Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 37

The Three Kings’ Disciple (38)

037

A gate in Namyangju.

It was a gate reserved by the Eunha Guild, and the guild members were lined up with tense expressions.

The gate’s rank was B.

It wasn’t a low level, but it wasn’t a level that would make the Eunha Guild, which had been rapidly expanding its power by quickly clearing gates, nervous.

Gulp.

Nevertheless, the Eunha Guild members.

No, the trained Blood Cultists were swallowing nervously, even being careful with their small breaths.

At the very front, their proud guild leader and the Blood Cult’s High Priestess, Kang Eun-ha, stood with the same tense look.

‘Everyone…’

As she opened her mouth, the guild members’ eyes changed.

Kang Eun-ha, also unable to hide her tension, took another breath and looked at the guild members.

‘As we were informed…’

After exhaling, Kang Eun-ha opened her eyes straight and said,

‘From today, a new guild member will be joining us.’

Thud!

A silence like a stone falling.

‘That person is from our Eunha Guild, no, the Blood Cult…’

‘Are you crazy?’

At the voice, Kang Eun-ha raised her eyes and immediately bowed her head.

The Blood Cultists did the same.

‘Hyeooool-!’

A shout-like sound burst from Kang Eun-ha’s mouth.

‘Please, shut that mouth. Mouth! Mouth!’

Lee Ro-woon stood in front of Kang Eun-ha and said irritably.

‘I’m sorry… I apologize.’

‘A guild member?’

‘That is…’

Lee Ro-woon said, as if dumbfounded.

There was something he had told Kang Eun-ha in advance.

-I plan to join the Eunha Guild and clear gates.

Therefore, a suitable position was needed in the Eunha Guild.

Kang Eun-ha immediately offered to vacate her guild leader position, but.

-Are you crazy? Really.

There was no way Lee Ro-woon would accept that.

Even though the Eunha Guild was a newly formed guild, it was rapidly expanding its power and attracting public attention.

Moreover, the reputation of the Eunha Guild’s young leader, Kang Eun-ha, was also spreading.

-Think about the public perception.

If the guild leader position suddenly changed in that situation, the attention would turn into suspicion.

Furthermore.

-Are you really going to use that name?

Lee Ro-woon, who had received proper identification from the Black Lion King.

The name of the new warrior identity he received was also Lee Ro-woon.

-It’s my name.

In case his masters were released from their seals, and if they were, wouldn’t they look for him?

With that thought, it was his name that he couldn’t give up for any reason.

A new but rapidly expanding Eunha Guild, and its new guild leader has the name Lee Ro-woon?

As a warrior, he wouldn’t be greatly suspected, but some people would be watching the Eunha Guild in some way.

A vice-guild leader or a position that is exposed to the public was not an option.

That’s why the position he accepted was.

‘Everyone! Show respect to the guild member…!’

A guild member, no, a guild member-nim [a respectful honorific in Korean].

‘Haa.’

Lee Ro-woon let out a short sigh.

Kang Eun-ha was quick-witted and good at reading the flow of things, but when the existence of the Blood Demon was involved, she became a fool.

Even Kang Eun-ha was like that.

‘We greet the guild member-nim! Guild member thousand years! Guild member eternal blessing!’

It was understandable that the Blood Cultists below her were acting like crazy people.

One of the reasons was that their loyalty had become even stronger due to the blood bond.

‘What on earth were my masters thinking?’

Lee Ro-woon, who had only heard fragments of his masters’ past stories, couldn’t understand why they had created such a fanatical group.

‘Kang Eun-ha.’

‘Yes! Guild member-nim!’

‘Fix that nonsense right now.’

‘I will keep that in mind! And you don’t have to worry too much.’

Kang Eun-ha quickly waved her hands.

‘I have made sure they are well-versed in how to behave outside. However, this place is only for the Blood… Guild member-nim and us, so I think they are excited by the honor of being with you.’

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand.

The Blood Demon was their god, and their former god.

If such a Blood Demon descended and stood beside his followers on the battlefield.

‘Ha.’

