Chapter 41: Rest
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 41: Rest
After returning from the shop, I set out with Mev and Jung Hayeon. The time to meet Choi Seulgi was approaching. I planned to pass on the dagger techniques I’d learned from the Green Goblins and the leather armor I had just purchased.
The last time we met, for some reason, we hadn't trained at all and had simply rested, so I was determined to get something done today as I made my way to our meeting spot.
When I arrived at the place a short distance from the goblin settlement where we always met, I saw Choi Seulgi waving at me, just as I expected.
“You’re late. You came with the Green Flower and the Fairy again today?”
“Krrrrrrk.”
I nodded. To be honest, now that a fair amount of trust had been built between us, I had considered opening my mouth and actually speaking with her, but I decided to remain silent.
It wasn't that I didn't trust her. But if Choi Seulgi went into a human city and mentioned that she’d seen a monster who could speak human language, the situation could get quite complicated. The existence of a monster that could not only roughly understand human speech but could perfectly comprehend and even speak it would be more than enough to put humans on high alert.
I figured it was best to prevent any potential trouble before it started, so I chose to keep my mouth shut. It would not only be detrimental to me, but there was a chance Choi Seulgi could get entangled in some troublesome affairs as well.
As soon as we met, I handed her the leather armor. She looked at me with a peculiar expression.
“Krrrrrrk.”
“Wow, thank you! I feel bad, since I haven’t given you anything.”
She probably assumed it was armor I’d taken from hunting humans, but she didn't seem to have any qualms about accepting it. In fact, she didn't seem to think much about me hunting humans at all. Her expression would turn strange at times, but the Choi Seulgi of the past never cared much about what happened to others, so I suppose this was a natural reaction.
And so, our simple training began. Choi Seulgi’s skills had improved so dramatically that I would have believed it if someone told me she had been strong from the start. Frankly, she no longer needed me.
“Krrrrrrk.”
Just then, I began to feel that something about her movements was subtly changing.
At some point, I realized she was gradually modifying the Green Goblin’s dagger techniques to better suit a human. The same went for her stealth and her way of ‘walking.’ It seemed she was incorporating skills she already possessed.
The problem was how incredibly natural the process was. Unbelievably, the skills she originally had seemed to be of a considerable level themselves. There was a joke that went around about geniuses beyond the norm, like the Queen of the North, who could grasp everything the moment they picked up a spear and instantly ascend to the highest levels.
It was just a baseless rumor you’d hear in the streets. But I had personally faced the Queen of the North, and now I could feel just how credible that joke was. The Choi Seulgi I was watching was the same. As if she had been wielding a dagger for years, she was evolving.
‘A genius?’
I couldn't help but swallow the saliva that had pooled in my mouth.
“Hoo…”
A few hours later, as if everything was finished, Choi Seulgi finally began to catch her breath.
Mev, though an archer, was also learning daggersmanship, and she stared at Choi Seulgi with disbelief. Jung Hayeon was the same; I could see her biting her lip tightly.
Now drenched in sweat, Choi Seulgi looked at me with an innocent expression and smiled.
It seemed she planned to wash up in the nearby river. She took a cloth-like item from the leather bag she’d brought and started to move. Mev, Jung Hayeon, and I followed.
She seemed completely unconcerned by our presence. It was honestly a little pathetic to see her casually strip off her clothes and jump into the river.
“This feels great! You guys want to come in?”
At her words, I subtly nodded. Though I had seen her body countless times in my past life, Choi Seulgi was still beautiful. It would be strange not to want a closer look.
Of course, I couldn't carelessly reveal the massive appendage of an Orc, so I slowly approached while still wearing my pants. Choi Seulgi laughed and started splashing water at me.
“Haha! Pervy eyes.”
Jung Hayeon didn't seem to want to come in, and Mev was reluctant, perhaps worried about getting her wings wet. Seeing the two of them staring at us awkwardly, I couldn't help but chuckle.
“Krrrrrrk.”
While I was glancing at them for a moment, Choi Seulgi swam over to me.
“Where are you looking?”
She drew close and began to cling to my arm, her body naturally pressing against mine. It was only natural that I felt a surge of pleasure. I tried to wrap my arm around her waist, but somehow she knew and slapped my arm away.
“Bad hands! I told you, I’m taken.”
Unfair. It was fine for her to press against me, but the moment I tried to touch her, she’d slap my hand away. It was completely unfair. I started to feel a bit annoyed, thinking she was treating me like some neighborhood dog. Seeing the look on my face, Choi Seulgi grinned and spoke.
“Krrrrrrk.”
“Hahaha. Are you sulking?”
As our time in the river stretched on, Choi Seulgi looked at me and began to speak.
The playful expression from before was now gone.
“I’m going to leave for the North. I might not be able to come out next week.”
I had expected it, but I didn't think it would be so soon.
“Krrrrrrk.”
She couldn't have had very good memories of the western city, Aia, so it was only natural that she’d want to leave. I had thought she’d stopped staring off at distant mountains recently, but it seemed she had already made up her mind.
I slowly nodded.
“You’re not going to stop me?”
Why wouldn't I want to stop her? If she remembered our past life, I might have. But she was purely human.
It wasn't that becoming a Green Skin was necessarily a bad thing, but the gap between her world and ours was too vast for her to enter. The thought of Choi Seulgi becoming like me, who brutally tore humans apart, or like Jung Hayeon, who was mad for blood, was not a pleasant one.
