The moment I activated the 8-star card, a teahouse appeared on the right side of the bush. The small teahouse was made up of tiny, colorful bricks. Everyone stared at it in surprise.

“Wha, what’s that?”

Aileen’s eyes, which were round from the start, became rounder.

“It’s called the Miraculous Teahouse. It’s the best place to recover from fatigue.”

I said and glanced to my side. Kim Suho and Jin Seyeon both seemed equally surprised. Yi Yongha kept taking pictures of the teahouse as if he’d been diagnosed with photophilia.

Jin Seyeon, the first to come back to her senses, asked me.

“Fenrir-ssi, is it really okay for you to use an 8-star card? We’re thankful, of course, but… I presume an 8-star card is very valuable.”

Huh? …Ah~”

Her concern wasn’t all that surprising considering that the auction house’s most popular items were cards from the [Card Kingdom]. Moreover, Players would brag in the Community about their 6-star, and more rarely 7-star cards, though never an 8-star or above.

“It’s fine, when else would I use it if not now?”

Of course, the card was not so much a commonplace item to me either. But I could use it up to three times, and, well, this was the only way we could recover our stamina in the Demon King’s territory.

“Everyone, don’t just stand there; let’s get moving. Hey, let’s go.”

I tapped Kim Suho on his shoulder.

“Huh? Oh, right.”

Kim Suho nodded, and we approached the teahouse together.

“…8-star.”

“Seyeon-ssi, do you remember how much 7-star cards sold for?”

“I don’t, but I do know they were very expensive.”

Kim Suho suddenly interrupted Yi Yongha and Jin Seyeon’s conversation.

“I don’t mean to brag but Hajin gave me an 8-star card before as a present.”

“…You sure do sound like you’re bragging.”

Just like that, the trio happily chatted with each other as they followed after me. However, Aileen was oddly slow.

Something was wrong.

I studied Aileen carefully, then… I snatched up her wrist.

“Hiek! Y-You scared me! What?!”

Aileen seemed very surprised at the sudden physical contact.

“You wanna die? Do you?!”

Aileen tried to shake my hand off violently, but I stubbornly rolled up her sleeve.

Aileen’s resistance was feeble and the reason for that lied underneath her sleeve.

A black bruise ran across her thin, pale forearm. It was the result of ‘demonic energy poisoning’, in which demonic energy in a wound festered over time.

“What is this bruise, Lady Aileen?!”

“When did you get hurt, Aileen-ssi?”

The trio each reacted differently. Jin Seyeon shouted and examined the bruise, Yi Yongha worryingly took pictures of the bruise, and Kim Suho took out some medicinal herbs.

“Ugh, this is so embarrassing….”

With her bruise uncovered, Aileen shook my hand off. Small drops of tears began to gather in her eyes.

“It just happened. You know, the one that uses poison? Even Spirit Speech doesn’t work on this. I think it’s a curse or something.”

This curse was probably from a demon blessed by the Demon King’s ‘Authority’. Because ‘Authorities’ were higher ranked than ‘Gifts’, there wasn’t anything she could possibly do. Spirit Speech, though powerful, was only a Gift after all.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It just shows that you tried your best to protect everyone. Ah, we don’t need those herbs.”

I stopped Kim Suho from mashing the herbs to a paste.

“We can do the detoxification inside the teahouse.”

I said as I pulled the doorknob of the teahouse. Clang— The door opened with the familiar sound of a chime. The first thing I felt was a cool breeze.

“Everyone, this way.”

Together, we entered the teahouse.

The inside was bigger than how it appeared on the outside, and the interior decorations were amazing. Grass swayed on the ground beneath and a huge tree stood in the middle of the shop. I could also hear the sound of a stream running from a distance. I felt as if I stepped right into the heart of nature.

“…Woah. What is this place?”

Aileen, the last to enter the teahouse, seemed to have forgotten all about her pain and embarrassment.

“As expected of an 8-star card….”

