Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Entry Port (2)
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“Have you ever heard of the Yum Clan?”
Yuri’s eyebrow twitched at the slightly dismissive tone.
He snorted lightly and replied.
“Yum Clan? That’s the descendants of the ancient giants, right?”
“Oh ho? You know about them?”
“I might not have studied it, but I’ve picked up quite a bit. Anyway, the Yum Clan is one of the bloodlines descended from ancient heteroraces, isn’t it?”
Descendants of the ancient giants: the Yum Clan.
Descendants of the ancient elves: the Lin Clan.
Descendants of the ancient dwarves: the Gol Clan.
Long ago, the pureblood heteroraces went extinct, leaving only mixed-blood humans with their lineage.
And those survivors continued their ancient heterorace blood in closed-off clan structures.
…That was what Yuri had heard.
And it was true.
Johan nodded and added an explanation.
“Not bad. Correct. Descendants of the ancient giant race. And among them, there are those called ascetics.”
“Ascetics?”
“Perverted freaks who seek spiritual enlightenment through asceticism.”
“So?”
“It’s their tradition that when a Yum Clan ascetic who’s endured long ordeals finally dies, they cremate the body, returning it to nothingness. And at that time, among the ashes of the burned bones, a crystal of brilliant hue is often found…”
Yuri’s steps faltered, slowing gradually.
He finally came to a complete stop, frowning slightly as he spoke.
“No way, right? It can’t be?”
“Afraid it is.”
“…For real?”
“Yeah. The crystal from a dead Yum Clan ascetic’s body. That’s shari. It looks like an ordinary stone fragment, but the Yum Clan treasures it greatly.”
“No, why treasure something like that?!”
“Why? Because that tiny crystal can interfere with the soul and spirit blood. That’s how it blocked your spirit blood, isn’t it?”
“W-Well, yeah. But it comes from a dead body—it’s creepy!”
“Only an idiot like you would find it creepy. Shari emerging from a dead ascetic’s body is proof that their ordeals were done properly. It’s a highly honorable thing.”
Yuri’s face soured at the explanation.
He replied curtly.
“Yes, sorry for being such an idiot.”
As if he didn’t want to hear more, Yuri tried to walk away, but Johan placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Why?”
Meeting Yuri’s questioning gaze, Johan grinned.
“You have to hear the most important part before you go.”
“Huh?”
“Shari has one side effect.”
“…Side effect?”
A side effect out of nowhere?
Sensing something ominous, Yuri swallowed dryly.
“W-What’s the side effect?”
“Heh heh, it’s this…”
After a pause, Johan lowered his voice and answered.
“Ghosts stick to it.”
“……”
A brief three-second silence.
The reaction came late.
“…What?”
Flustered, Yuri thought he’d misheard.
“D-Did I hear that wrong? What… sticks to it?”
At Yuri’s dazed question, Johan kindly repeated it word for word.
“Ghosts stick to it.”
“……”
Followed by additional explanation.
“Since shari is a crystal of pure spiritual power, ghosts go crazy for it. Heh heh heh.”
“…You’re joking, right?”
“Does it sound like a joke?”
“……”
“So avoid places with lots of deaths or graves. Especially don’t go near spots with vengeful spirits! Unless you want to be haunted by evil spirits.”
“……?!”
Yuri’s face stiffened completely.
His hand crept stealthily toward his sword hilt.
His fingertips trembled faintly.
And a voice trembling as much as his hand slipped from his mouth.
“Old man, just hypothetically…”
“What?”
“If I were super duper curious and just asking out of pure curiosity…”
“Why so much preamble? What do you want to ask?”
“Do ghosts… take damage from swords too?”
“……”
“Do you know how to stab ghosts?”
“……”
“……”
No sooner had Yuri finished asking than a strange silence enveloped the space where the two stood.
Then Johan casually tossed out a remark.
“Scared?”
The reaction was explosive.
“Scared?!”
Yuri yelled, then averted his eyes pitifully and mumbled.
“I-I just wanted to research if ghosts can take physical damage too…”
“Oh ho? Is that so?”
“Y-You know?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Why should I?”
“…It’d be nice if you did.”
“If you’re that curious, research it yourself. Good luck with the results. Puhahaha.”
Puu- puu-.
As soon as Johan finished speaking, a short horn blast urged the reserve riders to board again.
Taking it as a signal, Johan’s form blurred and vanished.
“Ol-Old man!”
Yuri reached out desperately, but only wind swirled where Johan had been.
“……”
Along with the eerie wind lingering where Johan had disappeared, his words echoed in Yuri’s ears.
[Ghosts stick to it.]
[Ghosts stick…]
[Ghosts…]
Yuri’s face paled at the endlessly repeating word “ghosts.”
“G-Ghosts…”
Yuri, who thought nothing in the world scared him, had one thing he truly feared and hated.
Formless “ghosts.”
‘How do you even fight ghosts?’
I can’t hit ghosts, but ghosts can hit me.
How unfair and terrifying is that?!
So Yuri couldn’t help but agonize.
