Another day passed. It had been three days since we set out, and the trip toward Liaoning had gone without any real trouble.
“We should rest here for a day.”
We made camp. We had been pushing without a break for days, so the horse needed rest.
And the others could use a more comfortable break too.
After factoring that in, I picked the spot and set up camp. Since everyone here was a martial artist, we got it done quickly.
“A valley.”
Yu Yul looked at the lake and valley nearby as he spoke.
“Ayeon Valley.”
I answered him.
“Ayeon? It’s got a name?”
“That’s what people call it.”
It wasn’t a place I came to often. It was pretty far from Liaoning, and all I really knew was the name.
Apparently there was some fairy tale attached to it or whatever, but I had never cared enough to look into it.
For something with a legend attached to it...
There was so little spiritual presence here that it was safe to assume it was just a rumor.
If there’s a legend at all...
That usually meant there was at least some chance something had once been here.
This valley just looks empty.
I didn’t feel anything in particular.
“So we’re resting here?”
“Yes. We leave first thing in the morning.”
“What about the night watch?”
“You take first watch. I’ll stand the middle one.”
I gave way on the order without much thought. I needed less sleep these days anyway.
“I’m going to take a quick look around.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“No. Please just stay put.”
“Ahaha. You’re getting shy again.”
Ignoring Yu Yul’s nonsense, I moved off. With a light jump, I rose above the forest. My body felt light.
Let’s see.
I climbed to the top of a tall tree and looked around.
Not many evil ghosts... and there don’t seem to be many other ghosts either.
Maybe because the terrain was relatively safe, I didn’t sense much that would be annoying to deal with. At this rate, we should be fine continuing on.
As long as we didn’t get hit by another torrential downpour on the way, I had nothing else to ask for.
The sky looks fine too, so it should be all right.
It really needed to stay that way. I had no interest in useless trouble cropping up on the road.
Hm.
At this rate, we might arrive earlier than expected.
As soon as we get there, first...
I had to deal with the ring on the soul side.
And after that—
I need to find my older brother.
I would probably have to go drag in that drunken lunatic wherever he was making a scene in the county town. Was Father in Liaoning too? He probably was.
...I already hate this.
There were very few things more exhausting than having to deal with the two men of the Bang Family at the same time.
...Tsk.
Even so, after everything that had happened, I had to face them at least once.
“Hoo.”
I let out a breath. In the quiet, steadying my breathing, the churn inside me gradually settled.
Chirr, chirr. Chirr.
The sound of insects and the rustling of grass in the wind filled the air. Listening to them, my face stiffened for a moment.
Old man.
I called to someone in my head.
The old bastard who had gone silent for months now.
Old man.
I called again, but there was still no answer.
As expected.
Where did he go?
There was no way he had simply vanished. And with his personality, there was no chance he had passed on like this.
What happened?
I hadn’t seen him since what happened in the dream-vision, and that made it all the more suffocating. Was he hiding somewhere, preparing something again? If so, was it really the sort of thing that would take this long?
...Tsk.
If he was planning something, that made me uneasy. Would it kill him to just tell me?
There’s so much I want to ask. Can’t he just come out already?
When he was around, he was a pain in the ass. Now that he was gone, that was a problem too. It almost felt like I’d lost my way without noticing.
Was I relying on him more than I thought?
I hadn’t believed I was.
But maybe, without realizing it, I had been leaning on Yoo Cheongil all along.
That thought crossed my mind.
“Tch.”
I clicked my tongue and shook my head. Maybe it was because I was heading back to the main house for the first time in so long. Too many useless thoughts were creeping in.
I dropped down from the tree.
Someone was waiting for me below.
Freak Demon.
“My Sky.”
“...You startled me.”
I hadn’t sensed him at all. Sometimes I wondered whether this man was actually a ghost.
“You scared me.”
“My apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Freak Demon smiled awkwardly. Looking at him, I asked,
“What is it?”
“Well...”
If Freak Demon had come looking for me instead of staying back at camp, there had to be a reason. In answer to my question, he said carefully,
“I sensed people not too far from here.”
“People?”
I narrowed my eyes.
There was something nearby? I hadn’t felt it.
“What kind of people?”
There could be people out here. Even if the nearest county town was still a ways off, there were settlements in the area.
Still, the fact that Freak Demon had come to tell me himself meant—
It’s something else.
He wasn’t talking about ordinary passersby.
“From what I could tell...”
As expected.
“I believe they’re unorthodox faction trash.”
“...The unorthodox faction?”
They didn’t sound ordinary.
The sudden appearance of unorthodox faction bastards.
After hearing Freak Demon out, I tilted my head.
The unorthodox faction? Here?
This isn’t even a particularly dangerous area.
I couldn’t see why unorthodox faction bastards would show up here.
More than that—
Why is Freak Demon so sure they’re unorthodox?
He had sensed them from a distance.
I wanted to know why that alone was enough for him to say it with certainty.
“We’re close now.”
That was how Freak Demon and I ended up moving together. We were starting to draw near Liaoning—still a long way off, but close enough that the presence of unorthodox faction bastards on this land felt wrong.
Keeping our presences suppressed, we crept closer.
Soon I felt them too.
The number...
A little over ten, maybe.
What is this?
