Chapter 70 - Chapter 68: Episode 67 - The Pain That Stopped
It's been four weeks since I arrived here.
According to the plan, the 2nd Expedition Team was supposed to arrive.
Yu-rin felt sorry for Min-ah.
If this all resolved and we got Seon-ah back, it felt like either I or Miel would end up taking him.
Once I finally got Seon-ah back into my arms after losing him, it was clear I wouldn't show him to anyone.
Not Miel, and not even myself.
When that time comes, Miel will shift from being an ally to a romantic rival.
That situation felt a bit sad.
Losing the only colleague with whom I could share memories of Seon-ah would be a real pity.
But losing Seon-ah would be an even greater one.
In the end, neither of us was in a position to make a choice.
I even had a feeling that the end of this story would result in one of us disappearing.
The 2nd Expedition Team and Min-ah will be here soon.
I couldn't show my true feelings.
Because Seon-ah's mother, Min-ah, had better intuition than I'd expected.
Even better than Seon-ah, whom I cherish the most.
Miel felt that the pleasure she'd been getting from her Yin Mark had vanished just one week after entering the gate.
What on earth happened?
She felt so anxious.
However, she didn't even feel any pain.
Every time she felt a soft touch on Seon-ah's body, she realized he was alive and felt relieved.
Wishing desperately for Seon-ah to be safe, she couldn't focus on what she had to do right now.
If things went on like this, she couldn't save Seon-ah.
Thinking she needed to pull herself together, she reminded herself of her mission.
Considering the size of the 1st Expedition Team, it was a stroke of luck that so many people had managed to hide in this forest and set up a base camp without getting caught by the Black Minotaur Lord's scouts.
The Minotaur Lord, true to his background as a knight, had invested heavily in military power, with the territory's military spending reaching 40%.
Because security was that tight, many demons were conducting trade and various businesses within that territory.
On top of that, the scout force was several times larger than in other territories.
Even though he was maintaining a near-wartime military budget due to recurring trauma from a leg injury, taxes from trade kept the territory running.
In this Demon World, there weren't many places with security as good as that, excluding the Royal Capital.
However, I was worried about whether that luck would hold out for us this time.
Please, let us not get caught this time too...
Min-ah looked at the gate after finishing the 2nd Expedition Team's departure ceremony and oath.
How dangerous must the world where my son is be?
My chest felt tight thinking about what kind of monster my son might be violated by and suffering from right now.
The sound of many people cheering at the departure ceremony sounded just like Seon-ah's screams.
The applause and cheers sounded like the mocking laughter of the succubi violating my son.
I felt like I was going to throw up.
It felt like I would hear Seon-ah's voice in my ears at any moment.
The pain wouldn't stop.
Feeling the invisible pain in my heart, Min-ah took the 2nd Expedition Team and entered the gate.
To get her son back.
To keep the promise she made to Hyeon-tae.
Miel was waiting with the scout troops for the 2nd Expedition Team to emerge from the gate.
Her role was to stabilize the minds of the command staff and the 2nd Expedition Team leader as soon as they crossed over, to help with the handover of the scout troops.
It was to bring the troops to their base camp as quickly as possible by utilizing the mental stability ability of a mental-type hunter.
Not long after, the 2nd Expedition Team's troops crossed through the gate.
Confirming that they had arrived at the same place where the 1st Expedition Team had first come through, Miel and the scout troops went nearby to greet them.
As expected, they showed signs of suffering from the Demon World's air, just like they had when they first arrived.
Their whole bodies must have felt heavy.
Because they were the same at first.
They couldn't wait for them to come to their senses.
Since Operations Staff Park Yu-rin said this was land ruled by a monster lord who operated large-scale military forces, and that patrols came out frequently, they had to evacuate them to their hideout as soon as possible.
If they were caught for no reason, the lord of this place might dispatch an army and attack them.
Miel first placed her hands on the heads of the staff and the 2nd Expedition Team leader, Min-ah, and began to stabilize their minds.
She couldn't erase the pressure bearing down on their bodies, but by providing psychological stability, their minds would be much more at ease.
