Chapter 224: East, Hwaseong (12)
A day later, Hino, now with the Divine Compass Plan in hand, called a meeting of all ten Lords early in the morning.
The idea was to share the locations so they could more easily deal with the scattered Divine Beasts.
“Using the Divine Beast Compass that Lord Hanzo passed on to me, the locations of the top divine beasts are as follows. Starting from Hwajung, Wen Yao is to the northeast, Bichao to the west, and Han Gui to the south.”
“Miho is…”
Curious about the absence of one beast in the explanation, Du Ling cautiously raised his hand and asked.
“Of the four, she’s the closest to Hwajung. I’ll take this one myself.”
“If Wen Yao is to the northeast, then it must be in my area, I think that the Divine Beast Compass is working properly.”
The Lords went on to ask about the source of the Divine Beast Compass that had appeared out of thin air, and Hino told them what he had heard from Zetto the night before.
Many of them looked at her in disbelief at the mention of Hanzo in his grave, but then one of the younger Lords raised his hand.
“I just happened to see Lord Hanzo in person.”
“Hmm…You must be Hamuro, then tell me what you saw and heard.”
The old man, who was the oldest of the Lords, asked the younger one, Hamuro, to explain, to which Hamuro smiled and began to speak.
“Well… I couldn’t stand the rumors of Lord Hanzo tomb being opened, so I thought I’d pay a quick visit to see if there was any trouble.”
“So?”
“Inside the tomb was some sort of ninja test, with a total of five gateways. In terms of level, it was appropriate for a late intermediate ninja or early advanced ninja.”
“A test.”
“After going through all the gateways, I reached the end and was able to meet Lord Hanzo. In a word, the Lord Hanzo I met there was a ghost, or a wraith, as he was invisible and unable to make physical contact with my body. I never met him in person, but judging by the level of human law, it was definitely the Great Ninja Lord Hanzo.”
“So what did Lord Hanzo say?”
“He said that he hoped it would be a place where young ninja could find enlightenment, and Lord Hanzo gave his full support to a man named Zetto.”
“Zetto…?”
“Who’s Zetto?”
“It’s a name I’ve never heard of, not even among the high-ranking ninja, let alone the lords.”
The Lords were puzzled by the sudden appearance of the name Zetto.
Hino explains.
“Zetto is the real name of the One Exile from Paradise.”
“Tsk…”
Happo, who already knew about him, clicked his tongue as bad memories came flooding back.
“What the hell happened to him that he has Lord Hanzo’s support? He’s not even a ninja in the first place, he’s just a stranger with no ties to Hwaseong.”
Happo grumbled.
It was a stinging blow to the egos of the ten lords.
He had opened the tomb of the great ninja Hanzo, a tomb they could not open themselves, and he had met Hanzo before anyone else, and by the looks of it, both Hanzo and the shrine maiden were supporting him.
It was then that Hamuro spoke.
“I don’t know about anything else, but I have to admit that he outperformed our lords in just a few days.”
“I agree, and it can’t be denied that he’s done the country a favor. He has done what we could not, and that is the difference between him and us. I don’t think it’s something to sleep on and stroke your ego over, Happo. This is a matter of national honor.”
The upright-looking lords and the only female lord spoke up as if to agree with Hamuro.
“Damn, I see. I got too emotional.”
Happo finally curled his tail but he wasn’t the only one who didn’t like Zetto.
One of the Lords who had been quietly listening to the conversation spoke up.
“But there’s one thing I don’t understand. If, as Happo said, he’s not even a human of Hwaseong, let alone a ninja, then why did he help Hwaseong, and if he wants a reward, can Hwaseong afford to reward him for his deeds?”
The Lord who asked the question was named Baku. He was the man who had assassinated the elderly shrine maiden years earlier
“Can you believe what he did in the first place? As soon as he set foot in Hwaseong, he drove out the Divine Beast Miho, and after that, he opened Hanzo’s tomb to obtain the Divine Beast Compass…? Even if the timing was coincidental and he was lucky, it’s still strangely neat.”
“It’s true that it’s hard to believe, even looking back, but I don’t think it’s something that can be done easily, even if it’s for a reward.”
Baku’s comment was followed by Hamuro’s denial.
“So what I’m saying is, what kind of reward would he want after such a great performance? To put it bluntly, I think it’s safe to be suspicious depending on the content of the reward.”
“Hmm…What do you think he might want, or does the shrine maiden have any idea?”
Hamuro asked, and Hino, who had been listening, spoke up.
“I can understand Baku’s opinion. Certainly, given his status as a stranger and his exploits, it would be difficult to reward him appropriately, but I don’t think we need to worry about the reward.”
Hino smiles faintly, covering her mouth with her sleeve, and then continues more leisurely.
“…Even if you don’t, I asked him last night if there was any reward he wanted, and he said he didn’t need any reward, that he didn’t do it for the reward.”
“Hmm…”
“Of course, even if he doesn’t want a reward, it’s still the right thing to do, but… At least he didn’t do it for the reward. Does that clear things up?”
Hino’s voice echoed through the room and Baku’s jaw dropped, while the other Lords nodded in affirmation.
“…I see there is no further disagreement, then we shall move on.”
Hino then moved on to talk about the retrieval operation, but Baku was still not happy that the plan had gone awry.
‘The One Exiled from Paradise… Where the hell did he come from…?’
***
Meanwhile, Zetto had just gotten out of bed and was holding his head in dizziness.
“…”
He must have overslept since the sun was already high in the sky.
