Noel Freya treaded softly out of the shrine with her ivory hair swaying behind her. Then, when she saw Chi-Woo, she stopped.

“Hello,” Chi-Woo greeted her first.

“Hello to you too,” Noel greeted back and bowed, lowering not just her head, but her whole upper body.

‘What?’ Noel thought. She planned to greet Chi-Woo simply, but she had unintentionally bowed the same way she did only to Choi Chi-Hyun. Like it had its own free will, her body had given Chi-Woo the respectful greeting in her book. And for some reason, she had an incomprehensible urge to call Chi-Woo ‘young master’. [1]

“Did you make a contract with Goddess Shahnaz?” Chi-Woo asked.

“Ah, no.” Noel quickly shook her head. “I got an offer, but I turned her down since a priestess must be especially close to a god.” In other words, the direction she wanted to progress in didn’t match what Shahnaz wanted.

“Hm, Hm.” Noel cleared her throat and shook off the uncomfortable feeling she kept having around Chi-Woo. “For what reason have you come here for, Sir Chichibbong…?”

“I’m looking for someone who would be my temporary companion.”

“A temporary companion?”

“Yes. I am planning to go somewhere for a bit.”

Noel nodded. She thought Chi-Woo was planning to lead a group of heroes who hadn’t awakened yet so that they could make contracts with a god. She was already made aware of this method by Zelit recently.

“Oh, that reminds me, I heard that Goddess Shahnaz made new contracts with dozens of heroes...