Chapter 224
Chapter 224
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 224
Chapter Title: ACT.44 Land of the Forgotten (2)
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*To use it, I first need to be acknowledged by the goblin.*
Acknowledged by the goblin.
There are many ways to prove one’s worth, but usually, it involves a show of force.
It’s the most primal, simple, and certain way to prove oneself.
*It’s not like I can’t do it if I have to, since all I need is their acknowledgment.*
But there was no need for that when I had brought a much simpler and more certain method.
I smiled and raised both my arms.
A gesture of surrender.
“Huh? What’s this? Surrendering before we even fight? I’m not too fond of guys with no spirit.”
“Rather than prove my qualifications, I wish to earn them.”
“Earn them, you say?”
“I can’t show you what I don’t have.”
“Hoh.”
The Goblin King—Cheon-ryang—scoffed as if it was ridiculous.
“The hell you don’t. You think the power you possess can be hidden that easily? The other goblins here are no match for you. They’d have to swarm you to even stand a chance. Well, not that it changes the fact you’re still beneath me!”
So, a being of Cheon-ryang’s caliber could see through my concealment, even if not completely.
He seemed itching for a fight, his body practically vibrating with anticipation, but that was the last thing I wanted.
If things went that way, I wouldn’t be able to use what I’d prepared.
“I know my place. How could an egg hope to break a rock? The likes of me cannot even reach the soles of your feet, Cheon-ryang-nim.”
Mixing flattery with humility, I saw the corners of Cheon-ryang’s mouth twitch upward.
Given his personality, speaking this way would make him take a step back.
“You have a silver tongue. Hehehe. Well then, let’s see what you’ve got. I hope it’s at least half as good as you talk.”
“I won’t disappoint you.”
Perfect.
As if on cue, I took a bottle of liquor from my inventory.
Cheon-ryang sniffed the air, his eyes narrowing instantly.
“Don’t tell me, is that liquor?”
“It is.”
“Well, I’ll be. You rascal. How did you know goblins love liquor? You came very well prepared, didn’t you?”
“Hey, Captain. That smells damn good. What is it?”
“Ah, you lot stay quiet! The Captain is negotiating!”
“Sheesh. Trying to hog all the good stuff again… Fine. Drink your fill alone.”
“I will even if you don’t tell me to, you punk.”
Cheon-ryang chuckled and sat down.
Finally, we were at eye level.
My neck muscles were starting to feel stiff, so it was a relief.
“Indeed, this aroma… I’d say it’s among the finest of all the liquors I’ve ever had. Where in the world did you get something like this?”
“You can tell just by the scent?”
“Of course I can. Take a whiff yourself. This fragrant, sweet, yet sharp smell. I can guarantee it. This is a legendary brew, ancient and renowned!”
[Has your sense of smell gone bad?]
“My sense of smell… No, sir. As expected, only you can recognize the true value of this liquor, Cheon-ryang-nim.”
“Hm? The taste of smell? Hmm! A fine phrase! That's right. Truly delicious things can be tasted through their scent alone! Hahaha! I'm starting to like you more and more!”
I almost misspoke because of that bastard Besial, but it ended up working in my favor.
I fought the urge to grimace from the overpowering smell of the liquor and handed the bottle to Cheon-ryang as if passing it off.
“Ooh. *Sniff*. Haaaaah. Ooooh.”
“You’re going to drink it all with your nose at this rate.”
“No, no. I’ve savored the aroma enough, now it’s time to drink. *Gulp*… Keuh! It’s as killer as its scent! Ah, by the way, what’s this liquor called?”
“It’s called Demon-Slaying Liquor.”
“I see, I see. Demon-Slaying Liquor… Huh? What? Did you just give a Demon (鬼) Demon-Slaying Liquor (鬼殺酒)?”
Cheon-ryang looked back and forth between the bottle and me in bewilderment.
Whoops. The name might make it seem like an assassination attempt.
I quickly smiled and waved my hands.
“It’s just a name, it doesn’t actually have a killing effect…”
“Ugh, ugh.”
