Chapter 3
Kim Jinsu, a manager at the Korea Hunter Association.
Despite returning with the incredible achievement of closing a Black Gate, he had to endure repeated interrogations and long meetings instead of receiving a hero's welcome.
"Hari, how are things?"
In the lobby outside the interrogation room, Deputy Han Hari looked utterly exhausted.
"They don't seem to believe us."
"Of course they don't."
A Black Gate had been cleared. And by an advance team that had been expected to come back half-dead, at best.
What's more, it had been a notorious Demon Gate, and a Great Demon had appeared. They should have been wiped out, not just half-killed.
That was what Manager Kim's direct superior thought.
-Did these bastards all get together and make this up?
No matter how he looked at it, none of it made sense. But every Hunter who'd been on the advance team told the same story, so their attention naturally turned to one man.
"What's your name?"
The radiant, golden-haired man visible through the magic mirror. A powerful figure who'd slain a Great Demon with one blow and wiped out every demon.
Even by the most conservative estimate, he would rank as an S-rank Hunter. His identity was...
"You're a survivor... right?"
"That's right. I'm a survivor from another world."
There had been cases like this from time to time: beings who survived beyond a Gate.
The Gates that had appeared around the world over the past thirty years all shared one thing in common.
They were connected to worlds that had been destroyed or were in the process of being destroyed.
Governments around the world suspected that Gates connected to records of destroyed worlds, or to the worlds themselves after their destruction. In extremely rare cases, survivors had even crossed over from them.
Not just humans, either. There were fantasy races like elves and dwarves, too.
People who came from another world. They'd come to be called "survivors."
"But it was a Black Gate. Is it really possible for someone to survive in there?"
"He's right in front of our eyes, isn't he?"
Considering his absurd strength, it didn't seem impossible after all.
Besides, it was strange to argue over what was and wasn't common sense. The world had been one long string of absurdities for the past thirty years.
Monsters had poured out of rifts none of us had ever seen, and a cataclysm had begun.
More than half of humanity had died. The land was contaminated, and cities were destroyed.
By some miracle, beings blessed with mana—commonly known as Awakened, or Hunters—had appeared, allowing humanity to barely survive. But there was still so much we didn't know about the Gates.
"Survivors..."
Survivors.
Unlike Awakened Hunters, many of them were born with the ability to use mana. Having survived worlds that had been destroyed, many were at least as strong as Hunters, if not stronger.
But their pride was just as great, and their cultures and ways of life were so different that they struggled to fit into the modern world.
People who called themselves citizens of the XX Empire, sages of the forest, or masters of underground dungeons must have lived lives utterly removed from modern civilization.
That's why the government had decided to treat survivors with the utmost respect, meet their demands as much as possible, and bring them over to their side.
"We have to recruit him no matter what. That man... he's unbelievably strong."
"Yeah... absolutely."
Even an A-rank Hunter had to risk their life against a high-tier demon.
And a Great Demon? Great Demons were the most powerful monsters humanity faced, aside from Lord-class demons.
Leon was powerful enough to kill one with a single blow. Hunters had repelled Great Demons before, but no one had ever overwhelmed one.
Even survivors, who were strong by default, feared demons. None of them had ever dominated them the way Leon had.
Setting aside their strength, survivors who'd appeared around the world came from cultures completely different from Earth's.
Since he referred to himself as "We," he had to be royalty, at the very least. The investigators would need to be careful around him.
"He seems easier to talk to than I expected."
"What's your basis for that?"
"I could tell from his voice. That man... seems like a good person."
Hari couldn't forget the warm tone he'd used to encourage her and help her back to her feet.
A man who praised the brave and looked upon them with such a benevolent gaze couldn't possibly be anything but kind—
"You lowly thing! How dare you sully the glorious name of Lionheart!"
Crash!
One punch sent the desk crumbling. The shock wave shattered the reinforced glass, which could even withstand monster attacks.
Beyond the broken magic mirror, the radiant golden-haired man was shouting at the investigator.
"...You said he was kind."
"C-cultural differences?"
Hari blinked rapidly, doing her best to defend him.
* * * *
Seeing Earth again after three hundred years, Leon felt strange.
Well, he'd been an orphan who'd died from overwork while doing manual labor in his twenties.
After being reincarnated, he'd spent over a hundred years as a knight and king of the kingdom, then another two hundred hunting demons after they invaded the world.
It had been three hundred years since then. It was a relief that even faint memories remained.
The problem was that even compared with those faint memories, the Earth before him was completely different.
"Hello, Leon Dragonia... Lionheart?"
"Hmm..."
But he didn't let on that he knew anything. They called him a survivor. That meant there were others like him.
'There's no good in telling them I'm from Earth.'
Revealing that he was from Earth might be an unusual detail about his past, but it offered him no benefit whatsoever.
Surely a three-hundred-year-old knight king from another world was a much better story than a young man in his twenties who'd worked himself to death doing manual labor.
More than anything, he'd spent far too long living as a knight and a king.
"Address me as Your Majesty, commoner."
