[The Mysterious rchant has been detained.] . . . [The Mysterious rchant has been detained.] [The Mysterious rchant has been detained.] [The Mysterious rchant has been detained.] [The Mysterious rchant has been detained.] [The Mysterious rchant has been detained. Her secret letter will arrive in 10 days.]
Kim Hyunwoo was montarily startled by the notification window that filled his view, and then he looked closely at it and thought.
'... The Mysterious rchant has been detained?'
By whom? The thought flashed through his mind, and instinctively, he envisioned Loria's face.
'No way...?'
Doubt blossod in his mind; although he had no way to confirm if Loria had actually done such a thing, he could think of no one else capable of such actions against rchants who had an air of transcendence.
The way she had revealed her true self to him had seed sufficiently transcendent.
'...A secret letter.'
After seeing the description in the last of dozens of notification windows delivering such an important ssage, Kim Hyunwoo made a vague expression.
He couldn't decide if he should feel relieved that the secret letter would arrive in ten days or unhappy that he wouldn't get to et the Mysterious rchant... It was hard to decide.
Thus,
"... My Lord?"
"Ah."
Kim Hyunwoo, who had been pondering with a serious expression until he heard Elena's voice, waved his hand as if to say it was fine and then spoke.
"Sorry, I just had sothing on my mind."
"... You look more serious than usual for just thinking."
"Did I look that bad?"
"Yes, it was brief, but still."
At Elena's affirmation, Kim Hyunwoo sighed and then seed to ponder sothing.
"It's getting late today, so please call for rilda, Rin, Aria, and Charyll tomorrow."
After giving Elena that order, he continued to ponder for a while after she left.
An abyss where nothing could be seen.
"Wow-I tried really hard not to get caught, but here we are. What a sha."
In the pitch-black void, a woman spoke with a comfortable smile.
With her black hair and dark eyes, she appeared quite ordinary no matter how you looked, aside from the fact that her beauty was sowhat different from that of the Blue or Red rchants.
The only notable feature was that her pupils were star-shaped, emitting a brilliant light, unlike the round pupils of others.
And then.
"Surely, you didn't think you could pass through my territory without being detected?"
In response to Loria blocking her path, the woman-no, the 'Mysterious rchant'-smiled and replied,
"Honestly, I expected to be caught, but I didn't think it would happen so quickly. I thought I could evade for a while."
"What does it feel like to have been caught so quickly without even attempting to evade?"
"Naturally, it doesn't feel good. Of all tis, I didn't expect to be caught at the last mont when everything was going according to plan except for you."
"Well, it's only natural since you entered my territory."
"However, if I hadn't entered this area, you would have killed Kim Hyunwoo before I arrived. That's not sothing I desire."
Despite being wrapped in black tendrils, the Mysterious rchant expressed mild disappointnt with a relaxed deanor, which made Loria smile.
"Too bad. The future where your plans will be completely shattered is all that remains.”
Loria spoke with a clear sense of victory in her smile.
But.
"Hm, is that so?"
"Do you really think that won't happen?"
"Well...honestly, I think there's about a 20% chance of hope."
"Why is that?"
In response to the Mysterious rchant's words, Loria asked in curiosity.
"Well, it's because of you."
She smirked.
"After all, no matter how hard you try, it'll still be incomplete."
With those words from the Mysterious rchant, Loria's previously smiling lips straightened out into a flat line.
"Surely you didn't think that just putting on a façade would make everything perfect? But then again, you are going to all this trouble just to create sothing you want."
The Mysterious rchant began to speak incessantly, as if that were a turning point.
However-
"The effort you're putting in because of a mismatched façade-"
Thud-!
The black tendrils enveloping the Mysterious rchant's body quickly covered her entirely, completely sealing her mouth.
As Loria watched the Mysterious rchant disappear as if seeping into the dark abyss,
"... Ugh-!"
She frowned deeply, as if having received an unbearable insult.
Her expression was reminiscent of soone provoked to anger.
But after a while, as she regained her composure, Loria began to pace through the dark abyss once again.
However, the smile that had always graced her lips had long since vanished.
"...I can beco perfect. I will."
She muttered as if hypnotizing herself, walking down the dark path.
And because of those words that irritated her by the Mysterious rchant, she did not notice.
That a letter imbued with a gentle light was disappearing into the darkness.
The next day.
Kim Hyunwoo spoke to the four heroes gathered in his office early in the morning.
"Thank you all for gathering. The reason I called you here today is...wait a minute. Why does everyone look
so tense?"
He paused mid-sentence, showing a sowhat flustered expression.
This was because the heroes looking at him were wearing expressions that clearly said they were very
tense.
rilda, with her tail swaying gently, wrapped it around her waist as if her spirit was wavering, repeatedly tilting her ears forward and back.
Rin was putting her hand in and out of the darkness she usually carried around.
Moreover, Aria was staring at Kim Hyunwoo with wide eyes, while Charyll made a sound resembling
"Gahhh", one that, upon closer inspection, was quite audible.
"I'm not, I'm not tense, Master."
Feeling flustered, rilda was the first to speak.
"I'm not flustered at all, so feel free to speak!"
"I'm not flustered at all either."
" too."
He thought fleetingly that he had asked if they were tense, not if they were flustered...but given the situation, he felt it unlikely that they would answer even if he asked, so he simply posed another question.
"...The reason I gathered you here today is to ask about Loria."
"Loria...?"
"Are you talking about soone nad Loria?"
.Who is that?"
"Whew, thank goodness"
The four responded hurriedly, exhaling low sighs as if relieved by Kim Hyunwoo's words.
In particular, Charyll looked genuinely relieved, placing a hand on her heart as he wondered what was so
fortunate, but Kim Hyunwoo soon continued with his questioning.
"Does anyone rember or know anything about soone nad Loria?"
"Master, is this soone we know?"
"... No, not really."
After that response, Kim Hyunwoo briefly pondered and then explained about Loria.
He spoke about how she had been with him from the beginning, even revealing that she had shown
unnecessary notification windows to deliberately delay the heroes' joining.
Of course, he could not explain the notifications in detail, so he replaced them with spoken descriptions.
And then.
"...That bastard?"
The first to react was Rin, muttering with a chilling expression.
"Is that why I couldn't return to Master because of that bastard...?"
..Well, there were reasons due to the restrictions, but that bastard's influence played a significant part."
"Master."
"Yeah?"
"Where is that bastard now?"
"I called you to ask because I have no idea where she is and wondered if any of you might rember."
In response to Kim Hyunwoo's words, the four heroes stood there for a while as if digging through their
mories, but soon all of them shook their heads in negation.
'...Sorry, Master, but it seems I don't have that na in my head."
" neither, My Lord. I don't think I've ever t anyone like that."
"I have no mory of her at all."
"...I'm the sa."
"Really? Well...don't feel too bad; I expected that. She's quite a suspicious fellow."
After answering like that, Kim Hyunwoo suddenly spoke.
"By the way, what's with all the tension earlier?"
"Ah-"
"Well...um-"
"...Ahem..."
The heroes began to exchange glances and hesitate at Kim Hyunwoo's words.
But-
"I ca here thinking I was getting the Proposal Ring!"
"Ah."
At Aria's bold statent, the heroes let out a quiet gasp of surprise.
"...Oh, speaking of which, there was that Ring."
Kim Hyunwoo also let out a quiet sigh.
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