“Where did you get this card, Hajin?”

I answered Kim Suho’s question with a small smile.

“I’m pretty lucky.”

I wrapped up the conversation and approached the counter.

The shop owner was dozing off in their chair.

Long hair and soft, fair skin. Big eyes and long eyelashes. Sharp nose and cherry-like lips.

The owner appeared to be a woman but could be a man. No, members of their race could pass as both a woman and a man. Either way, their beauty was perfect as if they were a collage of everyone’s expectations for an ideal beauty.

“…Elf? Hey, isn’t this person an elf?”

Aileen said, surprised.

The shop owner was indeed an elf, just as she said. The biggest evidence was the elf’s pointed ears.

We were all staring at the elf in awe, when the elf finally opened their eyes.

“…Ah~ Customers have come~?”

The elf smiled. His or her enchanting voice lingered in my ears. For a moment I had a hallucination that the world suddenly lit up. Everyone here probably did.

As a side note, elves were androgynous in my setting. When falling in love, elves placed emphasis on inner qualities rather than outward appearance, and they decided their sex based on their partner’s preference.

“You’re customers, correct?”

“What? Ah, yes, we’re customers.”

I never imagined the shop owner would be an elf.

I managed to stay calm just barely and asked.

“Here, Kuhum, what kind of teas do you have?”

“We have a lot. There’s the menu.”

The elf pointed at the menu hanging on the wall.

[Turquoise Wind]

[Green Sweetness]

[Mother Nature’s Vitality]

[Sad Engagement…]

“How much is the tea for detoxifying demonic energy?”

“I don’t accept money. Instead….”

The elf suddenly stopped and looked down at the tiny Aileen next to me. It seemed the elf detected an aura of demonic energy on Aileen.

“Mm. I see, she’s under a curse.”

“Ah, yes.”

“And is she a dwarf?”

…At that moment.

Aileen, who was looking around the shop, humming to pretend all was well, put on a menacing expression. Her face turned as red as a tomato. She lowered her head and began to tremble in anger.

“…You.”

Suddenly, Aileen grew taller.

She was tiptoeing.

“What did you say?”

“Oh, you aren’t? I’m sorry. There was just so much magic power in such a small body. That is characteristic of dwarves.”

“Wha, what? Characteristic of dwarves? You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Hey, let go. Let me go….”

Jin Seyeon intervened before Aileen began to cause a scene. Aileen flailed her short arms and short legs with all her strength, but they weren’t very effective against Jin Seyeon.

“Seriously, a dwarf? You keep calling me a dwarf, you must be soooo happy you’re tall and pretty. Good for you—!”

“Lady Aileen, please calm down.”

“How can I be calm? She just called me a dwarf—!”

A tiny fuss started.

Suddenly, the elf’s gaze fell on Kim Suho. Kim Suho looked at the elf curiously.

The elf spoke.

“Beautiful.”

“…Pardon?”

The elf was probably talking about Kim Suho’s inner qualities. Kim Suho thanked the elf in a daze and nodded.

“Since one of you is in dire need of detoxification, I’ll offer you the first tea free of charge.”

“…Thank you.”

The elf began to brew the tea.

I watched his/her hand movements in close proximity to see if I could learn the recipe for the tea using my Dwarf’s Dexterity and Thousand-Mile Eyes.

“Ho…”

There were just too many ingredients for one tea. I could count at least 179 ingredients, and that wasn’t even counting the elf’s magic power. I could perhaps imitate their magic power with Stigma’s… but it would be near impossible for me to gather all of the ingredients.

“All done.”

The elf offered Aileen a cup of tea. Aileen, still sullen, glared at the elf and snatched the cup out of their hand.

“This better be good….”

Sniff sniff

The dwarf smelled the tea. And instantly, all her anger and irritation disappeared into thin air. The dwarf sipped the tea as if she had been put under a spell.

“Wow….”

Here was a dwarf enchanted by an elf’s tea.

