Chapter 102
Chapter 102
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Questions Without Answers
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Murmurs filled the air...
"......"
He had come to the Second Cemetery to verify the rumors, but the area in front of it was packed with an enormous crowd, enough to warrant the phrase "a sea of people."
It was utterly impossible to push through that wall of bodies and get inside.
From the conversations he overheard on the way here from people watching from a safe distance—unable to get as close as Hwan-in— it was confirmed that Ielcata had awakened as a Soul Shaman.
'So, she mistook her cold for an awakening.'
He wanted to meet Ielcata and learn what a true Soul Shaman was like, but now didn't seem like the time.
As Hwan-in turned to head back to the hotel, he noticed someone dashing through the crowd toward nearby people and perked up his ears.
=Hey, guys. They say the Soul Shaman isn't in the cemetery right now. She's been summoned to the castle.=
=If she's not here, why are all these people gathered?=
=They're hoping to at least catch a glimpse of her face when she returns...=
=Hmm. What about you all? Gonna wait?=
=Dunno...=
=Who knows when the Soul Shaman will come back. I'm just gonna head out.=
=I'll wait a bit longer. Might not get another chance like this.=
=Once she's in the castle, she probably won't come out for days. I think I'll go too.=
=Eh?! Everyone's leaving!?=
Watching the conversing crowd disperse, Hwan-in also began walking away.
'Summoned to the castle. Ielcata promised to keep my identity secret, so she won't reveal it...'
The Floe tribe could pierce through others' lies and true feelings, making them a race incapable of deception.
And Soul Masters were figures respected across the continent. Now that she had awakened as one, he doubted the Ho tribe would do her any harm.
Besides, she was Floe. If word got out that the Luke-affiliated Ho tribe was persecuting a Floe Soul Shaman, the tribal alliance they belonged to wouldn't stand idly by. They wouldn't dare treat her roughly.
'I'll need to be a bit more cautious, but with the public's attention fixed on Ielcata, it should be safe to perform soul purifications tonight.'
After Ielcata awakened as a Soul Shaman and was summoned to the castle, the gazes of the city's citizens—regardless of whether they were in the Ho district, the central area, or the common district—all turned toward the castle.
Thanks to that, Hwan-in found it easier to move around. Every night, he ventured out, wandering the city to find lingering souls, resolving their regrets, and helping them pass on.
Occasionally, tricky souls caused some delays.
Like when their memories of life were hazy and they couldn't find the person they wanted to see, or when their surviving family had left the city, making it impossible to resolve their lingering attachments, or when they demanded vengeance through murder.
Excluding those cases, his knowledge gained from roaming Wayford allowed him to help 42 souls find peace over five days.
Days spent training his mind by day and purifying souls by night.
It had been a fulfilling five days, but also a time when he learned that anxiety lurked in every corner of Wayford.
'The common district had many souls bearing regrets stained with rage and hatred.'
Most would naturally fade away like colors bleached by the sun, their anger and hatred dulled by time, leading to peaceful passing. But a few burned with such intense grudges that even Hwan-in hesitated to intervene.
Souls so consumed by hatred and fury that he wondered why they hadn't already turned into sprites.
He had tried patiently persuading them, but they wouldn't listen. There were five such souls.
Two of them were innocent, good people who had been caught in back-alley gang schemes or traps, dying unjustly. Hwan-in decided not to get further involved.
It wasn't a moral issue of helping a soul pass by killing the living. Murder was a serious crime in this world too. There was no reason to take on such guilt for a soul he barely knew.
If they turned into sprites and ravaged the city, that would be the city's problem to handle.
However, the remaining three were thugs who had terrorized the slums of the common district, evil by any common moral standard.
Hwan-in had no qualms attempting the forced purification Ielcata had mentioned.
Forced purification wasn't difficult. He just pierced their soul bodies with soul arrows.
Until they passed on.
"Kwaaaagh...! You're too much...! Spare me...!"
'You're the cruel one. Demanding I kill all 47 of your gang members? You want to become a vengeful spirit that badly?'
「But... the grudge of being used and then murdered...」
'And what about the grudges of the innocent people you killed? Should I grind your soul into dust to soothe theirs?'
「Th-that...」
"Kwaaaah??...!"
「Decide. Will you let go of your grudge and pass on, or be annihilated by my hand?」
「H-huuuh...」
After about ten soul arrows pierced through like that, their emotions would drain away like faded colors, leaving them with hollow expressions as they passed on.
The first time he tried forced purification, he had layered curses and fired a quadruple soul arrow.
'It nearly obliterated the soul in one shot. I broke out in a cold sweat.'
Absorbing the orb of light left by the final third soul as it passed on, Hwan-in left the ominous, silent back alley of the common district and headed toward the central area.
The sun would rise soon. He planned to blend in with the early morning crowd heading to the central district and return to Olts Hotel.
