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Chapter 223

Chapter 223 . Teresa’s Tears (1)





“…What are you doing?”

“Keeping a night watch . ”

Maria replied with a lethargic voice .

“I had a nightmare about the expedition’s rewards vanishing… I was worried they would disappear again…”

She muttered while yawning . Seol Jihu blinked in a daze before bursting into laughter .

As expected, reality was different from a dream .

He had a sudden urge to jokingly ask, ‘Wanna take the bags and run?’ But he held himself back .

He knew that would be rude, even to Maria .

“Thanks . I’ll stand watch now, so get some sleep . ”

“Uun, it’s okay~”

Maria shook her head .

“Just looking at these bags gets me brimming with energy… . ”

She chuckled like an addict, who just took a hearty dose of drugs .

This looked dangerous on its own .

Maria, who was staring blankly for a while, suddenly tapped on Seol Jihu’s shoulder and nodded .

“Right, I gotta thank you . You did really well this time . I believed in you, you know? I believed you would strike it big one day, Oppa! That’s right! This is the power of long-term investment!”

“…I feel like you’re treating me like I’m some stock . ”

Maria shut her mouth . She quickly waved her hands and chuckled .

“Eii, don’t say that! I’m just grateful!”

“Really?”

“Of course! You see, I actually agreed with Kazuki and Princess Teresa fully . I mean, you really did everything, Oppa! Shouldn’t we give you an even greater share?”

“Oho . ”

A light flickered on in Seol Jihu’s eyes .

“These people . They’re too busy trying to take care of themselves… tsk, tsk . I felt so bad that I was about to give you a cut of my share . ”

Maria blabbered on about things she didn’t mean, just to resolve any misunderstanding . The corners of Seol Jihu’s mouth curled up .

“Great! Then let’s do that . ”

“?”

“I didn’t know you cared about me so much, Miss Maria… I’m touched . Really, I’m touched . ”

“N-No . ”

“Thank you! I’ll request to re-distribute the loot after breakfast . Just your share, of course . ”

The drowsiness vanished from Maria’s face . She became sullen, and her beady eyes quickly welled up with tears .

Seol Jihu laughed inwardly and asked .

“That’s fine with you, right? You didn’t lie just to please me, right?”

Maria clenched her fists . Trembling, she moved her tiny lips .

“Ofv, ofv cwoursh… I mwean… whad I swaid… . ”

Finding the way she eked out those words too adorable, Seol Jihu grabbed onto his belly and burst out laughing .

When he waved his hand and revealed that he was just joking, Maria’s eyes widened .

“Iiiiing~!”

Maria laughed and cried, charging at Seol Jihu .





“Sorry, sorry . ”

“Hmph! I hate you, Oppa!”

Maria thumped Seol Jihu’s chest with her small baby hands . No, her fists had quite a bit of strength behind them to say she was ‘thumping’ .

“…What are you two doing?”

The commotion must have woken Chohong up as she asked with a swamped voice .

“Argh, my head . I drank too much last night… . ”

Groaning, she staggered up from her sleeping bag . Then, she trudged over with a frown .

“Hey, Seol . ”

“…You’re doing that on purpose, right?”

“What?”

“Don’t say, ‘Hey, Seol’ . It sounds weird . ”[1]

“What are you on about all of a sudden?”

Chohong grumbled, then sighed . Her breath, which reeked with alcohol, brushed past Seol Jihu’s nose .

“Anyway, I was wondering…”

Her face suddenly turned serious, and she asked gravely .

“About the dream’s curse . Didn’t we first get it from those Foxmen children? You know, the curse is contagious . ”

“Yes . What about that?”

“And we managed to get the curse lifted thanks to being quick on our feet . ”

“Yep . ”

“Then what about those guys?”

Seol Jihu’s eyebrows perked up at her sudden question .

“What guys?”

“You know, the guys who chased after Haeryeo . ”

The moment he heard this—

“Weren’t those guys holding onto Haeya?”

Seol Jihu’s breath paused stiff .

“Then what’s gonna happen to them?”

His excitement instantly sank .

“And what if they enter the city…?”

“Chohong . ”

Seol Jihu muttered with a stiff expression .

“Wake everyone up . ”

The campsite bustled for a moment before getting quiet . Seol Jihu and several others tried to communicate back home .

