Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Chapter 201
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Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Chapter 201
46. You're on my side, right? (5)
At my question of whether he wanted to live, the man gave a small nod.
"What a ridiculous question…."
"Then I'll spare your life. In return, you will have to obey me."
"What?"
I thought showing was better than explaining at length, so I placed my hand on his injured shoulder and used a 7th Circle Recovery spell.
-Flash!
From the 7th Circle onward, one enters the realm of high-level magic.
A dazzling, brilliant light swallowed the luxurious VIP hospital room.
I'd already taken measures to keep the magical light from leaking outside, so he got to enjoy the full spectacle of the flashy magic effects.
"Wh-What is this?"
Regrettably, his condition was not something a 7th Circle spell could restore.
His internal organs were a mess, and regenerating the missing parts required an 8th Circle Revive spell.
"Ahhh...."
But this alone was enough to plant conviction in the man.
The conviction that, whatever kind of sorcery it was, I could heal him.
Vitality returned to his body, and his complexion improved.
He probably hadn't felt this well in a long time.
His condition had improved enough for anyone to notice the change.
"Will you follow my orders?"
The question came again.
In response, the man stumbled out of bed and prostrated himself flat before me.
He had only just gotten out of bed, yet his condition, which I had barely managed to treat with Recovery, worsened again.
A thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, but he paid it no mind.
"I will faithfully carry out whatever command you give. Please, save this worthless life of mine."
Worthless, he says.
The head of one of South Korea's leading conglomerates, no less.
I wore a satisfied expression.
"I'll heal you. But you must remember this. If you refuse my orders in the future, your head will be gone without a trace."
"Yes, I will be sure to remember."
No need to drag this out any longer.
I snapped my fingers.
-Flash!
Light of a purity on a whole other level enveloped the hospital room.
"Oh, God."
While receiving treatment, the man kept repeating "Oh, God" as if praying to me.
And so the injuries that modern medicine could only treat palliatively rapidly healed.
-Whoosh.
Before long, the light faded, and the man, moved by his pristine condition, thumped his head against the floor.
I had gone out of my way to heal him, yet he gave himself a wound on the forehead I frowned at the sight.
But the words that followed made me let out a small chuckle.
"From now on, I will live for you. Please, grant me the honor of knowing your name, noble one."
"Adrian."
I deliberately did not heal the scratch on his forehead.
Because that wound would make his situation all the more real to him.
"First, there are two things I need you to do."
"Speak."
I took out a ring and a note from my subspace and set them down before him.
Even as the ring and note floated through the air and landed slowly, he showed no surprise.
Well, what could possibly surprise him more than this?
"Find the woman written on that note and bring her to Korea, and protect her. If you tell her her brother wants to meet her, you should be able to bring her without resorting to something like kidnapping."
"Yes, I'll handle it promptly."
That was a measure for Benjamin's sake.
"And gather those who are useful like you, but suffer from illnesses and injuries that medicine cannot cure. I'll heal them."
That was a measure to expand my influence here on Earth.
He would probably understand what I was after without a long explanation.
"Whether it's a disease or an injury with missing body parts, I can heal any of it. Even if an eye's been gouged out or a limb's been torn off, I can regenerate it like a lizard's tail. For your reference, that ring contains the healing spell I first used on you. It can only be used twice a day, so save it for when it's urgently needed."
"How could I accept such a treasure…."
My demands were hardly difficult compared to the value of his life.
He must have braced himself for something, yet he got an unexpectedly easy order and a gift on top of it.
"Let's meet again on the rooftop of your company in three days. You'll need to move fast."
"Understood."
Choi Young-seok, the head of Daehan Electronics, South Korea's number one company, nodded deeply with a bright smile.
With matters on Earth wrapped up, I returned to Rondel.
* * *
Was the one who introduced himself as Adrian a demon?
Or perhaps an angel?
Choi Young-seok, the head of Daehan Electronics, recalled the strikingly handsome young man.
His appearance looked at most like his early twenties, but the unique aura he carried made him feel far older than he looked.
"No, it doesn't matter what he is. He's the noble benefactor who saved my life."
There was truly no other way to describe it but magic.
During the Great Disaster, he had been caught in a collapse accident and was at death's door yet now his body had become perfect, as if he had reverted to his youth.
Because of this, the relatives and subordinates who had been eyeing his empty seat all held their breath as if they'd seen a ghost, and Choi Young-seok was able to reclaim his rightful place.
What else could that be but a blessing from heaven?
Choi Young-seok steeled himself, resolved to grant whatever Adrian wished.
'The despair of those days when I merely lingered, waiting for death day after day. Let me never forget that feeling.'
They say a person feels different walking into a restroom than walking out, but Choi Young-seok was at least a man of consistency.
"Manager Kim."
"Yes, Chairman."
"Find this woman in Singapore. If you tell her her brother wishes to meet her, she should follow without much trouble. Actually, even if she resists, do whatever it takes to lure her here."
"Understood."
"And find chaebols, politicians, and influential figures with incurable conditions draw up a list."
"Yes, sir."
He faithfully carried out Adrian's instructions.
And Choi Young-seok, sitting in his office for the first time in a while, kept toying with the ring.
It was the 7th Circle Recovery artifact Adrian had given him.
"It has a cold luster, yet the metal feels soft and settles snugly against the skin. Fascinating."
Looking at the ring, he felt its material resembled Adrian himself.
* * *
Five more days had passed since he healed Choi Young-seok on Earth and returned to Rondel.
Even if five days passed in Rondel, with the 10:1 time ratio, Earth would have seen less than a day go by.
