My Villains Episode 261
51. Farewell to the truth (3)
The first day of December.
There was a snowstorm in the morning.
At first glance, the thick snowflakes swept away by the strong wind seemed to rise upward against gravity. So, if you look up at the sky quietly through the window, you will see a scene of a black whale swimming on a swell and sucking in a school of white killifish. The dark clouds seemed to be getting bigger, swallowing the blizzard.
In the castle town of Modos, I got large and small scars all over my body due to all kinds of upheaval over the past few months. So when I went out on the street at dusk, it seemed like I was walking through a village with a deep story on the periphery.
But Modos, now covered with a white blanket, looked like a peaceful rural village. The thick snow could easily hide those scars.
While burying myself in a leather-covered couch, I was quietly watching the scene, and Rowen, the maid, muttered, “Oh, it’s cold,” and closed the window.
Rowen, who was about to say something in his calloused hands, hurriedly walked away and shut his mouth as he rummaged through the fireplace. It was because she had been enjoying rest without lifting a hand for three days already, and reminded herself of the fact that her credit was half of it.
The flames that sparked sparks added to the heat. Thanks to that heat, the first floor of the guild hall, where only a few candles were lit, felt dark and cozy.
Heila sat at the palak table and quietly turned over the bookshelf. A thick cloak was wrapped around his shoulders as if the fireplace had not been cut, and a coal brazier was left nearby. Apparently, she is weak against the cold. Is it because he is from Ireland?
“What are you reading so hard for?”
“Spellbook.”
Heila answered and gently lifted the book and showed the cover. It was the magic book that the wizard who was killed by the mungchi had.
“Didn’t Ellen have that?”
“I borrowed it. It’s useless to Ellen anyway.”
The magic book she was reading contained basic spells, but after hearing the story, it was said that it was for ordinary wizards.
So, it means that it is not for sorcerers who freely cast limited spells like Ellen, but for ordinary wizards who cast various spells under limited conditions.
“Aren’t all the wizards in the palace sorcerers? Why did you have something like that?”
“I must have been doing research.”
Heila continued to speak in a calm voice as she read the lines.
“To freely handle the spells inscribed in the soul, but also to use the necessary spells at times. It is the dream of all wizards, not just sorcerers. If successful, it will be an achievement that opens up a new horizon for magic.”
“Ugh. Then why are you reading it?”
“…I’m bored and I don’t have anything else to read.” She seemed to be evasive, but I could roughly guess what she was thinking.
Heila has mentioned the family’s secret art ‘Blood Magic’ that has been practiced before.
Blood magic is said to have a wide range of uses and considerable power because it can replace all mediums with blood while casting various spells like normal magic.
Looking back now, Heyla mentioned the esoteric and had either regret or desire in her eyes.
She was talented and had grand ambitions as the conceived child of the family, so it was only natural that she would be interested in the lost power of the family. And interest in the lost secret art, blood magic, must have spread to general magic soon.
Just as Heila was trying to guess why she was reading the magic book, a person appeared on the second floor. The guy who came down the stairs and threw himself at my side was none other than a bunch.
“Poi-”
“Are you done working?”
“no. I can’t because it’s too cold.”
Mung-kun, who sat with his knees on the couch,
quickly reached out and wrapped his arms around my waist. At the same time, he buries his face on his chest, and it looks like a puppy meeting its owner after a long time.
While hugging each other’s shoulders, he covered both hands of the tightly clasped bundle with his right hand. Since I was using a small room on the third floor as my studio, my hands must have been frozen, but it wasn’t as cold as I thought.
“Hey, it’s warm.”
Either that or not, Mung-chin smiled briskly and rubbed his forehead against my arms. And the sniffing secretly seems to be sniffing me as usual.
At first, Munchhi’s behavior was a bit unfamiliar and burdensome. However, if you enjoy the soft and soft touch that you feel through the thin fabric, the discomfort or awkwardness will dissipate like a handful of smoke.
Maybe that’s why, at some point, I began to savor his body odor.
Originally, it was a bundle that left no smell like a skilled assassin, but recently, if you have sharpened your senses, you can savor its own scent, albeit vaguely.
It smelled like a mix of banana and apple. It’s not that it’s yellow and red, but it seems to have a little bit of freshness left.
