SMH 143

Chapter 46 – The Magic Scholar who Fled (2)

TL: Boko

Editor: StellarRain

The handsome, middle-aged man with blue eyes and blonde, curly hair spoke fluent Korean and was someone that both Rishubalt and Sung Joon knew.

“He’s definitely the magic scholar, Zelos,” Rishubalt said. Zelos was a capable magic scholar who worked alongside Sung Joon in his past life as Roukel.

He thought that Zelos would have been executed, but it seemed like he was luckily able to escape.

Because Zelos knew a lot about dimensional theory, it wasn’t that strange to see him show up in another dimension like Earth.

“You speak Korean quite well. Could you tell me your name?”

Zelos knew about Sung Joon when he was Roukel, but not now, so Sung Joon acted as though he didn’t know him.

“Ahaha… Could you do something about your sword…”

“I’ll decide after you introduce yourself, so don’t make demands.”

Sung Joon didn’t put away his sword. He already knew about Zelos, but he couldn’t let down his guard.

While expressing an unwillingness to fight with his entire body, Zelos slowly took off his necklace from within his clothes.

“This is a translation magical device… You call these items here. In any case, it’s because of this that I can speak this world’s language so fluently. And my name is Zelos.”

He gave his name. He was a bit older than he remembered, but as expected, he was still the magic scholar, Zelos.

“Why were you following me?”

“Did you not hear about me from your master, Sir Roukel?” Zelos said, and Sung belatedly recalled the ‘Roukel’s disciple’ alias.

If he went with the ‘Roukel’s disciple’ idea, then he wouldn’t have to talk about his rebirth, and all the bothersome topics that came along with it. After he had organized his thoughts, he spoke with a calm expression.

“I feel like I’ve heard of you before.”

“This isn’t the time to be doing this! Where is Sir Roukel right now? He’s alive, right?”

“That’s…”

Sung Joon modified his story and explained that Roukel had indeed died at the Ridonia Great Plains. That Sung Joon was taught by Roukel before his death.

“A good explanation,” Rishubalt said. The story was improvised but was elaborate enough that Rishubalt was awed by it.

“I… see.”

The flames of hope within Zelo’s eyes went dim. However, he soon sorted his thoughts out, and returned his attention to Sung Joon with a stiff expression.

He had received confirmation once more that his master, who he’d served all life, was dead. However,  Roukel’s disciple was standing right in front of him, one who had learned all of Roukel’s skills.

Then, he just needed to pledge his loyalty to him.

“What is your name?”

“Kang Sung Joon.”

“Like I had done with your predecessor, Sir Roukel, I pledge my loyalty to you. Would you have me?”

“Of course. Welcome.”

Sung Joon gladly nodded his head. If Zelos, who had a deep understanding of dimensional theory, joined him, Zelos would be a huge help.

He believed that the Empire would strike at him outside of the Awakening Dungeon.

Though he was a magic scholar, Zelos knew how to use magic and magical devices proficiently, according to his memories, Zelos possessed combat abilities equivalent to an A-Rank Hunter.

“I promise that  I won’t get in your way.”

“Yeah. I trust you.”

Because Zelos was his subordinate in the past, Sung Joon just kept talking down to him. Zelos seemed to believe that this was only natural, so Sung Joon decided to just keep it the way it was.

“After my master died, I thought you would be executed… how did you get out?”

“At the time, I was studying another warp gate that lead to other dimensions. When Sir Roukel was branded as a traitor and the Emperor’s movements became suspicious, I activated the warp gate and was able to travel to Earth,” Zelos explained. He was safe due to his luck, but as he had expected, there was a purge.

“If there’s one thing I regret, it’s that I wasn’t able to destroy the research materials regarding the warp gates and dimensional leap. Those probably helped the Empire and the Species Alliance in their plans to invade Earth.”

It seems like the research materials that Zelos failed to destroy had brought about the dungeons, raids, and the age of Hunters on Earth.

“Anyway, how do you even know who I am?” Sung Joon asked. That was what he was most curious about. He would be able to tell how the Knight Brigade had pursued him based on his response.

“I was privy to the Knight Brigade’s info because of a helper. Then, by coincidence, I was able to see your ‘Self-Defense’ video on Hunter.com. The swordsmanship you used in that video wasn’t perfect, but it did resemble Sir Roukel’s, Sir Kang Sung Joon,” Zelos replied with an excited expression. It seemed like he was talking about his fight with the S-rank Hunter, Cha Kyu Tae.

At the time, there were a lot of people watching him. He already knew that there were people who recorded him on their phones.

Just a short while back, there were members of the Knight Brigade who had crossed dimensions and pursued him. There was a high chance that they had seen the video on Hunter.com as well. At first, they had been garbed in modern clothing. With that in mind, they meant that they had some degree of information regarding Earth.

“As I thought…”

“It seems like there were others who visited you aside from me.”

Zelos threw out a sharp question. Sung Joon smirked.

“They were ‘unwanted guests’, so I killed them.”

He had left his pursuers’ bodies to Jung Chul. They were probably buried somewhere no one knew about and rotting.

