Three Meals of a Reincarnator

Ho Sung Lee brushed his face off from the dirt and looked up at Min Sung.

"D-do you mean it…?"

"Yeah. You were pretty useful. I wouldn't take a long time finding him."

Ho Sung Lee couldn't tell if he was dreaming after being complimented by a human like Min Sung.

Ho Sung Lee blinked his eyes blankly and then opened his mouth.

"Oh yeah. What happened to the dark elf? Did you catch him?"

Min Sung explained what happened after Ho Sung Lee collapsed, and as soon as he finished, Ho Sung Lee's eyes opened wide.

"You just sent him away?!"

"Of course not."

Ho Sung Lee got up while rubbing the back of his neck and nodded.

"Yeah, there's no way you would've done that. Then what did you do…?"

"Bowl's spirit spell."

At the same time, Bowl crawled out of Min Sung's pocket. He snickered and showed a peace sign.

"I see… That's the safest way without drawing blood."

Ho Sung Lee continued with a smile, "I'm relieved that we found the dark elf."

"But I don't think this will be an easy quest."

"How come?"

Min Sung sighed before answering.

Ho Sung Lee was nervous because he had never seen Min Sung like this before.

"Is there some huge secret we don't know about?"

"Then how would I know that?"

"Then what is it?"

"Pride."

"… Sorry?"

Ho Sung Lee was overwhelmed after hearing Min Sung provide a justification.

In Ho Sung Lee's mind, Min Sung Kang and justification were two things that didn't go together.

Min Sung looked into the distance with a troubled look in his eyes.

Ho Sung Lee had an idea of what Min Sung was trying to say.

Pride was a characteristic of all the dark elves as a tribe.

That meant that they had no intention of handing over the ancient document easily, and if they were even willing to die for it, things were bound to get difficult.

In the end, they had to kill countless dark elves just to obtain the ancient document for himself, and that could very well label him as evil.

And trying to obtain the ancient document without killing any of them would be much more difficult.

"Sigh… Like you said, this might take a very long time."

"You don't have the ability to find objects, do you?"

Ho Sung Lee dripped in a cold sweat.

"Not yet. I can only find living organisms."

"Then our only hope…"

Min Sung stared at Ssol who was eating grass.

"… Might be Ssol."

In response, Ssol looked back at his master, Min Sung.

Ho Sung Lee looked at Ssol and sighed.

"No matter how fast Ssol might be, it'll be almost impossible to find something they actively hid. We might just have to break into the dark elves' home base and negotiate… No, we'll have to threaten them. There's probably nothing we can offer in return to make a negotiation."

"Then we'll just have to come up with something."

"… Sorry? How?"

Min Sung looked at Ho Sung Lee with dark eyes.

Ho Sung Lee gulped.

He had a bad feeling.

"Why are you asking me? You should be the one to find it."

Whenever Ho Sung Lee had a bad feeling, he was right.

***

Only when Yoring noticed that the tail was no longer on him could he turn his direction over to the fortress.

He continued to check if anyone was behind him, but it appeared that no one was there.

He moved quickly, and once he arrived at the fortress, he took another look around before entering the fortress.

"… What?! A trespasser? A player who's looking for the ancient document?" A dark elf with wrinkles and a thin frame asked in a shouting voice.

"That's right, Sir," answered Yoring with a nervous face.

"The ancient document? How dare a human being try to pull out the dark elves' roots? We'd better report this to Ellen and hold a meeting. Yoring, tell the military not to let anyone inside."

"Yes, Sir."

As soon as the elder left, Yoring immediately turned around.

They were commanded to lock the fortress.

They were now going to transform into a completely locked down fortress that not even an ant could enter.

That meant that even if they happened to find the fortress, they wouldn't be able to come inside.

Yoring clenched his fists. He thought of Min Sung and bit down on his lip.

***

"The 12th elder would like to speak to you, Madam." reported Ellen's secretary.

"Tell him to come in."

And a sweet voice could be heard.

The elder entered the room of Ellen, the ruler of the Dark Elf Forest, with the utmost respect.

