“Why did you separate?”
Alfredo asked as if he couldn’t understand.
“We’d be better off together. Master Callius was the first to notice the ambush. Although his aura feels weak, those rumours floating around don’t seem to be nonsense.”
“You mean all that chatter about the Hero of the North?”
“Yes. Master Callius’ level cannot be compared to three years ago.”
The instantaneous reaction and agility that’d allowed him to avoid the surprise attack.
And the aura of the sword he’d pulled out in response.
All three marked him as one of the strong.
“It’s true. I was really surprised too, you know?”
The surprise attack of the thunder wolf dragon had been nimble and sharp. Fitting of a creature said to have inherited the blood of a dragon.
If Callius had been even a little late, Helena would’ve been seriously injured.
She still had a throbbing pain in her shoulder where she’d been shoved.
“The two swords he wears around his waist are probably both spirit-ranked. He drew one of them when the thunder wolf dragon came.”
And when Callius had drawn his sword –
Alfredo couldn’t move for a moment.
A feeling of pressure had constricted his body from all sides.
“I was suppressed by the force of his spirit for a moment.”
A knight who’s reached a certain level or higher can exude a strange sense of pressure just by drawing his sword.
For adherents of the flesh, it’s called killing intent[1].
For those who embrace spirituality, it’s called strength of spirit.
“Master Callius’ presence dominated the surrounding space at that moment. That must’ve scared our attacker off.”
Although that aura appeared weak, it hid an immense spirituality.
“Perhaps he’s intentionally hiding his aura. Maybe he’s always been like that…”
“Aren’t you thinking too much? Don’t you know, Callius almost died by other pilgrims’ hands three years ago? There’s no way that arrogant man could’ve hidden his power in such a situation. Perhaps he just trained hard, or chanced upon a gift.”
If not, it might be the power of some mysterious relic. Or maybe the power of the sword he had?
“Then why did you leave? Because of that glasses guy?”
“Partially.”
“Partially?”
“It’s partly because I don’t want to see him, and partly because of Callius.”
Helena smirked meaningfully.
“So it’s a test?”
“Umm… I just need to see it once.”
The creature had called the lightning.
Its scales and horns hadn’t looked like much.
“In the first place, I’m just here to take a look.”
“What if he dies?”
“Wouldn’t he have died if he came alone, then? Naturally, I’ll help him if that happens.”
If that was all, it’d be enough to save him, erase the debt, and separate.
But what if he caught the thunder wolf dragon? What if he had more potential than she’d thought?
“It might be a good investment.”
“You mean the position of the Lady of the North?”
“Of course not that!?”
Alfredo smacked his lips as if it was a pity.
“Why do you always keep trying to marry me off?”
“I just want you to start a family and find happiness.”
“How funny. You just me want me to buzz off quick so you can be free.”
Alfredo shrugged.
“Anyway, the public perception of Callius is still as a piece of garbage, isn’t it?”
What if you stood at the side of such a person, supporting and investing in him? Your gains would snowball.
“Even though it seems crazy to suddenly become an inquisitor…”
Callius had changed.
No, he was still changing.
At some point, the prodigal scumbag had become a Hero of the North.
He even had a daughter, surprisingly.
“I’ll see it with my own two eyes and judge for myself. If I support him from behind, it wouldn’t be a dream to make him a Hero of Carpe.”
“You really love your country, lady. Although you always pretend otherwise.”
“Carpe has been rotting for a long time.”
“For a merchant family, wealth is usually placed higher than honour.”
“We put money over fame, sure. But Carpe is where we make our money. In the empire? It’s not like we couldn’t make it work. It won’t be that bad either.”
But although merchants pursue wealth –
“If you pursue only gold without believing in anything else, one day that gold will drag you down and drown you.”
A merchant ruled by gold is no different from a thieving shoplifter.
“Isn’t that the creed of the Bolivian family?”
And above all –
“I like Carpe. And the sword, too.”
“What about the empire and its spear?”
“I don’t like either. Too dull.”
There’s no romance.
An empire and a weapon filled with only base and pragmatic ambition, trying to usurp more and more land, and erase other cultures and religions.
‘No romance’ was the phrase Helena always used whenever she talked about the two.
“And it’s more fun and rewarding to have your own story of earning your gold.”
What could be more boring than earning gold coins without any effort?
What is the meaning of even a single gold coin, if no effort has been put into earning it?
“Even this time, there’ll be a lot of gold coming my way.”
Cheok.
Helena pulled out one of the swords that hung at her back.
The moment she threw it to the ground –
Pong.
It turned into a black shadow with a chiming sound, and when the other sword was thrown down as well, the shadow changed to the shape of a snake.
The shadow that had turned into a giant serpent soon disappeared.
A smile appeared on Helena’s face.
“Found you.”
* * *
The Black Forest.
The forest is hot and humid, due to the trees that keep it warm for all seasons.
The trees emit heat, but what about the snow falling from the sky all the time? The snow melts and becomes water, leading to a perpetually humid environment.
The heat of the trees is one of the main factors that have created this environment.
Similar to the White Forest, this forest is also the way it is due to the peculiarity of the trees that grow here.
That is the Black Forest.
“Where is it?”
“Didn’t you say you had a guess where it might be, Count?”
“If it’s the one who’s taken over the Black Forest, there’s one place I’m suspicious of.”
Near the centre of the Black Forest, there is a tree that rises like a spire.
A tree so old, it’s valid to say this forest had started growing around that single tree.
