Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Accomplice IV
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Shin Noah
5
Kaaaang—
The sound of hammering nearby shattered the world behind my eyelids, which had sunk into a dreamlike haze.
Daydreams. For someone like me who remembered all my past lives, these moments visited me from time to time. The eyes of the 53rd round that I had just closed were passed on in an instant, and I opened the eyes of the 100th round.
“Huuuh……”
A breath escaped.
It was No Do-ha. Her breathing was half-submerged in the blindingly incandescent midsummer sunlight, and half-buried in the navy shadows of the abandoned Jeongseon cave mine.
“Well, looks like I’ve finally finished this kitchen knife or whatever. Heh. Better than that dwarf or whatever this little runt could make……”
“……”
A mirage danced slowly.
Dust motes rippled in the breath she exhaled—through sunlight and shadow, then sunlight and shadow again.
It seemed the world needed one side of light and one side of shadow to dance. In that case, perhaps the blinking of the eyes—swimming lightly, endlessly lightly, between attention and blindness—was the first dance of existence itself.
“Now I should challenge the next level. Hmm, maybe tongs would be just right. Undertaker Awakener. If you spot any of these runt dwarves wandering the village making something decent…… Undertaker Awakener? Hey. Oi. Kid. You listening to me……?”
“Ah, yes. I’m listening.”
For the record, it took less than three seconds for “hey” to become “oi” and “oi” to become “kid” on No Do-ha’s tongue. It had to be a magical tongue.
No Do-ha pretended to dig in her ear with a sickle while sneering.
“What, got iron spikes in your ears? I’m gauging the difficulty, so find something a bit harder than this sickle I just made…… Oh?”
No Do-ha couldn’t finish her sentence.
Srrrrk—
The dwarf anomaly, who had been pounding away at the anvil like it had no soul until moments ago, suddenly reached out toward No Do-ha.
A clear abnormality.
Thud. On instinct, I hugged No Do-ha and pulled back. Startled by the sudden move, she dropped the sickle.
“Be careful, Workshop Master.”
“Oh. No, well, thanks…… But I don’t sense any hostility……”
“There are plenty of anomalies in the world that don’t have emotions like hostility. Just like radiation doesn’t hate humans intensely before killing them.”
—……
For some reason, the dwarf anomaly didn’t seem interested in us. Instead, it slowly bent at the waist.
There lay the sickle No Do-ha had dropped.
“Hmm……?”
The dwarf picked up the sickle and examined it from all angles. Slowly, like a video playing at 0.5x speed.
—……, …….
Whooo—
Wind blew from its pitch-black eye sockets and mouth. From inside out.
And then something bizarre happened.
The dwarf anomaly, as if it had been made of wind from the start, shrank in outline with every gust it exhaled from its holes.
“Hoo……?”
—……, ……. …….
The dwarf’s breath poured directly onto the sickle No Do-ha had forged. Like a watercolor painter layering paint stroke after stroke, the anomaly was adding the final brushstrokes to the sickle with its own breath.
Clang.
The sickle fell again. Having exhaled all its breath, the dwarf deflated like a balloon and vanished entirely.
“Intriguing. What kind of anomaly was that, Undertaker Awakener……?”
“…I don’t know either. I learned about this mining village a long time ago, but I’ve never dug deep into it.”
“Aha. You rolled through 100 rounds of regression and couldn’t even figure out one village’s secrets? Isn’t that negligence of duty……?”
“Sorry. If someone hadn’t strangled me to death in the previous round, I might have found out.”
Blink. No Do-ha furrowed her brows.
“It’s not disappearing……”
“Pardon?”
“Normally in this village, anything the blacksmith makes vanishes right away. The kitchen knife I made this morning disappeared the same way. But look. Time’s passed, and my sickle’s still fine……”
“Ah.”
I stroked my chin.
“I see. Perhaps the essence of this ‘Taebaek Mountains Dwarf Mining Village’ Void is… a training ground exclusively for blacksmiths.”
“Training ground……?”
“Yes. Or a place to pass down traditions. Workshop Master No Do-ha just had her hoe acknowledged by that dwarf anomaly.”
“Oh ho……”
“I have a rough idea of how to clear this Void too. There are seven blacksmiths in the mining village total. You’ve taken out one, so six left.”
“Get acknowledged by the remaining six artisans……?”
“That’s right.”
I picked up the sickle. On the blade of this adamantium hoe—probably something that had never appeared in any fictional work’s history—was engraved strange writing.
Letters I’d never seen. A language I couldn’t understand. If I had to describe it with similar characters:
[Dicentra Spectabilis]
No Do-ha peeked over.
“Hmm. What’s this? I didn’t engrave anything like that……”
“Probably the dwarf anomaly carved it with its breath. What else would a blacksmith engrave on their work but their own name?”
“Aha……?”
