Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 131: The Black Dragon Mavros (3)

The day after Tayarana and Mariam’s visit, Han-Yeol looked at his baby dragon and said, “Hey, Mavros. Let’s go out together.”

“Kyu! Kyu!”?Mavros fluttered his wings in delight.

Han-Yeol had finally decided to go out with his baby dragon. The deal he had made with the Horus raid party was going to make headlines in a few days, so he did not really feel that there would be any problems exposing his pet to the world just a few days before then.

Just as Han-Yeol left his room with Mavros on his head, Albert greeted him and asked, “Good morning. Have you finally decided to go out?”

Needless to say, Albert was already aware of the baby dragon’s existence.

“Good morning, Albert. Yes, Mavros was starting to get restless, so I thought of introducing the outside world to him,” Han-Yeol replied.

“Well, I can’t say anything if Han-Yeol-nim has already decided on the matter, but there are bound to be a lot of people who would covet a precious treasure like Mavros-nim.”

Albert seemed to share similar worries as Han-Yeol previously had. He had worked as a butler his entire life, but he was well aware of just how society worked. He was also quite interested in Hunters these days, so he knew that there were going to be a lot of people trying to steal the baby dragon away the moment his existence was announced to the world.

“Haha… I’m worried about that too, but I can’t keep him hidden forever. Also, the Horus raid party promised to help me, so I can say that it won’t be that risky going forward. I will protect Mavros with all of my strength.”

Kwak!

Han-Yeol clenched his fist and steeled his resolve to protect his pet at all costs.

He had been traumatized by the death of his previous pet, which had died after just six months, so he was determined to keep his vow this time…no matter how complicated the situation would turn out to be.

“I am certain that you will be able to protect Mavros-nim.”

“Thank you, Albert.”

“Hoho! Not at all. I am the one who should be grateful to you for hiring an old man like me.”

“An old man like you? You have no idea how comfortable my life is thanks to you, Albert.”

“Hoho!”

Han-Yeol chatted with Albert a bit more before going to his car garage and placing Mavros in the passenger seat.

Recently, he was getting accustomed to throwing money at his problems, but he still didn’t hire a personal chauffeur to drive him around. He personally liked driving and he treated his vehicle as his own personal space, so he did not really feel like giving up the driver’s seat.

“Kyu! Kyu!”?Mavros excitedly squealed and sniffed the car, feeling excited by the new environment he was in.

Vrooom!

As Han-Yeol drove the car, Mavros flinched. Then, he clung to the window to look at the outside scenery. “Kyu~~!”

This was his first time seeing the outside world, so he squealed in delight whenever he saw a car or pedestrian pass by.

Han-Yeol felt really good seeing the baby dragon have a good time. He thought, ‘I guess this is why people raise pets.’

He was quite happy to feel this warm sensation of raising a pet after having forgotten how it felt for a long time.

Mavros clung to the window and watched the outside scenery in amazement. However, due to the car windows being heavily tinted, nobody could see him from the outside.

Kiiik!

“We’re here.”

“Kyu!”

Han-Yeol parked at an empty parking lot before going into the shop with Mavros on top of his head.

Diring!

“Welcome… Omo! Han-Yeol! How are…?”

“Kyu!”

Han-Yeol was visiting the shop that he had started to frequent even after having a poor first experience.

The craftsman’s wife greeted Han-Yeol from behind the counter, but she soon stared at him and stopped mid-sentence.

“Hello, how have you been?”

“H-Han-Yeol?”

“Yes?”

Han-Yeol had gotten quite close with the couple due to his frequent visits. He also felt that the woman came across as a mother, even though she was not as old as his own. He could not really remember what a mother was like, since his own mother had left early in his younger days. However, he thought that this was probably how a mother would be like.

Of course, he did not think of her as his mother or anything. He only thought of her as a mother-like figure because she always treated him in quite a nice and warm manner.

He also knew very well, after having met the couple quite often, that they were not simply treating him well just because he was a customer.

“Y-Your… On top of your head… M-Monster…!”

