It would be a considerable advantage for him to control a monster army.

Unlike humans, the expenses needed to sustain a monster army weren’t high and they didn’t feel fear.

However, it was far too difficult to tame monsters.

They acted according to their instincts and were far too ferocious.

Even Klaus, the genius strategist of the Holy Aperian Empire, gave up trying to tame and train monsters into an army.

There were only certain adventurers with the monster tamer cla.s.s who managed to operate small units of monster.

However one day, Choi Kayoon went through her second cla.s.s change and received the Monster Lord cla.s.s. It was the beginning of an event no one had ever seen.

She gathered monsters from all 4 corners of the world and trained them into an army.

All the nation rulers were astonished and tried to bring the woman to their sides and made ridiculous offers.

‘But Choi Kayoon refused them all.’

She probably had trouble trusting people.

Watching the nervous Choi Kayoon next to him, Woohyuk spoke up.

“Why don’t you calm down a bit?”

“There's no way I can do that when my arms and legs are tied.”

Choi Kayoon’s limbs were bound and she was sitting on the carriage.

She had mobilized her monsters and had tried to escape, but to no avail.

“As long as you don’t misbehave first, I don’t plan on hurting you.”

“...Are you going to sell me as a slave? Then I’d rather you kill me now.”

Choi Kayoon was aware of the treatment female slaves of the Eeth continent received.

She had conversed with many slaves at Port Delpha.

As she stared at him with an earnest look, Woohyuk took out his Memory Pendant and poured mana in it.

‘Looks like she has some kind of deep trauma.’

As a slender woman, she must’ve experienced quite a lot of terrible things.

However, she would probably never tell him what had happened to her.

“I won’t kill you. I also won’t sell you as a slave.”

He first tried to rea.s.sure Choi Kayoon.

He then put his hand on her shoulder and a vivid scene appeared in his mind.

‘Is this the Primordial Forest?’

He found the answer to his own question by observing the surrounding scenery and Choi Kayoon’s equipment.

She was being chased by someone.

He wasn’t certain of the circ.u.mstances, but something grave was happening to her.

“Agh…!”

As she ran without paying attention to her surroundings, she tripped over a protruding rock.

She groaned and turned over, when…

“Kekeke… I finally caught up to you.”

A nasty-looking middle-aged man approached her with a disgusting smile on his face as he pulled out a rope.

Choi Kayoon was fervently trembling as he began to overpower her, but…

Whoos.h.!.+

A sharp sound resounded near her ear.

An arrow had stabbed the man in the head.

The man died without even getting the chance to groan and fell over. Soon, a group of people emerged from behind the bushes.

“Wow~! Your aim is truly amazing, Mr. s.h.i.+n Dong-il.”

“Well, this wasn’t much…”

A handsome young man holding a longbow cleared his throat.

The other person approached s.h.i.+n Dong-il and whispered in his ear.

“What should we do with that woman? I don’t think she belongs to our camp.”

“Hm…”

s.h.i.+n Dong-il’s eyes silently scanned Choi Kayoon’s body as she failed to stand up due to a twisted ankle.

He thought to himself quietly before speaking up.

“Let’s take her back to the camp for now.”

“Oh, will you use her as your toy? She definitely is a lot prettier than the women at our camp.”

“You’re right. But she’s not my type, so I think I’ll get bored of her in 3 days.”

A woman of Choi Kayoon’s level didn’t catch his attention.

As he expressed his uninterested opinion, his teammates began to drool.

“Then will we get a chance to taste her as well?”

“Of course. It’s proper manners to share good things in life.”

The group led by s.h.i.+n Dong-il was fully composed of men.

The men began to approach Choi Kayoon with l.u.s.tful eyes and a dirty expression, when the memory suddenly ended.

‘She went through a horrible experience.’

Woohyuk sighed deeply as he exited Choi Kayoon’s memory.

He now knew why she refused to join any clan until the very end.

She wanted to keep men away from her due to this trauma.

“Don’t… Don’t touch me.”

