The S-Classes That I Raised - Chapter 92

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 92: Fire Lizard

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Song Taewon had already evacuated everyone inside the rearing facility and notified the surrounding buildings, including the neighboring one and Haeyeon Guild, to be on emergency standby. Seeing how quickly he handled everything, I got the feeling this was not his first time dealing with something like this.

When I said it was all right now and apologized for putting him through the trouble, he calmly replied that there was no such thing as wasted effort in situations like this. You never knew what might happen, so prevention was best.

“I’ll go tomorrow and handle the settlement. Until then, stay put. All right?”

“Yes. I’ll wait.”

Noah nodded obediently. For the moment, we dressed him in spare training clothes from the night-duty room. His original clothes were not dungeon items, and even items that adjusted to fit the wearer’s body had their limits. Equipment for Hunters with full-body beast transformation skills required special treatment.

Normally, Hunters with full-body beast transformation skills would not appear until much later. Of course, nowhere would offer that special treatment yet. Would I need to look into it myself? What had the material been again?

After Noah left with Song Taewon, I brought only Peep back with me. Blue was already asleep, and bringing Comet would have been a problem, between Yoohyun, who did not look like he had any intention of leaving, and Peace. Rather than introducing them in the middle of the night, it would be better to let everyone rest and introduce them properly during the day. Comet was calm during the day, so it would make a better first impression than amid the chaos of the night.

Grrr.

Peace, who had shrunk again, approached with the red egg in its mouth. Good. It had not lost it.

“Peace, we moved while you were gone. It’s much bigger than before, so you’ll be more comfortable too.”

It might be a little cramped in his adult form, but there was plenty of room for his subadult form. Even as an adult, he could move around the lower floor well enough, and he could always go out and play in the rooftop garden. He would not have to live so cooped up anymore. Though both areas needed repairs first.

I set Peep on my head and picked Peace up. Yoohyun led the way and opened the door as though this were his own house. I had given him the front-door key, but when had he gotten a portal key? Had Kim Seonghan stopped by while I was asleep?

After setting Peace down to let it look around, I checked Yerim’s social media. We had originally planned to meet today and talk about Noah, but Yoohyun had shown up, so I had not even been able to contact her.

‘Looks like she met with Ms. Kang Soyoung.’

She had posted a picture of slices of cake piled up like a tower on a plate. There was also a bowl of shaved ice beside it. It looked like she had eaten beef tartare and thin-sliced raw beef for lunch. Come to think of it, she was a committed meat lover. She ate whatever side dishes I brought her, though.

‘...Even if you’re an S-Class Hunter, don’t take a selfie while standing on a moving motorcycle.’

She was not wearing a helmet either, even if it was mostly decorative. Hunters above intermediate rank were exempt from safety-equipment enforcement, though. It was an exception for using vehicles during dungeon breaks. It would be inefficient to hear that a monster had appeared, drive there, calmly unbuckle your seat belt, and get out. Motorcycle helmets would probably be cumbersome too.

Yerim was a victim too, so she would have to come tomorrow. Was she asleep already? What time did kids sleep these days? It would be better to contact her tomorrow.

“...The garden.”

Yoohyun muttered softly.

“Yeah?”

I followed his gaze. Beyond the huge floor-to-ceiling window, or rather, the screen, was the rooftop garden that had been left half-restored. It was dark outside, but the needlessly functional streetlamps revealed every broken tree and patch of torn-up earth.

“I think it was worse than I expected.”

“You have no right to say that. The damaged area is smaller. That side was dug up because of the poison.”

I had planned to start training Blue with My Kid tomorrow, but the training-room wall had been smashed. The facilities inside should be fine, at least.

“You said you were tired. Go to sleep. Myeongu uses the bedroom on the left over there, so use any room except that one.”

“Hunter Yu Myeongu is here?”

“He is and he isn’t. He shows up now and then because he’s so busy.”

He said he used that bedroom, but I could not remember seeing him sleep over the past two days.

“I think he’s making something, but he says it’s a secret. Just in case you run into him, treat him well for real this time. He has already made an S-Class weapon, so it would not be strange if an SS-Class one appeared anytime.”

I picked up the egg Peace had dropped on the floor and put it on the table. Peace had already gone up to the loft, chewed on Blue’s cushion, then leaped down and headed toward the monster living room with a low growl. It returned carrying Comet’s nest and threw it down in front of my feet.