What follower could keep their head straight with excitement?

‘Anyway, do as you see fit.’

‘I will keep that in mind!’

Still, Kang Eun-ha seemed to have calmed down the fastest.

Lee Ro-woon passed them and looked at the wide gate.

It was the first gate he had entered, except for the gate where he had returned and met Kang Eun-ha.

‘…….’

When he was a player, it was a place he had entered and exited three times a day.

With the determination to become stronger, for the reason of survival.

But when Lee Ro-woon entered the gate again, he didn’t feel any emotion or sentiment.

It was just the same place as before.

‘Let’s go.’

Lee Ro-woon said as he walked ahead.

***

‘Are you a monster?’

It was a calm, monotonous voice, but there was a clear shock hidden within it.

‘What are you looking at?’

At Lee Ro-woon’s words, the Black Lion King, Ha Se-min, shook his head.

‘How long has it been, and you’ve become even harder to read.’

It had already been several days since Lee Ro-woon had joined the Eunha Guild as a guild member and started clearing gates.

The Eunha Guild, which had been rapidly expanding its power by quickly clearing gates, was now even faster with the addition of Lee Ro-woon, who could be called a veteran of gate clearing.

‘Do you still have the power of a player?’

Ha Se-min said sincerely.

‘It’s not like you’re leveling up, how can your aura become harder to read with every gate you clear?’

Warriors are like that.

When they are low-level, their aura becomes stronger as they get stronger, but when they are high-level, their aura becomes fainter as they get stronger.

‘What do you think?’

Lee Ro-woon opened his sleepy eyes and slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

‘That’s impossible. Well, I admit that the realm of impossibility is different since a former player has become a warrior.’

Ha Se-min replied.

‘Because I don’t feel the system core [the source of a player’s power].’

‘You never know. You can hide the system core, right?’

‘I can see it.’

As expected.

‘He’s not the Black Lion King for nothing.’

Even players, like warriors, find it difficult to read their aura when they reach the high-ranker level.

They can hide their level while hiding the existence of the system core, and they can hide that they are players.

Conversely, a warrior of the Mystic Realm can imitate a player.

Because they can imitate the special wavelength of the system core using their inner energy to deceive others.

But there was a rumor even in the past.

‘The Black Lion King’s eyes cannot be deceived.’

It was said that the Black Lion King had eyes that could see the truth.

‘It’s not your eyes, though.’

‘Sometimes you can be quite annoying.’

At Lee Ro-woon’s words, Ha Se-min shook his head as if he was tired of it.

‘The Haenam Guild seems to have determined that there was some kind of involvement in the Armo incident.’

At Ha Se-min’s following words, Lee Ro-woon’s eyes narrowed.

‘Even if it was a scouting party, it’s natural since a force that included an elder was annihilated.’

‘You didn’t even know there was a sorcerer, did you?’

Sorcerer, Bondeno.

His notoriety was higher than he had thought in the past.

But Haenam said that they didn’t know that Bondeno’s forces were in Armo, even while preparing to subjugate Armo.

‘If they had known, they wouldn’t have sent just that level of scouting party.’

The sacrificial magic circle in Armo.

In reality, if Lee Ro-woon hadn’t been there, the scouting party would have suffered near-total annihilation just from that.

It was the same even after passing the sacrificial magic circle.

Armo, and the new attack magic circles that the sorcerer had created, were stacked in layers and waiting for them.

It was a force that might have been annihilated even if it was the main force, not the scouting party.

‘Unless they sent Haenam’s elite.’

That’s why it was strange.

‘They knew.’

At Ha Se-min’s words, Lee Ro-woon closed his mouth.

‘The upper echelons of Haenam knew that Armo was the sorcerer’s force.’

‘You sold them out.’

At Lee Ro-woon’s words, Ha Se-min nodded.

‘Even if it wasn’t me, the Black Lion doesn’t restrict the sale of information. Unless it’s a very special case.’

That special case would be referring to himself and the Blood Cult.

More than that, the upper echelons of Haenam knew that Armo was Bondeno’s force?

