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SIS Book 4 Chapter 62: Hunters and Grandparent
🕑 Added 2020-08-29 03:30:55 +0000 UTC
"It looks just like the archived picture on Rose's internet minus the new alien and fantasy-esque buildings... There are a shocking number of what seem to be... guilds? I wonder why," Daz thought aloud as he appeached Seoul atop Hamson.
'That is strange,' Reika commented. 'Do you think this place wasn't targeting during the waves?'
Daz shook his head. "This is likely the result of whatever threats Seoul faced being far too weak to even come close to resisting the power of my grandmother. I doubt the rest of Korea looks this good."
Reika pursed her lips as she crossed her arms over her lacking chest. 'Hmm... Espers are a tricky bunch...'
"That they are," Daz answered.
Very quickly he came within a few blocks of distance away from the Blue House before he was stopped by what looked like a group of moderately powerful hosts, most of whom were dressed like warriors with their armour though some were donning robes as they held books.
They had surrounded him and blocked his direct path though if he wished to, moving past them wouldn't have been much of an issue. "Can I help you people?" he asked.
They seemed surprised that he spoke fluent Korean but they quickly assumed he was using a skill or item to translate which was what they had planned to do to communicate with him themselves regardless. "You don't have clearance to fly in Seoul's airspace, Foreigner. You're also an unregistered visitor. By our laws, you are to follow us back to our guildhall and be interrogated, refuse and we will be forced to use skills to determine who you are and what you can do before detaining you."
Daz narrowed his eyes curiously as he stared at the man who had said such a bold statement to him. 'Metal armour, a big shield in his hands but no weapon. Odd. Is the shield his weapon? Anyway, surely these people know who I am from the auction... Hmm...'
"Who are you people?" he asked coldly.
"Of course it's an arrogant foreigner. We should just beat him up and skip the nice stuff," a woman in a tight robe grumbled though she shut her mouth when the shield-wielder raised a hand to stop her.
"I am C-rank Hunter Ki Dong-Min - tank class, leader of Guild Cloud's C-team. I understand you may not want to come with us but I can promise you that the interrogation will be quick and you'll be released in no time at all," the massive armoured man said.
Daz shook his head lightly. "I am very interested in most of what you just said but I'm afraid that I have a meeting with my grandmother. Would you mind postponing this 'interrogation' until after that?"
He was a busy man but he could find some time in his stay here in United Korea to learn more about what seemed to be a hidden function of the system directly from the users of said function.
Perhaps it was a trait of the city itself like Fort Home's quest system? Perhaps it came from a building like the mercenary system? Daz had a feeling it was the result of a direct purchase initiated by his grandmother since she ruled this place and his gut told him that it somehow meddled with classes.
Regardless, meeting Ho Ran first was more important. He had a lot to talk to her about in regards to the Hamilio family, after all, regardless of the alliance he was here to establish.
The leading hunter frowned. "I'm sorry, but laws are laws. You seem reasonable though. I swear, you won't be harmed and we won't take long. To be honest, our hunter score will take a bit of a hit if you don't go with us. Surely your grandmother won't mind waiting for a few more hours, right?"
'He isn't lying, sadly, I don't care. I must make a powerful impression on Grandmother for our first meeting so time is of the essence,' Daz thought. "I will summon a clone and you can take him with you. I really am busy right now. Will that suffice?"
"Haha, no," Hunter Ki Dong-Min answered dryly. "You really will have to come with us, one way or another."
"Here I am trying to compromise but there's no flexibility... This is what's wrong with the laws of old. A case-by-case analysis is necessary for each instance of law-breaking, regardless of severity. Foolish laws should also be revised or removed. A mere warning about this being a no-fly-zone without a permit and taking my clone to register me would have sufficed. I'd even have accepted an escort while that happened to make sure I didn't get up to no good," Daz murmured with a deep sigh.
"I shall be leaving now. I would suggest not trying to stop me, but I won't kill any of you, so do what you must," Daz said emotionlessly as he moved Hamson forward.
Almost immediately several hunters blocked his path. He cared not for their attempts to stop him. "Archreaper's Aura." Like flies, all hovering or flying hunters collapsed onto the ground while the standing ones assumed a kneeling position. "Oh, the woes of being a human," Daz remarked.
He shook his head and left promptly as he beelined towards the Blue House.
Not much later the hunters recovered from the powerful and overwhelming desire to worship the passing foreigner like a god.
One of them stared in the direction Daz had left in and said, "That was crazy... Just how powerful is that guy?"
"At least S-tier," another theorised.
"Why do you think he's going to the Blue House? Didn't he say he was going to visit his grandmother?" a woman in a tight battle suit asked.
"Maybe she works there. Still, he was kinda handsome for a foreigner. Shame he ignored us, now not only do we get punished but he'll become a kill-on-sight target," another woman responded.
Hunter Ki Dong-Min wore a frustrated look. "Damn it. I knew we couldn't beat him the moment I saw him but for the difference to be this huge... I feel really inadequate."
"No one asked about how you perform under the sheets, boss," a man dressed in the garbs of warrior teased.
"Oh, can it. Everyone! Let's head back to the guild. We need to report this, as much as I'd rather ignore that all of that just happened. Let's also investigate him. Maybe he's some bigshot and our database can shed some light onto why he's so powerful," Hunter Ki Dong-Min ordered.
"Yes, leader. Still, I feel like I've seen him somewhere before... That halo's itching a memory of mine," a hunter said as he held his chin in thought.
Another shrugged. "We see crazy stuff like that every day. I doubt he's that important."
