The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 15

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

#015. Restraint

The refugee camp established in the Inje region of Gangwon Province to protect refugees and provide relief supplies from the mercilessly destroyed Sokcho and Gangneung was being flooded with refugees at a level that could never be covered by government support supplies alone.

And that reality was severely aggravating the headache of Cha Hyeonho, the camp’s director and an Awakened belonging to the Division of the Dimensional Agency.

“Sigh… How many days can we last with the remaining supplies?”

Ever since the Seoul Branch of the Dimensional Bureau had transferred all Awakened from the Gangwon Province branch except himself, he had been defending against dozens of Corrosion Entity attacks charging at the camp together with the soldiers remaining in the camp.

And his assistants, who knew this fact better than anyone, were hesitant to speak up, worried that he might become stressed.

“It would be less than yesterday. And even less than the day before.”

At that moment, a young girl in a white gown who had been playing with a gaming device beside him spoke up.

“What I’m curious about isn’t whether the supplies have decreased, but how long we can hold out.”

“That’s the same thing. I checked yesterday and the day before too. Unless new supplies come in, you know better than anyone that we only have 3 days left.”

“…”

Cha Hyeonho couldn’t argue with the girl’s words.

As she said, he himself knew most accurately how long they could last with the remaining supplies.

Realizing that the hidden meaning in her words was ‘you’ll only get stressed if you check anyway, so don’t go looking for trouble,’ Cha Hyeonho sighed deeply and said to the girl.

“If you know so well, please help us. Shirasaki-san.”

“Sorry, but I’m not a Korean government Awakened, so that would be difficult. Colonel Cha Hyeonho.”

“I’m not a colonel, I’m a section chief. The colonel rank is a temporary rank temporarily granted to command military units in emergency situations.”

“Whether you’re a section chief or colonel, you’re still a civil servant, aren’t you?”

Shirasaki Miyu.

She was an Awakened belonging to the Japanese Awakened Union.

A girl with a dark atmosphere who looked to be only about middle school age, who had been forced to stay here when all transportation to Japan stopped due to the sudden disaster that occurred during her visit to Korea.

However, knowing that this small girl possessed power strong enough to fight one-on-one with Han Suryeon, who was considered Korea’s strongest Awakened, as well as himself, Cha Hyeonho couldn’t help but be dissatisfied with her passive attitude.

“As I said before, if Shirasaki-san defends the camp, I can go out and get supplies. Or the reverse would be fine too. Are you planning to stay trapped in the camp and wait to starve to death?”

“I think we talked about this same topic before, but this isn’t a decision I made, it’s a decision my ability made.”

Unlike other Awakened who basically awakened abilities taught by Pioneers through training, Awakened belonging to the Japanese Awakened Union could manifest their awakening abilities in a very unique way.

In a place called the ‘Temple of Awakening’ decorated like a giant shrine, they would open a box to receive relics and artifacts suited to them.

When someone hoping to become an Awakened closed the lid of an empty box, bowed and clasped their hands together, then opened the box again, a unique relic that only that individual Awakened could use would appear inside the box.

And that Awakened’s ability would be determined solely by the type of that relic.

Some received trash-like relics and gave up becoming Awakened in despair, while others received cheat-level relics and became S-rank Awakened with numerous clans competing to recruit them.

And the young girl sitting in front of Cha Hyeonho playing games was a powerful Awakened who had received exactly that kind of S-rank relic, which was rare even in Japan.

The only problem was that the identity of that S-rank relic was an object with the serious penalty that it could only manifest its abilities when its owner felt ‘strong desire.’

“Of course I rationally want to help, but I don’t feel that way. And if I don’t feel that way, I’m just an ordinary female middle school student.”

Hearing Shirasaki Miyu’s words, Cha Hyeonho could only resent the heavens for why the strongest relic chose a girl with the worst compatibility.

While someone who loved fighting and had strong ambition could have reached the pinnacle of the Awakened world instantly if they had obtained her relic, Shirasaki Miyu herself showed no fighting spirit even when her own life was in danger if she wasn’t interested.

To arouse fighting spirit in such a girl, Cha Hyeonho had employed every means at his disposal until now.

He had threatened to kick her out of the camp if she didn’t fight, tempted her by promising to provide anything she wanted if she would just fight, and even made gestures of personally taking up a spear to attack opponents.

However, despite all of Cha Hyeonho’s efforts, Shirasaki Miyu’s fighting spirit didn’t show even the slightest fragment.

It was so serious that he thought even if she were thrown naked into the middle of thousands of Corrosion Entities, she would rather die than try to fight.

‘Is she really S-rank? What if she’s just an ordinary person who obtained Awakened status through deception?’

Just as he was beginning to have such suspicions, Cha Hyeonho realized one chilling fact.

‘No, wait. If she received S-rank despite hating fighting this much, that means she has fought before, right? Then when exactly did she decide to fight?’

When his thoughts reached that point, Cha Hyeonho asked Shirasaki Miyu about how she received her S-rank, and after thinking for a moment, she told him about the method by which she was granted S-rank.

“…So you’re saying you fought an S-rank Awakened on the first day you received your relic? And you felt like fighting then?”

“Strangely enough, yes. Even after that, there were times when I met Corrosion Entities and felt like fighting. Actually, for that reason, I was treated like just a mascot within the clan. When there were requests, I always moved with other clan members, and when we arrived on site, if I felt like fighting I would fight, otherwise I’d just play games in the car.”