I let out a dry cough and looked at the elf.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“…Our meeting here seems to be fated. Will you enlighten me with your name?”

I said as I struck a pose. I placed my hand on the table and ran my fingers through my hair like a model.

“….”

The elf did not answer.

Because my effort didn’t seem very effective, I turned my head to the right. The right side of my face was more handsome than the left side, in my opinion.

“….”

Yet there was still no response, and I finally decided to show off my specialty— the melancholic gaze.

The elf finally showed a reaction.

“What are you doing?”

“…Ah~ Haha. Hahahaha. It’s nothing.”

I scratched the back of my neck with a nervous laugh. I thought maybe I could convince them to give me an extra tea or two, but as I thought, I wasn’t good enough.

Well, not that it mattered.

I gave the elf a solemn look.

“Do you have any wood?”

“Wood?”

“Yes.”

I already knew what elves liked.

Elves, who loved trees and possessed the ability to breathe life into trees, loved cute wooden dolls.

“I’m great at making wooden dolls.”

**

…After that, we spent three whole days at the teahouse. Aileen liked that decision more than anyone else. Though she got mad over the word ‘dwarf’ from time to time, she fell in love with the cakes that the elf made for her.

“…Today is the last day for business.”

However, it was already time for farewell.

The elf looked at us with a sad expression.

I was disappointed that, more than anything, I never got to utilize my ‘Medicinal Memory Physique’ to the fullest. Still, I learned to brew almost every kind of elven tea. With the right ingredients, I should be able to recreate them on Earth.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

Jin Seyeon bowed, Yi Yongha and Aileen pitched in with comments of appreciation, and Kim Suho handed the elf a letter which he worked hard to write.

“Thanks for everything.”

“Oh, Suho-ssi….”

Touched, the elf received his letter.

Watching them, I realized yet again that Kim Suho was certainly the main character.

“And this is from me.”

Tears were gathering in the eyes of the elf, who seemed to be on the verge of declaring their sex as female, when I handed over the last wooden doll.

It was a cute puppy.

The elf happily infused the wooden doll with magic power. The doll gained liveliness and began walking toddlingly with his four legs.

“Thank you.”

“Please take care.”

“I’ll take one last picture to commemorate this memory.”

“Bye. Thanks for the cake and the chocolate. I’ll enjoy them.”

Jin Seyeon, Kim Suho, Yi Yongha, and Aileen each said their goodbyes in order.

“Yes, goodbye. I had a lot of fun these past three days.”

The warm-hearted elf saw us off with teary eyes.

Kwaaaaa….

Soon, the teahouse started to shake, and we stepped outside.

I took a step into the gloomy scenery of the Demon Realm, and when I looked back, the teahouse was already gone.

“You all rested well, right?”

I said to everyone who seemed slightly forlorn.

Starting now, there wouldn’t be any time left for them to even feel lonely.

“Let’s get started for real. Everyone, get ready.”

**

[Vladivostok, Russia — Evil Society’s Headquarters]

One gloomy day, a strange being visited Evil Society’s headquarters. The being introduced himself as a ‘messenger’, though he was clearly a monster.

“….”

The man who rose to the top of Evil Society after the Tower of Wish—Kim Hakpyo—greeted the monster.

The monster’s appearance was similar to that of a human, except his body was covered in hair and his head resembled that of a wolf. The label ‘werewolf’ would fit the monster perfectly.

“…You’re the messenger?”

—Yes.

From the monster’s throat came out a strange sound of scratching metal. Kim Hakpyo wished to never hear it ever again. He asked with a frown.

“I see. So what’s your business here?”

He was undoubtedly one of those famous ‘humanoid monsters’. Frankly, it was quite bothersome to deal with them, but Kim Hakpyo couldn’t just brush them aside, considering the situation in Pandemonium. ‘I guess I should at least listen to what they have to say,’ he thought.

—Our King, Orden, demands your loyalty.

“…?”

