Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Paths That Miss Each Other
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"Alright, then. Recite everything we've summarized so far... Ah, no, let's have you recite it."
Ye So-cheon, still suffering from the lingering effects of the smoke, abruptly switched back from her Sword Empress impression to her normal voice. Watching this, I let out a silent sigh.
It had clearly started as her helping me out, but Ye So-cheon seemed to have enjoyed it quite a bit in the end.
"Did you have fun?"
"F-fun? How can you say that to someone who was helping you?!"
"You looked like you were enjoying it an awful lot for someone who was just helping."
"W-what's wrong with enjoying it? It's better than moping around with a deadpan face for no reason!"
"...Well, that's true, I guess."
"I went out of my way to help, so summarize it already! Unless you want to go back to that play!"
"...Haa."
I sighed and pulled out the paper I'd jotted notes on during breaks in the play. My eyes scanned the list of precautions we'd compiled.
At the very top, marked with a star for emphasis, was one sentence in particular.
"Absolutely do not mention that I'm from another world."
"Mm-hmm."
It was something she'd kept stressing from the moment the idea came up.
"...But do we really have to hide it that badly? They already all know anyway. No need to hide it just from the Sword Empress..."
Ye So-cheon had repeatedly emphasized and warned me against it, but I still wondered if it was really that big a deal.
My Master and Ye So-cheon already knew I was from another world and that this body wasn't originally mine.
"Th-that woman is as rigid as they come, you know? She wouldn't look kindly on someone from another world—especially not from the Central Plains—possessing a young boy's body. You never know. She might treat you like a demon and try to cut you down."
"...Yeah, I wonder who it was that put a person from another world into this boy's body anyway."
"D-don't look at me like that? It wasn't me!"
I narrowed my eyes at Ye So-cheon.
Come to think of it, the one who put me in this body was the Lord of Heaven and Earth. It had nothing to do with Ye So-cheon...
"You're suddenly looking pissed. Can I not smack you once?"
"You say it wasn't you?!"
"You're her incarnation, aren't you? Can't we just treat you like the real thing?"
"N-no... I just receive her commands and oracles... I almost never lend my body..."
"Then what was that last time?!"
"Th-that was the first time in nearly ten years! Did you think I'd ever expect to lend my body there?!"
Lending her body after ten years just to kiss me?
'What kind of person... no, god is she?'
This was a god?
No matter how hard I tried not to think rudely, her actions kept dragging more irreverent thoughts out of me.
"I-I don't know what you're thinking right now, but you should stop!"
"Why."
"I'm barely holding back the order to smack your butt again...!"
"..."
'Pla...net...ea...rth...'
I ground my teeth and sent up a prayer of apology.
If I kept thinking about it here, more rude thoughts would bubble up, so I'd deliberately distracted myself. But then Ye So-cheon's flustered voice came again.
"Sh-she says do it again?"
"...Huh?"
"She says she's not satisfied, so do it again?!"
Ye So-cheon shot me a bewildered look.
I could only imagine that meant something like, What the hell did you even apologize like?
-Crunch
My teeth ground together on instinct, but I apologized again, as purely as I could.
'I'm sorry... Please forgive me just once...'
This time, to add more sincerity, I even bowed my waist a little.
But her next words...
"Sh-she says to do it with some aegyo mixed in..."
"Argh, just hit me already. Better to take a clean hit and be done. Damn it."
I let go of the last thread of reason.
That was supposed to be a god?
.
.
.
"...Ugh."
I grimaced and rubbed my butt with my hand.
I hadn't thought she'd actually hit me just because it was ordered.
-Squish squish
"What are you looking at? See something interesting?"
"N-no..."
"Hit a little softer next time... ugh..."
I couldn't see it myself, but judging by the stinging, I pictured it beet red in my mind.
"I-I adjusted the angle and force, so it should just hurt without bruising..."
-Zing
"S-sorry..."
When I glared at her with resentment, Ye So-cheon shifted away from me a bit.
So she did feel bad about it, at least.
"...Haa. Fine. You couldn't help it either."
I couldn't help feeling resentful, but I figured she had no choice since it was the Lord of Heaven and Earth's order.
She was a saint, after all. Bound to obey that foul-tempered god's commands. No way around it.
She hadn't done it because she enjoyed it, so no need to hate her too much.
"Still, hit softer next time..."
But separately from that, my butt still stung like hell, and there was nothing to be done about it.
As I rubbed the throbbing spot, a memory from my days living with Master surfaced.
Something like, she'd said my butt was pretty? I'd heard that kind of thing before.
'Seriously, you've got a perfect figure, but your sexual harassment is off the charts.'
Getting hit on by Master wasn't a one-time thing, so I didn't think much of it.
'Come to think of it, it's been forever since I last saw her face.'
A year and a half.
Long if long, short if short—but after all the density of events since entering the jianghu, it didn't feel short at all.