“As expected of Sir Roukel’s disciple. Anyway, what side were they on?”

“They were obviously from the Empire,” Sung Joon replied and checked his surroundings. And looked at Zelos once more and spoke.

“Do you have a base in Korea?”

“I do not. But I do have a place to stay.”

“Then come to my place. You can just live there now,” Sung Joon said naturally, accepting Zelos as part of his family. He decided he could trust Zelos as the two had worked together in the past before.

Rather, it was because of his past life’s experiences that he felt Zelos was even more trustworthy than Jung Chul, Shin Chul, or Jang Hoon.

“Is that really ok?”

Zelos, who didn’t know that Sung Joon was Roukel, gazed at Sung Joon and asked, as he trusted in him much too easily.

He wouldn’t have been suspicious if he had accepted him as his subordinate, but he hadn’t expected Sung Joon to offer him to live in his house.

“It’s not a problem. What about your things?”

“They’re in my dimensional pouch.”

“Seems like you don’t have a lot of things,” Sung Joon said. He was also utilizing a dimensional pouch, but there were several pouches that couldn’t store that much. Zelos spoke with a smile.

“I remodeled my dimensional pouch, so it can hold much more.”

The dimensional pouch was quite complex, but because Zelos was an expert on dimensional magic, it wasn’t impossible for him to modify the dimensional pouch.

“Let’s go. It seems like we have a lot to talk about too,” Sung Joon urged Zelos. There was much he wanted to hear from him. They both went into the Hunter sedan and moved to the mansion.

There were checkpoints around the mansion, but because Sung Joon was at the wheel, Zelos was able to pass by without an inspection.

“Sung Joon! Did you just come back?”

Jang Hoon, who was walking around alone, rushed over and greeted him.

“You finished quite quickly this time too. As expected of you, Sung Joon!”

“It wasn’t much. It was just an A-rank dungeon. And now that I think about, this is your first time meeting each other, right? This is Zelos. He’s someone I’ve known for a long time.”

“Is that so? It’s a pleasure,” Jang Hoon greeted without an ounce of suspicion. As Sung Joon was the one who introduced him, Jang Hoon believed that he was someone trustworthy.

Jang Hoon continued with his walk, and Sung Joon and Zelos went into the building’s secret room.

“There’s quite a bit of security installed, as well as several guards patrolling the area.”

Most of the security equipment was set up in the garden, but Zelos was able to tell because of his magical device.

“You never know when the Knight Brigade will strike so I thought it’d be better to have it ready in advance,” Sung Joon replied.

“From what I’ve heard, it seems like the Empire is moving in earnest now,” Zelos said. To be honest, it was easy for him to tell that the Empire was moving differently now, as the Knight Brigade had crossed dimensions and pursued him.

“The Empire is?”

“The Knight Brigade and the Pan-Dimensional Task Force’s training school was attacked and the Tactical Magic Tower was burned. It’s no longer a secret that Roukel’s disciple has appeared.”

Zelos reclined onto the chair with a serious expression. Sung Joon looked at Zelos and spoke.

“According to my master, you’re talented in magic traps that are intended for defensive purposes… is that true?”

“Yes, but it’d be difficult for me to create high leveled ones.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’d appreciate it if you helped me since we don’t know when the Empire or the Species Alliance’s forces will come and attack us.”

“I’ve already pledged my loyalty to you, Sir Kang Sung Joon. I’ll place defensive magic circles around so that we can survive, even if they attack us,” Zelos said in a voice overflowing with confident. He was a genius who not only specialized magic theory, but also in its application as well. There was a reason he was close to Zelos in the past as Roukel.

“You can just stay in the main building. Just pick the room you likes and I’ll let you use the basement as a workshop.”

A Mage or a magic scholar needed a workshop. As proof, Zelos smiled at Sung Joon’s words.

“Thank you very much.”

“Anyway, I have something I’d like to ask you…”

“Please ask me whatever you want.”

“First off, explain this to me.”

Sung Joon explained the Awakening Dungeons to him. Zelos, who listened to his explanation to the very end, spoke with a calm expression.

“Firstly, the phenomenon of the raids and the dungeons are all linked to the other world. The Empire and the Species Alliance artificially created warp gates and connected the worlds together.”

Zelos began a basic explanation regarding the theory behind it. Sung Joon nodded his head and listened courteously.

“The longer a dungeon or raid’s warp gate remains open, the more unstable the dimension becomes.”

“So the goals of the dungeons and the raids were to make the dimension unstable…? Why do they make the dimension unstable?”

“The more unstable it is, the larger they can make the warp gate. And what will happen then?” Zelos asked Sung Joon. It was an extremely simple question. Sung Joon spoke with a severe expression.

“Their entire army will come through.”

“If that happens it will become a battle between dimensions. Though the instability of the dimension caused mana to flow in and awaken Hunters, even normal soldiers in the other world possess mana.”

Sung Joon nodded his head. If he killed a normal person on Earth, he wouldn’t be able to absorb anything, but he was able to absorb a little bit of mana from the other world soldiers.

“If the Empire and the Species Alliances truly invade, the Earth may be destroyed.”