No Do-ha pulled out a notebook. Squinting hard, she carefully transcribed the [Dicentra Spectabilis] letters.
“Workshop Master, why?”
“Hmm……”
No Do-ha didn’t answer.
From that day, our routine was set.
First, we assessed the remaining six dwarf blacksmiths by crafting difficulty and classified them by level.
The one making small kitchen knives: Level 1. The one making hefty greatswords: Level 6.
“Alright, let’s get started…… I want to focus and finish quick, so Undertaker Awakener, you be my assistant……”
“Man. Only the Workshop Master would use an infinite regressor as an assistant.”
“What bullshit? You’re the one who pawned my whole life to the National Highway Management Corps and turned me into an assistant……”
“Hold this, Workshop Master.”
“Oh, good……”
Kaaang!
No Do-ha’s hammer sparked.
She looked slender with no visible arm muscles, but she hammered the anvil relentlessly, as if demonstrating what battle-compressed muscles were.
Her long hair fluttered in the cave depths. From afar, the blacksmith merged with her hammer looked like she was dancing.
Flames and shadows.
A waltz of crimson and black.
—……, whooo…….
The Level 1 dwarf also deeply exhaled onto the kitchen knife she’d made.
The breath of the anomaly from some otherworld granted the knife permission to exist in this world. It left behind its language, a name no one could read, and perished.
“……”
How did anomalies like these come to be? Even after countless regressions, I could only speculate about their intimate secrets—I never reached the truth.
I prepared meals, drew bathwater, secured bedding, stayed vigilant against anomalies nearby, and helped No Do-ha focus on ‘anomaly subjugation.’ That was my role in this Void.
It wasn’t difficult.
The ‘assistant’ from the 53rd round had already synced with the master craftswoman before me over eight years. That memory was etched behind my eyelids even now.
“Hmm……”
Next level. Then the next.
No Do-ha reached the final blacksmith’s gate in just six days. The word ‘genius’ must have been invented for her.
But oddly, her expression soured with each level cleared. She glared at me, brows deeply furrowed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Thinking about it, it pisses me off……”
“……?”
“No matter how I look at it, you’re way too good at being an assistant. I didn’t even ask for tongs, but you hand them over at the perfect time. I ask you to hold something steady for hammering, and you grip it at the comfiest angle. Like drone delivery service. Every time, it hits me how you’re this creepy regressor pulling ‘I know everything you don’t’ moves……”
“No, what.”
I was speechless. Was she seriously crazy?
“…‘Aljirong’? I’ve never used that tone in my life, and creepy? Creepy? Me?”
“Hmm. That’s just how it feels. Don’t nitpick words. You old monster who’s lived at least 1,000 years more than me, so narrow-minded……”
“How many low blows are you landing in a row right now?”
“There, done……”
Kaaang.
No Do-ha lightly hammered the sword hilt—clunk, the subtle warp aligned perfectly.
Level 6. The greatsword was complete.
—……, …….
Swoosh. The moment No Do-ha finished the greatsword, she whipped her head around like an office worker smelling fresh bread from a subway bakery.
And she reached out to infuse eternity into the artisan’s masterpiece—
“Ah. Wait……”
But her hand just swiped empty air.
Because No Do-ha had suddenly yanked the greatsword back.
—……?
“Hmm.”
—……?
The dwarf’s pitch-black eye sockets looked up at No Do-ha like a cat robbed of its treat right in front of it.
No Do-ha was grinning.
—……? ……?
Hop. Hop. Not for nothing was its species named dwarf; no matter how much it tiptoed, it couldn’t reach the greatsword No Do-ha held high.
I had question marks popping in my head too.
What was this? Had she finally grown bored with tormenting humans and decided to pick on anomalies too?
No Do-ha sneered.
“I’m not really interested in helping you lot reach enlightenment. Not at all. I’m not planning to become your disciple either. It’s a hassle if you ascend on your own and pull that ‘carry on our vision’ crap……”
—……?
“Honestly, I don’t need these piece-of-shit tools……”
No Do-ha tossed all the sickles, kitchen knives, daggers, scythes, pitchforks, longswords, and greatswords she’d made so far into the furnace.
The mining village’s smelter instantly melted them back into adamantium. Her hammer slammed down on the softened lump in one go.
Kaaaang—!
The ore, nonexistent in this world originally, began rippling prettily as it took shape. Kaaang! Kaaaang! Relentlessly. Ignoring the sweat she shed, as if pouring everything into it.
“Small hammer.”
“Yes, Workshop Master.”
“Squeegee.”
“Here.”
“Sandwich.”
“Yessir.”
Whenever she called, I handed over tools and maneuvered the workpiece.
—……
The dwarf watched our duo work with its hollow sockets.
How much time passed? No Do-ha, who hadn’t wiped her brow once during forging, finally brushed sweat away with her hand. She pocketed her monocle.
