The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 222

Chapter 222

Chapter 222 . The Spear and the Treasure Chest (2)

Seol Jihu felt Maria shaking in his embrace . Chohong promptly kicked her butt .

“Oi, what are you gonna do? Hurry up and decide . ”

“You gotta agree if you have a conscience~”

Hugo rubbed it in, knowing how Maria must be feeling .

“Ob…”

“Ob?”

“Obbiwusly… I agwee…”

Because she was speaking through her clenched teeth, the group needed some time before they could understand what she said .

Just like that, Flone came to receive a share of the loot . Since she was fully justified, this was a clean method that drowned out any controversy .

Seol Jihu chuckled, not knowing his share of the loot would increase this way .

Teresa winked at him secretly, while Maria cried . She must have been more than a little upset as she was bawling her eyes out .

Seol Jihu burst into laughter as he patted the wailing Maria .

“Things ended up turning out this way… but I never thought you would be the one to bring it up first, Mister Kazuki . ”

“Well… I tried to do my best, but this was the first time I felt sorry about taking my share of the loot in an expedition . ”

Kazuki replied flatly, then glanced at Seol Jihu .

“Now that you’ve secured the funding, will you be moving to Eva right away?”

“Yes . ”

“And you’ll make an organization in Eva . ”

“Probably . ”

“Will you have affiliate teams once your organization develops?”

“Huh…? Affiliate teams?”

Seol Jihu raised a question while replying nonchalantly . He didn’t get why Kazuki was suddenly asking him all these riddling questions .

“Why do you ask?”

Kazuki chortled .

“No reason . ”

“?”

“It’s just that, from the perspective of a team, I figured it wouldn’t be bad to work under a leader who’s fair in settling personal affairs . ”

He then turned around and began to bag the loot that was out . At that moment, the teary-voiced Maria asked .

“Oh yeah, Oppa, what are you going to do with the treasure chest?”

“Treasure chest?”

“Un, un . The spear is yours, but you haven’t opened the treasure chest yet . ”

Seol Jihu went ‘Ah!’ . He was so focused on settling accounts that he had forgotten about the spear and the treasure chest .

“No one opened the treasure chest yet?”

“It won’t open . ”

Marcel Ghionea cut in .

“We can’t see any keyhole . It won’t budge even if we try to open it forcefully . It looks like it’s made to be shock-absorbing . ”

[Hmph, of course . ]

Flone must have been listening in as her voice rang out in Seol Jihu’s head .

[The family’s secret techniques are in there . How could it open so easily?]

Flone seemed to know how to open it, so Seol Jihu decided to take a look at the spear and the chest .

Seol Jihu’s announcement must have touched Chohong and Hugo as they presented the items respectfully . The first thing that caught his attention was obviously the long, cloth-wrapped item .

“Take the cloth off and have a look . I’m not an expert at discerning the value of weapons, but it looked extremely precious even at a glance . You can tell just by how it looks . ”

Marcel Ghionea’s words raised Seol Jihu’s expectations by a notch .

‘Spear, spear…’

As this spear was one of his main goals for this expedition, he couldn’t help but be curious about it .

Ba-thump! Ba-thump! His heart pounded .

Seol Jihu did his best to soothe the beating that shook all his organs and carefully grabbed onto the cloth .

He took a deep breath . Then, as soon as he unwrapped the cloth, the spear finally revealed itself .

And Seol Jihu…

“… . ”

…looked down at the spear unknowingly .

“…Ah!!”

An exclamation of awe burst out a beat later .

‘Pretty… . ’

His first impression of the ‘Spear of Purity’, which he finally got to see, was that it was ‘pretty’ . He knew that it wasn’t an appropriate descriptor for a weapon, but the spear’s outer appearance truly boasted a captivating beauty . It was so much so that he mistook it for a figure of an alluring woman .

After gulping out loud, Seol Jihu carefully observed the spear .

First, the spear was extremely long . From the spear blade reflecting the moonlight and emitting a bewitching light, the long, willow branch-like spear shaft well surpassed 2 meters and 40 centimeters .

It was a whole lot taller than Seol Jihu .

The spear carried a transparent-white tone . Really, without a single bit of exaggeration, its clarity made it completely transparent . It really looked as if it was created by carving out ice .

Other than that, there were two elements that caught his attention .

