WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈
Chapter 198: Breaker Guild (2)
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“Rok. Little Rok, look at me. Hmm?”
The white fawn lay sprawled on the floor, doing nothing but blinking at me. It was not even lying on its belly. All four legs were stretched out, completely limp.
“You need to get up. You can’t keep doing this here.”
Its ears flicked and its short tail twitched. But that was all.
“Little Rok...”
It wasn’t like I’d made it do anything difficult. I had only meant to show it the training room, yet it was already like this before we even got there. Maybe Ms. Hyuna got scammed. This one is incredibly lazy! Though it would be a relief if it just slept a lot because it was still young.
“How are you ever going to grow up like this?”
The problem was that I couldn’t train it in this state. It would grow with just the My Kid growth buff, but it would take several times longer than if it trained. I’d soon have stamina potions too, so I could raise them even faster than before.
“...I never thought it would be the baby monster, not me, that couldn’t keep up.”
The others had been so lively that they’d been more proactive than I was. I hadn’t considered a lazy monster. And it was a deer. Not a turtle.
“Let’s get up, okay? Or at least go back to your pen. We’re in the hallway.”
I tried to lift it, but it was no use. It was fairly big and heavy too, so dragging it away was more than I could manage. Should I call someone?
I reached out and scratched the soft white fur where its side met the crease of its leg. Apparently feeling good, it stretched out fully and rolled onto its other side.
“Don’t you plan to get up?”
Meh.
Little Rok gave a whiny cry. After a nocturnal baby monster, now I had one with low activity levels too. Usually, in cases like this, you tempted them into moving with something they liked, but I still didn’t know much about Little Rok. Its feed was ordinary plants from dungeons, delivered by Breaker Guild every morning.
Unlike the omnivorous unicorns, Little Rok was a one hundred percent herbivore and only ate mana stones as snacks. Instead, it devoured fruit and grass like an elephant. It was only about the size of a grown calf, but perhaps its digestion and absorption were excellent, because it could eat endlessly.
“Fine. If you like it here, let’s sit here.”
I sat down beside Little Rok. It raised its head and plopped it onto my lap. Its short tail wiggled.
“There’s nothing urgent, so it’s fine. Big Sis Blue will be fully grown soon. Blue is friendly with strangers, close to Ms. Hyuna, and likes clearing dungeons, so she can more than fill in until Little Rok grows up.”
Even after Little Rok was fully grown, Moon Hyuna might still be able to enter dungeons with Blue, depending on the dungeon. Blue was a flying type, after all. Ms. Hyuna did not need to be selective about a mount’s elemental resistance, either.
“When you’re young, all you need to do is eat well and stay healthy. Of course, you can’t cause trouble for others. But Little Rok is good.”
Better a gentle one with low activity levels than one too wild to handle. Though as a mount, it would be a problem if it remained meek even after growing up. Still, it had been a boss monster. It would surely do its job when it counted.
“Should we look for food you like? Is there anything that might interest you? Which country’s dungeon was Little Rok from again? Maybe I should read up on Snowfield Reindeer raid information.”
It would probably not help much, since it would be about how to hunt them. Should I hire an animal behaviorist? Even if they dealt with monsters, they would likely understand them better than I did.
I was thinking that I should first separate its feed by type and check its preferences when I heard footsteps. It didn’t seem likely that Yoohyun and Yerim would come at this hour, so it was probably Moon Hyuna or Kang Soyoung. When I turned my head, I saw Moon Hyuna holding something like a cake box in one hand.
“Why are you sitting in the hallway, Director Han?”
“As you can see, Little Rok won’t budge.”
“Looks like the kid sleeps a lot.”
“They’re all like that when they’re young. You need to sleep well to grow well.”
When I stood up, Little Rok gave another cry.
Meh!
Seeing that I had no intention of sitting back down, it struggled to its feet. Then it began nibbling on the hem of my clothes. That was similar to the unicorns.
“Should we go home?”
I tried to start walking, saying, “Let’s go, let’s go,” but it wouldn’t move an inch while holding my clothes in its mouth. Did it like the hallway that much?
“Hold this, Director.”
“What is it?”
“Apple pie.”
Moon Hyuna handed me the apple pie box, then lifted Little Rok up with ease. Little Rok squirmed, but she didn’t so much as wobble.
Meh!
“The little thing has quite some strength.”
Moon Hyuna laughed as she headed toward the rearing rooms. The rearing room, with its pens lined up in rows, had one wall wide open. It led to the exercise yard. No matter how well-made they were, pens were still stuffy, so we had put up high walls around a wide backyard with grass and trees so the young magical beasts could run around.