As he moved through the people and showed his identification to the guards at the Second Inner Castle Gate before entering the central area, Hwan-in slightly furrowed his brow at the starkly different scenery from the common district.
'It's quite concerning.'
Though both were places where people lived, the gap between the central district and the slums of the common district was too extreme.
A reasonable disparity could stimulate economic activity, but this went far beyond "reasonable."
Slums where people struggled to earn even one iron coin a day, barely affording a single meal. Souls who had died in the abyss of despair there.
The deep grudges they harbored.
He hadn't even explored one-twentieth of the common district—which was ten times larger than the Ho district and central area combined—but he had already encountered five souls with a high risk of turning into sprites.
Simple math suggested Wayford had at least a hundred potential sprite candidates.
'Not my problem.'
The reason he performed soul passing rituals was solely for his superhuman growth. Collecting soul orbs, training soul techniques, and absorbing soul energy—all balanced for optimal progress.
So Wayford's fate didn't concern him, but the emotions from the hundreds of souls he'd felt lately made it nagging at him for some reason.
'I've absorbed too many unnecessary emotions. Time for meditation training back at the hotel.'
As he walked with that thought, Hwan-in realized he was passing in front of the Haiyern Advanced Dojo.
The entrance to the advanced dojo bustled with people waiting for it to open early in the morning.
If this many visited daily, earning 15 gold a month would be a breeze.
They weren't just training; the instructors entered the labyrinth once a week for quests, so their income was likely even higher.
'That's why he confidently proposed without fearing rejection.'
Glancing from afar as he passed, he saw Haien Jod issuing orders to dojo-uniformed people through the open gates.
Her calm expression and advanced instructor uniform—different from before—stood out.
As far as Hwan-in knew, Haien Jod never wore the dojo uniform. Probably disliked its baggy, rough workout feel for various reasons.
Yet here she was, checking and admitting early visitors in uniform, looking every bit the next dojo master.
'Has she realized her position?'
After her proposal was sharply rejected, she seemed to have pulled herself together. Not bad. It would be nice if she stayed that way for a while.
Isilite would be out in a few days. After entering the lightless labyrinth, he wouldn't see her during that time, and once back, he'd leave Wayford. No more encounters with the Bloodhide Clan, Haien Jod, or Ielcata.
That evening, Hwan-in met a visitor who had come looking for him.
=......=
"......"
A tiger-headed man with blazing yellow aura swirling around his arms and legs like whirlwinds.
Haiyern Jod, father of Haien Jod and a Rank 7 advanced dojo professional, exuded a steel-hard presence from his 2.5-meter height.
'Fewer openings than expected. Even in a pure technique fight, it wouldn't end quickly.'
Haien Jod, a Rank 5, was a walking bundle of openings. Ktachinan of the Awk family, also Rank 5, had been similar.
But Haiyern Jod had only four to five openings per body part, even under close scrutiny.
He could create more in combat, but ending it in one go seemed unlikely.
Of course, that was for pure technique battles. If Haiyern Jod unleashed the proof in his aura-wrapped limbs, Hwan-in's defeat was certain—the question was how long he could last.
'...Hard to say. Never tested a Rank 7's combat power.'
As Hwan-in analyzed his opponent, Haiyern Jod was sizing up Hwan-in.
'Talent that could make him a hegemon of an era if he were a professional... Shame.'
That day, when he saw Hwan-in thrashing his daughter, Haiyern Jod had held back out of dignity, but inwardly, he was thrilled.
Hwan-in's weapon...? Even to his eyes, it showed almost no openings or flaws.
In pure technique, two levels above his tomboy daughter.
Seeing Hwan-in's unflinching poise before him, Haiyern Jod inwardly lamented as he pulled a silk pouch from his bosom with sharp, pointed nails and placed it before Hwan-in.
Clink.
The silk pouch, embroidered in vivid red, gold, and blue, jingled with metal inside.
=First... allow me to thank you for disciplining my daughter, who was beyond saving.=
"......"
=Thanks to you, my girl—who wandered aimlessly after reaching Rank 5—finally straightened out. This is a token of gratitude... and a condition to stay away from her...?=
Before Haiyern Jod could finish, Hwan-in picked up the pouch. Fist-sized but heavy.
'At least ten gold coins.'
Haiyern Jod was speechless at Hwan-in's action. Wasn't he supposed to be decisive? Thoughtful and considerate?
He had planned to show some force if refused, but now he sensed somewhat cheated.
Seeing the tiger-patterned face subtly frown, Hwan-in spoke.
"I'll be leaving Wayford in a few days. I won't return. I rejected your daughter partly because she wasn't a match for me, but mainly due to circumstances on my end."
=Hm...=
"And since you've framed it as payment for my help, I couldn't refuse when I needed travel funds. I hope you understand."
