wealthy merchant
“···Are you listening?”
Vivian raised her head at the voice she heard from ahead.
After being defeated by the opponent twice in a row, I came up with a perfect plan this time! But it was stopped by an unexpected intruder.
However, since Nova had asked me seriously, I couldn’t run away.
“I understand, but I don’t understand just by hearing it.”
“Hmm… I see. There’s a saying that seeing something in person is the clearest thing….”
Vivian’s eyes sparkled at the man’s words.
I’ve seen wizards a few times, but this is the first time I’ve seen one this close.
What kind of magic will you show me? Will you even be able to pull a rabbit out of your hand?
Vivian’s eyes grew as big as fists.
“I will show you a very simple basic magic called ‘Light’.”
As the man lightly snapped his fingers, a sphere of light the size of a human finger joint appeared above the man’s palm.
It was a magic that was so different from what I expected.
If you need light, just light a candle, so why bother with magic?!
However, Vivian forced herself to cheer because the opponent was right in front of her.
“Wow! I can do this?”
“Yes, maybe you can brighten it up even more than I can. Would you like to try it?”
Vivian’s eyes widened at the man’s subsequent words.
‘You told me to do it after seeing it once… Are you kidding me?’
The dull-looking man’s face seemed unaware of the word joke.
“Oh, since it’s your first time, it might be difficult. Let me explain in more detail. Now, magic is a wish. It’s also a manifestation of earnest desire. That’s why magic often comes to your attention in extreme situations. Of course, you can learn it as an academic discipline separately from that, but it takes a long time.”
The man’s voice was so constant in pitch that I felt drowsy just listening to it.
‘I guess I’m not cut out for studying.’
Even when I was studying as a noble lady, I ran away every day and was even monitored separately. Of course, thanks to that, my running skills only improved.
I didn’t know any of the instruments that a noblewoman had to play, but I knew how to jump out of a window without making a sound.
“I’ll show you again. Light.”
The man again recalled the small ball of light on his finger.
Vivian still had her eyes wide open.
“It’s okay. Just do it until it works.”
However, I focused on the man’s words that were full of sincerity. But I still felt nothing.
“Just keep doing it until it works. Light again.”
Maybe it was because I was concentrating, but this time I saw something briefly-.
‘I’m sleepy.’
Vivian’s concentration wasn’t very good.
The white-towered wizard Swallows looked at the sleeping Youngae with his mouth wide open and drool dripping down his face, biting his lip tightly.
At first, he couldn’t see Youngae’s beautiful appearance because of Mana’s brilliant light, but now he was so angry that he couldn’t see Youngae’s appearance.
It was a moment when the wizard’s old adage, ‘Mana is a prankster,’ particularly resonated.
‘Why did it have to be this ignorant woman…’
Swallows sighed deeply.
***
The blast of air conditioning inevitably turned the entire hall into an ice room.
‘How can this be?’
I didn’t know anything about magic, so I had no idea. Compared to the wizards I’d met, I was at a poor level, but the speed of development was very fast.
“Genius! Genius! Kanna! From today on, Kanna and genius have the same meaning! Genius is Kanna!”
“Kanna is my disciple…! I am at this very moment in history….”
I scratched my head at the sight of the two of them clapping and cheering in front of the hail air conditioner.
I quietly called the washing machine, which was constantly running, and sat it down in front of me. The washing machine was still looking at the Hail Air Conditioner out of the corner of my eye.
“It hasn’t been that long since I gave you the magic book, how can you do that?”
“Huh? Oh! I don’t know either!”
I was momentarily speechless at the washing machine’s overly confident answer.
“What about you? Have you read the magic book too?”
“No. I haven’t seen Kanna because she said she would bite if you touched her. Isn’t she cute?”
I felt frustrated at the sight of the so-called wizard shrugging his shoulders and changing the subject to Kanna’s cuteness, as if he had no interest in learning at all.
‘That’s why I was starving even though I had that great magic.’
Since it didn’t seem like asking any more would get me an answer, I made a gesture. At that, the washing machine quickly ran in front of the Hail Air Conditioner and became a clapping machine once again.
“Wow- That’s refreshing. I told you, Kanna-senpai, you’re really amazing.”
“If we stay here, can we do things like that?”
“Can’t you do it? Kanna-senpai···.”
My head started to hurt as I watched the three fools chatting happily while sweeping up the ice that had fallen behind them.
Even if you simply conclude that he is a genius-.
“Phew!”