Knowing that there was a sorcerer, they only sent that level of force?

That meant that they were all disposable pawns from the start.

It meant that they were supposed to die there.

‘It seems they plan to use it as a pretext.’

A pretext.

The Martial Arts Alliance, where the top forces of the Silver World belong.

They called themselves the righteous faction.

There were certain conditions required for the movements of such righteous factions.

What was needed in a fight between the same Silver World forces, not a dispute with external forces like Ainhardt or Gehenna, or with players.

That was a pretext.

‘The target of intervention is…’

Lee Ro-woon said, recalling his memories.

‘Is it the Iron Sword Alliance?’

Ha Se-min nodded.

‘That’s correct.’

The Iron Sword Alliance, the Iron Sword Union.

They were a large force that controlled Gyeonggi Province on a small scale.

On a large scale, they could be called the rulers of Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and Chungcheong Provinces.

‘Haenam is a force that controls the southern part of South Korea, including Busan. After incorporating Incheon and Ganghwa Island into their sphere of influence a few years ago, they have been constantly eyeing the Iron Sword Alliance’s sphere of influence.’

‘From the beginning, the subjugation of Armo could have been something that was started with the Iron Sword Alliance in mind.’

Ha Se-min nodded again, as if that was the correct answer.

‘The place where Armo was located was a place that clashed with the Iron Sword Alliance’s forces. It seems that Haenam plans to announce that the Iron Sword Alliance interfered with the subjugation of Armo and killed Haenam’s elder.’

Things were getting interesting.

In the end.

‘They would have all died even if it wasn’t for me.’

Those who were selected as the scouting party for Armo that day.

They would have all died even if it wasn’t for Lee Ro-woon.

Even if they were lucky enough to subjugate Armo, they would have been killed by Haenam’s warriors.

The fate of the elder, Yuk Sa-geol, was like that.

‘It seems that a war will begin.’

A war.

It was a word that felt out of place in modern times.

Wars were constantly taking place in some parts of the world, but South Korea, which was a truce country, had a rather insensitive view of war.

But that was also a thing of the past.

Silver, Ainhardt, Gehenna.

Since the invasion of the world, wars were happening frequently.

‘Lastly.’

The Black Lion King said with an amused smile.

‘That Iron Sword Alliance is moving.’

‘……?’

‘Towards the Eunha Guild, that is.’

* * *

Clang!

A table made of marble shattered into pieces from a punch, scattering fragments.

‘Those Haenam bastards!’

The middle-aged man, whose beard was even trembling, as if he couldn’t relieve his anger even by breaking the table.

He was the head of the Iron Sword Clan, the guild leader of the Iron Sword Gate, and the last of the three major guilds that divided South Korea, Cheol Jong-hwi.

There was a reason why he was so furious.

It was because Haenam Guild, another of the three major guilds that shared a sphere of influence with them, had announced that an elder had died due to the Iron Sword Alliance’s intervention.

He could say with certainty that such a thing had not happened.

‘In the end… they’re coming out like this.’

Haenam was somewhere.

Although the Iron Sword Alliance was said to divide South Korea, it was only in name.

Haenam, which did not belong to the Nine Great Sects, but was considered to be on par with them.

Even if there was no significant difference in power, the Martial Arts Alliance was behind them.

‘What about the Association?’

‘They are silent.’

Cheol Jong-hwi’s beard trembled again.

‘Right. It means it’s an unavoidable fight.’

With a small breath, Cheol Jong-hwi calmed down.

Soon, he turned his eyes and looked at the people gathered.

Five men and women.

They were the ones who could be called the five pillars of the Iron Sword Alliance.

‘Prepare for war.’

Cheol Jong-hwi’s voice fell like a large stone.

‘Replenish our forces as much as possible, and eliminate any dangerous elements within our territory.’

Those who were within the Iron Sword Alliance’s sphere of influence but had not yet bowed their knees would now have to decide.

Whether to stand with the Iron Sword Alliance and fight against Haenam.

Or else….

‘The Association will remain silent until the end.’

Whether to be destroyed by the hands of the Iron Sword Alliance.