#251
Kang Hwan-gye (3)
"Hmm, so you're saying there's no such thing as a map?"
"Yes yes! As you can see, in a small farm like ours, we can't have that and we don't need it. There are some rough markings of nearby mountain trails and village locations, but they are more like crude scribbles than a map. "Yes…"
Hwangrimchaeju Gongpal, the leader of the bandits who had set up camp on Mt. Yanghyeong, kept groveling and quietly wiping away cold sweat.
Although he was faced with a handsome young man who looked much younger than himself, there was nothing left in his heart to look down on the other person.
In the martial arts world, where it was not uncommon for women who were considered ordinary or children who had not yet studied Jihak (15 years of age) to achieve great heights, banditry was also an extreme profession.
Unlike other people who sit on a small mountain path and earn small amounts of money, the mountain is not that big, but if you can even cook wild vegetables, it is only possible if you learn sesame seeds.
Moreover, isn't this the Warring States Period, when the country that ruled the world has collapsed and armed groups from various warlords in the Sedogawa region are repeatedly joining forces?
Of course, he was a martial artist who could barely do chin-ups with the ball and arm at the top level, but…
'Youkai? …No, is it fresh? Damn, what kind of sudden lightning is this!'
The young man in front of him was an incomprehensible being that even he could not fathom.
When my subordinates first brought in the dark-skinned scholar, I wondered if they had captured a son of a valuable family for ransom.
The style of clothes he wore was clearly similar to military uniform, but the material and stitching seemed unusual.
'Damn, I should have noticed when I saw the eyes and ears. You damn bastards! If it was such a monster, you should have told me sooner!'
It was a defeatist decision to just ignore it, thinking that I was a deformed child born among the Saekmok people.
So, before I could properly listen to what my subordinates said, I went out strong to show my dignity as a leader…
Creepy –
right after that.
The moment my eyes met those star-shaped pupils filled with boredom.
He was able to experience a fear he had never imagined before.
'I remember that time again…'
Gongpal, who was standing politely in front of Harris, who was lost in his thoughts alone, gently stroked the goosebumps on his forearms.
A horrifying feeling as if all things in the world, including heaven and earth, were staring at you with hostility.
I prided myself on having lived with nature and the mountains all my life, but at that time, the forest, which was as comfortable as my home, felt like the stomach of a wild beast.
And the situation after that was right now.
"Hmm… Hunan Province, Hunan Province. And the war is still going on."
Harris, sitting on the animal skin-covered chair that was the seat of his arm, muttered to himself.
It was a soft voice, like a rolling jade bead, just like its appearance, but to Gongpal, it was no different from the words of King Yeomna.
Afterwards, he had to rack his brains with his subordinates for a long time to provide the information Harris wanted.
'I should have moved somewhere else a long time ago!'
Until that being, which is no different from a natural disaster, is reasonably satisfied and leaves.
***
Whoosh—
a figure flying across the sky as if it were a bird.
It was Harris who collected the necessary information and set out again.
'It's definitely because more than 10 years have passed since the last information was made known. It seems like the situation is more serious than what we had investigated beforehand.'
We already knew that the empire that ruled this land had collapsed and wars had begun in various places, but now that had been going on for more than ten years and security had deteriorated to a serious level.
There were constant fights, big and small, not only at the provincial level in each region but also at the county level.
'It's the same here in Hunan Province.'
These days, as a considerable amount of time has passed, large-scale all-out wars do not occur as often as they did in the early days.
Roughly speaking, should we say that with the war situation solidified, the two sides are eating away at each other's territory based on petty local warfare?
Among them, the largest forces in Hunan Province are the military clique of General Wongang, a member of the military clan, the numerical alliance of Dongdongsipbaechae (洞庭十八寨), which is active around Dongdongho, and the Hyeongsan faction (衡山派), the representative of political factions in the region. It was.
'It was said that various minor forces clung to them according to their respective interests. 'I don't know how bad it was that the enemy got one of them.'
That was something I just had to go and check for myself.
…Yes, right now, Harris was heading to Dongdong Lake, the home of the Eighteen Houses of Dongdong.
There was no particular reason for choosing that destination.
Just because it was the closest.
'I don't have time, how long are you nitpicking on the outskirts? 'Once you hit the big guy, you can rip him off if you need anything!'
Moreover, since Dongdongsip8chae was a den of thieves, there was nothing to worry about.
They must have been forcibly collecting wealth based on their power, so even if they get robbed, they will have nothing to complain about.
'Projecting the power of a spirit that exists in another dimension does not reduce the power that much. Is it because of the 5 million point 'Dimension Barrier Reduction'?'
In addition, Harris's condition was not 100% perfect, but it was much better than initially expected.
Perhaps because I was far away from the World Tree, the peculiar laziness that had been filling me for so long had faded away.
'oh? 'I found another one.'
While crossing the sky like that for a while.
Harris felt a presence at the edge of his senses, so he turned in that direction and fell to the ground.
Whiooo—
The place that caught his eye was a shallow natural cave in a crevice of a cliff.
A place with cracks and irregularities that cannot be seen unless you look carefully.
When he got down there, he naturally stretched out his hand—.
He grabbed the stem of a certain plant and pulled it straight out.
Just because of that, the human-shaped root was pulled out cleanly without any resistance, and there was not a single speck of dirt on it.
"This is my third. "Is this one better than the previous two combined?"
Harris looked at it, nodding in satisfaction.
This grass root was a so-called elixir, a mysterious herb filled with 'ki', the energy that flows through this world.