The sight of him dancing strangely with a proud face and pouring down hail was just like an excited elementary school kid holding a snow spray.
‘I don’t know. It doesn’t matter if you’re a genius or not.’
I didn’t really care as long as the air conditioning and ice maker worked properly, so I applauded along with them.
The hail show ended with Kanna, exhausted, collapsing.
Hannah accepted him naturally, as if it wasn’t the first or second time she had done so.
***
Knock knock.
Look for the sword first.
“Did it rain here at night?”
The abbot questions the water dripping from the ceiling.
“Hmm···.”
After a quick morning workout, I brought Choco, who was still sleepy in his eyes.
“Left-over!”
I ate meat bread while being hit by ice chunks from the air conditioner, not understanding why it was making a wind noise with its mouth.
“···hmm?”
“Isn’t it delicious? It’s delicious!”
When I tilted my head at the meat bun that had become quite delicious, Hannah jumped. It seemed like she had learned cooking from the washing machine. After that, Hannah brought the washing machine over and talked for a long time about how talented she was at cooking.
After a hectic breakfast with ice slaps on one side and talk shows on the other, we headed to headquarters.
In front of the headquarters there was Kel, Berman, a weasel, and Grass.
They were checking the carriage drivers and carts for patrolling the town.
“Chief. We’ll take care of things here.”
He nodded at Snake Eye Grass’s words and turned to the captain.
Now the captain, wearing only a tunic, stood glued to the table as if melted, and raised his hand in greeting. In response, I threw a few of the ice shards that had been caught between my armor at the captain.
“Eww!”
A few of them entered the captain’s tunic, causing the captain to fall backwards as if in a fit of convulsion. However, he soon felt relieved, as if his expression had become strange.
He chuckled and went out of headquarters.
It seemed like everything was ready.
Berman and Poole were talking to the cart driver, while Kel and the weasel were giggling and chatting.
“Rosa is too expensive.”
“I especially like this price···.”
I hit the back of their heads and headed towards Berman.
“Ready?”
“Yes, I’ve checked. I packed some groceries and supplies like last time.”
He nodded at the clear answer and greeted the carriage driver. The carriage driver nodded in surprise.
The cart was packed to the brim with supplies, with only enough room for two adult men to sit.
Then I dusted off my boots, climbed up to the empty seat, and sat down roughly. The crew members finished preparing without paying much attention.
Soon the horse began to move slowly.
The crew members followed along, yawning.
At the gate, a guard was scuffling with a carriage driver.
“Hey, Bedrick! Last time you came in with a full cart, and when you left you pulled an empty cart! One silver is mine!”
A passing herdsman pointed his finger at the thick-necked carriage driver and shouted at him. The guard in front of him suddenly punched the carriage driver.
The charioteer who had been hit grabbed his nose and took a silver coin out of his pocket.
‘Ignorant bastards.’
The cart moved busily, making a rattling sound.
At this rate, it seemed like I could get back to Castle Cassidy by sundown. It used to take several days when there were many villages, but now that there was only one village left to manage, it seemed like it would be over quickly.
“Brother, doesn’t it feel good when you come out like this and it reminds you of the old days?”
The weasel spoke with a grin.
‘It’s an old memory.’
Zombies, a ruined town, and a kid. It was far from a good memory, but I nodded.
If you just lump it all together and say, ‘It was good back then,’ it’s usually packaged in a good way.
“Kya- Back to back with the corpses, hyung! Boom! Charrrrrr! Kkieeee! Don’t worry this time either! I’ll take responsibility for what’s behind you, hyung!”
The weasel showed off his confidence by swinging his fists in the air. The weasel’s shoulders had gained a lot of strength since the last tryout.
“Chief, but two villages have disappeared. Wouldn’t it be better to move the people in the villages to the castle?”
“You’re not going to move? These guys hate changing their territory more than anything. The inner city won’t welcome it either.”
If two out of three were destroyed, it would be normal for the rest of the village to flee to the castle, but these guys didn’t seem to want to leave their original location as if they had taken root.
It was natural that I had to give up everything I had lived for, but I still felt a strong sense of loss.
“Oh, Rosa’s bee is not feeling well these days because the weather is getting warmer. I can’t remember the last time I had meat pie…”
Kel muttered, smacking his lips.
“It’s hot so you don’t do that?”
“Yes, I guess you sweat a lot.”
I was surprised that ignorant medieval people would think of such things. I thought they were in heat all year round.
“Tell Hannah to bring some ice beer and sell it to you.”
