章節 28: Chapter 187
Valtirok, who initially rejected the young Runcandel, and the others who hadn't fought Jin, came to a consensus.
'I wasn't anticipating this…'
The time had been too short. He arrived at the end of December last year, which meant that had been in Lafrarosa for only five months.
Initially, he thought that getting acknowledged by all of the beastmen would be a grand challenge since not all of them had nice personalities like Garmund, Boras, Rinpa, or Beliz.
Therefore, he planned to come back to Lafrarosa another time. Either way, he felt that mastering Shadow Blade would require one or two more visits.
'I feel like this is too easy.'
The others, however, thought differently.
They found out about Jin helping Boras gain a deeper understanding of Shadow Blade's first technique, receiving Boras's molar, and ending Rinpa's silence training.
Just from that, all of the other Legends thought of Jin as a 'funny peculiar fellow'. Their opinion continued to get better as they watched him in the battles with Shaku. They saw a talented young man with undeniable tenacity.
Constantly repeating days of defeat and loss of limbs wasn't an easy feat. Jin often shook these events off, remembering days from his past life.
'Well, I guess there's nothing bad about that. I'm missing out on cutting off Shaku's leg, though.'
The Legends concluded their vote, and the other warriors shouted in agreement.
However, it didn't look like they were agreeing just because of the authority. It wasn't because they had to side with the majority either. No such hierarchy existed amongst the beastmen. There was no punishment nor compelling reason to be dependent on others. Every member was independent.
Even if there were any disagreements, no one would bat an eye.
The Battle Goddess requested 'unanimous consensus' because of this.
As the final member, Shaku raised his voice.
"I have cut Jin's limbs 49 times. However, now that he is our Brethren, there will be no such harm."
"What in the world…? Don't I even get a chance for revenge?"
"A disrespectful one indeed. The Kings of Light do not calculate vengeance. Just remember this, Brother Jin."
Shaku smiled and walked away. The Battle Goddess nodded.
"Since everyone agrees upon the verdict, Jin Runcandel is now one of us. Proceeding with Tantel's proposal. Brethren, select your order to fight Jin."
Immediately, the Twelve Fighting Legends began to argue on the order.
'Let me go first,' 'You should go first,' were exchanged as if they were children standing in line.
"I brought him here first, so I should be first! Don't you think so?"
"Nope. Tantel brought him first, and you clashed swords once. So, you should go last."
"My Brethren, we should just decide through Rock-Paper-Scissors."
It was also like this when they were deciding who should bathe Jin. It felt like a crowd of dogs barking at each other.
'They're a funny bunch.'
Jin felt nothing after being accepted by them. They never really interacted with Jin, nor made an important connection with him in the first place.
The Seventh Legend, Beliz, approached him.
"Even though we never hung out or shared blood, even though we look different or have different objectives…"
Jin looked up at Beliz.
"Once you become a Brethren, they will continue to treat you like they used to. That is the way of our tribe."
"How is that possible, Beliz?"
"If the tribe understood that five thousand years ago, we would've killed much less of your kind."
He felt like he was being struck on the head.
The Illustrious Legends were not idiots, but just a tribe that Jin couldn't understand.
"If you think about it, there's nothing weird, my brother. We know that you became one of us after you absorbed our blood, and none of us think it's weird at all. Technically speaking, your existence in this realm basically made your merging with our tribe inevitable."
"It's strange. So you're saying that I feel a new connection with the others since I received some measly formal declaration? I feel very indifferent about that."
"When the river mixes with the sea, what happens? Does the seawater reject and segregate from the river water?"
"I thought you were a strong energetic woman at first, but now you speak like a philosopher. I'm impressed, Beliz."
The arguments stopped.
The 64 warriors divided up and played in a tournament style, and surprisingly, Shaku came in first.
"Wait, aren't you supposed to not be here?"
"I thought you returned to your lodging. You're going to fight him again?"
