Ch.78 Freeze! Where do you think you’re cheating?
The Hero Party chasing after Hans.
They set out for the harbor early in the morning with Harald.
“Is this really a fishing boat?”
Though smaller than trade vessels or warships, it was still quite sizable—large enough to carry dozens of people.
The three, who’d imagined an ordinary rowboat, were surprised by its unexpected scale.
Harald rubbed his nose and explained,
“This is what we call a herring bus. To catch herring, you’ve got to sail out along the coast.”
“A herring bus?”
Scarlet, Leah, and Cecilia all knew little about the sea or ships, but they figured this vessel could indeed pursue Hans.
Honestly, the boat was sturdy enough to sail far into open waters, and with Leah’s Spatial Bag magic, they could store unlimited food and fresh water.
As everyone gazed at the ship with hopeful eyes, Mia straightened her shoulders proudly.
“Back when I traveled in the Old Continent, I once saw a boat like this—so I recognized the herring fishern right away. Isn’t that the wisdom of a high elf?”
Of course, no one paid attention to the boastful high elf’s self-praise…
Anyway, convinced they could chase Hans with this ship, Leah rubbed her hands together and gave Harald a deliberately sweet smile.
“Um… Captain Harald, how much… how much would it cost?”
“Twenty gold’ll satisfy .”
Twenty gold…
An enormous sum for an ordinary person, but the Heroes were quite wealthy.
Yet… Leah, the notorious penny-pincher, felt it was too expensive.
With a faint smile, she carefully spoke up,
“Let us talk among ourselves for a mont.”
Leah led her companions a short distance away from Harald to discuss.
“What should we do? Isn’t twenty gold a bit steep?”
Scarlet hesitated before replying,
“It is, but what choice do we have? There’s no other way.”
“Exactly! While we’re dithering, Father Hans will get even farther away!”
Mia chid in supportively,
“If Leah doesn’t want to co, she doesn’t have to. I won’t stop her.”
Not seeing any need to bring along an extra rival, Mia’s words were t with a silent nod from Scarlet.
“Yeah, don’t co if you don’t want to.”
Cecilia added with a sly smile,
“Hehe, I’ll be sure to tell Father Hans that Leah hated him so much she couldn’t even bear to see his face and refused to co.”
At their reactions, Leah’s face flushed red as she shouted,
“Argh! Who said I wouldn’t go?!”
Thus, on the spot, the Hero Party handed Harald twenty gold and bought supplies for the voyage.
Scarlet, Mia, and Cecilia all shared the sa thought inwardly:
‘Tch, we could’ve gotten rid of her.’
And so, having purchased necessary provisions, the Hero Party set sail at noon.
On the deck, a petite woman with red hair stared blankly at the taut, billowing mainsail and the waves crashing against the prow.
Boredom filled her face.
“Mia, is this really the maximum speed?”
At Leah’s question, Mia scowled.
“This is the limit with a mid-tier spirit.”
They’d used both wind and water spirits to boost sailing speed, but the pace was slower than expected, making Leah sigh in frustration.
“No matter how I look at it, the gap isn’t closing. This boat is much smaller, and we even have mid-tier spirits helping—so why isn’t the distance shrinking?”
Of course, Leah had no idea Hans was using the Trident of the Sea God to accelerate his ship—so she could only feel helpless.
“What if we summoned a high-tier spirit instead?”
Mia snapped back sharply,
“You want
to constantly summon two high-tier spirits? Might as well tell
to die.”
In truth, maintaining a mid-tier spirit all day was already impressive—but Leah, pouting with her lips stuck out, wouldn’t back down.
“Incompetent…”
“Argh! If you’re so amazing, why don’t you just use Fly to carry all of us yourself?!”
Even if Leah was a magical prodigy, it was impossible to stay airborne over the ocean without sleep.
And she couldn’t possibly sustain the magic-intensive Fly spell all day.
“Tch! This is exactly why spirit callers have such bad tempers!”
“When you insult our children, of course we get upset. Wouldn’t you be offended if soone called the blue chicken on your shoulder just a dumb bird?”
Pipi, who had long since matured into a full-grown phoenix resembling a hawk, let out an indignant squawk.
“Argh! It’s not a chicken! It’s a phoenix!”
“To , it looks like a chicken dyed blue.”
—Keeek! Keeeeeek!
Offended by being called a chicken, Pipi glared at Mia and cried out pitifully.
“Aww, is soone mad? Be careful what you say around our Pipi—he’s smart enough to understand every human word.”
Mia quickly retorted,
“That’s exactly what I should be saying to you. Rember that spirits understand human speech and emotions.”
Mia fixed Leah with a sharp, piercing stare, prompting her to sigh.
“Ugh… sorry. I spoke too harshly.”
They’d thought they’d et Hans soon.
But once he’d gone to sea, the Hero Party—Leah, Mia, and the others—were on edge.
First, they’d believed that after the grueling battle to defeat the Demon King, each of them would live happily ever after with the one they loved.
But it turned out the man they all loved was the sa person—and chasing him to the New Continent had only dragged them into pointless conflicts.
Just when they finally learned his location and hoped to reunite at last,
Hans had already boarded a ship and left—by re hours.
Under these circumstances, it would be strange not to be on edge.
“I get it.”