What were they doing out here?
But unlike my earlier uncertainty—
Ah.
I thought I understood why Freak Demon had pegged them as unorthodox.
Their energy’s different.
The aura they gave off was different from the start. Sharp. Rough. Crude.
And on top of that—
Blood.
The smell of blood clung to them.
They seemed to be moving with a carriage in tow.
The problem was—
...This.
I frowned when I saw the carriage.
I could feel spiritual energy from it.
Malice churned inside like a flood.
What is that?
What the hell was in there?
I focused my gaze.
“Brother, are we really okay taking it like this?”
One of them spoke, and his voice reached my ears.
“What, then? How else were we supposed to take it?”
“I mean, sure, there aren’t many people around, but still. Moving it this openly feels a little much.”
“It’d be stupid to try to hide something this big, and we’re not in any position to spare the time for it either.”
“I guess that’s true. Still.”
One of them smacked his lips.
“It’d be nice if we got even a little break. We finally got our hands on something valuable, and we can’t even stop in a county town.”
“If you stopped in a county town, you’d just go chasing a courtesan’s skirts. Who do you think you’re fooling?”
“That’s the fun part.”
“I am getting hungry myself, so it’s not the worst idea. But hold it in. The boss’s business comes first.”
“No, but... you’re saying we carry this all the way to Liaoning?”
“Quit whining. If you’ve got energy for that, use it to haul.”
The conversation was strange.
Something valuable, huh...
That they had come all the way to this deserted area was one thing, but—
No time to move it in secret?
Something about this was off.
Especially with the spiritual energy rolling out of that carriage, scraping at the inside of my skull.
“We’re almost there. We just need to make it to Abandoned Mountain. Boss will be waiting there.”
“...If we finish this, we really do get to rest, right?”
“Probably. Boss said so.”
Tap. Tap.
I drummed my fingers against my wrist. My thoughts still hadn’t finished arranging themselves.
Then—
“If this offering goes well, he said he’d reward us generously. So if we just grab a ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) few more girls—”
The moment the man’s words reached me, my body sank.
-My Sky?
Freak Demon spoke in confusion, but by then I had already landed on the ground.
“Huh?”
“Who is that?”
“Who goes there!”
Shrring!
They drew their swords and pointed them at me.
“A traveler wandering around this late at night? Then you’re unlucky.”
The one who had been speaking added with gleaming eyes,
“If you’d just kept walking quietly—”
“Let me ask one thing.”
I cut him off.
“What’s inside that?”
“What’s inside?”
The man’s expression hardened.
“Why should I tell you? Who the hell are you?”
“...”
Something rose from the soles of my feet and slammed into the crown of my head.
The feeling of my blood going cold was never pleasant, no matter how many times I felt it.
“Who I am. Hm.”
What was I supposed to call myself here?
I thought about it for a moment.
There wasn’t really anything I wanted to say.
So I simply wrapped my hand around the sword at my waist.
“No idea. Doesn’t seem like I’ve got a name worth giving you.”
“You little—? Don’t tell me... you’re from the Alliance?”
“Half right.”
“...!”
At my calm confirmation, their eyes went wide.
“Damn it. How did he know?”
“Battle positions!”
Their swords came out all at once.
Watching them, I took one step forward.
“Kill him—!”
Slash.
The head of the one who had been speaking dropped.
“Ghk—?!”
Then I started cutting through the others, one after another.
The Divine Sword cut through human flesh with all the resistance of tofu.
Blood soaked the earth in an instant.
“Y-you bastard!”
“He’s a monster...!”
Their realms didn’t seem that high.
The strongest among them was maybe a first-rate martial artist.
A first-rate martial artist.
It felt strange to hear myself dismiss that as unimpressive.
Slash—
Another one.
Then two more.
I cut them down slowly.
Two of them turned and ran.
“R-run!”
Maybe they had judged there was no chance of winning.
Either way, they chose to flee—
Crack!
“Gghk!”
—and died with their necks twisted in the hands of Freak Demon, who had appeared behind them still dressed as a woman.
Before I could count to ten, all ten men in front of me were dead.
“...”
Drip. Drip.
Watching the blood fall from the Divine Sword, I walked toward the carriage.
“My Sky.”
Freak Demon called to me.
Then, as he spoke, he carefully dropped to one knee.
“...I am ashamed.”
Ashamed of what?
I didn’t ask.
Without saying anything, I walked to the carriage and pulled it open.
Thunk.
The moment the door opened, a pale white hand fell limply out from inside.
“...”
The carriage was packed with corpses.
Girls.
They looked barely in their mid-teens.
Even the oldest couldn’t have been over twenty.
And the carriage was full of their bodies.
Above them—
Evil ghosts.
The girls’ souls had been left behind exactly as they were, clotted together after turning into evil ghosts in their malice.
So that was the spiritual energy I had been sensing.
-Ah... ahh.
Because the people who had killed them were dead now, a few of the evil ghosts finally passed on.
I didn’t look at them.
Lives cut off before they could even close their eyes.
Looking at them, I spoke.
“...Freak Demon.”
“Yes, My Sky.”
“Will you grant me one request?”
It looked like, on the way to Liaoning—
“I await your command. Whatever it may be.”
—I needed to take care of one thing first.