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Once they were in a state where it was easier to speak, they would be able to maintain composure, which would be a great help when commanding the troops.
The scout team serving the Black Minotaur Lord witnessed an anomaly from afar.
Unidentified armed assailants had been discovered.
Since the state of their armament lacked uniformity, they assumed they were mercenaries.
In the Demon World, mercenaries were quite a violent bunch.
A group that creates their own work when jobs disappear.
There were many who acted as if transforming into bandits and plundering surrounding villages was a basic requirement.
Especially the larger the scale, the more often they ignored the authority of the lords and acted as they pleased.
The size of the group was confirmed to be close to a regiment level.
It's not common to have an armed group of that size in the Demon World, but if you look for them, there are hundreds.
Now, 30 years after the Demon King passed away, the security situation was so bad that one could say the lords had fire on their feet.
The vacancy of the King and the infighting of the royals.
The factionalism of the nobles.
And due to the gender ratio imbalance, the Demon World's security was more unstable than ever.
Except for this territory where the Black Minotaur they serve reigns.
The scouts realized they couldn't handle a force of that size and hurriedly turned back to report to the Lord's office.
It was an emergency, so they had to convey this situation to the Lord directly.
Yu-rin and the Expedition Leader, Maria, welcomed Min-ah, who had returned to the base camp.
"Welcome, 2nd Expedition Team Leader. Now that you've joined us, we will change your position. From now on, I will appoint you as the Vice Expedition Leader."
The 2nd Expedition Team was supposed to merge the two groups for consolidation as soon as they joined the 1st Expedition Team.
She was going from 2nd Expedition Team Leader to Vice Expedition Leader.
Min-ah accepted it because instructions had been given to avoid confusion in the chain of command when merging, in case the first expedition team failed to set up a base camp and was annihilated.
"All 780 members of the 2nd Expedition Team have joined the expedition team without any issues."
Maria was satisfied seeing Min-ah report as if she had accepted the chain of command.
The reason it was only about half the size of the 1st Expedition Team was that the 2nd Expedition Team mainly consisted of combat troops.
The 2nd Expedition Team was recruited mainly with combat troops to replenish the combat personnel that would be consumed if the 1st Expedition Team entered into battle while setting up the outpost.
Furthermore, she had high expectations because she had heard from Park Yu-ra, the representative of the Hwaryong Guild who led this project, that Lee Min-ah was a very capable hunter.
She felt that even if she weren't there, this woman would fulfill the role she needed to play.
Maria looked to be in her mid-thirties, but in reality, she was now over sixty.
She had already handed over the guild she founded to other members, and now she had come to this Demon World to chase the honor that would remain on Earth forever.
Even if she died, if she were recorded in history or had land named after her, she would remain as the "Pioneer of the Demon World" rather than the prestigious name of S-class Hunter Maria.
Since she had operated a guild as an S-class hunter and destroyed countless gates, money actually didn't mean much to her.
After living as a hunter for a long time, she had realized the truth that the only thing left when one's life ends is honor.
She participated in an expedition that might end in failure.
She knew that even if she failed, her name would go down as the first explorer of the Demon World.
Because she wanted honor, she was assigning a lot of meaning to being the "first" in her heart.
That was why the fact that Yu-rin held the title of the first returnee from the Demon World was a huge reason why she evaluated her as a good subordinate.
Since coming to the Demon World, Yu-rin had been a huge help, living up to her title, so in Maria's heart, Yu-rin had been promoted from a good subordinate to a capable one.
The most capable subordinate who could not be replaced by anyone.
She was expecting that Min-ah would probably be on par with her as well.
Hoping that Min-ah would work harder for her own desire for honor, she thought she would cherish this subordinate with a joyful heart.
Maria gathered all the troops from the 1st and 2nd Expedition Teams.
And to ensure there was no confusion in the chain of command, she mentioned the names of the staff and officers of the joined 2nd Expedition Team and emphasized that they had been promoted to deputy positions in their respective fields.
It was a very joyful moment for Maria.
Because only now was the preparation to explore the Demon World in earnest finally finished.
All that remained was the start of a war of conquest for 'occupation' so that she could carve her name into history.