Chapter 153

Chapter 153: Ria's Moment to Shine

A year had passed.

Many buildings had risen between the inner and outer walls of the Rift.

Most were lodging and living facilities.

Inner wall lodging was expensive, while outer wall lodging, farther from the Outpost center, was comparatively affordable.

The number of Hunters staying at the Outpost kept growing, now reaching three hundred and fifteen.

I took a stroll through the outer wall area with Yeona and Rin.

Hunters we passed greeted us.

"Hello, Chef!"

"Your daughters are so adorable!"

My daughters and I returned their greetings.

"Hello, Hunter Adam, Hunter Rosie."

I had memorized the names of most Hunters who visited the Outpost regularly.

"Hello!"

"Mister, hello!"

The Hunters melted at my cute daughters' greetings.

We encountered more Hunters along the way.

I heard their feedback.

"Reservations at An-Restaurant are so hard to get these days! The competition is too fierce."

"Seriously, I miss the old days."

We accepted reservations for one hundred and twenty at lunch and one hundred and fifty at dinner.

Many Hunters booked both lunch and dinner.

Ji-young's dinner service sometimes had openings.

But the lunch service, which sold stat, Mana stacking, and buff dishes, was fiercely competitive.

An average of two hundred and fifty people wanted reservations, but only one hundred and twenty spots were available.

A full month of reservations was already booked out.

'I could take more than a hundred and twenty, but that is the right number to maintain ingredient stock.'

There was no way around it.

The reason dinner sometimes had openings was that a guild-run eatery had been set up in the outer wall district.

The food quality was lower than An-Restaurant in the inner wall, but it was decent enough for a simple, affordable meal.

During our stroll.

"Daddy, my legs hurt from walking too long. Carry me."

Yeona was pretending her legs hurt.

This was clearly an act.

But I played along.

"As you wish, second princess."

I scooped Yeona up in my arms.

"Hehe!"

She smiled, nestled in my arms.

I then asked Rin.

"Shall I carry you on my back too, Rin?"

"Rin is all grown up now, so I am fine!"

"Really?"

"......Actually, I would like that!"

"Ha ha! Okay, hop on!"

"Yay!"

Rin climbed onto my back.

And so I strolled with daughters attached front and back.

Hunters we passed watched with warm smiles.

"Seeing Chef An's family makes me want to go home."

"I miss my own kids."

Some Hunters had children of their own.

"Reminds me of my granddaughter."

There were even grandfather-age Hunters.

The majority, though, were young adults.

"Did you hear? Apparently Hunter An Seon-u originally planned never to marry. He was going to live single."

"Seriously? That doting dad? Did he marry because his partner was Hunter Emeria?"

"I do not know the details, but apparently he had emotional wounds from a past relationship. That is why he planned to stay single."

The Fourth Awakening had sharpened my hearing considerably.

I could hear their conversation from a distance.

That rumor had spread because of Eriksson.

He had apparently been drinking with Outpost Hunters and sharing stories.

He seemed not to have gone into detail, at least.

'Eriksson, that guy.'

The rumor-spreading Eriksson had gotten a thorough scolding from the Sword Saint elder.

The Hunters continued their conversation.

"God must have put him through that pain and hardship so he could meet Hunter Emeria."

"Exactly. I am jealous to death. A beautiful wife and adorable daughters. Look at how his face lights up."

"You can really tell he is happy just from his expression. I want to meet a good person and get married too."

Was my expression that obvious?

Well, every day was pure happiness.

And that was precisely why I would never let the comfort of familiarity make me forget how precious this was.

So that I would have no regrets when looking back on my life, I would give my best to my beloved family each and every day.

"I love you, Rin, Yeona."

"Rin loves you too, Daddy!"

"Yeona loves Daddy too!"

In our family, "I love you" came out naturally.

Because we said it to each other so often.

***

Ria, the Sword Saint elder, and I boarded a flight to Ethiopia.

We had finally received word that Ethiopia would allow contact after a full year.