The first was that the spear blade itself was 50 centimeters long . The lower part of the frame forming the blade started out thick and got increasingly sharper, and two crescent-shaped blades were attached to the side of the blade . No matter how he looked at it, it resembled the twin crescent-bladed halberd used by the Three Kingdoms’ Warlord Lü Bu .

The second was that seven circular groves were dug out on the upper part of the spear shaft . Insetting the jewels he put away in his bag would undoubtedly make it look even better .

‘So this is that spear…’

The Spear of Purity, which the Goddess of Chastity— Castitas— is said to have bestowed to the Rothschear House .

It completely caught Seol Jihu’s fancy .

He drew a huge gulp and examined the spear .

“Why don’t you give it a swing?”

Marcel Ghionea suggested in a timely manner, and Seol Jihu promptly grabbed the spear with an entranced expression .

“!”

Seol Jihu flinched . The moment he grabbed the spear, cold energy invaded his body and stung his bones .

Although the coldness disappeared in an instant, it was enough to jolt his consciousness wide-awake .

Soon, he grabbed ahold of his mind and raised the spear, but he was surprised yet again .

‘I-It’s heavy?’

A heaviness that surpassed his wildest imaginations could be felt from his hands . No—

‘It’s not that it’s heavy . ’

Whoosh, whoosh! He became certain once he roused his mana and forcefully gave it a couple of swings .

Rather than heaviness, it was more correct to call it resistance . Right, the Spear of Purity was resisting him .

Whether he stabbed or sliced, the spear blade strayed from his intended mark . As it was now, it couldn’t be called a proper weapon .

Aside from its beauty, it didn’t look like it had a special power either .

He activated his Nine Eyes just to be sure, but even the ‘General Observation’ couldn’t view its information .

Seol Jihu’s eyes narrowed .

The Star of Lust, Seo Yuhui .

And the Star of Sloth, Taciana Cinzia .

This was only the third time that he couldn’t view the status window with the green color .

He had a guess . These three all shared one common point — that they received a god’s power .

With this, Seol Jihu was convinced that this spear carried divine power . But he was also certain that the spear was useless as it was now .

‘Is there a ceremony I need to do to be recognized as its owner…?’

What should he do to drag out the spear’s original strength?

Seol Jihu’s eyes instinctively turned to the sealed treasure chest . For some reason, he felt like the solution to his problem would be in it .

However, it was just like what Marcel Ghionea said .

“Keuk!”

The chest refused to open, no matter how hard he tried to pull it open . By the time he had half-given up from exhaustion, Seol Jihu heard a sudden giggle .

When he looked down at his pendant, the giggle immediately stopped .

[You see the insignia in the middle, right? Try putting your pendant next to it . ]

“…You could have told me earlier . ”

[Sorry, sorry, it was just too funny seeing you struggle to open it… . ]

Seol Jihu smacked his lips before getting on his knees and putting the pendant next to the Rothschear House’s insignia .

Next, a mysterious light suddenly flickered from the insignia—

Clunk!

And the chest opened, just like that .

“Oh! It opened!”

“What? What, what?”

The expedition team huddled together and peeked into the chest .

Soon…

“Eh? What the heck…?”

Maria trailed off with a greatly disappointed look . But perhaps she was justified as the contents of the chest were far smaller compared to its size .

Inside were two battered books and a small wooden box .

Characters they had never seen before were written on the faded books, but the Synchronization must have taken effect as they soon wiggled and changed into Earth’s language .

Phi Sora furrowed her brows .

“Righteous Heart? Crescent Blade Spear Technique? What’s up with these middle school syndrome names?”

[What did you say?]

Flone got angry .

Seol Jihu took his eyes off the book and picked up the wooden box .

Click .

Once opened, a red light gently leaked out of the gap . What appeared underneath was something completely unexpected .

Hugo let out an empty chuckle .

“…The heck is that? An egg?”

Just like he said, an oval egg was placed in the wooden box . To be more precise, the smooth surface of the small egg, which looked just like a red jade, gave off a delicate scarlet light .

‘Jeez . ’

Setting the two books aside, Seol Jihu could only sigh as he had no clue how the egg and the Spear of Purity were related .

