Chapter 42: Two Weapon Merchants
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 42: Two Weapon Merchants
Not all of the weapons were of high quality. To be precise, they were weapons used by novices, though I could occasionally spot some used by intermediate adventurers. I had no way of knowing why they were all gathered here, but I could immediately tell that something was very wrong with Choi Seulgi.
Oblivious to my thoughts, the other members of the Blood Dagger Clan were running wild, ecstatic at the sight of the piled-up weapons. It seemed they were quite pleased with the gift Choi Seulgi had given them.
But my feelings were the exact opposite of theirs. My mind was a mess, unable to sort anything out. I was desperately trying to figure out what was going on. I walked past the weapons and started heading deeper into the cave. I was sure there had to be another clue inside.
“The smell of blood…” Mev muttered unconsciously, her nose twitching.
I could certainly smell it, too.
The cave was thick with the stench of blood. And that wasn't all. There was a piercing foul odor. It was an environment I couldn't imagine anyone living in. And yet, the few ‘traces’ I saw past the weapons insisted that someone had indeed been living here.
“What… what is this?”
The words escaped my lips before I even realized it. That’s how stunned I was. On one side of the cave lay a scattered pile of leaves and cloths, likely used for sleeping. As I went a little deeper, the smell of blood grew even stronger.
It wasn't the blood of a beast. It was unmistakably human blood.
I hurried to the deepest part of the cave and saw a door made of an awkward piece of cloth. When I gently pushed it aside, I saw exactly four corpses. They were dismembered, so I couldn't be certain, but seeing four heads confirmed it.
Fuck, what the hell is this situation…
The bodies were so completely butchered that their forms were unrecognizable. From their heads to their fingernails and toenails, not a single part was left intact. The way they had died with their mouths agape seemed to tell me just how agonizing their final moments had been.
And yet, the faces were strangely familiar. They were too mutilated to recognize clearly, but I felt like I had seen them somewhere before.
I lifted the head of one of the dismembered bodies with one hand and examined it closely. Slowly, the memory of who this person was began to surface. His eyes were missing, but there was no way I could forget those features.
Shin Duk-ho.
The very man I had been searching for ever since I settled in the western forest, Shin Duk-ho, was right here. The others were the same. Not a single one was in one piece, but by piecing together my memories, I could roughly guess what their faces looked like before they died. They were unmistakably the Murderers who had killed me and Choi Seulgi in the past.
I didn't need to think any further.
Any fool could figure out why Choi Seulgi had been here instead of in the city, and why Shin Duk-ho and the other Murderers were here, too.
“Grrrrrrr…”
A low growl escaped my throat involuntarily.
Choi Seulgi has also returned.
Choi Seulgi… also…
She had regressed, too. Only then did the pieces of the puzzle slowly begin to fall into place. Her leaving with Park Youngwhan’s crew was probably to take care of them.
The old Choi Seulgi could have done it if she fought smartly. The current Choi Seulgi could do it without a doubt.
No.
My thought that the old Choi Seulgi was on par with or weaker than Park Youngwhan was entirely my own subjective judgment. It was just a personal assessment based on the magic and physical state of her body. If it was true that she had regressed, it wouldn't be a stretch to think she was hiding a thing or two. Especially if she was capable enough to bring Shin Duk-ho and all these others back here alive… that made it even more certain. I slowly began to dredge up old memories.
I had been too agitated at the time to remember how the fight had unfolded, but before I ambushed Park Youngwhan’s group, one of them had already been hit with a dagger and was on the verge of death. I remembered how he couldn't even stand properly despite drinking a potion, and I couldn't help but nod.
Shit…
I was stunned that I hadn't realized it until now. I had just assumed it was because she was always smiling foolishly whenever we trained together. Thanks to that, I had been completely oblivious to the fact that she, too, had regressed and was sharpening her own blade. The thought that the mysterious man she always mentioned might have been referring to me made a wave of guilt wash over me.
If I had known, I wouldn't have sent her away like this. Not like this…
“Grrrrrrr…”
I turned to Mev and spoke urgently.
“How long has it been since she left this place?”
“I’m not sure exactly, but it seems like some time has passed.”
Frustrated, I could only look around the place. I could see just how hard Choi Seulgi’s life had been here, and just how broken she had become.
“Hoo…”
As I let out a sigh, the goblins began to cautiously back away. Just then, Mev started to speak to me.
“Chief. Have you ever been here before?”
I shook my head. It would have been better if I had come sooner. When I shook my head, Mev looked at me with even more suspicion. She began to stroke the large gashes on the cave wall.
