Etranger

“Okay…”

The old man leaned back and closed his eyes. 

“Run along.” 

“I’ll take my leave now, Your Majesty.” 

The man, Junkyung Dera, took a deep bow and took a step backward. He was the second prince, the person who had the highest chance of becoming the next emperor, as well as the person who had the Jung-Ha Clan as his in-laws. This meeting was held once every four months; it was so difficult and terrifying that it sent chills down one’s spine. 

The emperor always looked out for himself. He knew every single thing, and he constantly checked everything. The abilities of his successors… The emperor was very cautious when it came to deciding who his successor was. He knew better than anyone else that picking the wrong person would lead to the downfall of the empire, as well as the beginning of a disaster. 

(Will be replaced with the translated version soon)

Junkyung Dera had a premonition - Rain might become the secretary general to the next emperor… He was not sure how to establish a relationship with that younger sibling of his. Junkyung turned his head to the left and right. 

The shocking change of his son, Gun, as well as the words he blurted out when he went back to the Han-Sung Clan, flashed across his mind. 

“Never be hostile. They have the power to drive people insane. I saw a whole new world.” 

***

The emperor, who had closed his eyes for quite some time after Junkyung Dera left, muttered,” I heard that the young talents that she brought here were incredible.” 

“After the third empress’ banquet, they have been receiving a lot of attention from all the families and the people in the palace.” 

The reply came from a person in an unknown location. 

“What about the people who were targeting Rain?” 

“All of them disappeared. Regardless of how good an assassin is, it is not easy to escape detection by Awakened Warriors, who know how to use Resonance Manipulation. It must have been a performance that contained some kind of a warning.” 

“Resonance Manipulation… Isn’t that the same skill you use?” 

“Yes.”

“How are they, as compared to you?” 

“It’s hard to make a guess, but I think we’re about the same.”

“If they’re at that level…that would mean that Rain has escorts who are on the same level as the emperor’s escort.”  

The emperor burst out laughing before getting lost in thought once again.

“Didn’t you say that they were married?”

“Yes.”

It was a short answer. Once again, there was a deep silence. 

“How is their job performance?” 

“Both of them are outstanding. The man has exceptional leadership skills, he is good at managing the organization, and he displayed great judgment skills. As for the lady, when it comes to gathering intelligence, computation, and interpretation, and handling other tools, her skills are far superior than that of the most competent person in the palace. Presently, all the intelligence agents, who were selected from all the families’ pool of talented people, are overwhelmed in every area.” 

“Hmm… They are talented in both literary and martial arts. Is their background still unknown?”  

“They were first seen in the north, in Essen, but there is no data documenting anything prior to that. It is said that they were swept away by the wind from a faraway country, but it was merely what they said. The validity of the statement has not been confirmed yet.”

“What about their character?”

“They are generous and magnanimous, but their behavior is bizarre. Their words and actions are unusual. Outside of official duties, they hate etiquette and formalities. They also make their own clothes and wear them. Even though they do follow the rules of the imperial palace, they have a very unique way of thinking.”

“There’s nothing strange about this. Aren’t there a lot of Awakened Warriors like that? I heard that a person’s sense of sight and hearing become very different after they awaken. It was the same for you, right? Han Young is an eccentric person as well.”

“That’s correct, but…”

“But?”

“They have quite a great influence over people.” 

“Influence… What kind of influence?”

“There is an increasing number of people, especially the younger nobles, who have been mimicking their actions and attire. At the banquets of the nobles, sophisticated decorations and inconvenient clothes were no longer used or worn. Simplicity is in fashion.” 

“Hoho… That’s a good thing for the young people, right? The empresses must be anxious. Wasn’t there such a trend led by the empresses and princesses?” 

“I think it’s great too.” 

“Yeah… The more I hear about it, the more interesting it gets. I’ll get to meet them, right?”

“We still cannot let our guard down just yet. They are competent Third Level Awakened Warriors. It is 

too dangerous.”

The emperor looked up at the ceiling instead of speaking. He narrowed his eyes. It felt as though he was being locked up in a huge prison. The emperor’s shadow shook slightly under the flickering light.

“The secretary general and the people working in the secretarial offices cannot get married, right?” asked the emperor out of nowhere. 

“That’s correct. They know too much about imperial affairs. 

“It would be fine if the man does not have any connections behind the scenes… It’s much better than leaving the princesses alone, allowing them to engage in their promiscuous affairs.” 

“Hmm…”

The man shut his mouth. He was talking to the supreme decision maker, who reigned over the law. 

***

“It’s dangerous. It’s too dangerous.”

The woman grimaced. Outside the window, harsh winter winds were howling. She was one of The Fallen ones, named Satan. Even though it was a cold winter, she was only wearing one white robe with the window open. 

“Do you think the two of them detected any councilors in the banquet hall?” asked a man, who was moving the teacup away from his mouth. 

He was a sage, who was known as the dragon’s alter ego. He was Nakun, the most powerful sage. 

