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[Translator - Night]
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Chapter 204: The Red Mountains (1)
As they exited the forest, Oran Quill suddenly spoke up.
"If you’re going to scold me, just do it."
At that, Kaya Lockwood stepped out from behind a tree and shrugged.
"Not really? It’s not like you did something you shouldn’t. I think it’s fair to double-check things to that extent."
"What if I broke the toy our senior is so fond of?"
"I would’ve stopped you before it got that far."
She replied lightly, smiling softly as she asked,
"So? What did you think after checking for yourself?"
"…Not bad. No, to be honest, much better than I expected."
Truthfully, Oran hadn’t liked Oscar from the start.
After all, Oscar had killed Dokgo in Baran City — the very person Oran had hoped would be his junior.
But Oscar’s talent, now that he had seen it firsthand, was more than enough to make him forget such petty resentment.
"You're thinking of recruiting him, aren’t you?"
"If the chance comes. Though with Sasha keeping a close eye on things, I can’t even bring it up right now."
Well, no way their senior, who loved geniuses, would just let such talent slip by.
Oran muttered to himself,
"Now I get why the Black Fingers want that guy dead so badly. It’s just like when you—"
"That’s far enough."
Kaya cut in with a light smile, and he promptly shut his mouth.
* * *
"The Puppeteer tested Master?"
Sasha bared her teeth like an angry puppy.
It wasn't intimidating — more like adorable.
"Yeah. I learned a little something from that, too."
"Who does he think he is, testing Master? So arrogant!"
"Don’t get too upset. I think he was just worried I might die in the process."
"Still. I don’t like it."
Sasha’s cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish.
That meant she was really mad.
Oscar, finding her reaction cute, tried to soothe her.
"He’s a level 7, right? It’s not unreasonable to test someone who might become a comrade, at least temporarily."
"Then maybe I’ll go test his skills. For revenge."
Now that’s just causing a scene.
Oscar swallowed his words and gave a strained smile.
‘If she really went to see him, it wouldn’t end with a simple sparring match.’
A battle between two level 7s, where even a slight brush could be fatal.
Not that he doubted Sasha would win.
‘Even within level 7, there’s a big difference between someone just getting started and someone near the peak.’
Sasha could reach level 8 at any moment —
the Puppeteer had only just hit 7.
They weren’t even close.
"Anyway, I got sidetracked. I came because I need a favor."
"A favor? Anything, just say it."
"I need information on the Red Mountains. Locations of imperial army outposts, recent conflict zones with demons, commonly used paths — the more, the better."
Sasha nodded right away.
"I figured you’d need it, so I prepared everything in advance."
"That’s my Sasha. My prized student."
"Hehehe. I am your prized student."
He indulged her pride for a bit, then Oscar headed to the Special Ops office to look through the documents.
The place was likely filled with that characteristic, cold stillness.
‘It’s been a while since anyone’s been here.’
Fran was still receiving treatment in the capital, Veronica was training hard, and even Killian had gone off to the forest to get a new tattoo.
‘Hope he’s doing okay.’
If Killian knew Kaya Lockwood was in Sirin, he’d drop everything and come running.
Of course, Oscar hadn’t told him he’d be traveling with her this time.
He felt a little bad about it —
but he really needed her help for this mission.
“Hm?”
That’s when he noticed a large pile of letters stacked in front of the office door.
He crouched down and picked a few up — most were requests for missions.
‘Looks like I’m finally getting proper requests again. But now’s not the time for that.’
He flipped through the letters without much interest —
until a plain envelope caught his eye.
“This is…”
The seal on the flap was one used by forest tribe warriors.
In other words, it was a letter from Killian.
‘This guy just can’t stop acting like a noble.’
How did he even know to send it here?
Oscar entered the office, sat down, and opened the letter first.
[Getting a new tattoo is boring. But I’m nearly done, so I just have to hold out a bit longer.
When I’m not doing that, I’m sparring with the other warriors.
For the record, my win rate is excellent.]
That was all it said.
"…This isn’t even a greeting. Just bragging."
Oscar blinked, then chuckled.
Still, it was good to know he was doing well.
Then he turned his attention to the documents Sasha had given him.
‘Hmm, so outposts have been built along routes we used to frequent. Can’t use those anymore.’
The Imperial Palace strictly forbade even approaching the Red Mountains.
Naturally, they had to avoid any encounters with the royal army.
‘Especially since our party includes two criminals with bounties big enough to make anyone salivate.’
Their objective in the Red Mountains was simple:
cross them without being seen by anyone.
‘Should take about a week… No, probably three days —none of them are the type to tire out.’
Of course, going that long without encountering a single creature was impossible.
There were so many monsters in the mountains, you’d practically trip over them.
The key was to avoid humans and demons as much as possible.