But as soon as I said that, Cheon-ryang’s face turned deathly pale, and he clutched his chest before collapsing.
“Captain!?”
“What, the Captain passed out from one sip of liquor!?”
The goblins swarmed around him in shock.
Then, their fearful gazes began to fix on me.
“No way, what kind of liquor did you bring to knock out a guy who could soak in a vat of it for a week and be fine…?”
“Humans are vicious, as expected. More potent than liquor. Scary.”
“No, wait a minute…”
[You actually killed him. Wow, you’re just going to kill him and take it? Kim Se-hyeon’s personality never changes, does it?]
I was the one who wanted to ask what was going on.
Demon-Slaying Liquor has no such effect. I could guarantee that, having already examined it with Extreme Eye.
Killing Cheon-ryang wasn’t my objective in the first place, and if he did die, it would be a problem for me.
So why…
“Puha!”
“Whoa! The Captain’s been resurrected!”
“It’s a ghost!!”
“Wow. That was a near-death experience. This stuff is seriously potent, huh?”
As if nothing had happened, Cheon-ryang grinned broadly and shook the bottle of Demon-Slaying Liquor.
“It deserves the name Demon-Slaying Liquor! Just one sip felt like my chest was on fire. But you know what I thought? This is a taste of heaven. A masterpiece crafted by the greatest artisan over a lifetime. A flavor I’d be lucky to taste again. If I’m going to die, I might as well drink more before I go! That’s all I could think! Keuh. I approve. This is truly the best liquor. Ah, the Demon-Slaying thing was just a joke. A joke. Kahaha!”
Cheon-ryang rattled off his review of the liquor and took another sip.
He seemed to have adjusted a bit, as he didn’t collapse like before, but his face contorted in pain before breaking into a wide grin over and over.
In no time, Cheon-ryang had drained the entire bottle.
He drank it so deliciously that the surrounding goblins, as well as Besial and I, who had gotten a proper whiff of its aroma, couldn’t help but gulp.
“Aww. What. Is there no more?”
Cheon-ryang smacked his lips, savoring the aftertaste.
For a guy his size, one bottle was far too little.
But that was my intention.
A sense of longing.
There was nothing better for putting a leash on someone and pulling the strings.
“Of course, that was just a taste.”
*Thud.*
I took out a small pot and placed it on the ground.
“All the liquid in here is Demon-Slaying Liquor.”
“From now on, you are a friend to us goblins.”
Cheon-ryang answered immediately, slinging an arm over my shoulder.
Making friends is easy.
[What the… you became friends with the Goblin King this easily…?]
*Of course. I just showered him with a gift he loves most.*
And he showed immense satisfaction with that gift.
If someone brought me a building in Gangnam, I’m confident I could become their best friend on the spot.
Cheon-ryang raised the hand holding the empty bottle high above his head and shouted.
“Bring out the liquor! We have a new friend, we can’t not have a drinking party! Ah, right, you don’t have a cup.”
An uneasy feeling crept over me, so I immediately dodged the question.
“I think it would be difficult for a human like me to match the goblins’ cups.”
“That’s true. Then how about you use the one I used when I was little?”
Cheon-ryang snapped his fingers.
I was speechless at the sight of the enormous bowl placed before me.
This is a cup?
You could swim in this thing.
“Now, drink up, drink up! I can’t not share something this delicious with a friend. You brought it, so you should have some too!”
Cheon-ryang laughed heartily and poured the Demon-Slaying Liquor into my “cup.”
This crazy goblin.
[Becoming friends is easy, but staying friends is hard.]
*…Dammit.*
I had to get through this.
I squeezed my eyes shut and poured the liquor from the cup down my throat.
*Crazy.*
The feeling of my throat catching fire shocked me to my senses.
Even drinking whiskey wasn’t like this.
At that moment, the smell I had been trying so hard to ignore assaulted my nostrils, and everything hit me at once.
An overwhelming urge to vomit, a burning sensation as if my throat was melting.
*Besial. Status effect recovery potion. Quick.*
[Eeeh. I can’t do it for free.]