Humans should live with humans.
Perhaps this was a conclusion I had been forming in my mind since I first met her. Now that I knew she was going to the North, it wasn't as if we would never meet again. Once my own affairs were settled, I could head north as well. We could meet again.
I nodded.
“I’m a little sad.”
“Krrrrrrk.”
I was even sadder, but I didn't say it out loud. Choi Seulgi looked at me with slightly sorrowful eyes, then slowly dried herself off and began to get dressed again.
I don't remember much about how we spent the rest of our time.
We laughed while eating the food we’d brought. We lay on a tree and slept together. We drew each other's faces in the dirt and walked around aimlessly. It was just a ‘rest,’ no different from usual.
As expected, she didn't allow me to touch her just because it was our last day. She would playfully cuddle up to me, but I felt like nothing more than a pillow. I just stroked her hair.
And so, a night passed.
When the day broke, Choi Seulgi began to pack her things while I watched her.
“Thanks for everything. I’ve received so much, I feel like I should give you something too, right?”
“Krrrrrrk.”
“Haha, you don’t need anything?”
“Krrrrk.”
“You’ll definitely like it.”
When I tilted my head with a confused look, Choi Seulgi muttered, “This much should be okay, right?” then leaned in and kissed my cheek. In our past life, we had been far more intimate, so a childish peck like this…
But strangely, my face flushed red.
“Krrrrrrk.”
“Puhahahaha!”
Choi Seulgi, who had been clutching her stomach and laughing, looked at me once more and spoke again.
“And one more thing. The cave deep inside, near the lake in the western forest. Everything in there is a gift, too. You have to go with your friends, okay?”
“Krrrrrrk.”
Finishing her words, Choi Seulgi was about to dash off. I grabbed her arm tightly. She smiled, kissed my other cheek, and I unknowingly let go.
“We’ll see each other again. I’ll come find you.”
In an instant, she was gone. She moved at a speed I likely couldn't have matched even if I tried. Without a single look back, Choi Seulgi sped away.
At that moment, I think I felt a slight regret for having been born a Green Skin.
*
I felt both relieved and sad. After all the care I'd shown her, I had hoped she would want to stay with us, but it seemed the thought of living among monsters had never even crossed her mind.
Of course, even if I were human, I couldn't imagine living with Orcs and Goblins, so it was an understandable sentiment. Still, I couldn't help but feel a bitter taste in my mouth.
I already knew where she was going, and she even said she would come find me, so we would surely meet again. But I already missed her.
It felt like breaking up with a long-term girlfriend. But I couldn't just stand around. Just as Choi Seulgi had decided to find a new life, I wanted to finish what I had to do. I was fine with my current body, but I wanted to meet her again in a form as close to human as possible.
Funnily enough, once Choi Seulgi left, Mev seemed satisfied, as if she thought I would now be able to focus more on the clan's affairs. Of course, she did make a sudden physical advance, perhaps to console my loneliness, but I felt a strange aversion to a Fairy's body and gently pushed her away. As for Jung Hayeon, she started smiling brightly after Choi Seulgi left. Being as obsessed with me as she was, she seemed quite pleased that her rival was gone.
Sometimes, she seemed curious about why I was so attached to Choi Seulgi, but there was no way I could tell her the circumstances. And she wasn't the type to ask me such pointless questions anyway.
In any case, after sending Choi Seulgi off and spending one more night, I led the Blood Dagger Clan toward the western cave she had told me about. There were many caves in the western forest, but the location was narrowed down to one near the lake.
Come to think of it, it had been a while since we’d gone hunting in the western forest, so we set out immediately. But strangely, there was no sign of life near the lake. It was so quiet it was as if the beginners had decided to avoid the area altogether.
I started to feel that something was wrong after Mev discovered some strange tracks. As we were heading toward the lake, Mev kept glancing around. As an archer, she was sensitive to tracks.
“What is it?”
“It looks like someone was living here…”
It went without saying, but there were no monster settlements here. I couldn't sense any magical beasts either, so it didn't seem like they lived here. But Mev, the most sensitive among us, kept looking around, so I had to believe her.
“Am I mistaken? No, it looks like the tracks were deliberately erased…”
Uncertain herself, Mev began to carefully survey the area, and so the Blood Dagger Clan and I started to search. I was curious about the gift Choi Seulgi had prepared, and the clan's archers were sniffing around, so I thought we would find it soon.
But it seemed harder to find than I expected. Mev began to follow the tracks in earnest, and after a long while, she finally found a clue much deeper in than we’d thought. Mev looked at the discarded food scraps and cloth rags scattered about and spoke up. There were also what looked like used bandages, and empty potion bottles began to catch our eye. We even started seeing human and monster bones.
These were not the signs of someone living a normal life. It looked more like a garbage dump. Looking at the scene, Mev slowly began to speak.
“It was that woman.”
“Huh?”
“The woman the Captain was following. She was around here. It looks like she stopped by even after parting with us…”
It was only natural that I didn't understand what Mev was saying. I was certain that Choi Seulgi had been living in the city. I started running forward without a second thought. I was incredibly curious about what had happened.
Seeing me, Mev shouted from behind.
“Captain, be careful!”
But her voice didn't reach my ears. I could see an entrance that had been artificially blocked with large leaves, branches, and various other things.
I began to clear them away.
And then,
when I had finally removed all the obstacles before my eyes,
what I saw…
was a cave, completely filled…
with weapons, piled up like a mountain.