Chapter 69: Chapter 69

[Translator - Night][Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 69: Return to Earth, Missing Helpers

As soon as I received the essence from Elprian, tree roots enveloped me again and returned me to the place I had been before.

The bedroom where I had been with Diana.

Since I’d gone back to the past, the torn bedspread and blanket were completely intact.

So, this is how clean it originally was.

While briefly looking around, I noticed a small speck of dust floating before me.

Then the dust paused.

Not just the dust, but the entire space seemed to freeze.

I couldn’t move a finger or even twitch my body.

How much time had passed in that frozen state?

Suddenly, the dust fell quickly to the ground.

It was like watching a video fast-forwarded at 100x speed.

Scenes of Diana and me appeared, disappearing and reappearing.

The bed tore apart, the blanket shredded, all passing in a blur.

The two of us went about our business, completely unaware of my presence.

Wait, Diana was being quite... enthusiastic?

I felt like an observer removed from the scene, watching a video on fast-forward, which was frustrating.

Eventually, the playback ended with the sight of Diana and me tangled in tree roots and vanishing.

Ah, so this is how I came back from the past to the present?

[When the time rewinds, return.]

Elprian had explained that Diana’s time slip was incomplete, and that everything would eventually revert to its original timeline.

So that’s what she meant.

I double-checked that the Dragon Heart I’d obtained was safely in my possession and immediately returned to Earth.

“Oh, you’re back?”

As soon as I returned, Jinseong approached me.

His face was flushed red, and he held a dwarf’s beer mug in his hand.

Looking around, I noticed the association's top floor was filled with people holding dwarf beer mugs.

Most of them—no, 100% of them—were Awakened.

But their expressions were less joyous and more bewildered.

“What happened?”

“Uh... suddenly, the elves and dwarves disappeared.”

“Huh?”

“They were here just a moment ago. The dwarves brought this delicious beer, and as I was telling my hero’s tale, they started vanishing one by one in flashes of light.”

“They disappeared? Why?”

“No idea. Everyone’s confused. I’ve checked around, and it’s not just here in Korea; the same thing’s happening everywhere.”

Hmm.

Why did they suddenly vanish?

If it was because of breaking Kevrian, they should have disappeared when we returned.

Could it be because of Diana?

No, if that were the case, only Liana would have disappeared, not the rest of the elves and dwarves.

“I can’t figure this out.”

“Yeah, it’s thrown everyone off. We were celebrating victory, and now this...”

“Is it because the world’s fully restoring itself? If that’s the case, what about the high-level dungeons that will appear in the future?”

“Well, with more C-rankers and you at B-rank, we can probably handle them on our own, don’t you think?”

True.

Still, the helpers didn’t just deal with dismantling dungeons.

They also bought mana stones, crafted, and sold magical items.

Most ordinary mages focus on combat magic and don’t understand its principles or such.

Honestly, I don’t either...

Ah.

Didn’t the Magic Encyclodpedia explain some of that?

“Wait a minute.”

I used my Magic Encyclodpedia skill to search for information on crafting magical items.

Unfortunately, nothing about crafting came up.

“Well, anyway, things are pretty strange right now.”

“Yeah. Let me have a sip.”

I grabbed the beer from Jinseong’s hand and chugged it down.

Ah, refreshing.

Feeling clear-headed and cooled down made me feel much better.

Even though I couldn’t shake my concern about the missing elf helpers...

“Oh, if the dwarves are gone, this might be the last dwarf-made beer. Give it back.”

“Oh, true? That’s a shame.”

I took another sip before returning the mug to Jinseong, who grumbled and downed it in one go.

“Hey, let’s head to your place and have another drink. It’s not like this is a problem we can solve in a day or two, and the association will probably handle it.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

As we pushed through the crowd to head home, people started gathering around, saying, “Kim Jiho is here!” and “The captain has arrived!”

“Kim Jiho, thank you so much.”

“Thanks to you, I became a C-rank.”

The newly C-ranked Awakened rushed forward to express their gratitude.

“We deeply regret the unpleasant incident our guild caused last time. Please, forgive us just this once.”

“Our deputy-guild master acted without understanding... Please, spare our lives!”

The people I had defeated swarmed forward, kneeling and bowing in apology.

After experiencing battle, they must’ve realized how futile their earlier power struggles had been.

Now that the Kevrian battle was over, I decided to let it go.

Compared to the backstabbing I endured in Olympus, their antics seemed almost endearing.

“Well, the battle’s over. Why would I take your lives? Don’t worry about it. Get up.”

The people hesitantly rose, bowing deeply once they stood.

“Thank you for sparing our lives!”

What?

Did they really think I’d kill them?

I nodded lightly and moved past them.

As I walked, the crowd parted like the Red Sea, offering excessive compliments and expressions of gratitude for saving their lives.

“Hey, are you sure I should be walking with you? You’re like a superstar now.”

“Yeah. You can be the superstar’s beer shuttle for the day.”

“Fine, fine. My treat.”

Hearing him laugh, I suddenly thought of Hades and frowned.

“Hey, don’t laugh like that.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“The Lord of Death used to laugh like that.”

“‘Keekeke’? What kind of final boss laughs so stupidly? By the way, what did you do to make him run?”

“Beats me. I used a new skill, and he just bolted.”

“What, like some ultimate move?”

“Well... it’s kind of an ultimate move.”

He ran as soon as he saw my soul power.

And mentioned Heracles.

So, does that mean Heracles uses this too?

Is he also a soul reaper?

Eh, who cares if he is?

It’s not like I’ll ever run into Heracles.

“There are still too many unanswered questions. But for now, let’s drink.”

“Yeah, today’s for celebrating. Victory calls for drinks. Hahaha!”

“Drinking at home seems like a waste on a day like this.”

