Chapter 85
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Innate Nature and Habits
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After playing the Heart of Darkness violin.
The reason he'd willingly brought back this abomination.
It wasn't just because its music helped melt the constellation's power.
From the very first time he'd played it, he'd sensed some inexplicable, eerie presence.
[...So, you're saying the presence you've been feeling all this time is the ghost I saw?]
"It's a possibility, nothing more."
A Sword Master wasn't a priest.
So even if a ghost was attached to it, he could sense the presence but might not be able to see it.
Yuna Kyung shrieked at Rimon's calm explanation.
[That basically means it's a haunted instrument!]
"Why are you so surprised? A cursed instrument or a haunted one—it's all the same in the end."
[They're totally different! Especially from my perspective where I can see ghosts—it's super creepy!]
"Hey now, no discriminating between fellow ghosts."
[I told you I'm not a ghost!!!]
Rimon ignored whatever Yuna Kyung was babbling about.
Cursed instrument or haunted instrument.
As long as it could be used to melt the constellation's power, he didn't care.
What did concern him, however...
'A little girl's ghost, huh...'
No matter how cursed an instrument was, for a magical tool of this caliber—especially one made by a Muse's priest—to have something clinging to it, it couldn't be an ordinary ghost.
It would have to have a deep connection to the instrument in life, or be a special ghost.
Yet the fact that it was just a little girl made him intensely curious about its true nature.
'Could the power to melt starlight itself be connected to that ghost...? No, that's too big a leap.'
Rimon shook his head.
It wasn't even confirmed yet if the girl Yuna Kyung saw was really the violin's ghost.
Extending his thoughts that far without evidence was the kind of thing a detective or a paranoid delusionist would do.
[D-Damn it! If you're just gonna keep teasing me like this, just leave already. You're super busy these days anyway, right?]
Whether she was sulking from being ignored by Rimon.
Finally, she huffed and turned her head away.
Only after hearing that did Rimon snap out of his thoughts and reply lightly.
"Oh, that? I'm good."
[Good how?]
"I've already compiled a list of predicted attacks for the next month."
[...What did you do?]
"It means I have nothing to do for the next month."
[Team Leader, don't tell me you're too lazy to work every day, so you just slapped together a list...]
Snap!
[Ow!]
"What's with that suspicious look toward your sky-high Team Leader, huh?"
[Does that make me not suspicious?! No, how does it even make sense that you predicted every attack spot for a whole month from criminals whose faces you don't even know!]
It was so absurd.
Even after taking a flick to the forehead and flopping over, she popped right back up like a punching doll to retort.
Rimon's response was clear-cut.
"Then does predicting just one day make sense?"
[Well...]
Yuna Kyung was at a loss for words.
Predicting ferocious beasts' next targets through swordsmanship was equally implausible.
Rimon snorted.
"Predicting the next one or a month's worth—it's all the same. The key is habits and innate nature."
[Habits and what nature?]
"In short, humans tend to stick to what they're used to."
Just as left-handed and right-handed practitioners would execute the same sword forms differently.
The forms used by the hasty, the cautious, the sly, the steadfast, the clever, the fickle—they all varied inevitably.
That was their innate nature.
At the same time, their ingrained habits.
Patterns etched into the unconscious depths, impossible to change even if one wanted to.
And that was exactly what Rimon had been trying to uncover by meticulously examining the bodies from the Black Dragon Construction disaster.
[...So, if you know their innate nature and habits, you can predict everything they'll do and when?]
"No, that's too much. Even knowing the patterns, applying them properly requires ample experience and knowledge."
[In summary?]
"Even a Go master who can read the entire endgame from the opening can't read chess."
[And you're a master detective who knows where the criminal will strike next?]
"My life's work has been sword training and beating down villains."
Yuna Kyung got it.
It was a skill even Rimon didn't find easy.
A miracle possible only for him, the Sword Master who'd dealt with countless crimes and villains over centuries.
[If you had that skill, why not use it back at PAB? Catching criminals would've been way easier.]
"No need back then. It's not even that impressive."
[Come on, you say that, but really you're just lazy... Whoa, dodged!]
"...At this point, I'm genuinely curious. Do you lack learning ability, Na Kyung, or do you actually like getting hit?"
Watching her dodge the flick only to get nailed by the second finger-snap to the forehead and sink, Rimon clicked his tongue.
