“Who are you?” Hyeonu barely managed to say as he made an expression that was like a frown. He had no time to have a conversation with this person. In the distance, the emperor and Lebron were walking beside each other.

‘It is a relief that they are walking leisurely...’

There were around five minutes left before the two of them appeared in the square.

“I am Henry, the guild master of New Woldu.” [1]

The intruder introduced himself as the guild master of New Woldu. New Woldu was a name that Hyeonu knew.

‘New Woldu... It is a pretty good guild. Is it the guild that Ray hunts with?’

New Woldu was a large guild that received investment from a large Hong Kong company. It was set up to promote the company, so most of the benefits obtained through streaming or A-World videos were shared with the guild members. Thus, it received good comments.

“Yes, hello. I am Alley Leader, Gang Hyeonu. Did something happen...?” Hyeonu felt that the person talking to him wasn’t someone rude, so he responded with a more relaxed face.

“I just wanted to say hello. It is like taking a selfie when meeting a celebrity. It seems easy to understand if you think of it like this.”

The reason why the guild master of New Woldu, Henry, stopped Hyeonu was extremely simple. It was to get to know Hyeonu. Moreover, it was to carve New Woldu in Hyeonu’s memory.

“In addition, I hope to have a deeper conversation with you when you have time.” Henry didn’t say anything else after this.

He had already noticed a sense of urgency on Hyeonu’s face. Henry was both the guild master of New Woldu and a member of the family leading the New Woldu Group, so he had keen insight.

‘Based on his fast insight, he isn’t an idiot.’

Hyeonu smiled when he saw Henry stepping down on his own.

“New relationships are always welcome.”

It was the foundation of a social life to get acquainted with people who seemed to be helpful. Hyeonu ran past the space Henry gave him and headed toward the approaching emperor and Lebron.

“You have come, Your Majesty.” Hyeonu stood in front of the emperor and Lebron and greeted the two of them.

“Aren’t the preparations over yet?” Lebron asked as he looked at Hyeonu.

“Adventurers aren’t imperial soldiers, Teacher. There is no way for me to force them. I don’t have the authority to control them, so how can I move them? Still, they hate losing money, so they’ll move on their own.” Hyeonu looked around roughly and used the characteristics of adventurers as an excuse to make up for his late arrival and lack of proper information.

Lebron was unaware of such a fact and nodded in agreement with Hyeonu. “That’s right, but if there is an imperial treasure... The lights in their eyes will turn on, and they will rush in.”

The adventurers Lebron knew were exactly like Hyeonu said.

“How many days do you think it will take to travel, Marquis?” the emperor asked.

Hyeonu thought hard at the question.

‘I need around two weeks if I move alone...’

Naturally, it was much faster to move alone than to move with thousands of players.

‘Should I set it for three weeks?’

Hyeonu struggled for a moment before opening his mouth. He said exactly what came to mind: “I expect it to take around three weeks.”

Of course, this was a story of the minimum amount of time. There was a possibility it would take longer.

‘If humans gather in groups, there will naturally be some hindrance...’

In addition, the difference in hunting speed between Hyeonu and other rankers had to be considered. In this way, the time of three weeks seemed short.

“Three weeks... It is a reasonable amount of time. The distance between cities seems quite far, but that speed should be fine,” the emperor replied.

He had received the bead containing part of the map of the demon world from Hyeonu, so he knew how far the distance between Etono and Penn was. The emperor wasn’t incapable of or lacking common sense. He was well aware that it wasn’t easy to lead and move more than 5,000 people. Furthermore, there was nothing to ride in the demon world, so they unconditionally had to run or walk.

“What do you plan to do for the departure ceremony?”

“Departure ceremony? Why should I do such a thing? They aren’t subjects of the empire. Is there any reason to perform it for adventurers? Marquis, didn’t you say it yourself? It is their loss if they are late. They can catch up on their own if they don’t want a loss,” the emperor said casually and turned away.

He had no intention of establishing the emperor’s authority over the players. Hyeonu was sufficient as his communication channel. The other adventurers would be controlled by the nobility.

‘Is it necessary to do more work?’ the emperor thought.

The current amount of work was enough.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you following? should I come all the way here to take care of him? You should control them through the guild,” Lebron said as he pressed a hand to Hyeonu’s shoulder, who was looking at the emperor blankly.

“I understand, Teacher. So your arm...”

Hyeonu barely managed to remove Lebron’s heavy arm and sent a whisper to Gang Junggu.

-To Gang Junggu: Hyung-nim, I’m leaving with the emperor and Lebron first. Lead the players out and go north.

Hyeonu finished the whisper, raised his magic power, and used Mysterious Sky Steps to chase after the emperor. Lebron smiled slightly upon seeing such a Hyeonu, then he moved his feet.

‘Now I feel a bit more comfortable,’ Lebron thought.

Being a duke, he felt it was disgraceful to stand behind others and deal with the work, even if the person leading him was the emperor.

‘It was enough to do that when I was young.’

They were the days when he traveled all over the continent just at one sentence from the emperor. At that time, he had his own fun, but it was obviously very tiring and troublesome. Nevertheless, it was fine now. He had someone to replace him.

