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Swordmaster Healer (Web Novel) - Chapter 17 – Battle Priest Welrod (1)
Chapter 17 – Battle Priest Welrod (1)
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
TL: Boko
Editor: Ren
Dawn had already past and it had become morning. Sung Joon had exercised ‘self-defense’ against Son Jin Woong and took a taxi back to his studio apartment in Seoul.
He had traveled back and forth between the capital and the Namhae County, and had even fought, but because he had absorbed the mana of the stealthed B-rank Hunter, he didn’t really feel tired.
The mental strain that his Mana Absorption couldn’t heal was less than if he had continually gone through the dungeons.
“Let’s go eat some breakfast.”
He went to a nearby restaurant in order to eat some breakfast. Rishubalt followed behind him.
Sung Joon sat down and ordered gukbap*. He looked around and stopped his gaze at the wall-mounted TV. (*Korean rice soup)
“It’s about the Namhae County Governor,” Rishubalt said.
The news was broadcasting that the Namhae County Governor, Son Jin Woong, had been killed. It seems like they had found out quickly because of the safe’s alarm.
Sung Joon paid close attention to the news.
The news reported that someone had intruded into Jin Woong’s house at dawn and had assassinated him; yet, they had left no evidence behind.
Seeing as how they reported that there wasn’t any evidence, the Hunter Bureau must’ve successfully manipulated the evidence.
“Thank you,” Sung Joon said quietly.
Sung Joon ate a bit of his gukbap and paid for his meal. Sung Joon left the restaurant, took a taxi, and visited the Hunter Bureau. He wanted to discuss how to deal with the secret ledgers.
“I came to see the Investigation Team Leader Kim Hyun Sung. He’ll know who I am if you just say Kang Sung Joon is here to see him.”
“Ah! So you were Hunter Kang Sung Joon! I’ll take you to the office!”
The Hunter Bureau workers had been instructed by Hyun Sung to patch Sung Joon through immediately whenever he came by.
Thanks to that, Sung Joon didn’t need to wait; he was led directly to Hyun Sung’s office.
“Mr. Kang Sung Joon!”
Sung Joon entered the office and when Hyun Sung discovered him, he happily waved his hand at him.
“Let’s go to the rooftop, please,” Hyun Sung requested.
Sung Joon nodded his head. There were too many eyes and ears in the office, so the two men went up to the rooftop.
While the rooftop was large, there weren’t a lot of people there.
The two men walked over to an out-of-the-way spot. Hyun Sung confirmed that there was no one around them and spoke first.
“You blew the alarm, but we finished handling the evidence. The police won’t be able to find anything,” Hyun Sung assured him.
Their secret conversation had just begun.
“What about the opposing party?”
“I told you yesterday, but they threw him away. In exchange for us not spreading the fact that he embezzled the government subsidies, they said that they definitely wouldn’t interfere with the matter of Son Jin Woong,” Hyun Sung explained.
The opposing party hadn’t wanted the issue to get any bigger, so it seemed that they willingly accepted their terms.
“Now that I think about it, I came by to give you something,” Sung Joon said.
“What is it?” Hyun Sung asked.
Sung Joon took out one of the ledgers from his bag and Hyun Sung’s eyes gleamed.
“Please read it.”
Hyun Sung opened up one of the ledgers and took a look. Due to the enormity of the content, the more he read, the more his eyes shook.
“I found it in the safe in Son Jin Woong’s house,” Sung Joon clarified.
Hyun Sung, who had seen enough, closed the ledger and turned his attention back to Sung Joon.
“I don’t think we should spread this right now,” Hyun Sung said.
“It seems that way to you too?”
Sung Joon agreed with Hyun Sung’s opinion.
There were too many people connected to the ledgers. Plus, he didn’t really have any reason to spread the information.
“I think it would be best if you kept these as insurance,” Hyun Sung said.
Sung Joon smirked. If any of the people recorded in the ledgers messed with him, a bomb would explode in Korea.
* * *
Due to the Namhae County Governor, Son Jin Woong, Sung Joon had been a bit delayed, but now it was time for him to attempt the Awakening Dungeon.
