Chapter 368: Traces (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 368: Traces (8)
"Help me dye my hair."
Valeria held out the hair dye Jin had given her.
"I can't let anyone from Viment or Zipple see me with this hair."
Jin shrugged and began to slowly pour the dye over Valeria’s red hair as she sat with her back to him.
A glossy sheen spread through her hair as it turned black. His fingers moved gently through the strands, working in the dye. The Myoin tribe members, for their part, watched with their mouths agape and eyes sparkling.
The atmosphere between them is a little strange, isn't it?
They actually make for a pretty nice picture, don't you think?
Contrary to the Myoin tribe's assumptions, neither of them was caught up in the romance of the moment. Valeria was busy steadying her fluttering heart, while Jin was simply worried about whether her body had truly stabilized.
"All done."
Jin wiped the dye from his hands with a sword-cleaning cloth.
Valeria checked her reflection in a hand mirror and nodded, satisfied. The red was completely gone.
[Let’s go!]
They followed Lulu and Miru into the passage.
The interior was hazy, as if filled with mist, and their vision wavered like they were underwater. Strangely, walking caused no fatigue. Instead, it felt like wandering through a pleasant dream.
They exited the passage before they had taken even a hundred steps. Normally, covering such a distance would have taken a trained martial artist a significant amount of time at a full sprint, but the Myoin passage functioned just like a temporary teleportation gate.
[We arrived so quickly, Lulu! Your abilities are impressive every time I see them.]
[Still, it took time to create the passage. I’m not sure if we’ve truly evaded our pursuers.]
Outside the passage, the area was filled with strangely twisted trees. Despite their warped shapes, they were as tall and thick as the central pillars of a citadel’s great hall. Not a single speck of moonlight could penetrate the dense canopy, and the vast lake stretching out below them looked like a pool of black oil.
Is Temar’s tomb hidden in there?
Jin recalled Olmango, who had been sealing the second tomb deep in the ocean. Shilla, too, had hidden the medium that led to her tomb beneath a lake.
La, la-la-la…
Shilla began to sing.
Her voice was incredibly pleasant, so sweet it felt like grains of sugar were creating delightful vibrations in their ears. Even Valeria couldn't help but let a faint smile slip out at the sound.
Glimmering particles, like fine glass dust, flowed from Shilla’s small mouth. They drifted out over the lake, and the ripples on the water’s surface seemed to shift in time with their movement.
A gentle whirlpool—that was the only way to describe the phenomenon unfolding before them. Small, soft whirlpools shimmered on the lake, as if dancing to her song.
After a few minutes, an object shining with exceptional brightness rose to the surface of the lake like an ascending star.
It was a gourd bottle.
The King’s Liquor. The primary reason the world's powerhouses had not desecrated this forest, and the very reason for Wantaramo’s existence.
The gourd bottle slowly drifted toward Shilla. The moment she hugged it with her small body, the particles of light illuminating the lake vanished all at once, and the forest was plunged back into darkness.
[Take it, Jin Runcandel.]
Jin respectfully accepted the King’s Liquor.
(King’s Liquor – Shil Damiro)
The King’s Liquor was named not for the brewer or the recipient, but for the person the liquor was meant for. That was why the King’s Liquor brewed for Shuri had borne Cyron’s name, not the fairies’ or Luna’s.
Shil Damiro…? She shares a name with Ruet Damiro Yul, whom I saw in the records of the third tomb. Are they related?
Shil Damiro was also a name he had seen in the recording device from the third tomb.
—(March 3rd, 797: Runcandel records Zipple’s manipulation of history regarding the Fairy Race. March 4th, 797: Five fairies—Shil Damiro, Beka Tishke, Mulias Mon, Trica Tredos, and Zen Mainu—are forgotten by the Fairy Race…)
"I saw the name Ruet Damiro Yul in the recording device from the third tomb. It seems this liquor was requested by one of her relatives."
[Ruet Damiro Yul…?]
"Do you know the name?"
Shilla closed her eyes, as if trying to recall something.
[...I do not remember. However, the name ‘Yul’ is only given to the Fairy King. She must have been the noblest of all fairies.]
Jin noted that while Maila had called herself a fairy, Shilla consistently drew a line between true fairies and the descendants of the Fairy Race.
[Drink.]
Just as he was about to open the bottle, Jin met Shilla’s eyes.
"How long will this take?"
[What do you mean?]
"When I entered the third tomb without knowing anything, two days passed in the blink of an eye. I need to know how much time will pass in the real world once I drink this King’s Liquor."
[Even I do not know that.]
"The pursuers will be here soon. If too much time passes, the three of you—Shilla-nim, Lulu, and Miru—will have to face them alone."
[You worry for nothing.]
"No, I don't. Lulu and Miru exhausted their strength creating the passage, and you yourself, Shilla-nim, said you don't know your own combat prowess."