=Travel funds? How far are you headed?=
"My current destination is the Tribal Alliance Capital."
=Meriarnol? That's far. If you don't mind, tell me why.=
"It's a journey back to my homeland."
At Hwan-in's calm reply, Haiyern Jod crossed his tree-trunk arms and let out a soft hum.
His sharp tiger eyes scanned Hwan-in up and down.
=...Since you accepted my offer without conditions, I'll give you one piece of advice.=
"I'm listening."
Haiyern Jod inwardly lamented again at the polite demeanor worthy of a Ho noble. If this man were a professional, he would have pushed for the marriage himself.
But he sensed no superhuman power from him. Such a pity.
=Build your strength.=
"......"
=Strength enough that even the city's core powers can't touch you recklessly. Until then... best not set foot in the Tribal Alliance Capital.=
"......"
=From your expression, you seem to have some inkling.=
"I need confirmation."
=I can't say more. Understand.=
With that, Haiyern Jod rose silently. Hwan-in stood too, and the tiger man gave a small nod before ducking through the low door—shorter than his height—and left the reception room.
"......"
After the tiger-human left, Hwan-in sat and opened the silk pouch.
'Fifteen gold coins.'
A windfall smile crossed his lips, but it soon faded as he pondered.
His jet-black eyes, fixed on the table's bonsai, deepened.
'Haiyern Jod knows something about me.'
Several nagging thoughts surfaced.
A world rife with Earth's culture.
Races with human-like thinking.
Himself, forcibly teleported upon picking up Tribal Alliance currency.
A Rank 7 professional warning against a specific city.
There were jokes on Earth about America torturing aliens for tech.
What if something like that existed here?
Back in his room, Hwan-in gazed at the street where well-dressed people passed, fiddling with the Tribal Alliance gold coins in his pouch, and muttered.
"The world's full of shitty crap."
Until now, the visible growth from training had been fun, motivating him to build strength. Now, an unfun reason had been added.
The 40th day since Isilite entered the advanced maid training institute dawned.
=Miss Isilite must be a happy maid. To have a master like you waiting on her discharge day.=
Anplind, Ssa's wife, said he didn't need to come out, but considering the schedule ahead, picking her up immediately saved time.
He needed to revisit Baekryeo River to reconfirm the contract, prepare weapons and armor, and gear up for living in the labyrinth.
Plus, he was curious how much she'd changed in 40 days.
"She's someone I'll be with for a long time, so I figured showing care is best."
Of course, that was sincere. Not just a few days, but ongoing companionship—high affinity shouldn't cause issues.
About ten minutes after waiting at the entrance of the institute, which resembled a red-brick convent,
the dark brown door opened, and two women emerged with composed steps.
One wore something like a black nun's habit; the other, a white blouse and black skirt like Western attire from Earth's Meiji era.
The woman carrying a trunk bag as large as herself slightly bowed to the nun-clad woman and turned.
"......Huh."
Spotting Hwan-in, her face lit up, and her light brown ponytail—reaching her mid-back—swung as she ran over. In that instant, Hwan-in almost mistook her for someone else; so much had changed.
=The sloppy tomboy look is completely gone. Clean and proper now.=
As Anplind evaluated, Isilite's transformation was dramatic.
Her manly swagger and veteran mercenary vibe—from decades on battlefields—had become the fresh, refined grace of a well-bred young lady.
=Master!=
Even her appearance had undergone a drastic overhaul amid the joy.
Her formerly unkempt hair, too wild to call soft, was now neatly tied in a tidy style. Her rough skin had smoothed—somehow—and natural makeup enhanced her fresh look.
Combined with melee professional bonuses boosting her physique, she was now a lively, pure beauty no man could ignore.
=...Master?=
At Hwan-in's silence, Isilite called again, unease flickering on her face.
"Yeah. You've changed beyond recognition, at least on the outside."
Recovering from the shock of a wild female monkey turning ladylike, Hwan-in spoke, and Isilite smiled relievedly, setting down her trunk and politely offering a scroll with both hands.
It was her transcript.
The notes praised her attitude and learning ability in about 500 characters, summarizing that in just 40 days, she achieved results equivalent to a two-year advanced course.
=Truly astonishing change.=
=Thank you, ma'am.=
=Hehe. We'd love to hire you ourselves.=
=I'm sorry. I only wish to serve my master.=
=I know. Without that mindset, she couldn't have achieved so much in just 40 days.=
Folding the transcript scroll, Hwan-in returned it to Isilite with praise.
"Well done. Beyond my expectations."
=Then...?=
"Yes. Looking forward to working with you."
=...Yes! Me too, Master!=
Seeing Isilite beam demurely with joy, Hwan-in resolved to send her to the capital's Maiden Advanced Vocational Institute as well.