“Huuuh, finally done……”
The unusual shape of the finished product left me momentarily at a loss.
“This is……”
A swordstaff.
Sring— No Do-ha drew the gleaming blade herself to demonstrate. A janggeom (杖劍). In English, called a swordstick.
Normally a walking stick, but drawable as a self-defense weapon when needed—it revealed itself clearly.
“Undertaker Awakener. Didn’t you ask me to make you a weapon on the way here……?”
“…Yes.”
“Hmm. Right. This is the weapon I offer you……”
A staff. The simplest aid for those with walking difficulties. That’s why it bore No Do-ha’s handprints.
A sword. The most universal tool for killing. That’s why it would bear mine.
So utterly No Do-ha. So utterly me.
“……”
“Wait a moment……”
No Do-ha leaned an engraving tool against the blade. Screeech, metal scraped.
[Dicentra Spectabilis]
The name presumed to be that of the first dwarf blacksmith who’d breathed onto the sickle.
No Do-ha glanced at her notebook and meticulously engraved the letters onto the blade one by one. Seven names total. Exotic—no, otherworldly—letters writhed like beautiful tattoos.
And at the very end.
Do-ha (渡河).
Letters matching the pronunciation of No Do-ha’s name, and the meaning of her workshop, trickled down the white blade like raindrops.
“Here……”
—……
—……
—……, …….
Looking around, the dwarf anomalies had vanished. No breath to infuse eternity this time.
Only a deep whoooo— wind swept through the mine’s canyons. The mountain range’s breath from the cliffs whooshed past us and the sword.
After the wind like a long sigh passed, the village was gone. Adamantium veins, furnaces, stone buildings, anvils—all swept away.
Only No Do-ha, me, and one sword remained at the vast cave mouth.
“……”
A bizarre phenomenon.
But Voids were bizarre by nature.
No Do-ha didn’t spare a glance at the mining village’s disappearance. She simply offered me the sword.
Evening. Crimson sunset blazed behind her, imprinting the scene before me onto my cornea.
The moment I reached out, the moment I grasped the sword, No Do-ha’s lips—silent till eternity—parted.
“You’re really taking it……?”
“……”
“It’s a fine sword. One you’ll never make again. It’ll serve you well in all the hunts and slaughters ahead. You get what I mean……? Undertaker Awakener. From now on, some portion of your feats will be thanks to this sword. Your achievements, exploits, successes and failures, massacres—all split fifty-fifty. In short, grasping it means accepting this sword as your accomplice……”
“……”
Nod.
I took the sword.
“I’ll name it Do-ha.”
“…Heh.”
No Do-ha smiled faintly.
The sunset aligned horizontally with her smile, casting red light.
“Shares are fifty-fifty……”
Jeez. As if anyone could call her anything but a ruthless employer, with that brutal profit split.
6
There’s an epilogue.
Rounds reset everything to default, but for some reason, the sword ‘Do-ha (渡河)’ was an exception.
From the 100th round on, Do-ha was always stuck in the Taebaek Mountains’ mid-slope cave entrance. Even though No Do-ha never made me a sword in later rounds.
“……”
Truly anomalous. But in exchange, the ‘Dwarf Mining Village’ Void that should’ve blanketed the cave was gone without a trace.
Perhaps the ‘mining village’ really came from another world. And time there flowed differently from ours, fixing ‘Do-ha’ like a coordinate outside our timeline.
Or maybe the swordstaff Do-ha itself solidified as a Void anomaly in the village’s place.
Either way, the village evaporated. Forever, with its scant adamantium veins. No more unraveling its secrets.
It was the moment another ‘exclusive item’ joined the silver bells I always farmed from Busan Station lobby.
“Hm? Wait, Undertaker Awakener……”
“What is it?”
“Let me see that staff……”
No Do-ha practically snatched Do-ha from me.
“Hmm……”
She donned her monocle, peered through the blade every which way, slid it in and out of the sheath with clicks.
A long groan escaped No Do-ha.
“…Undertaker Awakener. This. This sword. Where’d you get it……?”
“Oh. A gift from the Korean Peninsula’s greatest blacksmith.”
“Greatest on the peninsula? Hmm, it looks the part……. Fine. She can claim that after making something this masterful. But a Korean? Who……?”
Shadows flickered menacingly in No Do-ha’s dark-circled eyes.
“Why? Interested?”
“Well……. Someone with this talent belongs in the National Highway Management Corps or wherever, slaved away for life—that’s the best use……”
How could I not burst out laughing?
My guffaws made No Do-ha scowl fiercely. Twin pitch-black isles glared at me, not lonely.
“Ha? Laughing? What’s so funny? Wanna die……?”
“No. Absolutely not. I’ll tell you obediently. Workshop Master. The one who made that sword is my—”
- Accomplice. End.