Chapter 444
Chapter 444
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 444
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Puuuuh...
Krraaah...
Puuuuuuuh...
Whether it was because a day had passed or because he'd eaten too much of Motutu's meat, Tansia was lying on his back today, snoring with his belly sticking out like a hill.
Seeing that small body with a hill-like belly protruding made Kang Seol chuckle. A child's body, a child's thoughts, a child's emotions—they were like snow falling from the sky.
Kiiiek...
Kang Seol left the lodging and climbed up to the rooftop of the building.
Whiiiii...
The ruined human city sprawled out before his eyes. It stirred complicated emotions.
The actions of the clever one who had destroyed the human nation—yet no clear answer came to mind about whether that had been wrong.
'The fatty... was strong.'
A monster born of rage and gluttony, an ogre. And the fatty who had reached a great realm through that origin alone.
Before long, anxiety crept in that Triem might become a group far more dangerous than the council.
"Eutcha..."
"...Is that you, Smartie?"
"Correct. Triem's buildings seem sturdily constructed, which is a good thing. Even a proper ogre like me can climb onto the roof without issue, small as it is."
"......"
"You don't seem to need much sleep. I understand humans require at least eight hours of rest for a stable day."
"Are ogres different?"
"We can go a week without sleep. During war, even a month is fine."
"That's... a convenient yet frightening stamina."
Kang Seol pushed his body relentlessly too, but it was incomparable to that of the ogres, a battle race.
Smartie gazed at the stars and asked.
"Still suspicious?"
"Pardon? What about...?"
"You're worried that we've been granted even a sliver of intelligence."
"......"
Smartie seemed to have mastered mind-reading, spotting Kang Seol's concern at once.
"The greatest gain from dismantling Triem was unlimited access to human books I could read. Geography, history, philosophy, ethics—all of it. I could peer into the entirety of the human world."
An ogre reading human books.
And learning from them.
Kang Seol listened to Smartie's story a bit more.
"It was fascinating. Everything originates from humans. All of it! And we've been thoroughly excluded from their histories. Not just that—ogres are portrayed as horrific beings in all sorts of heroic tales, while the humans who exterminate us are depicted as heroes."
Ogre history, ogre perspectives—none of it had mattered. Not before Smartie's existence.
Smartie gazed at the stars and said.
"Not anymore. Now..."
"What we desire..."
"Is not mere survival, but prosperity. We seek the reason our kind was born on this star and carved out life here."
The moment Kang Seol heard those words, he realized he'd heard something similar in the past.
- Thus... Jamad shall reach the truth... The reason the stars were born, and the reason I was born.
'Is that how it is... Are all Irregulars like this?'
With a prior example already in place, Smartie's thoughts didn't feel false.
Gray, yet vivid.
Kang Seol gave a slight smile.
"I hope I can help with even something simple."
"What? Hahaha! Helping an ogre—are you mad?"
"......"
"More likely, we'll have more occasions to help you. And truly, that's what I desire."
Rather than receiving help, he wanted to give it.
Smartie was a strange one.
"What we need now... is for someone equal to us, somewhere in the world, to heed our words."
That must be why he sought a good relationship with Kang Seol.
"That we are not isolated, that a wider world exists, and that someday we can reach out into it. That fact is what's important."
Kang Seol listened quietly, then pulled out a large box. It was the one Smartie had given him at the grand banquet.
"This is..."
"I'll return it. The more we talk, the less I feel right accepting it."
"Why? No other intentions..."
"It's a stumbling block in our relationship."
Normally, refusing a gift happens when you can't fulfill the giver's request.
Or...
"Giving and receiving can suffice with trust alone. Isn't that right?"
When you hope for a better relationship.
Smartie recalled a poignant passage from a book.
"...Truly, we share the same mind. My friend."
* * *
"Is that story true?"
"Smartie's story?"
"Yeah, you returned the box?"
It was what Kang Seol had told the group that morning as he left Triem. He'd returned the box and departed without issue.
Kang Seol nodded, confirming it all.
"...Good job! Those are definitely cursed items!"
"Right. It felt off, didn't it? Taking stuff from the fallen."
"What if their downfall is contagious? Shindio's right."
"There's no such disease, Jian."
"There isn't? Aren't you mistaken?"
Jian lightened the group's mood.
"Anyway, best to forget what happened in Triem. It was a bizarre night."
"Chatting with a human-like ogre and feasting on spirit meat. You'd get called a braggart anywhere."
Fudduduk...
A bird flying toward Shindio. As before, it was a bird conjured by magic.
A paper tied to the bird's leg.
"Hm? Two letters?"
Shindio unrolled one of the scrolled papers. After reading it briefly, he said to Kang Seol.
"Everything's proceeding on schedule. The expedition is following us at a proper distance. The info we sent earlier got through fine too. But..."
Swish...
He handed Kang Seol a paper stamped with a crow seal.
"This one's not for me to read."
Kang Seol nodded and infused mana into the seal.
Fwoooosh...
[The seal on the mana-infused stamp is released.]
Pararak...
As he unfolded the paper, something strange happened.
Srururu...
Uru's illusion appeared atop the paper.
A tiny Uru, scaled to the paper's size.
- Kang Seol, I received the info you sent. This isn't really me, so don't waste energy.
"Am, amazing... How is this possible with magic?"
Even Shindio, a mage like Uru, gaped at the letter.
- Recently, a few home addicts had seizures.