Mia chuckled softly at the apology and let her anger go.
Leah grumbled,
“This is all our master’s fault. Damn him.”
Mia thought Leah’s voice carried deep disappointnt beneath the cursing.
***
Nephert, with a serious expression, selected one of the two cards in my hand.
—Thump, thump…
As she struggled to choose from my cards and finally picked one…
“Aaah!”
She’d snatched the Joker from my hand.
“Hehe. Now it’s my turn.”
When my turn ca again, I stared intently at the cards in Selena’s hand beside .
Of course, I could only see the backs—but if I played this right, I might end the ga this turn.
I carefully picked one card from Selena’s hand…
and when it ford a pair with the card in my own hand…
I tossed my cards down and declared,
“Pwahaha! I win!”
“Liar! That’s impossible!”
Selena clicked her tongue briefly, clearly displeased with my behavior.
Now it was her turn to pick a card from Nekhuf’s hand.
During the long voyage, we’d brought various gas to pass the ti, since there wasn’t much else to do.
“Hehe, I heard Sand Elves were good at gas—but you’re nothing special.”
My mood was excellent for one reason:
I’d beaten that smug pair.
Hehe… Look at them now—so arrogantly provoking
earlier, only to lose so pathetically.
As I taunted the two elves, Nephert’s chocolate-brown skin flushed slightly pink with anger.
“That’s impossible! You must’ve cheated!”
“Wow! Look who’s crying ‘cheat’ just because she lost! Accept defeat gracefully. It’s embarrassing, Nephert!”
“Argh! No way! There’s no chance a re human could beat
or Nekhuf!”
Seeing Nephert refuse to accept the result and pout stubbornly was deeply satisfying.
Maybe because the burn landed so perfectly, teasing her was extra fun.
Her reactions were so wonderfully expressive that, carried away, I couldn’t help but push further.
“Nyeah~ So you lost, huh? You really lost!”
“Ugh…”
Just as I savored Nephert trembling with frustration, about to burst into tears…
Selena gave
a slightly disappointed look and scolded gently,
“Hans! That’s enough.”
Nekhuf nodded in agreent, stroking Nephert’s head as she spoke,
“Yeah, brother. Gas have winners and losers—even Sand Elves aren’t immune to losing. Don’t take it so personally.”
Then, as if victorious, she stuck her tongue out at
mockingly.
Huh? I won the ga… so why do I feel like I actually lost?
I clearly won—but a bitter sense of defeat washed over
anyway.
My mouth felt dry. I felt hollow.
“Hans, why are you acting so immature?”
Though Selena tried to reason with
nicely…
I was so exasperated I shot back,
“What? , immature? Didn’t you see 200-year-old Nephert provoking
first?”
That pair of cockroaches had openly mocked Selena and
before the ga, boasting they were masters of play.
So of course I resented Nephert for blaming ‘cheating’ after losing fair and square due to her own lack of skill.
“Argh! Then let’s play again!”
Nephert’s eyes burned with fiery determination.
We played again as she demanded…
“See? Got ears, pointy-ear? This is the difference between you and .”
Holding two matching cards, I gave a smug, relaxed smile.
—Tremble, tremble…
Hehe. Challenging a Korean who takes gas seriously? Pathetic.
“Again…”
When Nephert finally teared up, Selena nudged my ribs with her elbow and shot
a aningful glance—as if telling
to throw the next round on purpose.
But the world of competition is rciless…
No matter how hard Selena glared at , I had no intention of losing on purpose.
“Don’t cry, Nephert.”
Nekhuf wiped Nephert’s tears and patted her head soothingly.
“You can win or lose in gas. What’s the big deal?”
“Waaah! But losing to that guy is just so infuriating! Anyway, again!”
When Nephert, eyes red from crying, insisted on another round, I shrugged.
“This is really the last ti.”
Nekhuf shuffled the deck and dealt us new hands.
“Brother… should we switch turns this round?”
Previously, the order had been Nephert →
→ Selena → Nekhuf.
This ti, it beca Nephert →
→ Nekhuf → Selena.
The atmosphere this round was far more tense and cutthroat than before.
Sohow, I could feel their strong, unified resolve:
‘The three of them were conspiring to make
lose.’
Hehe. Do they really think I’ll lose? What’s this about? I’m a Destiny veteran, after all.
Even if all three team up, I have zero intention of losing.
By the ti each of us held fewer than five cards…
I picked a card from Nephert’s hand and watched her expression closely.
When I took a specific card, I noticed Nephert’s eyes brighten almost imperceptibly.
‘Ah. That must be the Joker.’
In this ga, the player holding the Joker at the end loses.
So, to tornt Nephert on purpose, I deliberately chose the card next to the Joker—
exploiting her obvious tells with a mischievous grin.
Then it was Nekhuf’s turn to draw.
He took a card from my hand, ford a pair, and discarded both cards.
Suspicious… Could this guy be cheating?
He discarded three cards in a row—as if he could see my hand.
My suspicion grew stronger.
After all, the goal of this ga is to discard all your cards as quickly as possible.
When the turn ca back to Nekhuf, I focused intently on his face and fingers.
And just as he reached for a card—
I grabbed his wrist and shouted,
“Freeze! Where do you think you’re cheating?!”
My words froze the entire room.
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