“…So whether you feel like fighting or not is completely left to chance?”

“…That’s right.”

She looked down at the gaming device in her hands again.

Then she muttered quietly in a voice that Cha Hyeonho couldn’t hear.

“Maybe it’s because I haven’t met an opponent strong enough to make me want to fight…”

“Excuse me? What did you just say?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Just as their conversation was about to end, a soldier hurriedly entered the command tent.

Then he shouted toward Cha Hyeonho in an urgent voice.

“Colonel! A refugee has just come requesting formal refugee registration.”

“There are thousands of such people outside the camp right now. As I said before, no more refugee registrations are possible due to supply problems.”

“That person says they’ll solve exactly that supply problem!”

After that, seeing the human who had been right in front of him disappear as if by teleportation, the reporting soldier thought to himself.

Perhaps the speed at which the colonel had rushed out was twice as fast as when hundreds of Corrosion Entities had swarmed the camp before.

And Shirasaki Miyu, who had been looking at Cha Hyeonho’s empty seat after he disappeared like that, turned her head toward the gaming device she was holding with an indifferent expression once again.

Then, after pressing some buttons, she slowly stood up.

‘Large quantities of supplies at this point… I wonder what kind of guy this is?’

It was a very small whim stirred up in her heart, which hadn’t budged even when hundreds of Corrosion Entities had attacked the camp.

***

Sung-jun arrived at the camp with a 1-ton truck he had barely found after thoroughly searching the devastated Gangneung City, loaded with a massive amount of rice far exceeding its capacity.

Of course, the abandoned truck had almost no fuel left, but since he only needed to teleport it near the camp and then drive it to the camp, the remaining fuel wasn’t a big problem.

The only major obstacle was whether the battery of the truck, which had been abandoned for 3 months, would still have enough power to start.

However, that problem could also be easily solved by converting magical power to electricity, so he was able to load the abandoned truck full of rice and approach the camp area together with Seoa without difficulty.

And from the camp, as soon as the 1-ton truck loaded with sacks that were clearly rice came into their view, they came charging toward the truck he was in, shouting and carrying guns to prevent others from looting.

“Get out of the way! Everyone back off! We’ll open fire if you don’t follow orders!”

“Truck driver, don’t stop and keep driving toward the camp!”

“Can’t you hear us telling you to back off!”

Only after several gunshots fired into the sky did the people rushing toward the truck fall back.

Then a soldier with a somewhat relieved expression ran toward the driver’s seat and said.

“Attention! Is what you have loaded in the back really rice?”

“That’s correct.”

“What’s the purpose of your visit? Sale? Donation? Well, either way doesn’t matter. Enter immediately! The person in charge will come out right away. Hey! Open the gate!”

Feeling the gazes of soldiers looking at him like a savior and the cold stares of refugees who seemed to understand why, Sung-jun slowly entered the camp together with Seoa.

Then, as soon as he turned off the engine of the truck that had almost no fuel left and got out, he saw a young man running toward him at tremendous speed.

‘That person must be the camp director.’

It wasn’t unreasonable for Sung-jun to think so.

The speed at which he was running was impossible unless he was a fairly high-ranking Awakened.

Confirming that the man wasn’t holding any weapons, Sung-jun relaxed his body and looked at the man with a surprised expression like an ordinary person to avoid suspicion.

“Are you an Awakened?”

“Huff… huff… I’m Cha Hyeonho, the camp director. …huff…huff… Just a moment… let me catch my breath…”

When Sung-jun took out a bottle of water from his bag and handed it over, Cha Hyeonho bowed his head in thanks.

Then, after emptying the water bottle in an instant, he looked at the truck and said.

“…Rice?”

“Rice.”

“Not government rice though. Where did you get such a large quantity of rice?”

Sung-jun smoothly delivered the excuse he had prepared in advance.

He was originally an ordinary person whose father was a rice wholesaler, and after D-day, he had been hiding with his younger sister in a rice warehouse in a remote location.

Then he heard about the refugee camp and drove his father’s truck here—a series of stories like that.

Then Cha Hyeonho asked the same question Sung-jun had heard from the soldier earlier.

“I see… Are you donating the rice…? Or selling it…?”

“It’s a donation. Instead, I’d like you to register my younger sister as an official refugee.”

“So the person next to you is your younger sister. You’ve been through a lot at such a young age. Don’t worry. I’m thoroughly protecting this camp so that no monsters can invade. Well then, let me help you with the official refugee registration right away. We’ll take care of the rice.”

Just as they were having a conversation that would make the thousands of people waiting in line outside the camp burst with anger, and Sung-jun thought everything was going according to plan.

Several of the numerous magical circuits engraved in Sung-jun’s body began to react instantaneously.

And at the same time, defensive magic automatically deflected a sharp transparent blade that had flown from somewhere.

-CLAAANG!!! CRASH!-

Even though his identity as an Awakened had been exposed due to the sudden attack, Sung-jun couldn’t decide how he should react.

A transparent blade that flew toward him as he stood still.

Sung-jun could identify what it was more clearly than anyone else in the world.

And it seemed the attacker who ambushed Sung-jun was in the same situation.

“Magic?”

“Magic!”

The young girl’s voice rang out almost simultaneously with Sung-jun’s voice.

In the opposite hand of the girl wearing a white gown and holding a portable gaming device, a magic book with a classic design that could only be thought of as a spellbook was spread wide open, its pages inscribed with complex patterns fluttering in the air.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————