Before we started the operation in earnest.
I was preparing the supplies we’d need for the operation....
Well.
Obviously.
Chiiiiiiiik....
“I’ll sear the meat about this much and let it rest....”
I was cooking.
And.
“I-I’ll help with something, at least....”
Jeong Sua.
While watching me.
She kept stamping her feet in place.
“Hm? It’s fine. Cooking is my job.”
“Still... I can’t just stand here and watch while the benefactor cooks....”
Hm.
Come to think of it, it had been a long time since I made food for this one specifically.
Probably the first time since I fixed her eyes.
Heh.
When I recalled the first time I cooked for her, a hollow laugh slipped out.
Back then, Jeong Sua wasn’t showing excessive loyalty like this.
She was treating me like some crazy psycho and keeping her guard up.
Even now, thinking about how she changed like this was absurd.
“It’s fine. If I were cooking for a bunch of people, sure, but what help would I need for one serving.”
“.......”
At my words.
Jeong Sua’s face fell into gloom again.
Seeing her face, I said, dumbfounded.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking that ‘we’re not help’ thing again.”
“......! D-Don’t tell me you awakened a power to read people’s minds too?”
“My god. So it was real.”
At what she said.
I couldn’t hold back my dry laugh as I asked.
“You’re not the first soldier to think like that, though.”
If I thought about it.
Gwangil had caused a similar scene over something like this before.
But it was a little different from Gwangil’s case.
He was a combat type, and he fell into self-loathing because I kept handling every big enemy.
But Jeong Sua’s work... the reconnaissance squad didn’t overlap with me at all, to the point that it wasn’t even an exaggeration.
A big reason I didn’t have much contact with her was that our work didn’t overlap.
“To be honest, I rated you as a capable unit member. Seems your own opinion is a little different.”
“.......”
At my words.
She spoke with a heavy face.
“The reason you rated me as capable... is because of the ability I have, isn’t it.”
“Hm?”
“[Spirit Eye].”
Her power was clearly useful.
In fact, before the unit grew this much, one major reason we were able to act so aggressively was because her spirit scouted the surroundings.
But.
“This power... is losing its usefulness more and more as the Legion grows.”
“.......”
That was a story from before the unit grew this much.
Even if you just looked at the occupation campaign in Gangwon, it was the same.
Without any need to scout the enemy position, it was enough to draft an operation based on Taejun’s fortune-telling.
‘The Gyeongsangbuk-do occupation campaign too....’
What the Legion was pouring the most effort into right now was the recapture of Gyeongsangbuk-do.
The reason she—specialized in reconnaissance—wasn’t deployed into the recapture of Gyeongsangbuk-do was....
“The ones brought here as an escort team are specialized in covert work. Everyone else specialized in reconnaissance was deployed into Gyeongsangbuk-do.”
Because there were so many people now who could replace her role.
[Spirit Eye] was certainly an excellent ability.
But it didn’t have the same influence it used to.
“So that’s your complex?”
“It’s not to that degree. Thanks to the master you introduced me to, I’ve been able to grow the ability itself to handle spirits. Even if more people gained reconnaissance abilities similar to mine, I’ve never thought I was inferior. It’s just....”
“Just?”
“Compared to others, I’ve received a lot from you.”
Covering her eyes with her palm, she said.
“The reason I can walk around seeing like this now is because of your grace.”
“.......”
“And what I said about not being inferior to others in reconnaissance... honestly, that’s also because you introduced me to my master.”
What kind of expression she had behind that covering hand.
I couldn’t see.
“Of all the people you’ve shown the most grace to, it’s probably me. And yet... I haven’t been repaying that grace properly.”
Even if there was Borjin’s teaching.
Her reconnaissance ability was replaceable.
And her combat power couldn’t help but fall short compared to the Legion’s real monsters.
“If it were only that I couldn’t repay your grace, that would be lucky. But to say we’re only a burden.”
“That part—what burden did you cause, exactly?”
Worrying that your ability isn’t enough.
I could understand that.
But.
“Like I said earlier, I’m not kind enough to drag around useless unit members. No matter what you’re thinking, you’ve never been a burden to me.”
