Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Ashes Before Dawn
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Squawk. Squawk.
=Don't run away. I'm just trying to clean your feathers.=
Squawk!
=Ow! Don't bite, don't bite!=
Squawk squawk!
"......"
Hwan-in opened his eyes to the faint cries of Emergency Ration that had been filtering through his half-sleep, along with the cool, damp cloth pressing against his forehead. He stared blankly at the cave ceiling for a moment.
It was the ceiling of the shelter he'd grown completely accustomed to after staying here for over ten days.
=You're awake?=
At that moment, a gentle beauty with gray hair grown out to her shoulders entered his view, smiling softly with her eyes.
=You were sweating a lot. Here, have some water.=
A wooden bottle touched his lips and tilted slowly, letting slightly lukewarm water trickle out. After taking a couple of sips, Hwan-in turned his gaze to his left arm.
The soul orbs that had clustered there were completely gone.
"Ahem... How much time has passed?"
His voice was rough and cracked, but he could still speak without issue.
=We arrived here yesterday, and a night has passed. It's just past noon now.=
They'd arrived before sunset, and the sun had risen again, meaning he'd been lying there flat out for a full 18 hours.
He glanced at Ryuhi's breasts. Nestled in the deep valley between those plump mounds was a fist-sized clump of warmth.
The hazy sensation and dreamlike scenery came back vividly: having physical relations with Ryuhi and absorbing the warmth from her lower abdomen.
'I thought it was a dream, but it was real.'
Thanks to absorbing some of that warmth, his condition had improved dramatically.
The chills and cold that had tormented him like seizures, stealing his body heat, were almost gone. All that remained was severe muscle and joint pain.
No cold sweat dripped, nor could he even feel any residue.
Seeing the wooden bowl of water and cloth scraps beside Ryuhi, who knelt next to him, it was clear she'd been nursing him the whole time.
"Thank you. I owe you my life."
=Oh... Don't say that. It happened because you tried to save us. If anything, we're just sorry we couldn't help you...=
As he propped himself up, Ryuhi steadied his shoulders from the side.
Hwan-in eyed the animal hide covering his lower body and serving as his bedding.
An animal-skin blanket, taken from Hob's cave.
'The women slept on the stone floor, then.'
Come to think of it, the only ones in the cave were Ennel holding Emergency Ration, and Ryuhi.
"Where are the other two?"
=Huini and Efni are outside, processing the hides and meat from the hunt. I should have told you first, but it looked like it might spoil if left alone... I'm sorry.=
"No, you did well."
As Hwan-in pushed the hide aside and stood, Ryuhi blushed and averted her eyes. Ennel's cheeks flushed slightly too, but Hwan-in ignored it and dressed.
'Just the chills gone, and I already feel so much better.'
The amount of Warm Ki flowing along his spine was still pitifully small, but with half a day of moving around in the sunlight, he'd recover a good amount.
=Shouldn't you rest a bit more...?=
"I'm fine. The rest will sort itself out with some movement."
He walked slowly toward the cave entrance, followed by Ryuhi and Ennel cradling Emergency Ration.
Flap flap!
Squawk!
=Ah.=
Emergency Ration escaped Ennel's arms and landed on Hwan-in's right shoulder, nuzzling his cheek affectionately.
Hwan-in silently patted its back and peered outside the cave.
Two naked girls were working on the gravel beach below the cave.
Efni squatted in front of what looked like a makeshift smoker—somehow cobbled together—and fanned it with a leaf fan.
Huini, ears perked up, spread out the pitch-black hide of the black puma, Kuar, on a wooden sawhorse-like workbench and scraped at something with a dagger. With a fire lit underneath, it seemed like some kind of tanning process.
Beside it, jaguar and antlerless stag hides were stretched out drying.
The meat was all diced into finger-sized pieces and laid out in the shade.
=I saw the broken smoker and fixed it, then started smoking the meat. Sorry for using it without asking.=
Does she have 'sorry' stuck to her tongue? Hwan-in shook his head to show it was fine. Then, looking at the naked Ryuhi and Ennel, he said,
"I know nothing about tanning. If it weren't for you all, we'd have just thrown those hides away anyway. Making clothes for yourselves out of them sounds perfect."
=Th-thank you... But Kuar's hide fetches a good price, so we'll make clothes from the others.=
Not fully recovered enough to jump down 5 meters, he climbed down the wall. Efni and Huini stood and looked her way.
Hwan-in approached Efni and asked,
"How's the smoking going?"
