Matan’s Shooter

“Ewin is the chief commander, yet he makes me do all these unnecessary errands.”

There was no real reason for him to be running around, no bonding moments with the 480s, just a series of chores and tasks that were nothing more than errands.

Even if he were to be assigned an administrative role, it would be more than enough, but being part of the Capital Defense Knights, it was simply unbearable for him.

“Get yourself together. In Fibiel, Shin Nara does everything from A to Z.”

“Well then, why don’t you do it?”

Lark retorted, pursing his lips.

“Anyway, she’s… an amazing woman. Mentally, she must be exhausted, I can’t imagine how she endures it.”

The work in Middle Earth didn’t physically exhaust one. Of course, there were issues like lack of sleep over time and decreasing muscle mass, but it wasn’t exactly physical exhaustion. But when it came to interpersonal relationships…

Even if it was just a ‘virtual relationship,’ it could get quite tangled, and administrative tasks, even with set procedures, could still pile up stress from approvals and decisions.

If one were to list those who handle it best in Middle Earth, Shin Nara would undoubtedly be included.

As Lark thought back to Shin Nara with respect.

“Oh, speaking of which, there’s a strange rumor going around.”

“A rumor?”

Lark lowered his feet that were up on the desk.

Pung nodded and brought over a chair to sit next to Lark.

“They say Alexander is dead.”

“Alexander? Wait a minute.”

Lark immediately sent a private message to Alexander.

Normally, it would’ve been blocked anyway, but after the paleo incident, he had gained some closeness with Alexander and earned the right to contact him.

Since then, they had occasionally exchanged messages as top rankers.

“Of course, I sent my regards too, but there was no response to the message.”

Sending messages to Alexander yielded no response.

“No response at all. Well, maybe he just logged out. Why would a rumor of his death suddenly spread? Who saw it?”

“I’m not sure. As I said, it’s a strange rumor. From what I know, Alexander last died around level 150, right? But there were rumors that he had already surpassed level 330, so it doesn’t make sense for him to die now.”

Though Pung mentioned it as nothing significant, Lark found that detail rather unsettling.

Lark, also a user from Minis Kingdon same as Alexander, was familiar with the legendary tales of the extraordinary adventures of Alexander.

Since the time he started leveling up, his unbelievable and spectacular adventures had once instilled in Lark the dream of becoming a skilled swordsman like him.

Suddenly, memories flooded back to Lark, and he chuckled as he gripped his sword handle.

“Yeah, looking for a dragon and ending up facing all these weird things. Thinking about the old days, Lark realized he was holding the handle of his sword and quickly released his grip.”

Although… the rumor of Alexaner’s death isn’t the type to spread so easily. Nobody would believe he’s dead. Yet, why is there a rumor circulating about his death?

‘Heh, how interesting it is.’

Lark suddenly stood up.

‘What? C-Captain! Why all of a sudden? Where are you going?’

‘I need to track down the rumors. There might be some scoundrel behind it or he might have truly died. Regardless, it seems necessary to investigate in any case.’

There is a possibility that someone spread the rumor with a purpose in mind. If not, there might be someone who fought with Alexander.

‘Either way, it’s a serious situation. Even if they didn’t succeed in killing him, the fact that there is a force spreading rumors about his death is concerning.’

Lark paused for a moment, pondering silently before sending a message telepathically.

• Are you busy? It seems like a potential threat to the country’s interests has emerged.

‘If we’re going to track it, we should take the kids along-‘

Wow!

A sudden gust of wind blew, prompting Lark to draw his sword. However, despite his reaction, he simply chuckled as he looked at the approaching figure. Steps approached in the sound of sand being swept by the wind. The man who appeared with the sandstorm approached Lark and spoke, “What is the hindrance you speak of?”

With a deep voice and a sharp attitude, Lark couldn’t help but feel that this person was easy to handle for some reason.

“Hey, you don’t even greet before going straight to the point like that.”

A player who doesn’t hesitate to do anything for the sake of their country’s interests. Capable of protecting themselves sufficiently even in the face of serious combat, a person strong against various information and strategies.

‘Long time no see, Cheka.’

The person Lark referred to as his assistant was a secret agent of Minis.”

• *

“I knew he was impressive, but…”

Lark observed Cheka’s activities in the dark alley. It was rumored that Alexander had died, as his current whereabouts couldn’t be confirmed, there was a possibility that this rumor contained some sinister intentions.

‘It’s only been 1 hour and 40 minutes since the rumor started spreading-‘

Even though the news was spread around sunset, Cheka managed to capture the initial spreader of the rumor around dusk, with the moon just beginning to show.”

“Using a carrot and a whip like that. Well, I don’t know if that’s really a whip.”

Crack-!

Something that had flown out of Cheka’s armpit dug into the stone wall.

“If there’s a mix of lies, your life in Minis won’t be smooth.”

“R-Really?”

“Who ordered it?”

“I-I didn’t order it! I just saw it passing by and reported what I saw! Who would order such a thing? Why would they order it?”

The user who was being hit by Cheka’s whip(?) hurriedly explained, struggling to get his words out. His words were clear enough to be heard even from Lark’s position, so the general situation could be sorted out.

‘Just for that reason, huh. What a bore, even if it’s an oil well.’

The reason the original spreader spread the rumor of Alexander’s death was simple.

A dragon flying in the sky suddenly crashed to the ground and disappeared.

Someone who looked like a person was riding on that dragon.

That person also fell to the ground, and when he arrived at the location, neither the dragon nor any human remains were visible.

The dragon was yellowish like Bailephus.

