Side Story 6
Meanwhile, what about Juhyeok?
He was at a temporary settlement in the grasslands on the outskirts of Mezpol,
together with the sewer beastmen and a few summoned beings.
Farmer Do-woo seemed to like the lush green plains, wandering around here and there,
while Gyeon Dallae was setting up talismans and sacred ropes around the residential area.
As for the alchemist Mari—
she was checking on beastmen whose health had deteriorated after long lives in the sewers, brewing medicine tailored to each of them.
"It should be about time."
The so-called Operation March of the Gigant.
A tactic meant to draw everyone's attention inside the city by stationing the Gigant in front of Mezpol's walls and making it stomp occasionally.
Suddenly—
Koom!
"It's started."
The Gigant now stood before the city walls.
"…It really is huge."
Koom!
Every stomp sent tremors through the ground.
The citizens of Mezpol were probably terrified.
You could tell just by looking at the beastmen here.
"Eeh?"
"H-hic?"
"Uwaaa…"
The beastmen huddled together, heads pressed close, trembling.
"It's okay. It's on our side."
"R-really?"
"Rajiks keeps it in his subspace. He takes it out to ride sometimes when he's bored."
"…."
"Really!"
They still didn't quite believe it.
"It's so big… it won't explode, right?"
"No, it won't."
They seemed to think that putting something like that into subspace would make it burst.
The real operation began.
Spot!
AI Wiz projected holographic footage.
Five split screens appeared.
Belmorin Trading Company, Spire Trading Company, Luna Trading Company, Elderoll Trading Company, Noct Trading Company—the places where the beastmen were imprisoned.
The summoned beings who had infiltrated Mezpol were attacking all five merchant groups simultaneously, divided into teams.
Above all, the most thrilling sight was—
Taeng! Prrrreeeeng!
Rajiks's omnidirectional rolling pickaxe strikes.
"Whoa! As expected of the Dimensional Farmhand."
The beastmen stared wide-eyed, mouths agape, watching Rajiks's exploits.
Then Menochong chairman Enix spoke with a worried expression.
"Um… if that man gets hurt badly, it could be a problem."
"What man?"
"The one being beaten by Lord Rajiks. The head of Belmorin Trading Company."
Why?
"Behind Belmorin Trading Company is House Aurelion. They might come seeking revenge."
A ducal house?
"House Aurelion is the greatest noble family of the Baltarion Empire. The duke is a Grand Master, and he even has an order of knights—all of them Master-level…"
I see.
"Duke Aurelion is known as a deep-thinking man. Noble, cool-headed, wise…"
Impressive.
"He's also highly charismatic, with many loyal subordinates. He has the emperor's full trust, and his family's wealth exceeds that of all the empire's nobles combined…"
So?
"If something happens to a merchant group he's invested in, he won't stay still. Um… S-summoner, you might be in danger."
If he comes for revenge, so be it.
That aside—
"Mr. Enix."
"Yes?"
"Do you think Duke Aurelion knew?"
"Knew…?"
"That Belmorin Trading Company was illegally imprisoning beastmen and extracting unjust profits."
Enix thought for a moment.
"He probably knew. Duke Aurelion visited Mezpol a few months ago. He would've received reports on merchant operations."
So he knew.
"Then Duke Aurelion is a villain too."
"…Pardon?"
"I mean he's a bad bastard."
"Uh, th-that's not wrong, but he's not someone you can judge so simply—"
Juhyeok chuckled.
"You know, villains are just villains."
"…What?"
"There's never been a single cool one. In the end, they all show their true colors."
He knew from experience.
The average curse-boss of the 70th floor, Kabalan.
Demonic dragons, berserk dragons—dragons with grandiose titles.
The Black Tower administrators.
Cohen, the CEO of the Earth-side corporation.
Dimensional travelers clinging to the God of Devouring.
And even the final mastermind, the Demon Immortal.
"At first they all seemed like they had something going on. But when you looked closer, they were all petty, shallow, vulgar, and stupid."
That was just the truth.
No exaggeration.
No matter how much villains tried to put on airs, they always ended up begging for their lives, bawling their eyes out.
