Chapter 27 – Princess Run (2)

Hearing the fairy’s question, the Elf’s expression contorted into a tired one. It wasn’t an expression of empathizing with the other person’s anxiety, it was more like a protest about how she could say something so absurd.

“Larisa! What made you say such a rude thing this time around?!”

Blair looked as if he had been insulted. He was an Elf loyal enough to accept the insensitive language directed at his superiors as a slap upon himself. Surprised by the more intense reaction than expected, the fairy began to mumble with half-savored eyes.

“Don’t you eat animals that are smart enough to beg for their lives? If so, I’m glad.” “Don’t worry about unnecessary things. He is not a tyrant who punishes the person below with death for making a big mistake. It’s hard to imagine a psychopath who eats when his subordinates do not work and eats when he is hungry, even if he works well, like the dragons back in the old days.”

Then, he began to mumble in a muffled voice. “…and it’s been a while since the president stopped eating meat.”

“Are you a vegetarian then?”

“Stop making funny jokes.”

A few hours later, they later learned that Jenkinson had not delayed replying, but that the communication between Earth and the other world had been disrupted. “Now you are connected again. Larisa, prepare the paperwork.”

Blair Campbell had no doubts. That said, even if they had a major accident, there would be no punishment beyond a reasonable level.

Her communication network had barely been restored, and after meeting with her chairman by video to report the situation, she earnestly prayed inside her so that her own faith would not be broken.

“Let’s summarize what I’ve heard so far.”

They knew that President Jenkinson had returned to his dragon form. Unlike the Earth, the committee headquarters had accommodations that could consider all races. With his hand on the table of a scale with a few dozen-story building lying on its side, he frowned as he opened a paper the size of a schoolyard. As soon as communication was restored, the fairy printed the data sent to the payment from there. A fire fluttered along his nostrils. Evidence planting proved to be very uncomfortable. The Elder Dragon slowly moved his eyes and read the document once more. These were sentences that had been written from the perspective of a security officer. Then, he began to speak once he was done. “So you mean that all the ‘treasures’ in Sector B-39 were stolen last night?” “······Yes, that is the case.” “Even if you knew beforehand that there were suspicious signs around the warehouse, you were being hurt without help?” “······Yes, that is the case.”

Each time he repeated the same answer, the Elf felt himself getting smaller.

“There is no trace of the criminal, and it is impossible to trace it even with the fairy’s ability?”

“······Yes, that is the case,” At this, the old dragon took a deep breath. The heat he exuded! It began to burn the document in front of him. The chief of staff knew that it was Jenkinson’s most intense expression of anger toward his subordinates.

“Campbell. do you know why am I struggling with dimensional leaps six times to get to the committee headquarters and bind my hair for days?”

“Yes sir, I know.” “It was because of the stuff in that warehouse. But you stole it? …Larisa Andreyeva.”

When her name was called in the tail of the horse like a surprise, the fairy answered with a lot of tension. All the bad luck in her eyes was already gone. “Yes, yes!”

“Do you know how much money our company spends for you?” “…”

Knowing that he wasn’t asking a question because he wanted an answer, the fairy bit her mouth tightly. As if his guess was correct, the dragon continued without giving any room for an answer.

“I get monthly reports of expenses linked to a cost center in your name. Not only the basic salary but also bonuses, welfare expenses, entertainment expenses, payment commissions, consumables expenses, rental fees, etc… It’s about the same amount of commission we pay our top 1% contract agents, but I haven’t considered it worth it for you so far.”

He went silent for a moment, then added. “Because I have no doubt that you are the best in your field.”

His tone was calm, but what he said sharply pierced the fairy’s heart. “The reason I believed so was because you were confident in front of me that you had the best skills. A dragon’s ability to freely go to and from the spiritual realm that he can’t even enter or glimpse.”

A heavy light then began to shine in the dragon’s eyes. “I have no intention of reprimanding you for having a safe that has been breached. Most of the barriers in it were installed by myself. But the problem now is your attitude, reporting that there is no way to track them down. Am I paying enough just to hear that?” “······I am sorry.

“And, Blair Campbell.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“I am aware that the Earth’s extraterrestrial network has been disrupted for a few days. By the way, you didn’t report it directly to me just for that reason, did you? Even if you find something suspicious? Think about it. Was there really no way?”

“…”

“I know, and you know, the existence of a communications network that is never affected by internal or external environmental conditions. If I had visited the district-based committee branch and requested urgent assistance, I would have been able to borrow their spiritual network. But you didn’t.”

That was indeed true.

“Why? Simple. I was afraid of leaking sensitive information. They are not part of the Jenkinson Company, they are untrustworthy strangers.”

That part was all right.

“And you didn’t even contact ‘him,’ the most reliable helper in my absence. Your reason for this is probably the same. He’s a contract agent, after all. He’s just an opponent tied to a temporary deal, a completely unreliable stranger.”

“······I am sorry.”

“Now, this can be very dangerous. Depending on how you interpret it, you can think that the same thing may happen again in the future.” “Ah, I agree!” “I am well aware of the psychological characteristics of elves. You guys have an issue of ‘trust.’ In any case, he does not allow his opponent to enter the line he has drawn.”

Blair nodded slowly, admitting to this. “But I did not hire you because I expected you to continue to think and act like an elf. I hired you because I expected you to be able to show more than that. There is no reason for you to work with me if you are bound by the limits, mediocrity, and average of your innate race.”

