By Zephyria 
✽ ✽ ✽
In his previous life—that is, when he was still human—Edokus was a descendant of a fallen royal family. Describing it this way might evoke a tragic imagination, but he felt no particular sorrow for his ancestors, nor did he harbor resentment toward reality.
A dynasty that continued to enact laws discriminating against demi-humans and oppressed the people even as the times changed deserved to fall. This remained true even after it was revealed that the Atrebatum Empire had secretly supported the revolution.
He simply thought, If it was the Atrebatum Empire, it couldn’t be helped… The seeds for attempting to integrate a society that had developed around humans for so long—since humans formed the mainstream of mak slecht—had sprouted within the Empire.
There were always those who opposed the national registration system implemented by the Empire, claiming it violated human rights. However, they could not deny that the system, which granted equal benefits to anyone registered as a citizen of the Empire regardless of whether they were human or demi-human, contributed to the racial integration of humanity.
In short, Edokus had no regrets about the world during his time as a human. Because he had no regrets, he had no particular attachments either. He was an ordinary man who lived his days simply, or perhaps spent them complaining.
The only thing that was not ordinary about him was the extreme terror he felt toward his inescapable lineage and past. Living in fear that he would surely die if it were discovered whose descendant he was, he spent his entire life fleeing and humbling himself.
When he was recreated as a grand warrior by Chaos, his identity as a human vanished. With just a single drop of the terrible malice and hatred possessed by Chaos, he became a tool to curse the god who shaped mak slecht and to bring ruin to humanity. And that fear was magnified, evolving into a primal desire for survival.
Only after his core was destroyed and he was flung out as one of the weakest and most fragile fragments did Edokus melt his former human self back into his soul. When he opened his eyes, a world utterly foreign to him unfolded.
“…Where is this?”
A world where the magical energy in the atmosphere was dense but divinity was barely felt was nothing short of bizarre. Edokus was seized with terror. He became even more frightened upon learning it was a habitat for magical beasts that did not hesitate to devour their own kind. Having lost his abilities while being flung away as a fragment, he was nothing more than a powerless, single-bite snack.
There was only one thing that brought him peace: since this was an unfamiliar world, the apostles of god and the grand warriors who sought to kill him would not be able to track him down. Though he was merely a fragment that had lost most of its power, he had survived.
Fortunately, since the aura of a chaos grand warrior remained even in the fragment, the magical beasts did not harm him. After spending a few days in a state of escapism, huddled within the magical beasts’ habitat, Edokus finally managed to pull himself together.
He stripped clothes from a human corpse lying around the vicinity of the habitat. The clothes, lacking any functional utility, were incredibly flimsy. Even wearing rags would have been better than this.
The only saving grace was that he found a pair of tinted glasses to cover his eyes. Because Edokus’s sclera had been permeated by magical energy, it was black like that of a magical beast; to disguise himself as a human, he had to cover his eyes first.
“Don’t get hunted by humans, breed well, and live long, guys.”
After bidding farewell to the magical beasts that had served as his sanctuary for several days, Edokus took a heavy step forward. Honestly, he didn’t want to leave. But he couldn’t spend his entire life holed up in a magical beast habitat. At the very least, he needed to find out where he was.
All I know is that this isn’t mak slecht.
Since this was a world devoid of the opposing divinity, he should have felt refreshed, but instead, he felt as if he were walking on twisted earth, unable to maintain his sense of balance.
After wandering for a while longer, Edokus sensed the presence of humans and quickly climbed a tree to hide. A magical beast, annoyed that its nest had been disturbed, flew up with a screech.
The sound of humans chatting began to reach his ears.
“I wonder if that hunter will come back to the beginner field.”
“I know, right? I even prepared items to help with mobbing and carry them every day.”
“Guild Master, you exchanged numbers. What have they been up to lately? Did they say they have no plans to visit the beginner field?”
“I have the phone number… but Guild Master Tae is so scary that I can’t bring myself to call…”
“Ah.”
The humans wore expressions of deep empathy. What horrified Edokus was not the content of the conversation, but the fact that he could understand their speech.
In mak slecht, priests did not need to learn foreign languages or possess translation magical tools. For example, if there was a priest whose native tongue was the language of Country A, other priests serving the same god could use the language of Country A as if it were their own through the god. Communication of language is the basis of proselytizing.