But Kim Hakpyo froze instantly at the insolent remark.

“W…hat? Did I hear that right…? Say it again. Lo, loyalty?”

—Yes, that is correct.

Kim Hakpyo said nothing. The werewolf, too, stared at Kim Hakpyo in stillness. Heavy silence filled the space between the two.

…Quite a bit of time passed by in complete silence.

Suddenly, a loud laughter escaped from Kim Hakpyo’s mouth.

His laughter shook the earth.

“Uhahahaha—!”

The king’s envoy took his laughter as a positive response. The werewolf continued with a faint smile.

—Our King shall rule the world, but he is benevolent enough to share portions of it with the Djinns….

“You son of a bitch—!”

Kim Hakpyo again let out an explosive yell. The yell, which bore magic power, entered the werewolf’s ears and shook his skull from the inside.

“You mad beasts, you never fully grew you brains, huh—?!”

Kim Hakpyo shouted and slammed down his fists.

KWAAANG—!

A thunderous roar filled the air. At the same time, magic power soared into the air and spread out in a huge shockwave.

“Bastard, who do you think you’re talking rubbish to—?!”

Kim Hakpyo yelled and clutched the shoulder of the werewolf who seemed clearly confused.

Chwaaak….

He tore the wolf’s arm off before the wolf could say a thing. With his other hand, he grabbed the wolf’s head and slammed it to the ground.

“You little piece of shit, who do you think I am? What, king? King—?!”

Kim Hakpyo stomped on the werewolf’s head repeatedly to release his fury.

Puk— Puk— Puk—!

The appalling tramples continued at a regular interval.

Soon, the werewolf collapsed to the floor, barely breathing.

“Haaaa….”

Kim Hakpyo let out a heated sigh and bent down on one of his knees. He then grabbed the werewolf by his head and pulled him up to make eye contact with him.

“Listen to me well, Wolf.”

Kim Hakpyo’s eyes glared at him sharply. His scarlet eyes, which were characteristic of Djinns, stared right into the vivid yellow eyes of the werewolf.

“I do not know nor am I interested in knowing who your king is, but….”

Kim Hakpyo opened his mouth wide. A thick fog of demonic energy flowed out from his mouth and encompassed his whole body. Soaked in demonic energy, Kim Hakpyo transformed into a ‘non-human being’.

A being more horrendous than a monster and more destructive than a human.

It was a perfect Devilization.

—Tell him I’ll bite his head off if I ever catch sight of him.

The Djinn’s voice boiled with blatant rage and demonic energy.

**

[28F – Demon King’s Castle Wall]

After three days of travel, we finally arrived at the Demon King’s castle. The castle, surrounded by huge walls, gave off gloomy vibes as well as the aura characteristic of the strong.

“First, I think it would be best to travel underground into the castle.”

We hid behind a nearby bush and began our strategy meeting. The leader of the meeting was, of course, me. I was the only person who knew about the structure and the blind spots of the castle.

“How are we going to infiltrate the castle from the underground?”

Nom nom Aileen asked as she chomped on a chocolate.

“The eastern wall and the northern wall each has a crack that leads inside.”

“…Nyam. And how do you know that?”

“My eyesight is really good. You know about satellite view, right?”

Aileen nodded.

“I can see the entire castle that way. My field of vision isn’t horizontal but vertical. It’s easy to spot a gap if you’re looking down from above.”

“Aha… Is that part of your Gift? Or is it a skill?”

“Well, let’s say it’s part of my Gift.”

I gave a small smile.

Jin Seyeon stepped up next.

“Well then, there are five of us, right? We should first divide ourselves into teams. One team of two and another of three.”

“Yes, good idea.”

I agreed with her. If the five of us moved together, not only was there a greater chance of getting caught, but it would also be more difficult to find an escape route if we were defeated for some reason.

“Then Hajin-ssi and I will….”

“Huh? Hajin has to go with me.”

But there was a conflict of opinions regarding the division of teams.