In terms of incidents alone, there were more than in the ten years I'd spent with Master.
I'd risked danger and left the mountains out of boredom, so what more was there to say?
I regretted it now, but back then, could I really have chosen to stay alone for three years waiting for her? I doubt it.
I'd been parched for new thrills back then.
'Master was wrong for leaving her disciple alone for three whole years in the first place...'
I pouted and threw a little tantrum just thinking about Master.
A year, maybe—but three? Way too long.
Someone Master's age might not mind, but at my age, three years was an eternity.
Farming alone and picking weeds to survive for that long?
'Hmph.'
I couldn't live like that.
I just knew a bit about handling heavenly secrets—not like I was a full-on Taoist or monk. How could I even do that?
People who train on wall-grain pills alone endure that ascetic life because they have burning ambition and goals to become stronger.
In my case, it would've just been rotting away alone for three years straight.
So of course I'd run off.
It wasn't my fault at all.
"U-um..."
"Why are you calling me?"
"We're getting close now, so we might have to get off the carriage and walk starting tomorrow. You okay with that?"
"...Ah."
Already?
We'd apparently arrived near Mount Bi.
Obviously, we couldn't drive the carriage right up to it.
Not unless we wanted to advertise, "Hey, we're here to rob the place~"
"Walking... ugh..."
I knew there was no choice, but just imagining it drained my energy already.
How was this frail body supposed to walk all the way there?
And that wasn't even the end—once inside that massive Mount Bi, we'd have to dodge traps. Thinking about it made everything go dark before my eyes.
"If it's too hard, want me to carry you on my back?"
"...Carry me?"
My gaze instinctively swept over Ye So-cheon's full body, and catching that, she flushed red and yelled.
"I might look small, but I'm bigger than you! I can totally carry you!"
"...I didn't say anything."
"You don't have to! Anyone could read that look!"
'Tch.'
I clicked my tongue and pulled my casually perched hat back up over my head.
"Hmph! Don't be surprised when I carry you! With lightness skill, it'll be over in a flash..."
"Won't I die if you go that fast?"
"...I'll go a bit slower."
Seeing her deflate a little, I wondered just how old this woman really was.
-Rustle rustle
"...Is this the place?"
A cold-faced woman with a sword at her waist held a map in hand, alternating glances between it and the scene before her.
Her demeanor screamed she was searching for something.
"Excuse me, elder. Could I ask for directions?"
"Eh? Haven't seen you around before."
It wasn't hard to guess she'd stop a passerby to ask something.
"Have you heard any rumors about yokai appearing in the mountains around here?"
"Yokai?"
"Yes. Ah, forgive me for not introducing myself. I'm no master, but I make my living hunting yokai."
"Yokai... yokai, huh..."
This remote village near the mountains rarely saw outsiders, so one hunting yokai was especially strange. Still, the old man racked his memory for the rare visitor.
"Come to think of it... I vaguely remember my grandfather telling me something when I was a kid. I think I'd heard there were yokai in these mountains."
He managed to dredge up an ancient memory.
It had nothing to do with the woman's striking beauty.
"...Your grandfather, you say? Have you heard of a fox yokai with golden fur?"
"Can't say I have. Sorry about that."
"No, no. It's fine. That helped plenty."
After thanking and parting with the elder, the woman looked back at her map.
An item she'd found in her family's storage, where generations had hunted yokai.
'Eight-Tailed Fox... no, Nine-Tailed Fox by now, probably.'
One of her ancestors had spotted a fox with eight tails long ago but failed to hunt it due to its speed, leaving only the mountain's location on this map.
Judging by how worn the map was, it likely had one more tail now.
A thousand-year fox rivaled gods in power, but it was still just a yokai.
Subjugating it before it was too late could prevent worldly chaos.
Of course, selling the corpse for cash was a nice bonus.
'Need a new sword too... The house is falling apart, needs repairs... Got debts piling up... And I need to save for marriage before it's too late...'
Her worries were thoroughly practical, but she slapped her cheeks and glared at the mountain with burning eyes.
It was huge enough to spawn yokai rumors.
But as a yokai hunter, she couldn't ignore a potential future menace.
'I'll find you for sure.'
She clenched her fist in resolve.
Yokai avoided people, so it was likely deep in the mountains.
'Starting tomorrow, I'll comb every inch above mid-mountain.'
"Excuse me, could you step aside for a moment?"
"Oh. Yes. Sorry."
"Thank you."
-Creak creak
After a man passed with his cart loaded with meat, books, snacks, and sundries, she thrust her fist up again.
'I can do it! Wait for me, yokai!'
"You went again today? Don't you get tired? There's no one there, right? It's been over a year and a half already."
"Eh, I got an advance, so I gotta work. And it's not that bad. The path's pretty well cleared."
"Sigh... How pretty can she be that the kid's still hung up on her?"
The woman would greatly regret this day's choice later, but that was a tale for the distant future.