Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: What Hunts Back
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Hwan-in was a bit dumbfounded by the bandits' restless agitation.
What kind of deus ex machina nonsense was this? Reacting so wildly just to the word "soul shaman."
'Well, in a world where superpowers exist, it's not that strange if a place like the Garden of the Gods really exists.'
=That Isilite woman's leadership must be something else. Even while they're buzzing, they're holding their formation.=
Ssa-sa, whispering ever so softly from the side, cleared his throat with a stern cough before continuing.
=No point hiding it now. Your guesses are spot on. That "esteemed one" is none other than this person right here—our Soul Shaman.=
=…….=.
A grinding of teeth echoed all the way over, making Ssa-sa grin.
=If you can't believe it, I can show you proof. Soul Shaman?=
As if they'd rehearsed it beforehand, Hwan-in pulled back his hood. The bandits, who had been glaring at their leader, now turned their eyes to him, their murmurs growing louder.
Even to these thieves who'd seen all sorts of races in their line of work, Hwan-in's appearance was strikingly exotic and mysterious.
=A woman?=
=Idiot. It's a man. But... Floe? Nah, doesn't look like it.=
That slender build suggested Floe race at first glance, but the ears were too short, and above all, the hair and eyes were far too black.
That jet-black hair and eyes like the night sky, skin similar to a woman's pale tone but a shade darker, features that were alike yet alien—it all felt so out of place.
Isilite ground her teeth again and spat.
=Don't... make me laugh... Pretending to be a soul shaman by dragging in some outsider? You're the one who doesn't want to go to the Garden of the Gods!=
=I swear on the great and glorious Beast God himself—it's no lie. Why would I tell a fib that's about to unravel anyway?=
If she could just smack that sneering face once, it'd feel so damn good! Isilite gripped the hilt of her greatsword even tighter and bellowed.
=Enough with that mug—show us real proof!=
=Of course. You there, the one standing next to Isilite. Yes, you. Perfect—there's some ilail flowers right over there. Mind plucking a few?=
=…….=.
The bandit man she'd singled out glanced nervously at their leader but shuffled to the roadside and picked three ilail flowers anyway.
He shot Hwan-in a look that said, Now what?
"The woman's left shoulder."
At Hwan-in's words, Isilite froze stiff. What? Mixed spirits on my shoulder? Stuck to me?
The bandit holding the ilail flowers saw her breath catch and body lock up. He hesitated, approached their leader, then flinched as the flowers sizzled and charred right in his hand. He flung them away with a yelp.
=Eek!!=
He shook his hand like it was burned, stumbling back three or four steps. His face looked like he'd just spotted a plague-ridden zombie.
The other bandits reacted the same way.
They grimaced as if beholding something horrific and backed away from their leader in a cluster.
Isilite herself stood paralyzed, like she'd been struck numb. Ssa-sa watched with a chilling smile and murmured.
=Our Soul Shaman is a great one who even purifies mixed spirits and sends them to the beyond. And yet here you are, pointing weapons at him?=
His tone dripped with Want a curse? The bandits flinched and hesitantly lowered their arms.
=Y-You bastards! Want me to carve you up?! Grab your weapons now!!=
=Now, now, Isilite. Didn't I just say? Our Soul Shaman sends even mixed spirits to the beyond. How else could he spot them so easily?=
=……!=
Isilite, about to scream for an attack, shut her mouth like she'd swallowed honey.
=That goes for all of you too! No guarantee your souls aren't tainted after hanging with mixed spirits so long!=
=……?=.
=……?=.
=Don't you want to die honorably and enter the Garden of the Gods?! Then drop your weapons right now! Kneel before the Soul Shaman and beg for mercy!!=
Clunk, clang!
Everyone except Isilite hurled down their swords and shields, spears, bows, and rushed to kneel before the wagon.
Ssa-sa's guards collected all the bandits' weapons.
A few bandits bristled as their gear was taken, but when Ssa-sa explained it was just temporary for the Soul Shaman's safety, no one complained.
"……."
Hwan-in gazed down at the nineteen men and women on their knees, then closed his eyes.