Teresa was the first to connect . She explained the situation and asked whether anything happened in Eva, but the reply that came back was an unexpected ‘Nothing’ .

There was no news of a curse anywhere . Not in Eva or any other city .

It was something to be glad about for sure, but Seol Jihu tilted his head .

For better or for worse, the expedition team found out why less than a day later . It was because they came across a large number of corpses on their way back home .

Over twenty corpses were sprawled around a campsite . The team checked the site from a distance and confirmed the men to be the poachers they met a few days ago .

“There were over forty people last time… so about half of them died . ”





Kazuki muttered after examining the scene with his thousand-mile eyes . Seol Jihu asked .

“How is it?”

“I don’t see any signs of foul play . The nightmares must have devoured them . ”

“So it’s as we thought…”

“Frankly, I don’t think we need to worry about it . ”

Kazuki explained why .

“What the poachers want is obvious . I doubt whatever they fear will impact Paradise greatly . ”

Seol Jihu nodded his head as this logically made sense .

“Then what happened to the other twenty poachers?”

“I don’t see the leader’s corpse . ”

Kazuki continued with a monotonous voice .

“This is just what I think, but the leader must have noticed . ”

Right, with his subordinates suddenly collapsing to death, it would be weird if he didn’t notice that a mysterious phenomenon was afflicting them .

“He might not know about the true identity of the curse… but he should have at least realized that falling asleep would mean death . I suspect he went back to Eva without falling asleep and got himself treated by a Priest of Invidia . ”

Seol Jihu made a dumbfounded expression .

“…Isn’t that a terribly convenient hypothesis?”

“It is . But if it’s that guy, it’s definitely possible . ”

Kazuki sounded strangely confident .

“If you meet him again in the future, don’t underestimate him . He made the top ranking in the Tutorial solely with his ability to read the air, and in the Neutral Zone, he even turned selling points into a profitable business . ”

Seol Jihu doubted his ears . He did business in the Neutral Zone?

‘How is that possible?’

“No matter how good he is at reading the air, how could he…”

“Well, we’ll know once we go back . But let’s thoroughly search this area just to be sure . ”

The expedition team re-commenced their march, taking a roundabout path from where the corpses laid .

After a few days, Seol Jihu found out that Kazuki perfectly hit the mark . It was because they ran into a group of Priests from Invidia’s temple .

They explained that a group of merchants had come to see them with a heavy curse on them and that they were now tracing the path they took to make sure the road was clear .

The merchants apparently paid a large sum as compensation .

“It’s a good thing we met them outside the city . If they had entered with that curse…”

Seeing the Priest shaking his head, Seol Jihu also breathed a sigh of relief .

The expedition team resumed the march with lightened steps, then arrived at Eva shortly after . Nothing was wrong with the city, as reported .

It would make sense for them to want to rest after finally arriving at a major city, but the team immediately got on a carriage ride back to Haramark .

They didn’t feel like they could sleep in peace until they entrusted their loot to Haramark’s temple storage .

*

The long expedition was finally coming to an end . Under the pressure from the expedition team, the coachman drove his carriage through the wilderness day and night .

As a result, it looked like they would arrive at Haramark the next morning .

Seol Jihu took out the red egg while keeping the night watch . He had finished reading the two books on his way over .

Righteous Heart seemed to be a mana cultivation method, while Crescent Blade Spear Technique was exactly what it sounded like . He guessed it had something to do with wielding the Spear of Purity .

Although he couldn’t measure their value just yet, they definitely looked vital to his future success . He planned to show them to Jang Maldong as soon as he got back .

‘The problem is this . ’





The spear and the egg .

According to Flone, the Phoenix that was said to be the Rothschear House’s guardian spirit was the same as the Rainbow Spirit named ‘Arcus’ . Furthermore, he would need the guardian spirit’s acknowledgment to be able to bring out the Spear of Purity’s true power .

To explain in more detail, the guardian spirit lived out its life with the person it acknowledged as its master . And when the master died, it would return to its egg form and wait for a new master .

In other words, the spirit served as both a partner and an overseer .

Seol Jihu wasn’t the only one to be treated differently . Hundreds of past heads of the Rothschear House had to take the same test, and there were apparently many cases where they were not acknowledged by the guardian spirit .

In those cases, they were only able to use a part of the Spear of Purity’s power or were forced to step down as the head .

Furthermore, the founding head seemed to be the only one who managed to bring out the Spear of Purity’s full power .