'It took a whole year.'

For a year, the Ethiopian government kept changing its story.

Come in person and we will arrange a meeting. We will set it up in a month.

Then two months.

They kept moving the goalposts until, after a full year, they finally confirmed contact and we headed to Ethiopia.

We took our seats, and the plane began to taxi.

"Ria, do you want to hold my hand?"

"No, I am fine. I have already been on one of these."

She had, indeed.

When we went on vacation to Jeju Island.

Ria had told me that in a certain kingdom on the Continent of Bellinta, there were Wyvern Knight Orders that rode wyverns.

Yet Ria herself had never actually flown before.

I vividly remembered her tense expression, gripping my hand tightly during takeoff on that trip to Jeju.

But now, having experienced it before, there was not a trace of nervousness.

"That nervous Ria was cute."

"I am a mother of two now. Hardly cute......"

"A mother of two? You still look like you are twenty."

"Twenty? Seon-u, you always exaggerate when it comes to me."

Yet she reached over and took my hand.

Ria was clearly pleased.

The Sword Saint elder, seated beside me, turned his head to look away.

The plane took off.

After gazing at clouds through the window, I asked the Sword Saint elder.

"Elder, do you think Ethiopia will actually let us meet Hunter Bekele?"

"Hard to say until we get there. But I have a feeling that even if they do, they will not make it easy."

"I share that feeling."

Ria agreed with the elder's assessment.

I felt the same way.

"I hope we are not just wasting time. Either way, we have to try."

"Indeed, Seon-u."

Then Ria said something unexpected.

"They say that to recruit great talent, you must visit three times, like the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage."

"Where did you learn the 'Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage' reference?"

"When I could not sleep, I read the historical Records of the Three Kingdoms from the library. Studying neighboring East Asian history alongside Korean history turned out to be really helpful."

"You are truly amazing, my wife."

In any case, if this trip did not work, I would have to make three visits.

Bekele was that essential to our guild.

After nearly thirteen hours of flight, we arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

After clearing immigration and stepping into the lobby, I was taken aback.

"Yaay-!"

"Welcome to Ethiopia, Hunter An Seon-u, Hunter Emeria!"

"Welcome to Addis Ababa!"

A crowd that must have numbered over two hundred swarmed toward us, waving welcome banners and small flags, cheering.

'News of our visit must have already been reported locally.'

We waved and bowed in greeting.

Security personnel who had come to meet us then escorted and guided us.

We exited the airport, got into a waiting car, and set off.

"Where are we headed?"

At my question, the person in the passenger seat answered.

His aura marked him as an Awakened.

At least B-Rank or higher.

"To the Jubilee Palace."

The Jubilee Palace was another name for the Ethiopian Presidential Palace.

'As I expected, we are meeting the Ethiopian president.'

Even while arranging the visit with Ethiopian officials, I had not been told the details.

'I have not even met the Korean president yet.'

In truth, it was not that I had failed to meet the Korean president and politicians. I had deliberately avoided it.

I had absolutely no desire to get entangled with politics.

Knowing this, Director Jeong Jae-yong of the Rift Management Bureau had served as our shield, thoroughly blocking contact with political forces.

'A truly good person.'

In many ways, I was glad I had joined the Rift Management Bureau.

I took in Addis Ababa through the car window.

It reminded me of old Seoul.

'Is it similar to Seoul in the nineties, like I saw in books?'

The high-rise downtown area might look like that, but the outskirts were reportedly very underdeveloped.

After nearly an hour's drive, we arrived at the Presidential Palace.

As we stepped out, the Ethiopian Rift Management Bureau Director greeted us.

"Welcome, Hunters of Korea. I am Bureau Director Zerdi Getachew. Please call me Zerdi."

"Hello, Director Zerdi."

After exchanging greetings, we followed his lead into the presidential reception room.

After a brief wait, the president entered, accompanied by several high-ranking officials.

'President Meles Tagist.'

I had done some preliminary research on him.