That's how bad people are.
No backbone. No guts.
All they have is extreme selfishness.
As long as I'm fine.
Anyone in my way gets erased.
If Duke Aurelion truly knew about the suffering of the beastmen, he should never have turned a blind eye.
But he did.
Which meant he might be the real root of the problem.
"So don't worry. Whoever comes knocking, we'll smash them all."
Of course—not me.
My summoned beings.
At that moment—
Giiiiik…
The Gigant raised its enormous arm before the city wall.
It bent at the waist, aimed at the lower section of the wall, and—
Whiiit!
A powerful underhand punch.
BOOM!!!
A massive hole opened up.
An escape route created by the Gigant.
From the breach poured out summoned beings and beastmen alike.
Once the evacuation was complete—
Ssssssht!
The Gigant, having fulfilled its duty magnificently, returned to the subspace backpack.
Everyone safely arrived at the grasslands where Juhyeok was waiting.
The rescue was a success.
…
"Whew, you all worked hard."
"Hehehe, wasn't hard at all. We just went and had some fun."
"Tch, barely worth mentioning. That was weak for a proper rampage."
"Victory! Lieutenant Veronica Caliber reporting—mission complete, returned safely!"
"Light!!!"
The summoned beings were fine, but what about Rajiks's kin?
Did everyone make it?
"Uwaaaaaah…"
They reunited with the friends who had been imprisoned.
Families torn apart were brought back together.
How much had they missed each other?
They hugged, rolled around on the ground, shouted in joy, and wept openly.
Watching the scene, Rajiks slowly turned his head away.
His eyes were glistening.
Then his gaze met Juhyeok's.
He hastily wiped his tears and approached with an awkward look.
Snap!
He raised his short arm in a salute.
"Huah!"
Hmm.
"…Huah. Good work."
Juhyeok returned the salute with a solemn expression.
"At ease!"
"Hoheng!"
Next came the results report.
Sssht, sssht.
Rajiks dumped heaps of miscellaneous items out of subspace.
They piled up like a mountain, just like during the old Earth raids.
"Whoa…"
Gold and silver coins, refined gold and silver magic metals, common and high-grade mana stones, materials like hides and herbs, weapons, armor, accessories, luxury items, works of art.
There were also documents and ledgers from each merchant group.
He'd grabbed everything in sight.
But something was strange.
According to the Pope, you could dig anywhere and find top-grade mana stones—
yet there were only common and high-grade ones.
"No top-grade mana stones?"
Kosak responded.
"Ay, our Summoner Bong sure is impatient. Why wouldn't there be?"
There were?
"Take a look."
He rummaged through the documents on the ground and picked up a bundle of palm-sized paper cards.
"These."
"Why paper cards—"
Wait.
"Ah!"
Now he got it.
"Mana-stone-only subspace tickets."
"Hehehe, sharp as ever."
"Hoheng!"
Storage tickets that release mana stones when torn.
Was it the influence of dimensional travelers?
They did say a lot of them came here.
"Gold ones are full. Gray ones are empty."
Even empty gray tickets would be valuable.
Even if single-use, they still had subspace magic inscribed.
"We'll take the tickets and give everything else to the beastmen."
"Yes—oh, right. Rajiks's kin can't put anything but labyrinth resources into subspace."
"Just stack it here. Who's going to steal it?"
"Understood."
What remained now?
Setting up a defensive position.
"We'll commence the final operation: 'So What?'"
"Proceed."
What was Operation 'So What?'
So what? Whatever. What can you do? Nothing, right? Losers. Going crazy, aren't you?—that kind of thing.
In other words—
The grasslands chosen as the beastmen's temporary settlement were not far from Mezpol.
An open field, easy to approach from all sides.
Clearly visible from atop the city walls.
So why choose this place?
Because they weren't hiding.
Come if you want.
If you think you can kidnap them again—
go ahead and try.
What about defense?
Of course there would be defense.
The plan was to build an impregnable fortress of lamentation—one that no one could approach.
"We'll station four Gigants, one each to the east, west, south, and north."
Dr. El reported to Juhyeok.
