have a lead.’
'They don’t want others to know about it, too.'
“Do you—”
“It’s actually top secret, but I can tell you,” Rafael interrupted.
'Our Rafael is nice.'
“Hold on. Do you mind if I take photos of the food before we talk about it?” I asked.
“Of course, hyung,” Rafael replied.
The food came out at the perfect time. I immediately uploaded the photos of the food to Benigoagram. I saw Jung Ha-Yan liking those photos in the proverbial blink of an eye before I could even close my hand mirror.
“Actually, we found a strange monster near Lindel,” Rafael said.
“...”
“It was a really unique monster; we couldn’t find it in any bestiary. We couldn’t take a photo of it, too, as everything happened so fast,” Rafael added.
“What did you do with its corpse?” I asked.
“It disappeared as well...” Rafael replied.
“What?”
“More specifically, when Marian placed her hand on it, it turned into dust, which appeared like it was made out of light and disappeared. We have no idea how, but even more interesting was that the monster wielded holy power,” Rafael answered.
“Holy power?” I questioned.
“Yes. It definitely wielded holy power. Marian and I both felt it. At first, we thought it was just a variant monster, but as time went on...” Rafael trailed off.
“I see.”
“Marian started having dreams,” Rafael continued.
“...”
“Someone was talking to her in that dream. She found herself in a pitch-black room, and someone was asking for her help... someone was asking for Marian's help to get out of that pitch-black room,” he added.
“...”
“...”
‘This is definitely foreshadowing.’
At this point, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let the party look for it.
The situation was clear, and if the monster's level was high, then the dungeon had to be a high-ranking dungeon as well.
Actually, a dungeon had already popped up in my mind the moment I heard Rafael's words. As one of the continent's managers, Ji-Hye noona and I had a list of all the dungeons on the continent...
‘But the problem is that we can’t release it.’
Rafael had probably found leads to that dungeon...
‘The Mole Saint's dungeon...’
It was the dungeon that Benigoa herself had updated, and the dungeon that the Vatican had decided to conceal underground.
[Unranked Dungeon]
[Mole Saint’s Cozy Sanctuary]
I checked the information of the dungeon that had popped up in my head before turning to Rafael and saying, “It's not going to be much... but I think I can help.”