When he became an A-rank Hunter, he had become qualified to solo a B-rank dungeon. However, he felt a little burdened by the idea, so he applied for an easy C-rank dungeon solo run.
“There’s a delay in the schedule for C-rank dungeon solo runs, so you will have to wait a little bit.”
“Is it really far behind?”
“You just need to wait a few days,” the clerk replied.
Sung Joon sighed briefly and returned to his studio apartment. Since he had applied for a solo run, he couldn’t go through any other dungeons for a few days.
‘What should I do…’ he wondered.
He had thought that there wouldn’t be a queue, but he actually had to wait, so he didn’t really have anything to do.
“Should I train…”
“How about you find some hobbies, my lord?” Rishubalt said, hearing Sung Joon talk to himself.
Rishubalt thought that Sung Joon was rushing himself. Although he had gone on a vacation just a little while ago, he hadn’t rested properly, because of Jin Woong.
Rishubalt wanted Sung Joon to take this opportunity to relax a little. While it was important for him to get stronger in order to fight off the Empire’s invasion, Sung Joon didn’t have any time for himself.
“Hobbies, huh…?”
“Do you remember? Your past self loved hunting, my lord.”
“Rishubalt, they may have eased up on gun control now, but the process you have to go through to ‘hunt’ in Korea is a pain in the ass,” Sung Joon replied.
He really couldn’t stand things that were a pain in the ass.
“Wouldn’t it be best if you visited the Hound guild’s guild house and greeted them? Although they promised you their aid, because of them, didn’t everything go smoothly?”
“That’s a good idea.”
Sung Joon finished conversing with Rishubalt and called the Head Recruiter, Jung Tae Min, who he thankfully was acquainted with.
“Mr. Kang Sung Joon?”
“Have the people at the guild house eaten yet?”
“No. They haven’t eaten yet. It’s one hour before lunchtime.”
“That’s great. Tell them not to eat yet. I’ll buy lunch today.”
Sung Joon ended the call with Tae Min and called a buffet caterer. He gave them the address of the Hound guild’s guild house and paid.
Although it was a sudden request, since he had paid immediately, the catering company said that they’d hurry.
It had cost a lot of money, but he was satisfied because it was an opportunity for him to show them a token of his appreciation.
Eventually, he took a taxi and travelled to the Hound Guild guild house.
“Mr. Kang Sung Joon!”
Tae Min and the Executive Branch Leader, Kang San Ho, were waiting for him. When they saw Sung Joon leave the taxi, they dashed over to him.
“I didn’t think you would call a buffet caterer!” Tae Min said.
There were several of the buffet catering company’s cars lined up in the guild house’s parking lot.
“I thought I would arrive first, but I was a bit late.”
The catering company had said that it would take some time to fulfill his order. However, perhaps it was because he had deposited the money quickly; but they had rushed and had arrived before Sung Joon.
“I know it’s late, but congratulations on your promotion,” Tae Min congratulated, holding out his hand.
“Thank you very much,” Sung Joon replied, shaking his head and then asking how San Ho was doing.
After that, he was guided by Tae Min to the Guild Leader’s office.
The doors opened and they entered and were met by the sharp-looking Kyung Ho. Kyung Ho stood up from his seat and greeted Sung Joon.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. I may be lacking, but I’m the Hound Guild Leader, Kim Kyung Ho.”
“It’s a pleasure. My name is Kang Sung Joon.”
Sung Joon and Kyung Ho exchanged greetings and shook hands. It was short, but the two mens’ eyes moved busily and grasped each others’ intentions.
‘I heard he was a Supporter Hunter but… If I take his mana into account, he’d be about a mid-tier…’
Sung Joon had assessed Kyung Ho correctly. Kyung Ho was indeed an mid-tier A-rank Hunter.
‘He seems to be a low-tier A-rank Hunter based on his mana. But it’s difficult to access his dormant abilities.’
Kyung Ho carefully postponed his decision. Sung Joon was much too unconventional to use the normal criteria on and his promotion speed was extremely quick as well.
“Please sit,” Kyung Ho suggested.
The two sat on opposite sides and Tae Min sat on Kyung Ho’s right.
The Executive Branch Leader, Kang San Ho, said that he had to catch up on some work, so he went back to the office.