I had said I'd visit in three days, which in Rondel time meant thirty days from then.
In the meantime, I logged into Chronicle Online which had been put on hold while I dealt with various matters and focused on leveling up.
As a result, my current level was 290.
Only 10 levels remained.
The countdown had truly begun.
At this pace, reaching max level would take only a month to a month and a half.
By the time I next visited Earth, I'd be nearly at max level.
"Hah! Hah!"
And a new change had come to our party.
Selin had newly joined.
Thanks to meeting Grand Duke Lucas on Earth and learning she was his Contractor, Selin managed to keep her life going.
She was currently living in the ruins of Dragon Land.
She'd unwillingly taken on the role of the ruin's Guardian, and when I gave her a virtual reality headset telling her to play games when bored, she turned out to have unexpected talent.
She used a rare job class character a max-level Sword Dancer and her control was second to none.
Just as expected from a monster who once controlled hundreds of swords.
"Haha! She fights a hundred times better than Gregory!"
Watching Selin, that clown of a man, August, burst into cheerful laughter.
With her arrival, Gregory had been pushed from the main party to the reserve party.
It must have been the ultimate humiliation for him, but I had no choice efficiency came before his feelings.
For the record, there's no need to worry about Selin going mad and suddenly destroying the ruins.
Blake and I had placed all sorts of restrictions on her to keep her from destroying them.
Things were going smoothly in the game, and the situation on Earth was nothing to complain about either.
On top of that, my own nation was running well, and after the recent public statement, the Croysen Empire citizens under the duchy had become fairly cooperative.
And so we spent our days without a hitch.
[Walter Kingdom's belated revelation of the Reiers County disappearance incident. Having failed to find the cause, Walter Kingdom sends an SOS to the Bringham Empire.]
[Bringham Imperial Family Mage Tower: After examining the data, there are far too many inconsistencies. As this may pose a threat to Rondel, we will cooperate actively.]
Then one day, I heard that the Bringham Empire was stepping forward to investigate the dimensional displacement incident at Reiers County.
Thanks to that, the incident gained widespread notoriety across the continent, and many people's attention became focused on it.
-Why would one island disappearing be a threat to Rondel?
--Because the next thing to disappear might be your domain.
--Ah, I see.
--What exactly happened here? I looked up Reiers County, and the number of residents was close to three million.
--Damn, that's terrifying. You're saying three million people vanished in an instant?
Of course, most people with no connection to Reiers County treated it like a ghost story, but the reactions of the Bringham Empire, which had launched an investigation, and Walter Kingdom, the party concerned, were anything but ordinary.
[Bringham Imperial Family Mage Tower: The investigation has found traces of Divine power. It's possible the disappearance is connected to the church or the goddess.]
Surprisingly, they produced a result close to the truth.
Naturally, the Holy See reacted furiously and requested Walter Kingdom to allow them to participate in a joint investigation.
Feeling that the matter was growing larger, Walter Kingdom hesitated for a moment, but the opponent being the church a heavyweight they could not refuse.
[Sepia Church to dispatch next Saintess Ibril Barnet as investigation lead....]
And with only a week left before the generational change of Saintess and Holy Son, Ibril was dispatched to the investigation site.
Ibril was no longer the clumsy girl she used to be.
Having become someone who could properly fulfill the role of Saintess, I did not pay much attention to the matter.
At least, until that incident happened.
[Next Saintess Ibril Barnet and the church investigation team suddenly go missing!]
[The Holy See and church thrown into chaos!]
[Holy Land Everhill ultimately decides to dispatch Saintess Sylvester and Holy Son Avis....]
The disappearance of the church investigation team, including Ibril.
This plunged not only the Holy See but the entire world into confusion, and the person most shocked was none other than myself.
"Wait, don't tell me...."
This was partly because I was her Sponsor who had worked hard to make her a Saintess, but also because a foreboding possibility had briefly crossed my mind.
'Could she have been sent to Earth like Reiers County?'
If the Sepia Goddess intends to take the other world, including Earth, there's no rule saying she can't use the church.
A speculation arose that perhaps the Sepia Goddess had sent Ibril to Earth.
"I-I need to go check."
So I headed to Earth earlier than planned.
"She's not there."
Should I count that as a relief?
This time, my guess was wrong.
I could not detect the Saintess's Divine power on Earth.
But because of that, the case only fell deeper into mystery.
'Then where in the world did Saintess Ibril disappear to?'
I personally scoured the sea where the old Reiers County in Walter Kingdom was located, using the Myriad Mirror.
[Saintess Ibril's Blood]
I succeeded in finding traces of Ibril on a small rocky island.
A clue I never would have found without the Myriad Mirror.
Seeing marks that looked like fingernail scratches mixed with blood, I deduced that something had pulled her from the sea, and that Ibril had left these marks while resisting.
It seemed she had been dragged into the sea.
"Your Holiness the Saintess!"
"Oh? Your Highness the King, when did you arrive?"
"I found traces!"
"Is that true?"
And I reported the fact to the Saintess who had been dispatched to the site.
"This is a kidnapping. Judging by the situation, she was dragged into the sea."
Saintess Ibril seemed to get caught up in kidnappings and assassination attempts more often than most.
At my words, the church members grew furious, and Saintess Sylvester, who had only a week left in her term, was the most enraged of all.
Naturally, our gazes turned toward the sea where the Saintess was presumed to have been dragged.
The seas of Rondel harbor a great variety of creatures.
Among them are vicious monsters, as well as several beings similar to mermaids.
Because I found Ibril's clue, the scope of the investigation only grew larger.