Chapter 323
Chapter 323
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 323
Chapter Title: Treasure Hunt (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[It is I!]
*Poof.*
Appearing in a halo of silver light, Vega spread her arms wide and spun around once.
Riak, who had appeared with her, stretched his body as if yawning.
[Are you departing for that place called the Black Rock Mine today?]
“Yup. How are the restrictions of the law?”
[Thanks to my long rest in the Sanctuary, they have all but vanished!]
Vega raised her straw-thin arms and flexed a bicep the size of an acorn.
Zipping through the air, Vega settled atop Oh-jin’s head.
[Heeheehee. Sitting here feels like I’ve returned home.]
Perched on his head, Vega gently stroked Oh-jin’s forehead.
A faint chuckle escaped his lips.
“What happened to the temple? Why is my head your home?”
[That place… is not as warm as this.]
“Ahem. Is that so?”
Feeling strangely embarrassed by the feathery touch on his forehead, Oh-jin cleared his throat for no reason and turned toward Isabella.
“You packed everything?”
“Yes. I heard the area near the mine is a volcanic region, so I brought some cooling equipment too.”
“Cooling equipment?”
“This.”
Isabella held out a vest with scales attached to its surface.
Complex magic formulas were inscribed on each and every scale.
“It’s a vest lined with scales enchanted with fire resistance magic. The elder prepared it for me.”
“He did?”
Oh-jin’s eyes lit up as he took the vest.
Ever since his body’s reconstruction, he was barely affected by the ambient temperature, but even so, an extremely hot place like a volcanic area was bound to have an effect.
Taking the vest from Isabella, he tilted his head.
“But why are there two?”
“Ha-eun would be fine even if she went for a swim in magma.”
“Ah, right.”
For Ha-eun, who had absorbed the soul of the Dragon God, the heat was no longer an issue.
[By the way, if the preparations are finished, where is Ha-eun now?]
“Well, Nunna is…”
Oh-jin casually turned his head to look at the cloud-like crowd of Dragonkin in the distance.
A sorrowful cry could be heard from the throng, which was so dense that Ha-eun was completely obscured.
“P-Priestess… How could you leave us…”
“We will go with you, Priestess!”
“We heard the mine is filled with foul dust. What if even a speck of it were to touch your sacred body…!”
The Dragonkin, gathered like a cloud, clung to Ha-eun’s legs, whining for her not to go like three-year-old children begging for a new toy.
“Let go! Let go of me, you guys!”
Ha-eun scowled, roughly shaking off the Dragonkin’s hands.
Unable to watch any longer, Oh-jin approached Ha-eun and took her by the shoulder.
“O-Oh-jin! Do something about them!”
“Nunna, you remember how you acted back then, right?”
“Y-Yeah?”
“Just act like that again.”
In the end, Oh-jin had to step in and speak with the Dragon God’s voice, just like last time, before Ha-eun could finally break free from the Dragonkin.
“If that is the will of the Dragon God… we shall obey.”
[I thank you for your understanding.]
Like Conan putting Detective Mouri to sleep with a tranquilizer, Oh-jin mimicked the voice from behind Ha-eun, who was simply moving her lips. He then took her hand and led her away.
“Phew. I seriously thought I was going to die.”
Ha-eun slumped against Oh-jin like melted pudding.
“How long do I have to keep up this priestess act?”
“You’ll have to bear with it at least until the situation in Magyeong is sorted out.”
“Ugh.”
Wrapping her arms around Oh-jin’s neck, Ha-eun leaped onto his back.
*Squish.*
A resilient sensation spread across his back.
The sheer mass couldn’t compare to Isabella’s, but in terms of elasticity, Ha-eun was the decisive winner.
‘No, this isn’t the time to be making such comparisons.’
What was this woman doing before they even set off?
“Nunna’s tired. Gimme a piggyback ride.”
Ha-eun whispered in a meltingly sweet voice, her arms still around his neck.
“What’s a woman over thirty doing acting all cute…”
“Hm?”
*Squeeze.*
Pressure tightened around his neck.
“Where shall I escort you, ma’am?”
“All the way to the mine.”
“Then what’s our Bboppi supposed to do?”
“Isabella can ride him.”
Was it because she had been living an unfitting royal life in the kingdom?
Perhaps it was the thought of finally leaving the kingdom, but Ha-eun’s voice sounded somewhat excited.
She was like an inmate who had just been released from prison.
“Wow, whoever raised him, our Oh-jinnie’s back sure is broad.”
“It certainly wasn’t you.”
“What are you talking about, punk? I claimed you as mine and raised you since you were little.”
Ha-eun giggled, playfully touching the tip of her tongue to the nape of Oh-jin’s neck.
A ticklish shiver ran down his spine.
“What do you think you’re doing, Ha-eun?”
[Can you not see that my child is uncomfortable?]
Isabella and Vega approached with sharp glares, staring at Ha-eun on Oh-jin’s back.
“Hey, what’s the big deal? I barely got to spend any time with Oh-jinnie because of you guys. I’m just gonna stay here a little longer.”
[Hmph! A woman of your age, so shameless!]
“Hmph, are you one to talk?”
Ha-eun twisted her lips, mouthing the word ‘buttocks’.
Vega’s body shot up as if she’d been burned.
[I-I told you that was a misunderstanding!]
“Sure, sure. A misunderstanding, of course.”
“Stop it, Nunna.”
Oh-jin sighed and bent over, letting Ha-eun down.
It seemed Ha-eun hadn’t seriously intended to ride on his back all the way to the mine, as she obediently slid off.
[Hic! I am not such a shameless woman.]
Having tried to scold Ha-eun only to receive a direct counter, Vega lowered her head with a dejected expression.
