Chapter 231: East, Hwaseong (19)
In a crowded tavern, drunken and excited voices call out.
“I hear they’ve captured Wan You.”
“All the troublemakers are gone now. What a relief.”
“She’s scheduled a succession ceremony for tomorrow.”
The shrine maiden Hino, who had succeeded in retrieving three of the top-ranked divine beasts, immediately chased after the missing Wan You to retrieve him.
With all of them in the palm of her hand, she didn’t have to worry about the rest of the Divine Beasts.
“What’s the succession ceremony?”
Volk asked, picking at a chicken leg as he listened to their conversation.
Keraph set down his drink and opened his mouth to answer Volk’s question.
“It’s a ritual. I guess you could say it’s a declaration that she’s the new shrine maiden.”
“A ritual? A declaration? Why would that be necessary?”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s a religious thing… Or maybe it’s to be recognized as a true shrine maiden by performing a succession ceremony…”
Even as Keraph explained, Volk shook his head as if he didn’t understand.
“Well, you don’t live in a vacuum, so just know that while traditions may seem silly, there are more humans who cling to them than you might think.”
Volk smirks as Keraph adds another comment.
Even his method of assassination was simple, so rituals and traditions could be difficult for him to understand, as he always favored the rational and simple.
A day after the capture of Miho, and the night of the capture of Wen Yao by Hino, the shrine maiden of Hwaseong, I was talking to Volk and Keraph, who had returned from their assignments, in anticipation of the succession ceremony.
“How was the job, by the way?”
“It was easy.”
“Easy.”
As if in unison, they both said the same thing in response to my next question.
“I hate to say it, but…I don’t think killing a Lord in secret is exactly easy.”
I mentioned Bakura, their target, and lowered my voice in case anyone was listening.
“Well, I guess I got lucky that day, the information was pretty easy to process, and Volk was pretty good at listening to me.”
“Did you ever feel intimidated trying to control him?”
“Intimidated?”
Keraph asked, glancing over at Volk, who sat beside him, picking at the chicken hungrily.
It was clear that Keraph had been reluctant to be around Volk before, but now he seemed strangely unaffected. As if he had adjusted to him.
“All I could think about was keeping it quiet. More to his credit than mine, he was strangely calm.”
“Ho-ho. I thought you were the furthest thing from calm.”
“Are you kidding me? There’s no way I don’t have the calmness and coolness that are the basics of killing.”
Volk, who doesn’t even have the basics of killing, retorted while I was currently trying to gauge the effectiveness of the ‘Conqueror’s Command’ buff.
Volk is far from calm and collected, as evidenced by his earlier encounter with me.
He specializes in combat, using his overwhelming physical prowess to crush his opponents.
He doesn’t even bother to read his opponent’s characteristics or strength, which are fundamental to assassination.
Despite this, he has survived back alleys steeped in blood and the smell of drugs.
It is true that none of his targets have ever been a match for him. Of all the Lycanthropes of all time, there were only three that could match Volk in terms of brute strength, so it’s no wonder.
However, when facing a stronger opponent, his emotional side can prove fatal, such was the case against me.
“But it was a little weird.”
“It wasn’t a little bit, it was a lot. I honestly thought he’d changed.”
“…My excitement was strangely subdued even though the moon was shining brightly.”
Volk adds, glancing over to see if Keraph ramblings are bothering him.
Lycanthropes are influenced by the moon, just like the werewolves we’re all familiar with from other media.
When under the moon, lycanthropes become stronger. However, too much of this energy can have a side effect, causing them to become overexcited and eventually go on a rampage.
As a result, lycanthropes hide themselves away during the full moon.
The same goes for Volk’s sister’s illness, full moon disease.
It was one of the side effects of the moon’s energy.
It’s a disease where the body thinks it’s a full moon when it’s not, and the body wears out from the constant energy absorption.
The nameless lycanthrope I met in the Labyrinth was a case in point. He wasn’t a pureblood like Volk, so he wasn’t as powerful, and he wasn’t fed by the moon’s energy in a normal way, which is why I was able to deal with him at the time.
While Volk’s current human form is only possible because he is a “pureblood,” meaning he has no human blood in his veins, he can still completely transform at any time by absorbing the moon’s energy, just like the Lycanthrope I met earlier.
It just happened to be a full moon yesterday but from the sounds of it, Volk didn’t transform or go on a rampage.
‘If Keraph’s lack of fear of Volk, and Volk’s calmness, were due to my skill…’
I had no hard evidence of this, but I could speculate.
That said, the buffs from my skills are not the usual power-ups, but rather buffs that makes them more efficient.
It’s not intuitive, it’s not simple, and it dilutes its value as a buff skill.
However, the upside is that there are a lot of different buffs that can be given on command.
For example, ordering someone to defeat an unbeatable opponent gives them the power to do so, or ordering someone to survive in a chaotic battlefield gives them better judgment to help them survive.
In other words, my command somehow enforces a line that must be followed.
This interpretation makes more sense when you consider the position of the Conquering King.
The Conquering King was the only one who unified the East so at least in the East, his word was law and his orders were absolute.
‘If I give orders willy-nilly, there will be side effects…’
A king’s words carry weight.
Someone will live, someone will die.
The more buffs a skill has, the more responsibility it carries.
“Ah, well…Mr. Zetto, this guy almost became a demon.”
“What do you mean, didn’t he almost sprout horns on his head?”
Keraph said, and Volk frowned, rubbing his forehead.
“Bakura, I mean. I think he was going to become a demon himself, though that didn’t happen because Volk erased the magic circle that was about to be activated.”
“A magic circle? Wasn’t it graffiti?”
“…That’s good to know.”
Apparently, due to the delay, Bakura was on the verge of activating the Zen Law.
The distance between us made communication difficult, and it could have been disastrous. If Bakura had become a demon, it would have been a terrible thing.
‘I need a communication device to stay in touch with them.’
Maybe a satellite.
I’ll have to ask Geppeti about that.
“Bakura was a lord, but I don’t think he fought for the country.”
“He was fighting for Hwaseong, yes, but in a different way.”
Bakura didn’t like the way Hwaseong was ruled. It was all ninjas, both the ones holding the swords and the ones wielding them, and he wondered how ninjas weren’t in the hierarchy.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Hamuro from a previous game.
‘A sword without a tooth to protect is bound to rust.’
That’s what Hamuro says after you and the player defeat Bakura and I couldn’t agree more.
“So you already knew that?”
“To what extent?”
“……”
Keraph strokes his chin and thinks to himself.
[Phew, I wonder what he’s doing…?]
Sierra smiles as she watches Keraph in agony.
She’s familiar with my behavior, but not with Keraph or Volk, who are completely unfamiliar with her.
It was annoying, but Keraph didn’t ask more questions than that, just racked his brain trying to figure me out somehow.
Eventually, Volk, who had emptied his bowl and was patting his stomach, turned to me.
“Anyway, I’ve done what you asked me to do. Now heal my sister as you promised.”
“I told you I need a rare herb.”
“Medicinal ingredients, where are they?”
“It should be in the Celestial Academy.”
“The Celestial Academy?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t have a problem getting the medicinal ingredients, because the next stop is the Celestial Academy.”
The Old Moon Flower, a medicinal herb that could cure full moon disease, was the reward for the battle between the Celestial Academy and the Innocence Academy.
I feel sorry for the students of the Celestial Academy, but if I don’t get it, Volk will bite my head off, so I won’t be able to go easy on them.
***
It was the morning of the Succession Ceremony.
The Academy decided to leave for the Celestial Academy immediately after watching the succession ceremony.
The sound of cheerful laughter could be heard as the bustle outside could be heard through the wide-open windows.
Everyone seemed to be in a festive mood since the succession ceremony was to be held.
It was a feast for me too.
It had been a long time coming.
To be honest, I didn’t even want to get up due to the accumulated fatigue, but I felt like I had to get up right away.
The window, which I hadn’t even opened, and the pink hair on the bed told me why.
“Miss Kaen…?”
“…Mmm…”
I shook her, but she showed no sign of waking up.
[Tsk tsk…]
Sierra shook her head and clicked her tongue.
Judging by her reaction, nothing much had happened.
I wonder if she’s sleepwalking or something.
As I stroked Kaen’s hair, I heard her mumbling in her sleep.
“…Lord…”
“……”
I froze for a moment at the meaningful words.
It was a word that Dao Hua used to call the Conquering King. I don’t know about other terrible dreams, but she shouldn’t be dreaming about her past life.
‘There’s no way her memories have returned…’
If there was anything that bothered me, it was the sword of Dao Hua that Kaen was clutching tightly in her sleep.
“What kind of sword is that…?”
I snatched the sword away from her and propped it up against the wall.
“Whoa…”
Running a hand through my hair, I pushed myself out of bed, trying to collect my thoughts.
I didn’t particularly intend to wake Kaen and I could just leave the room and pretend nothing had happened.
Nothing really happened in the first place.
It was at that moment that someone knocked on the door.
With a quick scattering of my senses, I recognized the woman behind the door as Yuri.
“Zetto, are you awake?”
“……”
I was silent.
I rolled my eyes and glanced back and forth between Kaen, who was still in bed, and the door where Yuri was waiting.
“I was going to watch the succession ceremony with you, but…”
“…”
“Zetto…?”
When there was no answer, Yuri repeated the question.
Soon, Yuri’s mumbling could be heard from behind the door.
“Is something wrong…?”
Nothing happened, except for the sight of Kaen lying on my bed.
“Is Zetto…?!”
There was no danger.
I could have dismissed her as just sleeping, but I was so used to waking up at the slightest sound that if I had really been asleep, I would have woken up at the sound of Yuri’s voice soo her question was understandable.
Which made it all the more frightening for Kaen, who would have stayed in bed without making a sound.
“Zetto, can I come in…?”
Yuri reached for the door handle.
I thought about hiding in Sheddie shadow, but hiding wouldn’t help.
Let’s just tell her the truth since I didn’t do anything wrong.
“…You can come in.”
I replied and waited for the door to open.
The door swung open and Yuri stuck his face in.
“Zetto, good morning…”
Her red eyes took a moment to form a crescent moon when she spotted me.
“Hmm…? Why is Kaen here…?”
She frowns as she touches Kaen’s hair, who is lying on the bed.
“Well, I don’t know… When I woke up… Miss Kaen…”
I trailed off, telling it like it was.
***
“That’s why I’m so… When I woke up… Ms. Kaen…”
Even though Zetto had told the truth without any falsehoods, Yuri was still horrified.
The clever lizard’s voice echoed in her head.
[She did it. She did it.]
Yuri’s eyes fluttered incessantly.
[Master, do you really believe such an obvious lie?]
Benno could tell by the air currents in the room that nothing had really happened, but she hadn’t missed the opportunity to attack the frustrated Yuri.
[Oh, I picked the wrong one and missed the proactive one…]