The fairy and the elf lost their words at this point and simply bowed. Jenkinson gave the two of them some time to think, then said what he had been planning.

“After the call, I will share this with the committee immediately.” Those words were surprising to the fairy in particular. This was because Jenkinson was prepared to hide this fact from the committee and to train his men even more terribly. He was telling them to get the stuff before the committee even noticed. The dragon brought out the very reason out of his mouth. “Whatever background these thieves come from and for whatever purpose they move, one thing is certain. They will try to get off Earth as soon as possible and go to another world. Fortunately, there are no records of passenger or cargo ships departing from the Earth in the meantime. I will work with the committee to close all ‘terminals’ on Earth.” He was talking about some sort of dimensional blockade.

“Even if I leave for Earth right now, it will take several days to arrive. In the meantime, I hope to find traces and clues as much as possible.”

The dragon then began to instruct the secretary. “Campbell, call him. They say that you will meet all the conditions you want.” “All right. President.” “And Andreyeva.” “······Yes!” “It would be better to refrain from reporting like this in the future. Otherwise, I think I will reconsider the advice Dr. Yevdos gave me.” “Doctor… Yevdos?”

This was her first time hearing the name. The dragon kindly explained to the fairy. “This is the name of the doctor who took care of me until I came to this world. I took his advice and stopped protein. They told me to do it to live as long as I expected.”

A dragon, who could live for thousands of years without any accidents, often struggled with how long he wants to live. Soon, he realized the true meaning of those words and hardened his body. The dragon said that he would consider whether to go back to eating meat again simply because of Larisa, which he had not been eating thanks to his doctor. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make much difference for a dragon whether what was on his plate was fairy meat or not. “I will keep that in mind.”

At this, the dragon’s twelve eyes reverted back to the elf.

“Campbell, be careful. When communication ends, call Minjun immediately.” After such an apology, Jenkinson began to think for a moment.

‘Things have gotten really bad. I didn’t want to owe him more than this.’

Minjun’s help with Edeline and Jang Tae-joon could be seen as an equal exchange, but in reality, it was close to Jenkinson’s request. In both cases, it was because he had commissioned Minjun because he didn’t want to reveal it to the outside world.

Jenkinson was wary of the scale tilting in the direction of Minjun. ‘But…’

Nevertheless, the reason he found him in the end was because he trusted him that much. The dragon began to think in a glimmer of anticipation. ‘Yes. If that’s the case… there might be some way!’

---

“This can’t be done. There is simply no way. Unfortunately, I can’t see anything with my eyes.” Minjun made that bold declaration just after he received an urgent call from the secretary and arrived at Bukhansan, which had been shattered in ashes the next day.

The secretary licked his lips.

“That’s right….” According to Jenkinson’s orders, they had placed a commission on Minjun. In case there were any clues to be found, outsiders were prohibited from entering the scene of the fire. It was empty anyway, so there was nothing to worry about.

“Hmm.” Minjun, who was carefully examining the scene, began to ask Larisa. This was the first time the two had met.

“You must have already explored the spiritual realm, right?”

The fairy nodded weakly. “It was all burned down, so there was nothing.”

“There’s no way my eyes can see something that even a fairy who can cross directly into the spirit world can’t see.”

With that assertion, Minjun immediately extinguished the white flame that had wrapped around his eyes. He spoke to the elf hesitantly.

“Then… is there really no way?”

It was the first time that Minjun had seen the secretary, who was intoxicated by the name of the dragon and was fussing without knowing his true identity, felt so embarrassed. He tried to get drunk with low joy by taking more drugs like this, but he decided to quit because it was all in vain.

He knew that doing so would not get him any more Talents.

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“Aside from searching for the spirit world, how did you search?” “It’s only been a little over 24 hours since the fire was put out, so not many attempts have been made. Once the psychometric talents were mobilized…” “Yeah, nothing would have happened. Residual thoughts can be easily erased with magic. A large-scale order like this leaves no trace.” “You’re right. And the spiritually sensitive people hired by the company couldn’t find anything, either.” “Of course. Looking at the exorcism installed in that safe, from the beginning, the Ghost would not have even come close to this area. Even if they were sneaking around one or two times, they would have been swept away as soon as the fire started burning. It seems that not a single spirit body can be found within 3km of this area right now.”

It definitely seemed as if there was no way to interview a ghost who could maintain himself and testify logically. Minjun scratched his chin for a moment as he fell back into thought. Then, the fairy, who was watching, came up with an idea.

“There… brother. How about inviting a druid? This is a mountain. There are also some wild animals. What if they had a druid dig it out to see if they saw any suspicious people that night?”

“They are rare talents. It’s difficult to want right away… and all the animals that survived the wildfire in the first place will run away and won’t come close to you even if you call them. They must have been very surprised and exhausted…” Minjun trailed off at this point. “!” Suddenly, his eyes began to twinkle, as if he had thought about something. ‘Uh? wait for a sec. This··· Come to think of it!’ It was impossible for a psychometrist, a psychic, or a druid, but a possible method came to mind. ‘Yeah, I said that the number of animals living in these mountains has increased these days compared to before the 80s.’ Not all of those wild animals could have escaped the fire. The surviving animals had all run away and were not around. However, on the other hand, animals that were already dead would inevitably be everywhere, such as creatures that died less than three days ago.