“Yes? But that damn… no, doesn’t that cute little brat growl at the sight of me?”
“So tell Hannah separately. Hannah is also looking for a place to sell beer these days.”
“Good idea. It’s hot these days in Rosa… so the prostitutes….”
Kel then went on to say a bunch of things I wasn’t even curious about.
Thanks to that, I’ve heard a lot about the summer lives of unwanted prostitutes. I’ve gained a lot of really useless knowledge.
The sun was so strong that I untied the cape around my neck and covered my face. Originally black with gold stripes, it had become brown from the wear.
‘I need to get a new one.’
To cool down, I took out a water bottle from my pocket and drank it. The large water bottle was very cool because it contained a whole canna frozen in it.
“Isn’t there that pent-up Jace? The woman he’s seeing is Emma, a woman I know well, and well, Jace cries like a baby after they’re done sleeping together. Sob, sob-.”
Kel opened his mouth again, perhaps because he was bored. He continued to talk about this and that, and the rest of the guys chimed in.
I headed to the village comfortably, sipping on some alcohol. When I arrived at the village, the sun was just below the center.
It was a village with a strict man named Jones as its headman, and as the Jones family served as the headman for generations, the name of the village itself became ‘Jones Village.’
Jonestown was a small village with a population of about 80 people. It was surrounded by a thick wooden fence.
‘If I think about the shit I did to install that…’
About a year ago, I went on a patrol around the village, and the villagers were trembling because they thought there were wolves roaming around, so I installed a fence that took several days.
Seeing that there was nothing particularly wrong with the wooden fence, it seemed like there was no damage at all on this side.
“Huh? It’s Aaron!!”
A man wearing a flimsy leather vest and holding a sharp spear spotted us next to the fence and shouted at us loudly.
Then a few people came out from inside to greet us.
“Aaron! Long time no see!”
Jones 8, the son of Jones 6, greeted me.
The Joneses took pride in being the village chief’s family and added a separate number after their name.
I told him that after 6 he would be 7, but since he had already decided on a name, he couldn’t help it and lived as Jones Palse instead of Jones 8.
“Yes, Son Jones. Where is Abby Jones?”
“Oh, my father is out in the field.”
“Why are you here while your father is working?”
“He… wasn’t playing, he was fixing the fence.”
“This kid was just playing.”
“No!”
I just reached out from the cart and pinched Jones’ leg. Jones jumped up and down and declared his innocence.
The cart slowly entered the village. Fortunately, the village here smelled less like sewage because the children had been confined there the last time I was here.
“It’s true that Aaron said that we disposed of the waste outside, and the number of minor illnesses decreased significantly. We thought it was just venting our anger, but it actually worked···.”
My son Jones, who was sitting next to me, praised me with a voice filled with admiration as if it were some great achievement.
I didn’t feel too good about being complimented on the very obvious advice of throwing my shit outside the village.
“And if possible, wash your hands often.”
“You mean hands? But then the bottle···”
“just.”
“yes.”
I couldn’t help but sigh as I watched my son Jones mutter, “Wash your hands often.”
“What about the kids?”
The kids who would normally have come running were nowhere to be seen.
“Hands often… Ah, someone who recently visited is playing with you.”
“Really? No problem?”
“Yes. But other villages···.”
I motioned to the crew members watching from the side to go in and rest.
Then Kel dragged the guys away and disappeared somewhere. They probably went around the town for a while, helped out with some village work, got some drinks, and hung out for a while.
I headed to the village hall, talking to my son Jones. Abby Jones came running in from a distance, panting.
“Hey, Abby Jones.”
“Aaron!”
I walked into the shabby village hall with my son Jones on my left and Abby Jones on my right, wearing the Jones set.
The village hall consisted of nothing more than a large, shabby wooden table and, like it, shabby wooden chairs. In the corner stood a bed made of straw.
I placed two chairs side by side and sat on them.
Abby Jones and her son Jones sat across from each other.
“Aaron, what the hell is going on?”
Abby Jones asked in a serious voice.
“What’s going on?”
“You said two villages disappeared!”
“The village is still the same, only the people are gone.”
I took a sip of the tea in front of me, and spat at its bitter taste.
“Ah- It doesn’t taste good.”
“It’s the same as last time. That’s good for men.”
“Ah.”
“It’s the same as drinking while grumbling… Anyway! So what should we do?”
I looked at Abby Jones, tapping my tongue, which still had a bitter taste, with my palm.
“How can I do that?”
He answered, scratching his head.