No matter how lacking someone was, not a single unit member had an ability that was a negative.
The Legion was the kind of place that never accepted people who would be a negative in the first place.
But at my words.
“I wasn’t a burden...?”
The taste I’d been sensing from her....
Changed drastically.
“How can ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) you say that so lightly...!”
“......?”
That voice.
And the taste on my tongue.
Extreme anger and sorrow.
“What are you talking about?”
“...No. It’s nothing.”
Suspicious at the emotional shift I didn’t understand.
But without continuing, she lowered her head.
‘What the hell...?’
I’d been feeling it since earlier.
Unlike the other unit members, she alone was strangely intense in her emotional swings.
It was even more bewildering because she wasn’t usually someone who shook that easily.
‘Is there something more I don’t know?’
But.
[Taste Bud Enhancement] isn’t that convenient.
I could tell her emotions, and I could tell she wasn’t lying to me.
But I couldn’t know the cause of those emotions.
“...Earlier, when I explained the operation, I said we didn’t have enemy information and all that.”
In the end.
I decided to swallow the question and move on.
“To be honest, if it were the usual, there’s a different strategy I would have taken here.”
“Pardon?”
“You know. The thing I always did.”
I shrugged.
“I would’ve used [Environmental Assimilation], charged into the enemy’s territory alone, and come back after digging up information.”
“...Benefactor! That’s—!”
“Dangerous? I know. But that’s what I’ve been doing until now, isn’t it?”
Jeong Sua looked visibly flustered.
But in truth, I had relied on that method over and over.
“It’s not like I did it because I enjoyed it.”
The reason I had to was simple.
“Until now, there was no other answer besides doing that kind of thing.”
“.......”
“I know it’s dangerous, and I know it’s a burdensome choice for me... but if I didn’t do it, there was no way for me and the unit members to survive.”
At my words.
Jeong Sua’s expression darkened even more.
“But unfortunately, I don’t think I can use that method right now.”
“Pardon?”
“As you know... my physical condition is pretty bad right now.”
So the other unit members wouldn’t hear.
I lowered my voice as much as possible.
“The reason I did that kind of thing before was because even if I got found inside, I could still try to run away somehow.”
Before, even while using [Environmental Assimilation].
If I was detected, I could immediately try to escape by using cooking to gain traits like [Slaypa’s Fleet Feet].
“But not now.”
Right now, even a single cooking effect was a burden.
If I stacked two or more dishes, who knew what would happen to the body that had already become the worst.
“If I get detected by the monsters right now... I’ll die without being able to properly resist.”
“D-Don’t say that!”
“So what, it’s true.”
And.
After putting the finished dish onto a plate, I looked at her.
“Well, so here’s the point.”
“.......”
“Like I said, it’s hard for me now to smash into things myself and confirm the enemy with my own eyes. So.”
Holding the dish in one hand.
With the other hand, I knocked away the hand that was covering her eyes.
“So.”
What was so upsetting to her.
Those eyes full of moisture.
They were full of tears now, but.
“You have to be my eyes.”
Those two eyes.
That could shine with a more beautiful watery color....
*****
‘They’re nothing but a burden.’
To be honest.
What Jeong Sua said wasn’t completely wrong.
The reason I didn’t create a royal guard.
It was partly because I wanted to spare the unit members from noticing things they didn’t need to know, but.
‘That wasn’t all.’
From the angle that it made it harder to use the vampire force I was keeping confidential from the unit members.
It also acted like shackles that kept me from fully using my abilities.
Just a few weeks ago.
That thought accounted for a significant portion of why I rejected the royal guard proposal.
But.
Not anymore.
“Hoo....”
Sitting on the ground.
Jeong Sua stared into the air.
And a moment later.
Slowly.
Her eyes opened.
“They’re ready.”
The area around her eyes was still a little red.
But her gaze glittered with a beautiful watery color.
And.
Watching her, I thought.
‘As reconnaissance ability, Spirit Eye has definitely lost a lot of its meaning.’
But.
Not long ago.
I started thinking that ability might shine even more than I expected.
“Then... if you’ll excuse me, as you ordered.”
More precisely.