“This… didn't you make this?”
“No… I’ve never even been here…”
Unlike Mev, as a gladiator, I wasn't skilled at reading tracks. I quickly drew my greatsword and swung it. With a CRACK, a gash remarkably similar to the ones on the wall appeared.
“It’s the same… no, maybe a little different.”
“It certainly… is similar…”
With a cat-like expression, Mev continued to stare at the gashes on the wall as if she found it amusing. We soon reached the very back of the cave. Going a little deeper, I could see that one of the cave walls was completely butchered. At this point, anyone could see what it meant. Mev saw it too, clapped her hands, and began to speak.
“Ah… she was practicing, wasn't she? That woman.”
“.......................”
“She was practicing to make marks similar to yours. I wasn't sure until now, but seeing this makes it obvious.”
Fuck…
I couldn't comprehend what was happening. The fact that Choi Seulgi had regressed was undeniable. Otherwise, there was no way Shin Duk-ho and the Murderers would have been found here, torn to shreds like this.
As absurd as it was, it was a far more convincing explanation than Choi Seulgi being a psychopath who just happened to pick them as her prey.
But I still couldn't figure out why she had been practicing to leave my tracks. I started to walk back outside. She had called the pile of weapons a gift, but their origin was obviously suspicious.
The idea of her, living in a cave, going all the way into the western city of Aia to buy weapons was a very strange picture. More importantly, the weapons looked used, worn down or stained with blood, clearly indicating they had owners.
She had been hunting, too.
Of course, her purpose must have been different from mine.
I quickened my pace. Mev, Jung Hayeon, and the rest of the Blood Dagger Clan naturally followed me out of the cave. I hadn't given permission, but I could already see some of them had swapped out their old weapons for new ones.
“Can you find any more tracks like the ones we just saw?”
“There are none around here. If there are similar marks in the forest, I might be able to find them…”
“Search the area around this place.”
“Okay.”
There were definitely no tracks near the cave. As we moved further out, faint traces began to appear, little by little. Mev slowly ran ahead to check them. Eventually, she turned to me and spoke.
“Found them. Similar tracks. Looks like she was here. And I can see that some humans passed through here, too.”
“Anywhere else?”
“Hold on.”
Thinking it was too much for her alone, Mev soon called over the goblins and hobgoblins who had evolved into archers. It seemed she was going to order them to find more tracks like the ones we’d seen.
“You see this gash? You just have to find Blood Dagger’s tracks.”
“Kkireuk! Kkireuk! It will be difficult, but if it is Blood Dagger’s mark, we will find it!”
“We remember Blood Dagger’s mark clearly!”
Thanks to their overflowing enthusiasm, the search picked up speed. Sure enough, there were traces scattered all over the place, making it look as if not just me, but our entire clan had been hunting humans. And the tracks were made at regular intervals.
If she had intended to betray me, she would have surely left these tracks in the cave or at our usual meeting spot.
I swallowed. I felt like I was beginning to understand what Choi Seulgi was thinking.
Revenge.
She was acting as another ‘Weapon Merchant’ to lure her targets, who were holed up in the city, out here.
It probably wasn't the Saint Knights Order. Although I had been quite active, the Green Goblin Clan was going out every day, so they were surely clashing with the Saint Knights Order. Since they were hunting everyone indiscriminately—novices, intermediates, and advanced adventurers alike—the Green Goblin Clan would be a higher priority than me.
Besides, the Saint Knights Order never cared much about personnel who could be replaced at any time. If they had cared about the safety of novices, they would have come for me already.
Most importantly, Choi Seulgi knew the strength of the Saint Knights Order. She would never attack them recklessly.
Her goal was, and always had been, revenge. She had already exacted her personal revenge on Shin Duk-ho and the Murderers who killed us. Things got a little twisted, but the same went for Park Youngwhan and his gang.
If I thought about it that way, besides the Sword Saint, Choi Seulgi had practically no one left to take revenge on.
As I pondered this, I suddenly reached a conclusion.
That bastard.
She had told me she received an offer from a powerful man to become his concubine, but she never said who it was. She didn't tell me in our past life. If I assumed that bastard Park Youngwhan was acting on the orders of that ‘powerful man,’ and that Choi Seulgi already knew this, then I had a good idea of who she was trying to lure out now.
And then…
A hobgoblin who had gone out scouting came running back toward us, out of breath.
“Humans! Humans!”
“Chief, humans are here! They were wearing red clothes. Red clothes!”
His voice announced the arrival of humans in red clothes. I naturally thought of one of the clans under the Saint Knights Order.
The Red Cross Clan.