“Aren’t we in danger too?”
This time, his son Jones asked.
“It’s dangerous.”
“That’s right! All we have is a wooden fence!”
When I saw Jones’s set eyes sparkle, it seemed like he wanted me to do something more, but there was nothing I could do.
“Then come and live in the Castle of Cassadic.”
“Umm… that’s a little….”
Abby Jones snorted at my words, and her son Jones’ eyes lit up. He seemed more enterprising.
“There’s nothing we can do. In the first place, coming out on patrol every month is the maximum we can do.”
“Hmm… I know that. I always appreciate it. And Aaron, you always bring me a lot of stuff every time you come.”
“whatever.”
“Yeah? We all appreciate you.”
I scratched my head as I watched the guy pressuring me in different ways. I thought of different methods, but there was no clear solution.
“This time, seriously consider moving to Castle Cassidy. It’s really dangerous these days with all the warlocks and demons suddenly flocking to the area.”
“Ugh… Why are there all of a sudden things like that… What could there be to eat in a remote place like this?”
“Watch what you say, you’re going to eat it.”
“Huh? Okay, I see.”
Abby Jones nodded, her eyes wide.
“Father! On this occasion, let’s go to Cassadic Castle…”
“Be quiet! Jones False! Where are the adults talking….”
Abby Jones suddenly yelled at her son Jones.
His son Jones, who was shocked by this, kept his mouth shut.
“If you come to Cassidy, there are so many empty houses these days, how can you afford one?”
“Huh? You mean there are a lot of empty houses?”
“Oh, the skeletons came rushing in. They’re pretty dead.”
Hmm···.
This time, both Abby Jones and her son Jones let out audible gasps at the same time.
“Well, I guess it’s dangerous anywhere.”
I nodded to Abby Jones’s muttered voice.
It was a world where demons often appeared even in the capital of the empire. It was not that Cassidy had been unusually safe during that time, but there was no safe place to begin with.
“But it’s better than this place with only a fence around it. Think about it carefully. If you want, I can tell you something like a relief policy. After all, I’m an honorary secretary.”
“huh?”
“Honorary Secretary.”
“What is a scribe?”
Abby Jones’ question made me scratch my head.
There was nothing I could say to explain.
“Just a tall person.”
“I…I see. Thank you as always, Aaron.”
“Okay.”
I waved my hand at Abby Jones, who was giving me a burdensome look, and got up from my seat.
After that, I followed my son Jones around the village and repaired the fence. The thick trees were planted deep, so it was fine even though it had rained a lot recently.
‘When you do something, you have to do it right.’
I roughly pushed the crooked part with my hand to straighten it out and pressed him down. It smelled like rotten wood, but it seemed like it wouldn’t budge for now.
Waaaaaaaaaah-!
From a distance, the sound of children cheering could be heard.
So I left the rest to my son Jones and headed towards where the sound was coming from.
There were six children there, each holding a short wooden stick and swinging it around.
I squinted my eyes at Lunin, the smallest of the giggling children.
‘Is the posture correct?’
Of course, it was poor, but it had a very subtle flavor of swordsmanship added to it.
‘Is there anyone in this village who knows anything about swordsmanship?’
I scratched my head and tried to recall my memories. There was no way a guy like that could exist in a small town like this.
“Wow! It’s Aaron!”
One of the children spotted me and screamed. Then the children threw down the stick they were holding and ran towards me.
“It’s Aaron’s speech. Hey, you dreamers.”
I took out the candies I had prepared in advance and handed them out to the children.
Sugar was produced in the southern part of the empire. Candy was the best way to appease noisy children, so they bought it in advance from the cartmen who carried it. It was quite expensive, so they gave only one to each person.
I remembered the guy who stood in line twice so that I could give him only half a piece next time.
Finally, the smallest one, Lunin, ran up, took the candy, and smiled broadly.
“Aaron-!!”
“Lunin. Where did you learn that?” “Huh? What?”
“I mean, swinging that stick.”
“Oh, my grandfather told me.”
“Your grandfather is missing… Hmm.”
I tried to swallow the question that came up naturally, and after purifying it in my mind five times, I opened my mouth again.
“Your grandfather is dead.”
“No! Another grandfather!”
“Do you have another grandfather? Grandma is quite open-minded.”
“Open?”
“There is something like that.”
“I’ll show you my grandfather! Follow me!!”
Lunin, who was very excited because something sweet had entered his mouth, ran ahead.
I followed him, wondering whether the old man he was showing me was dead or new.