To him, who'd watched the whole thing from the start, this scene was pure black comedy—nothing more, nothing less.
He'd gotten some sense of how this world viewed soul shamans from the people of Yulkam. But this? It upended all his calculations.
Was this outright faith?
'Did I underestimate their folk beliefs? Or do I still not even grasp this world properly?'
=All thanks to our Soul Shaman. Otherwise, that bandit bitch would've fought to the death without yielding.=
Hwan-in opened his eyes at Ssa-sa's whisper, staring at Isilite—who was snorting like a wild boar under Brillit's wary watch—with a complicated expression.
"I just thought of it as bait, really. But the reaction's beyond anything I imagined. It's disconcerting."
=If the Soul Shaman hadn't spotted the mixed spirits, it would've been bait, as you say. But he did, and these lot have relatively clean hands, so it worked out.=
"Hm……."
Clean-handed thievery, huh.
Hwan-in offered a faint, ironic smile instead of a reply. Ssa-sa took it however he wanted and bobbed his head vigorously.
The kneeling bandits began speaking up one by one.
=S-Soul Shaman, sir. What happens to us now?=
=Sure, we're bandits, but we never messed with weak villagers, merchants paying tolls, or travelers. We had our rules, stuck to our turf, even looked out for locals in our way.=
=Some bandit crews go wild with their vices, but we swear we're not like that! We moved territories because that tiger clan heir swore to wipe us out...!=
Putting their stories together, the main reason they'd shifted here was because they'd crossed a direct heir of the tiger clan.
The bandits had clocked the caravan as tiger clan nobility and planned to let them pass. But the snot-nosed punk got glory-blind and attacked. They fought back, beheading the kid and his whole entourage.
Naturally, the clan mobilized troops to hunt Isilite's band, forcing them over mountains and rivers to this spot.
'That's why their gear was so solid for bandits.'
Hwan-in felt a pang of regret. Almost anticlimactic.
He'd hoped to taste real human malice in this world... but this? It deflated him. All that resolve he'd built up just melted away.
After mulling the next steps, Hwan-in let out a soft breath and pointed at the last woman bandit to speak—a sword-and-shield wielder.
=Y-Yes!=
The pointed woman rose, eyes gleaming with hope. Hwan-in cast low-grade Spirit Possession on her.
To him, she was just spooked by mixed spirits—nothing wrong otherwise. A placebo would do the trick.
Feeling her body heat up and lighten, the woman's face brightened.
At Hwan-in's silent gesture to step back, her expression lit up even more.
=Thank you, Soul Shaman! Truly, thank you!!=
She darted aside like an arrow. Just as Hwan-in intended, she'd taken the possession buff as a purification blessing.
=…….=.
=…….=.
No visible change, but seeing their comrade flushed and brimming with energy got the bandits even more desperate.
Watching that, Hwan-in wondered if soul shamans were mostly con artists at heart.
Exploiting folks' fear of mixed spirits to climb the social ladder.
'I'd need to see other soul shamans to know for sure.'
Hwan-in picked six at random out of the nineteen for Spirit Possession, leaving the rest be.
To keep things balanced with some favoritism. Buffing them all only to get jumped later would suck.
Meanwhile, ignoring Brillit's watch, Isilite prowled for ilail flowers. Every time she got close, they sizzled without fail.
No doubt about it. Mixed spirits clung to her.
Why me? Why only me?
She wanted the Garden of the Gods too. That's why she'd stuck to low-resentment ops. But the others were fine—why her?
Because she was the boss?
'No way!'
Her crew wouldn't follow a mixed-spirit boss. Go back now, and it'd be mutiny for sure.
Hell, they'd kill her and dump the body. Pick a new leader, move on.
Look—even the blessed ones eyed the Soul Shaman with awe but glared at her. The unblessed openly radiated killing intent.
She was the boss, had the chops to take a few down. But a fight would draw the stragglers, and her odds of dying skyrocketed.
Dying meant mixed spirits dragging her to the abyss. That terrified Isilite to her core.
Then—
Screee—boom!
A red fireball streaked skyward with a tail, bursting in a puff of crimson smoke.
Isilite gnashed her teeth at the underling who'd fired the emergency flare without permission.