Choi Kayoon’s body began to tremble as Woohyuk’s hand didn’t budge from her shoulder, her face white as a sheet.

He quickly removed his hand from her body.

“I’m sorry. I had no impure intentions.”

“...Then why did you kidnap me? The monsters who attacked the carriage weren’t mine.”

“I need your help regarding the monsters’ movements.”

“I already told you everything I know. I don’t know more than that. It’s not like I can converse with monsters or anything…”

Talking with monsters was an ability that depended on each individual monster tamer’s skills.

However, Woohyuk did not care much about it as he knew Choi Kayoon had the potential to one day have her second cla.s.s change into a Monster Lord.

“Didn’t you do horse riding before being summoned to this continent?”

“How… how do you know that?”

“Try to remember how you talked with horses and use that experience. I’m certain you have the innate talent of a monster tamer.”

“...Huh?”

Choi Kayoon blinked several times as she did not expect Woohyuk’s praise.

His eyes showed his confidence and trust in her, as if he had known her for a very long time.

But in reality, she had just met Woohyuk for the first time.

“How many monsters have you tamed?”

“About 30 of them.”

“That’s a lot. Other monster tamers probably can’t tame more than half of that number.”

It was proof that she had a special disposition as a monster tamer.

At Woohyuk’s fervent urging, Choi Kayoon nodded.

“I understand what you mean. But why are you interested in monsters?”

“Because there are some unknown forces that are trying to secretly control them.”

Woohyuk told Choi Kayoon about the incident with the Cohen Merchant Group.

He even showed her the pouch with the monster breeding substance as proof, and her eyes widened in surprise.

“Are, are you for real? I didn’t know something like that was happening.”

“If you cooperate with me, we can reduce the casualties amongst the innocent and the harm done to the land.”

“But it’s hard for me to survive on my own right now, so helping other people is...”

“I’ll promise you one thing. If you help me out, I’ll take responsibility for your safety.”

Being active as a monster tamer required a lot of funding.

At Woohyuk’s sudden offer, Choi Kayoon began to think deeply.

‘Wha, what should I do…’

When she finally reached the Eeth continent after her dark experiences, she made a promise to herself never to trust anyone again.

She had gone through too many horrible events caused by her own teammates.

However, she didn’t seem to have another choice this time.

“alright. I’ll do as you say. So take off these bindings first.”

“Okay.”

Woohyuk gladly accepted her request.

After having her limbs freed, Choi Kayoon sat as far away as possible from Woohyuk.

“How do you even know me?”

“It’s a bit complicated to explain.”

It was still a bit too early to reveal the fact that he had regressed. Woohyuk refrained from explaining in detail and came up with something.

After he finished his explanation, Choi Kayoon was surprised.

“You met someone who knew me?”

“Indeed.”

“Was it my parents? Or maybe my little brother?”

“No, it was a simple acquaintance. I can’t tell you the name unfortunately.”

“...I see.”

Choi Kayoon’s expression turned dark.

She had suddenly begun to worry about her family, and other than them, n.o.body else mattered to her anymore.

“As long as you survive, you may one day reunite with your loved ones. Don’t lose hope.”

“...Yeah.”

She answered weakly.

She had slightly dropped her wariness.

As she fell deep in her thoughts, Woohyuk turned and watched the scenery outside the window.

‘We’ve still got a long way to go until we reach our destination.’

He needed something to do to kill time and erase his boredom.

As he listened to the carriage shake, Woohyuk took out Nakron’s Grimoire.

***

Woohyuk wanted to recruit Choi Kayoon.

If she became a monster lord, he would gain tremendous military power.

Woohyuk could also subdue monsters if he used the Demon G.o.d’s powers, but the efficiency was definitely worse.

It was difficult to use the Demon G.o.d’s powers properly with a human’s body.

‘Choi Kayoon used to control tens of thousands of monsters.’

He could potentially nurture an even greater army of monsters by using the monster breeding substance.

As he got off the carriage, Woohyuk lent his hand to Choi Kayoon.