“There is a high chance they did. They are from episode 285’s awakening stage. While it may be irrelevant, they are familiar with accounting and finance and have the ability to interpret them. Besides, they are in the palace, of all places… It’s too much of a coincidence. It feels as though somebody had deliberately led them there. Did the Original One intervene? I don’t think that’s possible though…”

The woman bit her lips. She had a kind face, but her eyes were endlessly deep and dark. 

“If they were discovered, the activities of all the councilors planted within the palace and those influential families would be greatly reduced from now on.”

“The plan that we had been preparing for over the last 50 years could become dangerous.”

“It’s that bad?” asked Nakun with a surprised look on his face.

Satan nodded.

“After 50 years of hard work, the number of councilors and their underlings have grown significantly. The number of problems grew along with it. If the city cannot be built, it will be difficult to provide a smooth supply of nectar. Failure to set up a pharmaceutical plant will significantly reduce activities during the day, when ultraviolet rays are strong. Even at the current level of supply, the councilors and their underlings have already reached a point where it’s no longer tolerable. Under such circumstances, if the councilors go on a spree or ‘hunt’ recklessly, things can get out of hand. It’s not the time yet.”

“Are you saying that it’s still difficult to control?” 

“They are very strong, but they’re still on thin ice. The kids get agitated very easily. Besides, they still have many weaknesses. If they are caught by an Awakened human, their weakness can be analyzed, especially if they come across someone with advanced abilities, who are able to distinguish the smell of different races. In which case, they might face the risk of annihilation. It’s already…”

Satan paused and shut her mouth tightly. She was still looking out of the window. 

“Are you saying that they’ve been discovered?”

Nakun widened his eyes and looked at Satan. Satan shook her head. She was still uncertain. What happened at the third empress’ banquet was shocking to her. The two people’s display of Resonance Manipulation was clearly aimed at the Awakened humans. Since the councilors used the body of the Awakened Warriors, it was only natural for them to suffer along with them. 

However, she felt a subtle difference. It felt as though they were sweeping through something. It was very similar to a ‘search’ signal. That was a fact that still haunted her to this day. Did they detect the councilors? Did they have the ability to sense the sweet smell? She hated this uncertainty. All of a sudden, Satan felt irritated. 

“In any case, even if one subordinate gets caught by those two, everything we’ve done would all be for nothing. Right now, we have two choices. We either try every means possible to get in their way, or we eliminate them at this stage, even though it’s a waste… By the way, is the task for dissolving the deadline still ongoing? Until when will it continue? Is there no progress?” 

Satan pulled her long hair back and tied it up. She hated stray strands of hair. Nakun frowned as well. It would be a huge problem if the councilors did not supply sufficient “human materials’ to mutate into blood demons. The number of sages who gave birth to the magic dragons was not sufficient yet. If they did not increase the production of nectar, as Satan said, their plan to prepare a powerful army would not go well. Nakun himself must not mutate until the arrival of the Original One. It was still difficult for the world to know the existence of magic dragons. They still had not prepared their army, and the Awakened humans were threatening enough. 

“If only I can get rid of his deadline, everything will be over…”

Satan bit her lips. The contract’s clock within the body of the Fallen ones, as well as hers. The deadline. Due to the unexpected resurrection, the contract with the Original One had been broken. Her anger was rising at the thought of the current situation, where their lives depended on the drug given by the magic dragons. 

Nakun looked at Satan and shook his head. It was a clear sign of opposition. 

His voice heavily resounded, “Let’s wait a little longer, shall we? In the meantime, there has been some significant progress. We are currently hovering in the final stage, but I am hoping a breakthrough will happen soon. What we need is patience.”

“How are they doing?”

“There has been no progress at all in the past month or so. However, something abnormal has been discovered. They look like they’ve been wandering because they are stuck somewhere, but when you take a closer look at the cycles and patterns, significant trends start to emerge. However, it is still very vague.” 

“What is the probability of solving this issue in a year’s time?” Satan stopped talking and asked this question. 

“There is a 30 percent chance.”

“30 percent? In that case, isn’t the possibility very high?” 

Satan widened her eyes. She was clearly in disbelief. 

“That is true if you consider the number of all the scenarios. If we narrow it down into a scenario with a high chance, we are looking at up to 50 percent.”

Satan shut her mouth for a moment. Her eyes were suddenly shining brightly. It caught Nakun by surprise, as he flinched. This presence…?

“It’s to such a degree…but you still don’t know what it is? A sage who possesses all the knowledge in the world?” said Satan nervously. 

She preferred order to chaos. She hated uncertainty. The Original One’s code was chaos, and from that chaos, order emerged. She represented upright order. She could not put up with anything illogical, like all the demons. 

“There is not enough data. Clearly, it has something to do with a ‘certain type’ of communication used between the two people; particularly when they tried to adjust something while being in the state of acceleration, which might have caused the speed of the deadline to change significantly. However, the problem is that there are too many variables. There are almost infinite combinations available.  Hundreds of human specimens have been used as emulators, but it’s still not easy to interpret.”