'...Seizures?'
Drug addicts showed withdrawal symptoms, but never seizures.
- They rolled their eyes back and attacked those around them. Luckily, it was in the slums with elders and kids, so no major damage, but more with similar symptoms have appeared.
Kang Seol nodded at Uru's explanation.
- I'll look into it. Might as well brew an antidote too. Sending this as a heads-up.
Sruruk...
Uru's form faded.
Kang Seol quickly glanced at Jian, who'd heard it all, and he grinned, tapping his temple.
"...Another pact, huh."
"You're no help at all! Can we just leave him here?"
Jian replied to Shindio's grumpy remark.
"Then who'll you keep an eye on?"
"...Just kidding."
Kang Seol jotted down the expedition's findings and tied them to a bird's leg.
"Let's go. I already told the expedition about the Dekki tribe, so we'll approach Horus slowly."
"We're fine, but if trouble brews with the expedition, they'll handle it themselves."
"Naturally. I opposed this expedition from the start..."
"Kukuku... The nobles thought you'd be poached by us."
"Exactly! That's what pisses me off! Who do they think I am..."
"Nobles do have their uncomfortable sides. Anyway, we'll be late. To Horus."
The group's steps turned north. The region they passed through was relatively mild in the north, so they reached the Horus Mountains without much trouble.
"No surface markers from here."
"As long as your eyes work, you'd know spirits dwell in Horus Mountain, and this screams Horus Mountain, right?"
Whoooosh...
A chill lingered.
Not in the body, but the soul.
"Doesn't it feel eerie?"
"Feels like my whole body's being purified... but since I'm corrupted to the bone, not exactly pleasant."
"You've achieved self-objectification. No, more than that... the spirit energy here's too intense for humans to endure."
Kang Seol had experienced spirit-heavy areas a few times while wandering the East. Sometimes warped into baleful energy, but anyway.
'Similar to the air in the Minor Heavenly World.'
As someone who'd played Eternal World for ages, Kang Seol knew of Horus Mountain's existence. He'd known it brimmed with spirit energy, but experiencing it firsthand was a fresh sensation.
As Kang Seol felt the sacred aura, presences of Horus dwellers surrounded them.
Woo-!
Wooo-!
"Woah, natives! Must be the Dekki tribe!"
"They don't seem agitated. Good—we need to signal no hostile intent."
"Why not come back in daylight? We need to see each other to talk..."
That was when.
- Hoot.
"...That hoot just said 'hoot,' right?"
"Hoot says hoot—what else?"
"No... not the sound, it actually said 'hoot.'"
In the direction Shindio pointed, a plump owl stared at them.
- Hoot.
"Lo, look! There!"
"It's real... What is it?"
Only Kang Seol calmly looked up at the owl and spoke.
"Wise owl spirit, Kairos."
- ...Hoot.
"Please clear the path."
Shindio laughed.
"What're you doing to an owl..."
The expressionless owl took on a jade glow. A transparent light, like a jade statue.
- Strangers, I shall see you myself.
"......It spoke?"
As Shindio gawked with mouth agape, Jian closed it for him.
"Ogres talk too."
"Ah... right. Then it's possible."
The owl flapped to the next tree and turned its head.
- Follow ten paces behind.
Jian, trailing Kang Seol, asked.
"What if the spirit rejects us?"
"We get chased off?"
"Then the council guys?"
"......Guess they better not get chased off."
They ascended Horus Mountain's foothills tensely.
- There, halt.
Soon, mystical light spread from the darkness.
The source: the sky.
Whoooooooosh...
"Urk..."
Winds howled.
A massive owl, rivaling the wild boar spirit Motutu, snapped trees as it landed nearby.
Kwaaaaa...
- I am Kairo.
Kang Seol and the group bowed their heads.
[Marvelous Discovery! You witness a great spirit of nature.]
[You pay homage to the wise Kairo.]
[Wisdom permanently increases by 5.]
From here, whether their Horus experience would be hardship or joy depended on Kairo's reaction.
- A familiar soul scent from you strangers.
Instantly, everyone's spines chilled.
'Oh no!'
- Motutu... the steadfast wild boar's scent.
Had the meat smell clung to his coat? Kairo pinpointed the lingering aroma exactly.
- Could it be... you lot ate Motutu...
Kang Seol quickly opened his mouth to explain.
"This was due to circumstances..."
- Begone! Strangers, Horus is forbidden to you!
Dizziness hit.
'...Shouldn't have eaten it?'
Still, he felt a bit wronged.
How do you refuse food that boosts stats by over 50? And the atmosphere hadn't allowed refusal...
'Explanation won't work...'
Kiiiii...
The owl puffed its cheeks.
A fierce expression, like it would blast wind any second.
- Leave! If you don't go now..."
That was when.
Kirururuk-!
Fwoooong...
Fwooooooong...
With rough wingbeats, another entity flew from the direction Kairo had come.
- What is this during patrol! Why have you descended the mountain!
Kairo startled and scolded the approaching being.
Jian and Shindio yelled.
"Duck!"
"Damn it!"
The two and Tansia flattened themselves, but Kang Seol and the twin knights stood blankly.
Whoooooooosh...
The winds died, and the huge bird that had just arrived approached Kang Seol.
Kururuk...
It rubbed its enormous beak against his body.
"...Kupa?"
Kairo deflated its cheeks and asked.
- ...Stranger, you know Kupa?