Chapter 38
Chapter 38
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: A Fiery Encounter
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jeok Yunha's face twisted in fury as she thrust out her hand.
The moment my father stepped back to avoid her hand.
“Dada, a usew, a fiwe usew!”
Fwoosh!
A massive flame erupted from Jeok Yunha's fist.
“So it would seem.”
My father was nonchalant. A gust of wind flipped a desk, which blocked the incoming fist for him.
The wood instantly burst into flames and turned to ash.
“An impressive performance for a fire user.”
“Hah! Pewfowmance?”
Jeok Yunha scoffed.
“Ah, I get it now. I was wondering why that pretty face looked so familiar. Aren't you the Heuk family's fiercest guard dog!”
Guard dog?
“I thought you were dead or missing, but you're alive? Why are you interfering with my business?!”
Jeok Yunha was of mixed Western and Eastern Continent heritage, and also a fire user, an ability said to only appear among Westerners.
*Though she insists her identity is that of an Easterner.*
The problem was that the embers were spreading everywhere!
Does this crazy woman even remember where she is?!
Crackle, crackle!
*'Aaaaaah!'*
The herbs! The herbs! They're burning.
This eccentric shop is filled with so many rare medicinal ingredients! Every single one of them is priceless!
Aaaack! An herb worth ten gold bars!
I grew frantic. While still floating in the air, I urgently called out to the man standing nearby, unsure of what to do.
“Mistew Undeok!”
“Y-Yes? How do you know my name…”
“Is dat impowtant wight now?! Put me down, huwwy!”
The man set me down on the floor, and I poured some water from a bucket onto the herbs.
That put out the most urgent flames.
I whipped my head around.
*Dad's definitely just playing around! He's just humoring her!*
Look at his calm attitude and expression. It was the same nonchalance he had when he deflected Heuk Yehun's wooden stems.
I quickly poured the remaining water onto my hands.
*'That's it, you humans!'*
I clapped my hands.
Swoooosh!
A wave surged forth, trapping the man and woman in water.
Soon after, the two adults floated up into the air.
*It was ‘Diagnosis.’*
“…What is this, a water user?! Damn it, was there another user hiding here, you coward?! Let me down!”
The flaring fire was helplessly extinguished within my water.
“Stop it awweady!!”
I shouted, huffing.
“You two awe wowse than a thwee-yeaw-old! Who's the gwown-up hewe, anyway!”
The surroundings instantly fell silent.
I stomped over to Jeok Yunha and pointed my finger at her repeatedly.
“Hey, you! You say you'we an apofecawy, you shouwd tweat youw hewbs wif cawe! You'we using fiwe in hewe?!”
“…Huh?”
Jeok Yunha looked bewildered. It seemed she was finally coming to her senses.
“But I'm the owner of this shop…”
“So what? Just becawse you'we the ownew, you can tweat it howevew you want?! This stuff saves people's lives!”
“Uh… s-sorry?”
Jeok Yunha apologized with a baffled expression, as if she didn't know why she was apologizing.
“It's my stuff, so why am I the one getting scolded?”
“You must have done something to deserve it.”
My father muttered indifferently while floating in the water bubble. Jeok Yunha's eyes turned feral again.
“Dada, don't pick a fight back!”
A moment passed.
Jeok Yunha, seeming to have calmed down a bit, crossed her arms inside the water that trapped her.
Then, with a slightly cooler expression, she said.
“Hey there, cute little baby? The man holding you started the fight. This big sis is the victim here.”
Was that something to say with such a serious face?
“Awe my eyes just fow decowation? You attacked fiwst!”
The two of them are exactly alike.
I can't tell who the adult is.
Besides, none of this would have happened if Jeok Yunha had just tried to talk calmly in the first place.
“Uh, Ms. Yunha…”
Fortunately, Mr. Undeok took Jeok Yunha's arm and stopped her. It seemed Jeok Yunha was finally ready to listen.
“Have you come to your senses? Please, take a look at my face.”
“Mr. Undeok? Huh, Mister… why is your face healed…?”
“Haha… So you've finally snapped out of it.”
As if seeing his clean face for the first time, surprise and shock flashed across Jeok Yunha's expression before it went blank.
Mr. Undeok bowed politely toward us.
“I apologize, please allow me to apologize on her behalf. As a fire user, Young Miss Yunha is still inexperienced at controlling her abilities and is easily swept up by her impulses.”
Jeok Yunha looked sheepish.
“May we talk now?”
Mr. Undeok glanced at me and pointed cautiously.
“Young Miss Yunha, these are the benefactors who treated me, and they are physicians.”
Jeok Yunha blinked.
“A physician? That dark-looking man? Heuk Bihu is a warrior, isn't he? He was trying to kill me with wind.”