"We'll also deploy four Mechanic Goliath combat golems, and one hundred attack drones."
Would they just leave them standing there?
Of course not.
AI Wiz would activate an active defense system.
Who do you think had been moving the Gigant earlier?
Wiz had done everything.
However, there was a problem.
It looked like they would need to stay here for quite some time.
First of all, food would run out.
The land was spacious, but there weren't enough proper houses to live in comfortably.
They needed supplies.
"We'll need to make a trip to the White Tower."
If Juhyeok moved to the White Tower, the summoned beings would follow him.
Even though manifestation time limits were gone, without the summoner, they couldn't remain in a specific world.
Then wouldn't only the beastmen be left behind?
That was fine.
They would be safe.
Reconnaissance satellites, Gigants, combat golems that could split into fifty units, police combat drones.
Those weren't summoned beings, so they could be left behind.
AI Wiz would operate them autonomously.
Right now, Mezpol's leadership would be panicking, not knowing what to do.
It would take quite some time before they came up with countermeasures.
Let's go quickly.
To the White Tower.
They needed to return with their supplies fully stocked.
Mezpol Grand Temple.
Pope Kalios had a splitting headache.
The representatives of the five merchant groups had all rushed to the Grand Temple.
The heads of the Spire, Luna, Elderoll, and Noct trading companies were present in person.
The head of Belmorin Trading Company had been injured, so his chief manager came instead.
They were currently meeting with the civil affairs priest—
a Grand Temple official in charge of political matters.
The Pope already knew why the merchant representatives had come.
It had to be about the chaos that broke out this morning.
The appearance of a colossal golem.
Stomping around and causing earthquakes.
While the city security forces focused on the golem,
unknown assailants infiltrated each merchant group in Mezpol, abducted(?) the beastman laborers, and completely looted the companies' assets.
Pope Kalios had seen the golem himself.
He had nearly fainted from shock.
Even now, four massive golems stood in the grasslands far from Mezpol.
If you climbed to a high place, you could see them clearly.
Who could have done this?
Only one person came to mind.
The dimensional traveler Bong Juhyeok.
Reports said that among the attackers of Belmorin Trading Company was a large beastman—so it had to be him.
"So my worst fears were right…"
Knock, knock.
The civil affairs priest entered the Pope's office.
"Your Holiness. I have finished the meeting."
"Welcome back. What did the merchant representatives say?"
"They requested the intervention of the Holy Forces under the Grand Temple."
Just as expected.
The Grand Temple's intervention—
the most reliable way to resolve the situation.
"The Holy Forces are out of the question. Not yet."
They were not created to be deployed for matters like this.
"If the Holy Forces do not intervene, then…"
"Then?"
"They said they will handle it themselves. They will also request military deployment from their home nations."
"If we won't help, they want us to stay out of it?"
"Yes, essentially."
"…Hoo."
It was common knowledge that the five merchant groups of Mezpol were connected to the major powers of the Kalzenia dimension.
They had suffered enormous losses in this incident, so of course they would seek help from their homelands.
But if this escalated into greater conflict?
If it led to actual war?
That absolutely had to be prevented.
"I'll need to meet him."
Resolve it through negotiation before things escalate.
Where was Bong Juhyeok now?
"Huh?"
Where did he go?
Did he leave the dimension?
That would be ideal.
The atmosphere in Mezpol was tense.
It wasn't just that the merchant groups had been looted.
The most serious issue was that labyrinth exploration had come to a complete halt.
Why?
There were no laborers.
Adventurers would have to drag carts themselves into the labyrinth.
How could proper exploration and gathering take place?
Mezpol was a city built on labyrinth exploration.
If activity stagnated, it would deal a fatal blow to the city's economy.
This had to be resolved quickly.
The longer it dragged on, the greater the damage would accumulate.
Fortunately, they hadn't gone far.
They had settled close to Mezpol City.
So the alliance of the five merchant groups decided to first hire mercenaries—
both to probe the enemy's strength and test the waters.
The best mercenary group in Mezpol: Black Tongue.
Notorious for being vicious and cruel.
Mercenaries were never righteous.
Strange.