Hmph.

He must have caught an unfamiliar scent. He did not look happy at all.

“There is a new one, but I’ll introduce you tomorrow. Its name is Comet, and it’s a black baby dragon. Come here, Peace. Shall we sleep together for the first time in a while?”

Though it flicked its tail harshly against the floor as if displeased, it came quietly into my arms. Of course it would not like unfamiliar monsters constantly showing up. But what could I do? Raising them was Dad’s job.

“Did you make sure Peace ate properly?”

“He caught and ate things on his own.”

“You really have grown up.”

What should I do? Did I need to catch living monsters for him too?

Then Myeongu suddenly appeared, accompanied by his usual wave of heat. At almost the same moment, Yoohyun stepped in front of me. Peace also pricked up its ears in surprise.

“...What is that?”

“What do you mean? It’s Myeongu.”

“No, that isn’t ordinary heat.”

Was it not? It was a little warm, but not enough to hurt anyone. Hearing Yoohyun, Myeongu raised the corner of his mouth.

“Ismuar’s fire is impressive, after all. There is probably no other fire in this world containing mana of such purity.”

Yoohyun looked a little offended at that. Still, he did not argue, so it must really have been different.

“But what is that?”

Myeongu pointed behind me. When I turned, I saw the egg on the table. The red egg had a crack running across it.

...Why was that cracked? It was an egg famous for never breaking. I instinctively tried to pick it up, but Yoohyun was faster.

“Don’t touch it. We don’t know what will come out. It could be dangerous.”

He stepped back as he spoke. The egg shook in Yoohyun’s hand. The crack widened, and with a crack, a small gap formed. Tiny flames flickered from within.

They flickered again and again, licking the eggshell and swallowing it as though melting it.

Fwoosh!

The egg burst fully into flame. I was startled for a moment, but perhaps because of Fire Resistance, it did not seem hot.

The fist-sized blaze soon died down, revealing a tiny lizard. The little lizard, made of flame, climbed up Yoohyun’s hand and curled around his wrist.

In my confusion, I used Sprout.

[Spirit of Fire - F-Class

Contractor: Han Yoohyun]

“...A Spirit of Fire?”

At my murmur, Yoohyun and Myeongu both looked at me.

“A Spirit of Fire? Spirits exist too?”

“Ismuar said there would not be spirits in this world.”

There had not been. Not even five years later had anything like a spirit appeared. There had only been unidentified eggs.

Could those eggs have been spirit eggs?

“...There was no change in the egg until you appeared, Myeongu. You said that heat earlier belonged to Ismuar, right?”

“Yeah. What I’m making now needs Ismuar’s firepower badly, so some of it leaked out... Did that wake it up?”

“Probably. Maybe it can only awaken when the power of another spirit reaches it.”

That would explain why the unidentified eggs had not reacted no matter what people tried for years. There were no spirits in this world.

Yoohyun watched the lizard circling his hand with fascination. Then he made a small flame at his fingertip. The lizard stopped moving abruptly and watched closely as the red flame darkened. Once it had turned completely black, it opened its mouth wide and gobbled up the fire.

“It seems completely immune to the fire attribute. It doesn’t look particularly useful, though.”

“Why not? If we raise it well, it might grow as strong as Myeongu’s Ismuar. It was born from an SSS-Class egg, after all.”

“Something that tiny?”

Myeongu sounded displeased. Perhaps he had become close to Ismuar already.

Still, if an egg could only hatch when touched by the power of its own type of spirit, the other colored eggs would remain unidentified forever. What a waste.

* * *

It was past ten in the morning when I woke up. Without Blue or Comet around, I must have slept soundly without anything waking me.

Grrr.

As I sat up, Peace rubbed its head against me as though it had been waiting. Peep fluttered around in its basket too. They seemed to have been awake for quite a while, but they had not even begged me to get up. Good kids.

I took Peep out of the basket and went into the living room. It felt a little empty without Blue.

It seemed Yoohyun had already returned to the guild. He had been gone for several days, so he must have had a lot to do. He would need to visit the Association as well. I should have woken up earlier and at least made him breakfast.

Chirp chirp.