“Let’s move together.”

“I don’t need you to escort me. I have an aversion to men.”

Choi Kayoon spoke with a troubled look.

She wanted to avoid any physical contact as much as possible.

“...Alright.”

Woohyuk nodded and began to walk before her to lead the way.

Walking his actions, Choi Kayoon followed him obediently.

“But why did we come here? Weren’t you going to investigate the monsters’ movements?”

“There’s someone we need to meet before that.”

Count Oswald.

Woohyuk had to get the royal library pa.s.s from him to find the hidden nameless tome.

‘But he’ll surely ask for something in return.’

As a n.o.ble, he wouldn’t accept a request that would bring him no benefit.

Tinia’s letter of recommendation was only to allow Woohyuk to meet the count. It wouldn’t be able to do more than that.

They soon entered a shop in the central area of Neferti and Woohyuk turned to his companion.

“We need to pose as n.o.bles for a few days. Let’s buy you some clothes.”

“What? Those kinds of clothes are too expensive. I don’t have a lot of m…”

“I’ll be the one paying.”

With the gold coins he had on him, they could even buy luxurious clothes worn by prestigious n.o.ble families at social gatherings.

He took Choi Kayoon with him and began to walk around the display stands.

“Choose anything that catches your attention. No need to hold back.”

“...Then I’ll take this one.”

She pointed at a purple old-fas.h.i.+oned dress.

When Woohyuk gave her a sign, the store’s female employee approached them with a business smile.

“You have great taste, miss. This dress is one of the highest quality luxury dresses in our store.”

“...”

Choi Kayoon stared blankly at Woohyuk.

But Woohyuk didn’t care and nodded back at the employee.

“How much is it?”

“1,500 golds, sir.”

“Here you go.”

Woohyuk took out 15 gold bars and placed them on the counter.

Once the transaction was complete, the employee guided Choi Kayoon towards the dressing room.

“Please try it on and tell me if anything bothers you, Milady.”

“Oh, yes…”

Choi Kayoon hesitated before receiving the dress from the employee.

A few moments later, she appeared wearing the purple dress and the store clerk spoke out of surprise.

“Oh my, it really suits you! It fits you perfectly as if it were already tailored for you.”

“...”

Choi Kayoon studied her appearance by staring at the mirror on the wall.

Even she thought that it was a nice dress, but its price kept bugging her.

‘Why is he buying such expensive clothes for me?’

She felt like Cinderella who had found her prince on a white horse.

As she blankly stared at herself, Woohyuk spoke up.

“Let’s start heading out now.”

“Alright…”

Choi Kayoon naively followed Woohyuk’s suggestions.

Her plan to escape whenever she found a chance had completely disappeared.

Woohyuk was like an unknown fairy, and ever since his appearance, reality had become a fantasy for her.

‘Just who is he exactly?’

Maybe she had gotten involved with something dangerous, something like a royal battle for the throne or the conspiracies of some n.o.bles.

But oddly enough, she didn’t feel afraid or distrustful.

On the contrary, a tiny fire of hope had ignited deep in her heart.

She was being forcefully led around, but if she acted smartly she could benefit a lot.

After calming her confused heart she scurried behind Woohyuk to catch up to him.

“Wh-where are we going?”

“Count Oswald’s mansion.”

“Why are we going there?”

“For a deal.”

“A deal? Wait, are you going to sell me to him?”

“No, you need to pose as a n.o.ble from the Rhine Kingdom.”

And Woohyuk had to act as a Blue Hawk mercenary who was escorting her, to avoid raising Count Oswald’s suspicion as much as possible.

Choi Kayoon breathed a sigh of relief after hearing his explanation.

“Alright. As long as you take responsibility for my safety, I’ll do as you say.”

“Don’t worry. You’re safer than anybody in Neferti right now.”

He was certain of this despite the fact that he wasn’t aware of the current events transpiring in the Izuna Kingdom.

As he recalled the bits of information he had gathered before regressing, Woohyuk hastened his steps.