Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Does the Saintess Dream of the Sacrificial Lamb? (6)
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***
The base camp was littered with shattered tables and chairs, bullet holes riddling the walls everywhere.
A suffocating silence filled the camp.
Not a single one of the five people inside had opened their mouths.
First was Kwon Captain.
Ever since confirming that all the mercenaries guarding the entrance were knocked out cold, he had kept his lips sealed.
It was a matter of pride. At least the opponent had held back; if they had come with killing intent, it would have been a total wipeout.
The dwarf sitting next to him, equally displeased, wasn't much different.
The dwarf, who had been tossed outside, returned with a massive lump on his forehead. Rubbing it with his ring-laden hand, he looked utterly pathetic.
Fortunately, the saintess had the sense to keep quiet. She occasionally broke the silence with mutterings about snowfields or whatever, but they never dragged on.
Anyway, last but not least, the saintess's mother.
The cause of all this silence, she was still cloaked in her transparent mantle.
Her hands, sticking out from under the mantle, trembled faintly. She seemed too embarrassed to show her face.
It wasn't an incomprehensible reaction.
She had blabbered about her daughter's snowfields(?) and even fired shots, only to claim it was all a misunderstanding. Anyone would be mortified.
Of course, understanding and forgiveness were entirely different emotions. Yeomyeong had no intention of forgiving her, at least.
But he couldn't just chop off her head right then and there, so he let out a sigh and spoke.
“What should we do now?”
Yeomyeong's golden eyes swept over the other four.
The dwarf and the Seonjuk Mercenary Corps, the saintess and her mother, and Yeomyeong himself. It was time to untangle their intertwined thoughts and goals.
“If no one has any ideas, I'll make a proposal. First, we'll go around and state what we want. There's... some misunderstanding between us right now.”
The dwarf reacted first to Yeomyeong's words. He raised the hand not rubbing his lump, signaling agreement to Yeomyeong.
“Not a bad idea. I'm in favor.”
It was the attitude of a businessman. The others didn't object either, so Yeomyeong nodded to the dwarf.
“Would you like to start, then?”
“If you're fine with it, by all means.”
The dwarf cleared his throat with a cough and brushed the dust off his clothes. He couldn't do anything about the lump on his forehead, but it was a gesture of propriety.
Then, he turned to the saintess.
“Well then... Saintess?”
“Yes?”
“On behalf of Dungan Heavy Industries and the Seonjuk Mercenary Corps, I have a proposal for you.”
With that opener, the dwarf repeated the explanation he had given Yeomyeong.
The treasure hidden in Manchuria and the dragon guarding it.
The mercenary corps and a few superhumans would be mobilized to claim the treasure, and he hoped the saintess would join them.
The moment the dwarf finished, the saintess spoke up.
“That treasure... it's near the northern part of the Xing'anling Mountains, right?”
“Uh... huh?”
A brief silence, then great surprise. The dwarf's mouth fell open.
“How did you know?”
“Well...”
The saintess trailed off, glancing back and forth between Yeomyeong and the dwarf.
Her thick blindfold made it hard to tell, but her lips curled into a smirk, no doubt lost in some indecent thought again.
“Conveniently, I have business there myself.”
Yeomyeong subtly turned his head to avoid her gaze. The next instant, the saintess raised her hand lightly.
“Now it's my turn to speak, right?”
“S-Saintess. Then our proposal...”
“I'll answer in a bit.”
She extended her fingers to silence the dwarf, then fixed her gaze on Yeomyeong.
“Hmm, Cheon Yeomyeong... Mr.? Lord? Bro? What should I call you?”
Bro? What nonsense. Yeomyeong frowned and replied.
“Just call me Yeomyeong.”
“Whatever. Yeomyeong. Remember what I said this morning?”
Yeomyeong nodded instead of answering.
She had demanded he bodyguard her while she secretly searched for something in Manchuria, away from the elders. He had refused flat out, of course.
“My request stands. What do you say?”
“My answer stands too. No.”
The conversation from the recovery room repeated, but the saintess's reaction differed slightly this time.
She flashed a meaningful smile and looked at the dwarf.
“Mr. Darulma? I'll join the treasure hunt too. On the condition that he comes along.”
“...”
“Mercenaries follow the corps' orders, right?”
The dwarf couldn't respond. He looked back and forth between Yeomyeong and the saintess in bewilderment.
Why was she acting like this? As the saintess tilted her head, Yeomyeong spoke.
“I left the mercenary corps.”
“What? Why all of a sudden?!”
“Ask the dwarf for the reason.”
“No way, even if you hate it that much, quitting the corps...!”
Yeomyeong raised his hand to cut her off.
“It's my turn now.”
The saintess, who had been opening and closing her mouth, finally sighed deeply and crossed her arms.
Yeomyeong unfastened the scabbard at his waist and placed it on his knee, then addressed the transparent mantle.
“You said you're the saintess's mother. May I ask a question?”
“...Yes.”
“Someone shot me in the head claiming it was a misunderstanding, and someone else tried to manipulate me for their own gain.”
Yeomyeong glanced subtly at the dwarf and Kwon Captain.
The dwarf, meeting his eyes, coughed awkwardly and looked away. Kwon Captain quietly touched his lips.
Fortunately, both seemed to feel some shame. Or were pretending to.
Either way, it was enough that they weren't utterly shameless. It meant there was more to gain with words than swords, at least.
Yeomyeong licked his lips and continued.
“Honestly, this is a first for me, so I don't know what to do. You're older and wiser than I, so I'll ask for your advice.”