Peep climbed the pet stairs onto the sofa and pressed a button on the remote. It was very used to sitting and watching TV. Before long, would it be sitting beside a bowl of snacks, picking them up with its wings, and buying movies on VOD?

When I looked at the TV, I saw a breaking-news banner at the bottom of the screen.

Sesung Guild recruits S-Class Hunter.

“...Wait, Peep.”

I picked up the remote and changed the channel. The Hunter-only channel had the details. Sesung Guild had successfully recruited an overseas S-Class Hunter. Evelyn Miller, an S-Class free Hunter specializing in ranged combat, was scheduled to enter the country today...

‘...That’s earlier than before.’

Before my regression, Evelyn Miller had also joined Sesung Guild. But not this soon. Had they moved their plans forward because Haeyeon had gained more S-Class Hunters?

‘Evelyn Miller was a woman with a gentle personality for an S-Class combat Hunter.’

For some reason, she did not get along with Moon Hyuna. She would be a good candidate for a Keyword, but...

‘Forget it. I’m not using it on Awakened anymore.’

Noah was the last. Trying to get a fully grown S-Class for free and stepping on a landmine once was enough. I should go pick up Blue and Comet instead.

* * *

Gold-brown hair braided into a single long plait. Brown eyes behind large, round glasses. As Evelyn Miller, dressed in clothes that looked modest at first glance, appeared at the airport exit, the gathered reporters set off their flashes all at once.

Evelyn gave a small wave toward the broadcast cameras before moving on. Seong Hyeonje, the Sesung Guildmaster, stood where she was headed, dressed in an immaculate formal suit.

“You must have had a difficult journey.”

“Not at all. Thank you for such a warm welcome, especially for coming to receive me yourself.”

Her gentle smile met his equally friendly one.

Seong Hyeonje personally opened the car door for Evelyn, then went around to sit in the driver’s seat. As soon as the car began to move, Evelyn spoke as if she had been waiting.

“I heard the news. It seems Noah did something unexpected?”

“He even contacted me this morning, saying he was going back to being a free Hunter.”

Evelyn looked genuinely surprised at Seong Hyeonje’s words.

“So suddenly? I thought he would not be able to give up your protection, if only because of Riette. That must sting.”

“It is only natural. I had just finished training a dog and even put a name-tag collar on him, only for him to run away. His full-body beast transformation has been exposed too.”

Seong Hyeonje let out an exaggerated sigh.

Noah was an S-Class Hunter with various support skills, useful enough even in dungeons, but he was even more useful outside them.

Above all, the existence of his full-body beast transformation skill was not yet publicly known. Even if he committed the atrocity of stomping on a guild in broad daylight, it could be passed off as the work of a monster that had emerged from some breached gate.

“Noah is not that strong, but his poison is useful. He could have taken care of one or two. It is a shame.”

Even if they could not do anything to other S-Class Hunters, wiping out everyone below them would inevitably weaken any guild, at least for a while. It would be even easier if their targets were civilian power brokers supporting the guild from behind.

“But why did he do it? Did the Korean air not agree with him?”

“I do not know the exact details yet, but it must be connected to Han Yujin.”

“The magical beast breeder? He did not tame Noah just because he is half-monster now, did he?”

“Who knows? That would be interesting.”

Evelyn tilted her head, studying Seong Hyeonje’s expression.

“You do not seem terribly upset that Noah ran away, Mr. Seong.”

“I was thinking of complaining to his new owner and demanding my runaway dog back.”

“If it were me, I would pretend not to know anything and say it was their problem, since the dog entered on its own. Did you not say his stats were F-Class? Would he not get scared and cry?”

Seong Hyeonje laughed softly at Evelyn’s words.

“He has a cuter personality than that.”

He took out his phone and made a call. After it rang for a while, a voice answered, one that could never be called welcoming.

[What is it, Sesung Guildmaster?]

“Do you have time tonight, Han Yujin?”

[Tonight? I do, but tell me why first.]

“It is nothing much. I am asking you on a date.”

There was a moment of silence, then a distinctly irritated voice replied.

[For a Guildmaster, you seem to have a disgustingly large amount of free time. I’m busy raising your kid, so I’ll hang up now.]

The call ended without mercy. Seong Hyeonje held up his phone as if to say, See?

“See what I mean?”

“...His stats really are F-Class? He is a little... unusual. Did you not say he went into a dungeon with you? How can he act like that?”