All kinds of disapproval sprouted from the crowd, but they couldn't argue against the winner of the ultimate decider known as Rock-Paper-Scissors.
Receiving all kinds of complaints, Shaku walked up to Jin.
"Of course I deserve another chance. You ripped my body apart 49 times. That's the first time that happened. Today I will definitely…"
Thump!
Beliz's huge hand pressed onto Jin's shoulder. The strength was immense. Jin couldn't shake her hand off.
"It will no longer be a fight between Brethren and Apprentice, but between Brethren and Brethren. Do not forget that, Jin."
"You look like you would disintegrate my shoulder bones if I don't nod."
Jin expected Beliz to be the strongest amongst the Legends.
"Injuring the opponent without using the blade is fine. The most important part is to remove all intentions of killing."
"Now that's something I'd like to hear. Then, please, take this for me."
Jin unshackled his sheath from his waist.
"Our fiftieth fight will be hand-to-hand combat, Shaku."
"That's going to be worse, though…"
With genuine worry, Shaku shook his head, and Jin gritted his teeth. Up till now, he wanted to rip him apart, but now he couldn't.
"After Shaku, it will be Mouka, then Shul, Anote, then… You have to fight dozens, so don't tire yourself out."
After his first spar with Shaku he would fight 64 more warriors until the next morning. This would go on for today, the day after, and the next.
* * *
'Shit, that motherfucker. How dare he let me win…!!!'
Jin claimed his first victory against Shaku.
He popped a Photon Cannon in front of him and then proceeded to beat him to a pulp. However, before getting five hits in, Shaku forfeited, which prevented Jin from pounding him any further.
Jin felt like exploding from the annoyance, but now was not the time. He had another opponent ready for him.
The more infuriating part was that the others truly went all out.
The fighting techniques were from different worlds. If they both held weapons, then Jin would've gotten less injured. After every battle, Jin chuckled and sought Kakto, the traditional cookies.
Crunch, Crunch.
His bruises quickly healed. His face had inflamed like a melon, and he had many bruises all over his body. Thankfully, no bones were broken.
'Those monsters…'
Feasting on the cookies as he lay on his bed, Jin constantly chuckled at himself. He felt refreshed as he bathed in the moonlight that seeped through the window.
Knock, knock.
Someone was at the door.
"Jin, I'm coming in."
"How do you say you're coming in when I didn't even ask who it was?"
Tantel came in with two huge barrels of wine.
Thud!
He dropped the barrels on the ground, summoned a goblet out of nowhere, and served Jin a drink.
"This is the same wine I drank on the first day. It tasted like shit."
"It's crystal wine. It'll taste different."
Downing the cup, Jin tasted a deeper, sweet taste.
"Whoa…"
"It's because you earned the Heart of Light."
"But you said humans don't know the taste."
"Tell me about the outside world. I came alone since the others don't like to talk about it in public."
Now that he mentioned it, Jin realized that they never asked about the outside world.
Who ruled the land that they once did, what happened to their civilization, what happened to the people that they fought.
They asked no questions.
"After our time stopped, we could never return to that world. This place just looks like Lafrarosa, but it's more like Purgatory."
"Doesn't that make you more curious about the outside world?"
"What's the point of wanting something you can never attain? Even though we reminisce, none of our passed Brethren are there anyway. However!"
Tantel looked around carefully. He made sure no one was around to hear something important.
"I have heard some things from the goddess herself."
"What's that?"
"Since five thousand years have passed in the real world, maybe there's something that could get us out of here."
Unfortunately, to Jin's knowledge, there was nothing that could do such a thing. Like the Fire Dimension, the world of the phoenixes, humans were not used to creating permanent links between Other Worlds.
There weren't many researchers in that field either. After the War of the Holy Kingdom, most magic-related research groups banned the study of Other World creatures.
Additionally, magic related to Other Worlds often included dark magic. Since dark magic had been generally banned throughout history, it was the social norm to never encroach that domain.
"On that note, if it's alright. I'd like you to investigate it."