Aside from beastmen, there wasn't a single human to be seen.
"Where did they go?"
No matter how much they searched, there were only rat-like creatures gathered there.
And piles upon piles of treasure—presumably plundered from the merchant groups.
However—
"…They'll die if they get greedy for that."
The giant golems.
Just looking at them was intimidating.
For enough money, mercenaries would do anything.
Murder, kidnapping, assault, rape, plunder.
They were mercenaries in name only—no different from criminals.
The leader of the Black Tongue mercenary group was Eric Gunther.
Eric was a gold-rank mercenary—top-tier Expert level.
The merchant alliance's commission:
retrieve the rat-things and the treasure, and they would receive half of the plunder.
Eric led around a hundred mercenaries into the grasslands outside Mezpol.
They rode warhorses equipped with magical tack to maximize mobility.
How many enemies were there?
Holding a spyglass, Eric observed the area where the giant golems stood.
He didn't want to get any closer.
There were also smaller golems.
Not many, but the way they stomped around was anything but harmless.
"This feels dangerous."
The instincts honed by a life of mercenary work told him so.
Even if the entire city security force and knight orders charged together, it wouldn't be enough.
"But we can't retreat either."
He had already received the advance payment.
And even now, the merchant heads were watching them from the city walls.
"At least we should look like we tried."
Shoot some arrows from afar, then retreat.
That much was possible.
A golem's weakness was obvious.
The larger it was, the slower it had to be.
There was no need to face the golem directly.
Just keep dodging and make it look like a fight—
Alright.
Decision made.
Let's approach first.
If we at least pretend to fight, they won't ask for the advance payment back.
Eric explained the plan to his mercenaries.
The Black Tongue mercenaries nodded.
"Never get close. Just draw bows from afar."
"Yes!"
"But make it look like you're trying. Got it?"
"Heh heh, no problem."
Time to move.
Dudududududu!
The warhorses charged across the plains.
Battle steeds with magic tack, their mobility pushed to the limit.
They drew closer and closer to the giant golem.
They entered firing range.
Shush! Shush-shush-shush!
Arrows flew.
Thud! Thududududuk!
They struck the golem's body.
Kiiiiik!
The golem's head turned.
"Maintain distance! Circle around from afar! Just make it look like a fight!"
Suddenly—
Beeeeeng!
The giant golem's eyes glowed red.
"…Huh?"
What?
Why did its eyes turn red?
When Juhyeok had decided on the beastman rescue and merchant plundering operation,
he had sternly instructed Kosak to minimize casualties.
For that reason, not a single person had died during the operation.
But Juhyeok was not here now.
The one controlling and operating the golems was AI Wiz.
—Enemy intrusion detected. Countermeasures required.
And—
AI was ruthless.
It only considered the most efficient method in every situation.
Whether people lived or died didn't matter.
—Countermeasure determined. Eliminate enemy.
That was when—
Swoong! Swoong! Swoong!
Small golems multiplied until they were countless.
Their eyes glowed red as well.
Chijijijijiji…
Terrifying beams of destruction shot out.
From the Gigants,
from the two hundred combat golems whose numbers had increased through division—
Crack-crack-crack! Crack-crack!
Bang! Bang! Brrrrang!
Blood and flesh sprayed everywhere.
Over a hundred Black Tongue mercenaries were erased in an instant.
"…What?"
Eric Gunther, a gold-rank mercenary, couldn't believe it.
The golem's eyes flashed—and the mercenaries were gone.
Was he safe?
No.
When the light flashed, he twisted his body desperately,
but his lower half vanished along with his warhorse.
Yet it didn't hurt.
He didn't even feel like he'd been attacked.
He just couldn't move.
"Is this a dream?"
At the same time, the sky darkened.
He lifted his head and saw a massive sole looming overhead.
"…Damn it."
BOOM!
CRUSH!
Stomp.
Including Eric Gunther, over a hundred members of the Black Tongue mercenary group.
The time it took for them to be annihilated—
Just thirty seconds.
At the same moment, the merchant leaders watching from the city walls were struck dumb.
A scene that felt utterly unreal.
How could this possibly be real?