The two unicorns, playing together in the sunlight, spotted me and came bouncing over.
“The foals have grown a lot too. Blue is in the rooftop garden. Is it all right to let them out?”
“I’ve taught Blue not to attack.”
With Peace’s help, I had spent more than half a day repeating, “No.”
“Still, just in case, an A-Class Hunter keeps watch whenever the exercise yard is open.”
I nodded toward the Hunter stationed by the yard. Even once Blue was fully grown, an A-Class defense type should be able to stop her. Also, she tended to listen well to people she knew even without an Owner’s Token.
More precisely, it was closer to, Then play with me too.
Neigh!
Snort.
The black and white unicorns glanced at Moon Hyuna before pressing their heads into both of my shoulders. Moon Hyuna set Little Rok down in its pen and looked at the unicorns.
“Hayang and Kkamang, right?”
“Yes.”
They hadn’t been at first. When I accepted Little Rok, Moon Hyuna told me that it was better not to name baby monsters myself. But Little Rok wasn’t much different, was it? It just meant little deer. She said it was written with different characters, but it sounded like exactly that.
“Blue will be fully grown soon, so these two won’t be far behind either?”
“Yes. So...”
I stopped speaking. As though she already knew, Moon Hyuna lifted the corner of her mouth.
“I heard Haeyeon Guild plans to reorganize its S-Class raid teams to suit the mounts. They said the Young Master’s team will be cut down significantly.”
“The remaining people will move under Hunter Kim Seonghan. It will become the fastest S-Class raid team in the world.”
It would be a small team centered on Peace and Yoohyun, with the two unicorns and only a few team members. Even in an S-Class dungeon, there weren’t many monsters that could keep up with a unicorn’s speed, so it would consist only of defense, support, and healers. Besides Yoohyun, there would be a maximum of six people.
Kim Seonghan was defense type, so if all the remaining attack types were assigned to him, there would be no need to recruit or dismiss attack-type Hunters. They were a little short on support and healers, but we planned to bring them in from MKC.
“I can’t wait. Even when Yoohyun went in with just Peace last time, he broke the record. If it’s a lower-tier S-Class land dungeon, won’t you clear it within three days?”
“If we have enough firepower, it should be possible. The speed will be completely different.”
While receiving buffs, they could race forward and sweep everything away in flames. Ordinary monsters would be dealt with in an instant. Peace was also a unicorn subspecies and had a charging skill, so if the running speed and clearing speed were about the same, why stop at three days? They might clear it in two.
They would need to operate more safely in upper-tier S-Class dungeons, but I expected it to work through the mid-tier ones.
“Is Comet in the pen behind that curtain? Soyoung was bragging that Comet had grown a lot.”
“Comet is as big as Blue is now. Once fully grown, Comet will probably be even larger than Blue.”
“The kids will start leaving one by one. We should hurry and find A-Class mounts too. Work hard, Director.”
Moon Hyuna looked at Little Rok with an expectant smile. Just as MKC had suddenly gone under much earlier than before the regression, Breaker might also turn out differently than it had before. Even Breaker having an S-Class mount was something that had not happened before the regression.
“Since you’re here, would you like to stop by the house for a bit? You brought pie, so I’ll at least treat you to some tea.”
“Oh, take this.”
Moon Hyuna held out a miniportal key and a house key.
“I heard you still haven’t managed to replace the portal key?”
“I changed the inner door. The Association is being particularly stubborn about the portal.”
Seong Hyeonje had said he would consider it if the Association agreed first. Hanshin Guild had said the same.
“That may be because things are complicated lately.”
Moon Hyuna spoke as she started walking. Her long legs took wide strides, but she wasn’t moving quickly. It seemed like she was matching my pace.
“MKC collapsed, leaving Yeouido vacant. Everyone is desperate to fill it right now.”
MKC Guild had been based in Yeouido. Breaker was near the Blue House, while Hanshin was between Seoul Station and City Hall. Haeyeon Guild was between the Hunter Association and the courthouse in Gangnam. Sesung, rather unexpectedly, was near the National Cemetery.
“People are suggesting that either Haeyeon Guild or the Mount Rearing Facility should move to Yeouido. It may not be a guild, but the rearing facility is plenty reassuring. It has S-Class Hunters and monsters, as well as many high-grade Hunters.”
“Team Leader Seok told me to ignore them. He said they couldn’t even cover the cost.”
Building the rearing facility had not cost a trivial amount. The same was true of Haeyeon Guild. It had even begun expansion work recently.