“Oh, right.” Han-Yeol gently picked up Mavros, who was comfortably lying on top of his head, and showed him to the woman. He then explained to the baby dragon, “Mavros, say hello. This is the owner of this shop that I frequent.”

“Kyu!”?Mavros smiled brightly after seemingly understanding what Han-Yeol had said.

“W-Wow! Amazing! Are you perhaps raising that monster?!”

“Haha, yes. I was lucky and got my hands on a monster egg. I took care of the egg and ended up hatching it to reveal this little guy. It thinks of me as its parent, so it keeps following me around.”

“That is really amazing!”

The woman was always behind the counter whenever Han-Yeol visited, but she came out from behind the counter for the first time just to get a closer look at Mavros. However, she was conscious of the fact that the baby dragon was still a monster, so she looked a bit hesitant to touch him.

Han-Yeol could not blame the woman for being careful. Anybody living in this day and age would harbor the same fear toward monsters, after all.

He placed Mavros back on top of his head and said, “I want to purchase a proper sword this time.”

“Hmm… I’m curious how deep the pockets of you up-and-rising celebrities these days can be.”

“Err… That’s a bit burdensome…”

Both of them bantered like they usually did.

“So, how much is your budget for the sword?”

“Hmm…” Han-Yeol pondered for a while. He originally wanted to order a sword that was worth roughly one hundred billion won. However, he was now hesitating since two trillion won was suddenly coming into his account.

‘I think it’s better if I use a good sword…’?he decided that using a good weapon was always going to be the better option as long as he could afford it.

“Hmm… I’m thinking of a maximum budget of one trillion won,” Han-Yeol said.

“W-W-What? ONE TRILLION?!” the shopkeeper exclaimed in shock.

She had been running this shop for nearly twenty years with her husband, but this was her first time hearing of such a huge amount being uttered by someone.

The Dwarf’s Workshop was the best workshop in this area, so they received various requests with various budgets. However, this truly was the first time that they had received a request with such an absurd budget. After all, there were not that many people in South Korea who could afford to splurge one trillion won on a sword.

“Yes, I think it’s better not to skimp on the cost as long as I can afford it,” Han-Yeol replied.

“I guess you’re right, but I have no idea if it’s even possible to make a sword that expensive. Our supply of monster parts has been dwindling these days, so…” the shopkeeper said.

One of the workshop’s main concerns was the quality of the monster parts they were being supplied. The sudden emergence of the Dimensional Gates had sowed discord in society, and that affected the supply chain that they regularly dealt with as well.

Also, the parts from the many monsters that had emerged from the dimensional holes were still under study. Needless to say, there were not that many monster parts available in the market as of now.

“Hmm… Is that so?” Han-Yeol muttered.

He had been concerned that something like this could happen after the recent events, and it turned out that his concern was proven to be valid after hearing of the plight of the Dwarf's Workshop.

One might think that Han-Yeol could simply go and procure the materials he needed, but there were numerous steps and various technologies involved to be able to process the monster parts and make them usable for crafting.

That was also the reason why the processing of monster parts was a huge industry in this day and age. It was true that none of the monster parts could be used without undergoing this process.

In short, there was no way that the workshop was going to be able to craft a sword worth one trillion won or even more if the current supply chain was facing issues, and this was not going to change no matter how much money Han-Yeol had.

In addition, no material in South Korea was valuable enough to allow the workshop to craft a sword worth that much. It might be a different story if a talon of the legendary monster found in China, the Kirin, was used, but there were no such monsters that had been discovered in South Korea.

“I’m sorry, but my husband has been stressed out lately. He started drinking quite frequently because of the shortage of materials.”

Han-Yeol somewhat understood the plight of the Dwarf’s Workshop. He asked, “What if you deal with another supplier?”

“We would love to, but most factories already have a workshop that they deal with, so…”

Most workshops dealt exclusively with factories to ensure the quality of their goods, and the factories would usually sign an exclusive agreement with the workshops. The factories might be able to reap more profits if they dealt with numerous workshops, but those factories would usually get the shorter end of the stick in those cases. So, almost every factory in the country preferred to do business on a long-term basis.

