Chapter 163: Episode 163

This farewell party had another purpose: Samia.

A few hours after it started, as the night deepened, the drunks began stumbling back to their quarters. But my target, Samia, still looked perfectly sober. When we’d drunk together before, she’d mentioned she could hold her liquor. I paced myself, waiting for the right moment.

’Now.’

I slowly approached her. She was sitting alone in her wheelchair, sipping a strong rum. She saw me and smiled.

“There you are, hero.”

“Hello, Princess.”

We chuckled and clinked our bottles.

“This feels like a dream,” she said, gazing at the Mtwara nightscape.

We weren’t the only ones celebrating. The entire encampment was in a state of perpetual festival. Every night for the past three days, people had lit fires and passed around drinks, reveling in their freedom from the disaster.

“I have something to discuss with you. Could we move somewhere quieter?”

“A fine idea. I have something to say to you as well.”

We moved to a deserted spot behind the main building. Enjoying the star-filled sky, we clinked our bottles once more.

“Hunter Kim Yusin.”

“Yes.”

“I’m thinking of retiring after this campaign.”

My hand holding the bottle trembled slightly. “Isn’t… isn’t that a bit hasty?”

“This battle made me realize my limits,” she said with a deep sigh. “Not being able to use my legs in combat was more of a handicap than I ever imagined, and the new internal teleportation I manifested has clear limitations.”

She was still focused on what she had lost, not what she had gained. It was understandable.

“I feel like I was dragging a broken body onto the battlefield. I’m going home now.” She paused, gazing at the distant festival fires. “Tanzania, my last lingering attachment, has been liberated. Julian can finally rest in peace. My part is done. The rest is up to young, brilliant hunters like Karim.”

’No, not yet. You can’t leave the stage now.’

“Hunter Samia.”

“What is it?”

“This isn’t the end.”

“Of course not. There’s no safe place in this era. The threat of dungeons and disasters still remains…”

“No, this is a threat on a completely different level.”

I took a deep breath and met her gaze, my expression serious. “In a few years, this world will be destroyed.”

Her face, flushed from the alcohol, hardened.

“The Disaster Nemesis, a rank-11 Irregular, will descend, and its range will cover the entire planet. The world behind the Overlay, which may have possessed even greater military power than us, was annihilated by this very disaster.”

“…Suddenly, I’m having trouble following.”

“It will bring a degree of pain and sorrow incomparable to the Famine Disaster. So please,” I bowed my head respectfully to her in her wheelchair, “help me.”

Samia was silent for a moment.

She didn’t answer right away, instead looking up at the night sky. Then she spoke.

“I have been watching you for a long time. I don’t believe you would tell such a far-fetched lie.”

“You believe me?”

“Yes. If such a calamity is truly coming, you will undoubtedly play a major role in saving humanity. But on that battlefield, there is no place for me, with my broken body and mind.”

When I rescued her, the loss of her abilities had been so profound that she had begged me to end her life. Her heart had been festering from the start. Only her sense of duty as a certified hunter and her debt to the foreigners risking their lives for Tanzania had driven her to whip herself onward, flying across the battlefield in a wheelchair. But her spirit, broken by loss, had never healed.

“No, there is a role that only you can fill, Hunter Samia.”

I offered her a way to fill that void. “Among the types of magic, there is a technique called ‘warp’.”

“…Don’t tell me.”

“Yes, just as you suspect. It’s the magical equivalent of teleportation.” I met her eyes. “And I will give that magic to you.”

“…I’ve never used magic before.”

“That’s fine. It won’t be difficult for you to learn it.”

Just as she had been watching me, I had been watching her. The skills of a teleporter have much in common with the skills needed for warp magic. Both require calculating coordinate formulas in an instant, controlling the sense of distance in unseen space, and manipulating mental images of objects and locations. That’s why teleportation is known as a domain of pure talent; its application and control vary wildly depending on the user’s brain development.

Warp magic is the same—it’s a completely different field from general magic. The administrator of the fifth floor’s Dimension Hall needs outstanding spatial controlling abilities more than magical knowledge. That was the conclusion Ea and I had reached.

In her prime, before her injury, Samia was a master of control. There was a story about her manipulating a matchstick in her hand to build a model in her house hundreds of kilometers away. What would happen if you added three level ten administrator traits to a power like Cinderella’s magic? She could become even greater than she was in her prime. She was already an accomplished rank-3 hunter and lacked nothing in character or any other regard. There was no one more suitable for the role of fifth-floor administrator.

“Please, Hunter Samia.”

She closed her eyes tightly, looking conflicted. Her sense of purpose. Her sense of loss. I could address both reasons she had decided to retire.

“Mr. Kim!”

“Hunter Samia, you’re here too!”

Just then, five robed figures approached us.

“You are…”

They all chuckled and threw back their hoods. It was the Fourth Floor Team: Na Daeyong, Cha Doyeon, Kim Sarang, Seo Shimhee, and Jo Yonghee.

“Nice to see you!”

“Thank you for your help against Selegma.”