[Argh, damn it! Anyway, it's true you were slacking off, Team Leader!]
"Not slacking—working efficiently. PAB had tons of kids with prophecy and info skills. Where would I use a minor trick like this?"
[And now that minor trick is super helpful?]
"Only because the situation's unique."
Rimon assessed coldly.
The tracers were unusually failing to gather intel this time.
In normal cases, investigations by skill-wielding tracers were faster and more accurate than Rimon's rough predictions.
"Plus, this method has a clear weakness."
[A weakness?]
"Yeah. If they don't notice it, no problem... but if they do, my predictions become useless."
[...What the hell is this weakness?]
Yuna Kyung tilted her head.
What weakness could such a skill-like talent have for Rimon to be so humble about it?
She couldn't guess.
To her, Rimon said flatly,
"It's..."
"Failed again, you say?"
"'Failed' sounds harsh, y'know. Better to call it a tactical retreat to avoid a prolonged fight."
"That's what we call a failure, you moronic comrade."
The one who'd coldly snapped back.
The man with the braided hair furrowed his brow and muttered,
"I can't understand it."
"What can't you?"
"How they're figuring out our next target and preparing for it."
"Coincidence, maybe?"
"If you think three straight failures after the first one are coincidence, replace that rotten brain of yours."
As if he'd personally crack open his skull and perform a brain wash right then if he wanted.
The young man with the bird-like eyes panicked at the sight of the knife slicing the steak being raised, and countered,
"But if not coincidence, what's the explanation?! Info couldn't have leaked!"
"Hm, true enough."
"Or maybe, y'know, caught by some prophecy skill or somethin'."
"Impossible."
The man stated flatly.
And with eyes full of conviction, he said,
"Forgot? We have a blessing that nullifies all prophecy and observation skills."
"Well, yeah, but Saintly Veil ain't perfect, right? Seven Dragon Society's got tons of masters with weird talents."
"Even so, it's scraps from a dragon felled by brute swordsmen."
Warriors of the Seven Dragon Society, who merely handled psychics, could never pierce the Saintly Veil.
The braided man declared it without twitching an eyebrow, and the youth didn't bother arguing.
He didn't want to quarrel with his superior, and deep down, he agreed.
The Saintly Veil was a special skill.
Classified as rare, but its utility surpassed unique skills.
It was the core reason their organization operated worldwide without getting caught.
In that light, it was more reasonable to assume other factors at play than the Veil being breached.
"Then how're they knowin' our targets and gettin' ready?"
"Hm..."
The man cut his steak into small pieces.
After chewing and swallowing only the juices, he quietly said,
"If not leaked info or skill precognition, there's only one answer, right?"
"What answer?"
"They predicted it."
"...?"
The bird-eyed youth blinked blankly, then a beat later understood and paled.
"Just... figured it out by thinkin'? No skill buffs? That make sense?"
The youth was dumbfounded.
It was a natural reaction for him.
In this Iron Age, even weather forecasts relied on prophecy skills, and investigations on tracking and deduction skills.
Predicting targets by inferring criminal psychology without skill buffs sounded as absurd as flying to space without a spaceship.
But the man's demeanor was nonchalant.
"You might be too dumb to know, comrade, but back in the early Iron Age, there were dusty old detectives who caught crooks with 'gut feelings,' 'experience,' 'statistics,' and such."
"So? They hired some outdated detective?"
"Could be one of their own clan from the start."
"Yeah... Seven Dragon Society reveres psychics so much, they got few players."
"More foolish and idiotic primitives than you, comrade. Bound by petty power and traditions, ignoring the true path they should follow."
The man smiled thinly.
The youth averted his eyes.
He looked cold and composed on the surface, but as a comrade and commander, he was no less insane—in fact, more so. No good staring him down on this.
"Ahem. So? We hunt down that outdated detective geezer?"
"Ho, good idea. If you know who and where they are, and how to find 'em."
"How the hell would I know?"
"Then shut your halfwit mouth."
"...Then, Commander Comrade, got any bright ideas?"
"I do."
Whether miffed at his rare suggestion being shot down.
The youth pressed.
The man pulled an item from his pocket and set it on the table.
"...What's this?"
"An advisor that tells us our next target."
"What're you talkin' about?"
He didn't even twitch at the youth's are-you-insane stare.
He just rolled the item in his hand with a meaningful smile.
"No matter how great a detective, all they can do is read human psychology in the end."