“Whoop-”
I suddenly got playful and put my nose in the guy’s neck and breathed in, and a group of ‘Kyahak!’ and made a crackling sound. Then, as I poked and tickled his side and the inside of his arm with his fingertips, he laughed out of breath and struggled.
Of course, there was no way to escape as long as I was already caught in my grasp.
“Stop it-”
I tickled him until he burst into tears from laughter, and then stopped his hand, but he didn’t even think about running away and dug himself into my arms again.
At that time, Heila, who had been watching the sheep with her legs crossed, quietly spoke.
“I heard that Yun-guk is a country with cold winters.”
“Where is Yoonguk?”
“It is one of the countries of the East. It is also the hometown of Munchi.”
“Hometown of Mungchi?”
As I looked down at the wad in amazement, he looked at Heyla with a face similar to mine. It’s like, ‘How do you know that?’ It was a face that seemed to ask.
Heila, who blinked silently, lowered her gaze to the magic book and opened her mouth.
“Mugeomhoe is a group established in Yoonguk, and ‘Hwansin’ is also a custom of Yoonguk. So, if you are a phantom of the martial arts society, you have no choice but to be from Yoonguk.”
Moongchi, who met my eyes, nodded with a confused face and said, “That’s right.”
“It’s Yoonguk…
I think it’s in Phoenix’s memory, or it’s not…. It’s a bit confusing.
“But what is there? A cold country?”
“huh. I heard that in winter all the rivers and streams in the country freeze over. That’s why I heard that the people of Yoonguk are very strong against the cold.”
Saying that, Heila turned over the bookshelf and glanced at the bundle.
The eyes that passed for a moment were the same achromatic color as usual, but I felt like I could understand the meaning behind those eyes as I had gotten used to her. His eyes were like, ‘But why are you stuck there because you’re cold?
However, Mongchi quickly turned his head away, ignored his gaze, and lay down with his head on my thigh. He draped his legs over the armrests of the couch and looked up at me with a sly smile.
Was he such a foxy kid? I don’t think it was like this originally…
I checked Heila’s blinking eyes and slightly pinched Mungchi’s nose, but the doorpost creaked and someone knocked on the barred door.
“Hicks! Rowen! Open this before I freeze!”
Hearing the familiar voice, servant Hicks hurried to open the door, and five or six men rushed in. The two leaders were the tight-knit Steedman and the heavy swordsman Umberta, and the rest were freshmen from Modos.
“Ugh, I’m going to die.”
Steedman removed the hood of his wolf-skin cloak to reveal his shaved head, wiped his eyes and shivered. Then he handed the sack he had brought to his servant Hicks, and looked back at the newcomers who opened their eyes and frowned.
“What are you doing standing there? Food is kitchen oil and firewood is storage! in action!”
The young men, who might have been twenty-five at most or eighteen at least, were startled and scattered carrying large sacks of hemp.
They are clumsy on the outside, no, clumsy in reality, but they have their own kangdagu compared to rural youth.
Three days ago, black wolves swept through the streets, and when the flames opened the gates of hell and the flames lit up the night sky, I rolled up my tail and kicked everyone out of my command.
So, the young men running errands under Steedman’s direction were the ones who held their ground even as Iljin destroyed the building with a single gesture and Lassaldeha, the demon of flame, brandished a flaming whip.
The young men who proved their courage began their lives as mercenaries under my command. On a mere five pennies a week. These are the guys who chose a life that is not easy.
“I bought wheat flour, pickled pork, rapeseed oil and other things. A wandering gabjang Cho came over and he said he was good at it, so he left me some military equipment.”
“Oh, you must have suffered. Sit down and warm yourself up.”
Steedman pulled a chair close to the fireplace and sat down. Umberta, who was sitting at the table and warming her hands on the coal stove, looked at Heila and me alternately before opening her mouth.
“Miss Heila was right.”
“hmm? Heyla’s words?”
“That undead army. An army led by the King of Death.”
At the sudden talk, I corrected my posture and sat down, narrowing my brows.
“Why are you talking about that all of a sudden? Have you heard anything?”
“yes. The merchants we dealt with were a gang from the west. They say that the undead that came down from the plateau are besieging the Seteniora Monastery.”
“The monastery…
Luke must have a fairly large liver. A mere necromancer, aiming for the holy ground of the Church of Light.