*Quick, before I dunk you in a vat of liquor…!*
[Hey, you won’t even pay for the potion, and now you won’t pay for the errand either… grumble, grumble.]
*Now!!*
Any longer and I was going to lose my mind.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, all the negative sensations vanished as if they had never been there.
In their place, sweetness, fragrance, and smoothness settled in.
It’s delicious.
A purely, utterly delicious sensation lingered on my tongue.
I immediately understood why Xie had called this the greatest liquor in the world.
“…It’s delicious.”
[Huh?]
“Right? Hehehe.”
[Wh-what happened? There’s no way that’s delicious. Is this really serious? Wait, I’ll get a status effect recovery potion right away!]
*No, that’s… Hmm. Yes. Please do.*
I was about to stop Besial, who had started to misunderstand on his own, but then I figured it was better to let him be.
No reason to stop him when he was offering a free status effect recovery potion.
After a few cups were exchanged, Cheon-ryang casually probed for my true intentions.
“So, what’s your purpose for coming here? It can’t be just to make friends.”
“I’d like to use the goblin’s club once.”
“No.”
The reply was immediate.
“The goblin’s cap, the goblin’s cloak, and the goblin’s club. Those things, commonly known in the outside world, are not something I can lend out easily, even if you’ve earned the right to be a friend. They can cause great trouble if used improperly. Above all, they are the goblins’ greatest treasures. I’m grateful you gave me this delicious liquor, but what’s not possible is not possible.”
“I see.”
I had already expected Cheon-ryang to react this way.
No matter how delicious the Demon-Slaying Liquor was, it wasn’t enough to achieve my goal on its own.
That’s why the liquor was merely a setup for the next stage.
“Then how about this?”
“What is it this time…”
Cheon-ryang’s expression, which had feigned indifference as he glanced over, changed in an instant.
There was no way this liquor fiend wouldn’t know what I had just taken out.
No, even if he didn’t know the details, he must have sensed it instinctively.
I smiled slyly and deliberately began my explanation.
“This is a gourd called ‘Yun-hoe’s Drunken Revelry.’”
There’s a famous anecdote about Yun-hoe related to King Sejong.
He loved liquor so much that he would often show up to royal lectures completely drunk. An angry King Sejong told him to cut back on the drinking, giving him a small cup and ordering him to drink only four cups.
That wasn’t nearly enough for Yun-hoe, so he came up with a trick.
He modified the cup by widening it, allowing him to drink a larger amount.
Naturally, he showed up drunk again, confessing to King Sejong, but he answered all the questions during the lecture without hesitation, so the king simply laughed it off without punishing him.
“This gourd was created from Yun-hoe’s obsession and spirit. Thanks to that, this gourd has gained one incredible effect.”
“Wh-what is it?”
Cheon-ryang leaned forward, craning his neck.
He’s getting antsy, so antsy.
I deliberately paused and looked around.
The nearby goblins, who had been drinking on their own, were now listening to my story with great interest.
This should be effective enough.
“The effect is that the most delicious liquor in the world flows from it… infinitely.”
*Thump.*
Before I could finish my sentence, Cheon-ryang’s hand clamped down on my shoulder.
“I consider us friends.”
“I think so too.”
“I see! A most joyous answer. In that case, isn’t it proper for friends to share good things with one another?”
Trying to use a solemn expression and tone now of all times.
I swallowed a laugh and played along.
“I am certain this is a treasure of immense value in any world. Moreover, it’s the only one of its kind in existence.”
I can’t give it up easily.
I need to maximize the tantalizing feeling.
The more I raise its value, the easier it will be to get what I want.
“Ha…”
Cheon-ryang was no fool.
He had to know why I was dragging this out, why I wasn’t willing to hand it over easily.
There was no way he wouldn’t know.
“But I still can’t do that. I really can’t…”
“Is that so? Then I suppose it can’t be helped.”
“H-Hey, you!?”
I stood up and approached the other goblins nearby.
Then, I offered the gourd to them.
All while pointedly glancing at Cheon-ryang.
“Have a taste. A special offer, just for you guys.”