Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: The Doll-Like Elder
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#77
'What kind of girl talks like that...?'
Was she around ten years old?
The girl, who looked just like a doll, was staring at Seo Woo-jin while holding a teacup in her hands.
Yet the words coming from her mouth resembled those of an old man who had seen it all.
Seo Woo-jin glanced subtly at Barsik beside him.
But he showed no reaction whatsoever.
As if the girl's manner of speech was perfectly natural.
'Hmm...'
Seo Woo-jin decided not to make a fuss about it either.
'Is she like Ban Slane?'
Once someone reached a certain realm, their body would be reconstructed and rejuvenated.
That's why he hadn't thought Ban Slane was a con artist at first glance.
The girl in front of him seemed to be one of those types.
"Have you finished thinking?"
Seo Woo-jin quickly answered the girl, who was looking at him with an intrigued expression.
"Yep."
"Then come and sit here."
Seo Woo-jin sat in the seat she indicated, feeling a slight tension.
It was incomparably softer and more comfortable than the chairs in Agna's office.
"She brought that rune, correct?"
This time, the girl addressed Barsik.
"Yes."
His response was exceedingly polite.
'As I thought, appearances can be deceiving.'
Seeing Barsik's demeanor confirmed that the girl's status was far from ordinary.
'Today's just one high-and-mighty figure after another.'
Right after the sparring match, he'd met Agna, and now he'd been dragged to the Sky Tower to meet this enigmatic girl.
The constant tension was starting to wear on him a bit.
"Child, could you explain in detail to me where you saw the rune you brought?"
Her question gave Seo Woo-jin a feeling reminiscent of facing Ban Slane after a long time.
'Who’s calling who a child here?'
Seo Woo-jin chuckled inwardly.
"Ah, well..."
He couldn't tell her everything.
But hiding it entirely seemed impossible too, so he decided to mix truth with fiction just enough.
"The ruins consisted only of a long corridor. Then, by chance, I broke through a wall and entered what lay beyond..."
He briefly explained that a pitch-black space without a speck of light had appeared, and he'd found it on some strange stone pillar inside.
"There were many other runes besides that one, but I couldn't memorize them all."
Roz Ruby had died, and the ruins had vanished.
There was no way to verify Seo Woo-jin's words now.
After finishing, he gauged the girl's reaction.
He worried his lie might be exposed.
Fortunately, though, she nodded at his plausible answer.
"You said it was Kademain."
"I found a box stamped with his seal."
"And the incantation?"
"It twists the axes of space and time, and concepts and chaos..."
He had no idea what that meant.
At first, he could follow somewhat and focused, but it only got more filled with jargon.
Seo Woo-jin dazedly pretended to listen while lost in thought.
'Who is this girl? What's her status? She's in the Sky Tower, so probably a mage. She can't be older than Ban Slane, can she?'
She seemed deeply knowledgeable in magic, and her status appeared extraordinary.
It was like being a college student listening to a specialized lecture in a major subject.
That's when it happened.
"What do you think?"
"...Pardon? Pardon?"
The girl, having apparently finished their conversation, turned to Seo Woo-jin.
"I don't really know."
It wasn't a lie.
Seo Woo-jin truly didn't understand that magic at all.
But that wasn't what the girl was asking.
"I mean the rune. Why do you think it was engraved in such a place?"
Her smiling question made her look both like an innocent girl and a sage who had transcended the world.
But he didn't pay it much mind.
There were plenty of things in this world that didn't make sense.
He figured he could just chalk it up to magic and move on.
"Well, I have no idea."
"Is that so?"
The girl nodded, but the look in her eyes as she gazed at Seo Woo-jin didn't change.
Somehow, her eyes seemed to pierce right through him.
It made Seo Woo-jin a little uncomfortable.
After all, he had a lot he was hiding.
"Then tell me about what happened in the ruins. It's been so long since something like that turned up—my curiosity is piqued."
At the girl's words, Seo Woo-jin's eyebrow twitched.
He had a mountain of things to do.
He needed to attune his new sword, have dinner, and do his afternoon training.
Starting today, Goo Dong-hwan and the water branch manager were joining, so he'd be quite busy.
'I made time in my precious schedule for this, and she just wants me to spin a yarn?'
He wasn't a comedian.
He wasn't some clown summoned to entertain the high and mighty with amusing tales.
Seo Woo-jin opened his mouth with a firm expression.
"Where should I start?"
* * *
"Space and time twist every thirty minutes? So your interpretation of the incantation was correct."
"Hoh, flesh and blood?"
"Indeed. Roz Ruby is no pushover."
"Heh, you held out against him for over an hour?"
"Impressive!"
Was this how an uncle felt playing with his nephew?