“I frequently deal with this factory called Sung Jin Factory. They’re good enough that they managed to land the Horus raid party in an exclusive deal. I think they haven’t signed with any workshops in the country, as far as I know…”

“Omo, really?”

“Yes.”

“That’s surprising. Why wouldn’t they have a partner workshop if they’re good enough to land the Horus raid party…?”

“Well, I’m sure they have their reasons,” Han-Yeol replied.

He didn’t think that he had to explain the details. He thought to himself, ‘Because they fought with the TK Group…’

“Thank you for the information. We will try to look into that factory and see what we can do. I’ll also let you know if we manage to procure the materials we need from them.”

“I’ll be grateful if you could do that for me.”

Unfortunately, Han-Yeol was not able to fulfill his reason for coming here today.

‘I think I’ll need a material that has never been seen before in this country to create a new powerful sword…’?he started to ponder if he should travel overseas or not.

South Korea was a small country. Hunters usually found it more advantageous to hunt in a large country as there were a wider variety of monsters that one could hunt. India and Indonesia were good examples, but a better alternative was definitely going to be African countries.

‘I could seek assistance from the Horus raid party if I decide to go to an African country… Let’s lean toward that for now.’?

Han-Yeol decided to ponder over it a bit more, but he was already certain of one thing. In short, he could no longer just stay in South Korea alone; he had to start hunting monsters on foreign soil as well.

***

At the foot of Mouth Sokri in Sangju, Gyeongsangbukdo.

“Rakuracha! Kurara! Rara!”

The monsters that had appeared from the dimensional rift across Gyeonggi, Chungbuk, Gangwon, and Seoul had been taken care of by the one thousand demons Han-Yeol had summoned. However, the places further away from Seoul only had the cities cleaned up, so the monsters that had appeared in the rural areas were starting to adapt to their new environment and solidified it as their new habitat.

One such case was Mount Sokri.

The first Hunter who discovered the monsters here had named them the ‘Marowak Tribe’. These monsters that resembled orangutans had brown skin and long arms, and they carried a bone and wore an unidentified monster’s skull on their head. The first discoverer had named them without much thought, but the name suited them very well.

Also, this monster was a very aggressive one.

Chwaaaaak!

“Ki… Kieeek!”

That was also the reason they rushed at Han-Yeol the moment they saw him, but Han-Yeol nonchalantly cut the one right at the front across its chest.

Whiish… Puuuk!

“Ke… Keok…!”

Then, Han-Yeol switched his grip and swung his sword down to cut through both the skull that the monster was wearing and its actual skull.

“Phew…?It’s really tough,” Han-Yeol commented in amazement.

The Marowaks were not that strong individually, but they usually moved in groups of ten. However, the thing that made them quite tricky to deal with was the fact that their groups usually resembled a well-balanced party. These Marowaks formed a group composed of a warrior, magician, archer, and etc., just like how Hunters formed parties.

They were quite tricky to deal with for the average Hunters, but Han-Yeol easily cut them down one by one with various skill combinations. After all, he was now much stronger thanks to the training Astaroth had made him go through.

Whiish… Shwiiiik! Tak!

Han-Yeol sheathed his sword after making quick work of the ten Marowaks. He quickly told the Porters, “Alright, the monsters are dead. Please go ahead and do your work.”

“Yes, Hunter-nim!”

The Porters immediately moved after being given the signal. They started to dismember the Marowaks.

Yoo-Bi would have tagged along like usual and commanded the Porters, but she did not join this hunt. After all, she was now an awakened being who specialized in mechanical crafting.

‘It’s more important for her to realize her potential and build up an understanding of her skills,’?Han-Yeol thought.

Han-Yeol had decided to hire Managers and Porters since there were numerous people who could do this kind of work. Yoo-Bi was indeed an excellent Manager and Porter, but that was only the case when she had been a normal person like everyone else.

In short, her newfound abilities as an awakened being were going to be wasted if she continued doing menial work that everyone else could do.