[This is my forest.]
"But you said you lost the power to control it."
[Even so, do you truly believe I cannot handle a few mere humans?]
If he had to guess, Jin would have said Shilla was weak. She certainly possessed the dignity of a ruler, but she lacked the dangerous aura unique to the truly powerful.
If the Myoin tribe weren't exhausted, he might have trusted their abilities and drunk the King’s Liquor with a clear mind.
[If you are so worried, then why not leave that child here and go?]
"I can't do that. I made a promise."
[Then are you suggesting we wait for the pursuers? It would be a disaster if the King’s Liquor were damaged in the fighting. At worst, you would only succeed in revealing its location to the enemy before being forced to retreat.]
"And it's impossible to take the King’s Liquor outside the forest to drink, isn't it?"
[The moment this liquor leaves the forest, the story contained within will vanish. If that were possible, why would I have told you to drink it here and now?]
Jin nodded.
"I figured. Even so, I'd feel much better if I cleared out the enemies first."
[In the worst-case scenario, none of us might make it out alive.]
"No, that won't happen."
[What makes you so confident?]
"Besides, didn't you say it yourself? The fight must not cause irreparable damage to the forest. For me, that makes this an infinitely advantageous battlefield."
[We can hide with the Myoin tribe.]
"See? At first, you spoke as if you could easily handle a few humans, but now your first instinct is to hide. You don't have the strength to face them, Shilla-nim."
[...Even if they capture me, they won't kill me right away.]
"And if you and the Myoin tribe are captured, they'll use you as hostages against me. How would that be a good outcome?"
Jin had no intention of sacrificing Shilla and the Myoin tribe. That was his bottom line.
Besides, he was confident. As long as they weren't Captain-level, he could suppress anyone from the Imperial Guard or the Special Task Force.
Even if a Captain-level knight shows up, I have my teacher with me. It’s a winnable fight. No, it would be an overwhelmingly advantageous one.
Shilla had nothing more to say.
[Lulu, Miru. You two, try to persuade him.]
[Um…]
As Lulu and Miru searched for the right words, a presence from across the lake resolved their dilemma.
"It seems my judgment was correct."
Sshhring—
Jin spoke as he slowly drew Bradamante.
Valeria also tightened her grip on her staff and scanned the area across the lake.
[…The pursuers are here already?]
There should have been more time before Zipple arrived.
As Shilla had feared, Maila wasn't the only traitor. Viment had found them first—a natural outcome, considering the Wantaramo Forest was Viment territory to begin with.
This is cleaner, anyway. Better to eliminate them all now and enter the tomb before more reinforcements arrive.
If he didn't eliminate all the pursuers before entering, he would be plagued with anxiety the entire time he was in the tomb.
"Please step back."
[Shilla-nim, it would be best to do as Jin says. Now that it’s come to this, we must do what we can to avoid being a burden to him.]
Shilla let out a sigh.
[I understand.]
Jin handed the King’s Liquor back to Shilla to keep it safe during the fight.
"Armor Release."
As he chanted the activation word, spiritual energy flowed from Bradamante and enveloped his body. He then took off his cloak and handed it to Shilla and the Myoin. Picon had included a function for just such an occasion.
[Be careful.]
"Don't worry."
As Shilla and the Myoin retreated, the light illuminating the area vanished. The spot where they had been standing was plunged back into pitch-black darkness.
Silence fell.
Only a cool breeze swept through the thickets, carrying no sound of footsteps, but both Jin and his enemies were reading the faint traces of energy mixed within it.
Pushing his Mind's Eye to its limit, Jin quickly reached a conclusion.
There are no Captain-level knights.
The moment his greatest concern vanished, a smile spread across his lips. The spiritual energy shrouding his blade began to flicker fiercely, though it was barely noticeable in the gloom of the forest.
‘Aria,’ Jin whispered, calling to Valeria.
‘What is it?’
‘Don’t step in. Just focus on refining your mana.’
He decided it would be better for her to save her strength for the inevitable fight against Zipple.
Valeria nodded.
The distance between Jin and the enemies gradually closed.
The Viment warriors believed they were still outside of each other’s effective range. They had already received intel from the traitorous fairy descendant that their target was ‘Jin Runcandel,’ and based on what they knew of him, he shouldn’t have been able to land a decisive blow from this distance.
That was a fatal miscalculation.
Six of them.
Slash—!
"Urgh!"
A spray of fresh blood erupted among the Viment warriors.
There was no sound of the spirit-energy-wreathed blade cutting through the air, no whisper of it slicing through a neck, not even the faintest sound of Jin’s footwork.
There was only the gruesome thud of a head hitting the cold ground.
Now, five.
The warriors instinctively scattered, their blades flaring with Aura, but Jin was already behind his second target, thrusting Bradamante toward his throat.