“We apologize for lacking so much.” Fermin said in a dejected tone with her head down.

The other guild members also felt ashamed they couldn’t help their vice leader and only burdened her.

“No, it’s fine.” Rachel shook her head. She appeared calm and peaceful as always. They couldn’t have controlled that mana wave in the first place. Their best option had been to run and hopefully survive.

“Vice Leader…”

Fermin sounded like she would burst into tears as she held Rachel’s hand. She closed her eyes and scanned Rachel’s body with her mana.

Rachel felt the aches all over her body slowly disappear thanks to Fermin’s simple, yet rare gift called Healing and Rejuvenation.

“Thank you.” Rachel smiled at her.

“Don’t mention it! It’s our duty to assist you.”

“Vice Leader!”

Marcus, Karen, and Dale returned from scouting the area. Xtra left a while ago to collect medicinal herbs for Rachel, so they went on the lookout for any potential threats.

“There seem to be no threats nearby. Also, we caught this on the way.”

They returned carrying a boar known as ricorit. This low rank monster had excellent taste and nutritional value.

“Let’s roast it for tonight. You have to eat properly to replenish your strength.”

“Yes, that sounds good. Let’s eat together.”

Rachel seemed friendlier today after gaining an important enlightenment as an elementalist. It felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders. She planned to rigorously train in combining her elements as soon as she recovered.

“Yes, we’ll prepare it immediately.”

The guild members went to cook their meals. They lit up the campfire and roasted the ricorit on top.

This slowly cooked meat would cost at least tens of millions of won, but all the guild members seemed downcast. The ambush last night instilled a crushing sense of defeat in them.

“It must’ve been Lancaster, right?” Marcus asked, and the others shifted their gaze towards Rachel.

She nodded. “Most likely.”

They all fell silent and only the crackling campfire and roasting meat could be heard.

“Please, come and eat.”

Rachel portioned the meat for them, but no one had an appetite.

Everyone felt depressed when Marcus tapped Fermin on the shoulder.

“Hey, what happened to that local person?”

“W-What?” Fermin suddenly flinched.

“That local pathfinder you hired. I tried not to pay too much attention, but does it make sense that he guided us through a mana storm?”

The other members wondered the same. They got around safely thanks to the pathfinder, but grew suspicious after Lancaster’s ambush.

“

Ah…

that’s…” Fermin muttered and stole a glance at Rachel.

Rachel wore a calm expression that seemed to say everyone could know the truth now.

“Xtra… you’ve heard of him, right?” Fermin asked them.

“So it was him.”

The guild members didn’t overreact and already seemed to know, which surprised Fermin.

They weren’t surprised at all after hearing his name?

Fermin waved and blurted something even more shocking.

“No, no, no, there’s something else too. I thought about it and…”

“What is it?”

“I mean… I think this mercenary has a crush on Vice Leader…”

“A crush? You mean he likes her?”

“Yeah, it’s just my speculation though.”

The guild members glared at Fermin, but Rachel briefly flinched and pretended to be nonchalant about it.

“Hey, listen to me.

Ah

, you should listen too, Vice Leader. It’s…”

Fermin tried to spell out the things she noticed until now.

Why did a skilled mercenary like Xtra accept this request for a meager 700 million won? Definitely not for the fame since the English Royal Court lacked prestige. It only made sense if Xtra liked Rachel, so he decided to help.

“Isn’t it convincing?”

The guild members all turned to Rachel again when Fermin finished explaining.

Rachel flinched and placed down the meat she prepared to eat.

“No, rather than that…”

Ring! Ring! Ring!

An alarm from their smartwatches interrupted Rachel.

“What’s this?”

“Isn’t this our watch alarm?”

“Why would our watches ring?”

Electronic devices didn’t work in Central Asia, so they only used their smartwatches to tell time. However, they suddenly received a message just now.

[This is a message from the General Assembly.]

[Congratulations, the English Royal Court guild has passed the first trial.]

[Please click the link below to check your general assembly license.]

“Trial… then is this something the association prepared?”

One of the guild members asked, but none of them knew.

***

Meanwhile, I worked on turning the viper’s hide into leather armor in my helicopter. The viper’s hide possessed great durability and high magic resistance, so it would make for useful equipment.

“This should do the trick.”

I completed the

[Viper Leather Armor]

that covered my shoulder down to my waist.

Stigma took care of the tedious tasks like tanning, stitching, and soldering. The results undoubtedly turned out spectacular. Its Roman mythology design also pleased the eye thanks to Young Dwarf’s Dexterity.

“How do I give this to…?”

I wanted to gift it to Rachel, but had no justifications to do so. Also, she probably wouldn’t accept it for free judging from her personality. I couldn’t use it anymore since I made it to fit a smaller woman.

“

Ah

, why the hell did I have such a dream?”

I had a strange dream last night. I saw a younger Rachel that looked exactly like Evandel. She was with Lancaster, who hadn’t been corrupted yet. She seemed much more cheerful than now and Lancaster also held great affection towards her and his country. The dream felt so vivid, which made it all the more unfortunate. It made me pity Rachel.

Diring! Diring!

“

Ah

, that surprised me!”

My smartwatch suddenly rang.

Huh? What’s this? Did communications work in Central Asia?

I composed myself and checked the message.

[This is a message from the General Assembly.]

[Congratulations, the English Royal Court guild has passed the first trial.]