"Isn't there a way for you to escape? Tantel, you came to get me in the first place."
"That's only when the apprentice arrives at the rendezvous point near the desert. Beyond that, there's only one other way to exit, but it's pointless."
"Why?"
"The Battle Goddess will tell you."
章節 29: Chapter 188: Leaving Laprarosa
[T.L: punisher87]
[My ko-fi link:- https://ko-fi.com/punisher87 ]
After becoming a brethren of the Plutonian tribe, Jin had only two weeks left.
[T/L:- 명왕족 :- Plutonian tribe (In mtl its Ming Dynasty, in previous translation it's illustrator tribe or something, but I'm using Plutonian tribe.]
[T/L:- 형제 - brethren/brother/sibling. I'm going to use one of these translation according to line.]
For four days, Jin was trained by battle kings and sparred with ordinary warriors. Every day for four days, Jin competed against 64 ordinary warriors Jin in hand-to-hand fighting and martial arts.
[T/L:- 투왕 :- Battle King (like Boras, Garmund, etc.)]
Jin's impatience was growing as the time approached to leave Laprarosa, and the time approached to launch a compass-taking operation with his companions outside.
[T/L:- 동료 - Companion/comrade/partner/colleagues]
There is a high probability that the operation to steal the compass will be more dangerous than any fight he has ever fought with his companions.
In this mission, they requires to deal with both Zipfel and Kinzelo at the same time. There will surely be outstanding figures from each faction at the place where the compass is retrieved, and Jin and his party decided to hit them 'without fear' and steal the compass.
'Since it's a secret exchange, the patriarch of clan or the leader won't attend in person, but they will never send sloppy people.'
Of course, Jin's party was also made up of incredible people. Jin, Murakan, Cuicantelle, Kashmir, Alisa. Even if you look at these five, it is a level that no one dares to touch.
But what if a large number of Zipfel's White Nights and Magic Tower masters appeared in feudal state of Bellado?
[T/L:- White Nights is the name of Elite Mage unit of Zipfel which operated Kozec during Kollan native arc.]
[T/L:- 마탑주:- Magic Tower masters/ Magic tower lords. These are the owners of Magic tower of Zipfel. Like Myuron Zipfel.]
Kinzelo's side was also a problem. There are only three 9-star mages confirmed by the seven-colored peacock, and who knows there are how how many warriors higher than Goltep.
'On the day of the operation, we would withdraw quietly if there are talented people of Zipfel and Kinzelo that we could not handle but...… If not this time, I don't know when I'll be able to take the compass away.'
It was a rare stroke of luck that Yona obtained that much information from Bubare's sculpture workshop.
I had to succeed. To do so, I walked through the hell called Mitra Desert and trained here.
"You seem uncharacteristically anxious, Brother Jin."
Just as Jin was about to head to the training ground to meet the battle kings, he heard a familiar voice.
"Sister Vahn."
"Can you tell me what you are thinking?"
"About the outside work. I have to carry out an operation with my comrades, but I wonder if my strength will be enough."
"That's funny."
"What's funny?"
"Brother Jin, you didn't showed any sign of fear even when you came out of the main hall of Battle God's temple and faced the spirit of the brethren battle kings head-on. The enemies you have to deal with outside can't be stronger than us."
Although the Plutonian tribe looked rather lax and foolish.
If they could leave Laprarosa, the landscape of the outside world would change in an instant. Even those who had already perished and only 77 remained.
After becoming brethren, Jin could feel it more desperately.
Among them, battle god and battle kings are two different beings. To the point where Jin thought that even if the whole Zipfel clan attacked, it wouldn't be able to kill them.
"I am not afraid of getting hurt. But what if something goes wrong with my comrades? Some of my comrades are weaker than me."
Vahn stared blankly at Jin. Something shimmered in her dark, blue, deep eyes.
It was in the past. Those long days when she had the same worries as Jin before she became the battle god.
