Saturday cleanup monitoring at the river bank.
Eight AM.
The standard assembly: Han-Ho, Min-Seo, all seven S-Ranks, Cheongi in the river, the old man, Wei Junhao, Hwang Chulsoo, Baek Suri, Aria, the ley line sprite who had been in the bag pocket since Friday morning and had established a tentative friendship with River based entirely on both of them finding everything extraordinary.
And General Veron Ashmark.
Who had been at Yoo Chae-Won's Gangnam apartment overnight because Han-Ho had called ahead and Yoo Chae-Won had said the defensive position comment would not apply to a Dark Lord general because she had already had that conversation with Hwang Chulsoo and had developed a policy.
The policy was: everyone gets the spare room. The spare room has good sight lines. Do not say good defensive position. Say good view.
Hwang Chulsoo had been working on this for three weeks.
He had managed it twice.
General Ashmark had managed it immediately.
He had stood at the window and said: good view.
Yoo Chae-Won had looked at him.
The general had the expression of someone who had been briefed.
By Hwang Chulsoo.
Specifically about the good defensive position policy.
"Hwang Chulsoo told you," said Yoo Chae-Won.
"He said it would make you more comfortable," said General Ashmark.
Yoo Chae-Won had looked at the Gangnam skyline.
At Hwang Chulsoo in the kitchen eating honey butter chips.
At General Ashmark with his good view assessment.
She had added it to her mental list.
The list was very long.
At the river bank General Ashmark stood slightly apart from the main group.
Not because he was hostile.
Because he was assessing.
Twenty two years of military habit.
He watched the group work.
The S-Ranks at their monitoring positions.
The old man on the bank.
Cheongi in the river.
Han-Ho reviewing the weekly Dragon Vein flow assessment data.
He watched Han-Ho specifically.
At the work uniform.
At the notebook.
At the focused ordinary presence of the person his lord had been tracking for eighteen months.
The person who had cleaned the Demon King.
Who had cleared the Dragon Vein blockage of two worlds.
Who had developed an ambient cleaning technique in a Friday morning practice session.
Who was currently annotating a Dragon Vein flow chart with the focused attention of someone who found this more interesting than the fact that the Commander of the Dark Lord's Northern Army was standing twenty meters away.
Kjor offered him chips.
General Ashmark looked at the bag.
At Kjor.
At the chips.
"It is the only appropriate response to most situations," said Kjor. "I have been in this world for eight weeks. I have found that honey butter chips improve most situations by a measurable amount."
"You are the former Frost Giant," said General Ashmark.
"Kjor," said Kjor. "Yes. Former. I froze seven seas."
"And now."
"Now I assess chip quality and guard the cacti." Kjor indicated the two cacti that had been brought to the river bank three weeks ago. "They are doing well."
General Ashmark looked at the cacti.
"You guard cacti," said General Ashmark.
"Someone should," said Kjor. "They have spikes like armor. They deserve acknowledgement."
General Ashmark looked at the cacti for a long moment.
Took the chips.
Ate one.
Looked at the chip.
"Extraordinary," said the ley line sprite from the bag pocket.
General Ashmark looked at the bag.
At the small luminescent form of the ley line sprite visible through the mesh.
"What is that," said General Ashmark.
"River's roommate," said Kjor. "Ley line sprite. Eight hundred years. Came through the Gate yesterday because the ley lines were cleaner near Master and it wanted to stay near the cleaner ley lines."
General Ashmark looked at the sprite.
The sprite made a small musical sound.
"It says welcome," said River, from the bag pocket.
"Thank you," said General Ashmark.
He ate another chip.
Looked at the river.
At Cheongi.
At the oldest entity in the world standing in the Han River on a Saturday morning surrounded by S-Rank Hunters and martial artists from three worlds and a former Dark Lord general and two cacti.
"This," said General Ashmark to Kjor. "Is not what I expected."
"Nobody expects this," said Kjor. "That is consistent. Everyone who arrives expects something different. Everyone arrives at chips eventually."
"What did you expect when you arrived."