It’s so tall and wide that it can be seen from afar, so Callius had thought the ruler of this forest probably stayed there.
Teok.
“You’re heading towards the centre.”
“Right.”
It’d take quite a while to get to the centre.
He might have to walk for about an hour.
“Can I ask you one thing?”
What if he said no?
“Why did you accept the offer?”
“Your offer?”
“My suggestion that I recommend you as a heretic inquisitor.”
“And you’re asking that now?”
You sure you aren’t acting too fast?
“It was a proposal I myself had come up with, but honestly, it’s true that the position of a heretic inquisitor isn’t very attractive for you, Count, since you’ve succeeded the title of Lord of the North.”
But why did you still accept it?
Ryburn was suddenly wondering about that.
Callius glanced at the forest as he walked, then looked back at Ryburn and responded indifferently.
“I’ll need it now.”
Originally he’d had no intention of becoming a heretic inquisitor.
Even if he weren’t an Inquisitor, even without the title of count, Callius could’ve saved Carpe in other ways.
He’d accepted Ryburn’s offer simply because there was nothing wrong with it.
The title of count, and the position of heretic inquisitor.
There was no downside in having them both.
Having only one of the two would be annoying, but both at the same time was much better in that regard.
For just a simple reason –
The setting of this world stemmed from his imagination, but there were still many things that he didn’t know.
That was then –
“What is it?”
When he stopped, Bruns hurriedly ran behind him.
Something had tripped Callius’ aura sense.
“Hick! Is it that thunder wolf dragon!?”
It wasn’t a thunder wolf dragon. It was a human.
Hearing that, Bruns patted his chest as if he’d been scared stiff, then roared.
“I don’t know who it is, but come out! You stand in front of Count Jervain!”
As Bruns cried out –
A large man appeared from behind the black-flowered tree.
The captain of the sixth squad.
“Druma.”
And –
“Orcal.”
With him was the captain of the third squad, Orcal.
Their hair was covered with dust, as if they’d just fought a battle, and their cloaks and armours were splattered with a little mud here and there.
“Was it that guy?”
Druma and Orcal looked at Callius but didn’t answer his question.
Instead –
They made eye contact with each other, nodded, and slowly drew their swords.
Callius’ eyes narrowed.
The subtle and quiet killing intent they had begun to emanate was pricking his skin.
The quick-witted Bruns slowly took a step back.
“For now, I’ll just ask. What do you mean by doing this?”
Callius questioned without blinking an eye at their killing intent.
But Orcal merely raised his sword in response.
It was a strange-looking sword with multiple holes on its blade, as if it’d been chewed through by the black worms Orcal controlled, but Callius just frowned as he looked at the sword.
‘Worm[2] Soul – Anaskan.’
Orcal’s sword, the Worm Soul – Anaskan.
From the holes of the sword’s blade that seemed to have been gnawed on by insects, small black things began to disgustingly crawl out in ones and twos.
A black soot wrapped around Orcal, and eventually began to expand as if trying to control everything in its reach, including Callius and the forest itself.
The true essence of the black soot was worms (蟲).
Worms.
As its name suggested, this spirit sword created worms.
Of course, they were not normal worms.
They were powerful creatures that carried neurotoxins and ate flesh and bones.
Sometimes, they could even chew through swords, so they weren’t easy enemies to fight.
“What do I mean? We have too many problems to go into detail.”
The worms buzzed and circled around Orcal, who was speaking with clenched teeth.
The appearance of hundreds or thousands of worms permeated a deep disgust.
“The kingdom’s biggest piece of trash suddenly became strong, to be honest, even with a relic or whatever, you’re pretty good. But, o hero! O Hero of the North!”
This place, was far from the North.
This was the Black Forest, without any people.
The only other one here was the thunder wolf dragon.
So it was a perfect place.
“In the name of God, the interrogation begins…”
That was then –
Kuung–!!
The moving storm of worms, with Orcal at its centre, was disturbed.
Suddenly, a tremendous sense of pressure swept over the area, brimming with threat.
“Ugh!”
“This…”
“What!”
A gloomy killing intent slowly began to bloom.
As if overlooking them from a place high above.
Orcal and the other captains’ faces were distorted in pain as they were rooted in place by the cold eyes of a predator, an archetype of arrogance.
“So, you mean to interrogate me?”
Callius took out the sword from his waist and held it loosely.
The pressure on them grew even stronger.
‘To make me feel this oppression just from killing intent…!’
A killing intent that could even stop them captains from moving! Orcal didn’t dare act hastily due to that sense of intimidation that differed too drastically from the weakness of his opponent’s divine power.
To make him feel that kind of pressure directly, just from killing intent?
Being able to use such intangible power is impossible without reaching a certain level.
‘The worms…’
Even the worms he had given shape couldn’t withstand it, so they couldn’t fly properly and fell to the ground like black rain.
Even non-living things were in such a state.
The faces of Orcal and the other captains were dyed with surprise.
‘Is it because even though his divine power is still weak, the purity has changed to match a Master!?’
There was no way he could’ve already –
He couldn’t have risen to the rank of a Master[3]!
It was impossible.
It was absurd, but that’s what their eyes were telling them.
“Master…”
This was proof.
Editor’s Notes:
[1] 살기 (salgi), lit. bloodthirst, murderous gaze.
[2] 충(蟲) can mean both worm or insect.
[3] Master is going to be capitalized when it’s referring to the rank. This might change later but it’s just too common a word otherwise.
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