“Of course. But they’re using that as an excuse to pester you. Like the portal key.”
So it was petty spite. The Association had changed its leadership, but it couldn’t ignore outside pressure, just as it hadn’t during the last A-Class Ranking Match, so it was rejecting my request.
“Why don’t they pressure Sesung instead?”
“If that had worked, Sesung would have gone to Yeouido from the beginning. There was fierce behind-the-scenes jockeying over Sesung’s location at the time. National Assembly members, chaebol families, all of them. There’s even a rumor that Sesung went near the National Cemetery because Seong Hyeonje got sick of it. A response to the people who call themselves important throwing their weight around, saying that people like themselves ought to be protected.”
Did that mean someone needed to be worthy of burial in the National Cemetery before they were worth protecting? I didn’t know the real reason, but he wasn’t the sort of person who would obediently move to Yeouido.
“There’s no need to insist on a guild with an S-Class Hunter in the first place. Dungeons can break while S-Class Hunters are away, and everyone has helicopters.”
“Still, they can’t leave it empty, so I recommended Woods Guild, which merged with Water Spray Guild this time. But those idiots said they couldn’t trust a female guildmaster, never mind the A-Class Hunters. The world changed three years ago, but those rotten brains are still the same!”
Moon Hyuna grimaced and grumbled. Woods and Water Spray were the guilds led by the Hunters who had placed first and third in the last A-Class Ranking Match. So they had merged to challenge for management rights over S-Class dungeons.
“If first and third place in the Ranking Match joined forces, they would be more reliable than any other A-Class guild. That really is stupid.”
The Hunter guarding the miniportal greeted Moon Hyuna. When we entered the house, Peace came to greet us, thumping their tail.
Mrrrow!
“That’s right, Peace. Where are Peep and Bellare?”
It was suspicious that they hadn’t come to greet me. Peace tilted their head, then toddled ahead. They sat in front of the kitchen door and looked at me.
“Bellare!”
The kitchen door’s lock had melted from venom. There was a fairly large round hole in it. Bellare had probably intended to unlock and open the door, but had simply passed through the hole instead.
“Peep, you made Bellare do this, didn’t you!”
When I threw open the door, I saw a small bottle rolling around on the table. The cap had also melted away in venom, and the bottle was empty. I shouldn’t have left the mana stone bottle in the kitchen.
Where were those two hiding?
“...Peep, Daddy’s leaving.”
Cheep!
Peep floated down from the top of the refrigerator. They landed on the table and stared at the mana stone bottle as if troubled. It looked like a different Peep, but... the gluttonous Peep had gotten much smarter lately, which made it hard to tell. Was this an act or not?
“Where is Bellare?”
Cheep, cheep.
Peep pointed at the microwave with the tip of one small wing.
“Our Peep is such a good kid. You deserve a reward.”
When I smiled brightly and took out a mana stone from my inventory, Peep hurried over, chirping happily. So this really was the one who had caused the trouble.
“Did Daddy tell you not to go into the kitchen alone or not?”
Cheep...
“And I told you venom was dangerous! You can’t make Bellare use venom. No venom!”
I picked Peep up and examined them from every angle in case there was a problem. Meanwhile, Bellare cautiously poked their head out from behind the microwave. When our eyes met, Bellare slithered out and wagged their tail. They looked a lot like Peace.
“I told you that you can’t use venom without permission either, Bellare.”
Hiss.
“Come here.”
Hopefully Bellare hadn’t used venom anywhere else. I rubbed the table and door with my bare hand first, then wiped them down with wet tissues. Moon Hyuna, who had watched from beyond the kitchen door, clicked her tongue.
“You have it rough, Dad.”
“They’re usually well-behaved, but they’re causing trouble today.”
I really mean it, so don’t laugh.
I put the apple pie on plates and brought it to the living room with juice. This pie was good. Every snack Yerim and Soyoung brought over was good too.
“If it’s all right, could I learn about Breaker Guild?”
“Our guild?”
“Yes. I heard it has ties to many places.”
“Ties to many places, huh.”
Moon Hyuna tapped the plate with the tip of her fork, her eyes smiling.
“Want to come have a look?”
“Today?”
“Ah, but several facilities only allow women inside, so you’d have to dress as a woman.”
“...I’ll pass.”
“I’m joking. Except for the sauna.”
Moon Hyuna tossed the last piece of pie into her mouth and stood.
“I’ll kindly show you around, so follow me, Director Han.”
Footnotes:
“Little Rok” sounds like the Korean phrase for “little deer,” though the source says the name uses different characters.
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