"I expected to freeze things," said Kjor. "I was a Frost Giant. Freezing things was my purpose. I had frozen seven seas. I arrived on a road that had been recently cleaned and Han-Ho told me I was dripping on it." Kjor ate a chip. "I froze nothing. I ate chips instead."
General Ashmark looked at the chips.
"The Dark Lord," said Kjor.
"Yes," said General Ashmark.
"He is afraid of what Han-Ho is," said Kjor.
General Ashmark was quiet.
"He is not afraid," said General Ashmark carefully.
"The detection network tracked the Demon King's disappearance for eighteen months," said Kjor. "He sent you to assess. He sent scouts before you. He has been preparing a response." Kjor ate a chip. "That is fear. Organized fear with good intelligence infrastructure. But fear."
General Ashmark looked at Kjor.
"You are a former Frost Giant," said General Ashmark.
"Yes," said Kjor.
"Eating chips on a river bank."
"Yes."
"Discussing the Dark Lord's fear responses."
"I have perspective," said Kjor. "I was also powerful. I also caused fear. I was on a road that had been recently cleaned and Han-Ho told me I was dripping on it and I stepped back because he was correct." Kjor looked at the chips. "The Dark Lord should read the complete record when Ms. Yoon finishes it. It would save him considerable anxiety."
General Ashmark looked at the river.
At Han-Ho still annotating the Dragon Vein flow chart.
"He is not going to attack the Dark Lord," said General Ashmark slowly. "Is he."
"Han-Ho does not attack things," said Kjor. "He cleans things. If the Dark Lord produces ley line contamination Han-Ho will clean it. If he does not Han-Ho will not notice him."
"That is—" General Ashmark paused. "That is either very reassuring or very alarming."
"Both," said Kjor. "Everything about Han-Ho is both."
Jin Tae-Yang arrived with food.
He looked at General Ashmark.
"New one," said Jin Tae-Yang.
"Dark Lord's general," said Min-Seo.
"I will make extra," said Jin Tae-Yang.
He unpacked the food.
General Ashmark was handed a bowl of soup without being asked.
He looked at the bowl.
At the soup.
At the river bank group assembling around the food with the specific comfortable rhythm of people who had done this enough times to have a system.
At Han-Ho still annotating his chart.
Not performing host duties.
Not acknowledging the general's presence specifically.
Just doing the work.
Because the work was what was in front of him.
The general ate the soup.
It was very good.
He made a mental note for his report to the Dark Lord.
The report was going to be the most unusual document he had ever submitted in twenty two years of service.
It was going to say:
The source of the Demon King's disappearance is a Rank F Mana-Janitor in Seoul who cleans things. He cleaned the Demon King because the seal was stubborn. He is not a threat to the established order. He is a benefit to the ley line network. He is currently annotating a Dragon Vein flow chart on a Saturday morning while a former Frost Giant explains honey butter chips and the oldest entity in the world stands in a river. The soup is very good. Recommend the Dark Lord read the complete record when it is available. Filed.
He would submit it exactly like that.
The Dark Lord would have questions.
He would answer them.
At ten AM Han-Ho looked up from the chart.
Looked at General Ashmark.
"General," said Han-Ho.
"Yes," said General Ashmark.
"The contamination on your pauldrons," said Han-Ho.
General Ashmark looked at his pauldrons.
"Still there," said Han-Ho. "I addressed the boot transfer yesterday but the pauldron contamination requires direct contact. Can you remove the pauldrons."
General Ashmark removed his pauldrons.
Handed them to Han-Ho.
Han-Ho cleaned them.
Thirty seconds.
Handed them back.
"Thank you," said Han-Ho.
He went back to the Dragon Vein chart.
General Ashmark looked at his clean pauldrons.
At the concentrated professional focus of the most powerful entity the Dark Lord's detection network had ever flagged cleaning contamination off military armor on a Saturday morning at the river bank.
The sword at Aria's hip glowed steadily.
The soup was very good.
Cheongi pulsed in the river.
Some Saturdays were just like this.