“Thank you for taking care of Jo Dong Chul. Thanks to you, there weren’t that many annoying things that I had to deal with,” began Sung Joon.
“We’re the ones who should be thanking you. Since you took care of the Great Demon guild, we were able to advance into the high ranks.”
Advancing into the high ranks was always the once mid-upper ranked Hound guild’s most fervent wish.
“All the guild members are thankful to you,” Kyung Ho said.
Sung Joon smiled.
They continued their conversation in this warm atmosphere. Kyung Ho had secretly tried to get Sung Joon to join their guild, but Sung Joon had declined sharply.
Since he had declined, Kyung Ho didn’t bring up that topic anymore.
Ring. Ring.
Sung Joon heard his phone ring and checked his phone.
[Hunter Bureau]
The Hunter Bureau was calling him.
“Excuse me for just a moment,” Sung Joon said.
Sung Joon left the office, went into the hall, and picked up his phone. The clerk told him that they had scheduled his appointment for a solo dungeon run. It was different to what he had expected; he had thought that he would have to wait for a few days. However, they had urgently scheduled an appointment for him, so he could do nothing but ask for Kyung Ho and Tae Min to understand and leave for the dungeon immediately.
Sung Joon left the office, leaving only Kyung Ho and Tae Min remaining.
“What a shame.”
“Guild Leader…”
“I should’ve reflected on your opinion some more back then…”
After seeing Sung Joon, who had been promoted to an A-rank Hunter, he couldn’t help but feel regretful.
“But it’s a relief that he seems to think highly of our guild,” Tae Min said.
Kyung Ho nodded his head.
“That certainly is a relief. He doesn’t seem to want to join a guild, so… please strengthen our cooperative relationship with him.”
He wouldn’t be a member of their guild, but Kyung Ho wanted him as an ally, and Tae Min must’ve agreed, since he nodded his head.
* * *
Sung Joon arrived at the entrance of the dungeon, finished his verification process, and went underground. Perhaps because it was a C-rank dungeon, Orcs appeared right at the get-go.
He defeated the enemies in the order that they appeared. Eventually, he defeated the Boss, the Orc Mage.
– Verifying assault, measuring complete. C-rank dungeon, clear.
The measuring tool responded.
He had checked for items that he could loot, but nothing had dropped. Sung Joon looked at Rishubalt, who was standing by a few steps behind him, and spoke.
“I think you can open it now.”
Rishubalt nodded his head and raised his hands.
“I’ll open the Awakening Dungeon now.”
His surroundings melted away and were replaced by a different landscape. It was different from the first time, yet it was an environment similar to the dungeons.
“W-What is this?”
“Where did you come from?”
Sung Joon had suddenly appeared, so the soldiers guarding the entrance were shocked, and they drew their swords.
It was different from the last time. Since Sung Joon had increased his synchronization rate, he was completely fluent in this world’s language, so he could understand them now.
“What should we do…”
“That invader…”
The soldiers couldn’t finish. Sung Joon passed by them, nimbly swinging his sword, and cut their throats, killing them.
The two soldiers fell down.
“Absorb.”
Sung Joon absorbed their mana. This place was different from Earth; mana was in ample supply here and even ordinary soldiers had a fixed amount of mana.
“Rishubalt, find me the route that takes the shortest time to the Boss Room,” ordered Sung Joon.
“Yes, my lord.”
Rishubalt returned after finishing with his scouting and led Sung Joon to the Boss Room. On the way there, soldiers and knights had blocked him, but they were no match for Sung Joon.
“This should be the Boss Room.”
“You’re not sure?”
“I cannot go through it because of the powerful barrier.”
“What about now?”
“It’s possible now that you’re by my side, my lord,” Rishubalt said.
Sung Joon nodded his head. His aura-clad sword cut through the door’s lock. Sung Joon kicked the door open and advanced into the Boss Room.
There were two knights and a man wearing priest’s robes inside. The priest looked at Rishubalt, rather than Sung Joon.
‘Can he see Rishubalt?’
But Sung Joon shook his head. He was a ghost right now and Rishubalt had explained that only Sung Joon could see him. However, his expectations had finally shattered.
“Sir Rishubalt?”
It seemed like the priest could see Rishubalt after all.