‘I can rest quietly until the demon king appears.’

Lebron's thoughts reached this point, and he felt regret again.

‘It would be nice if there were a horse...’

Then he could quietly immerse himself in thinking and training. However, there was no horse. He couldn’t find a carriage to ride in the demon world.

‘By the way... he is different again.’

Lebron noticed that the magic power he felt from Hyeonu had changed to being like a sly snake. It was like he was watching the emperor.

***

Etono was empty. This was the first time people were here ever since John Blake sent the demons and demonic creatures to various other cities at Hyeonu’s request. The large guilds gathered in groups of two or three and walked. Demons and demonic creatures attacked them in the middle of their route, but this alone couldn’t prevent the march of such a huge crowd.

The players gathered here were literally just rankers. All the people gathered here had the potential to be number one, regardless of their level or arena ranking.

Hundreds of people hunted the demonic creatures that were usually killed by five or six people. It was literally a hunt. There was no need for a battle. All types of powerful pure energies attacked the demons, and the magic of the magicians covered the demonic creatures.

“I was nervous because it is an invasion of the demon world, but it seems to be nothing special?”

“At this rate, the main scenario will be cleared easily.”

“There are over 5,000 rankers gathered here. It would be funnier if hunting were tough.”

At first, they were nervous and fought as they'd agreed in advance. Then as time passed and they became familiar with the battle, there were a number of people who let go of their tension one by one. No one could blame such people. The same battles repeated for nearly two weeks were enough to decrease their vigilance.

‘I am a bit uneasy that it is so quiet...’ Hyeonu felt uneasy at the march that didn’t show any change.

At this point, Baler would’ve discovered that the promised war had begun. Then something should change.

‘Anyone who saw us should’ve reported it.’

However, there were no changes. No battles took place except for the small-scale ones with the demons and demonic creatures.

“It would’ve been enough to bring 500, not 5,000,” Lebron muttered as he looked at the remains of the demonic creatures, who burned without even leaving intact leather behind.

“Isn’t it a good thing if it is easy, Teacher? You will have to draw your sword right away if things become twisted,” Hyeonu responded to Lebron’s words coldly.

He was trying to hide his anxiety.

“You don’t know yet that war never goes well. It is why you can’t be successful.” Lebron clicked his tongue.

“Honestly, so what if a few demonic creatures come? His Majesty is here, and you are here as well. In fact, I have a guess,” Hyeonu replied.

“This jerk...” Lebron, who was angry with Hyeonu, tried hard to hold back what he was going to say at Hyeonu’s last sentence.

“Did you guess something? What is it?” the emperor intervened in the conversation between the two people. The emperor found this situation more boring than anyone else. He didn’t want to fight personally, but he didn’t want this. It was annoying to raise his hands against the creatures not worth fighting.

It was just fun to watch; it was great to see adventurers fighting in a stronger manner than most knights. However, no major battles took place. It should happen at least once.

“There is a city called Penn in the direction we’re currently advancing. It's just that there are no nobles in the city right now,” Hyeonu stated.

“Really?”

“Maybe that is the reason. The demon world is a totally class-based society. The nobles are everything. Ordinary demons have no way of communicating with them. Nobles talk only to nobles.”

This was the reason Hyeonu thought of. There was no nobleman in Penn as Hyeonu had sent the noble away himself.

‘John Blake would’ve taken care of it.’

Regardless of whether it was giving the noble another city or keeping the noble beside him, John Blake would’ve done it. It had nothing to do with Hyeonu. Hyeonu said, “That isn’t to say there will be no change before we arrive at Penn...”

The emperor’s face was full of regret. The attractions couldn’t meet the expectations of the emperor.

“Increase the speed. There is no time to delay in this place now that it has been confirmed there are no variables,” the emperor ordered Hyeonu with an expressionless face.

‘It should be more interesting with no variables.’

Hyeonu bowed with a bitter smile. “I’ll tell the adventurers, Your Majesty.”

He immediately sent a whisper to Gang Junggu. Just as the emperor used Hyeonu as a communication channel with the players, Hyeonu shared information with the players only through Gang Junggu. It was for New World.

***

Five men were waiting in the dark blue forest.

“It’s over. A demon king...”

“This is why I told you to stay silent and join the main scenario, you idiot.”

The identity of the group of men was the Pioneer Guild, Arena’s most eccentric guild and adventurers. After many twists and turns, they succeeded in breaking away from Etono and exploring the demon world. Yet at this moment, their journey was predicted to be over.

A demon king was standing in front of them. Galiya, the demon king who had been forced to the verge of death before being rescued by the emperor, was currently glaring at them.

“Still, it is okay because there is profit. Isn’t it just dying once or twice?” Pioneer’s master, Ket, placed all of his equipment in his inventory and prepared to log out as if nothing had happened.

Galiya’s hand moved, and the five men had empty deaths. Purple flames were burning in Galiya's eyes as he looked at his hands that were covered in red blood.

“Revenge...”

1. This is technically New World using the Western romanization, rather than the Korean word like Kim Seokjung’s New World. I made it like this to distinguish it.