=Y-yes. I've never seen a smoker like this—it's amazing. Made just from stones, dirt, and wood so simply...=
From her explanation, their village did smoke a lot of meat too, but they used an entire log house for large batches.
Then he went to Huini and watched her tanning process.
Huini's tanning was an incredibly laborious task.
Normally, you had to scrape off all the flesh and fat from the inside, boil it multiple times to remove the fur, then sprinkle secret powders and beat it with a mallet for days to soften it into leather.
=But we don't have that powder, so I can't soften it! It'll be a bit stiff! Still, Kuar's hide is so soft already that we can soften it later!=
"Please do. We have plenty of meat, and no beasts or monsters come around here much, so let's rest up fully before heading to your village."
=Yes~!=
=Yes.=
=Sure.=
Hwan-in handed out the meat generously.
The jaguar meat, soaked in ice water, had only absorbed a bit on the surface—which he trimmed off—revealing tender pink flesh ready to eat.
The problem was the two gray male stags hung from the tree on the second day.
Flies swarmed them, but the meat's color was fine. Still, he wondered if the women would eat fly-covered meat...
=Wow, Ryuhi sis! The meat melts in your mouth!=
=So this is deer meat... It's delicious.=
Ennel and Efni were shy and reserved, speaking little, but they ate heartily, bowing their heads whenever their eyes met Hwan-in's.
"Dipping it or grilling it would make it even better."
Even without seasonings or salt, they devoured it. When he offered the reddish perilla root sauce, their eyes all went wide.
=Huh? Isn't this spicy?=
=Spicy with a faint bitter finish... So good.=
=Never heard of a crop like this...=
=Ef sis, this is the labyrinth.=
=Oh.=
They'd each eaten at least a kilo before he brought out the sauce, then another kilo after, before collapsing on the gravel, breathless.
Thinking he needed to eat to recover too, Hwan-in polished off 5kg of deer meat. Emergency Ration ate more than its body weight and waddled around flapping heavily.
After stuffing themselves, they rested in the shade cast by the cliff. Hwan-in listened to the story of what happened in Hob Village.
Huini, with thick Inlang blood, had hearing four times that of an ordinary Lukrang. She'd heard everything from outside, and from her account, Hwan-in pieced together what happened right after he fought the greatsword monster.
'A big explosion, then dozens of weapon clashes, followed by a ton of thunderclaps.'
That meant lightning had raged after he passed out.
He was a bit surprised it used lightning, but nothing odd about it. If Spirit Possession on a vampire let him absorb blood through his skin, lightning wasn't out of the question.
So, after he blacked out, the lightning went berserk, charring the greatsword monster to death.
And he'd fired off dozens of bolts, draining his Warm Ki to zero, wrecking his body.
'I really almost died.'
Even the bladed boar fired lightning with intervals; unloading that many was sheer luck.
And thanks to it, his soul-handling grew—he could now command spirits without his staff. A blessing in disguise.
=Benefactor. What's this kue's name?=
"Emergency Ration."
=......?=
The women, playing with the belly-full Emergency Ration hopping like a chick, were baffled by the name.
But they didn't show it outwardly and soon accepted it naturally.
Pet names were up to the owner.
Hwan-in showed interest in Emergency Ration's species.
"So Emergency Ration is a kue? What kind of creature is it?"
Efni blinked several times at the question before answering.
=Um... They're tough creatures. When fully grown, they can pull carts, or you can ride them like horses, rhinos, or giant lizards. They come in many colors, but straw-yellow is common, while sunset-orange and green are rare. Rumor has it sunset ones summon burning rocks from the sky, and greens can fly across oceans.=
Hwan-in was a bit confused. This tiny bird grows rideable? And summons burning rocks...?
Squawk?
Sensing his gaze, Emergency Ration looked up from his knee.
'...Did I name it too carelessly?'
He'd change it when the time was right, he thought, patting its back and hoping it'd grow fast.
While Efni checked the smoker and Ryuhi, Huini, and Ennel tanned hides that afternoon, Hwan-in inspected her remaining black spear.
"......"
He'd grabbed plenty of blades from Hob's cave, but most were integral blade-and-haft, none suitable to bind to the Black Club's end.
Either one-piece or too short for slashing.
'Switch weapons now? Might as well sharpen the wood tip.'
No good alternatives anyway, and even if there were, he had no interest in swords, greatswords, or axes.
No matter how he thought about it, the spear suited him best.
Noticing his dilemma, Huini handed her fat-scraping hide to Ryuhi and ran over.
