Chapter 231: East, Hwaseong (19)

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.Nnêw n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com

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.

[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...]