“Should I… take off the earring?”
Yuri’s eyes shook with deep turmoil.
* * *
Puuuuu-.
With a long horn blast, the galleon carrying Yuri and about 500 other 50th Cohort reserve riders departed the harbor.
Johan sat on the roof of a shop not far from the port, watching the departing ship.
‘No one to torment for a while… gonna be boring.’
Sending Yuri to the Cradle.
That had been his plan from the moment he first saw him.
He’d never doubted it at first.
Under the premise of the strong devouring all, the Cradle was the only place in the world offering near-infinite benefits to those who simply wished to grow stronger.
So his initial thought of sending Yuri there was firm.
…Until he realized Yuri’s talent far exceeded his expectations—by a huge margin.
Yuri’s talent astonished even Johan, who had been hailed as one of the greatest geniuses.
Even without sending him to the Cradle, training with Johan alone would allow Yuri to grow exponentially.
That thought first cracked his firm resolve to send Yuri there.
Afterward, Johan pondered.
Was sending Yuri to the Cradle truly the right choice?
What made him decide was seeing Yuri unleash his demon style.
‘His talent was evolving.’
A miraculous talent comprehending far beyond what Johan taught, on its own.
Seeing it, Johan realized he didn’t need to be constantly by Yuri’s side.
With or without him, Yuri would grow steeply.
Johan just needed to occasionally check on him and prune the branches to let him grow upward.
That made the Cradle the perfect environment for Yuri’s growth.
‘Experiences in the Cradle… only those his age can have there will be great fertilizer for his growth.’
No matter how great Johan was, he couldn’t provide the Cradle’s experiences.
‘Plus, the Cradle’s various benefits aren’t easy to obtain elsewhere.’
If Yuri could monopolize them all, the ripple effects would be tremendous.
Johan secretly hoped for it but never showed it until Yuri left.
He knew.
‘Even without me saying it, with that greedy bastard’s personality… he’ll devour everything in the Cradle like a magpie.’
Yuri’s greed was terrifying even to Johan.
Whether for money or growth.
Yuri never hesitated to express his desires and worked relentlessly to seize them—a monster.
‘I originally planned to make him just strong enough not to get beaten up there…’
He’d even thought that might be tough.
With less than a year, just building foundations would be a success.
But the problem was this monster had grown way too much in that short time.
Too much even for Johan to handle.
‘Will the Cradle’s innocent kids handle that greedy bastard?’
The Dragon’s Cradle was a pen of beast cubs.
But what Johan released inside was an imugi.
A black imugi ready to ascend into a dragon once it forms its yeouiju.
Gulp-.
Watching the receding galleon, Johan downed the last of his liquor.
“Kha!”
His stomach warmed hotly.
His correspondingly flushed gaze turned far across the lake, toward the Dragon’s Cradle.
Staring at the vast horizon, a low murmur escaped his lips.
“Fertile soil to bloom talent…”
In the past, the Sword Lord had declared.
He would become fertile soil for the talented to flourish.
Thus, the Dragon’s Cradle was born.
Remembering it, Johan’s lips twisted.
“Will the soil you made, Sword Lord, withstand the seed I planted?”
Did the Dragon’s Cradle have enough nutrients for the Yuri seed to grow?
If not…
‘Sword Lord, your land… might end up barren and withered.’
A greedy monster seed dropped on the strong-eat-all land would suck up everything voraciously.
“Keuheheh.”
Just imagining what would happen in the Cradle ahead made laughter leak from Johan’s mouth.
And.
Whoooosh-.
Johan’s form mingled with the incoming wind and vanished abruptly.
* * *
The calm weather without a breath of wind continued, and the black galleon sailed smoothly onward.
Five days into the voyage.
Inside the black ship slicing through gentle waters, black-clad boys and girls moved about.
The Cradle’s reserve riders, changed into the pitch-black tops and pants provided by the Black Sword Soldiers—not their arrival clothes.
The black attire was long-sleeved for mobility but thin, suitable only for spring or summer.
Though the lake hadn’t frozen yet, it was improper for midwinter’s biting winds.
But for these mana-holding youths, however young, winter’s chill wasn’t much of an issue.
What tormented the young reserve riders instead was the eerie tension permeating the voyage.
503 reserve riders of the 50th Cohort, gathered from across the world.
Their destination was unknown territory where anything could happen: the mighty Dragon’s Cradle.
There, like it or not, they’d become rivals.
No one aboard was unaware of that.
Moreover, they’d grown up receiving elite education, hailed as gifted, prodigies, geniuses.
The reserve riders quickly grasped their task and acted.
Some eyed those who seemed stronger.
Others marked the weak as prey.
Before the real competition began, the voyage to the Cradle became a scouting phase.
Unprompted, the children started checking each other out.
Someone even thought.
‘The Cradle put us all in one place without cabin separations on purpose, didn’t they?’
Perhaps the competition started the moment they boarded the black ship.
As the scouting phase drew to a close and information accumulated, the reserve riders moved to the next stage.
The true sorting of allies and enemies began.