Even after Plutonian tribe was destroyed by gods, this terrible question haunted her constantly.
"I want to tell you that it is still too early."
"Worrying about others?"
"Yes, Brother Jin is not simple or stupid like the other brethren. You must be fighting because they are definitely worthy opponents. It's never too late to start worrying about your comrades when you must fight against an enemy that you can't handle. Right now, only the anguish is increasing."
"But it is true that Zipfel and Kinzelo are formidable."
Then Vahn smiled.
"Brother Jin, you don't know yourself well yet."
Instead of answering, Jin pondered.
I don't know myself.
What does that mean? Does that mean I'm stronger than I think, and I don't have to worry about Zipfel and Kinzelo?
Vahn do not know about Zipfel and Kinzelo. Even knowing it, she couldn't feel as threatened as Jin felt.
While this and that thought flashed through Jin's mind, Vahn opened her mouth again.
"From today until you leave, you'd better spend your time with me."
"It mean that you will train me, sister battle god? I haven't finished my training with brethren battle kings yet."
"You are the only human who can save us, brother Jin. Therefore, when you are shaken, the entire Plutonian tribe is shaken."
"What do you mean?"
"I will hold you, relieve you, and cleanse your heart, brother. So that you can see into yourself."
What Vahn held out was a sword.
"This is the Thunder sword called Sigmund. It is my sword. Brother Boras hammered it so you could use it."
[T/L:- 봉뢰검:- A sword with lighting(thunder sword)]
***
Boom!
Jin and Vahn's swords collided.
It was the moment when Jin saw Sigmund's blade for the first time. He received this sword for nine days.
Its pale and blue blade, as if it were made by melting sapphire, is exactly the same size as Bradamante.
For nine days.
Vahn killed Jin over ninety thousand times.
So far, there is only one thing Vahn has asked for from Jin.
That he can only draw his sword when he was confident that he would die instantly. In that sense, Jin is no different from being killed by her.
It was the first time when he felt that he would not die instantly and drew his sword.
"Whoa...!"
Anyone can pull out a sword at a van who is just standing there.
However, it was not allowed for anyone to 'completely' mix sword with the battle god, Vahn.
"It's a good blow."
Vahn smiled and said.
"How does it feel to have died ninety thousand pointlessly? Brother Jin. So, you can do it like this."
Ninety thousand pointless deaths.
Vahn expressed the past nine days, when Jin was sweating in front of her and was unable to draw the sword, that way.
"... I won't able to do it second time."
"Even before our time stopped, not many people could mix swords with me twice."
For nine days, Jin's actual swordsmanship skills did not increase at all. It was only natural because he was stand still.
"Brother Jin, you already had enough skills to mix sword with me nine days ago. You have enough faith and skills, but you have been beaten 90,000 times because you don't know what you are doing."
Vahn spent nine days to confirm that fact to Jin.
"Anguish obscures one's self image. Now that your head is clear, you know your battle prowess is this much. You can share an sword with me."
Jin couldn't help but think about this as he wiped his forehead.
'Of all the martial artists I know, how many of them can really exchange one move with a sister Vahn?'
None except for a few who immediately came to mind. Similar situation comes to mine when he think about people who can make move against Chiron.
"If you didn't know yourself and couldn't pull Sigmund in the end, I was going to retrieve the sword again."
"Now, no matter how many times I try, I think I can match one against you, sister Vahn."
"Since I confirmed that it was possible in the first place, so it is a natural thing."
Jin smiled awkwardly.
Knowing one's strength accurately is sometimes more miraculous than growing up. Jin was no longer worried about the upcoming 1st June.
"It's okay to let you go outside now. Next time we meet, I'm looking forward to share some interesting stories with me. Say goodbye to other brethren, and you can go back tomorrow morning."
As Jin tried to lower his head, Vahn gently held his chin.
"Brethren do not hold grudge or gratitude between them."