We exchanged brief handshakes and took our assigned seats.

President Meles spoke.

"Distinguished guests, thank you for making the long journey."

"Thank you for the warm welcome."

He asked us a variety of questions.

Our impressions of Ethiopia.

Life at the Outpost township, what infrastructure had been built, and so on.

We answered everything we could.

After the small talk, we got to the point.

"You requested to meet Bekele?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Hmm......"

President Meles suddenly shifted into a shrewd mode.

He put on an expression as if this were extremely difficult.

'A politician through and through.'

He clearly had no intention of making this easy.

He fixed us with a sharp gaze.

"Why do you want to meet Bekele?"

I did not like beating around the bush.

So I stated my purpose directly.

"I want to recruit Bekele into our Wind Forest Guild. Our guild needs his abilities."

Every Ethiopian official present furrowed their brows.

President Meles tapped his armrest with his index finger and continued.

"Your Wind Forest Guild already possesses military power strong enough to make even the United States, Russia, and China wary. Why do you need Bekele's abilities as well? Might there be an ulterior motive?"

It was true that our guild's combat power made even major powers nervous.

With a total of four members designated as R-Rank, the classification said to rival national power.

But ulterior motives?

"What kind of ulterior motive do you mean......?"

"For instance, your guild might be planning to use its overwhelming military power to stand above all the nations of the world. Or perhaps you harbor ambitions to make your home country, Korea, into a superpower. I am asking whether you intend to recruit talented individuals like Bekele and naturalize them into Korea for such purposes."

What had I just heard?

I swore I had never once entertained such thoughts.

"Absolutely not."

The Sword Saint elder also spoke.

"Our guild simply wishes to protect our Outpost township from monster attacks. We have no other objectives."

President Meles turned to glance at Director Zerdi.

Zerdi gave a slight nod.

"It seems you are telling the truth."

Director Zerdi apparently possessed a skill that discerned truthfulness.

An emerald light glowed in his eyes.

I added.

"Our guild includes many Koreans, but also a significant number of multinational members. Among them was a guild member from a developing country who wanted to naturalize as Korean. But the Sword Saint elder and I persuaded that member not to apply for Korean naturalization. We did so to ensure their identity, their homeland roots, and their family ties would not be shaken. Later, that guild member thanked us sincerely, saying they had nearly abandoned their country and family for short-term comfort. Going forward, if any guild member wishes to naturalize as Korean, we will persuade them not to."

The world's major powers were already wary of our guild.

There was no need to provoke them further by naturalizing talent into Korea.

After hearing this, the president exchanged another look with Director Zerdi and nodded.

"Hmm...... I see."

He fell silent for a moment, then continued questioning.

"If Bekele were to join your guild, would you assist his homeland, Ethiopia, should it face a Rift-related threat?"

It was not the Sword Saint elder or I who answered.

It was Ria.

"Ethiopia was the only African nation to send troops as an ally during the Korean War. Beyond that, if Bekele becomes family in our guild, we could not possibly ignore a Rift threat in his homeland, Ethiopia. If our guild cannot help, I will go alone."

The Sword Saint elder and I agreed.

"Unless simultaneous crises hit both our homeland and the Outpost, we will set aside other matters and prioritize assisting Ethiopia."

"I will help as well."

That was the decisive blow.

President Meles was deeply satisfied with Ria's answer.

"I understand that Hunter Emeria is a naturalized Korean citizen. I never imagined that, of all people, it would be Hunter Emeria who would mention our nation's participation in the Korean War."

Indeed.

President Meles lightly slapped his armrest.

"Very well! I will trust that promise."

"Then......"

"Yes, I will arrange for you to meet Bekele. Of course, whether Bekele joins the Wind Forest Guild will be his own choice."

"If Bekele joins our guild, we will spare no support and ensure he grows well as a Hunter."

"I trust you."

I had worried we might leave without even meeting Bekele.

But thanks to Ria, who had studied Korean history, things had worked out.