Chapter 140
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What surprised me when I first saw Akiba Miyura was that she was also fluent in Korean.
‘Is Korean the primary language for this clan?’
Is it because the clan’s focus is on trade and commerce?
Like Shimizu, and Akiba as well…
They all demonstrated Korean language skills at the level of a native speaker.
On top of that, a shamaness that would be more fitting in a Japanese prehistoric era, is a Holder belonging to the clan called “Man’s Term”.
No matter how they say it’s just an early clan name, it still felt kind of awkward.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Do Jae-hyun from the Seoul Holder Academy.”
“I’m Kwon Oh-jun of the Judgement of Fire.”
When we exchanged greetings, Akiba once again politely bowed her head.
I could feel her etiquette of valuing courtesy just from the brief greeting.
“I’ve heard the general story from Mr Shimizu. You’re looking for an unauthorized warp gate.”
“Yes. More precisely, I’m investigating Holders who smuggle illegal items into Korea, as well as their connections and routes of entry.”
At my words, Akiba glanced at Shimizu for a moment.
It was like an implicit question.
‘May I take over this conversation?’
Shimizu nodded his head in response, answering her.
From the moment clues related to smuggling appeared, and another clan member in charge of it came out, Shimizu’s role of introducing the clan was practically over.
“Then may we move to a meeting room? I will explain our future investigation plans regarding the warp gate to Do Jae-hyun and the Korean Holders.”
“Yes, please do.”
We promptly moved locations to a meeting room on the 9th floor.
The inside of the meeting room was neat and fully prepared.
A beam projector and a large projection screen, countless related documents placed on the desk…
And on the whiteboard next to it were some scribbles.
Words that looked like the team members put their heads together to come up with methods.
Various ardent traces here and there within the meeting room stimulated my eyesight.
This is like…
‘A space made to persuade someone.’
It wasn’t a space made just for our investigation team.
From the start, they looked like materials prepared to try to persuade someone.
And that target was probably…
The head of the <Man’s Term> clan.
It seemed Akiba and the anti smuggling team had long before our arrival, devised a plan to investigate the ‘unauthorized warp gate.’
Based on that, they must have tried to embark on a full investigation, only for the plan to fall through every time.
‘Due to the lack of combat-type Holders.’
The <Man’s Term> clan focuses on commerce and trade.
Relatively, the number of Holders and high-rank Holders responsible for combat is insufficient.
Due to the nature of trade where protecting and preserving goods is top priority, the combat power of the Holders they have is definitely not weak, but…
The problem was them being concentrated only in the escort teams.
With the strong, experienced combat-type Holders all taken by the trade item escort teams, there weren’t enough Holders to be officially dispatched for hunts or operations.
‘It seems like they don’t even have a specialized hunting team.’
Especially for conquering mid-to-high level dungeons, a specialized hunting team composed of high-rank Holders is essential.
The higher the level, the more segmented the role division must be for successful dungeon conquests.
But just from Shimizu’s clan introduction and tour of the clan tower, I could confirm they didn’t have a specialized hunting team.
“Our team selected a total of 11 points as suspected unauthorized warp gate locations, after gathering related information.”
Akiba opened her mouth again in a polite tone.
The PPT projected by the beam projector showed the map of Nagoya that Shimizu displayed earlier.
A map with circles marked in various spots, as expected it was the investigation points of the smuggling team.
“Among them, there are 4 fields outside the barrier, 6 dungeons, and 1 general area. Embarrassingly, our team has been pouring our efforts into investigating the 1 general area due to lack of manpower, and this is still ongoing. Additionally…”
Akiba’s meticulous and detailed explanation continued.
The locations and characteristics of each point, precautions…
Simple information about the monsters they would encounter if battles occurred, and so on.
I listened attentively to her story and exchanged various opinions with the team members.
Eventually, our opinions converged into one.
“In the end, we have to check them all.”
Aside from the one general area, the remaining combat zones all required investigation.
It was the conclusion of the meeting that lasted over an hour.
At my words, Akiba heavily nodded her head.
“That’s right. But…”
“We’re short on time.”
“Yes.”
We didn’t have that much time to stay in Japan.
We came on a special dispatch utilizing the weekend, and on weekdays we each had our own schedules, so it was best to wrap up our schedule within two days and head back.
However, checking all 10 investigation points within that time was close to impossible.
