Chapter 40

Chapter 40

While I was still confused by everything that was happening, a violent gust of wind stormed around me.

Woosh—

The winds swept away the darkness around me that I’d thought had just been black walls.

“Ah...”

Right after they did, I realized I was in a far-too-familiar place.

A stony mountain without a single tuft of grass. A messy fog that mystically disturbed the surroundings. A grey sky.

...The place I had spent my last 10 years. It was like home to me, now.

Spirit Mountain.

On the ruined building atop the peak of this stone mountain...

“...Master?”

Master was sitting there.

***

It was an unbelievable scene.

I felt like I was dreaming. After I finished spacing out while looking at him, I called out to him again.

“Mas—”

“Why are you calling me?”

“...”

I flinched a little at his bored tone, but a seed of doubt also popped up in my heart.

“Are you really my mast—”

Smack!

“Ack!”

I clutched my head and crouched on the spot.

A dried stick had suddenly appeared in master’s hand.

I was familiar with that as well.

That was the wooden stick master had used to hit my head countless times when I’d been on Spirit Mountain.

“Youngest.”

“Yes...?”

“It seems you’ve become stupid while you were away.”

While I continued standing there speechless, Master spoke slowly.

“Am I really your master? Of course it’s me. In the first place, none under the heavens nor upon the earth can imitate me, Baek Nogwang, the Strongest Under the Heavens.”

“...”

That arrogant way he spoke... it was definitely Master, though I’d realized that truth the moment I was hit on the head.

I rubbed my head slightly as I asked, “...What’s going on here?”

“I had to use this method to give my foolish disciple some advice.”

“Advice?”

“About the First.”

“....”

My expression became serious at the mention of my eldest senior brother.

“I also have a lot of things I want to ask you about that. Why did you send me to the past when you told me to bring Eldest Senior Brother back? Is it because you want me to grow up steadily from a young age? And what’s the forgotten era? And it looks like someone called the Martial God knows about you; just what is—”

I got swept up in my emotions and began to rapid-fire all my questions.

Master calmly looked at me before a light smile appeared on his face.

My master rose from the ruined building and rested his arms behind his back as he walked toward the edge of the cliff.

I stopped talking and followed after him.

Soon, we were looking down at the foggy world from atop the peak of Spirit Mountain.

“So, how have you been?”

“...”

Master’s questions sometimes had many different meanings hidden within them, and this seemed to be one of them.

I hesitated, unable to give a direct answer.

I had received a blessing.

But...

What blessing is it?

I couldn’t really tell what had changed about me.

But since others needed to receive their own blessings, I got off the stage.

After getting off the stage and sitting in my spot, I thought about everything that had just happened.

It didn’t feel like I’d hallucinated or fallen asleep and dreamed.

I had truly met my master again, and I would need to seriously heed his warnings and advice.

The reason he sent me to this world...

I nodded.

I had a question, but there was no one I could ask.

In the end, I turned and asked my one and only friend.

“Good friend, let me ask you something.”

At that, Sellen frowned.

“Friend? Did something happen to your head? Did you get the Blessing of the Fool?”

“Then should I call you ‘fiancée’?”

Sellen chose to ignore that question.

“What is it?”

“The gods of disaster... No, do you know about the demon lords?”

“Do you think I’m stupid? If you’re a descendant of the Great Houses, you should’ve been hearing about them since you were a baby.”

I nodded as I said, “My memory is a little blurry, so just tell me if what I know about them is true.”

“...Go on.”

I proceeded to name each of the demon lords.

Demon Lord of the Blood-lit Moon, Hadenaihar.

Demon Lord of the Green Tongue, Tangtata.

Demon Lord of the Golden Horn, Kingarodtus.

Demon Lord of the Black Swamp, Ahop.

And the worst of the demon lords, the greatest threat to The Empire and the sole great demon...

The Great Disaster, Behimos.

“...”

After naming all the demon lords, I looked to Sellen.

She tilted her head a little.

“You’re kinda weird.”

“How so?”

“How do you know a minor demon lord like Tangtata when you don’t even know the most recent one, the Demon Lord of Black and White?”

When I heard that, I felt the same oddness I’d felt during my conversation with the Council of Elders.

—How could this be?

—You mean to say the servants of the Six Demon Lords infiltrated Bednicker?

The oddness I’d felt toward the phrase “Six Demon Lords.”

—I honestly didn’t know much about the gods of disaster.

—I‘d never had any contact with them, nor did I care to.

—From the start, I hadn’t even known there were six of them. I knew them as the Five Demon Lords.

The thoughts I’d had back then...

“...What’s the name of the Demon Lord of Black and White?” I asked.

And Sellen answered, “Haru.”

I forcibly held back a sigh.

Haru.

The Unrivaled Sword Under the Heavens, Haru.

That was the name of the first disciple of the Strongest Under the Heavens, Baek Nogwang... the name of my eldest senior brother.