It seemed both Jin Seyeon and Kim Suho wanted to form a team with me.

“Suho? What’s wrong?”

Jin Seyeon tilted her head questiongly, her gaze fixed on Kim Suho.

“You never opposed me until now….”

“Well, it’s just that having two sharpshooters in one team doesn’t make sense.”

“No. Hajin-ssi might as well be considered a close-range fighter. Remember what he said last time? That guns are better for close-quarter combat?”

“That’s true, but in terms of teamwork, Hajin and I are better together. After all, you’ve only met him a few times.”

“More importantly than that, shouldn’t we consider the efficiency? What do you think would happen if two sharpshooters form a team? They’ll never get caught, right? Since we’re both sharpshooters who excel in traveling secretly in the dark….”

A full-scale quarrel broke out.

Contrary to my assumption, the quarrel continued for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, then 15 minutes….

‘Kim Suho aside, why is Jin Seyeon so persistent?’

Suddenly a thought crossed my mind.

Jin Seyeon had asked me about the Kwang-Oh Incident while I was Black Lotus. In that case, was Jin Seyeon also…?

“That’s enough. You, come with me.”

Unwilling to listen to Kim Suho and Jin Seyeon’s quarrel any longer, Aileen pulled me by my sleeve..

“Eh? Why must you step in, Lady Aileen?”

“She’s right. You don’t suit him.”

“Oh, whatever. Shut up before I use Spirit Speech.”

Aileen seized(?) me by force, and finally the teams were decided.

Team 1 – Aileen and Kim Hajin.

Team 2 – Kim Suho, Jin Seyeon, and Yi Yongha.

In a sense, this was the most balanced combination.

“We finished forming teams. So, Kim Hajin? Tell us the plan.”

“Ah, of course. The plan goes like this: there are two secret cracks in total. One in the East and the other in the North. We’ll use these openings to….”

**

After the meticulous briefing, Aileen and I entered the castle through the opening in the north.

There was absolutely no talking between us, as even the smallest sound of footsteps could prove to be lethal.

But the further we advanced into the castle, the thicker the demonic energy became. I suddenly heard a small groan from Aileen.

“…Aileen-ssi, is something wrong?”

“Ah, it’s just… that bruise from earlier. Wait a sec. This’ll make it better.”

Aileen made a mask using Spirit Speech and put it on.

“I’m all set. Let’s go.”

The solution was only temporary but we didn’t have any other choice.

We continued forward.

The castle was dark and we couldn’t see a thing. But we both knew that the moment we let our guard down, the enemy would show up.

Tzzzt…

And that moment came quickly.

We heard the sound of sparks. Startled, we looked up.

A big chandelier hung from the ceiling of the castle.

Above it, a thin ray of light rose up like fog.

“…It’s the enemy, right?”

“…Yes. The middle boss, probably.”

Aileen couldn’t see in the blinding darkness but I could.

On top of the chandelier stood the middle boss of the Demon Castle.

—Pleasure to meet you all….

The boss’ slimy voice gave us the sensation of being licked by a snake.

The development so far had pretty much been a cliché. ‘The party divides into two, and while his comrades battle the middle boss, the protagonist confronts the true boss.’

‘That’s true, but….’

I glanced at Aileen next to me. Aileen seemed strangely distressed. Her expression didn’t look too good.

—My name is Kain, the affectionate puppeteer who has been waiting for you to arrive….

The cloying voice introduced himself.

Thud, thud.

Suddenly, loud footsteps rang in my ear.

But this wasn’t my own perception.

It was a sensation that Spartan shared with me.

I gave a small smile.

There was nothing to worry about now.

‘…Oi, you sure this is the right way?’

The strongest warrior in all of Goryeo and a soldier of fortune who swept the country with a single sword.

Guided by Spartan, the man by the name of Cheok Jungyeong, who left an everlasting impression in the history of the Korean Peninsula, was approaching our way.

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