=Kugal! What the hell?!=
=What else? Our other comrades need to know about this.=
Her subordinate no longer treating her as boss made her tremble with rage—but only for a moment.
Soon, seven more bandits approached on brown and straw-colored ques, horses, camels, and the like. Isilite's face hardened further.
=Must be the detachment Isilite mentioned. No wonder she was so cocky.=
Mounts mismatched, but all riders geared up. Better equipped than the main group, too.
The latecomers looked baffled at first, then heard the explainer and saw the withered ilail flowers around Isilite. Their faces fell.
Reaction was swift.
The buffalo-headed man on the brown que shook his hefty horns and spoke gravely.
=Boss. We can't follow you as leader anymore. You know why.=
=……You think I don't know how much I poured into growing this band? How many crises I pulled us out of? How many times my blade saved your necks? You'll toss me aside and forget it all?!=
=We're still grateful. But mixed spirits cling to you. We can't follow a tainted soul.=
=Damn it! Galteid, you really doing this?! Just get rid of the mixed spirits!!=
As Isilite raised her greatsword into stance, the mounted bandits drew theirs in unison.
=How? Beg that Soul Shaman? Think he'll help the ones who just tried robbing him?=
=We'll find another!=
=Don't be ridiculous. You know that's impossible better than anyone.=
=Urgh……!=
"I want no part in your band's infighting. Clear the road so we can pass."
Despite the tense air, Hwan-in spoke calmly. The bandits jumped and parted left and right.
"Let's go."
=Yes.=
=Where do you think you're going! Fix this mixed spirit on me first!!=
Isilite dashed over, blocking the wagon, glaring at Hwan-in's cold eyes and yelling again.
=I'm already cursed with this thing—might as well go out seeing it all! You think I'll let you slink away quietly...?!=
Wham-bam!!
Mid-rant in her fury, Isilite spotted Hwan-in pointing at her. A massive shock hurled her off the road.
The bandits gaped and buzzed as their leader got blasted by an invisible, colorless explosion without a peep.
Isilite, skin torn and bleeding, sprang up bellowing.
=What the—?!=
Bam!!
=Gah!!=
Tumbling again, she finally clocked that damn soul shaman using some power.
'What is it? He's a soul shaman. So what's this blast? Magic tool?'
Somehow staying upright, Isilite reeled in confusion. She'd never heard of soul shamans wielding weird powers like this.
As Hwan-in pointed again, she flinched, planting her greatsword defensively—but no blast came.
"Don't block the road."
Instead, his icy warning pinned her feet in place.
The porters, per Ssa-sa's orders, started handing back the bandits' weapons.
=Here, your gear. We trust you won't follow.=
=W-Wait! What about us!?=
=Soul Shaman! Please, purify us! We'll give you everything we've got! Spare us!=
The bandits snatched their weapons but chased the departing wagon, wailing. Ssa-sa's porters barked at them.
=Don't follow! He didn't purify you because you don't need it!=
=Get too close and you're done for! You trying to offend the Soul Shaman?!=
Sensing threat from the approaching bandits, the porters tossed the rest of the weapons and scrambled aboard.
The wagon picked up speed.
The bandits hesitated, bought the porters' line, and stopped. Offending a soul shaman and risking unknown backlash scared them more.
But Isilite couldn't.
She feared that soul shaman's emotionless voice, those unknowable black eyes. Yet dying tainted and plummeting to the abyss terrified her more.
=……Damn it! Get off, you bastard!!=
=W-What are you doing?!=
=Fuck! Wanna die with me, you fucks?! Don't want to? Then give me a que!!=
=……Hand it over.=
=…….=.
At Galteid's heavy command, the woman bandit Isilite menaced slid off her que with a sour look.
Stripped of everything but her sorry hide, Isilite mounted up, grinding her teeth.
=I get it, you shits—it's fucked, but I get it. I'd lop the head off anyone pulling this crap with mixed spirits too.=
=…….=.
=But fucked is fucked. Galteid, you're the new boss. And next time we meet? I'll kill you all.=
With a venomous glare-not-threat, Isilite spurred her que after the now-distant wagon.