[Castitas, the Goddess of Chastity, bestowed the family with the sacred artifact, the Spear of Purity, which housed the Elemental Spirit, Arcus . The family thus came to be called the Spear of the Empire…]

[They are said to be protected by a mythical guardian Phoenix that symbolizes joy . ]

That was what was written in the historical records .

“Spear of the Empire… Do I have to awaken the Arcus Spirit and be acknowledged?”

Just as he lamented over his current situation…

[Eh? You knew?]

Flone’s voice rang out .

“What do you mean, I knew?”

[You said it just now . That you have to get the Phoenix’s acknowledgment . ]

“Huh…? Didn’t I say Arcus Spirit?”

[Hm? What do you mean? Arcus Spirit is a Phoenix . ]

‘What?’

Seol Jihu had to reorganize his thoughts due to Flone’s confused rebuttal .

‘That means… the two are one and the same?’

More questions flooded into his brain, but he decided to ask the more urgent question first .

“Flone, do you know how to awaken this Phoenix Arcus Spirit?”

[You have to hatch it . ]

Seol Jihu became dazed . This had been a series of shocking realizations . A Spirit wasn’t a bird, so how was he supposed to hatch it?

[Use that . ]

The pendant rattled, pointing to the red egg .

Seol Jihu blinked .

*

Along with settling accounts, the distribution of goods ended . Seol Jihu split the loot based on the rule he’d set out before the expedition, with him getting an additional portion for Flone .

He took home four gold bars, 178 gold eggs, 267 chunks of silver, 12,444 silver coins, 1,200 gems, and 20 offerings . The Spear of Purity and the contents of the treasure chest were also his property .

Although his comrades only received half of what he did, that didn’t change the fact that it was an incredible amount .

Once the difficult settlement ended, a belated dinner and a small festival broke out . The expedition team ate and drank to their hearts’ content and chattered excitedly .

“Equipment for sure!”

Hugo spoke with a stern, serious face .

“I’m going to bounce to Scherezade the moment I return to Haramark . I’ll go to the auction house and plaster myself in equipment befitting a High Ranker . With top-grade items and nothing less . ”

“Ha!”

Chohong sneered .

“Top-grade Level 5 items? Hilarious . ”

“What’s so funny about that!?”

“First off, you don’t even know if there will be any for sale, and fine, let’s say there is . You’re going to spend all the money you made? Why don’t you try to save up at least a little bit?”

“Why are you bitching about me spending my own money?”

“Well, you’re right . ”

Chohong readily agreed, then smirked .

“But, as a High Ranker, it’s a bit unsightly seeing a Level 4 blabber on about High Ranker items . ”

“Say what!?”

Hugo glared at her furiously . However, he quickly grinned and turned to the side . As soon as he saw Seol Jihu sitting on the other side, warming himself up next to the campfire, he pounced on him .

“Seooooool!”

“!?”

Suddenly being bear-hugged by a large figure, Seol Jihu jumped in fright .

“W-What?”

“Seol! Seooooool!”

Hugo was determined .

“I’m sorry~ Don’t throw me away~ Huaaang~”

He clung to Seol Jihu’s waist and pretended to weep .

“I’ll always listen to you from now~ Don’t throw me away~ Huaaaang~”

Then, he abruptly stopped talking and turned back .

Teresa covered her mouth and burst into laughter .

Chohong had her mouth shut, glaring at Hugo as if to kill him . Her cheeks flushed red as she began to tremble .

Hugo grinned .

“I didn’t say this was anyone’s dream!”

“You son of a bitch—”

“Huh? What was that? Talk more? You want me to go into more detail?”

“Keuk!”

Chohong grit her teeth . Hugo put on airs and let go of Seol Jihu .

“Don’t get cheeky now . If you do, boom! I’ll just—! You know?”

Surprisingly, Chohong fell silent even though her face was contorting in fury .

Seol Jihu giggled, watching the scene unfold . On the other hand, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu . He felt like he had experienced a similar situation .

‘In my dream . ’

Seol Jihu stared at Maria, who was busy flicking the beads on her abacus .

That night, the expedition team partied until they fell asleep .

After confirming that Maria had fallen asleep, he told the two night watches to keep a close eye before using the bags containing the inheritance as a bed .

The next morning, he almost screamed the moment he woke up .

The bags were fine .

But Maria must have woken up before him, as she was squatting nearby, keeping a close eye out on the bags .

With bloodshot eyes .

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