Chapter 88
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Trust in the Blade
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"It's really over now, right?"
"Pretty much. Yeon Cheon-u rained down on the other spots too, so the hostages they took should've all been rescued by now."
The moment Kasar himself got involved, it was safe to say every battle was effectively over. Jake let out a sigh of relief at Lee Se-hun's words.
"That's a relief..."
With that, it was all done.
As the tension drained from him, Jake's gaze drifted toward the massive tree trunk he'd just cleaved through. He replayed the recent fight in his mind, then hesitantly spoke up.
"There's one thing I wanted to ask."
"What?"
"Didn't you think it might fail again?"
It had worked out in the end, but if the second strike had failed too, things could've gone really south.
So why had he thrown himself in harm's way to block that attack? Lee Se-hun pondered Jake's question.
'Saying I knew I could handle the fallout... nah, that'd raise suspicions.'
It was his trump card, and more importantly, it might invite doubt. So Lee Se-hun shifted his answer slightly.
"Honestly, it'd be a lie to say I didn't."
"Then why risk something so dangerous..."
"Eh, just a sense of duty."
"...Duty?"
"Yeah. A blacksmith's sense of duty."
Lee Se-hun dipped his hand into the water and cupped Jake's limp right hand, lifting it up.
The Gleam Sword gleamed blue in the sunlight. Despite being swung with full power, it hadn't shattered. Jake stared at it blankly.
"Who'd trust a blacksmith who doesn't trust his own work? Might as well die first."
Lee Se-hun chuckled and pushed his arm sideways, placing the hand gripping the Gleam Sword over Jake's chest.
"...I see."
The hefty weight of the Gleam Sword on his chest.
Feeling it heavier than usual, Jake finally realized his true feelings, a bit late.
"I... didn't trust you. Or the Gleam Sword."
Even after seeing the blade up close, he'd unconsciously held back, fearing it might break at any moment, using it only halfway.
"It took seeing you stake your life on me to finally believe... the Gleam Sword could hold up."
No way he'd risk his neck on a whim. Realizing his own buried doubts, Jake wore a hollow expression.
"I'm such an asshole."
Even after years of built-up distrust, it took someone's life on the line for him to believe.
As self-loathing hit him over his materialistic, repulsive attitude,
"Isn't that just natural?"
Lee Se-hun replied indifferently.
"We've only known each other a short while—why should you trust me blindly? It's normal to doubt without solid proof."
"But..."
"Sure, doubting my work makes me wanna smash your head with a hammer... but that's just my side."
Blacksmiths have their perspective; customers have theirs.
"As the buyer, you have every right to doubt and test it. That's your position."
"My right..."
Jake recalled the artisans he'd met before, at Lee Se-hun's words.
'This kid doesn't seem cut out for swords.'
'Why not pivot to martial arts with that grip strength?'
'Make a sword fit for a guy with such lame skills? You're trying to scam me...'
Artisans proud of their craft, blaming everything but themselves.
Thinking of those infuriating faces he'd tolerated, Jake slowly spoke.
"Then... I can keep doubting from now on?"
"You should. Otherwise, it'll shatter mid-fight and take your head off."
"Complain that you couldn't make it even better?"
"Go buy from someone else if you can."
"Pfft. Fair enough."
Jake burst out laughing at Lee Se-hun's deadpan response and gripped the Gleam Sword on his chest tight.
"Hey, Lee Se-hun."
"Yeah?"
"Swinging it just now, I realized one thing."
He gave his reliable blacksmith his honest verdict, voice light with relief.
"Your swords are the best."
The bond level with target 'Jake Myers' has risen to Lv. 2.
A relationship has been established due to the bond level increase. Your relationship with target 'Jake Myers' is 'Trust'.
Relationship: Trust (信賴)
It's not easy to demand trust from those who can't even trust themselves.
Repaying that trust won't always be simple, but if you can give them faith to rise again even after failure, this bond will endure forever.
* Bond Stones are generated when repaying the target's trust.
* Bond maturation speed increases while trusted by the target.
* Currently generated Bond Stones: None.
'This guy...'
Staring at the notification window before him, Lee Se-hun unwittingly smiled, pleased.
Some folks whine for better gear like it's nothing, but this one actually appreciates it.
Like meeting a polite, top-tier customer after ages, he looked at Jake.
"Use it well from now o—wait, asleep?"
"..."
Jake floated on the lake, eyes closed silently. His face was pale enough to look dead, but his heart beat steadily.
'Pushed his Blood Arts too hard, huh.'
It'd sort itself with some rest, so Lee Se-hun fixed him in place with Black Spirit Threads to keep him from drifting.
He sensed approaching footsteps and turned toward the sacred tree's remains.
'Come to think of it, those puppets all bailed.'
Puppets—former humans or demons sworn to the Puppeteer and remade.
Among the Ten Evils' underlings, they were particularly annoying since you had to smash their core body to kill them permanently, or they'd keep swapping vessels.