“Still, let’s get moving. We can’t just sit here and do nothing. I’ve decided the first investigation point will be the dungeon, Humid Ghost Cave, in Atsuta Shrine.”
I swiftly made the decision.
Since we were short on time, I couldn’t hesitate at all when making judgements.
At my appearance of making a prompt decision without coordinating opinions or hearing additional suggestions, Akiba looked at me with a startled expression for a moment.
It was the first time her polite, well-mannered expression broke.
But she soon resumed the noble appearance of a shamaness, and politely accepted my words.
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
***
Ippotranslation
***
Sitting in the meeting room for a bit was enough to cure the poison.
After obtaining consent to cooperate from the <Man’s Term> side, we promptly began our on-site investigation without delay.
A temporary party comprised of 10 members in total.
5 members from the <Judgement of Fire> – Kwon Oh-jun, Kim Seong-cheol, Choi Dong-wook, Lee Soo-mi, Shin Yu-na.
4 members from <Anti-Villain> – me, Park Jin-woo, Yoon Ji-ah, Kang Juyeon.
Only Akiba Miyura by herself joined as a collaborating party member from <Man’s Term>.
“Oh, what a luxurious member composition.”
Park Jin-woo, walking next to me, murmured.
As he said, the party members were quite luxurious.
There wasn’t a single member among the party that was insufficient in strength.
Even Akiba is a B-grade Holder of the archer class.
With this, all the essential members for each combat class were present, and a high-ranking temporary party was formed with 1 A-grade and 9 B-grade Holders.
…Well, Park Jin-woo is still registered as C-grade, though.
“All the dispatched members are B-grade or higher… The Korean holders are amazing.”
Akiba absentmindedly spoke as if she found it fascinating.
For her, who was unable to conduct on-site investigations due to lack of suitable party members, these members seemed unfamiliar.
“This matter is quite important, that’s why. We don’t always dispatch such high-level personnel.”
“I see.”
While exchanging such small talk, we were soon able to arrive at Atsuta Shrine.
One of the three great shrines of Japan, boasting a massive scale and area fitting of its reputation.
The visitors also seemed to be far more ordinary people than Holders.
We watched the crowds for a bit before promptly heading to the dungeon, our investigation point, ‘Humid Ghost Cave.’
We had permission to enter in advance from the owning clan.
[You have entered the dungeon.]
[Due to the humid atmosphere and heavy air of the dungeon, the Holders’ speed is slightly decreased.]
Unexpectedly, the interior of the dungeon was deserted.
Whether it was because Holders who came to conquer dungeons today were especially few, or if it was always like this, I didn’t know…
But for us, whose purpose was to find the ‘unauthorized warp gate’ that might be hidden somewhere in this dungeon, it was good the Holders were sparse.
“Team leader Kwon.”
As soon as we entered the dungeon, I spoke to Kwon Oh-jun.
The only A-grade Holder of our party.
With his abundant experience and outstanding skills, it was natural for him to become the party leader, which was the implied meaning behind my words.
However, Kwon Oh-jun shook his head.
“You are the party leader.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. This dispatch is ultimately a collaboration project between Judgement of Fire and Anti-Villain, and you’re the person in charge of overseeing it. Since you took the lead on planning the operation, try leading the party once.”
…He’s telling me to be party leader?
I was taken aback by his sudden words, but Kwon Oh-jun’s serious expression didn’t seem like he was joking.
“But shouldn’t Team Leader Kwon be the one to command battles?”
“Only during truly dire situations. For the rest, it’ll be better for you to do it. After all, our goal is searching, not hunting.”
It was a valid point.
If we came to hunt monsters, the precious personnel of <Judgement of Fire> wouldn’t have crossed over to Japan like this.
“Plus, you did well when conquering the Forest Covered by Snakes boss, right.”
“That was a special circumstance…”
I muttered in complaint, and Kwon Oh-jun just shrugged his shoulders in response.
…This guy, isn’t the talk of directing operations and whatnot just an excuse, and you’re just trying to shove it onto me because you’re too lazy?
I briefly had that thought, but soon let out a sigh and stepped forward.
Truthfully, we didn’t even have time to worry about things like this.
We still had 9 more investigation points left.
“Then I will issue operational directives. First, let’s split the party into two teams. Team A goes left at the fork, Team B goes right.”
Tl/n: Ill be taking a break after this chapter. Happy new year! See you on 10th of jan 2024. You can also read ahead with unto 20 chapters through this link Buymeacoffee.
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