The place we arrived at after following the guy was the backyard of a shabby house.
Since I had thought about this and that in advance, I was confident that I wouldn’t be surprised if Runin introduced me to the zombie grandfather right away, but there was something worse than the zombie grandfather.
“Grandpa-! It’s Aaron! Aaron!”
“okay.”
A large old man with his sleeves rolled up was pulling out weeds. But his face and size were very familiar.
‘Why is the knight hunter here?’
The corners of my mouth tightened in a completely unexpected situation.
The old man raised his head at Lunin’s call, noticed me, and raised his eyebrows slightly.
I swallowed hard, forced myself to relax, and examined the distance between me and Lunin.
Lunin hung on to the bridge, smiling brightly as if the knight-hunter were his grandfather.
I felt dizzy when I saw Lunin dangling from the knight hunter and shaking.
‘Was he really your grandson? Lunin is ugly.’
The knight-hunter had a shabby appearance, but he had a dignified appearance that would not look out of place wearing a crown right away, and he had no resemblance to the ugly Lunin.
“Oh, that’s the young man from back then.”
The knight hunter approached, shaking the dirt off his hands.
Although I walked without hesitation, the pressure I felt grew in proportion to the distance that had been reduced. I wanted to draw my sword at any moment, but I held back and smiled.
“Yes, sir.”
I held out my right hand and placed my left hand near the grip of the sword.
“I guess I took the wrong route, I ended up in a different place.”
The old man spoke without changing his expression, holding my hand.
The old man’s left hand was slightly bent and held his waist, near the handle of his sword.
‘If I draw my sword, can I cut it?’
I tried to hold back because I had no basis for judgment.
“Oh, I also finished work that time and waited for a long time in Naeseong, but I got worried when you didn’t come.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, but what brings you here?”
The old man’s palms, which I was holding, were covered in calluses, as if he were holding a rock. My hands were the same, but the old man’s hands were covered in thick calluses, as if they had been covered in years.
I looked around the old man with a smiling face.
Then I let go of the old man’s hand as he stared at me with his clear eyes.
No information was obtained other than that he was right-handed.
“I took the wrong route and was on my way back.”
“You mean the Cassadic surname?”
The old man nodded. My mind instantly became complicated at that firm answer.
However, he soon remembered that the old man was seriously ill and nodded. All he had to do was send him in the other direction.
“Do you two know each other?”
At that moment, little Lunin came in and shouted, “Bam!”
The old man nodded first, and I nodded along with him.
“Really?! Now that I think about it, the two of you are similar in size!”
I glanced at the old man after hearing Lunin’s words.
Considering that he has shrunk with age, he must have been bigger than a sheriff in his prime.
The tension was relieved by Lunin’s timely intervention.
While he was picturing a nice nursing home where he could send this old man, Lunin suddenly asked him a question.
“Then which of the two is stronger?”
It was a question casually thrown out with an innocent face, but it was a very dangerous question to those who ran, even to those who ate with a knife.
However, the knight hunter, who had grown old and emasculated, simply laughed and patted Lunin on the head.
In an atmosphere where questions full of innocence were lightly passed over, I quietly calculated.
‘It’s a good opportunity.’
Rumor has it that he was a gentleman who only killed knights, and he was laughing in front of the child as if he was going to fry hotteok for him, so it was clear that he would do something about it.
In any case, unless that old man, who was a stray, died of natural causes on the street, there was a chance that we would run into him at Cassidy Castle someday.
It was clear that testing his skills on this occasion would be of great help later on.
‘You would kill me in front of a child?’
I nodded to him and chose my words slowly. I knew very well how to respond in such situations.
“Of course I would. You’re old.”
I said it as arrogantly as I could.
The knight hunter looked back at me with a strange look.
‘Aren’t you coming over? It’s dangerous to provoke them any further here.’
Although he deliberately raised the corners of his mouth, the knight hunter’s expression remained unchanged.
Then, as if he had read my mind, Lunin opened his mouth again.
“Well, Grandpa is a wrinkled guy! No, not Aaron! It’s okay! Grandpa has a nice beard!”
The knight hunter’s eyes hardened at Lunin’s provocation full of innocence.
***
Wow!
I readied my sword at the sound of Lunin’s cheers from the side.
A little distance away, an old man was standing with his back to the ground. His expression was calm, as if he were taking a walk.
I glared at the old man, intending to stab him with my sword if I ever got the chance.
‘It’s a win-win anyway.’