=Benefactor! Want to attach a blade to the staff end?!=
"It was originally a spear. I fitted a blade here for slashing and thrusting."
But it broke off fighting the greatsword monster, he explained. Huini flicked her brown wolf ears and dashed to the weapon pile in the cliff corner, rummaging.
Soon she returned with a 50cm straight sword and an iron lump like a one-handed maul hammer head.
=I'll fix your spear for you!=
"...Please. But I'd like to keep the shaft as is—possible?"
=Yes! I watched Dad work and learned! I can do it!=
Energetically, Huini scurried around the gravel, stacking a round stone hearth with rocks a bit smaller than her torso.
She fetched a thick log, shoved it in the makeshift stone forge, lit it from the campfire.
Whoosh—whoosh—she blew on it to build the flames, and when the inside glowed red-hot, she brought three 1m sticks, bound them tight, splayed the ends tripod-like, fitted the straight sword's blade, and tied it firm.
It looked like a sickle at a glance.
Hwan-in realized her plan.
'Heat the tang in the fire, then hammer it to fit.'
Easy? Tricky without tools, balancing it.
She shoved the sword's tang into the blazing forge gap, then scoured the riverbank for flat stones.
=Benefactor! Wouldn't it be better to fix this than fit iron to wood?!=
She pointed to the bent iron spear the iron-spear monster used.
'She grabbed it leaving Hob Village somehow. Too heavy for the greatsword.'
The other women nodded slightly, seeming to trust iron over other materials.
Don't they know about blackwood? Hwan-in shook his head at Huini and explained.
"Looks like plain wood, but it's stronger and more elastic than iron. That iron spear bent hitting this shaft."
=...Wow. Where'd you get that staff?=
Shocked, her naturally loud voice hit Ennel-pitch as she asked.
"Took it from a green hob deep in the jungle."
=Eek? The labyrinth core? W-wow.=
Labyrinth core... So that blueflame tiger was the labyrinth's master?
Recalling its sage-like aura, he handed the shaft to the engrossed Huini for a closer look.
Efni and Ennel joined, fondling it and gasping in admiration.
Huini, with Ennel and Efni blowing the forge, watched the shaft until the sword tang glowed yellow. She pulled it, hammered the red-hot tang with the maul head—thud thud—on flat stones.
Her stance was impeccably like a master smith's.
Sweating naked by the hot forge, sparks flying, she ignored them, hammering the round tang into a neat rectangle.
Cool? Back in to heat. Hot? Out to hammer. Repeat.
After ten cycles, the tang lost its cylinder shape, becoming broad and wavy-edged.
Quenched in stream water, she rushed the blade and shaft to Ryuhi, still tanning.
Ryuhi blinked curiously, then swiftly cut and fitted hide, binding the now-spearhead straight sword securely to the shaft.
Soon after, with the edge honed, Hwan-in took the spear. Quite satisfied.
The knots over the wavy tang fused blade and shaft seamlessly.
It resembled a straight glaive.
Balance shifted toward the blade, but with his increased strength, no issue swinging.
Test: swung at Kuar's spine hanging from a tree. No effort—schwick—severed ribs clean.
'Attack power's even higher now.'
He thanked Huini—eyes sparkling like a pup seeking praise—and stroked her head.
Night fell; women slept under tanned hides. Hwan-in gently woke only Ryuhi, leading her to the entrance.
Sensing his intent, she bowed shyly, fidgeting fingers.
"Ryuhi. I'd like to ask again tonight."
=Yes...=
Mindful not to make her feel degraded or ashamed, he caressed slowly.
Prepared, they joined seated; the warmth in her lower abdomen trickled into his second self, bit by bit.
'Absorb a set amount, then cooldown kicks in.'
The absorbed warmth flowed through Warm Ki's channels, merging naturally.
Current spine ratio: Warm Ki to Cold Ki about 3:10.
Recovery slower after bottoming out, but learning contact with others restored it was a boon.
Ryuhi, astride his thighs, taking him deep, asked in a trembling voice of pleasure,
=Am... am I helping you, Benefactor? =
"Yes. My blessing isn't free-use. Each activation consumes energy, and overdo it—like yesterday—and my body turns ice-cold. Severe enough, it's fatal."
=Ah...=
That energy anyone had, recoverable by bodily union, he explained. Ryuhi looked relieved, wrapping arms around his neck.
=Tell me anytime you need. I can keep helping...=
"Thank you."
=Eep...!=
Sudden deep thrust; she bit her lip, flushed, hugging his neck tight.
Chirps of insects and wet slaps mingled as night passed.