‘It didn’t look like someone was hunting, so it’s not a monster dragon, there’s no one else but Alexander who would be traveling with a dragon, and there was no body left at the crash site, so it must have been a ‘user’…’

The original spreader’s words had some reason to them, but to Lark, it was just nonsense.

“Help! G-Guards!”

While Cheka glanced at Lark for a moment, the user slipped out from under Cheka’s arm and escaped.

“It’s no use even if you tell the guards…”

“Ah, that’s enough. Chasing after them will just tire us out.”

Grabbing Cheka, who was about to chase after them, Lark left the alley.

“Any loot?”

“Some. But it’s not exactly what I was hoping for.”

“Hope?”

Cheka’s eyebrow twitched.

Lark cursed inwardly at his slip of the tongue.

“No, I mean, I thought there would be rumors like ‘Alexander killed Lee Jiwon!’ or something like that. Or… there might be a third party spreading malicious rumors.”

“Like ‘Parasite in the Lion’s Belly’?”

Cheka speculated one of the reasons Lark was waffling.

Since Lark had dropped that word to Cheka but hadn’t revealed any further information, from the secret agent’s perspective, they had no choice but to follow Lark’s uncertain words.

“How about following the location where the user presumed to be Alexander and the dragon crashed… will you go?”

“Of course.”

“Alright, alright. I should follow up to that place too.”

Despite thinking it was nothing major, Lark was curious nonetheless.

Dragons flying in the sky don’t just crash suddenly. Unless a large attack party was raiding, the word ‘crash’ would not have been used.

“I’ve seen a dragon flying in the sky suddenly turning into a human before. If there’s a possibility, it must be related to that.”

The dragon flying in the sky might have used a skill to transform into a human for some reason, and the initial spreader mistook the sight of them flying with winged magic as a ‘crash.’

Lark’s thoughts were quite reasonable.

The discovery site was not far from the capital of Minis.

Using a warp gate to travel to a nearby village, the two headed towards the place mentioned by the initial spreader.

“Shall we see, is Yellow Dragon Lair the closest from here? It makes some sense, but it’s not a distance far enough for a monster to turn during a raid…”

“Of course.”

“Above all, the dragon raid is not something done at any time—ah, it seems there is a guild raiding today—”

“Love and Peace.”

“What, what?”

“Love and Peace guild was informed to start the Yellow Dragon Lair raid around 3 PM.”

Cheka replied to Lark’s muttering. Suddenly, a sinister theory crossed Lark’s mind.

The yellow dragon’s crash.

The day Yellow Dragon Lair was raided.

And this place so far from the raid.

Lark: Pung! Contact one of the Love and Peace guild members, ask how the raid went today.

Pung: What?

Lark: Quick!

As Lark increased his pace, Cheka also followed suit.

Recalling the initial spreader’s words, Lark quickly identified the spot estimated to be the dragon’s crash site by comparing the surrounding terrain.

“Cheka, check from this side. That skill from before!”

“One moment.”

Cheka was able to trace back the rumor circulation due to a skill similar to Pere Nangi’s ‘Detective’ skill that she possessed.

Cheka immediately started investigating in a low position.

“If it crashed, there should be some trace left behind. Lark was thinking differently.

Perhaps the Love and Peace guild attempted the Yellow Dragon Lair raid but failed, and angered Ello Dragon came out of hiding?”

“Cursed, it’s a somewhat amusing situation in its own way! Dealing with a dragon is no easy task!”

Rare but possible occurrences were not unheard of. The monster village invasion events had been irregular and unexpected, and this time the target was just a dragon.

“Huh?”

“Why? Did something catch your eye?”

Lark stopped walking towards Cheka and turned to face him.

Though Cheka was saying something to him, Lark didn’t catch his words.

“Rainbow Knight?”

“Uh… Haha, this is insane.”

“Is what I just found related to this?”

Cheka noticed that Lark had spoken with someone and Lark nodded.

“Love and Peace Guild didn’t do the Dragon Raid today. No, they couldn’t.”

The news from Pung was a very simple fact.

• I heard Love and Peace Guild came back today empty-handed from the dragon raid. Apparently, there were no dragons or treasure, a complete waste of time.

Then what happened to the dragon?

Cheka’s dark expression darkened even more.

“Uh…well… I think…it’s related to the footprints of two individuals I found here?”

“Cursed, I hope it’s not the case. The traces of the dragon…”

“Yes. The scales of an adult class Yellow Dragon were scattered around.”

The dragon was definitely here with the two unknown people Cheka found.

Then where did they go, and what happened to the dragon?

There was not only the place to worry about.

• Captain! Isn’t it to the southwest, towards Dijong Village? Go check it out, quickly!
• What? What’s going on all of a sudden?
• There’s been an attack reported at Dijong Village from the Security Headquarters! Requesting immediate reinforcement!

Lark’s face darkened as much as Cheka’s.

Minis-affiliated Dijong was a village relatively close to where Lark and Cheka were.

“Could it be, Cheka-nim! Do we have time?”

“There’s no time—”

“Come on, it’s urgent! The dragon might be there! To Dijong! Scroll of Return!”

Lark immediately activated the Scroll of Return.

Dijong Village wasn’t far, but the urgency of the situation demanded immediate action. Despite grumbling, Cheka followed Lark, and they quickly flew to Dijong using the warp gate.

“Ah, the smell of fresh blood.”

What Lark and Cheka found upon arrival was a gruesome sight. At least, it was difficult to see it as something done by an Yellow Dragon… the marks of slaughter. Lark had seen a similar scene of slaughter before.

Toon? As Lark looked at the devastated Dijong Village, the name of the monster that came to his mind was the most vicious of all monsters he had seen so far, Toon.

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