"Pardon? Oh, yes, yes... Y-Your Majesty!"
The investigator bowed and played along with Leon's demand. Hmm. Was the investigator a mild-mannered person, or was the government being cautious in how it dealt with survivors?
"Um... about the Black Gate... You encountered our Hunters in your world, Your Majesty... and exterminated all those demons?"
"Indeed."
The demons he'd killed last night were the last traces of demonic energy he'd sensed in the other world. They were evil creatures marked by the Goddess of Light, Ariana, with the last of her strength.
"You've forgotten."
"Pardon?"
"This king annihilated the evil creatures and upheld a knight's honor. I hereby appoint you my temporary scribe and grant you the honor of recording this glorious event."
"Uh... y-yes... yes, Your Majesty..."
The investigator stared at him as if he were half-mad, but did his best to keep reminding himself, 'Whew... cultural differences, cultural differences,' as he wrote up Leon's statement.
"By the way, does this place have no custom of offering hospitality to distinguished guests?"
In other words, he was asking for food, only in a more elegant way.
"Ah! Y-your stomach... I mean, you must be hungry. I'm so sorry! I'll prepare a meal right away!"
The investigator hurried out of the room and ordered some delivery food from his subordinates.
While they waited for the food, Leon asked the investigator what he wanted to know.
"More importantly, commoner, tell me about this world. What sort of world is this?"
Leon already knew about Earth, but he asked anyway. What he wanted to know wasn't about the Earth he'd known, but the Earth that had existed after he disappeared.
What on earth had happened to Earth in the twenty-first century?
"Ah, I see. I'll explain."
The cataclysm thirty years ago.
Gates. Dungeon breaks.
The disasters that had struck Earth—the Demon Gates, the Hunter Association, and the like—seemed similar to those that had befallen the Kingdom of Lionheart and the world around it.
'Though there are some differences.'
In his kingdom, Demon Gates had opened one after another. The Empire's black mages had opened them by making pacts with demons.
Countless evil creatures had poured out, and the nations had gradually collapsed.
But Earth was different.
Gates had flooded Earth, but demons hadn't invaded in droves like they had through the Demon Gates.
Each Gate had its own theme, and once someone entered, a system window appeared with a mission to clear it.
It was as if the Gates were testing Earth. As if they were strengthening it step by step.
Earth saw the Gates as a disaster, but to Leon, they seemed like a process of testing and strengthening it.
'And there are others like me?'
Survivors.
People from other worlds who'd crossed over from beyond the Gates.
Could they have come from Earth, too? But one thing was certain: not a single one of them had ever said they were from Earth.
"The meal is ready, Your Majesty!"
The investigator brought in the food. Leon's eyes twitched when he saw it.
Seolleongtang.
A milky broth with salt and pepper. And kimchi!
For a man who'd done manual labor on Earth, seolleongtang was practically soul food.
The rich broth made by simmering beef bones for hours, seasoned with as much salt and pepper as you liked, with a bowl of fluffy white rice added straight in and eaten alongside well-fermented napa cabbage kimchi!
'No... No.'
But Leon forced himself to swallow his saliva. Even after seeing seolleongtang and kimchi for the first time in three hundred years, he reminded himself of his position.
Leon Dragonia Lionheart.
A royal from another world. A worshiper of chivalry and an agent of the gods. Guardian of the Grail, and master of the holy sword and holy spear.
Could a commoner's soul food like seolleongtang possibly be fit for someone like him?
Slurping broth and noisily sucking up thin noodles—could that possibly suit the dignity of royalty?!
"What is this dish called?"
"It's called seolleongtang, Your Majesty. You could say it's the commoners' soul food—"
Bang! Leon slammed his fist on the desk. As if he'd found the perfect excuse, he sprang to his feet and shouted.
"You lowly thing! How dare you sully the glorious name of Lionheart!"
"Pardon? Pardon?"
The investigator shook his head in bewilderment. The poor man trembled under Leon's overwhelming presence.
"How dare you serve a commoner's food to royalty! Is that how your kingdom, the Republic of Korea, treats royalty from other countries?"
"N-no, that's not what I—"
Park Jongpal, a forty-two-year-old investigator. How could a man who'd spent his whole life in the free Republic of Korea know how to entertain royalty?
"Get out of my sight! This is why commoners are so low!"
After shouting the investigator out of the room, Leon pored over the information about Earth that he'd been given.
Survivor Leon Dragonia Lionheart.
The living embodiment of three hundred years of war, and the natural enemy of evil who'd annihilated Malus, the Lord of Chaos, twenty-three Great Demons, and millions of demons.
Demigod.
Guardian of the Grail.
Agent of the Pantheon.
The Lionheart King, with the heart of a lion.
Master of the holy sword and holy spear, and a living saint.
The first knight of Ariana, Goddess of Light and Justice.
Finally, the returnee from Earth, back after three hundred years, looked at what had become of the planet and thought:
'What a mess. It's all because there's no proper faith.'
It was only natural that enlightening foolish commoners was the duty of royalty.