God-slaying .

Because the spear’s Authority was too powerful and dangerous, the Goddess of Chastity supposedly put this restriction on the spear purposely .

‘Anyway, that means I have to hatch this egg somehow . ’

Flone said the egg would only awaken through the power of a god . As this likely meant it needed divine power, Seol Jihu planned to drop by the temple once he returned .

“Heh . ”

Seol Jihu suddenly chuckled in the middle of his deep thought . He had remembered Flone smacking his back when he tried to feed the egg offerings .

“What’s so funny?”

At that moment, the sound of footsteps rang out along with the rustling of leaves . It was Teresa, who was also keeping the night watch with him .

She said she needed to use the lady’s room, but she took longer than he expected .

“Welcome back . ”

“Thank you! Whew, I feel refreshed . ”

Teresa plopped down next to Seol Jihu and leaned against his shoulder .

“Just the two of us under the night sky . How romantic~”

Seol Jihu tensed up . He couldn’t underestimate Teresa at moments like this .

“Oh yeah, come to think of it— you’re the only one I haven’t asked yet . ”

Teresa turned her head and asked .

“What are you going to do first once you get back?”

“I’m going to eat until I’m full and sleep . ”

“Eii~ I meant where you’re going to use your money . ”

Seol Jihu smiled .

Teresa had been full of smiles the past couple of days . He didn’t know much about it, but the Haramark Royal Family seemed to have been suffering from severe financial difficulties since the war .

He could tell just by how happy Teresa was, saying how she could now finally pay off her debts .

‘From a young age, huh…’

Seol Jihu admired Teresa inwardly while also pitying her slightly . Even though the expedition was a major success, the budget of a kingdom had to be on a different scale than what individual people spent .

Though unlikely, he hoped Teresa would be able to use even a little bit of it for herself .

“I…”

Seol Jihu calmly opened his mouth .

“I already know where the money will go, though not all of it will be for this . ”

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“It will be funding for forming a new organization . ”

“Organization?”

Teresa’s voice went up . She was only the fourth person after Hao Win, Jang Maldong, and Kazuki to find out about this, so it was no wonder that she would be surprised .

“Oh wow! Really? You’re going to form an organization?”

“Yep, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time . ”

“For a long time… right, Carpe Diem has four High Rankers . Now that you have money, it’s no surprise . ”

Teresa was overjoyed like it was her own business .

“Hooray! Carpe Diem is finally going to become an organization! I’ve been wanting that to happen since Dylan was the leader!”

She clapped her hands together and smiled beamingly .

“Then you’ll need a bigger building, right~? And a bigger plot of land . ”

“Yes, I looked into it already, and land is really expensive nowadays . That’s why I planned this expedition . ”

“Ei, then you should have come to me!”

Teresa tapped Seol Jihu’s shoulder and smiled timidly .

“You’re surprisingly a maverick, huh, Mister Seol? Shouldn’t you discuss important things like that with the lady of the house?”

“Excuse me?”

“Never mind . Anyway, don’t worry about it too much . We have a good plot of land in our possession—”

“…Ah . ”

Seol Jihu realized the misunderstanding, seeing Teresa chatting excitedly like a girl singing about her dreams .

“Oh! I have a good idea! Why not take my share of the loot and come to the palace? You can use that money for buying a plot of land and for the construction . ”

‘Mm…’

Seol Jihu was at a loss for what to do and shut his mouth in hesitation .

“I do feel a little sorry for father… but well, it all depends on how you look at it . I’m sure he’d be more than happy once I explain the situation . Mm, fraudster husband-and-wife . I like the sound of that . ”

But this was something he eventually had to tell her, whether that be now or later . He couldn’t just leave Haramark without a single word given the relationship they’d built up . Thinking that this was the perfect opportunity, Seol Jihu quietly began to talk .

“I plan to leave Haramark . ”

It was just five words . Despite that, Teresa’s chatter stopped completely .

Seol Jihu spoke with a little more force behind his words .

“I plan to go to Eva . ”

And when he turned around and saw Teresa—

“And in Eva, I…?”

He couldn’t finish his sentence .

Whooooosh—

A cool night breeze swept through the campsite .

“…Princess?”

Suddenly…

“… . ”

The atmosphere froze .

1 . The words ‘Hey, Seol’ in Korean means ‘erotica’ .

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