The same applied to Chaos, the forgotten god of antiquity. Edokus was also a grand warrior—essentially a priest—who served Chaos. The fact that he could use the language of this strange world meant that… A look of excitement spread across Edokus’s face.
I’m not alone!
It meant that a ‘Servant of Chaos,’ just like him, and not some mere magical beast, existed in this land.
✽ ✽ ✽
“I don’t know under what conditions one becomes a chaos grand warrior.”
Just as the gods chose apostles and grand warriors from among humanity, Chaos also chose grand warriors from among humans. To date, a chaos apostle had never once existed in mak slecht, but the grand warriors had always been human.
Even after a chaos grand warrior was subjugated, there were cases where it remained unknown who they had been in life, and those who did find out could not find any meaningful commonality.
Kim Si-baek sometimes thought it might be a blessing that his identity remained hidden.
“Well, because a witch hunt would start, right?”
“…Exactly. Like a king who hears a prophecy that a baby born this year will usurp his throne, they would try to kill every newborn.”
Some argued that such measures were necessary to prevent a threat to all of humanity, but Kim Si-baek found it hard to agree. Is a world where people who have committed no crime are executed and sacrificed simply because they possess a slight inherent potential to become a disaster in the future a righteous one?
Tae-un gave a bitter smile.
“Coming from you, hyung, those words don’t seem to suit you.”
“I told you, I’m not the one being sacrificed.”
Kim Si-baek patted Tae-un’s thigh.
“My life isn’t in danger, and I haven’t lost anything. In a situation where I don’t know when I’ll return, I’m just doing a bit of what others aren’t doing. And if I complete it to the end, there’s a reward I desperately need.”
He smiled lightly, adding that the “work” in question so far consisted only of idling in cafes and registering as a hunter.
While they were talking, only one person remained in the queue in front of Kim Si-baek. Come to think of it, when he visited the Director’s office a few days ago, Director Noh had expressed his intention to register Kim Si-baek as an S-class hunter immediately, but Tae-un had declined.
He remembered that he had intended to ask Director Noh and Gwak Yun-sang why later, but had forgotten. Since it had come to mind, he brought up the topic.
“Why did you do that?”
The corner of Tae-un’s mouth curled up. It was a mischievous, boyish smile that he only showed in front of Kim Si-baek.
“I just thought that if we promoted you as an S-class right away, the reaction wouldn’t be that great. Once your abilities are revealed, the noise will die down, but in the beginning, people would definitely say I used my influence to force you into S-class. I’m cute, but I have a lot of enemies.”
“I see…”
[Death and Beauty is suffering, pleading with you to please stop thinking that everyone in the world might be your enemy.]
“I also didn’t want you to get caught up in unnecessary rumors, hyung. I figured if we’re going to do it, let’s do the promotion properly. An unknown hunter with talent enough to turn the Management Center upside down appearing out of nowhere overnight is the kind of promotion you can’t buy with money. The effect will be massive.”
Although his approach was different from Tae-un’s previous preoccupation with how to elevate Kim Si-baek, he agreed that becoming known was necessary. He was in no position to be picky if it meant recovering his divine power.
“How do they confirm the awakening at the Center? Do I just show them some of my abilities?”
Thinking that since it was unlikely a wounded person would suddenly appear, he should start by injuring himself, he noticed Tae-un’s expression become even more delighted.
“It’s a magical power measurement.”
“…Huh?”
“The system first divides grades from F to C based on the total amount of magical power measured in the body, and then you rank up to higher grades based on your activities as a hunter.”
Tae-un went on to explain that the difference in lower grades was merely the amount of magical power and was not absolute. This meant there were many cases where a D-class could be superior to a C-class in combat.
“However, if your magical power is overwhelming, you can exceptionally be granted a high grade from the start. A-class is the maximum, and for a hunter possessing that much magical power, becoming S-class is usually just a matter of time.”
“….”
“Of course, you’ll come out as A-class, right? Then there will be a flood of interviews calling you a ‘giant rookie,’ and you’ll become super, super popular, hehe. When your merch comes out, I’m going to buy it all… Even if lots of people start saying they like you and become fans, you can’t dump me… I’m always your Fan No. 0… You’re mine… You belong to your eternal cutie, Un-i…”
Looking at him smiling happily, lost in an ecstatic fantasy, Kim Si-baek couldn’t bring himself to tell him the truth.