"Right. I guess we'll find out soon enough," the first hunter replied.
***
Daz made use of his passive Soundless Steps skills in conjunction with his racial ability, Soul Vision to avoid bumping into anyone as he infiltrated the Blue House.
After his encounter with the local 'hunters', Daz didn't feel like experiencing any more delays before first meeting his grandmother.
'No guards outside of the president's office, huh?' he thought as he approached one of the few rooms that held a soul - the room he knew to be the president's office.
Cheong Wa Dae - or as it was known in English, the Blue house - only had a little over a dozen rooms on the first floor, some of which seemed new, but regardless, finding the room which belonged to the owner of the entire country wasn't very difficult with so few rooms to check.
"I suppose knocking would be polite," Daz said to himself before he lightly banged his knuckles against the wooden door.
"Come in," a melodious and smooth voice called from within.
'She sounds young, just like Rose mentioned... De-ageing tools and skills are very expensive in the system, enough so to give even me a shock. I wonder how she did it...' Daz thought as he grabbed the door's knob, twisted it then entered the office.
"It's good to see you again, Darenzo," a simply stunning Korean woman with long black hair said with a curt smile.
Daz closed the door behind him and chose to remain standing as he approached his seated grandmother.
"Need I tell everyone I meet that I go by 'Daz' now?" he asked with a slightly exhausted tone. "Also, don't lie to me. I know you're not happy to see me. Telling truths from lies is somewhat of a speciality of mine."
"Ah, that very familiar Hamilio arrogance, to think I'd almost forgotten about it," Ho Ran remarked bitterly. "You can take yourself out of the Hamilio family but the Hamilio family can't be taken out of you."
"Speaking from experience, are we, Grandmother?" Daz asked. "And also, you said 'again'. When did we ever meet?"
"Haha, the worst thing I ever did was let a Hamilio inside of me," she said with deep-rooted hatred. "But yes, I did say 'again'. I was there when you were born. In fact, I was there when all 39 of your siblings were born, even Rose and Giacomo."
Daz narrowed his eyes. "What? Either you're deluded or a skill is being used to manipulate my Eyes of Truth. How could you not be lying otherwise? 39 siblings? As if that's possible. Also, who on Earth is Giacomo?"
"Questions, questions." Ho Ran shook her head. "Not only did you ignore my carefully prepared escort to rush here on your own but you also humiliated one of this city's respected hunter teams. Please, Daz, if you want answers you will behave. Why not speak about less serious matters for a moment first, hmm? How is my lovely eldest grandson these days?"
'She's got a point. There really isn't any need to rush my questions. I can take the time to figure out if she's somehow messing with me... Still, 39 siblings? There had better be a great explanation for that,' Daz thought coldly as he nodded lightly. "Well, I suppose that wouldn't hurt. Got my emotions back, started training my internal energy, developed a crafting hobby, became a monarch, the usual, you know?"
"I see I see," Ho Ran smiled without smiling as she said, "And the halo? It doesn't seem cosmetic."
"Nifty little thing, isn't it? It's a skill I got with my third evolution. It's been a real... life-saver, some would say," Daz answered.
"Ah, how wonderful. My eldest grandson has evolved multiple times. Trust a Hamilio to adapt and change enough to benefit greatly from the system. Well, let's be honest, the Hamilios were never humans deep down. It only makes sense to seal the deal, no?" Ho Ran teased with a charming smile.
Daz frowned. "I dislike the family as much as you do if not more judging from your tone, however, do keep in mind that I'm as much a Ho as I am a Hamilio. I may not possess the Ho bloodline but I certainly have the power and can wield it freely. Trying to insult me through the Hamilio name is beneath a woman as old as you are."
"How hurtful, calling little old me... old," Ho Ran said as she pretended to be saddened. "Still, I never knew you'd awakened the first level of Gravital Body. Truly the 'perfect grandson' as that foolish and monstrous Davido put it to me."
"Calling the person you raised a monster? I wonder if that's indicative of the parents or not," Daz said with a raised eyebrow.
"I wonder," Ho Ran mimicked in response.
Daz sighed softly. "Okay, enough foreplay. You know I don't care about our familial relationship. You could be a stranger for all I care. Tell me about what you meant with '39 siblings'. If you'd rather not, then let's talk alliances. I really don't have time for your petty bullshit. I simply could not care less."
Ho Ran smiled cruelly. "As expected of a Hamilio; callous and arrogant to the core. Trust me to be the fool that would think you had a chance at being normal."
Daz gave the woman a funny look. "What? Are you trying to say that you were, what, testing to see if I was empathetic towards an old woman who not only allowed my father to abuse me for almost my entire life, but also the woman that tried to assassinate her husband, and, on top of that, tried to get a reaction out of me by going on about some sort of nonsense with 39 siblings? You're insane."
Ho Ran was about to reply when she felt a chill go down her spine. A low clapping rang out in the presidential office of the Blue House.
Suddenly a figure... shifted into reality. It was an old man wearing a long overcoat which covered his dark and dated suit - clearly something from the 50s or 60s.
He had a black fedora on which covered most of his messy brown and grey hair and he possessed a well-groomed stubble which was trying its best to hide his angled and refined jawline.
His eyes were tired and lazy but there was life yet still in those golden irises of his. "Well said, Daz, well said."
Daz backed away from the man and held Hamson in a guarded position. "A friend of yours?" he asked Ho Ran.
"Ha, 'a friend'," the man said. "I'm her ex-husband. Lorenzo Hamilio, at your service," the tall man said as he grabbed his hat then held it to his chest and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Grandson."