No, not him. Me. Me.
* * *
“What? No way!”
A short while later, at another apothecary shop.
It was another shop run by Jeok Yunha.
“That little kid is Heuk Bihu's daughter? But she looks so sweet and pretty! That man looks so sharp-edged!”
Why is that what she's surprised about? Though, I did understand.
“And a three-year-old is a physician? An apothecary? She really treated Mr. Undeok? That's ridiculous!”
I told her my age because she refused to believe it, and this is how she reacts.
Jeok Yunha pounded on the table.
She's going to break the table. I'd noticed it before, but she really is a strong person.
*'People from the Western Continent do tend to be rather boisterous and rough.'*
And yet, this person considers the Eastern Continent her spiritual home and thinks of herself as a complete Easterner.
*'I think her mother was a slave from the Eastern Continent…'*
My father tapped my forehead.
“Are you scared?”
“Of what?”
“…No, never mind.”
What's with him? I tilted my head in confusion but still spoke to Jeok Yunha.
“Hey, since you didn't bewieve me, I even healed youw hand.”
Even though I'd healed her wound, Jeok Yunha was still carrying on about how unbelievable it all was.
“Haha… Please understand. Young Miss Yunha needs a little time to process things.”
“Ah, right. Just wait. I'm currently digesting the impossible.”
Sparks of fire flickered around Jeok Yunha.
How did someone who wields fire end up deciding to run an apothecary?
*'She really is a curious person.'*
She's even someone who, in the future, will not just achieve great success but become fabulously wealthy.
The White Dragon Merchants.
Because the merchant guild she establishes becomes one of the empire's three great guilds.
*'Well, I get it.'*
Fire users hold a rather unique position among those with abilities.
*'That's because their ability also affects their personality and brain.'*
According to findings by Western Continent physicians, until their abilities stabilize, fire users…
…are unable to control their anger and excitement, and their perspective narrows when agitated.
The time it takes for their abilities to stabilize varies from person to person, and for some, it never does.
It's even said that this land, with its many fire users, was once plagued by constant wars and battles.
*'And earth users are often said to be greedy.'*
Of course, users from the Eastern Continent have their own traits.
Lightning users are prone to fits of madness, water users are said to be fickle…
In any case, fire and earth users even now prove their strength through fighting, seizing what they want. They derive pleasure from it.
This empire is the Western Continent's only neutral zone.
*'It's like Switzerland.'*
A nation of healers. A paradise for physicians. A place where warriors must unconditionally yield.
This order is only possible thanks to the immense military power of the imperial family, which is filled with powerful earth users.
*'That reminds me of the damned Crown Prince's face.'*
But even the imperial family's power is on the decline. That's because powerful earth users are no longer being born as they were in the past.
Just as I was finishing my thoughts, Jeok Yunha let out a sigh.
“Hoo… I've really calmed down now. I'm sorry for making a scene, Mister.”
“Haha, not at all. Weren't the guests over there the ones who had a hard time?”
Jeok Yunha's dark eyes gazed at me. They were calm now.
“I was rude to a precious young lady as well. I'm sorry.”
*'The guild's name? Because I want to build a pure white merchant guild!'*
*'The guild's name? Because I want to build a pure white merchant guild!'*
In my third life, when I was twelve, I met this person for the first time. The woman, who was over thirty, had eyes that sparkled as if she were twenty.
*'Heuk Biyu. You cute little kid, I like you.'*
*'Heuk Biyu. You cute little kid, I like you.'*
The older woman's abilities had stabilized, so while she was outspoken, she was also wise, affectionate, and kind.
She was even smiling and kind when she said her final goodbye to me.
*'But we can't go together.'*
*'But we can't go together.'*
*'…Why?'*
*'…Why?'*
*'Because I'm Mr. Undeok's family. You're from the Heuk family, and Mr. Undeok will never forgive the Heuk family.'*
*'Because I'm Mr. Undeok's family. You're from the Heuk family, and Mr. Undeok will never forgive the Heuk family.'*
We couldn't become allies, nor could we become friends.
She was one of the few people who wished for my happiness.
*'Live well.'*
*'Live well.'*
*'I'd give you all my luck if it meant you could be happy, Bima.'*
*'I'd give you all my luck if it meant you could be happy, Bima.'*
The woman who said that died a few years later.
Before I, who had become the continent's greatest physician and apothecary, could even ask if we could be on the same side now.
“So…”
Jeok Yunha said brightly.
“You're a genius, is that it?”
It was a completely different sight from just moments ago when she was screaming that she couldn't understand.
Her dark eyes were filled with a playful intelligence.
“Then I'll just have to make you my ally.”