‘I’ll plan the route to be as easy to navigate as possible.’
Oscar’s eyes and mind started working rapidly.
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[Translator - Night]
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* * *
“Phew.”
Oscar slumped into a chair, having finally finished the task.
He was tired, but he was satisfied with the route he had laid out.
As long as nothing unexpected happened, crossing the Red Mountains shouldn't be an issue.
He glanced at the time—about 13 hours left before departure.
“Should I go back to my room, take a shower, and rest until then?”
After a brief moment of hesitation, he decided to take a walk around the White Tower.
There was no telling when he might return from this journey.
It would be better to fix any issues before leaving, just for peace of mind.
“Anyway, there are only two departments I really need to check on.”
The potion department and the delivery department.
Hissss!
First, he stepped into the potion lab on the 37th floor, where mages in goggles and masks were hard at work.
“It’s finally starting to smell like people in here.”
When he first arrived, the place had been abandoned for so long that cobwebs filled every corner.
While he looked around with satisfaction, Lena White noticed him and flinched before approaching.
“What’s this? You actually came all the way here?”
“Just passing by. Everything okay?”
“Nothing major. Just the occasional trouble from the Blue Tower.”
“Let it go. They’re just mad about the market share we stole from them.”
The two chuckled, and Oscar motioned toward the mages with a nod.
“What are they making?”
“There’s a huge vacuum in the market after NewTech collapsed. We’re developing the products they used to handle. First come, first served, right?”
Indeed, NewTech had been so massive that even one of the Four Great Mage Towers, the Blue Tower, couldn’t ignore them.
Now that such a giant had fallen, it made sense the market was wide open.
Oscar nodded and offered some advice.
“New product development is good, but the most important thing is safety. Don’t rush it—make sure you collect enough clinical data. Once trust is lost, it takes double the time and money to rebuild it, and even then, it's rarely fully restored. Even if the release is delayed, if the quality is high, market share will follow.”
“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Next, he visited the delivery department.
Pedro X, who greeted him warmly, let out a deep sigh as soon as they sat down.
“What’s with the sigh? Is business bad?”
“Business is booming. That’s the problem—we’re expanding too fast, and we can’t keep up.”
Pedro shook his head heavily and explained further.
“We have no trouble recruiting riders. The pay and benefits are great, so applicants line up in droves. We just completed our 27th rider recruitment phase. But now, we’ve run out of bikes for them to ride.”
“Bikes? Can’t you just buy ones from the market and modify them like before?”
“We already bought out everything available ages ago. You know the Yellow Tower classified those bikes as failures and stopped production. It’s hard to find any now. So we’ve started making our own, but the production speed can’t keep up with demand.”
“Hmm.”
Oscar rubbed his chin.
Indeed, the bikes used by the delivery department—nicknamed the “Tribe of the Wind”—were unique.
“They require the touch of a dwarf, and additional magical work by mages.”
On top of that, the White Anvil clan of dwarves had recently been devoting all their efforts to the final stages of airship development.
Until that project was done, it would be hard to pull any of them away.
Lost in thought, Oscar asked,
“Do you have enough mages to enchant the bikes?”
“Plenty. It’s the number of dwarf smiths that’s the issue.”
“Can’t we use human blacksmiths instead?”
“I’ve considered it, but they’re too slow and the quality isn’t up to par.”
In short, it wasn’t efficient.
So it all came back to needing dwarves.
Oscar nodded in understanding.
“Alright. Then we’ll hire more dwarves.”
“…Is that even possible?”
Pedro looked surprised.
Oscar shrugged it off like it was nothing.
“Why not? Though, it’d be difficult to bring other clans to the White Tower. They’d just end up fighting all the time.”
Dwarves were known for their pride and fierce loyalty.
Even though they were all citizens of La Forge, they each came from different homelands.
From his previous life’s experience, Oscar knew that gathering them in one place would do more harm than good.
“…So, if I understand correctly, you want to outsource the work to the dwarves?”
“That’s right.”
As Oscar nodded, Pedro pulled a face like he’d just tasted something awful.
“Hmm, will proud dwarves even accept such a proposal? It’s like asking rural workers to do outsourced labor for cheap.”
“Leave that to me.”
A single letter to King Gordin of La Forge should do the trick.
Oscar had meant to update him before heading off to the Grey Zone anyway.
Pedro stared at Oscar, who had so easily solved a problem he’d been agonizing over.
“Honestly, you should be the one heading the delivery department…”
“I’d rather spend that time on magical research, thanks. Anyway, everything’s resolved now, right?”
“Thanks to you, yeah.”
“Great. Then I’ll be going.”
As Oscar left the room, Pedro quietly muttered to himself, reflecting on the conversation.
“I like magic research too, you know…”
A voice destined to reach no one.
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[Translator - Night]
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