'Didn't show up personally, used the sacred tree, so obviously temp monster bodies.'
By now, they'd be back at their hidden real bodies outside the Black Lotus Mire, prepping to flee.
'If I had time, I'd track the hideout and wipe 'em all...'
He could still do it, but Lee Se-hun let it slide for potential contingencies.
Killing them all would limit info to the Puppeteer—good—but missing one would tip off that he could reverse-track puppets.
'Everyone used 'em freely pre-regression, but not now.'
The Puppeteer was dangerous but only engaged at his 'interest' level. Nothing special shown this time, so best to pull back.
As Lee Se-hun mulled this,
Caw─
A familiar cry from the sacred tree's wreckage. He turned back.
Whoosh!
A crow shot off beyond the woods in an instant.
Dozens of kilometers from the Black Lotus Mire, in a barren wild hill.
The ground trembled faintly in the empty woods, then a hand burst from below.
Scritch-scritch.
Three figures clawed out. The first, a pale Western man named Willy, scowled.
"Freshmen like that... Babel's lost it."
Impressive they'd held till the Chain Sword Storm, but to topple him head-on?
Recalling the pain of his body splitting, Willy looked baffled.
'Myers' sword aura was ridiculous, but... the craziest was Lee Se-hun.'
The sacred tree's roots spanned the mire—minimum B+ regen. It could've withstood a sword aura.
But passing Lee Se-hun's etched path, its mana circuits tangled instantly, regen gone.
'Even I, controlling the body, didn't fully map those circuits...'
Beyond talent—unnatural prowess.
Understanding why his master eyed Lee Se-hun as material, Willy checked his men.
"The rest?"
"No signal, so we cleaned up."
Puppets lacked pain senses, but vessel destruction sent agony to the core on return.
Survive it, return or swap; fail, vegetative idiot.
"Seven down... cheap loss."
S-class guarded spot, temp bodies trashed but survived—not bad.
'Got report-worthy intel anyway.'
Lee Se-hun was prime material beyond the job. Willy eyed his two remaining underlings.
"Bounce before they search."
"Yes!"
Remote spot, so the trio bolted through the woods.
Dense trees, not as thick as the mire, cloudy sky dimmed light. Willy squinted in the gloom.
'Worse aftereffects than thought.'
B-grade body should've pierced this dark, unlike temp ones.
As unease mixed with confusion,
Caw─
A crow's cry echoed. Willy's eyes followed instinctively.
Too dark to spot it clearly; he frowned.
'Bad omen crow here of all places...'
Annoying, but no mana—ignore. Willy irritably scanned, then looked ahead.
Step.
Far off, in the sole sunlit tree, a girl emerged.
Black hair with faint purple eyes. Just student uniform and cloak, defenseless. Willy's eyes widened.
'Inoue...?'
Why was the mire girl here?
As reality warped, his gaze hit the birdcage in Erika's right hand.
"Caw."
A stiff crow inside the silver cage.
Puppet fragments from their temp bodies in its beak. Willy grasped it fast.
'Tracked us via shattered comms...?'
A freshman pulling what S-ranks struggled with?
Absurd. Panicking, Willy yelled at his trailing men.
"Others might be near! Grab her!"
"Yes!"
She couldn't come alone. Rational call—they charged.
Swish.
Erika thrust the cage forward.
"Caaa─"
Crack!
The crow's neck snapped 180 degrees mid-wingspread, flopping to the cage floor.
Drip.
Black blood oozed from slack beak and mangled neck.
Drops grew to a flood as the cage door opened, black ichor flooding out, blanketing the ground.
Glurp-glurp.
Not blood or water—ominous, filthy ooze.
Spreading from Erika, it bubbled fiercely.
Caw! Caw─
Crows clawed from the sticky mire, flapping slime into the sky.
Willy stared, stunned, forgetting capture.
"Crow Souls Seize (烏魂奪魄)"
Black crows plummeted from the sky at the three puppets.
Krunch-crack!
Willy and his men swung weapons desperately against the endless dives.
Fallen crows melted back into the mire, reborn. With swamp below too, no blocking it.
Crunch─gah!
"N-no...!"
"Inside my body... gahk...!"
Infiltrating crows devoured flesh, assimilating. Bodies dragged into the depths.
Caw! Caw!
"Ha... haha..."
Cries echoing inside him, Willy laughed hollowly.
Top student or not, just a freshman. Towerless nobody, he'd thought.
But after those two, now Erika—Willy gaped, incredulous.
"Monsters..."
His body sank into the mire's abyss.
"..."
Erika emotionlessly lowered the forward-thrust cage after the trio vanished tracelessly.
Swish.
The scattered swamp sucked back into the cage instantly. Woods returned to normal, as if nothing happened.
"...Can't let word spread yet."
Ten Evils or whoever—until Lee Se-hun's potential was fully gauged, no leaks.
Having eliminated witnesses, Erika turned and melted into the forest shadows.