I guess I’ll have to hurry with this. If you’re tied to Modos like this, the scenarios will all be twisted without a chance to use your hands.
As I was chewing on my lower lip while thinking about that, Heila said in a feminine tone.
“Don’t worry too much.”
“…uh?”
“The Seteniora Monastery is fortified. There are countless famous priests and cathedral knights, and crucially, there is Saint Abel. Unless there are tens of thousands of undead, it won’t collapse in a day or two.”
but. When you become a saint, you have the power to turn hundreds of undead into powder with one shout. It won’t be so easily defeated by the undead army…
“Well, I guess it’s not the time to be relaxed though.”
“that’s right.”
Heila glanced at the office down the stairs.
It was a room that Ellen was using as a laboratory, and she was probably examining the golden plate engraved with the ‘Dimensional Gate’ spell with Master Hargni by now.
“What are you going to do if Ellen says she wants to go back to the palace right away?”
“We should go together.”
Heila blinked for a moment, probably because my answer was a little quick.
“…then Setenio?”
“I’m thinking about that. I’m thinking of sending a messenger to Prince Ulkar to ask for help.”
Steedman, who had been warming himself in the fireplace, raised his head as soon as I finished my words.
“Oh right. There was also news of Prince Ulkar.”
“what? What news?”
“They are gathering troops in a place called ‘High Castle’. I guess it’s because the Mittergerant guys are showing signs of attacking again.”
“Okay.”
“The ‘Red Militia’ will move instead. The army of the Cult of Calandari.”
“Uhm…
that’s good news, but the red militia is only about 150 soldiers. I’m not sure that that number of people would be of any dramatic benefit.
“…Oh my head hurts.”
“But isn’t it useless to worry about it?”
“what?”
As I deliberately made a face, Steedman buried his normally short neck between his shoulders. Even though he pretended to be so frightened, he persevered.
“We can’t leave Modos anyway. If you move carelessly, that cat-like woman will go on a rampage, talking about treason.”
‘Woman like a lynx’. Speaking of Baron Shahenna.
“…okay. Shouldn’t you be solving that part first?”
“yes? What do you mean?”
I was about to say something, but when I saw the rookies gathering after work, I shrugged.
“…well. You should think about that.”
Heila, her eyes shining black as if deep in thought, suddenly raised her head at the signs of the newcomers.
” ah.”
And with a busy hand that didn’t suit, it was to serve a cup of hot tea.
The youths in the countryside, who had worked all their lives in fields, forests, quarries, etc., were thrilled when a peerless beauty served warm and sweet tea.
“Ooh, what are all these things?”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
He didn’t even know that Heila was a member of the duke’s family, but he seemed to have noticed right away that she was a noble lady, seeing how the other mercenaries treated her.
Hey, if you can’t guess Heila’s identity by looking at her appearance or the atmosphere in her clothes, then she’s from the countryside, and she’s just stupid beyond high school.
It was around the time that the new mercenaries warmed up and retreated. The bar on the entrance was smashed to pieces, revealing a giant figure.
“hey! I told you to knock, so why break down the door and come in!”
Despite the fierce snowstorm, the man who showed his upper body was, of course, Wu Tequay. He brushed the snow from his pigtails and said ‘knocked’.
“Ah you savage shack-”
“I had a dream.”
“-what? What are you talking about all of a sudden after you’ve been running around since dawn? Are you drunk?”
Utequai, completely ignoring my bruising, put down the sack he was carrying on his shoulder.
“My mother leads me.”
“what?”
“We have to go to the mountain.”
“No……
What the hell is this crazy guy talking about?
I looked down in frustration and recalled the character sheet I had seen the night before.
Name: Hatanka Utequai
Level: 29
Class: Berserker
Stats: Remaining Bonus – 1
Strength – 38 (92) Agility – 22 (36)
Health – 29 (57) Magical Power – 16 (22)
Skills: Remaining Bonus – 2
Blunt Armed Tattoo 7pt Veiled Blessing Tattoo 5pt Night Sky Blessing Tattoo 5pt Iron Seal 5pt
Zelkova Root Tattoo lpt Rhino Smash 3pt Stately Charge lpt Berserk 3pt
Unbridled Madness lpt