Samia looked between me and the team, then smiled faintly. “So you were all on the same side.”

“Hahaha! Yep, they’re all mages under my command.”

“Oho! Master! Don’t tell me you were in the middle of a recruitment pitch!”

“Is Hunter Samia joining us?”

She was probably still deciding, but the Fourth Floor Team was already clapping and celebrating as if she’d already accepted.

“It was a short time, but they’re a pleasant and promising group,” Samia said with a smile, seeming not to mind. Then, her expression turned serious as she looked at me. “Hunter Kim Yusin, who are you really? What is your purpose in gathering these people?”

I replied with a faint smile. “Actually, I’m not an Archmage. I’m a Tower Master.”

Samia looked confused.

“The ultimate goal is world domination, or something like that. But before that, I suppose we should save it first.”

Samia looked completely bewildered, but she laughed out loud. “Give me some time to think.”

“Of course.”

She asked for time, but I could already see the light returning to her eyes.

’I’ll be counting on you, Hunter Samia.’

* * *

With that, my deployment in Africa was officially over. All that remained was the trip back to Korea. I sent the Fourth Floor Team ahead through a warp gate and gave them a generous week of paid vacation. I could have warped myself, but Hong Yeon was with me, and I’d heard Incheon Airport was already swarming with reporters. It was better to take the normal route than to arouse unnecessary suspicion.

Since all of Tanzania’s airports were out of commission, we had to travel north to Kenya and departed from Nairobi International Airport.

“You’ve all worked so hard!”

“I’ll never forget this!”

Scorpion, Marta, Charlie, and other hunters from the Tanzanian command came to see us off, along with the officers and soldiers we had grown close to. As expected, Zhang Wei was not among them. We said our goodbyes one by one.

“Sir! Private First Class Hereld Rosell of the Global Hunter Alliance!”

I recognized him immediately. He was the young soldier from our first trip from Kisowa to Mtwara who had asked, ‘If I learn magic, can I become like you, Hunter Kim Yusin?’

“Private Hereld! How have you been?”

We shook hands warmly.

“Actually, sir, there was something I really wanted to show you before you returned to Korea!”

I looked at him quizzically.

He placed his fists on his hips and closed his eyes. My Deva’s Eye detected a flow of magic. I was stunned. A ring of mana—a circle—was rotating around his heart.

“First Circle! You did it!”

“I studied the circle lectures in my spare time! It’s all thanks to you, sir!” Hereld’s eyes sparkled. “You’re my hero, Hunter Kim Yusin! I’ll always be watching and cheering for you! And the next time we meet, it will be as fellow mages!”

’Wow, this is actually kind of touching.’

“Keep up the good work, Private Hereld,” Hong Yeon added with an encouraging smile. True to form, Hereld’s face turned bright red.

“Leaving already?” Han Yoonjeong approached, arms crossed. She was in casual clothes, wearing a hat and sunglasses to hide her identity. She pushed her sunglasses up. “You’re in Africa. You should hang out in Egypt for a bit before you go.”

“Sorry. I’ll make time to visit later. I’ve got too much work piled up in Korea right now.”

“Tsk, fine. Don’t forget our promise from yesterday, okay?”

“Of course.”

“Promise?” Hong Yeon looked at me curiously. I just laughed it off.

“And.”

Yoonjeong stepped closer and hugged me. While I was frozen by the sudden gesture, she whispered in my ear. “Goodbye, my precious friend. Wherever you are, whatever you do, I’ll always be on your side. If you ever need help, just say the word.”

“Isn’t that what I told you a long time ago?”

“Shut up for a second.”

“Hahaha!”

’So she kept it in her heart.’ I chuckled and patted her on the back.

“I’m off, my friend.”

“Yeah.”

“And just so you know, you don’t have to feel bad about it not being your body. From what I saw, Pharaoh Han Yoonjeong shines brighter than anyone.”

“Ah, jeez. Stop with the cheesy lines. I’m not supposed to cry in front of the Gravekeepers.”

“Hahaha.”

After saying goodbye to her, I shook hands with Scorpion one last time. He scratched his head. “I get Zhang Wei not showing up, but I’m surprised Samia isn’t here. She was the closest to you two out of all of us.”

“She vanished yesterday,” Marta added.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than a ’whoosh’ echoed from above. Samia appeared, seated on the giant throne I’d seen at the rebel encampment.

“…Hunter Samia!”

“My apologies for the late notice,” she said, smiling brightly at her Tanzanian comrades. “I have decided to follow Hunter Kim Yusin! I am no longer the top hunter of Tanzania, Black Wing, or a Princess.”

She puffed out her chest like a slave declaring her freedom. “I am Samia. That is all!”

She made a declaration of abdication from the Tanzanian royal family. It was a shocking announcement, but the crowd’s reaction was mild. It was as if they’d known all along.

“Farewell, Princess!”

“Better to ride the Archmage’s coattails than to rot in Tanzania!”

“I told you not to call me Princess!” she shouted, exasperated, but she still waved fondly to everyone.

* * *

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep