Chapter 232: East, Black Ghosts, and the Spectral Collector (1)
I had a long dream.
In my dream, I met a man with black hair and blue eyes.
He had the same face as Zetto, and he was dressed in a black robe with brilliant silver embroidery in the style of the East.
It was Zetto, but it wasn’t Zetto.
I followed the man, calling him Lord.
He and I in the dream must have been a couple.
If there was one thing he and Zetto had in common, it was that they seemed somehow very precarious.
I felt like I was walking on a dangerous path, like one wrong step and I would plummet to my death.
I had the feeling that at any moment he could brush my hand away and disappear.
I asked him.
‘Lord, are you going to stop now?’
I was afraid that this dream would be as fleeting as it was.
‘What are you so worried about?’
‘I’m afraid I’m going to be a widow.’
To my disheartening question, he replied with a confident smile.
‘I’m not going to leave you.’
And with that, I woke up from my dream.
Baek Cheon-jae and Baek Dao Hua were not unfamiliar names, I had heard them before from an old ghost.
I wondered if I was dreaming of a previous life.
Was it really just a dream?
My eyelids open, and I see the face of the man from my dream.
Unlike him, a white bandage covered his eyes, but I knew it. Behind those bandages were those same blue eyes.
“Lord…?”
The words came out of my mouth like I hadn’t come out of a dream yet.
“Eh…?”
The other woman’s questioning exclamation followed. I blinked and turned to see a red-haired woman with her mouth open.
“Miss Kaen…?”
Zetto called out to me.
“No, no…Lord…?”
Yuri shook her head in disbelief.
“You must have been dreaming, because there’s no way you could have gotten married overnight.”
“Well, it’s possible that you played something like that!”
“What do you mean?!”
The conversation between Zetto and Yuri gets heated.
What the hell is going on here?
I was sitting on my bed, rubbing my eyes because I couldn’t figure out what was going on.
Yuri, who had been talking to Zetto, looked at me with wide eyes, as if in disbelief, and opened her mouth.
“…Kaen, are you crying…?”
“Crying?”
What the hell was that?
At the same time, I touched my face, and my eyes were indeed moist.
“Ugh…”
Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my cheeks.
“It was good enough to make you cry…? Really?”
Yuri looked at me as I wiped the tears away.
“It’s not like that… Ms. Kaen, don’t sit still, please explain.”
“I… I don’t remember…”
She had no memory of last night.
“You didn’t force me… Zetto, was it that kind of thing…? Then let’s talk…”
“Hah…”
Zetto sighed, not quite sure what Yuri was talking about, but he couldn’t even answer now.
“But you guys… What are you doing in my room…?”
I asked with a shaky smile.
He, too, wondered what all the fuss was about in the morning.
Then Yuri and Zetto answered simultaneously in disbelief.
“Because this is my room?”
“This is Zetto’s room.”
“Oh…”
Something must have happened last night.
‘I must have gone to Zetto’s room yesterday, but he wasn’t there, so…’
…What did I do after that?
I couldn’t remember.
No matter how hard I tried to recall last night’s events, only faint memories came to mind. My head was dizzy with the terrible reverberations of a dream that I didn’t know if it was from a previous life or my own delusions.
The final straw in this mess was a voice from behind Yuri, who was standing near the door.
“Zetto, the succession ceremony…”
The platinum-haired girl stepped to the door, her face slowly hardening as she studied the faces of those in the room.
Then she clicked her tongue.
“…You two shouldn’t be here.”
***
In the end, the decision was made to watch the succession ceremony together.
Yuri had a small misunderstanding, but the uncharacteristically foolish Kaen cleared it up with an explanation.
‘If there was a problem, it must have been you guys. Not Zetto.’
Aizel hadn’t suspected much, but now she was with everyone in the class.
For now, we were watching the succession ceremony with everyone else in Class A.
A large crowd gathered in the square.
The mood was good, judging by the noise. Apparently, Hwaseong had deliberately avoided mentioning Bakura’s death.
“Very tasty.”
“I don’t like it because it’s hard.”
“That’s because I eat bread all the time.”
“It’s sweet and delicious.”
We were chatting as we ate the sugary fruit skewers.
“Do you want some Zetto?”
Aizel asked, reaching for her own fruit skewer.
“I’m good.”
I knew what it tasted like, but it wasn’t my favorite.
It was called tanghuru.
Here, it was sold as fruit candy. We were in the East, so the snacks were Eastern.
As the group waited for the succession ceremony and replenished our sugar reserves, I heard a familiar voice next to me.
“Turtle, I want to eat that.”
“What is that, candy…? Something children eat…”
It was Keraph and Volk.
They had decided to follow me for the time being, so I was stuck in Hwajung trying to keep up with my schedule.
“Don’t make a big deal out of eating. Look at that. A guy the size of a house is eating this.”
Volk pointed to Amon, who was eating tanghuru to convince Keraph to eat.
“…”
Amon, who was about to take a bite of the fruit candy, scratched his head silently.
“Unfortunately, we have to save up now. From what I hear, it’s not cheap to get to our destination.”
For your information, the Celestial Academy is located on a floating island. The only way for non-officials to set foot on the island was to pay for a tour, which was apparently quite expensive.
“Hmph…”
Volk muttered, pondering, and approached me.
“Volk…?!”
Keraph exclaimed in surprise.
It would do no good for my contact with them to be known to those in the Academy.
“Kindly blind man passing by, why don’t you help this poor kid with no money get a snack?”
Luckily, Volk didn’t pretend to know me.
“…”
Without a second thought, I put the money in Volk’s outstretched hand.
To the others, who watched in puzzlement, I said that it reminded me of my little sister. I’ll give Keraph the money for the tour of the Celestial Academy later.
‘I’ll get my coat then.’
As I was getting ready in the morning, I remembered that I had forgotten to get back the coat I had given to Volk as his guide.
As I munched on the sweet treats to pass the time, a huge fire erupted from the temple.
The succession ceremony was about to begin with the people’s admiration.
As we got closer to the temple, we could see Hino wearing a red robe as red as the flames.
The King of Hwaseong was also present to declare that Hino had officially inherited the torch.
Hino is no longer a halfpenny shrine maiden.
That was the end of my role in the kingdom.
I’ve solved the problem of the divine beasts, eliminated the traitor, and prevented the upset that could have been caused.
For Hino, it’s a satisfying ending, as she’s earned enough trust to be offered a position in the kingdom.
However, this was not the end of my journey in the East.
The issue of my past lives.
The blood festival.
Demons that could be swayed by Helgenas’ actions.
In addition to Hwaseong and Ishay, there were other unresolved matters that awaited me.
Right now, I was celebrating Hino’s succession ceremony, but my thoughts were elsewhere.
Now that the time had been delayed, the events were expected to be different.
It was exhausting.
***
A group of people dressed in oddly shaped armor that looked like it was haunted and covered their faces with shades were walking through a dark forest.
A girl leading the group pointed a finger in a direction.
“I sense a strong yogi coming from that direction.”
She led the way.
Soon, a man in the group stopped and asked.
“A strong yogi…is this the demon den you’re looking for?”
“I think so, but there’s something strange.”
“What do you mean, something strange?”
“A faint but distinct energy near the youkai den. It’s not like the usual youkai. What do you think?”
TLN: youkai = demon.
“No way… Is it a ‘spectral collector’…? Captain, don’t you think it’s better to deal with it all at once?”
A youkai was a demon whose mind had been consumed by a demonic weapon, commonly known as spectral sword, and was no longer human.
A youkai den was a place where powerful yogi emanating from a buried youkai in a specific location would turn anyone who passed by into a youkai.
Depending on its size, the number of demons that lurked there varied, but the one they were looking for was large enough to affect an entire country.
In response to his question, the man called the captain spoke up.
“The Spectral Collector…what a windfall.”
With a raised eyebrow, the captain ordered the group to hurry to the demon den before they lost him.
In the West, each country had a knightly order that dealt with demons, but the East, which was far from the land of demons, did not have a national anti-demon organization.
Instead, the East had its own organization known as the Black Ghosts.
Operating in the East, they are an armed organization that specializes in exterminating goblins and other demons.
The rumored Spectral Collector was one of the targets they were after, so taking down the Youkai Den would kill two birds with one stone.
Not one to pass up such a golden opportunity so the Black Ghosts were quickly making their way to the demon den.
The girl in the captain’s arms, who was acting as a guide, urgently tapped the captain on the shoulder.
“…But why?”
The captain clenched his fists and halted the group.
The girl was shaking.
Judging by her dilated pupils and quivering lips, it was a serious matter.
“The youkai in the youkai den are disappearing at an alarming rate…”
“It must be the Spectral Collector. If they want to take the spectral sword, they’ll have to deal with the youkai, so is that it?”
At the captain’s question, the girl narrowed her eyes and shook her head.
“…There’s a slight but distinct aura that’s been growing in size, a youkai that’s the size of a youkai den in a single body…”
At the girl’s continued explanation, one of the officers frowned in annoyance.
“A yogi the size of a giant youkai den…? I can’t even begin to fathom how many spectral swords he got his hands on…”
“Maybe he’s stronger than we thought. I don’t think I’d be surprised if somebody gets killed in this, so if you don’t want to risk your life, go back now.”
“”……””
The men exchanged glances at the captain’s stern voice before turning to him and shrugging.
“Who’s going, Captain…”
One of the men smirked.
“I suppose so…”
Most of the members of the Black Ghosts had lost loved ones, such as family members or lovers, to demons or goblins.
The captain was no different.
He had lost his wife and their child, who was only a few months old.
“Biyoung, you will send the ravens to call for reinforcements from nearby units.”
“Yes.”
“Soho, follow slowly with Biyoung. The rest of us will head straight for the demon lair.”
Leaving Biyoung, the youngest of the group, and Soho, their guide, behind, they moved quickly.
Meanwhile, Soho held onto the hem of Biyoung’s dress as she scribbled a letter to be sent off with the raven.
As the group’s guide, she had special powers that allowed her to observe the yogi with the naked eye.
As she looked in the direction they were headed, she saw it.
She had never seen anything like it before.
As her eyes took in the horrific sight, Soho prayed fervently.
“I hope they’re safe…
At the same time in the Youkai Den.
Contrary to her fears, it was not the Spectral Collector who had entered the Youkai Den.
There was a blind man with a white bandage over his eyes, clutching a sack of blood-red blades.
‘I thought they’d already been wiped out…’
It was Zetto.
He knew that this huge youkai den was on his way to the Celestial Academy so in the middle of the night, he sneaked out of his tent and stopped by the demon den.
[I have never seen so many demons before.]
“I’ve never seen either.”
In front of Zetto, who was cracking jokes at Sierra at the wrong time, a grotesque-looking, no-longer-human creature was howling and drooling ferociously.
‘Why do I feel like there are more of them than I saw in the game…’
Zetto raised a brow as the flesh of the creatures brushed against his skin.
They were definitely demons, but they didn’t look like demons to him.
‘I wonder how much I can level up.’
He didn’t see any youkai lusting for human flesh and blood, just a lot of experience points.