[Please click the link below to check your general assembly license.]

“General assembly license?”

I clicked the link.

[You are affiliated with the English Royal Court.]

[Your name has been set as Xtra.]

[Please click here to check your license.]

“What the hell is this?”

— Can you hear me?

Rachel suddenly contacted me.

“Yeah, I can hear you.”

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

— Yes, what I wanted to say is…

“The general assembly license?”

— Yes, it’s about that. We just received the message, but I have no idea what it means. You’re also included.

Rachel said while sounding troubled.

I clicked on the

[General Assembly License]

.

[General Assembly License]

[Name: Xtra] [Contribution Rank: A+] [Affiliation: English Royal Court] [Type: Assassin, Observer] [Relationship: N/A]

*This license is required to enter the general assembly. *The holder of this license may use the facilities under their affiliation. *You are affiliated with the English Royal Court.

“

Haha…

”

I could only laugh in disbelief.

Aside from the general assembly, I had discarded this license from my story a long time ago.

***

“See, I told you.”

Aileen stared at the holographic screen in a mysterious hall with a large dome above. The extravagant walls featured blue crystals that made the entire place sparkle.

“Essence of the Strait will take the top spot.”

[1. Essence of the Strait]

As expected, Essence of the Strait led by Chae Nayun received the

[General Assembly License]

first and Creator’s Sacred Grace led by Yun Seung-ah and Kim Suho came in second.

Everything went according to Aileen’s prediction.

“They say the English Royal Court came in 17th. Have you looked into it?” Jin Seyeon asked Aileen.

As one of the association’s top heroes, Jin Seyeon had also been requested to be one of the general assembly’s overseer.

Aileen shook her head. “No, why even bother? They only have Rachel, right?”

“Still, I suggest looking into it. The mercenary they hired seems quite peculiar.”

“Why? Is there something about that mercenary?”

“

Hmm…

Take a look for yourself.”

Jin Seyeon pulled up a screen in mid-air.

The holographic screen displayed

[1. Chae Nayun]

followed by

[2. Kim Suho]

. This chart listed the ranking each participant individually obtained during the march.

This ranking had been made by the general assembly and not the association, so everything would be fair.

[8. Xtra]

? Killed High-Intermediate Rank Monster, Viper.

? Unknown Ambush, Killed: 13

? Contribution Rank: A+

“

Huh?

A mercenary killed a viper alone? What’s with the unknown ambush? He fought against djinns?”

A fully-grown adult viper could be considered a high-intermediate, rank 1 monster. A mercenary couldn’t possibly handle it alone. However, this mercenary did and also killed numerous other enemies.

“That’s not an ordinary mercenary.”

“You’re right. He’s the only mercenary who got a license. Seems like he got it through his affiliation with the English Royal Court.”

“Oh, really? Then did the general assembly make a mistake?”

“I have no idea. However, the English Royal Court only had 11 members participating since one of them dropped out. I think they added that mercenary to fill the vacancy.”

“

Hmm…

”

Aileen crossed her arms and pondered. She chose to let it be since the General Assembly decided everything that happened here.

“Let’s just observe for now. After all, no one has any idea what this General Assembly really is.”

The general assembly that established a huge field in Central Asia turned out to be a being, which no one could have predicted.

Correct, the General Assembly could think and communicate like a human. It reached out and contacted the association first.

[Hello, I am a large field created in Central Asia. My name is the General Assembly…]

The email began like that. The contents felt like such a ridiculous joke that they marked it as spam and deleted it repeatedly.

Could it be some sort of living computer or an advanced artificial intelligence? If not, then could a field suddenly possess intellect?

Aileen had no idea. All the mysteries surrounding the General Assembly would only be resolved once the event officially began.

“They’ll be here any time now.”

Aileen spoke when…

Creaaaak—

The two heroes turned towards the opening doors as twelve more heroes entered: Chae Nayun, Yoo Yeonha, Yi Jinah, Yi Jiyoon, etc. These renowned heroes all belonged to Korea’s top guild, Essence of the Strait.

“Hello! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Aileen smiled at them.

***

“Is this… the second trial?”

The English Royal Court faced an overwhelming obstacle during their march.

This gigantic maze seemed like it had been built by giants or ogres due to its sheer size. It had 5 meter thick walls that rose 20 meters in height.

“This is… who knows?”

— Don’t enter and wait for me.

The communication crystal flashed as Xtra spoke. All eyes immediately darted to Rachel. She suddenly felt nervous for no reason because of all the attention.

— It’ll be best if you rest for today.

“Rest? Rest here?”

— Yeah, you haven’t fully recovered from your mana exhaustion, right? Take a break. I also have something to give you.

“Something to give? To me?”

— Yeah.

Rachel tried to say something, but couldn’t find the words as her guild members curiously stared at her with sleazy eyes. They seemed excited about something.

“W-Why?”

Rachel asked and couldn’t think of anything else to say.

— I collected some herbs to help you recover. There’s a lake nearby. You should go there and…

Xtra continued speaking, but Rachel cut off their communication. She felt somewhat uncomfortable with the current situation.

“

Hehehe.

Yeah, I guess we should listen to him and rest for now.”

Marcus said with a sleazy grin. He acted quite sly today for some odd reason.

“Please don’t smile like that.”

Rachel muttered before turning around and leading the group towards the lake according to Xtra’s instructions.