That night, all members of the Plutonian tribe gathered and held a farewell banquet. The wine glasses went around until the jewel wine ran out, and Jin wanted to give this strong and innocent tribe a big gift someday.
A gift is something that can be given even if it is not necessarily a return of favor.
"Have a good trip, brother. We must remember your achievements."
***
May 17, 1797.
After leaving Laprarosa, it was an ivory-colored desert, that stretched out without end, that welcomed Jin. The desert sun was so harsh that all the warmth Jin experienced in Laprarosa seemed like a dream.
Wearing the new clothes and robes that Boras had woven, Jin went through the desert again.
After walking for two days, he came to an oasis, and after walking another day, he saw a forest road. It was the same forest road he had been looking for along with a towed guide to reach the Great Desert.
'It looks like I came back to same place instead of crossing the Great Desert.'
It was a relief. If rumors spread after crossing, rumors might spread all over the world that a great adventurer had been born. It is because there are not one or two beastmen who have seen Jin in the land of beastmen.
"Oh, human! Great desert! You came!"
"Darkflame's, friend!"
It was around the time Jin was leaving the forest that he ran into the watertail beastmen, they are on their way back to the Yuka Yuka Market after finishing the barter trade with the Golden Snow Tribe.
"Human, not dead. It's a relief!"
"I was worried."
"Lost love, pain, did you, overcome?"
May 25th, there were still five days to spare. It would be okay to go leisurely chatting with them for three or four hours.
"Human, but,you, can't go, to Yuka Yuka."
"Why?"
"A few days ago, the red tiger tribesmen came."
"Evil, bastards, all, haphazard, mischievous!"
"Turn around, there, a passageway, to market side, use it."
Jin had to spend another three or three days to go around the Yuka Yuka market. That would make it too tight, and it could have been too late.
"No, then it's too late. There is a place I must go by the end of May. Are there any secret passages around here?"
"None, here."
"Then, let's just go."
"Those bastards, might catch, you, and kill you, human."
All the way to Yuka Yuka Market, the Watertail Tribesman talked about their worries. They even dragged Jin with their dainty hand, telling him to go back, but Jin was short on time, so he can't go back.
Therefore, it could be said that the encounter between Jin and two red tiger beastmen at the entrance of Yuka Yuka Market was a predictable result.
"Ugh, it happened, trouble."
"Human, what would you do?"
"We, go inside, with money. But, maybe, you are not."
"For now, pretend you don't know me and go on your way. Understand?"
The Watertails looked back at Jin restlessly even as they passed first. The red tiger tribesmen take money from them, hit them in the back of the head one by one, and let them pass through.
'If they give you money, then just let them go.Why do you hit them?"
If the White wolf tribesmen were dirty and eccentric warriors, the Red tiger tribesmen were strong bully warriors.
The two red tiger tribesmen that had been glaring at Jin from a while ago openly started arguing.
"Hey, hey, you human, come here. Stand in front of me, give everything you have, take off all your clothes! Open your bag."
"Oh, he looks like pretty human. Would we give him to females?"
"Kiki, they will like him...."
But as Jin gets closer.
The red tiger tribesmen were unable to speak for some reason.
'What, what...… this human. What kind of energy is this!?'
Not only did they stop talking, but their legs trembled against their will.
Watery saliva flowed from their mouth, the hair all over their body stood on end, and they even felt like their stomach was about to melt.
Such is the fear imprinted in instinct.
The energy of a great race, which had often torn and trampled them, was wrapped around Jin.
It has already been 5000 years since they disappeared, but these two young red tiger tribesmen, who have never even heard their names, trembling with fear.
Beastmen were afraid of their natural enemies even if no one taught them.
"Ooh, ooh, ah, ha...!"
"Kyaaaaagh! Khiahah!"
The red tiger tribesmen reflexively raised their claws and screamed.
"Get lost."
However, even if Jin said so, the red tiger tribesmen sat down and urinated on the floor instead of attacking.
"Spare, me. Spare me...… please."
They didn't even dare to look up at Jin.
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