"Hello, Sir."

Ellen got up from her bed. She put on her robe and looked down at the elder.

Dark elves had dark skin.

And they also had beautiful features resembling that of Caucasian people that was fitting of the name, 'elf'.

For that reason, they were often perceived as beautiful.

Among them, the leader of the Dark Elf Forest, Ellen, was young, and she was so beautiful that she was believed to be the the most beautiful in Dark Elf history.

She had bright red lips, black hair, and her dark eyes almost looked like that of a goddess.

"Is something the matter?"

"There's a trespasser in our forest."

Ellen's brow twitched in response.

"Is it a player?"

"Yes, we think he's a player of a very high rank."

Ellen's beautiful and relaxed face immediately tensed up.

"The fortress…"

"It's been locked up. I've ordered them not to let anyone in. Shall we hold a meeting?"

"Of course."

In contrast to her originally feminine appearance, Ellen began to give off the charisma suiting of a ruler.

Once she began to get changed for the meeting, the elder respectfully excused himself.

***

"This is much more than I expected," said Ho Sung Lee as he looked up at the fortress.

Like he said, the dark elves' fortress was grand.

There wasn't a single crack for even a hair to squeeze through.

The round fotress was so well guarded that they weren't even sure if there was a door or a way to get inside.

It almost felt like they were looking at a turtle's shell, which made them wonder if even air could get through.

Of course, he thought about whether to punch it with his fist or not, but he didn't think the fortress was that weak either.

Min Sung had the ability to make a prediction just by looking at it, and the way he saw it, the dark elves' home base was made with a great deal of power.

"What do we do? We can't just wait or breakthrough. It looks like there's a powerful magical seal around it," said Ho Sung Lee while touching the bricks of the fortress with his hands.

It felt like an ordinary wall, but if they tried to use their force or magic power on it, it would activate a strong defense.

"There are many ways," responded Min Sung.

"… There are?" Ho Sung Lee asked.

"We can start a fire in the forest…"

Ho Sung Lee gulped and felt a shiver while looking at Min Sung.

He thought on a completely different level.

What would have happened if Min Sung had decided to live the life of an evil villain?

Then the earth would have gone extinct by now.

After all, the only ones who could control him were the Dionysus Gods, who were gambling from above.

That meant that Min Sung still had the emotions of a human being, and what was surprising was that those emotions led him to do good things.

But what Ho Sung Lee was afraid of was how unbearable the world would become as soon as Min Sung decided not to follow the laws.

Just the thought of Min Sung starting a fire in the forest made him imagine all sorts of worse things that would follow.

He was afraid of what kind of Min Sung Kang would result as a butterfly effect.

For that reason, Ho Sung Lee decided that they should never step onto that path to begin with.

"I don't think that's right, Sir. T-the gods won't like it. There might be a penalty. Since we just arrived in the forest, how about we think about a good strategy?"

Min Sung put his hands on his waist and looked around.

Ho Sung Lee dripped in a cold sweat as he watched, but luckily, Min Sung didn't think otherwise.

"You think?"

"Yes, Sir. It's highly likely."

"Then come up with an answer in 10 minutes."

"… Sorry? 10 minutes?"

"10 minutes."

Min Sung didn't give way.

Ho Sung Lee had a feeling that if he didn't come up with an answer in 10 minutes, Min Sung would relaly start a fire in the forest.

Even if Min Sung grew to like him and acknowledge his worth, people never changed.

Besides, this was Beatrice, and Min Sung Kang was more stressed about time than anybody.

10 minutes.

He had to come up with a solution that Min Sung Kang would like within 10 minutes.

'What could there be?'

'Let's think.'

'Couldn't Min Sung Kang breakthrough it no matter how powerful the shield might be?'

With his force…

It was the most rational to break through with his force.

But what if the shield was stronger than expected and the dark elves began to attack after Min Sung Kang used up all of his magic power?

Ho Sung Lee pulled on his hair with his hands.

He felt like his head was about to explode, but he only had 10 minutes.

Tick, tock, tick, tock-

He had never heard the seconds pass so clearly.