'Is this the human-shaped ginseng that I've only heard about? that's interesting. 'The roots really look like people, right?'
Perhaps due to the nature of energy, which is basically light and free, but whose density increases endlessly when combined with something, there were many spirit creatures in this Ganghwan world whose natural energy was concentrated beyond this level.
These are things that are hard to find in Outerica, which is based on mana, which feels somewhat heavy and sticky.
This puppet was also a spiritual herb that had the spirituality of a plant and could hide its own energy, but for high elf Harris, who literally felt the nature of the area as if it were his own body, finding them was a piece of cake.
There are so many that even though he is filtering out the ones he thinks are a bit subtle and collecting only the ones he thinks are good even by his standards, there are already three.
'Perhaps because it is not a sacred mountain, the energy contained therein is not that great.'
Still, this was the extent to which I picked up things that were just passing by.
If you really make up your mind and tour the famous spiritual mountains in each region, how many elixirs will you get?…
'Hmm, I'll definitely remember it and put it into practice whenever I have time.'
Everything he acquired like that will have a significant impact on his growth.
Afterwards, he summoned Pascal, the wind spirit, and created a gust of wind around him. After catching a glimpse of the ridge a little further away, he flew up into the sky and shot out to the north.
Whiiing—!
"Huh?! "That…"
Cheolpudeok!
And on the very ridge where Harris' gaze landed.
A herbalist who happened to see him shook his butt and opened his mouth.
I have heard rumors about the amazing martial arts people, but even in those exaggerated stories, there was no mention of a being that freely roams the sky blowing in the wind like that.
Rather than that, no matter how you look at it, it's not like a martial artist…
"A poet? "No, Holy Spirit?"
I couldn't see it clearly because it disappeared so quickly, but it was so impressive that I clearly remembered that the creature's head flashed a brilliant gold.
As if the sun from the sky had come down to earth.
"…This is not the time!"
The herbalist hurriedly moved to the place where the spirit ascended to heaven and searched the surroundings.
As I said earlier, it was definitely something that the Holy Spirit had foreshadowed me.
"ah!"
Then, under the influence of the energy of the puppet ginseng, he obtained a few roots of the herb that had been left behind by Harris, who had grown up around it, judging it to be 'substandard', and knelt down on the spot and bowed.
"Ugh! Thank you thank you! God of heaven and earth! "With this amount, we can pay for the medicine for our village… We can finally save that child… Sigh!"
A herbalist who climbed a dangerous mountain to somehow save his child in a difficult situation.
For some reason, he, who had a bleak future due to the sharp decline in the efficacy of medicinal herbs collected over the past few years, was able to earn a large income for the first time in a long time due to Harris' indifference.
Based on that, I was able to not only pay for expensive medicine but also feed my family a hearty meal of meat soup.
'It's arrived. Is this really Dongdong Lake? 'Some lake looks like the sea.'
So, without his knowledge, the story about a spirit roaming the sky with a golden halo around his head began to spread.
***
When I decided to send Harris to Kang Hwan-gye.
At first, I was worried about what to do to hide my strange appearance.
'Magic tools brought from another world cannot be used on Earth, but they cannot be used in other dimensions filled with energy of a different nature.'
That was a story that became common knowledge as it became known that the magic tools that wealthy people had saved up for transmission were actually useless in this world.
It also meant that Harris had no way to hide his appearance unless he directly used the ability.
'And Harris, the spirit archer, doesn't have that ability.'
So should I at least wear a mask?
But that alone couldn't hide the extraordinary, twinkling, star-shaped pupils.
The situation is extremely difficult.
While I was thinking about it, a question suddenly occurred to me.
'why? Is there really a need to go through the trouble of disappearing?
By the standards of Kang Hwan-gye, a strong man who had reached transcendence, Harris was an expert in the field of police.
According to a rough preliminary investigation, there are only about ten people in the current martial arts world who have reached that level, even if we generously estimate the number of people in hiding.
In a situation like that… why do I have to keep my head around what others think?
'There's no need for that! It looks unusual, so what are they going to do?'
That's how I was able to carry out my activities with confidence like I do now.
Martial arts style clothing was easy to obtain even on Earth, so they showed some sincerity in preparing martial arts uniforms.
Whiooo—
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
"Aaaah!"
"Save me…!"
But now that I'm here, it's true that I wonder if it would have been better to find a way to hide myself somehow.
This unique appearance combined with the unique ability of elemental magic makes me think…
"Ugh—! It's a monster! "A monster has invaded!"
"Stop it! You idiots! "How long will I keep screaming… Wow!"
"Hi! How can I deal with something like that? "I can't even get close!"
"I am Amitabha Buddha…. You monster! "Go away!"
…Because the reaction of those who saw this was more extreme than expected.
Goooooh
!
An enormous storm wrapped around the area centered around Harris.
The dark clouds that were drawn by that gravitational force covered the sky.
And mixed in with that is a thunderbolt that sends sparks flying in all directions.
Anyone can see that he is now a great monster that brings down strong winds and rain.
'No, isn't this a matter of appearance?'
When I thought about it, I thought that if someone using this kind of ability suddenly attacked and destroyed their base, there would be that kind of reaction no matter what their appearance was.
'Well, there's nothing we can do about it now.'
Harris shrugged lightly and looked at his target again.
This is the home of the Eolongchae, one of the eighteen houses of Dongdong.
It was the place where he would be the first sacrifice of Kang Ho-haeng.