Ha-eun burst into laughter and cupped the sniffling Vega in her hands.
“Just kidding, just kidding. I’m sorry.”
[Be gone.]
*Hmph.* Vega turned her head away with a sniff.
The adorable gesture made Ha-eun momentarily feel an urge to bite Vega’s cheek, but…
‘If I bite her cheek with this size difference, it won’t be a cute little nibble; it’d be the start of Attack on Titan.’
In her current manifested state, Vega was barely larger than her palm, so biting her cheek was out of the question.
Instead.
“Heeheehee. Oh my, how can every little thing our goddess does be so cute~?”
[Wh-What are you doing!]
Placing Vega on her palm, Ha-eun tickled her stomach with her thumb.
Vega screamed and flailed her arms and legs, but in her physically manifested state where her true power was extremely limited, she couldn’t escape Ha-eun’s grasp.
[H-How impudent! R-Release me at once… Hngh! Th-That tickles!]
Vega begged, tears welling up in her eyes.
“……”
Riak, who had been watching from a distance, let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
“Hah. If the other Constellations saw this, they would foam at the mouth and faint.”
“Nunna is a bit too rough with Vega.”
“…Are you one to talk?”
*Ahem.*
“Let’s get going, Nunna!”
“Oh, yeah! Okay!”
[M-My child! H-Ha-eun is… my body…!]
Freed from Ha-eun’s grasp, Vega zipped over to Oh-jin.
She gripped Oh-jin’s hair tightly and glared at Ha-eun.
Oh-jin let out a chuckle and climbed onto Bboppi.
“Let’s go, Bboppi.”
“Grrr!”
Bboppi clacked its beak powerfully and kicked off the ground.
* * *
After about three days of straight travel.
The ambient temperature gradually began to rise, and the pungent smell of sulfur tickled their noses.
“Ugh, what’s that smell?”
Ha-eun could tolerate the heat, but the smell was another matter. She pinched her nose and frowned.
“I told you there’s a volcano nearby.”
“But isn’t this supposed to be a mine? Is it even safe to dig tunnels near a volcano?”
It was something one should never do, as it risked releasing toxic gases or magma.
“Well, how should I know what those Demonkin bastards are thinking?”
In the first place, this was the first he’d heard of Demonkin operating a mine.
“You said they were mining for gold, right?”
“Yeah. I heard that guy Deimos is obsessed with all sorts of gold and treasure.”
Deimos of Gold.
Just as the title ‘of Gold’ suggested, he was said to have a fanatical obsession with gold and other treasures like precious gems and armaments.
“But is gold a valuable mineral to the Demonkin as well?”
“Who knows.”
In human society, ‘gold’ was a mineral whose value was recognized worldwide.
But there was no way to know if gold held the same value in Magyeong.
“The gold of Magyeong is a slightly different mineral from the gold of the human world.”
Riak, who was walking ahead, turned his head and answered.
“Different?”
“Its appearance and rarity are similar, but the gold of Magyeong is imbued with the power of the stars.”
The power of the stars.
“Like Sacred Stones?”
“Indeed. I have heard rumors that the gold from this Black Rock Mine, in particular, contains a very powerful magic.”
If that was the case, then Deimos was essentially monopolizing gold that was imbued with a potent stellar power.
“Then the reason Mukang stole Gramps’s treasure was…”
“He probably heard rumors about Deneb.”
As one could tell just by looking at his temple, adorned with brilliant jewels and holy relics, Deneb was second to none when it came to ‘treasure’.
Of course, he wouldn’t have been able to steal treasure directly from Deneb in his Sanctuary, so it made sense that he would steal from his apostle instead.
“Anyway, he’s a guy who’s blind with greed, is that it?”
“Well… I don’t know if you can call it ‘money,’ but it’s clear he’s a guy with a fanatical obsession for valuable and rare items.”
“He’s a bastard like the Director.”
Ha-eun spat on the ground, as if recalling an unpleasant memory.
“We’re about to enter the main volcanic region. Should we sleep here for the night and set off early in the morning?”
“I think that’s a good idea.”
The sun hadn’t completely set, but even if they pushed on, they were still some distance from the Black Rock Mine.
Since they had to pass through anyway, it would be better to spend the night here at the entrance, where the sulfur gas was not yet as strong.
“I’ll set up the tent.”
“Then I will prepare the meal.”
“Then I’ll…”
Hopping down from Bboppi’s back, Ha-eun casually pulled a pack of cigarettes from her jacket pocket.
“Go for a smoke~”
Humming a tune, Ha-eun ran off into the distance.
Oh-jin watched her receding figure and swallowed a dry laugh.
“I heard from Ha-eun before that you like women who smoke… Is that true?”
“It’s not that I like women who smoke, it’s that I said smoking suits Nunna.”
“Hmph. Then what about me?”
Isabella put her index and middle fingers together and brought them to her lips, mimicking the act of smoking.
She had clearly never touched a cigarette in her life; even the gesture felt incredibly awkward.
“It’d be kind of funny if you smoked, Bella.”
“Ah, wh-why?”
“It just doesn’t seem to suit you.”
“I can smoke sexily too!”
He gently patted the head of a pouting Isabella.
“I don’t hate smoking, but I don’t like the smell, so don’t.”
“Hmm. If you say so, I’ll try a vitamin stick next time.”
Somehow, that sounded even funnier.
Oh-jin swallowed a bitter smile and turned around.
Just then.
*Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!*
Ha-eun, who had gone off to smoke a cigarette, came charging back like an angry rhinoceros.
“What’s wrong?”
“O-Oh-jin!”
Her eyes twinkled like stars as she exclaimed.
“There’s a hot spring over there, a hot spring!”
A hot spring?
Where did a hot spring suddenly come from?