A slow but polite tone. Yeomyeong blinked.
“What do you think I should receive as compensation? And how?”
The word “compensation” made the dwarf's face change. He leaned in and whispered something gravely into Kwon Captain's ear.
Right after, Kwon Captain silently rose and exited the base camp.
But the woman under the transparent mantle remained mute.
She clenched her hands tightly and fell silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.
Yeomyeong waited patiently, and finally, a flat voice emanated from under the mantle.
“This might take a while, so bear with me.”
A faint mana laced her voice. It connected some kind of spell between Yeomyeong and her, like an incantation.
Yeomyeong considered drawing his sword but let the magic link freely.
There was no hostility, and he was curious what scheme she was up to.
The moment the magic connected them, her voice echoed in his mind.
—You don't need to be so guarded. It's just simple telepathy. Too many ears around, so I have no choice.
Telepathy? As she said, the dwarf and saintess showed no sign of hearing her.
“First... as the saintess's protector, I won't apologize for this incident.”
Out loud, she said that, but via telepathy, it was a different story.
—Cheon Yeomyeong... no, Dung Beetle. My name is Morine. Leader of the Blue Rats and the saintess's mother.
“I only did what any parent with a daughter would do. No personal feelings involved.”
—First, as the Blue Rats' leader, I apologize. Not just for this, but for our employees' rudeness... and mistakes last time.
Someone who knew him from his Dung Beetle days, and the Blue Rats' boss no less.
Fate was like a web, entangling you before you knew it. This was exactly that.
Yeomyeong hid his grimace and gripped his sword hilt tightly.
“And honestly, isn't it your fault for acting in a way that invites misunderstanding? You know a saintess's life isn't equal to some merc's.”
***
Life value. He knew she didn't mean it, but it grated nonetheless.
Yeomyeong clamped his mouth shut and replied in his mind.
—Why the hell are you putting on this act?
—What I'm about to say, my daughter can't hear.
—...
—Do you know why she's a saintess?
—...Not particularly interested.
—Blessed by the Five Gods with precognition. Male is saint, female is saintess.
—...Precognition?
Yeomyeong narrowed his eyes involuntarily.
Precognition? It seemed like a lie, but her actions had all been too prescient.
She had found him right after his dragon fight, warned about the North Manchuria tragedy before anyone else.
The Manchuria base sending reinforcements so quickly was all thanks to her.
If it was precognition... it explained her baffling behavior.
—Precognition is powerful. Varies by condition, but you can glimpse the future multiple times.
Yeomyeong blinked silently. His golden eyes captured the saintess's face beyond the mantle.
—But it doesn't let you control every future. You can't revisit a glimpsed one, and the gods don't teach how to change it properly.
—...
—Like all free will, one misstep and good intentions breed greater disasters... that's the power.
—So why are you droning on about the saintess's power to me?
Yeomyeong sneered mentally, and the mantle rippled. A deep sigh.
—Truth is, the moment my daughter became saintess, I saw a future too.
—...
—The future I saw for her... wasn't rosy.
Deep sorrow transmitted through telepathy. A mother's grief Yeomyeong had never felt.
—She becomes a hero's companion, saves the world, but her own happiness? Unsaved. Unchosen by her love, she ages alone in the holy city... and dies lonesome.
Yeomyeong gazed at the mantle, thinking, no way. But it was exactly that.
—The instant she told me about you, I thought: because of you... because she played with fire with you. Maybe that's why she couldn't find love.
Yeomyeong deep-breathed to keep from drawing his sword. All that talk of fate and snowfields boiled down to this.
—You tried to kill me for that flimsy reason? To change your daughter's fate? Without proof?
—...Yes.
Selfish, brutal. Definitely not for the saintess's ears.
Maybe the saintess was a bit off because of her family, not just precognition—that thought flashed through Yeomyeong's mind.
But regardless, Morine continued the telepathy.
—But just now, seeing my daughter's face as a hostage... I thought differently.
—...Changed your mind seeing a knife to her throat.
A small chuckle. Then a sigh.
—I know it sounds weird. But what can I do? My daughter looked so happy.
Happy? Yeomyeong was speechless.
Like mother, like daughter.
Daughter insane from seeing futures, mother insane from seeing daughter's future.
And the most insane? Yeomyeong himself, understanding the saintess's mother even a speck.
Yeomyeong burning the government for cleanup crew revenge, Morine shooting without hesitation to alter her daughter's fate.
Same madness, different stands.
That's why he felt disgust toward her. Kin disgust, they called it.
And thanks to that... Yeomyeong was certain of one thing.
Morine knew he was Dung Beetle but not how he became Cheon Yeomyeong.
If she knew that, felt the same kin disgust...
She wouldn't bother with this rambling telepathy; she'd go for a deathmatch.
—Yeomyeong, may I make a proposal?
—...After yapping at your leisure, now a proposal?
—Give my daughter your youth.
—...
—In exchange, all my information and wealth.
An insulting proposal. To both him and the saintess.
He couldn't hold back; mana surged. Wave Yang Art stirred, the air rippling around.
—Shop your youth biz elsewhere.
—My daughter is bad at making friends. Only one peer, and hasn't seen them in three years.
—Get lost.
—What do I have to do? Kneel and beg?
The chair under the mantle creaked. Morine stood.
Poised to kneel any second, but thankfully, she didn't.
The saintess shot up first, blocking between Yeomyeong and Morine.
“God, just stop already!”
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