“Oh, then should we go somewhere nice?”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Unlike me, who wasn’t particular, Jinseong grinned mischievously and pulled out his phone to browse the internet.

After searching for a while, his expression stiffened, and he shook his head.

“Never mind. You’re way too famous now. If we go to one of those places, it’ll end up in the news. Normal bars will be swamped too.”

“I’m famous?”

Looking at his phone, I saw that news of the Kevrian clear was making headlines.

There were even videos of my battles circulating online.

The Hephaestus armor was gone, and my face was completely exposed.

The video is being erased in real time, but for every part that gets deleted, more of it is uploaded.

sigh.

The association seems to be managing it, trying to delete the videos, but it seems futile.

[Isn’t this fake?]

[┕22222]

[┕33333]

[How strong is this person? He’s doing everything by himself.]

[Is this a game teaser? He’s doing a one-man show.]

[Are the other awakened ones just watching? LOL. He could’ve done it all by himself.]

[That person is a servant of Zeus. Please address him with respect and do not blaspheme!]

The internet forums I frequently visit were in complete chaos.

The video showed me shooting lightning and using a sword that grew to swipe through skeletons.

The camera, zooming in, caught a very detailed close-up of my face.

While happily filming me, the cameraman suddenly screamed and fell, shaking the camera as it pointed towards the sky.

Suddenly, a black skeleton appeared and grinned, punching the air with a loud crash, followed by a death scream.

Then the video ended.

"Wow, this is well filmed. The cameraman even dies at the end."

"Well, there are so many people in the expedition that the association’s media control doesn’t work."

There were countless other videos spreading too.

As I rode the elevator down, I saw the chaos; my video was flooding YouTube…

This situation was completely out of control.

"Now I’m a public superstar. This is going to get annoying."

sigh... Now that I was B-rank, the types of magic I could learn increased to the 6th circle.

Normally, I preferred to use the Phoenix or lightning attacks because they were quicker than using magic, but there were a lot of useful spells if I looked deeper.

"Polymorph Self."

One of them was Polymorph, which allowed you to change your appearance.

When I imagined a middle-aged man with wrinkles, my facial bones and muscles shifted and changed my appearance.

"Wow. There’s a magic like this?"

"Yeah. It lasts for an hour. Let’s hurry."

"This is seriously crazy..."

When I stepped out of the Hunter Association, reporters swarmed me.

Since I had changed into an older man’s appearance, they didn’t recognize me, but they still caught sight of Lee Jinseong.

"Are you Hunter Lee Jinseong?"

"I heard you’re close friends with Hunter Kim Jiho. Can we do an interview?"

The reporters were swarming like bees.

Lee Jinseong looked at me, flustered.

I was surprised too, but instinctively, I felt that if my identity was exposed here, it would be troublesome.

"Hmm. Jinseong, I’ll see you later. Do the interview well."

"Uh...uh..."

"Lee Jinseong, please answer us!"

He reached out to me, but I just waved my hand and ran off.

Interviews were a pain.

Even in front of the Hunter Association’s building, there were reporters waiting, but no one bothered me when I was in the middle-aged man form. Searᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Sigh...

When I got home, I cracked open a beer and drank it.

Compared to dwarf-made beer, it was definitely lacking.

With nothing else to do, I turned on the TV, and the news was flooded with the success of the Kevria expedition.

President Trump was confidently saying, “We have achieved total victory!” in an interview.

I did all the work, so why was he taking the credit?

I chuckled and took another sip of my drink when suddenly, a message popped up on my screen.

[Hermes says "The sun god Apollo is really angry. What have you been doing?" and sends a message.]

Apollo.

He had helped me a lot at first by giving me the flame chariot and the Phoenix egg.

But it couldn’t be helped.

I couldn’t just give Artemis Diana’s body, right?

"Communication Hermes."

[Jiho, Apollo is really angry right now.]

"Why is he angry? I just had a good time with the high elf. Oh, and I heard something about replacing the virgin goddess’ body, was that the issue?"

When I said this, Hermes seemed to realize something.

[Ah... So the body you had prepared for the virgin goddess was a high elf. I see. I’ll contact Artemis.]

Then there was a brief silence.

As I listened to the world leaders all happily giving interviews, another message came through.

[Artemis says it’s okay. The body can be replaced again. She says she’s feeling like going for a dark elf this time. She’s even asking for help during the soul transfer. Heh. Artemis is fine with it, but you’re the one being more stubborn.]

"But isn’t Artemis a virgin goddess? Is she not a virgin?"

[Well, that’s... Ah, should I even tell a B-rank about this? It might lower your SP…]

Is it such a big secret that she’s not a virgin?

Does SP get lowered for this?

Before, when Pollux was talking about the order of the world, my SP dropped by 1.

If it’s just a drop of 1 or 2, I’ll hear him out.

"Yes. I’m curious."

[Artemis has always represented virginity, as the goddess of purity. But since Olympus…]

[Hermes talks about the distorted order of the world. Your rank is too low to accept this. SP will decrease by 100.]

What?!

Why is it a 100 drop??

Before, it was just about talking about order, but now it's about a distorted one?

"Stop. Stop."

[Oh, your SP is dropping?]

"Yeah. 100."

[Ugh. I’ll compensate you later. But this is bad... I didn’t expect B-rank to have restrictions like this.]

Hermes muttered to himself.

Then I asked him the next question.

"But where did all the helpers go?"

[The Earth helpers? They were from Kevrian, and since Kevrian has been restored, they went back home. I was thinking of sending you angel helpers instead, but I had another good idea.]

"Good idea? What’s that?"

[We’re giving you a choice. Do you want to use angel helpers for one more year, or do you want to receive a 3-year buff as a human from Earth and become self-sufficient?]

A human buff?

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]