When I visited Seoul.
Land distorted under the [Matron]’s powers.
“Please... let me touch your body.”
“Excuse you for what. Go ahead.”
A fight that happened there.
Changed that thought.
Tap.
Her hand.
Touched my body carefully.
And then.
Paaaaaaaah!!!
My vision.
Changed in an instant.
‘So this is a spirit’s vision....’
In the battle that happened in Seoul.
Near the very end.
Jeong Sua shared this sight with me.
‘I felt it then too... it’s incredible.’
The view through a spirit’s eyes was more unique than I expected.
Unlike simple human vision.
Mana drifting around.
Elements like water, fire, and electricity.
Their flows filled my vision like a painting.
‘An overwhelming amount of information....’
A large part of why Jeong Sua’s spirit arts improved by leaps and bounds.
Was probably because she became able to interpret the information gained from this view much better.
But.
‘For me right now, it’s all information I can’t understand anyway.’
In one corner of that vision.
A mountain visible far away....
I looked toward the military base located inside it.
And.
From there.
‘Blue.’
A thick, deep blue aura.
Surged ominously.
Just in sheer amount.
It was enough that it didn’t fall behind even compared to Ariella, who had grown a lot stronger.
It was several tiers above even the great monsters we saw in that demon realm.
But.
Even after confirming that such a powerful existence was lying in wait.
Heh.
Seeing that deep blue, I couldn’t help laughing.
“Like I felt last time too. These eyes.”
Because.
That blue aura was... the effect of my trait.
[Combat Power Gauge].
And.
The fact that I could see that aura in the vision of [Spirit Eye].
Was implying one fact.
“Work well with... my eyes.”
A powerful monster reigning with ease far away.
So far that I couldn’t detect it at all.
It had no idea someone was even looking at it, but.
[Trait - ‘Ingredients Identification (Enhanced)’ activates.]
[Skill - ‘Chef’s Eye’ activates.]
[Persistent Avaros]
In my eyes.
Every piece of information about it.
“Ah, so that’s the kind of monster you are?”
Was visible with perfect clarity.
******
-How dare you, how dare you!!!
In a military base deep within a mountain on the outskirts of Seoul.
There was a gigantic beast roaring.
[Persistent Avaros]
Kwaaang!
When its massive fist slammed into the ground.
The thick concrete floor shattered, and the shock alone cracked the buildings around it.
-How dare you insects!
[There is a world called Vartan, a land where powerful great monsters wage fierce survival competition.]
[A land with no rules, made up only of aggressive great monsters.]
[Every great monster grew its power by devouring one another, and even for a powerful great monster, surviving for a long time was rare.]
[Avaros is a great great monster that reigned for a long time as the ruler of one region even in that land.]
[Because no powerful great monster could bring him down, the wise great monsters sometimes called him ‘Immortal Avaros.’]
What was astonishing.
Was that absurd flexibility and muscular power.
‘That movement with that body...!’
It was to the point that you’d wonder if its body was made of rubber or springs.
It was already enormous.
And when such impossible movement was mounted on that overwhelming mass.
Krrrk—!
Even though not even ten minutes had passed since the battle started.
Most of the buildings in that broad military base had collapsed.
I could understand why that “doctor” dumped this one’s subjugation on us.
No matter how many troops it commanded, and no matter how high their average quality was.
In the end, it was nothing more than an enormous number of troops that were just solidly strong.
-With only that kind of number!
If a monster with that kind of power ran wild.
That massive number would be ground down in an instant.
Even if it simply rolled around on top of the monsters a few times, hundreds of monsters would be torn apart.
-You think you can...! You think you can...!
...Of course.
That was only if that “doctor” went to subjugate it.
-And bring me down...!
Slash—
The dagger of a “bandit” awakened person.
Severed the tendon in its right arm, which it swung until the very end.
Thud....
The monster with every tendon in its body cut.
Collapsed limply to the ground.
“Objective complete!”
Seeing that.
The unit members shouted without hiding their joy.
“We’ve succeeded in capturing Avaros alive...!”
A powerful monster that had taken root in the 3rd Artillery Battalion.
Fell into our hands.