I nodded my head and muttered so as not to be fooled by his good looks. Judging by his white hair, it was definitely Ho-sang.
“Come.”
The old man, who had leisurely drawn his sword, spoke lightly.
The old man’s posture was still the same as before, except he had drawn his sword. His left hand was behind his back, and his right hand was naturally lowered to hold the sword.
There is no gap! There was no such nonsense. The old man, who had not been wearing any iron, was a winner no matter where he was stabbed.
I did not refuse the advance, but kicked the ground with my right foot. In two breaths, I arrived in front of the old man and drew my sword vertically.
It was a vertical slash with all of his might.
“hmm.”
The old man who had been muttering softly moved his arm belatedly, but I felt it was too late. I did not let my guard down and applied all my strength to the sword.
At that moment, the old man’s sword moved.
Ssuk-.
My mind became hazy with the sound of iron scraping slightly.
When I came to, I was on one knee, looking up at the old man.
I shook my head slightly, trying to calm my hazy mind and recall what had just happened.
‘He deflected my sword and struck my temple with the blade.’
It happened so quickly that it almost seemed like a well-choreographed action movie because of how natural the flow was.
Even though he was clearly holding the sword with all his might, the path of the sword twisted naturally as it tangled with the old man’s sword. It didn’t feel like he was being forced by force, but rather as if he was being guided to where he was supposed to go.
‘Did you hit the center exactly? How did you know?’
Then, the old man’s sword struck my temple from the wide open front.
If it were a blade and not a sword…
The tenant flinched for a moment, but remained silent because he knew my intentions.
The old man looked down at me with an expressionless face.
‘Master of the Sword?’
I thought of the best sword in the empire when I saw the swordsmanship that was almost magical, but then shook my head.
The master of the sword never leaves the palace. Even if he were on vacation, he would never be wandering around as a knight hunter.
‘The flow of the wrist···.’
Aside from my admiration, I kept replaying the old man’s sword in my head. But it wasn’t enough.
“Wow! Grandpa is stronger!”
‘once.’
Hearing Lunin’s cheers from the side, he got up and took his stance again.
“Can you do it again?”
“Youth is a good thing.”
It was an ambiguous answer, but I thought of it as acceptance and continued to move as before.
Disappointment flashed across the old man’s eyes, but he paid it no mind.
The old man took it as a challenge and did exactly as I had intended. In an instant, he dropped his sword and struck my temple.
When I came to, I was on my knees again.
‘Twice.’
Lunin cheered and the old man looked down at me.
His eyes were filled with disappointment, unlike before. But I didn’t care how the wrinkled old man looked at me.
I just kept going over the situation in my head.
The places that were not filled in the first time were painted, but it was still not enough.
after-.
I took a deep breath, stood up, and regained my composure.
“Can you do it again?”
“···It will be useless.”
Contrary to his words, the old man nodded.
The old man’s eyes were filled with annoyance beyond disappointment.
He took a deep breath and ran again.
I did the same vertical slash as before-.
The old man did the same thing.
But this time, the movement of the old man’s sword and the flow from his shoulder to his wrist were clearly visible.
‘three.’
Three times was enough for anything.
I saw the sword heading towards my temple···.
Kaang-!
The old man’s sword twisted as the iron clashed against iron.
The old man’s eyes, which had been filled with disappointment, widened slightly.
I felt a small thrill from it, but the old man’s sword, which had become slightly faster and more graceful, struck my temple and my mind became clouded.
‘And one more time.’
I forced myself to stay calm and kept thinking about the new old man’s movements.
There were a lot of empty spaces.
Enough to need to hit it twice more.
“It’s just imitation without any specific reason… How amazing.”
The old man looked at me and gave me a light comment.
The emotion in the old man’s eyes was far from admiration – it was more like a sense of wonder, like seeing a parrot repeating your words, but it didn’t really matter.
“I’m from the blue belt of Haedong Swordsmanship.”
I smiled broadly to hide my headache.
“You’re a rare young man. These days, everyone is obsessed with catching techniques.”
The knight hunter’s gaze changed to that of a parrot singing the national anthem.
It was strangely warm, but at its core it was still a pastime.
It’s been a long time since I’ve met someone real, someone I can learn something from, and I can’t stop drooling.
“Can you do it again?”
“As much as you want.”
I spat out the saliva that was gathering in my mouth as I looked at the super high-class buffet that smiled as if telling me to take it if I wanted.
‘There are more than a few people who have been robbed.’
I laughed heartily, spinning my sword like a dice cup.