He hadn’t slept for days, so it wasn’t unreasonable.
[Disciple, you have a visitor.]
I rolled my eyes at Sierra’s mention of guests, but at least there was no one else in the room.
At that moment, a familiar voice called out from outside the sunlit window.
“…Mr. Zetto……”
“…Keraph?”
Zetto scanned the room and recognized Keraph lurking outside the window.
He leapt to his feet and approached the window.
“What are you doing there, or more importantly, how did you get here?”
What is Keraph doing here?
This is the East, and Zetto hadn’t expected him to follow him this far.
Soon he heard Keraph whispering outside the window.
“I’m here in a hurry because I have information for you… but that’s not the point…!”
-Grrrr.
On a whim, I open the window to see Keraph’s face.
He’s crouched under the window, looking up at me.
“What’s going on?”
“The wild dog…! Wild dog is coming…!”
“Ah, the dog. So?”
I asked, wondering what was going on.
“No, the wild dog is coming…? I ran into him on the way here, but I managed to get away from him…”
“He’ll be here soon, he’s got a good nose.”
“That’s why you need to dodge him fast!”
“Hmmm…”
It didn’t matter if the wild dog came to visit since I even left my coat behind so he wouldn’t get lost on the way.
But this is where the cadets are staying, and that means I’m in close proximity to women who are overly protective of me.
If they were to see the wild dog trying to kill me, there would be a bloody fight, even if I had no intention of fighting him, so I’d better move to a different place to meet him.
“Lord Zetto…! This is not the time to stand still…!”
Why is Keraph making such a fuss, anyway?
“Keraph… What happened to the dog?”
I don’t know how he managed to outrun the wild dog known for its tenacity, but it was clear that something had happened between them.
‘A turtle? A rabbit?’
Keraph, who was sweating profusely at my question, mumbled something about a turtle or a rabbit.
He was obviously in bad shape and it was hard to tell what had happened between them.
***
It was the night of Zetto’s encounter with Hino after arriving at Hwajung.
Keraph and the wild dog had been traveling to Hwajung when night fell and, at Keraph’s suggestion, they stopped to rest by the fire.
“…I’ve never tasted anything so delicious.”
The boy, who was picking at the roasted snake that Keraph had cooked, grinned.
“Is that so…? I’m glad it fits in your mouth. Eat up.”
“Hmph, I heard you eat snakes, so I thought it might be poisonous, but it’s not.”
“I removed the poison beforehand. I don’t do dirty tricks like that. You must have been starving for days before you realized that all the snakes around here are dried up…”
It was up to the boy to hunt the snakes.
Keraph had told him to take as many as he wanted to eat, and he had taken well over twenty, all of which had found their way into the boy’s stomach, and the roasted snake he was holding now was the last one.
“One…A week.”
The boy replied, his fingers flexing as he counted.
“…Anyway, thank you. I should pay you for the delicious food, but I don’t have any money.”
“Forget it. The food isn’t worth the money.”
“For some reason, I recognized the disgusting smell of demons, but you’re a nice guy after all.”
The boy’s disgusting smell was a reference to magick, and since Keraph had a congenital disorder that prevented him from using magick properly, it was no wonder he didn’t smell disgusting.
“You are a turtle, but you are a reliable turtle.”
“A trustworthy turtle.”
“Good. Make friends with me. My name is Volk.”
The silver-haired boy, Volk, smiled and extended his hand to Keraph.
“I am Volk, son of Zargas, chieftain of the Great Fang Clan.”
“The Great Fang Clan?”
“It was the greatest of the Lycanthrope clans, but they all died in the war, and there’s only me and my sister left… So what’s your name?”
“I am… Kerud…”
“Kerud? That’s a strange name. Do all demons have names like that?”
“Something like that.”
Keraph would not give his real name.
What good would it do an assassin to know his name?
Better to open up and thank him for the food.
“Well, a name is nice.”
Volk smirked, patted his stomach, and leaned back against the coffin behind him.
‘Please… Please sleep…’
Keraph, who had laid down in response, stared at Volk.
Why else would Keraph have gone to the trouble of tending to so many roasted snakes? He was just waiting for the creature to fill his belly and let sleep overtake him with satiety.
“Hah… I’m getting sleepy…”
Volk’s eyes fluttered open and he yawned.
It wasn’t long before the silver-haired boy began to purr and snore.
Keraph waited for Volk to slip deeper into sleep, then gingerly pushed himself up.
“…”
Keraf stared down at Volk, then turned away. He could see the white city in the distance, so he figured he could reach Zetto before he woke up.
His plan worked, as he actually managed to reach Zetto before the hound did.
“Mmm… Kerud…?”
By the time Volk woke up, squinting in the sunlight, Keraph was nowhere to be seen.
No matter how stupid Volk was, there was no way he couldn’t interpret the current situation.
Even with his rudimentary racing skills, Volk instinctively realized that his finish line and Keraph’s finish line were the same.
Volk didn’t think it was a coincidence that he had met the demon when he boarded the train to Hwaseong.
After all, his goal, the Returned from Paradise, was to be hunted by demons and countless assassins, which meant that Keraph could be a contender.
“You sneaky little turtle…How dare he take my 50,000 gold…”
Volk’s teeth gritted and a feral snarl came from his mouth.
Even the Lycanthrope’s ears, which had been hidden by his intense emotions, were revealed.
Until now, Volk didn’t know the future that awaited his target, a blind man who would be used like a slave in the mines.