He'd spun the tale out of fear of power and strength, but honestly, he hadn't wanted to.
Yet the girl's reactions were enthusiastic—too enthusiastic.
Even though Seo Woo-jin wasn't much of a storyteller, she listened with sparkling eyes.
Thanks to that, he got more excited and kept going.
"Then a gem came out of Roz Ruby's body..."
Mid-sentence, Seo Woo-jin clamped his mouth shut.
'I shouldn't have said that!'
Her reactions had been so fun that he'd blurted out something he shouldn't.
"A gem?"
But it was too late.
The girl smiled brightly, waiting for what came next.
"Ah, it's nothing. More importantly, the ruins suddenly collapsed..."
He tried to quickly change the subject.
"Tell me about the gem."
As if all her prior demeanor had been an act, the girl now stared at Seo Woo-jin with serious eyes.
'What kind of eyes...'
They were like gazing into the universe.
An abyss so deep its end was invisible.
If he stared into them, he'd be pulled in and unable to escape.
"Was it a red gem, by any chance?"
Seo Woo-jin flinched.
He didn't answer, but the girl nodded as if his reaction was confirmation enough.
"A red gem... Barsik."
"Yes, milady."
When the girl called Barsik, he bowed his head with utmost courtesy.
"Go wait outside."
"Understood."
One might expect him to ask why, but Barsik left the room without a shred of doubt.
Suddenly, only the two of them remained.
"D-grade, and low-level at that—how could you be so exceptional? Now I see the reason."
The girl hopped down from her chair.
It was an adorably cute motion, but Seo Woo-jin couldn't laugh.
One of his hidden truths was on the verge of exposure.
'It'll be fine. No way she could know I absorbed what was inside it, right?'
Seo Woo-jin tried to reassure himself, but he was wrong.
"So you absorbed the mana inside it?"
The girl had noticed that fact long ago.
'What do I do?'
Cold sweat trickled down.
Honestly, absorbing the mana from the gem Roz Ruby dropped wasn't a big deal.
It was a stroke of fortune, and the Empire or Sky Tower would welcome a hero growing stronger.
But the gem hadn't contained only mana.
'Demonic energy.'
An energy no ordinary being in this world could accept.
Seo Woo-jin had naturally absorbed even a trace of that demonic energy.
It didn't show on the surface, but a detailed scan of his inner energies would surely reveal traces.
'My mistake.'
He'd gotten carried away alone and failed to separate what to say from what not to.
Seo Woo-jin berated himself.
Meanwhile, the girl quietly watched him brood.
'Isn't this interesting?'
In fact, unbeknownst to Seo Woo-jin, she had cast a spell on him.
'Verdad.'
A mind magic that forced one to reveal even hidden truths involuntarily.
No ordinary mental fortitude could resist it.
Especially not one cast by her.
Yet...
'This child resisted it.'
He had let something slip momentarily, but then stopped.
From the girl's perspective, this was truly astonishing.
A being not yet at the super-transcendent realm resisting her magic?
If other mages learned of it, they'd be dying to dissect Seo Woo-jin.
'Because he absorbed the mana? Because he's a hero? Or some other reason?'
It probably wasn't just the mana.
Even vast mana wouldn't allow resistance to her spell.
A transcendent dragon might, but for a human, impossible.
'A hero...'
This was the first time the girl had met one in person.
She never stepped foot outside the Sky Tower.
Seo Woo-jin was the first hero to enter here, so he was the only one she'd seen.
'Maybe thanks to that "divine-class magic" called the system.'
She'd devoted her life to uncovering it but hadn't even found a clue.
It was, as the name implied, a god's magic.
The girl concluded that Seo Woo-jin's resistance stemmed from being a hero with the system.
But she didn't rule out other possibilities.
If she found clues, she'd uncover the true reason.
"Child."
She called out to the gravely serious Seo Woo-jin.
"Y-Yes? Yes?"
Startled, he turned to look at her.
"Wouldn't you share a glimpse of the secret you're hiding with me?"
Her tone was casual, like asking for soy sauce at the dinner table.
But the hidden meaning and weight were anything but light.
"...I don't have any secrets like that."
Seo Woo-jin swallowed dryly and shook his head.
He'd slipped up earlier, but his expression said he wouldn't repeat it.
At that, the girl smiled.
"I may not know what you're wary of, but I can promise you one thing."
Promise?
Unsure what she meant, he just stared, and she spoke with utmost sincerity.
"Upon my name, I swear your secret shall not be revealed to anyone. Nor shall it bring you the slightest harm."
Her voice, mismatched to her appearance, brimmed with dignity.
Seo Woo-jin felt his head bow of its own accord.
And soon, her next words followed.
"This I swear upon the name of Martes, master of the Sky Tower and guardian of the Empire."